Sierrabear

Michael Moore's  propagandistic film Capitalism: A Love Story disparages capitalism by unearthing real stories about Americans who have been mistreated, abused and ripped off by our system. Though Mr. Moore's films are obviously biased toward the left, they do often contain nuggets of truth that are sometimes surprising. Such is the case with Capitalism. The following images are generated from a leaked Citigroup document Mr. Moore used to illustrate his point that the rich are out to get the poor. The document claims to have coined the phrase "plutonomy" which in the leaked memo is summed up as follows:

"Our thesis is that the rich are the dominant drivers of demand in many economies around the world (the US, UK, Canada and Australia). These economies have seen the rich take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years, to the extent that the rich now dominate income, wealth and spending in these countries"

" ... A backlash against plutonomy is not imminent....so long as electorates feel they are getting rich in absolute terms, even if they are less well off in relative terms, there is little threat..."

Sonora, CA – In January 2009, in the throws of the great recession, a head-shop quietly opened it's doors at 420 S. Washington Street here in Sonora. Offering bongs, pipes, scales and other drug paraphernalia, it quickly filled the niche held long ago by Benjamin Fig's, a little shop whos only links to drug paraphernalia these days are stash boxes. Who would open a smoke shop right in the middle of  socially conservative Sonora? Well, that was easy enough to find out.

Sonora, CA -- The Veterans to Veterans Outreach ’09, A Stand Down in the Foothills, sponsored by Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Chapter 391 on September 10-12 proved to be an even bigger success than the first one according to Frank Smart, event chair. The Stand Down was held at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds and aimed at helping homeless veterans. There were 27 homeless veterans attending the Stand Down. The youngest was 26 and the oldest was 65. One of those attending was the wife of a deceased veteran. The 50 volunteers put in over 600 hours.

Sonora, Ca – Four long years we have waited since that mysterious sign went up, touting the strange combination of waffles n' ribs. Oh, and what an arduous four years it was; it felt way more like eight. A presidential election, bank failures, foreclosures, job cuts and a faltering economy, made Jeb's at least one glimmer of hope on the horizon. It promised jobs and best of all, the unique marriage of waffles and ribs. The long vacant eatery became a boon for wild speculation and gossip mongers – yours truly. The name itself sparked the imagination and helped 42.25% of Tuolumne County to remember, “Yes, we can.”, and the other 64.24% 54.88%  to believe in “Change we need.” , giving T.C. locals something fun to look forward to, a hope that something new and better was just about to come our way.

Tuolumne County, Ca --  Accident statistics show that people in Tuolumne County are 3 times more likely to die in a car crash than Californians living elsewhere. Back in my day, it wasn't like this. People showed respect for the speed limit and basic etiquette. The following links go back in time a ways and are a simple reminder that maybe it's time to think about slowing down. Speeding is Selfish.