When a 43-year-old underemployed Lexington minister scored a job working at the new Amazon distribution center in Cayce in November, he thought his financial troubles might be over. The part-time pastor had been in the home-building business before the recession dried up work. He’d been doing odd framing jobs as best he could, but he needed more stable full-time employment. After his mother told him about job openings at the new Amazon.com facility, he applied.
Like four other employees Free Times spoke with for this story, the pastor was hired by a temp service called SMX Staffing in November and was sent to work at Amazon. Just before Christmas, he was among roughly 60 workers laid off at 3:30 one morning.
Another employee says there were hundreds of workers laid off around the holidays. . . .
Fascists love slaves and treat them like slaves. Being a huge fish--or a whale in this case--in a small pond is heaven for them. If we stopped the state directed economy that is being directed by the likes of Jake Knotts (For God's sake's WHY do we think these freakin' idiots are good at anything other than getting elected?) we wouldn't have these problems.
ACROSS THE BOARD tax cuts and enforcing EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW (as required by the SC Constitution's routinely ignored equal protection clause) would stop the extortion of our tax dollars and other privilege$ by abusive mega-corporations like Amazon.con. If the tax burden were not so onerous here, there would be more jobs and then businesses would have to treat their employees better or lose them. In other words, they'd have to compete for good help instead of picking the cream of applicants, using them up and tossing them away because they know there are more desperate people just outside the door.
The government cannot dictate an economy. EVERY interference with the hiring and firing and internal matters of private companies is opening a can of worms where expectations are dictated by law and then not met by the privileged company--who is never punished by law. Eventually the companies run out of tax payer funded/legislatively bribed incentives and leave for better taxpayer pickings elsewhere.
It is far better to keep the idiots in the statehouse from redistributing taxpayer wealth to their elitist buddies in the name of "creating jobs" which is really creating slavery for workers in SC. Those drooling morons holding elected office are the last thing we need deciding what should be made or sold here, what kind of jobs we should have, and how many people should be hired.
The marketplace existed before government and is a natural result of human interaction. Government doesn't contribute to this process, they suck the blood out of those who not only make the natural functioning of human commerce possible but successful and thriving. It's time that citizens demand that the government respect our unalienable rights and force them to trust the people and their choices vs. the backroom shenanigan$ of Jake Knotts and other legislators' fascist favor factory.
What you're hearing when listening to the video linked above ("Dean Allen hates flea market montgomery") is a recording of a prank call made by "martymcfett" on his You Tube channel. A song is playing on the phone line when the call goes through and Dean Allen picks up. After a few seconds of hearing the music, Dean Allen can then be heard telling someone, "Evidently, these n-----s have got the wrong number."
Evidently, Dean Allen won't be supporting Herman Cain, if he's the GOP nominee. His worst nightmare may be watching Cain go up against Obama.
The video was posted early Wednesday morning, Nov. 16, 2011. A link to the video was posted in response to the original article regarding Dean Allen's email to SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly. The text of the message was as follows:
So far, four people I know and who personally know Dean Allen have confirmed that it is his voice. Another person I've contacted who has dealt with him a lot in Greenville County has also confirmed that it is him. Allen is a long time GOP activist and Greenville county Grassroots Coordinator for Team Bachmann.
Everything considered, this is a very disappointing turn of events. The intent here at Stuffed Suits was never to bring anyone down in this manner. The only intent was to provide a response to what is, without a doubt, one of the most egregious examples of arrogance and disdain for a presidential candidate and his supporters I think I've ever witnessed. Allen, in his email, actually calls for censorship of Ron Paul by banning him and his supporters from future debates in South Carolina. In addition, he states that he will introduce a censure of Ron Paul supporters at the Greenville County GOP.
Unfortunately for Dean Allen, he can't keep his mouth shut and can't keep from uttering some ugly words when picking up the phone. He should have thought first about censoring himself instead of Ron Paul and his supporters.
As reported here yesterday, Dean Allen has sent a letter to SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly urging him to ban Ron Paul and his supporters from future debates. In addition to that, Dean Allen took the opportunity to call Paul's supporters "idiots" and otherwise denigrated them for alleged behavior that other candidates' followers are flagrantly guilty of themselves at other debates. Such smearing of Ron Paul supporters includes many current members of the military and veterans. As illustrated by the second quarter 2011 graph above, Ron Paul has been regularly pulling in more money than any other candidates, including Obama, from active duty military personnel.
Dean Allen, it turns out, is a veteran but he's not just any veteran. He wears his veteran status on his sleeve and is always sure to milk it for all it's worth. At every opportunity in his various activities, including his abortive run for SC Adjutant General, he has played the "veteran card" in seeking support or votes. Dean Allen, in his calculated attack on Ron Paul and his supporters, has, strangely enough, attacked one of only two veterans in the presidential race (quickly sinking Rick Perry being the other) and denigrated many veterans who are supporters of Paul and were in the debate audience. One veteran even called out at one point during a break at the debate, "The military loves Ron Paul!"
Dean Allen happens to support Michele Bachmann, a non-veteran--not that there's anything wrong with that, but it seems strange for someone with such an obsession would take anything less than a veteran for president. At the very least, one would think that such a strong supporter of veterans as Dean Allen would not go so far out of his way to tear into and seek to ban a fellow veteran like Ron Paul and his many veteran supporters from future SCGOP debates.
Censorship and banning is really the stuff of tyrants and I think most people would agree that it is positively unamerican to seriously consider such actions, much less pleading with the chairman of the SCGOP to implement such measures. Ron Paul was at the debate fresh from a rally held in Spartanburg earlier in the day. One of the first things he mentioned at the rally was being fired up for the debate by the enthusiastic response by veterans and other supporters who had come to meet him.
The "Veterans for Ron Paul Rally" was very well attended with about five hundred attendees, many veterans in the audience, and a stage filled with them standing behind Dr. Paul as he spoke:
Email from Dean Allen to SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly and several others:
Date: Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 7:23 PM Subject: Disrespect shown at Presidential debates To:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. . .
Hon. Chad Connelly Chairman SC GOP
Dear Chad,
I attended the Presidential Debate last night at Wofford College. Overall, this was a wonderful evening. Everyone was well dressed, and it was an opportunity to visit and socialize with so many dear friends who share my love for the SCGOP, our state and our nation.
The debate was a chance to showcase Wofford, Spartanburg, and the SCGOP to a national audience.
However, there was one glaring problem that ruined our enjoyment of the debate, and was a major embarassment to all of us in front of a national TV audience.
I refer to the boorish behavior of the Ron Paul idiots who repeatedly disregarded clear instructions to tone down the lengthy, and at times inappropriate, applause. Then these same fools crossed a line and actually booed a Republican candidate who was speaking.
We all have strongly held beliefs. Most of us are supporting one of the candidates and have strong disagreements with a few of the others. However, we have been raised by our parents to show some manners, dignity, and respect for ourselves and others that is clearly lacking in the Ron Paul supporters. You simply do not boo Republican speakers at Republican events. This is particularly offensive when it is done for the specific purpose of embarassing the SCGOP and our candidates before a national audience.
One of these Ron Paul supporters, Brian Frank, was seated directly in front of me in the audience last night. He was one of the worst offenders. I noticed he was gone after the first hour of the debate and wondered if perhaps he had been ejected from the arena for his repeated misbehavior? He called me on the phone this morning and told me why he left after the first hour.
You will find this hard to believe it is so obnoxious. He said, he and many other Ron Paul supporters were only in the audience for the specific purpose of booing other candidates; and, after the first hour, because they were no longer showing their rear end to a national TV audience and embarassing us, they then left!
I was flabbergasted! Not only did they act in a crude and disrespectful manner; they actually had no interest in the proceedings, other than to disrupt them. There were hundreds of Wofford students who did not get tickets to the event in the lottery. There were hundreds of long time GOP activists who did not get tickets. These Ron Paul supporters had tickets, misbehaved, and then walked out of the event. This is simply deplorable.
I am furious about this. I feel like someone who has been stolen from, or victimized in some other manner. I am also frustrated that this very small minority of the people in the audience were able to make all of us look disrespectful to a national audience.
I believe this is a pattern of intentional misbehavior by Ron Paul supporters, that appears to have the tacit approval of Ron Paul himself because HE does not ask them to stop misbehaving and show some respect.
I believe in all future SC GOP events, we should either ban Ron Paul supporters, or, ban Ron Paul himself.
Frankly, if there is any legal way to do it; I believe we should give Ron Paul his money back, take his name off the SC GOP primary ballot and tell him to go join the Occupy Wall Street movement since he clearly has no respect for the Republican Party and does not know how to behave in polite society.
One Wofford professior did speak to some of them about booing during the debate. All they did was laugh at him, ignore his pleas for decorum; and, continue to misbehave.
Unless you, and the SC GOP Executive Committee take some action and sanction Ron Paul in some manner, this atrocious pattern of misbehavior is likely to continue to be repeated; further eroding respect for the SCGOP and its Executive Committee.
I urge you, and the Executive Committee to take some action on this matter, if it is nothing more than a public censure that is communicated to the mass media and includes an apology to Wofford College, CBS, the National Journal, and the American people for the boorish and highly inappropriate behavior of Ron Paul supporters.
As you know, law enforcement was very visible and on high alert to prevent the Occupy Wall Street crowd across from the campus from marring our event. Regrettably, we allowed the same sort of behavior from Ron Paul demonstrators inside the arena and no action was taken to remove them at the first offense.
I plan to bring a motion to censure the Ron Paul supporters before the next Greenville County Executive Committee meeting and I hope it is copied in other counties as well.
Respectfully, Dean Allen (843) 597-7459
Well, there you have it. The almighty Dean Allen has recommended banishment for those who disagree with his statist, old guard, establishmentarian, Lindsey Graham version of the SCGOP. It seems, however, that Mr. Allen wants to eat his cake and have it, too.
For those of you not familiar with Mr. Allen, he is the man who raised a lot of money with a machine gun social fundraiser in his 2010 run for SC Adjutant General and then suddenly quit the race. Mr. Allen is also the man who, as a GOP activist, loudly and repeatedly denounced Lindsey Graham. He at first seemed to support Bob Conley's run to replace Graham and then very publicly announced that he would instead vote for Lindsey Graham over the much more conservative Conley due to the fact that Graham was a member of the GOP while Conley was running as a conservative Democrat. In the end, Allen didn't have the guts to buck the liberal GOP establishment. He turned out to have more of a "meow" than a "roar" in that case.
So if "politics over principle" is your thang, if being squishy over having a spine makes you tingly all over, if rubbing muzzles with Lindsey Graham instead of standing up against a turncoat in the party has some appeal, and if quitting instead of putting up a good fight until the end is your modus operandi, you may need to join up with Dean Allen and get absolutely NOTHING done but propagate the same old tired nonsense that has mired the GOP down as a corrupt facilitator of the financially unsustainable corporate welfare state and political favor factory.
Yes, as you can probably guess, Dean Allen is my all time favorite "pretend" tea partier. He makes a big theatrical uproar over issues many are upset about but, though perhaps he actually has done some good in the distant past, he has apparently gone toothless in recent years, obviously preferring, in the end, to just love on and get along with the corrupt establishment instead. I think the ammunition is missing from his machine gun. Some "fighter" he has turned out to be.
Do I sound bitter? Yeah, maybe I am. I tried to forgive Allen's turncoat behavior in the past and supported him (admittedly, for what little it was worth) in 2010 for Adjutant General. I utterly regret that support now.
Dean Allen attended the debate last Saturday (Nov. 12, 2011) in Spartanburg and, as indicated in his letter above, was very, very upset--to the point of whining to the SCGOP Chairman--about the booing by many members of the audience (that he seems to think were exclusively Ron Paul supporters). It seems they were, as I was, shocked by a statement Romney made supporting the assassination/murder of American citizens (unconstitutional) solely at the discretion of the executive branch (unconstitutional) in a country with which we are not at war (also unconstitutional).
Mr. Allen's histrionics seem quite unjustified to me since the booing was, in reality, very, very mild. I was there, too, and I was actually surprised and disappointedthat there was not a louder reaction to Romney's defiance of the U.S. Constitution in the case of assassinated US citizens. Why even bother having a Constitution if our government refuses to obey the rule of law? Romney routinely complains that Obamacare is unconstitutional but apparently, like many others on the stage, throws out the legal restrictions when it comes to satisfying his bloodthirsty constituents.
But, hey! Please, don't believe me about the volume of the booing. Please watch the Youtube.com video embedded above and listen for yourself. By gosh, let's get a realistic perspective on what happened!
The real reason for Allen's discomfort maybe that the Ron Paul supporters there did some cheering before the debate started, as well as later during the commercial breaks, and applauded Paul loudly on the rare occasions where he got to speak (a grand total of only 89 seconds despite his prominence in the polls well above all but two or three of pack--all the rest were given more time on a topic Paul is well known to be very knowledgeable about). Though several candidates' camps attempted to compete in a like manner in rounds of cheering and applause, their attempts were pathetically light compared to the Paul supporters. If nothing else, the booing of Romney demonstrated for everyone who might have some doubts that there are some of us, Ron Paul supporters or not, who have a heart and a mind and understand the rule of law and the flagrant violation of the law by President Obama. We made no rationalizations for illegal behavior. Fortunately for us, there is one candidate, Ron Paul, who will actually obey the supreme law of the land in ALL matters.
Dean Allen, in the email to SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly, picks out Brian Frank, a political grenade thrower who has been on the scene in South Carolina for several years now. Allen paints Brian Frank as being typical of Ron Paul supporters. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brian Frank does what Brian Frank wants to do. No one has ever been able to "control" him though many have tried. Brian Frank truly does not act like the typical Ron Paul supporter. Brian Frank has, on internet forums, actually criticized Ron Paul for not being enough like Ron Paul in his judgement. Yeah. You read that right.
In addition to his prolific commentary on the internet, Brian Frank has achieved quite a bit of fame/infamy for his videos of various politicians being embarrassed by the facts or by unfriendly crowds. Some of his videos have, in addition to being widely circulated on YouTube.com, made local and national news. One in particular of Lindsey Graham's being protested was all over television for a day or two.
Whether you like Brian Frank and his tactics or not, he does make things happen and puts pressure on wimpy politicians with his tactics. He can be disruptive and sometimes the political "grenades" he tosses out there blow up on allies as well but I'd rather have someone who cares and attempts to do the right thing, even if unpleasant at times, and continually stands up for what he believes. I'd rather deal with the problems Brian Frank sometimes causes than to have a spineless blowhard huff and puff and then run off wheezing from all the excitement and exertion as Allen routinely does. While Brian Frank may sometimes be an inelegant solution to a difficult problem, Dean Allen is pretty much a non-solution to every problem.
Remember Dean Allen's words: "You simply do not boo Republican speakers at Republican events."His draconian "final solution" to the presence of Ron Paul supporters at future debates is especially disturbing in the precedent it would set. In fact, I'm amazed that Allen's sensibilities were not so upset as to cause a stroke when he viewed the much louder and sustained booing of Ron Paul on September 12, 2011 that took place at the CNN/Tea Party debate in Tampa, Florida when Ron Paul defied the establishment's assertions regarding the reasons behind the 9/11 attacks.
(The first thing my father said when I asked him his thoughts regarding the attacks was, "If you stir up a nest of rattlesnakes, you're going to get bit." He was right--it's only common sense. We can't afford to be the policemen of the world and the CIA coined term of "blowback" was invented to describe just the sort of events that occurred on 9/11. I mean, for God's sake, we don't need to go around asking for trouble by our bad behavior. Our interference in the affairs of what should be sovereign countries is as flagrant as it is illegal under our own laws and would be a justifiable cause for war against any country who tried to do the same to us.)
Dean Allen has a real problem with his call for banishment of Ron Paul and his supporters: by Mr. Allen's idiotic and fascist logic, presumably all of the candidates and their supporters, EXCEPT for Ron Paul and his, should have been thereafter banned from the debates after what happened in Tampa two months ago. Somehow, I doubt Dean would like that idea. I don't either. I want there to be a vigorous debate. I want citizen involvement. I want people to react--anything that doesn't disrupt a debate or other proceeding much more than the booing, pro-establishment crowd did in Tampa should be welcomed in a free country. Such behavior is much milder and more civilized than many of the debates that occur on a routine basis in England's parliament or even in our own U.S. Congress.
Dean Allen obviously has an arrogant and elitist view of the party and the younger folks coming in who don't quite agree with him and others in the GOP. He would rather self-anointed elites run the show no matter how much he disagrees with some of his fellows on certain subjects every once in a while.
If Dean Allen is idiotic enough to actually follow through with his stated intention and attempt to pass a resolution in the Greenville GOP censuring Ron Paul supporters for what he considers bad behavior, to be fair, he will also need to pass a resolution censuring other candidates' supporters for their booing in Tampa. If he attempts to justify a one-sided resolution based on the fact that he thinks it was in-state supporters in South Carolina vs. out-of-state supporters doing the booing in Spartanburg, again, to be fair, he'll have to identify the people who booed to verify this assertion as well as making sure none of our state GOP members were among those booing Ron Paul in Tampa.
I offer these suggestions in jest of course. As a practical matter, Allen apparently can't identify many Ron Paul supporters who were booing besides Brian Frank. He therefore can't meet a fair and equitable standard of proof for his assertion in singling out Paul supporters. Additionally, he doesn't care when Ron Paul is booed for speaking up for his much more moral, consistent, and legally justifiable views on foreign policy and therefore won't apply the same solution for those candidates and their supporters who agree with him about Ron Paul.
In the end, however, I think we'll find that this is just another case of Dean Allen being a whining blow hard. He'll huff and puff for a while and then go away with his tail between his legs--another case of a sheep in wolf's clothing and a true bellwether for the old guard GOP in South Carolina.
I received this piece of tripe in my email a couple of days ago:
Dear Friends –
I wanted to pass along an Op-Ed published around the state that I co-authored concerning a very important case currently before the SC Supreme Court. In the Bodman Case, Democrats are using the judicial system to raise your taxes and ultimately grow the size of government to unprecedented levels.
Democrat’s $3 Billion Backdoor Tax Hike
November 7, 2011
By:
Bobby Harrell, Speaker of the House
Glenn McConnell, Senate President Pro Tempore
A $3 billion tax increase would be forced on all South Carolinians if a lawsuit recently filed in the SC Supreme Court succeeds. The suit is being brought by Dick Harpootlian, the Chairman of the SC Democratic Party, representing Matthew Bodman. The lawsuit would raise taxes by 6 percent across the board on many everyday items such as residential electricity and water bills, prescription drugs, groceries, newspapers and diabetic supplies, just to name a few. It would abolish all of our state’s sales tax exemptions, resulting in the largest tax increase in our state’s history.
Faced with a conservative General Assembly that has proven its resolve to cut government spending instead of raising taxes to balance our state’s budget, this group decided to bypass the Legislature by taking their tax hike crusade to court, and the SC Supreme Court has agreed to hear their case.
You may not think this will greatly affect you, but this backdoor tax increase would be paid by every single South Carolinian and would swell the size of our government. Adding $3 billion in new taxes would grow our state’s current $6 billion General Fund Budget by an astounding 50 percent. (Continue reading here)
I hope you’ll continue to read more into this important case and look out for important updates by visiting the Speaker’s Facebook Page and following by the Speaker’s Twitter Feed.
Thank you for letting your voice be heard on these important matters, and let me know if I can ever be of assistance.
The only problem with what he says is that it is a complete misrepresentation of what is going on. The State of South Carolina is being sued due to its unequal treatment or "unequal protection" under the law.
Equality under the law is a founding principle of our country. The term equality, as in "equality under the law," is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and is a necessary and fundamental requirement for liberty.
"A $3 billion tax increase would be forced on all South Carolinians . . . " Oh, really? You call it a tax increase, Mr. Harrell? When people get special privileges handed out to them by members of the general assembly in exchange for selling their votes and then when the court system might restore the founding American principle of equality under the law so that EVERYBODY has to pay the same taxes, YOU call it a tax increase? Give me a break!
Let me tell you something, you lying, vote-selling cretin: equality under the law means that people are protected from abuse just such as this. Equality under the law means that if one person has to pay a sales tax, everyone has to pay the same sales tax. Equal protection is provided for in our South Carolina Constitution. When you violate that principle, you're granting a government favor to a special group of individuals, or, in some cases, to just one individual or an individual corporation. We fought a revolution in the late 1700s against a king whose source of influence and power was the handing out of these sorts of special privileges to powerful friends and allies. We made equality under the law a cornerstone of our governance. So how does it feel to be officially acknowledged as a full blown fascist, Bobby Harrell?
Harrell is, of course, outright lying when he says that this is a "tax hike." This is merely an attempt to equally apply the law to all. Instead of a 5% sales tax, we could lower the state sales tax to 2% or 3% if it weren't for all the special exemptions. The crooks in the statehouse now exempt more sales taxes than they collect. That is because a large portion of the sweat off our brows is being used to subsidize the elites who have a sense of entitlement far more dangerous, destructive, and abusive than other type of welfare. Our system is at best feudal, at worst, tax slavery.
And yeah, when it comes down to it, this can be compared to the civil rights movement. When one group of people--well connected, corporate types who spend a lot of money lobbying--get to take advantage of a large group of other people--hard working, unconnected, tax-paying citizens--then we have a case of elitism and snobbery as dirty and corrupt as any that discriminated due to the color of one's skin.
Corporate welfare elitism in this state has made South Carolina a slave state once again as far as the ruling class politicians and their money-shoveling friends are concerned. Instead of their corporate cronies investing in their own businesses and playing on a level playing field, they are getting ahead by investing in corrupt politicians with the payback many hundreds, if not thousands of times, the amount invested. They are handed out billions of dollars in tax payer money, making their products, management abilities, customer service, etc. much less important in maintaining a "profit" and the company much less answerable to what is supposed to be a free market.
Such "government enhanced" companies are receiving OUR money to supplement their endeavors. Instead of making it all themselves, they help destroy competition, make new companies much less likely to show up in the same field, and otherwise defy the American way. Their special status and accompanying power and privileges are decreasing our consumer choices and decreasing our pocketbooks at the same time. Mussolini, if he were alive today, would be very proud of Bobby Harrell and Glenn McConnell, but true South Carolinians and true Americans should be deeply ashamed of how bad things are here.
Each company lured here or otherwise receiving benficence by a law (which is essentially at the point of a gun since force is all the government really has to ensure compliance) is a potential Solyndra, a federally subsidized company that went bankrupt after receiving over $500 million in guaranteed loans from the Obama administration. Not coincidentally, the heads of Solyndra were huge money raisers for Obama. We can see how clearly it works at the federal level in such an example but there seems to be some disconnect for voters not realizing how identical, systemic, institutionalized corruption works at the state level as well. Who wants to bet against the probability that a lot of that money wound up in the private bank accounts of individuals who helped Obama become president?
Corporate welfare is, in particular, a real can of worms. When government starts handing out money to any branch of industry or specific corporation, there is then no real principle stopping them from giving money to anyone they want. But then, there are no moral principles in the first place with them and members of the general assembly know that they're operating a favor factory designed to enrich themselves in power and money by doing the same for their cronies, many times greater in magnitude, at tax payer expense.
Bobby Harrell also fails to mention, when he's talking about the general fund--as if that's all the money in the budget--that the real cost of state government this year is a record-setting $22 billion dollars! While a large percentage of people here are jobless or under-employed and wages and salaries are down for those with jobs, Bobby Harrell and Glenn McConnell are spending more money this year than ever before! They do not care about us. They are only in the statehouse to serve themselves.
Strangely enough, according to John Steinberger, it turns out that Bobby Harrell and Glenn McConnell are co-sponsors of the Fair Tax which would eliminate all sales tax exemptions and income tax! Could it be that their signing on to the Fair Tax reform movement was merely a way to dangle an issue before voters in each election without ever bothering to seriously pursue it? Like abortion and other issues, that is the cynical modus operandi of the crooks in the statehouse: promise to promote certain legislation in order to get elected and then never deliver. After all, if they ever actually delivered, they'd lose the usefulness the issue has in getting them re-elected. It's all about power for such so-called "men." It is never about moral principles.
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HE IS RACIST!
youtu.be/Pgjon4yAvsA