WHAT ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS?

While I have been writing lately about the "important" events happening in the world such as the U.S. debt crisis, there have been other stories piling up that also need to be told.

Initially, I starting writing this blog as a way to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, in particular innocent dead victims and their families who are also victims, left with endless, indescribable loss, pain, suffering. More so crystallized for me by the negligence of many entities and others who caused the death of my 30 year old son, Steven Nathaniel Wolkoff. 

Some readers and non readers of this Blog criticize my focus on this, as morbid, others lend support, and mostly everyone has not the slightest clue of the finality, forever inconsolable grief, never to heal, that we feel, as victims families. 

The vast majority of people don't even want to think of these horrors, let alone read about them. So I will remind you that these are human beings and they deserve your attention to their death, they lived, they died in horrible ways, show them your respect.

It is impossible with the current magnitude of such a large rate of innocents being slaughtered and justice being ignored for any one to report on many of these stories in a timely manner. But it does haunt me and should bother you in the same way.

I have selected two stories for today's post to be representative of the many other victims during the past 2 weeks that I can't write about, because there are just too many for me to cover them all. 

             AME DEAL-REST IN PEACE

                                          

AME DEAL, A 10 YEAR OLD CHILD, MURDERED BY HER FAMILY FOR TAKING A POPSICLE

The family of a 10-year-old found dead in a trunk outside an Arizona home initially claimed the child died while playing hide-and-seek. But investigators now believe Ame Deal suffocated after her family locked her in the box because she took a Popsicle from the freezer without permission.

Phoenix police claim Deal's grandmother, aunt and two cousins regularly subjected the child to horrific treatment, ultimately culminating in her July 12 death.

"This child died at the hands of those who were supposed to love and care for her. ... This case has turned the stomachs of some of our most seasoned detectives," said Phoenix Police spokesman Sergeant Trent Crump in a statement posted on the city's website.

Deal's passing was classified as a "death unknown" until July 28, according to the police press release. But after Deal's cousin Samantha Allen, 23, and her husband, John Allen, 23, admitted putting the child in the trunk and padlocking it, authorities charged the couple with first degree murder.

John Allen was allegedly angry with Deal because she had taken a popsicle from the freezer, AZFamily reports.

The victim's aunt, Cynthia Stoltzmann, 44, and grandmother, Judith Deal, 62, were charged with child abuse and kidnapping after reportedly admitting to locking the child in the box on previous occasions.

Witnesses told investigators the child was regularly punished by being locked in the trunk. They also saw the caregivers force Deal to eat dog feces as punishment, crush cans barefoot and exercise outdoors in "extreme measures," according to ABC15.

Deal's aunt allegedly confessed to putting hot sauce in the child's mouth, striking her with a paddle dubbed "Butt Buster" and ordering the child to sleep on the floor of a stall shower because she had a problem with wetting the bed, the news station reports.

Deal, who weighed just 59 pounds and was discovered in soiled clothing, died in a box that measured less than 3 feet long, 14 inches wide and one foot tall, according to The New York Daily News.

Twelve children who lived at the residence have been taken into custody by Child Protective Services, ABC15 reports.The whereabouts of the child's mother are unknown and authorities are currently trying to locate Deal's biological father

This is as I have said a horrific story about the murder of Ame Deal by her family, a child who deserved much better in her short life than she got. Nobody cared about her, the neighbors never bothered even calling the Police all the time that they knew this poor child was being tortured.

How many of you reading the blog even knew about this horrible murder, and why not, because it is now "normal" to have victims, especially little children murdered on a daily basis, and no one even pays attention to this any longer. 

The media doesn't really care, they hype these acts of murder endlessly, as a way to be able to charge more for ads, and ignore many others deemed by them "unworthy" deaths of victims, who never even make it to the news. 

Yes, the world has become such a sicko, wacko place, that the unimaginable has become common, and no one pays attention to why and how this could be. We have reached the lowest point of a society, where the killing of little children, other victims of all ages, is condoned by denial, silence, and apathy. These headlines seem almost like bad jokes, except they are very real and defy the imagination in that these are true, horrific, barbaric, horrors.

Which leads me directly to the next OUTRAGE of this week in the good ole dysfunctional justice system that dispenses little justice, and limps along under its own corrupt, self serving circus of the absurd concerned mainly about the rights, fairness to the defendant, but ignores the rights of victims. 

The law in this case says we're not going to give the government multiple times to prosecute you. We are going to value finality more than we value the truth.

It’s obvious something needs to be changed. There are far too many guilty people wandering around not paying for their crimes, and there are far too many innocents lying in graves, rotting away.

MAN ACQUITTED OF FRIENDS MURDER CONFESSES TO POLICE, WALKS FREE

Double Jeopardy: Getting Away With Murder

MAN ACQUITTED OF FRIENDS MURDER CONFESSES TO POLICE, WALKS FREE

In 2004, Isaac Turnbaugh of Vermont was acquitted of killing his coworker. Police say he recently contacted them, however, and confessed to the murder. But there's not much they can do.

Some might call it an outrage, but he's protected under a basic Fifth Amendment concept better known as "double jeopardy," and prosecutors say their hands are tied.

"He could have turned over a video tape of him committing the murder and it wouldn't change the fact that double jeopardy is attached," Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell told The Huffington Post. "We had our chance. The jury acquitted him and, just in the same way OJ could confess today to his wife's murder, it wouldn’t affect what could be done to him."

Turnbaugh, now 28, stood trial in 2004 on a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Declan Lyons, 24. The two men were coworkers at the restaurant American Flatbread in Waitsfield, a town located about 20 miles southwest of Montpelier, Vt.

Lyons, engaged and expecting his first child, was found dead outside the restaurant on April 12, 2002. He had been mixing sauce in an outdoor cauldron when witnesses inside the restaurant heard a loud popping noise. WPTZ reported that, when the waitresses went outside to investigate, they found an unresponsive Lyons on the ground with a gaping head wound.

Police had no suspects in the case until the following month, when Turnbaugh went to a party and allegedly told six friends that he had shot Lyons. One of the friends told Turnbaugh's mother and she reportedly contacted the police.

"The whole reason he was charged was because he was sitting around the campfire with friends taking mushrooms and, amidst some sort of schizophrenic break, he confessed to this shooting, to being responsible for [the terrorist attacks of] 9/11 and an assortment of other things," Turnbaugh's former attorney, Kurt Hughes, told The Huffington Post.

During police questioning, Turnbaugh denied killing Declan Lyons and said he considered him a "really good buddy."Friends also described Turnbaugh and Lyons as good friends, which made it difficult to establish a motive.

"All of us can't fathom why this would have happened," former co-worker Jen Moffroid told WPTZ in August 2002.

"Not a lot of bad vibes. Not a lot of animosity . . . You don't know what to believe and we're just trusting in the system and hoping that the police and courts can figure out what really happened here. We all would really like to know what really happened."

Hughes said the case was extraordinary, in that he had easy access to Lyons' coworkers and friends -- a rare convenience for a suspect's defense."They all loved Isaac as much as they loved the victim. It was unlike anything I had been involved in before," he said.

Following his arrest, Turnbaugh was diagnosed with a serious mental illness. The case did not go to court for roughly two years. When it did, Turnbaugh's lawyer argued that his client was ill and said that the FBI was unable to establish that a rifle belonging to his client was the murder weapon.

According to WCAX, prosecutors never denied that they did not have a motive for the crime, but were hoping that lies Turnbaugh had told police -- as well as his confession at the party -- would help them to prove premeditated murder.

On April 6, 2004, after five hours of deliberation, jurors found Turnbaugh not guilty of murder.

Sorrell said that he was surprised by the verdict. "We had these admissions from him, but he had a very good lawyer who was able to raise reasonable doubt that if you couldn't believe that he was involved with 9/11, then you couldn't believe that he was involved in this murder," the Vermont attorney general said. "The jury did its job. We gave it our best shot. Our justice system isn't always perfect, but it is darn good."

In the month after he was found innocent, Turnbaugh found himself in hot water with police following a 7-hour standoff in which he was involved. Other than that, he has kept a relatively low profile. That is, until he contacted police in Montpelier recently and allegedly confessed to killing Declan Lyons. There is, however, nothing police can do about it.

According to Anne Bremner, a Seattle attorney and legal analyst, the double jeopardy clause forbids authorities from trying Turnbaugh again for murder in this case.

"The framers of the Constitution wanted to preclude government harassment of citizens via successive and potentially harassing prosecutions," Bremner explained to The Huffington Post.

"Let's take Casey Anthony's case," Bremner continued. "Even if she confesses to Barbara Walters, Oprah, or Larry Flynt, for that matter, double jeopardy would preclude charging or prosecuting her again."

Once again, attorneys on both sides are in disagreement about the alleged confession. "He's mentally ill. He made similar so-called confessions before the trial, so it's nothing new. It's part of his illness [and] it sounds like he's having a relapse of some sort," Hughes said.

Sorrell, on the other hand, believes Turnbaugh's alleged confession."He gave some details this time that were consistent with evidence in the case," Sorrell said. "Clearly, the victim had a head wound, but the police were never able to find any bullet or bullet fragments enough to do any ballistics, so we did not have evidence of any particular caliber or any particular gun. We believed it was a high-powered rifle, and we knew that Isaac Turnbaugh owned a 30-30 rifle. So, this time, he did say he shot him in the head with the 30-30.”

There have been speculation and rumors that authorities could go after Turnbaugh on other potential charges such as perjury, but Sorrell said the defendant did not testify on his own behalf, so perjury is out of the question. Besides that, the statute of limitations is up and "that's not what we're looking to do here," he said.

A civil suit is also unlikely, the attorney general said."Quite frankly, I'm not sure that the victim's family would be looking for monetary reward," Sorrell said. "[Secondly], even if they got a verdict for a hundred million dollars, I'm not sure they would be in a position to collect a dime from Isaac Turnbaugh."

Police have not talked to Turnbaugh since his alleged confession. He did not respond to an interview request from The Huffington Post.

According to Sorrell, authorities still believe Turnbaugh is the killer, and do not plan to re-open the case."It's just a terrible tragedy," he said. "But, he has to live with what, in fact, he has done."

AND SO DOES THE VICTIM "LIVE" WITH BEING DEAD IN HIS GRAVE, AND HIS FAMILY WHO MOURN HIS LOSS FOREVER.

WHAT ABOUT THEIR RIGHTS? 

WHAT ABOUT THE HUMAN, LEGAL RIGHTS OF ALL VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES?

WHO WILL SPEAK UP FOR THEM?

GO ASK ALICE, THE LADY IN APARTMENT #6, I THINK SHE'LL KNOW

"GO ASK ALICE, I THINK SHE'LL KNOW" are lyrics from the song "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane.

Today's post has to do with a woman who is 107 years old, she is the worlds oldest known Holocaust survivor, her name is Alice Herz-Sommer, and lives in a small apartment in North London, England.


Recently a friend off mine Suzanne, brought to my attention this very special woman, Alice. I write a lot of blog posts from the most morbid, victims rights, to politics, and human interest stories, the entire spectrum. Sometimes, I receive e-mails, suggestions from others about topics of interest.


I have to admit that with all the crazy shit going on in today's world I initially didn't read this information at first, because it seemed "unremarkable" to read anything about a 107 year old human being. Pretty sad, when I don't even pay attention to the mere fact that someone has even lived to the age of 107 years of age.


Thankfully, I did read the information a few days later and found myself not only captivated by Alice, her life, but I watched it over and over several times, as she affected me so deeply on an emotional level.


 As I said, Alice is a Holocaust survivor. You remember the Holocaust ?


Although the exact figure of those murdered will never be known, here are estimates:

• The figure of 11 million people dead is often given but it is completely unclear where this figure comes from, and how it is calculated. It is far too low. One also encounters the range 11-17 million.
• 6 million of these were Jewish (close to two thirds of Europe's Jewish population) and about one quarter of these were children under 15.
• Up to 270,000 were Roma/Sinti (Gypsies).

In addition, Hitler targeted homosexuals, Communists and other political dissidents, most Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, dissidents, some Protestant pastors and Catholic priests, black people, the mentally and physically disabled, and others. The figures include the camps as well as the mass graves in the countryside, killings in the street, organized mass shootings (such as Babi Yar, etc.) and basically, any person singled out for their race, religion, political beliefs, or their sexual orientation.
 
Basic facts of the Holocaust are that people murdered were:  

• Jews- 6.0 million
• Soviet POW's- 3.3 million
• Non-Jewish Poles- 1.8-2 million
• Romanis ('gypsies')- 220,000- 270,000 (but even the higher figure may be too low)
• Disabled- 200,000 - 250,000
• Homosexuals- 5,000 - 15,000
• Jehovahs Witnesses- 2,500 - 5,000

  The  accurate number of Holocaust survivors in the world remaining alive today are not known, possibly about 200,000, dwindling fast.


The train has already left the station. There’s nothing  much to say about the Holocaust that hasn't already been said. The best we can do is remember what happened, document it, tell future generations, and try to make sure it never happens again, in spite of revisionists such as the current President of Iran, who claims that the "Holocaust never happened and was made up by the Jews". 

If we say, ‘What a pity,’ will it help? No , it won't. This is a post about more than that.


The story of Alice Herz-Sommer is truly amazing not just about her survival, but more so about who she is today. Alice is inspirational,  musically talented beyond belief  at even her age, but much more important, as a beacon of the rare goodness that can still exist in a person during these insane days of this world. 

If only more people like Alice existed, our world would be a very special place to live in and be a part of, instead of the toxic cesspool it is today.


Where an angel like her comes from is hard to understand after all the suffering she has been through in her life.

Do yourself a favor, take a few minutes and give a gift to your soul,  CLICK ON HERE TO WATCH THE STORY OF ALICE HERZ-SOMMER,  that will explain much better than me, why she is an amazing example of how good the the human spirit can be.

Also watch the video below to see and feel more from this amazing lady as she explains her life.

DON'T STEAL.THE GOVERNMENT HATES COMPETITION

Congress lurches backwards as a gang of corrupt politicians, towards a potential deal to raise the Debt Ceiling, and avoid a default by the U.S. Treasury, but there are so many lies, distortions that are being fed to the American public, that I decided to pick one that is disgustingly offensive.

The big lie being fed to us by the government, and politicians of all parties, states that a large part of the current overall financial crisis where government spends more than it takes in as revenue, is supposedly mostly caused by our Entitlement Programs. 

You know, the ones like Social Security and Medicare that have been taken out of ever pay check we have ever earned, to fund the benefits for the costs of these programs.The story being told to us goes like this, Blame it on the "Baby Boomers".

"The government says that the Social Security Crisis is now worse than previously thought.  Each year, the Social Security Trustee’s Report updates us on the status of the Social Security Crisis.  The most recent trustee’s report indicated that it would be 2016 before Social Security began paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. However, the most recent White House budget figures show that Social Security actually paid more in benefits than it collected in payroll taxes. 

This worsening of the Social Security Crisis, they say, is due to the current economic downturn. With unemployment so high, fewer people are working and paying into the Social Security System via payroll taxes.  At the same time, thousands of seniors who had previously been working lost their jobs and were forced to start collecting Social Security benefits.  

This resulted, they say, in a double hit for the Social Security System, because it meant fewer dollars coming into the system than expected, and more dollars going out than expected.

They say, these same White House budget projections foretell even more gloom and doom for the Social Security System. The projections show that in each of the next 10 years, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. And unless something is done, they say, to address the Social Security Crisis, the situation will only get worse, because of the looming retirements by baby boomers." That's what the politicians say, want you to believe, and when they lie over and over, it becomes the big lie that everyone believes is true. 


Sorry but it is not true and is a set of devious distortions, outright lies, and diversions away from the real causes of the financial hole our country is in.

Don’t Blame America’s Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare. 


SOCIAL SECURITY NEEDS UNCLE SAM TO PAY UP HIS $2.5 TRILLION PLUS DOLLARS IN IOU'S IT OWES TO Social Security, NOW!

The truth is that the U.S. government has "borrowed " over 2.5 plus trillion dollars from our Social Security funds to use in totally unrelated ways such as for use by the Defense Dept., Pork Barrel bridges to nowhere for politicians, special interests, vast layers of bloated bureaucratic fiefdoms, foreign aid that lines the pockets of dictators, corporate America bail outs, subsidies, cheese museums, the Lawrence Welk museum, corrupt subcontractors, and many other wasteful pet projects.

During this process the government left "IOU"S" to guarantee they would pay back these "loans" of our social security monies, that were deducted from every paycheck we ever earned. 

Suddenly brain dead amnesia has struck the politicians and they proclaim that Social Security, Medicare, are going to be bankrupt because they say, "the government is spending beyond its revenue". 

Total, total, bull shit, and the American brainwashed even believe this crap. Social Security and Medicare systems have huge surpluses in reality, it is only because the government has defaulted on their IOU's to pay back these entitlement programs, that has now created this false crisis of the entitlement programs not being supposedly financially sustainable . 

It is bad enough that these crooks in Washington tax us twice on our Social Security, once as FICA when we have a paycheck, and then AGAIN when we collect Social Security benefits, it is taxed a second time, as taxable income.

The entire BIG LIE about these entitlement systems spending funds beyond its revenues, well that just is because the government for decades have created the situation by stealing our money. 

I doubt most of the American public even understands this, as they rail against the Obama health care reforms as Socialism, but in the same breath warned "don't touch my Medicare benefits because it is a great system", many not even aware that it is administered solely by their own government.

These distortions about our Entitlement  Programs being the big problem as the major cause of the national debt ignores the country’s outlandish military budget and a decade of unfunded wars, which have been piling up debt at a rate of about $150 billion a year.

The country has been piling up this debt for several decades, and especially over the last decade, but during all this time, Social Security and Medicare have been paying out their benefits from current dedicated payroll taxes and by drawing on the trust funds that had been built up because of the years that more was being collected than paid out in benefits.

Get the point? Nobody, in the Social Security and Medicare, hating members of Congress like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), will acknowledge the fact that not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security, and the only parts of Medicare that are funded by general tax revenues are doctors bills and the prescription drug benefit, Medicare Part D, a handout that was given to private health insurers established by former President George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress, which bars the government from negotiating discounts from the pharmaceutical companies, a problem easily fixed by improved legislation. It’s the wars, stupid!

Add cuts in the out sized $40+ billion annual secret intelligence budget, in the nation’s obsolete and dangerous nuclear weapons program, and other military-related expenditures, and we’re talking about saving half a trillion dollars a year! Cutting this waste will still allow us to be strongest military power in the world.

Obama and the Democratic party should be ashamed at carrying water for the likes of Ryan, Boehner, and McConnell.

 As this deal of averting the debt crisis and instituting cost cutting measures of huge amounts to programs that are needed by the American people, at least Obama and his cohorts could make an attempt to restore their weasel cowardly reputations, by standing up for the principles they say they represent.

PRESIDENT OBAMA AGREES TO "MODEST CUTS IN ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS"

That word modest means higher Medicare premiums, higher deductibles, increases in the "doughnut hole amounts", no power given to Medicare for negotiating  discount drug prices, and the beginning of the end for Medicare. In other words higher taxes we will pay for additional costs placed on our backs and not on the rich of America.


For Social Security it will mean a higher age before one can collect benefits, higher Social Security FICA payroll taxes, no more real cost of living increases (COLA) which will be replaced with a phony new method of adjusting the COLA formula to reflect a chained consumer price index that will actually reduce, and eventually eliminate annual cost of living increases for the American people who receive Social Security,

No where is it mentioned in this deal that corporate tax loops holes will be eliminated, or taxes increased on the very rich, removal of wasteful subsidies to private industry, or in fact anything related to sharing the pain of the cuts on our must vulnerable citizens, with those of our richest elite. 

Sure, pick on the elderly, ill, disabled, poor, little children, American families that need help, not punishment,

and continue to ignore those entities that escape the same pain because they have the money, power, influence to buy off our government.

What a great deal, the demands of the right wing are granted , their agenda's goals will  be to ultimately, totally destroy Social Security and Medicare, and Obama gets us what in return? Nothing but bull shit, feel good, meaningless words from him about "its what the American people asked from us, a compromise, and not exactly what I wanted, but it will help create jobs."

Excuse me President Obama and friends. You just in fact raised the taxes on all Americans by this sneaky terminology, but the rich and Businesses, remain untouched to continue raping America. 

You just also threw away decades of hard, back breaking work to gain, protect these entitlement rights for every working American, and have further set the stage for the destruction for the average American's ability to financially survive. We still don't even know whether our mortgage tax deductions will be removed in the proposed "tax reform" deal and that would cripple even many more Americans to become financially unsustainable, unable to pay our bills, have a roof over our heads, and yes, even to obediently pay our taxes, so that the government can spend it on helping bail out Wall Street, Banks, Auto companies.

At what point do the American people become too important to fail financially to our government, surely we deserve the same compassionate aid as that which was used to keep financial institutions, who made their own mess of our economy. Don't we the people also have the same importance or is that  a naive question, because it is clear that we are not in the loop of the privileged.

Thank you Obama and friends, you have betrayed us because you do know the truth and won't do shit to stand up for your stated beliefs. Instead you intellectually rationalize the need to compromise, remain delusional and see bi-partisan images of fantasy cooperation, that smell of the stink of cowardice. 

You sold us out and are worse than your GOP pals. Yes worse, because you were elected on a platform of trust in you to change things to a better life for the American people as you promised, " yes we can". 


NO, you can, and YOU won't. 

You sold us out and that will be your legacy as the President who was too weak, self absorbed in his political self, and gave away America to the right wing puppets of their masters, whose goals are to widen the gap in our country of the Haves and Have-Nots, with nothing in between, but cruelty, hate, ruthlessness, disrespect, inhuman behavior, and their obsessive, unfeeling, unlimited greed of evil.

WHY AMERICANS ARE SO PISSED OFF AT POLITICIANS TODAY

Why are so many people pissed off with politicians today? A circus of hypocrisy, staged acting scripts concerning an impasse over the national debt, right now is a big part of our anger. 

Regular folks feel that politicians continue to ignore the needs of the American people, while each politician professing in self proclaimed media sound bites, ad nauseum, that they are acting on behalf of what the "American people want" 

When politicians are so obsessed with their own personal political future, focused on scoring points about who will be blamed or liked by their actions, that makes it impossible for anything remotely resulting in being in the best interest of what the American people want and need.

While the circus of dysfunctional absurd is taking place in Washington about the debt crisis and potential default of the United States Treasury unfolds, we witness the true cruelty and disregard of all politicians to the American people. Politicians show their true colors, their real self serving agendas and their puppet status of being full of shit, partisan, and playing chicken with our lives and our future.

We all need the economy to recover from its continued recession if we are to economically survive. Business people to do what they need to do - for their businesses, their customers, their employees and the economy based on the risk factor of not losing money, and making profits.

Because of the economic uncertainties created by Washington, the economic situation has become worse. 

Instead of the politicians mantra that "we are doing this to cut spending and help Americans have a better life", the effect is that more and more businesses are not spending money on buying supplies, hiring employees, or even succeeding in getting much needed loans from the Banks. 

Businesses are more and more afraid to take risks in this crazy economic situation caused by Washington and in fact when they hire at all, they don't hire permanent workers, instead they hire temps.

The truth, ugly that it is, shows that the game of politics in Washington once again puts the American public at risk because they're fighting with one another about partisan "points" of protecting their public perceived images.
 

Who cares about politicians images, well the corrupt, hypocritical politicians all do, while we all see them for the greedy, selfish neanderthals they really are. Yet they continue to act like we the people are not aware of how moronic and destructive they are acting. 

Uncertainty about the direction of the economy has put Business expansion plans on hold, and will continue to do so after this political fiasco is "over".
 

It doesn't end with an agreement on the debt crisis, no matter what is the final outcome. Bankers already afraid to make loans have no idea what's going to happen in the future of these hateful politics, so they will loan less money to people and businesses. 

Businesses are and will continue to follow defensive strategies such as hiring freezes, delays in buying new equipment or building up their cash reserves. They will do what is best for them to make money, not what is best for us.

The American people see what is happening to them and their neighbors as we experience how hard it is for most of us to pay the bills.  The real question to me is what if anything are the American people going to do about it?

The same American people who have failed up until now to grasp the permanent damage being done to them, and have done very little to stop it. Many have succumbed to becoming sheep of the propaganda fed to them, others are now totally apathetic by giving up.

We as Americans, find it increasingly difficult to survive  financially, and yet Washington sees part of the debt solution in cutting our benefits, destroying our system of entitlement programs, removing our mortgage tax reductions, while not raising the taxes of the very rich. 

Politicians couch this in lies of " we will not raise taxes on the American people because the American people don't want higher taxes", when what they really mean is they will not tax the affluent, Corporations, close tax law business loopholes, and instead serve those who are their masters, but they will screw us, the people at a time that we need and deserve to be protected from any further erosion of our financial base.

At a time in our history when the economy is functioning so poorly, with a real actual unemployment rate of almost 20 per cent, 28.3 million people (using official U.S. Dept. of Labor statistics), not the "official" reported distorted 9.2 per cent, 14.2 million figures used by the government  (See my prior Blog Post, "THE OLD SHELL GAME-MODERN STYLE)

No matter what the end result is in Washington, we the American people are guaranteed to be the ones who will have more pain and suffering placed on our backs, not the rich, and not the Corporations, hedge funds, and others that use their continued tax loop holes to pay zero or tiny taxes, let alone pay their fair share. 

There will be no pain or suffering by Corporate America, Financial Institutions, and not a tiny bit of any pain, self sacrifice from the phony politicians, who all live together in a different privileged world, than the real harsh world inhabited by the rest of us.

"They" will do anything necessary for it to stay that way and will continue to ignore us. That is their idea of the "American Way" of equality for all.

THE OLD SHELL GAME-MODERN STYLE

American slave labor to keep the costs of our wars low with  a cozy "business" relationship between the United States Defense Department and the private Corporations of the military-industrial complex.  Can't be true , can it? 

Pay zero labor costs and undercut regular folks who need these jobs and have the skills, or can learn these skills, but have been laid off by the poor economic conditions. Can't be. 

Greedy profit making private Corporations making even larger profits on the backs of the unemployed in America, no way, that would be so cruel, right? 

So let's understand this clearer. 

According to statistics from the U.S. Labor Department as of June 2011, we have a  huge unemployment problem, with a reported 14.1 million people out of work which is 9.2 % of our work force. Every month the headlines include these latest unemployment figures. 

Unfortunately, the headlines and what actually is happening are often not the same.

To understand what’s going on you have to know that the Labor Department refers to this 9.2 per cent unemployed as “nonfarm" payroll employment. Notice that the news talks about nonfarm payroll employment. In other words, it does not include the self-employed or farmers. How big a deal is this?

• The government says that 10.4 million people are self-employed. This is equal to 6.9 percent of the 154 million people in the civilian labor force.
• Farmers about 2 percent of the population, according to the Agriculture Department. That’s equal to roughly 3.8 million workers.

In total we have 14.2 million people (10.4 million plus 3.8 million) who are not considered when unemployment numbers are tallied.

People Not In The Labor Force are another excluded category. In June, 2011, "2.7 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force" according to the government. These individuals who were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. In other words, you have to be actively looking for a job to be counted as unemployed.

Lastly, we come to those who are not counted because they are discouraged workers. The government says that “among the marginally attached, there were 982,000 discouraged workers in June". Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.7 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in June had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities

There’s another measure which does not fit within the government standards, the under-employed. Who are these folks? In general terms the underemployed are people with jobs, but not the jobs they want and not the jobs which fully reflect their skills, experience and training.

People are often under-employed, especially when the unemployment rate rises because workers are logically concerned that if they leave their present employer they will be unable to get a replacement job with equal or better pay and benefits. The result is that they stick where they now work rather than look for a better situation.

The bottom line: Official unemployment figures are distortions, lies, manipulation of statistics. 

The actual number of unemployed folks in America using all the above official numbers supplied by the U.S Labor department is 28.3 million people (14.1 million reported officially as unemployed plus an additional 14.2 million people who are  conveniently never considered unemployed by the U.S Labor Department Statistic), even though these people are out of work and have no jobs.

So the real number of unemployed people as of June, 2011 is 28.3 million which translates into about an 19-20 per cent unemployment rate, NOT the reported 9.2 per cent rate of 14.2 million people. 

This is significantly (an understatement but I am trying to be optimistic) a much larger critical problem then the American people are being told, and it is reported in this distorted manner every single month by the U.S. labor department to make things look better than they really are.

It has always been statistically done this way and is not a function of the current administration doing anything different than past administrations, all were hiding the truth.

When we look around and are told that the economy is getting better, yet we see so many of the people we know with no jobs, families losing their homes to foreclosures, credit card consumer debt at it's highest ever, retirement, regular savings at its lowest ever, it makes sense to believe in the accuracy off these government supplied statistics that I have shown above, and not the "official" ones, released by them as the "unempoyment figures" . This is a semantic, cruel game of fake three-card shuffle, smoke, mirrors, propaganda, to fool the public.

So I was just wondering. Since the GOP and the right wing are determined to not raise taxes on the rich, continue to play "chicken" with the budget ceiling/default crisis, and insist on major cuts in programs for the people, could they perhaps not be insane, and in fact  be working for greed on the part of the private defense industry, Corporate America as shareholders, lobbyists, future high paid employees of these companies, and current high paid political puppets, being pulled on a string by their masters?
 

The last I heard slavery was outlawed in America many years ago, and unemployed Americans who are not in jail will not work for zero wages, because we have to pay for things like taxes, cost of keeping prisoners in jails who then provide free labor to profit making Corporations, not to mention government corruption, waste, food , education, and the basic necessities of life. Of course it would be OK if we were going to become a Socialized country, but only Socialized bail out handouts of our taxes for big business, seems to be allowed.

The next time you hear someone say that we need to kick Obama out and put in more fiscally conservative 'leaders", maybe , just maybe you should think what they really mean, how will it affect you, your kids futures. Sounds, smells, and looks to me like economic slavery, for ALL Americans.

Just asking, because at the end of the day, regardless of what happens to the debt crisis, the American people will always be the ones who lose.

SAY WHAT (Update July 26, 2011- Mom Sentencing)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/26/georgia.mother.sentencing/

Marietta, Georgia (CNN) -- A Georgia woman who was convicted on misdemeanor charges in the death of her son who darted out into traffic will not spend time in jail, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The case of Raquel Nelson had attracted national notice from parents, the NAACP and even transportation advocates who said the Marietta woman was being unfairly pursued for just trying to cross the street as any other pedestrian would do.

Dozens of the suburban Atlanta woman's supporters crowded the courtroom Tuesday and applauded as Judge Kathryn Tanksley sentenced her to 12 months of probation and 40 hours of community service.

She also said Nelson could seek a new trial.

"I'm walking out of here," Nelson told reporters after her sentencing. "I don't think you could be more satisfied."

Defense attorney David Savoy said his client is weighing her options, but would mostly likely seek a new trial.

Nelson and her three children had just gotten off the bus at a stop across from their apartment building in April 2010 when her 4-year-old son, A.J., broke away from her and ran into the street.

A car struck the boy, causing fatal injuries. Nelson and one of her two daughters also suffered minor injuries.

Five weeks after the accident, investigators came to Nelson's home, said her aunt, Loretta Williams. Nelson was charged with three misdemeanors: second-degree vehicular homicide, failing to cross at a crosswalk and reckless conduct, according to court records.

A jury convicted her this month. Although prosecutors did not recommend jail time, each count carried a potential sentence of one year in jail -- for a total of 36 months.

The man driving the car, Jerry Guy, fled the scene after the accident but later admitted being involved, according to CNN affiliate WXIA-TV. He was sentenced to five years in prison but served only six months. He is serving the remainder of the sentence on probation.

During the hearing, Savoy asked for mercy, saying his client had suffered enough."Don't think for one moment that this mother of three doesn't blame herself for what happened," he said.

But, he said, the white stripes of a crosswalk are not "impenetrable walls of steel" that could have prevented a driver from striking someone crossing the street. Such accidents happen every day, he said.

Assistant Solicitor General Jessica Moss said her office would accept whatever sentence the court suggested.
"These cases are inherently difficult because they are unintentional," she said during the hearing.

Nelson told NBC's "Today" on Monday that the jury that convicted her likely couldn't relate to her because she is a single mother and they don't regularly use public transportation or need to walk on busy streets.

The case became a cause for radio talk show hosts, the NAACP and even transportation advocates, who said Nelson is being punished because she chose to cross the road at the bus stop across from her apartment instead of traveling to the nearest crosswalk, three-tenths of a mile away.

"Your office's decision to prosecute Raquel Nelson for the death of her four-year-old son on a vehicular homicide charge is disgusting and inhumane," wrote one poster to the Facebook page of the Cobb County Solicitor General's Office, which handled the case.

More than 135,000 people signed an online petition calling for leniency.

The NAACP had called the case against Nelson a "grave miscarriage of justice when the mother who is still grieving is forced to fight harder for her freedom than the man who killed her son."

The case also attracted attention from transportation advocates, who said Nelson was treated unfairly because transportation planners fail to take into account the needs of pedestrians when designing roads."Because she did as her fellow bus riders, who crossed at the same time and same place, and because she did what pedestrians will do every time -- take the shortest reasonable path -- she is guilty of vehicular homicide," Transportation for America communications director David Goldberg wrote on the advocacy organization's blog.

CNN's Tristan Smith contributed to this report.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAY WHAT??? 

Excuse me but is there no end, no fucking end to the depths of cruelty, corruption and dysfunction of our legal system when it comes to VICTIMS RIGHTS? Apparently not, because this moronic "System" keeps on chugging along, efficiently handing out "justice served" to the innocent human beings who are victims, while unable to provide "justice served' to the guilty who commit horrific, acts of  harming, killing people. 

The jury, well what can we expect from stupid, ignorant, sheep who are unable to think for themselves. The closest the average American gets to feeling compassion and using what tiny part of their brain remains, is in watching Reality TV and feeling bad for the dancer or singer who only made second place and got "cheated' out of winning. Then these idiots feel compassion and their tiny, mutated synapses flap around for a few minutes of mindless thought about what is unfair.

Good job Prosecutors, you stupid fucking arrogant" protectors of Justice", "YOU" must be so proud of yourself in doing your jobs so ass backwards, morons that you are, may you burn in hell!!!

"You" deliberately FUCKED UP my son Stevens killing, by manipulating the legal system to not give Justice for him as a victim, and "YOU" deliberately FUCKED UP my Father's murder case by manipulating the legal system to not give him justice as a victim, to protect your friends in the government. "YOU" do that so well over and over again in the everyday other cases of letting other evil animals get away with their unspeakable crimes and ignoring the life time of suffering by victims and their families.  

"YOU" do it best when you let parents and others who have ruthlessly killed their own innocent small children, shit, they seem to almost always get tapped lightly on the wrists and go free. 

 So throw the "book" at this grieving mom, "JUSTICE SERVED" is your motto, give her the full 36  months in prison while you let the driver who killed her son go free, after serving only 6 months of his five year sentence. Protect us from the "criminal" mother while the jerk who killed her son is out there ready to kill another child.

"YOU" are on the job with the finest demonstration of the arrogance of of the LAW, by saving all of us from this woman and dispensing justice for JAY WALKING to this grieving mother whose 4 year old child was killed by a hit and run driver who was drinking and high on pain killers. 

Great job ass holes, you must feel so proud of your maggot selves.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/raquel-nelson-jail-for-jaywalking_b_905925.html
 
Grieving Mother Faces 36 Months In Jail For Jaywalking After Son Is Killed By Hit-And-Run Driver

Story By Radley Balko 7/21/11 02:01 PM ET-Huffington Post

"On April 10, 2010, Raquel Nelson lost her 4-year-old son. Nelson was crossing a busy Marietta, Georgia, street with her son and his two siblings when they were struck by a hit-and-run driver. Police were able to track down the driver, Jerry Guy, who later admitted he had been drinking and had taken painkillers the night of the accident. He was also mostly blind in one eye. Guy had already been convicted of two prior hit-and-runs. He pleaded guilty, served six months of his five-year sentence, and was released last October.


If it ended there, this story would merely be tragic. But it gets worse. Last week Nelson herself was convicted on three charges related to her son's death: reckless conduct, improperly crossing a roadway and second-degree homicide by vehicle. Each is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in prison. 

Nelson could spend up to six times as many months in jail as the man who struck her son and then fled the scene.

Nelson's crime:JAYWALKING .

Nelson had taken her children with her to shop for groceries and supplies for her upcoming birthday party. The working mother and college student regularly took public transportation, but she and her kids missed their intended bus that night, putting them an hour behind schedule. The bus they caught pulled up to their stop after nightfall, and Nelson stepped off, clutching her kids' hands through the shopping bags wrapped around her wrists. Nelson's apartment complex sits across the street from the bus stop, but the nearest crosswalk is three-tenths of a mile away. 

So Nelson did what everyone who uses that bus stop does, and what the other disembarking passengers all did that night: She crossed one side of the divided highway to the median, where she waited for a break in the traffic.

Several people then crossed the street before Nelson thought it was safe. She waited with her kids. But when others started to move towards the road, Nelson's son must taken it as a cue it was time to go. She felt his grip on her hand loosen and he darted out into the road. She followed. Guy's car struck Nelson, her son and her daughter, and the boy died.

Over the next month, as Guy was processed by Georgia's criminal justice system, Nelson buried and grieved for her son. But on May 14, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a long story under the headline, "Jaywalkers take deadly risks." The article mentioned Nelson and her son, pointing out that she hadn't been charged with any crime. Three days later, the Georgia Solicitor General's office charged Nelson with the three misdemeanors.

Nelson was convicted last week, and she'll be sentenced on July 26. Nelson, a black woman, was convicted by an all-white jury. She relies on public transportation; she is a pedestrian in a car-oriented Atlanta suburb. 

During jury questioning, none of the jurors who would eventually convict Nelson raised their hands when asked if they relied on public transportation. Just one juror admitted to ever having ridden a public bus, though in response to a subsequent question, a few said they'd taken a bus to Braves games.

Nelson was not judged by a jury of her peers; she was convicted by a jury that had no understanding of the circumstances that compelled her to cross the street where she did.

According to the Daily Mail, other tenants in Nelson's apartment complex had complained to the city about their difficulties getting home from the bus stop. The Transportation in America blog shows a photo of the stretch of highway where Nelson crossed as evidence city planners are guilty of "poor planning and dangerous designs."

No one forced Raquel Nelson to jaywalk the night of her son's death. The suggestion here isn't that the city owes Nelson anything for the consequences of her actions. 

But there is something to be said for designing cities with an eye toward how people actually behave, not how urban planners wish they would. 

Putting a bus stop in the middle of a busy highway, three-tenths of a mile away from the nearest crosswalk -- while zoning for apartments and businesses on the other side of the same street -- is poor planning.

But it's really the decision to prosecute Nelson that's outrageous. That the state can prosecute someone doesn't mean that it should. And it seems that a little empathy would be in order here.

Prosecutors have a great deal of discretion over when to bring charges, and over what charges they bring. If those in the office of Solicitor General Barry Morgan are charging Nelson to punish her for her jaywalking, they're misguided -- it's hard to conceive of a more potent punishment than the loss of a child. 

If their aim was to make an example of a devastated mother to prevent others from jaywalking, they're delusional.


But this isn't even the first time they've done it.According to the Journal-Constitution, in 2010, Morgan's office charged another woman whose child was struck and killed while the two were jaywalking. A recent Pro Publica/Frontline investigation found prosecutors seem especially prone to find criminality -- then over-charge once they do -- in instances of child death, even when the evidence suggests the death was an accident.


Earlier this month, I wrote a column criticizing the so-called Caylee's Law, the bill sweeping state legislatures across the country in response to the Casey Anthony verdict. I mentioned a number of scenarios in which innocent parents or caretakers might be prosecuted under the law. The response from the law's supporters was that a prosecutor would never charge a grieving parent under those circumstances. This case shows that such prosecutions can and do certainly happen.

There are nearly always strong incentives for prosecutors to over-charge defendants. Prosecutors receive praise, and are reelected and promoted based on their ability to win convictions. They're rarely punished or held accountable for over-charging, or committing misconduct en route to a conviction. They're also rarely praised or credited when they decline to bring charges in the interest of justice.

There are a couple of solutions here. Lawmakers should anticipate ways laws might be abused or misapplied -- even in scenarios that seem unlikely -- and craft laws in ways that minimize the chance that they'll be abused. The justice system should not rely on the goodwill of prosecutors.

Another solution: We need to start holding prosecutors accountable for bringing unjust charges like those brought against Nelson -- even if they may technically be legally permissible.

In nearly all jurisdictions, "prosecutor" is a political position. That means voters can realign the incentives. If Cobb County residents want to make it clear that the prosecution of Raquel Nelson is an abuse of power and a waste of resources, they could let Solicitor General Barry Morgan know, both now and next Election Day."
 END OF STORY By Radley Balko

(INSERTED BY ME BELOW)-

 But then again, the same ignorant people who are on these Jury's of so called "peers" are the same ones who vote in these defenders of our safety, protectors of our human legal rights. Don't expect anything to change for the better, as America sinks even deeper into a sewer of unfeeling, cruel, and fatal spiral of death to its existing conscience of insanity.


PLEASE CLICK ON THE WORD PETITION BELOW  TO Cobb County GA: Release Grieving Mother of Hit-and-Run & Install a Crosswalk

 PETITION

IS THERE NOT ONE COURAGEOUS PERSON IN SAN MATEO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA?

                        Will You?

                                     
The Coroner supposedly has broad legal powers to do  just about anything to a dead body. The body allegedly no longer belongs to the person, or his/her surviving loved ones, the Coroner owns it. But the Coroner does not own the body's soul or have the right to desecrate that persons humanity.


In our multiple legal cases, we are standing up for Justice to be given to Steven. Not only for the sake of holding those responsible for killing him, but also for Steven's dignity, the sacredness of a human body, and that there are certain inalienable moral, legal rights, legal obligations to protect the dignity of the human body in it's final disposition. We also want to prevent this unimaginable horrifying pain from happening to future families.

Importantly, the Coroner over 1 year after his Office, and his own forensic pathologist determined beyond a doubt in the Official Coroners Final written Report that Steven was killed by injuries not consistent with the collision, they then released Steven's brain to a private Pathologist hired by San Mateo County and their private ambulance subcontractor AMR. In doing so, he knowingly violated State Laws and Professional ethics, when he allowed her to newly dissect Steven's brain, physically remove his brain, along with other parts of his remains, to her office, away from the sworn, sealed protection supposed to be provided by the Coroner's office.

All this was done in response to the defendants attempting to mount a legal  defense that Steven would have died anyway from brain damage caused by the collision (not true and she couldn't even medically prove it after all of this).

This information accidentally slipped out at the deposition of the SMC County Corners own Pathologist who did the original autopsy. There certainly was no medical need to have a consultation done a year later, or a sudden need for medical, scientific research to be done, as he had determined the cause of death a year before. We knew nothing about any of this, our consent was never asked, and it was a cruel, inhuman, disrespectful desecration done to Steven's body.

More importantly Steven has received no justice for their stealing his life and killing him. Incompetent para-medics, defective medical machines, a DUI impaired driver (an illegal undocumented alien) who never even had a drivers license in his life, another additional driver who made a series of  dangerously illegal motor vehicle violations, including making a left turn from the highway left speed lane while he was at a full stop, a defective, inherently flawed road design, a known highway death trap, on and on, one mistake after another, no-one takes responsibility, no one is held accountable, no one says they are sorry. It is a game to them.

Killing an innocent human being, an American citizen, my son Steven Nathaniel Wolkoff, in San Mateo County California, is seemingly no big deal and not 1 person has come forward with the truth since they all got lawyered up. They all know the truth but seem to now prefer to cover their asses.


They try to erase Steven Nathaniel Wolkoff's life as if he never existed. What if this was your innocent child, could you rest knowing that the truth is being hidden by others.? Would you not expect the honesty and dignity from me, my neighbors, if your child was killed traveling through my community? We would tell the truth here and understand that every human life is precious. Apparently NOT so in San Mateo!


Many of you used to communicate with me openly, in a caring way, and helped me in a courageous manner to gather evidence. What happened since then to you and your neighbors, you are now silent?


I KNOW that some of you are good people who could provide information leading to Justice for Steven's negligent death. You check into the blog because your conscience is guilty. How do you live with yourself knowing that your personal selfish fears of telling the truth, have provided not a whiff of justice for my son Steven's life being stolen from him at the age of 30? 


You can still choose to come forward, even do it anonymously, and give the true information to make things right, think about it, your guilt will only get worse if you don't, it will otherwise haunt you forever. 


This is your choice to make, but I guarantee you, unless you tell what you know, you are doomed to a lifetime of guilt. Is it possible that there is not at least one brave human being in San Mateo County involved in all of this, who will come forward and recognize that a human life is precious?


As for the legal system, it is a disgraceful, dysfunctional mess. "Democracy Freedom, Respect of basic human rights, Justice served", bullshit. The Law is used to hide behind, victims have no voice, the Government entities claim immunity from everything they are guilty of, or have hordes of lawyers to stall the legal proceedings. They even get away with delays by pleading budgetary poverty as a reason to not mount a defense. Can you imagine a regular citizen being allowed to do that? This is a sick farce, a circus, but there is no other civilized option in San Mateo county.

This is why I will not stop fighting until it's all over, and I WILL do the best I can. WILL YOU?