Comments for The Small Business Water Cooler http://rickmasseyblog.com People are More Important than the Organizations and Legal Fictions we Create Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:23:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Rick Massey http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3963 Rick Massey Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:23:35 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3963 Dave: To use their own pet business jargon, that is the "bottom line." To proudly proclaim to be a "conservative" is to say "I am afraid of progress." "I am fairly comfortable right now, and since that is all that really matters to me, I am not open to change." By definition, all dictators and despots are "conservative." Dave: To use their own pet business jargon, that is the “bottom line.” To proudly proclaim to be a “conservative” is to say “I am afraid of progress.” “I am fairly comfortable right now, and since that is all that really matters to me, I am not open to change.” By definition, all dictators and despots are “conservative.”

]]> Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Dave Dubya http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3943 Dave Dubya Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:01:24 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3943 What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? Great question. Whether they know it or not, what they are trying to conserve is dominance by the economic elites through financial gain and political power by "Divine Right of Wealth". What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve?

Great question. Whether they know it or not, what they are trying to conserve is dominance by the economic elites through financial gain and political power by “Divine Right of Wealth”.

]]> Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Rick Massey http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3677 Rick Massey Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:01:56 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3677 Bee: It's funny how appropriate that analogy is. John Gotti used to throw cookouts in the neighborhood to show potential jurors what a great guy he was. Corporations do the same thing. They of course, write off what they contribute to charitable causes. But they also get the benefit of making the public think they are human. The only real difference is the rule book they follow. Bee: It’s funny how appropriate that analogy is. John Gotti used to throw cookouts in the neighborhood to show potential jurors what a great guy he was. Corporations do the same thing. They of course, write off what they contribute to charitable causes. But they also get the benefit of making the public think they are human. The only real difference is the rule book they follow.

]]> Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Bee http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3640 Bee Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:31:42 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3640 Well, I was going to make the organized crime analogy, but you beat me to it... Good rant, Rick :) Well, I was going to make the organized crime analogy, but you beat me to it…

Good rant, Rick :)

]]> Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Rick Massey http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3524 Rick Massey Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:02:06 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3524 Tom: There isn't really that much difference between the CEO of a large corporation and the CEO of any other system of organized crime. It's nothing personal; "it's business." Tom: There isn’t really that much difference between the CEO of a large corporation and the CEO of any other system of organized crime. It’s nothing personal; “it’s business.”

]]> Comment on What Are Conservatives Trying to Conserve? by Tom Harper http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/03/25/what-are-conservatives-trying-to-conserve/comment-page-1/#comment-3504 Tom Harper Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:20:41 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=699#comment-3504 "...capitalists are not immoral. They are simply amoral. You did not terminate her job to hurt her..." Larry Ellison -- CEO of Oracle, and somebody I've always hated -- actually said something just like that a few years ago. I was living in the San Francisco area when he was trying, again and again, to take over PeopleSoft, a software firm in the East Bay. He finally acquired them -- and laid off most of their work force -- after years of being rebuffed. He was telling an interviewer that things like this are "not personal." He said something like "if I purchase the apartment building where you live and evict all the tenants so I convert the building to condos, it's not personal." But I'm sure the billions "earned" by Larry Ellison and others like him will someday trickle down on the rest of us; it just hasn't happened yet. “…capitalists are not immoral. They are simply amoral. You did not terminate her job to hurt her…”

Larry Ellison — CEO of Oracle, and somebody I’ve always hated — actually said something just like that a few years ago. I was living in the San Francisco area when he was trying, again and again, to take over PeopleSoft, a software firm in the East Bay. He finally acquired them — and laid off most of their work force — after years of being rebuffed. He was telling an interviewer that things like this are “not personal.” He said something like “if I purchase the apartment building where you live and evict all the tenants so I convert the building to condos, it’s not personal.”

But I’m sure the billions “earned” by Larry Ellison and others like him will someday trickle down on the rest of us; it just hasn’t happened yet.

]]> Comment on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to “Replenish the ol’ Coffers” by Bee http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/02/07/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-replenish-the-ol-coffers/comment-page-1/#comment-2665 Bee Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:07:18 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=661#comment-2665 I'd comment, but I have nothing to add. Great post, Rick :) I’d comment, but I have nothing to add. Great post, Rick :)

]]> Comment on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to “Replenish the ol’ Coffers” by Rick Massey http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/02/07/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-replenish-the-ol-coffers/comment-page-1/#comment-1737 Rick Massey Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:31:40 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=661#comment-1737 Dave: I have to agree. Obama's "looking forward" is not only shameful but dishonest. Holding our leaders above the law is a pretty foolish way to look forward. "As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic." That statement is just as true for the remaining minority of Americans that think about these things as it is for the rest of the world. We are already viewed as a laghing stock that will impeach it's President for lying about something that was no one else's business in the first place, but will look the other way when he commits war crimes. If the right wingers ever had any credibility, I don't see how they can hold onto it much longer. Dave: I have to agree. Obama’s “looking forward” is not only shameful but dishonest. Holding our leaders above the law is a pretty foolish way to look forward. “As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic.” That statement is just as true for the remaining minority of Americans that think about these things as it is for the rest of the world. We are already viewed as a laghing stock that will impeach it’s President for lying about something that was no one else’s business in the first place, but will look the other way when he commits war crimes. If the right wingers ever had any credibility, I don’t see how they can hold onto it much longer.

]]> Comment on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to “Replenish the ol’ Coffers” by Dave Dubya http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/02/07/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-replenish-the-ol-coffers/comment-page-1/#comment-1736 Dave Dubya Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:15:49 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=661#comment-1736 It's starting to look like Bush was wrong when he said history will judge him long after he's dead. Now that the Shrub is out of his protective bubble, maybe he'll bump into some more judgment. As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic. We are on the path to totalitarianism unless there comes some accountability. Obama with his shameful "looking forward" has now become part of the problem. I will always love the Dixie Chicks for having the courage of their convictions. Well, along with the other obvious reasons. I heartily suggest seeing them in "Shut Up and Sing". It’s starting to look like Bush was wrong when he said history will judge him long after he’s dead. Now that the Shrub is out of his protective bubble, maybe he’ll bump into some more judgment.

As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic.

We are on the path to totalitarianism unless there comes some accountability. Obama with his shameful “looking forward” has now become part of the problem.

I will always love the Dixie Chicks for having the courage of their convictions. Well, along with the other obvious reasons. I heartily suggest seeing them in “Shut Up and Sing”.

]]> Comment on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to “Replenish the ol’ Coffers” by Rick Massey http://rickmasseyblog.com/2011/02/07/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-replenish-the-ol-coffers/comment-page-1/#comment-1713 Rick Massey Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:21:47 +0000 http://rickmasseyblog.com/?p=661#comment-1713 Tom: The sad thing is that my conservative friends were calling the French cowards simply because they understood that Bush was not <i>their</i> president and they told him and Cheney where to stick their bogus war. Then they used to respond to my complaints that he was a war criminal with "then why isn't he in jail?" Of course the answer is that our supposedly elected leaders don't represent us and will not do their job and put him in jail. But there is always hope that his yacht will drift into international waters and someone will pick him up. His dad is not in the CIA anymore. So he may just be on his own. Tom: The sad thing is that my conservative friends were calling the French cowards simply because they understood that Bush was not their president and they told him and Cheney where to stick their bogus war. Then they used to respond to my complaints that he was a war criminal with “then why isn’t he in jail?” Of course the answer is that our supposedly elected leaders don’t represent us and will not do their job and put him in jail. But there is always hope that his yacht will drift into international waters and someone will pick him up. His dad is not in the CIA anymore. So he may just be on his own.

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