According to police in San Jose, California, in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 9, 2009, someone vandalized fiber optic communication cables belonging to AT&T. No one so far has been able to estimate the extent of the damage caused by the unexpected interruption of service to the telephone giant’s residential and business customers in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.

Authorities report segments of the three counties experienced service outages at hospitals, computerized medical records, stores, Internet service and banks; ATMs and credit and debit cards were similarly affected by the sabotage. Police and fire departments that rely on 911 calls were crippled by this purposeful act of inconsideration.

Service to Verizon’s more than 52,000 landline customers in southern Santa Clara County, was also interrupted. Verizon depends on AT&T cables in the South Bay to provide landline service. (more…)

The deadline for sending  to the USDA your comments on the farm payment limitation rule is the close of business today Monday, April 6, 2009.

Add huge multi-millionaire  corporate farm businesses to the growing list of industries– banking institutions, auto manufacturing companies, drug makers and insurance companies, that are daily exploiting Americans.

Who among us regular folk does not want to stop corporate welfare? You can join the effort to close the loophole for millionaire corporate welfare to agri-businesses where more of our really big taxpayer bucks are given to the big time farm businesses that are putting small family owned farms out of business.

Time is of the essence. Sign the petition or send a message to Dan McGlynn, Acting Deputy Director in charge of this matter at [email protected]

President Obama in his recent speech to both houses of the federal legislature called for ending “direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them.” In the president’s 2010 budget he has proposed phasing out direct payments in an attempt to save about $1 billion over the next ten years; this is seen as an indication of presidential advocacy on behalf of farm families rights to have access to and fully participate in fair market conditions (more…)

Over the weekend we heard the reporter/blog writer who alerted the public to the possibility of organic farming being outlawed is now retracting his statement. We hear Connecticut congresswoman Democrat Rose De Lauro (more…)

We want to weigh in on the non-controversy, a matter we believe is a further distraction from the important issues discussed during the President and First Lady’s recent travels abroad. An example of what we consider important is whether or not the U.S. dollar will remain worldwide currency. In our opinion this is a topic of far greater concern

than Michelle Obama’s sleeveless style or Mrs. Obama alleged breach of protocol by touching a British royal; a touch which was reciprocal, since the Queen initiated the touchy-feely expression (more…)

The big question pertaining to the economy among the YouThinkWhat staff is, “Why is the government forcing the auto industry to be accountable for the taxpayer dollars it has received, but the banks have been allowed to do whatever they wish with the corporate welfare money they’ve been given?”

We have had much discussion about the disparity of treatment of two industries.  The chief executives in both the banking and the auto industries have made major mistakes in handling the money. Poor decisions abound.

We offer our explanation of the reason for the different treatment of the two major businesses. (more…)

One of our favorite political cartoonists, Scott Bateman, has crafted a clever and interesting response to President Obama’s auto industry speech.

Bateman asks if we remember the Ford Pinto as he wonders if he’ll ever get a car loan again.

On Monday evening in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida the local interfaith group known as F.A.I.T.H. , (Fighting Against Injustice Towards Harmony), held its annual Action Assembly hosted by First Baptist Church. (more…)

“To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from
intentional contamination, and for other purposes.”

H. R. 875 proposed February 4, 2009 to be enacted by the United States House of Representatives and the Senate.

Read the proposed “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009” here.

This seemingly innocuous proposed bill, also known as the  “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009”, has started a firestorm of controversy among many American citizens who are proponents of organic gardening.

The federal legislative bodies are in a rush to get this bill passed. It is has the support by major chemical companies such as ADM, Monsanto and about thirty other companies with a vested interest in making sure the nation continues to use the petroleum based fertilizers and growth chemicals already in use. Chemicals that have over a period of years have contributed to the erosion of the public health. (more…)

THIS IS NO APRIL FOOL’s DAY PRANK

Another insanely Orwellian titled piece of legislation will soon be presented to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate for a vote. It is a bill to ban organic farming.

Organic farming produces fruits and vegetables without pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

The House the proposal, known by the innocuous title “Food Safety and Modernization Act” (Bill HR 875), not surprisingly has the support of Monsanto, a giant American chemical and engineering corporation.

More on this potentially dangerous law in another post.

We treasure the wisdom of the elders. We hold in high esteem their life experience; that is why we celebrate the life of the late John Hope Franklin who departed this existence on March 25, 2009. He was 94 years old.

The late John Hope Franklin was a chronicler of American history and a civil rights activist.

He was president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. He was Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University.

Franklin is probably best known for his work “From Slavery to Freedom”, first published in 1947, and regularly updated. This historic writing has sold an more than three million copies have been. In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. (more…)