A Nation Held Hostage and GOP emotional sabotage

If a person were to sell a product that knowingly killed people then this person would be arrested, tried and most likely convicted. The person would then spend years in prison and all involved in the downfall of this person would feel good, neighborly and as if they had contributed to the making of a better and safer nation.

When a corporation sells a product that kills, they hide the evidence; lie about the product's negative effects; spend millions on campaign donations and to lobbyists and then, only after years of having tried to prove that their product is safe, some internal memo pops up showing that all along they knew to be true what their accusers had known: said corporation had knowingly been dealing in death/harm to Americans.

The company will be fined a mere pittance in most cases. Almost never does anyone from the company go to jail, however, for the dilemma is always: you can't arrest the corporation. For so many decades in our history, big business's goals and values have run counter to the ideal of an American nation. Big business proved itself so egocentric in the late 19th Century that many new laws were put onto the books to break up these empires of evil all for the protection of the working Joe and Jane: the little people were getting their fair shake.

Upton Sinclair went after meat packers and others in his book The Jungle and, thanks to presidents like Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, Hoover, FDR and others (not Reagan, Bush I or Bush II), big business was in many respects brought to task. This does not mean, however, that their have not been instances of gross negligence over the past century. On the contrary, whereas we may have started producing cleaner, better products, we now live in a everything goes, marketing/advertising rules world where so long as you are making sales and huge profits, you are safe to produce whatever you want.

Their lost War became a Partisan one against our values

I have said it before and I will say it again, most of what is troubling or causes harm and nasty, emotive reactions in our society starts in the states which used to belong to the Confederacy; and, usually, these evils are supported by, yes, the GOP.

Let's take a look at cigarettes: the dwarves--company CEO's--appeared before Congress a decade or so ago and said that cigarettes weren't harmful. Then a while later, internal memos were leaked from decades prior showing that even their own studies proved that cigarettes caused lung cancer. They had lied under oath and did any of them go to prison? Were they fired in disgrace?

Bill Clinton, hunted by a Republican-led Congress, was eventually caught in a lie--one that had nothing to do with the original accusations and for which an "indepedent council" had been commissioned (murder, insider trading, espinage, rape, etc.). His presidency greatly suffered as a result of this distraction and so too did the American nation. But, in the parlance of the GOP since Reagan came to town (although he never would have condoned such emotive whining and abuse of power), "who cares about America, it is all about the GOP and our hold on the reins of power."

Bill Clinton was "impeached" by the House for his lying under oath about whether he had had sex. The cigarette companies were fined, no one went to prison, no one was hung and today, despite declining sales in America, they are enjoying amazing profits: billions upon billions of dollars.

I won't even start on the NRA and their evil: in history only the Nazi Party of Germany has been more fascist and destructive than this group of gun-toting losers. And yes, the vast majority of them are losers. They are cowards. They don't know how to fist-fight so they arm themselves to the teeth so they can blow away their neighbor who knocked at the door late one night for a cup of sugar--oops. Most of them are white, well-off, probably out of shape and vote Republican (and, where did this neo-Nazi party begin, yes, in the South. It was a reaction against recently enfranchised former-slaves.)

Next, and it has finally been getting its rightful blame in the obesity crisis that cripples our nation, is the anti-American company known as Coca-Cola. The most recognized brand in the world. T-shirts and memorabilia are sold through our nation and the world with the logo and "drink Coca-Cola" on shelves with the heading "Americana." This company is irresponsible and it is a bad and callous employer. I know people working for them and Coke's attitude toward their employees is simply disgusting--each one of them is like an indentured servant, unless you are in management, of course.

Many will argue that Coca-Cola is a good company simply selling a good product. It is doing what a business is supposed to do, make profits. Yes, I agree. But Coca-Cola is no better for you than cigarettes so where are the restrictions against use by minors? Why is it sold in schools? Why is it cheaper to drink Coke than bottled water? Why are we not taxing the consumption of this product--and really, I don't care that it will disproportionately hurt the poor. Coca-Cola, by the way, is from Atlanta.

Some E. coli with that burger

An industry not dominated by the South is meating packing. They gleefully distribute beef patties throughout the nation knowing that someone is likely to die from the complications of an e. coli infection. Lies, cover-ups, obfuscation, firings of line workers, etc. are just some of the tactics these monolithic, and in many cases, private companies employ to ensure that the consumer is not being protected.

How did we get to this place? How is it that we envision ourselves as the most civilized nation in the world, the one from which everyone else should learn; how everyone else should strive to live and yet we have big business, which provides us with 99.9% of everything we touch, eat, see and wear in the course of day, picking and choosing which one of us will suffer as a result of their quest for increased short-term profits?

The GOP loves to scream, and they do so in that squeaky, white-is-right, faux-patriotic way at their candle-lit rallies (quite often in Southern states), less government; government is evil. Government regulation is needed.

Bush II and his "wage war and cut taxes" (complete idiocy, look at our economy now!) mantra has financially bankrupted our nation making things like an economic stimulus hard to come by; making universal health care something that could potentially break the banks (oh, and the banks--no regulation). Bush II, led by Reagan, did everything he could to bankrupt our nation so that the evil, government, would have nothing left to regulate the greedy and destructive impulse inherent in all big corporations.

Here we sit today. Our food supply is tainted not by terrorists (not yet, anyway) but by stupid, anti-America Republicans. Our cities flood and the government sits by, well actually, flies over and shakes its collective head: what a pity. People are paralyzed by burgers, other people, hopped up on a sixes of Coors, yank high-powered machine guns out of trunks of cars and gun down their neighbors; children are addicted to sodas and sweets and now 48% of all American youth under 15 are considered obese--look at the health care dilemmas awaiting our nation tomorrow!

The conservatives will say that the obesity is caused by bad parenting; 50 years ago, parents weren't necessarily better, government was. And, it tended to work a bit more effectively because it had funding; because it had a mission: make our nation safe for its people.

The Republican Party is a criminal organization. It is a grouping of home-grown terrorists with no interest in making our nation better, stronger, safer. Today, the Senate said the health bill making its way to the President's desk will lower the deficit: guess who is against it nevertheless? "Big government, big brother, blah-blah-blah." "Shut up! Go delay some confirmation so a key Obama advisor won't be able to do his or her job to make our nation better after the mismanagement of GOPCON rule!"

Enjoy a Coke and a burger today, or better yet, pull that pistol out of your belt and and play a round of Russian roulette: same game just different weapons.