DarkStar Spouts Off

Black Business Creation

Black business creation; this is for me.

African-Americans and older Americans experience greatest increases in business-creation rates from 2008 to 2009

...

Entrepreneurship rates by race show that African-Americans experienced the largest increase in entrepreneurial activity between 2008 and 2009. Rising from 0.22 percent in 2008 to 0.27 percent in 2009, the rate was the highest over the 14 years of reported data but remains below other racial groups. In contrast, both Latinos and Asians experienced declines in entrepreneurial activity rates.

This is for me to find quickly, later.

What Happens When Government Cuts Profit For A Picture?

The business passes the cost of the lost revenue to their customers.

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/29/8038360-bank-of-america-to-charge-5-monthly-fee-for-debit-card-purchases?chromedomain=bottomline

Bank of America will begin charging debit card customers a $5 monthly fee for using their plastic to make purchases starting next year, according to spokeswoman Anne Pace. The move follows tests by other major banks, including Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase, to tack monthly fees onto debit cards.

...

Banks are making the change because revenue from lucrative interchange fees paid by merchants -- so-called swipe fees -- is drying up. The Federal Reserve Board issued rules in June that essential
cut swipe fees in half, from an average of 44 cents to 24 cents per transaction. The new rule takes effect Oct. 1, and Bank of America has said it will lose $2 billion annually because of the change.

...

"The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations, and we've decided to introduce a monthly fee for customers who use their debit cards for purchases," said Pace. "The price of a debit card was previously determined by the amount and type of transactions. We were able to pass some of these costs along to merchants, but because of regulatory changes, we are adjusting our pricing to reflect today’s economics."

...

The new monthly fee will not apply to high-value banking customers who maintain large balances or other "premium" account holders. But it will impact many consumers who have shunned credit cards in favor of debit cards in an attempt to avoid accumulating expensive credit card debt.

Hmmmm....
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite, reaction"

 

Doomsday: Prequel II

Rod is in the toll caused backup on I-95. Two years ago, he would have
bypassed this by using the EZ Pass lane, but one year and 11 months
ago, he discovered his identity had been stolen, and one year and 11
months later, he is still trying to get it straightened out.

One year and 11 months ago, Rod rolled past the toll with his EZ Pass
in the window. He thinks, in less than 5 minutes later, he is out of
the car, on the ground, surrounded by police officers with guns drawn.
Once in the police station, he learned that "he" had rented a car,
robbed two banks, and was on the run from authorities. He was in jail
for 3 days before his wife was able to convince police and prosecutors
that Rod was not in the area of the robberies, didn't look like the
picture taken of the robber, and that Rod's identity had been stolen.

Even though the EZ pass was convenient, he canceled the account.
Unfortunately, all of his financial accounts had to be frozen while
the mess was worked out. It took 3 months before the accounts were
unlocked and he was able to get new accounts. He had to get loans from
family members to pay some bills while the financial mess was being
resolved. The bank that holds his mortgage still has not updated his
credit report correctly, despite filings with the state and financial
regulators and hiring a lawyer.

Since then, he has decided to go "off the grid" as much as possible.
He and his wife don't do financial transactions on-line anymore. After
getting new social security numbers, they also got individual tax
identification numbers that are used when they are forced give a SSN
for some purpose. But they found out that when you push back against
giving your social security number, 9 out of 10 people don't press the
matter.

During this time, Rod has become a part of the underground barter
network. He has been able to barter his computer skills and his
handyman skills to learn how to butcher wild game. The local butcher
needed help with his computer system and Rod bartered his expertise
for lessons on butchering game. Rod also has learned how to hunt deer
and wild fowl. He already knew how to fish, and enjoyed it, so he
feels confident that if the world goes to hell, he could keep his
family fed.

Rod's wife, Pam, doesn't like it, but Rod is now a gun owner. During
the time the bank accounts were frozen, Pam feared they would have to
do something drastic to keep food in the house. She thought about
shoplifting! So, Pam sees this as a way to have a back up if something
happens. She's not as far into the apocalypse scenario as Rod, but she
has been through enough to worry.

As Rod gets closer to the toll booth, he makes sure the pouch on the
dashboard and the pouch on the ceiling, are within easy reach. Rod had
placed documentation of his identity theft, the arrest and release,
and any other documentation he thinks is needed in case he gets
stopped by police again, for being a bank robber.

Baltimore Politi-tricks, Unbelievable

The mayor of Baltimore has decided the city of Baltimore government needs to be reduced in size because the number of people living in the city continues to fall. She has decided to hire a consulting firm to
look at areas of the government that can be cut. This will cost the city of Baltimore, about $500,000. On the surface, what is wrong with that?

How about a basic audit of the government having been done, FIRST? How about spending almost $500,000 on a consultant when the city is running functional deficits? And how about the fact that the city of Baltimore REFUSES to pay the settlement required by courts when the city lost lead paint lawsuits!?!?!?!?!?!

The citizens of Baltimore, that 25% who voted, approve of this kind of mess.

Boston, CHOKE On This!

The Boston Red Sox were kicked out of the baseball playoffs by the last place Baltimore Orioles in the last inning! It was one of two of nothing less than the most spectacular ****____CHOKES____***** in sports history!

Obama's Miffed, But I Think It's Because of Internal Polling, Not Criticism

Obama is upset that it is being reported that more Blacks are starting to criticize him and his administration because of the unemployment rate of Blacks and the state of the economy?

On BET, he said:

President Obama, slipping in the polls among black supporters and under fire from black Democratic leaders for policies they say fail to address black poverty and unemployment, said Monday that targeting programs to help one community "is not how America works."

...

Obama added, "The other thing I want to make sure you don't just kind of slip in there is this notion that African-American leaders of late have been critical. There have been a handful of African-Americans who have been critical. They were critical when I was running for president. There's always going to be somebody who is critical of the president of the United States."

First, he slammed "whining" by Blacks, most likely the CBC, and now he says this.

The recent polling data has shown Blacks increasing dissatisfaction with Obama. Some are dismissing the polls because there will still be strong support of Black voters for President Obama. I have a strong feeling that it isn't those numbers that is worrying the Obama re-election team. I think they have additional internal polling numbers showing Blacks are now less likely to vote. And I think members of the CBC are seeing the same internal polling numbers whether they are given to them by the DNC or they are doing their own polling.

 

Doomsday: Prequel

Prequel

Facebook continues to get people to place all of their personal
information into their "database." In one of the many changes that
Facebook makes, Facebook says they will start to sell AGGREGATED
information to those who want it. People will assume it is about them,
only, but what they don't realize is Facebook has already created
enormous relationship graphs, not just of people who "know" other
people, but of married couples, couples in relationships, those who
say they are family members, etc. They also create graphs based on the
common names people create for their "personal lists."

How many people have, say, "Fam" as a list, or "bootie calls" as a
list or...? How many "pages" to people "like"? How many are associated
with churches, businesses, personalities, causes, diseases, sports,
television shows, etc? There will be an uproar but the graphs are
created or are able to be created at the push of a graphics button.

And how many pictures have you tagged? You already know Facebook has
basic facial recognition software that is accurate enough.

Wow. Did you like a financial company? Why would you like a financial
company if you are not a customer?

Do you think your deleted page really is deleted?

So they sell the aggregated data or the "analytics" that Facebook
created to derive the information you want. But they also provide the
API that lets you plug in your own analytics, and although the data is
supposed to be anonymized, there are bugs, and face it, Facebook gets
hacked.

Meanwhile, for years, financial institutions have been getting hacked
for information and money and have paid ransoms to cyber-thieves to
"get information back." We all know your credit card has been
compromised because the credit card processing middleman was hacked.
And those Linux systems that are all over the Internet? A major Linux
software repository has been hacked and has yet to come back on-line
because analysis is still begin done to determine what code was
compromised.

Meanwhile, all of the anti-virus vendors have code that "phones home"
for updates and uploads computer architecture and usage information.
Kapersky anti-virus, a major AV maker today, was created by a former
KGB agent. Did you install just an anti-virus system or are you now
one node in a Bot Net?

And then one day, someone has enough of Goldman Sachs and pays a cyber
team to awaken the bots...

Roland Martin GOP 4

Dark Star (@DarkstarTweets) has shared a Tweet with you:
"rolandsmartin: And @Michael_Steele @Steele_Michael pushed House GOP leaders to come on @tvonetv to talk to Black voters. They all refused to do so"

Roland Martin GOP 3

Dark Star (@DarkstarTweets) has shared a Tweet with you:
"rolandsmartin: Rep. West told his press secretary to send out an alert to ALL House GOP press reps encouraging them to come on @tvonetv. They all refused"

Roland Martin GOP 2

Dark Star (@DarkstarTweets) has shared a Tweet with you:
"rolandsmartin: Only two sitting Republicans have come on @tvonetv #WashingtonWatch: Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, twice; Rep. Allen West of Fla., once"

Roland Martin, GOP 1

Dark Star (@DarkstarTweets) has shared a Tweet with you:
"rolandsmartin: Some of you have asked about @speakerboehner being on my @tvonetv show. So far, the GOP has turned down EVERY invite to come on in 2 years"

Quickly on The Release Hikers

Can we be real for a moment?

I don't believe a ruler of another country, on their own, paid "bail"
to have the hikers released. The U.S. negotiated in the background,
came up with a figure, gave it to a third party, who paid off Iran.

Weakness. Plain and simple.

P.G. Politicians Acting Stupid

Well, it appears two more Prince Georges County, MD politicians have been caught doing things that are just a no-no. Let's go with the old school, first:

As state Sen. Ulysses Currie faces trial this week on federal corruption charges, his lawyer is expected to argue before a jury that the legislator's work on behalf of a grocery chain in Annapolis didn't constitute an illegal bribe but merely an ethical lapse.

"The difference is very subtle sometimes," the lawyer, Joseph Evans, said at a recent hearing. "It's hard to know sometimes what the difference is."

Currie, a Democrat and former chairman of a powerful Senate committee, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Shoppers Food Warehouse over five years in exchange for securing meetings with top state officials and pushing favorable legislation for the company, headquartered in his Prince George's district.

That's old school graft. The following, is just straight up greed and stupidity.

A young Prince George’s politician who seemed to embody Maryland’s crisis of conscience over approving same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds, in part to pay for her wedding.

Del. Tiffany T. Alston, 34, a little-known freshman state lawmaker before this spring, is charged with writing herself checks and cashing them to pay for at least $3,560 in expenses for her wedding day. According to the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor, she also wrote herself checks to help pay the salary of an employee in her law firm.

Alston’s wedding, attended by some fellow lawmakers and sorority sisters, was derided this spring by some gay activists. With whispers and shrugs outside Annapolis hearing rooms, some said it was ironic that so close to the celebration of her own nuptials a lawmaker reversed course and opposed letting gays marry in Maryland.

Now, questions about that wedding threaten to bring down the rising Prince George’s lawmaker as quickly as she burst into public view — and further tarnish a county and a state already racked this year by political scandals.

The FIRST thing the Mrs. said, was, "Wasn't she the one who changed votes to kill that gay marriage bill!?!?!"

These two are doing Prince Georges County, Maryland PROUD!

Because

Rick Perry Is A Liberal

Who knew Rick Perry was a liberal! Here is what he said in the Republican debate Thursday night:

"If you say that we should not educate children who come into our state for no other reason than that they've been brought their through no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart,"

This is concerning giving illegal aliens in-state college tuition rates when they apply for college. No, I don't agree with it. It may not be their fault, but it is the fault of their parents. Here's an appropriate analogy.

If I work as an accountant, and I'm skimming the books of my clients, and I'm using the money for my and my family's benefit, I can't keep what I brought, once I get caught. If my children have cars, the cars are forfeited if I brought them. The house is forfeited if it was purchased with the proceeds of the crime. Any expensive gifts I gave my wife, is forfeited. Neither my wife nor my children, can benefit from their crime.

OK, Next, WARP Drive!!!!

If this is verified numerous times, this is a major re-write of the advanced laws of physics.

GENEVA — One of the very pillars of physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity — that nothing can go faster than the speed of light — was rocked Thursday by new findings from one of the world’s foremost laboratories.

European researchers said they clocked an oddball type of subatomic particle called a neutrino going faster than the 186,282 miles per second that has long been considered the cosmic speed limit.

And, the warp drive would be right around the corner! :-D

Have You Noticed The Silence?

Have you noticed the silence of death penalty advocates concerning the
Troy Davis case? Normally, for a "cop killer" case, when people say
the person convicted of the crime should be spared the death penalty,
the death penalty advocates are all over the place supporting the
execution. But other than the local advocates in this situation, I
haven't read anything from national advocates supporting death in this
case.

I think that's telling.

[ UPDATE ]

I've been told that Bob Barr, Regan's FBI Chief Sessions, and Larry Thompson have spoken out.

What's Taken So Long? Isn't The U.S. THE Tech Leader?

What's taken so long for a service like Google Wallet? Isn't the U.S. supposed to be the technology leader? This has been available in Asia, just, like,.... FOREVER!!!!!

The Washington Post Targets The Middle Class

The Washington Post is going after income tax deductions that are available to families. This is a nasty hit piece, that I will go more into tomorrow. But I have things to do, tonight.

Broad tax breaks granted to millions of families at all income levels dwarf the corporate giveaways. Over the past two years, largely because of these popular benefits in the federal income tax code, the government has reached a rare milestone in tax collection — it has given away nearly as much as it takes in.

The government hasn't "given away", anything. It's not the government's money in the first place! It's as if these people think that money which is earned, belongs to the government and the government actually "let's us keep" what's left after they get their pound of flesh!

The number of tax breaks has nearly doubled since the last major tax overhaul 25 years ago, with lawmakers adding new benefits for children, college tuition, retirement savings and investment. At the same time, some long-standing breaks have exploded in value, such as the deduction for mortgage interest and the tax-free treatment of health-insurance premiums paid by employers.

All told, federal taxpayers last year received $1.08 trillion in credits, deductions and other perks while paying $1.09 trillion in income taxes, according to government estimates.

...

“The big money is in the middle-class subsidies,” said Syracuse University economist Leonard Burman, former director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. “You’re not going to balance the budget by eliminating ethanol credits. You have to go after things that really matter to a lot of people.”

What I will say is , I don't understand why liberals in the media want to get rid of the home income tax deduction. It's as if they don't like people having a chance for home ownership.

The Government Shouldn't Decide "Winners" in Business

The government should decide which business is going to be "the winner" in any capitalistic system. So, from my standpoint:

1. The Small Business Administration should, at a minimum, stop giving small business loans, because they are choosing which "small businesses" they deem to have a plan for success vs failure.
2. All farm subsidies should be stopped. If a farmer can't survive without the government deciding farm businesses are "winners," then let them sell out to a bigger farmer, form a co-op, or sell the land to a developer who will do something else with the farm land.
3. Politicians should stop, immediately, placing loop holes into the tax structure to favor a single business or a class of business. If that's not picking winners, what is?
4. Privatize the patent and copyright protection system. Since the government is involved, it's picking winners and losers in both areas.

The few items above are what comes to mind right now. Is this a liberal idea? Is it a conservative idea? Is it a libertarian idea? Or is it Constitutionally based?

Rant: This One I Don't Understand

I don't understand.

Someone is laid off and out of a job, for say, 1 1/2 years. Evidently,
from what I've read before and based on section of the jobs plan
submitted(1), some companies are now refusing to hire QUALIFIED
applicants if they have been out of work "for too long." The reason?

They have been out of work for so long, that:
1. Skills are rusty.
2. Chances are they no longer are able to function on a regular work
day schedule.
3. There are questions as to why they could not find work for a long
period of time. Was nothing available or were they just biding their
time to collect unemployment insurance.

And, the employers are most likely to find candidates from people who
are changing jobs and/or out of college.

I don't understand that madness.
Not. One. Bit.

(1) Evidently, in the jobs bill, there is a section that "prevents"
companies from discriminating against people who have been unemployed.

Quickie Commentary On NY Dem District Going GOP

1. Would The Drudge Report contain a title like, "Revenge of the Blacks"?

2. Is The Drudge Report title anti-semitic?

3. Suppose Obama's support or lack of it, for African countries caused
Blacks to vote the other way? Would there be commentary about Blacks
not being "American" or being "more loyal to Africa" and condemnation
of Blacks by Republicans and conservatives?

4. How long before there will be opinion pieces saying that Jewish
voters in that district "left the plantation", although it will be
Democrat party vs. plantation just because conservatives and
Republicans NEVER insult Jewish voters the way they insult Black
voters?

5. Re #4: Will that commentary say that Black voters need to learn
from Jewish voters and that Jewish voters are "growing up" as Black
voters "need to do"?

6. How long will before the commentaries start stating that Black
voters never vote against Black Dems when there is a lot of proof
otherwise, for example, Al Sharpton running for the Dem presidential
nomination and only winning one majority Black voting district?

Jaguar C-X16

They Must Get Government Money

For a group to do something THIS stupid and THIS desperate, they must get government funding based on how many people are in their program.

A Northeast Baltimore clinic that once pitched on-demand methadone to desperate addicts during the late-night hours is focusing on a new idea — paying addicts to come in for treatment.

"We are targeting a non-traditional population of addicts that isn't so interested in treatment," said the Rev. Milton Williams, who runs Turning Point Clinic, housed in his New Life Evangelical Baptist Church. "This will be an incentive."

The state has yet to approve the original on-demand, or "open access" idea, citing federal rules that require, for example, a lengthy examination of anyone getting methadone, a Schedule 2 narcotic. The incentive, $20 supplied by a private foundation or other group yet to be named, is a "Plan B," one Williams believes doesn't need any special approvals because the program would be run as a traditional clinic, just at night with no appointments.

Yes, I'm sure they get money from the government. Regardless, it's a dumb idea. First off, methadone "treatment" isn't treatment at all, it's just substituting one drug for another. Next, PAYING addicts to come in off the street and do methadone treatments? When the "treatment" requires recurring doses?

Is there ANY common sense with ANYONE who works in that program?

Rick Perry, #EpicFail

This is not an exact quote, but during the TEA Party debate, Rick Perry said "I accept millions of dollars in donations. If you think I can be brought off for $5000, I'm insulted".

[ UPDATE ]

Here it is:

“At the end of the day, this was about trying to stop a cancer,” Perry said. “At the end of the day, I am always going to err on the side of life.”

When Bachmann suggested he mandated the vaccine as a favor to a campaign contributor, Perry responded: “I raised $30 million and if you’re saying I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended”

Bachmann shot back: “I’m offended for all the little girls and parents who didn’t have a choice.”

Yep, #EpicFail