2012 the Year of Real Change ???

When the people sitting on the money start investing and hiring then those who don't pay taxes will get jobs and be able to pay taxes again. Pretty simple equation, doncha think, Einstein?

Try flat tax applicable to both person and corporations. Our current tax system penalizes accomplishment, success, investment. The reporting requirements and compliance costs of doing business in this country are a deterrent to all but the most heavily capitalized. If you were one tenth of an Einstein you would see that the problem is not that we don't tax some people enough but that we discourage the very thing you wish to happen.
Sorry for the one tenth of an Einstein rock but why is it that liberals can't disagree without insults? I'm starting to stoop to their low level. There I did it again, damn.

Agree 100%!

are these the "people" you mean...the system is corrupt and broken. No one elected to office will be so because they are interested in helping humanity to a better tomorrow. If someone wants to lead you chances are their integrity is already compromised as it's their interests that rule yours.

This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Because of contribution limits, organizations that bundle together many individual contributions are often among the top donors to presidential candidates. These contributions can come from the organization's members or employees (and their families). The organization may support one candidate, or hedge its bets by supporting multiple candidates. Groups with national networks of donors - like EMILY's List and Club for Growth - make for particularly big bundlers.
University of California $1,648,685
Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
Harvard University $878,164
Microsoft Corp $852,167
Google Inc $814,540
JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799
Citigroup Inc $736,771
Time Warner $624,618
Sidley Austin LLP $600,298
Stanford University $595,716
National Amusements Inc $563,798
WilmerHale LLP $550,668
Columbia University $547,852
Skadden, Arps et al $543,539
UBS AG $532,674
IBM Corp $532,372
General Electric $529,855
US Government $513,308
Morgan Stanley $512,232
Latham & Watkins $503,295

If you interpreted my comments as a put down of the aspirations of the Venus project, that is not the case. Your goals are very laudable. My warning was just a caveat. I'll restate my message. Draining the swamp is a long term goal; but we're up to our ass in alligators-so set priorities accordingly. Another thing to be wary of is "being killed with kindness". If I can't SUPPRESS your vote by persuading you to my side, maybe I can convince you that your vote doesn't really matter OR you're too "pure" to vote for something that is not perfect, but still in your interest.

my point was the same people buy both sides of the elections so the same interests persist regardless of the outcome...it is clear Obama will get reelected as the GOP has offered nothing for competition.

Now, that is some REAL change. TVP and TZM FTW!

Me too ! It is the one way the 1% cannot ever again dominate .

I do too, but letting it happen is something the Fascist will try too stop!

Well said!

Okay you talked me into it. I will vote for Obama for the rest of the world.
Sometimes I think the USA DESERVES Rick Santorum as President for being such gluttonous flakizoids. But I like to think globally and realize that could spell Armageddon.
Please Canada help us stop the tar sands!

Thank you and we all need to work together to stop the tar sands. If both people in the States and Canada join forces, we have a bigger voice. Remember we have some big hurdles to climb - both the GOP and the Conservatives in Canada are both in bed with the Koch Brothers. I saw a snippet of a congressional hearing today regarding the pipeline. When Congressman Waxman ask that the Koch Brothers be called to appear in front of the hearing, the GOP Chairman cut him off and completely lied that the Koch Brothers have nothing to do with the pipeline. Of course, it was pointed out later that he had received the maximum donation from the Koch Brothers.

From what I have been reading and hearing it seems like a sleeping giant has awoken in the form of the 99ers. While the GOP continues to ignore the 99ers, it appears that Obama gets it. As he has always said, if you want him to do something, make him. Now it the time for the 99ers to make him.

He must likewise listen to what the 98% of scientists are saying.
Politics is about polls. A President needs the support of his base and Congress to do the will of the people. Obama's base let him down in 2010 by letting the Tea Party take over.

You are exactly right and after the 2010 Election what did he do? He moved more to the centre because he knew that with the crew he had to work with in congress they were not going to help him pass any of his agenda, but he had to keep the economy moving as it was still fragile. Now that the 99ers have started to speak up he realizes that the population really wants what he was trying to do. I think you will see a stronger Obama in the coming months who will go around this broken congress whenever he can to help the economy and the middle class.

People have to realize that the economy was going to pot for 20 years, and almost went off the cliff at the end of Bush's last term. You cannot fix an economy that fractured in only three years (especially when you didn't give him the chance after the first two years and pulled the rug out from under him). Go back into history and see how long it took the country to recover from the Great Depression. It took FDR two terms and he stumbled, as well in the beginning.

Thank you, my friend!

Yup, you've got that right! I think the Elite and Corporate powers will be shaking in their boots!

That's exactly what I want to see, kenny!

I sure hope so...it has fallen off the radar for too many people...don't know if it can build back to the impact it had in the fall...Let's all hope so!

I hope so too, Ambill94!

It'll happen, they can't ignore us forever!

That's correct, kenny!

think this is right on.

Response to Occupy Wall Street

The Venus Project realizes the significance of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together movements and offers a positive solution for their grievances.

We at The Venus Project fear that any acquiescence to the protestor’s demands will do very little if the processes that cause the problems are left in place. In this case whatever laws or regulations are made will be eventually bypassed or overturned and conditions will revert back. This has almost always been the situation historically.

We are concerned that meeting the demands of the protestors while keeping the current economic system in place will not have the desired outcome. It will merely serve to temporarily pacify those who are abused and rightly angry. This will not solve the problems but will prolong them. When force does not work and superficial fixes (laws) are put into place without addressing the underlying problems, then no effective remedy will occur. It is the monetary economic system itself that is the root cause of these problems. Greed, corruption, and war are inevitable byproducts of the monetary system.

We maintain an obsolete economic system that has been handed down to us from centuries ago. It has never been just or equitable, nor can it be. The main aim of the monetary system is wealth, property, and power. This results in everyone being out for themselves. Our current circumstances are merely the evolution of a monetary-based system. It generates scarcity, poverty, aberrant behavior and the accumulation of wealth at the expense of others and the environment. The main aim is not the well being of the environment or people. Is it any wonder that most of the money is usurped by 1% of the population?

The wealthy buy and control the politicians, courts, judges, media, police, entertainment, and even the universities. They set the agenda and the laws for their own advantage. It is the taxpayers who pay the salaries of the police while they work for the wealthy (who pay very little taxes) to violently put down peaceful protestors who threaten the status quo.

Those in positions of advantage will not yield their control willingly.

Calls for stopping wars seems to be a fruitless plea when there is so much money to be made from them. Peace is the brief interval between wars. We have many real problems as a human species, but wars should not be one of them. Wars are the supreme failure of inadequate social structures. Conflicts must be expected when people have unequal access to goods and services.

Some say we should elect more “ethical” people to government. It is not ethical people we need but the intelligent management of Earth’s resources for the benefit of all. Anything less will revert back to the same problems we face today.

If we wish to put an end to wars, greed, and corruption, we must come to understand that the real culprit is the monetary system itself and the values it generates in order to perpetuate itself. It values competition rather than cooperation. People are pacified with the notion of “freedom”. As Jacque Fresco says, “one is only as free as their purchasing power”. Concepts of “individuality” keep people divided. It puts the blame on individuals rather than the system that has failed them, whether it is going abroad for cheap labor or automating to maintain a competitive edge. However, you are brought up with the propaganda that you are to blame, not the environment. This is not the case.

There is an alternative.

The Venus Project calls for a total redesign of society where human rights are not merely paper proclamations but a way of life. A society can be designed where war and want are distant memories. All people need clean air, water, food, a relevant education, and the necessities of life. This is now possible if we update our social systems as we have updated our technologies. We are not separate from nature and must live within the carrying capacity of our planet’s resources. This can be accomplished by applying the methods of science to the way we live with the main aim being the wellbeing of all the world’s people and the protection of the environment.

Jacque Fresco, the originator of the Venus Project, arrived at this new holistic socioeconomic system through more than 7 decades of scientific inquiry, research and development, which he calls a resource-based economy. We invite you to learn more about it at www.thevenusproject.com

Once we join together and proclaim all earth’s resources as the common heritage of all people, we will begin to know what it means to be civilized. Until that time we will be continuously fighting for a piece of the pie.

The current powers that be will not let this happen without a very, very bloody fight. They like control over the world's population and they're not for having that control taken away from them, STC. This redesign of society will not take place peacefully.

we are many and they are few, but I think you are right...they won't let go without a fight

I agree, STC.

Good point, I can't remember how many VP's FDR had or how many cabinet members but FDR changed things up quite often over his several terms in office before his death!

He was a true pragmatist...if this program didn't work then we'll try this one etc.

The Greatest President in our history!

Certainly one of them that's for sure...

Yes indeed!

Thank you for taking the time out to read it! :)

Exactly! They have awoke a sleeping giant, the American People, and the circus of irrational candidates proves they haven't a clue!

I sure hope so! Loved your new post as well my friend!

That could very well be John!

We have got to make him do it, totally!

Like we made him do it the first time???

Yes, we should have instead of staying home in 2010 and letting the Tea Baggers take us another step backwards!

Yep...:=)

he prioritized healthcare,to his own detriment.greatest failing of his first term.

and what he delivered was a bonanza for the insurance companies and big pharma...

I agree, he is willing to listen and just the fact that he denied the GOP a win on the XL Pipeline shows that he is listening to do what people want if you are willing to get out there and protest. Make him do it and he will! I really think that he is finally getting that trying to be all things to all people doesn't work. That he has to take the bull by the horns and do what is right.

i remain hopeful because i must..any victory by the right is taken as a mandate to run over the middle class.

there are many positves in the healthcare bill,and it can grow from here.but NOTHING will happen if we the people sit idle.

I think you are too generous in your assessment...there were two accomplishments, as I recall...one was the addition of around 20 million people to the number of insured...however, even that is more than offset by the 50 millions now uninsured, but perhaps more importantly, was the language that prevented insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions...however the insurance companies and big pharma are still out of control with coverage not keeping pace with the costs of both care and drugs...it did little or nothing to help the vast majority in the middle class..

I agree with you wholeheartedly, that's exactly what it is.

Never underestimate the potential and power of the human spirit.

It's our destiny, it's in the stars! The last time Pluto was in Capricorn the American Revolution took place!

It's also the end of the Kali Yuga.
The end of time=money.
The end of the world run by greed.
How is this "doom"?

Indeed. :)

Metaphorically speaking, god would being saying "Look after the magnificent world you live on." No miraculous transportation to another world, this Earth is either the Heaven or Hell we allow it to become. Jesus would have kicked more than a few alters over, probably find himself in a spot of bother. I might go make some spears. For food of course. Not like random violence and stuff.

It's not, I have said this many times! :)

Right on. Obama would have been a reasonably effective CEO of America Inc. in the sixties but time and events have bypassed the "moderate" approach to the economic, social and environmental crisis that the U.S. and the developed world is sinking under.
We need a complete revolution in human consciousness and human action in every facet of how we see the world and how we interact with it and with each other.
I hope we can make that happen with our voices together but if not I can see us using our bodies to push the apple cart over.
It would be better to stop this toxic machine rather than trying to keep it rolling forward with cosmetic repairs. Doing that only leaves the same drunken bozos in the drivers seat.

Thanks, that was special! :)

Awesome, well said!

Good on you Jan! :)

This is our year.

It is Jan, one way or another! I hope for a peaceful way but it is beginning to become clear it may not be a peaceful change!

Well said Janfor Gore...there is no reason to believe, especially after his speech the other night that BO "gets it"...only thing he gets is pandering to the powers that be will get him re-elected...

Yes, I don't like violence. People are being pushed further and further towards their limits. It would be wise for some to remember the French Revolution when many heads were chopped off by people driven mad by hunger and frustration. We have the foresight to learn from mistakes, but as I say, things can spiral to the point where frustration boils over into anger. Hopefully it will be a Gandhi type revolution where enough people decide "Look shove it up your arse you wankers, we will no longer put up with these conditions".

We are going to have to have a day when everyone ceases anything but pure humanitarian and environmental care, and then maybe another, and another, and another...

Lets hope so, the greed is incredible!

We are all going to have to do something!

It's the Chinese year of the Dragon, so it will be telling for those prudent
people who think before they act, and have planned things out in detail
over a long long time. That's me all right. I can't speak for the entire USA,
but I expect 2012 will be a year of substantial change for me as I've been
working arduously & long to meet my goals which are fundamental. Last
year was a pivotal year to orient me and prepare me for the vision I've
had inmaking my dreams come true. They're modest, and well founded.

Thats right, personally I was born in the year of the Dragon myself, so I know it's going to be a great year!