Thirty Years of Madness

1980 was the final year of American governmental goodness. Jimmy Carter, a brilliant man with great intentions but surrounded by perhaps not the most experienced coterie of Washington insiders, tried to make government work for the people. He failed and sadly his failure lead to the day when the nails for our national coffin would be lined up and then pounded in one by one as the years turned into decades as the hysteria of the right sidetracked our nation.

From 1981 onward economics was replaced by politics—a similar thing was done in the Soviet Union look where that got them. The Republicans led by the demigod Ronald Reagan—truly a pragmatic conservative in comparison to the mindless leading the GOP today—put forth grand schemes like “supply-side economics” and began to do away with taxes for the super rich. He had child-like ideas that private businesses would invest in the US infrastructure.

Thanks to massive spending on the military, the economy began to expand; at the same time, the government led assault against the American workers kicked off in earnest. The American worker was painted as lazy and spoiled despite being the most proficient in the world. As a result, companies were rewarded for moving jobs offshore. American workers began to lose their footing.

Regulations which used to protect the American citizen from the harshness of greed and the ugliest sides of capitalism—the “Jungle” was written help us not penalize us—were wiped off the books one by one. The government was telling big business: do as you want and when you get around to it give us campaign contributions and if you feel really giddy, hire some Americans—but the jobs were flowing away to China and other places.

Freed from paying taxes, the manufacturers, men and women of great fortunes, became addicted to record-breaking profits. And, when the American worker demanded normal pay and benefits, the factories owners, balked yet again and in greater earnest moved their factories off-shore. Please don’t get me wrong, many of these super-rich owners are “great, patriotic, God-fearing Americans” who contribute millions to the politicians that guarantee their continued well-being

Cut the Regulations

Thanks to the vanished regulations, by the end of the 1980’s, credit and credit cards were made available pretty much to anyone with a pulse. And the first waves of Chinese made junk were hitting the big box stores--prices were ridiculously low. Americans became addicted to the low prices and as they filled their homes and yards and garages with “quality of life products,” the illusion that life was getting better—so long as they could make the payments—lured everyone into a zombie-like, patriotic furor.

Fueled by consumer dollars, the economy expanded but it was expansion for what sake, whose sake, to what end? Sure, there were people who spent the last twenty years of life enjoying the benefits of jobs; but, the jobs were ultimately dead-ends because while the nation consumed more than the entire world ten times over and money flowed into America permitting ever more junk to be manufactured and consumed, the American consumer became addicted to a lifestyle that could not be maintained without steady and high-paying employment and to those ridiculously cheap prices.

Very quickly, nations like China and the rest of Asia, India and even Brazil, built amazing infrastructures that permitted them to enjoy economies of scale never-before seen. No American factory owner could compete with these low costs of finished goods. So, a final war was launched against the American worker. All of the economies woes were pinned on the unions and spoiled Americans and once and for all the American worker lost.

As Republic presidency, Republican held Congress came and went, the American workers were pushed further and further out of the mix; and, the only things the GOP talked about were tax cuts for the super, super rich and embarrassing things like socially conservative issues—oh, and they tried to ruin America by wasting 8 years attacking a sitting president.

The few vestiges of a liberal democratic government like social security insurance were even stalked with hot breath but to no avail—the Democrats held out. Medicare, something the wealthy seniors love to take advantage of because God knows they never want to spend their own money, was of course never touched—only enhanced at the cost of hundreds of billions, a check the American worker would have to pick.

Hysteria

Over the course of thirty years, we heard and saw on every corner—from politicians to pop culture—how it was not just an American’s right to become wealthy but his ultimate destiny. Through super cheap credit and predatory marketing of credit cards, mortgages, etc.—and to those who have always had it good in life, when a person is poor and a credit card is handed to them, it is real hard not to use that card to buy the kids some gifts at Christmas—Americans bought and bought’ and then, many started going bankrupt but the Republicans ensured that this too would be made more difficult—once again in the name of patriotic, American values.

The GOP talked about “irresponsible, free-spending ‘people’ (read: white trash and minorities) ever wanting a hand out.” They failed to consider that many of the Americans declaring bankruptcy had become simply redundant in the work place and had no other options—or they could choose crime which many did (crime always increases under Republicans.)

As homes were snatched up and filled with all of the junk homes need, money poured continued to pour into the US economy; and, the super rich got richer and their tax obligations lower. The American worker’s real wage fell to 1978 levels. 23% of the nation’s wealth belongs to 1% of the nation today. In 1978, 8% of the nation’s wealth belonged to that lucky 1%.

By September 2008, the bubble that was the American economy—and sadly the world’s because everyone likes a quick buck—burst. Amazingly, the Republicans, who each time they control the government lead us into massive budget deficits, just shrugged their shoulders, pretended they had nothing to do with the failed economy and went into attack mode so that they could prevent the Democrats from applying the long-needed measures to fix the economy—to bring the regulating and guiding hand of government back into the mix.

President Obama came to office truly believing he could govern in a bipartisan manner given the calamity which had befallen the nation. When he put the stimulus forth, he was attacked by the GOP. They demanded tax cuts or nothing—they now had nothing to lose. So, he compromised and lowered the amount of the stimulus and made one third of it tax cuts—he did this to prove his bipartisan credentials. They trashed him for it and then mocked him when the stimulus didn’t keep the nation below 8% unemployment—although all economists have said that stimulus worked.

Right Ideas, Wrong America

The stimulus should have been two times what it was and should have given tax cuts only to small businesses—something the GOP is against. However thanks to the genius of Fox “News”--which delivers the news always with either a slightly mocking tone—when it has something to do with the president or Democrats—or as if Armageddon had finally arrived (and quite often served up by hot women)--and the countless other hysterically, right-wing radio and TV personalities, Americans have bought hook, line and sinker that they are part of the rich; and, so when the GOP cut taxes and ridicules the spending of the Democrats, Fox tells the lazy and couch-bound that it is their wealthy being stolen—many of these people believing this are unemployed and have lost children to the wars of the GOP.

Well, here it is: the US economy over these thirty years has suffered irreparable harm. Systemically we are finished.  Because the myth of the profit holds so much power, the American business owner is forgiven when he acts in his best economic interest and cuts corners: maybe he doesn’t clean the eggs too well, maybe he doesn’t tell anyone about the lead-based paint and quite often he will hire an illegal alien. Why does he hire the illegal? Because the American workers were spoiled by the Democrats and the unions and they cost too much, right?

Thirty years ago, with Vietnam War over and the Cold one soon to end, America had a phenomenal opportunity to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Bill Clinton did what he could and he also balanced our budget. But, twenty years of Republican presidents and almost as many of GOP Congresses—enforced by the hysterical right media—permitted the super-rich to build China’s infrastructure and to kill off the American worker.

In November, sadly the GOP will return to power but the nation won’t lose anything. America can’t lose what it no longer has. We are a greed-driven, selfish nation and we want what we want now and for the lowest cost possible and I’ll be damned if I’ll pay a penny extra. As we sit this week in September in our cheap cars, eating in Italian restaurants where the only thing Italian is the maybe the coffee—God knows the kitchens are filled with illegal Hispanic workers—and we go to big box stores and buy inexpensive junk, remember that the only person we have to blame is ourselves—oh, and the GOP.

Shame on the GOP and shame all of us because we let it happen. We are not ready to further compete in this world’s economy—unless we can get the world to start warring on a scale never before seen--and the GOP has neither imagination nor the integrity to lead this nation back to greatness.

President Obama has tried but he has been mocked.

The Do-Nothing 111th Congress

As the summer session of Congress comes to a close, the 111^th Congress is going to go down in history as the one of the least effective and well, in layman’s terms “laziest” meetings of Congress in American history—there still is roughly five months of this Congress’s life left but if I had a say my push would be to shut it down now and let’s get on to the 112^th as quickly as possible. Maybe then we can actually get something done.

In order to most fully appreciate just how little the Democratic-led 111^th Congress has done, let’s put on our trusty goggles of comparison—we all have a pair. If on and snugly pulled into place, let’s begin with the doomsday 107^th Congress.

The 107^th Congress

This was the 9/11 Congress and regardless of just how much legislation was passed or in the works to be passed, the tragedy of September 11, 2001 threw the whole thing out of whack. Yet some major pieces of legislation worth noting are the following:

·         No Child Left Behind Act

·         Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act

·         Farm Security and Rural Investment Act

·         Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold)

·         Authorization for Use of Military force against Iraq

·         Help America Vote Act--remember Florida?

·         Homeland Security Act

·         E-Government Act

It should be noted that the Republicans had a majority in the Senate until June 6, 2001 and then it switched back to the Democrats. The House was controlled by the Republicans and in the White House was none other than George W. Bush.

The 108^th Congress

This was the beginning of what many Americans feel was the end of our freedoms and the end of the era of rule according to the US Constitution. The Republicans had majorities in both houses and control of the White House and hubris and incompetence were king. Slowly, we started to move away from governing and providing the nation with a framework designed to make life more livable for all Americans and started the downward slide toward plutocracy.

Here are some noteworthy pieces of legislation that came out of the Republican controlled 108^th Congress:

·         Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003--Yes, that wonderful, job-creating tax cut.

·         Prison Rape Elimination act of 2003--No more rape in prison now.

·         Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act--ah, yes, government impeding on a woman’s rights…seems a bit un-Constitutional.

·         Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act

·         Unborn Victims of Violence Act--encroaching on Roe v. Wade.

·         The Belarus Democracy Act--seems to be working…or maybe not.

·         Flood Insurance Reform Act--two floods and you are out act. Good for business bad for homeowner.

·         Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.

 The 109^th Congress

Here it is, the Congress everybody talks about on a daily basis—especially people who come in contact with the 1/4 of legislation that was passed in order to rename federal buildings. Yes, of the 383 pieces of legislation this Republican controlled Congress passed, a whooping 93 renamed post-offices and other such things of little or no value to an already stagnating economy. It is just what the Russians do whenever things get bad, change the names of streets and cities and police hoping that people will get so confused they will just forget.

Here are a few pieces of non-name changing legislation worth noting:

·         Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (Well, the anti-consumer, pro-business activities continued with this very first piece of legislation. The little man could now be offended by the “corporate citizen” and the corporation only sued up to $5 million! Big Biz spend more than that on Post-Its each month. Also, oddly, the fact that the federal courts suddenly take precedent over state courts strengthens federal power at the expense of state power—I thought he GOP was all for state rights! (They are when it comes things like slavery, guns and anti-health care reform but not Big Biz profits.)

·         Theresa Marie Schiavo's law (or The Palm Sunday Compromise). This was simply an appalling and emotional abuse of power by the Republican-held Congress. Again, stripping the power away from the state courts, the GOP forced “God” into legislation and passed a farcical law with no power to do anything that applied only to one person—they just wanted to have this already dead woman lie around for another decade (at whose cost) until God had made his final decision to take her. Oh, and the fact that the law was a violation of the separation of powers didn’t stop the GOP because they make up rules (and amendments) as they see fit. Our traditions mean nothing to them.

·         Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (Another pro-big business, anti-working class American bill.)

·         Energy Policy Act of 2005 (George Bush, Tom DeLay and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton –all from Texas—really drove this bill through because it gave great tax incentive to the oil industry and especially  Texas based companies.

·         Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (NRA baby!)

·         Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005—Sounds nice right? What it is really is, though, is nothing more than a blatant transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. All of the taxes not being raised and in effect lowered benefit the super-rich and corporations while doing zero—that is nothing—to incentivize them to hire or invest in their businesses. Sick.

·         Secure Fence Act of 2006—That worked.

·         Tax Relief and Health Act of 2006—More wealth transference and generational theft.

 The 110^th Congress

With the Democrats back in power in both chamber but with only slim margins and the White House still occupied by a lame-duck and very unpopular president, the pendulum started to swing slowly back from the GOP’s main constituent—Big Business—and back to the American people.

Here is some noteworthy legislation. Not all of it is typical Democrat fare but the GOP still had a lot of power and the White House:

U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriation

Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007

 Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007

Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007--The GOP and Bush were really against this for some reason.

Protect America Act of 2007

Honest Leadership and Open Government Act

Water Resources Development Act of 2007 –Veto Overridden. Bush just really has a deep-seeded dislike of New Orleans to where a considerable portion of this bill’s funds would go to assist not only safe-guarding from future hurricanes but also provide assistance to small business dependent on the nation’s waterways—an infrastructure completely neglected by Bush in his first seven years.

  Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Economic Stimulus Act of 2008—Thos silly Democrats.

 Food and Energy Security Act of 2007--Veto Overridden. Bush once again showing his true stripes. Got to give him an “A” for effort, though, he really keeps his promises to Big Biz.

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008

The Lazy 111^th

And, here they are; these men and women of the US Congress should be ashamed of themselves. Let their actions speak my words:

·         Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

·         Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act—Such softies those Democrats are…a sick kid, so.

·         American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—The Stimulus.

·         Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009—What kind of bus? Provides some money for hungry mothers with infants, Amtrak and a bunch of other really good things. So sappy, they are, right?

·         Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009—Here we go again.

·         Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act—Very cool program!

·          Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009—Why bother? Just invade another country and get those homeless in a uniform and put an M-16 in their hands (no body armor, please.)

·         Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009—Going after DOD budgeting; accountability in government something we saw very little of under W and with the GOP at the helm.

·         Credit CARD Act of 2009—Going after Big Business where Big Business lives!

·         Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

·         Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, including the Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers)—Creative governing government at its best! The most creative thing we saw under W was his ability to make up words.

·         Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009

·         Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act—Something the GOP knows nothing about.

·         Travel Promotion Act of 2009

·         Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act—It’ll kick in, just give it some time,  man.

·         Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

·          Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act

·         Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010

·         Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010

·          Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

·         SPEECH Act of 2010

Now, it will also be fun to see what the 111^th Congress has proposed but what hasn’t made it to vote yet or was temporarily defeated:

American Clean Energy and Security Act

District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act

Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act

Employee Free Choice Act

Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009

Food Safety Enhancement Act

Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009

Military Readiness Enhancement Act

Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act

Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009

Public Option Act

Respect for Marriage Act

Shark Conservation Act

Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act

Uniting American Families Act

Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act

Wow! Now that is some America-freedom-enhancing, improve the life of the working man (and all Americans mind you) legislation. It would seem that when you have Democrats in control of Congress and one of the best presidents we have ever had governing our nation, a lot of good can come from government.

Let’s take a quick look at what the 108^th Congress proposed but did not enact:

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003—I guess they were too busy spending the money from those tax cuts on things like boats, four-wheelers and home repairs.

What did the 109^th propose but not enact?

Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act—More Big Business protection.

 Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 – Vetoed—This could have prevented a lot of people from suffering from Alzheimer’s. But…

Jessica Lunsford Act

Digital Transition Content Security Act

Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (Akaka Bill)—Say what?

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006—Welp, better luck next time.

 

 

Iraq will only cost us $3 Trillion!

Yesterday, the majority of politicians still governing the country voted to give $26 billion in aid to states to help them pay for education. With this move, the democrats saved up to 140,000 jobs and ensured that come the fall, class sizes in some parts of the country won’t double.

Education, the democrats so foolishly wager, has the possibility to make Americans more competitive in what is now a labor market that no longer concerns itself with borders—the money goes where it can get the brightest for the least: America is barely holding onto its leading position. If we let the Republicans have their way, we will lose our leadership on this front very soon.

How did the Republicans label the silly financing of education by the Democrats yesterday? “A vote for more tax-hikes and special interest bailouts,” said some random spokesman for John Boehner. Senator Gregg suggested it was a “pay-off to education unions.” 

$26 billion, fully paid for, goes to help strapped states pay for the education of America’s future; $30 billion was to be invested by Democrats in helping small business owners—the back-bone of any economy. The Republicans were against both of these measures calling them foolish, generational-theft and typical “tax and spend” policies of the Democratic Party.

The True Death Tax

When a soldier is killed in Iraq, the family of the deceased receives a check for $500,000. Who covers this cost? The US tax-payer—this is a tax against the middle class, the working poor; by giving this money to a grieving family, the government is making a choice: instead of invest in said crumbling bridge, education, health care or tax-breaks for entrepreneurs seeking to develop green energy technologies, the money goes to this family. The “opportunity cost” is $500,000. That money is now gone, off the books and with this family. In order to invest in the bridge or education, etc. we must take that money from somewhere else. (The Republicans will probably defend policy and say it is good that the government's wealth is being dispersed to the poor through the payment to the family--I think the family would most likely rather have their loved one.) 

So, as working-American stands in traffic because that bridge is crumbling resulting in two of the three lanes being closed because they are simply too unsafe, working-American is being taxed—taxes are not always in the form of money; this fact, however, the Republicans simply refuse to understand.

As the government readies that $500,000 for investment in the bridge, suddenly another American soldier dies in Iraq; and another, and another; and another. With each flag-draped coffin returning home—something the Republicans felt we weren’t mature enough to see all those years—the problems of America’s infrastructure mount. They worsen and the cost for fixing them increases.

Despite what Bush and Rumsfeld had said would be the cost for victory in Iraq--$50 billion was the amount Rumsfeld told the gathered journalists back in April, 2003—America’s involvement in that desert that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11 (had no WMD and never, ever even hinted that they needed our messianic war) rapidly approaches the amount that was invested in World War II (in real terms).

Um, let’s see, World War II: participated in the largest, most horrific war in world history and through bravery, sense of purpose and American greatness, we conquered true and pure evil.

Iraq. I need say no more. Iraq has been a tragic waste of lives on both sides. Thanks to Iraq, the foundations of our economy are rotting as if there has been a termite infestation and the Republicans have the audacity--the gumption--to blame President Obama and the Democrats: Orwellian double-speak if there ever was an example.

When a soldier dies, the tax-payer not only has to pay his family the $500,000; but, the economy loses future economic value from the man or woman killed and the survivors also tend to become less economically efficient because of depression and sadness. 

The Costs

Iraq will end up costing our economy over $3 trillion dollars; it will cost us the lost ideas, accomplishments of those who have suffered and who are suffering with no arms or legs.

What is our budget shortfall today? How much will health care reform cost? What has Iraq already cost us? What was the cost of those tax-cuts for the richest Americans for whom George W Bush had the sheer arrogance to pass into law while we waged war on two fronts? (True generational wealth, true dispersal of the nation's wealth, true class warfare.)

The next time some Republican makes such absolutely ridiculous statements about Democrats caving to the “interests” (paying for education and helping small businesses) or “generational theft” (health care reform) just remember that thanks to the mistake that is Iraq—and those God-forsaken tax cuts (which they want to make permanent)—we are in the economic quagmire we see today.

When did we become so militaristic and just down-right stupid?

Sadness decreases the economic value of many Americans today...the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves; but, they aren't. They mock us instead.

 

 

 

Whose elite would you rather have?

CEO’s of most companies are smart, well-educated people with experience running things. The head of the NRA is probably a smart man, also. A corporation—the lobby--probably need such people to run their companies. If I were a share-holder, I would not want to think that the man or woman who is heading up my company was stupid or somewhat unbalanced.

The people given responsibility for companies and in the case of the NRA, pro-gun lobby, are most likely very wealthy. And, there is nothing wrong with that. According to most economists, the CEOs and the NRA head are part of an “elite” in America. They are the people who shape our nation through the Political Action Committees (PAC) they support and the politicians they anoint with their magical, bloated wallets. 

This “elite” have very simple orders for the politicians of their making: support and put forth policies that brought said wealth and preserve and when possible increase said wealth.

A market, like any game, has rules and the politicians supported by the elite, wealthy interests ensure that the rules of this game always favor the CEO’s, the heads of lobbies, etc.  The Supreme Court’s recent decision permitting companies not to take responsibility for ridiculous and often scandalous advertisements against any politician who is not willing to guarantee that all laws and regulations favor the wealthy elite will only further strengthen the wealthy elite. It will make the moat surrounding their fortress, protecting them from working Americans, ever wider.

To further understand the power of these elite, we must consider the fact that their corporations and lobbies are now being granted rights and privileges that used to belong only to citizens—one man one vote, one corporation one politician. And, when these corporate citizens commit crimes—sometimes leading to the death of hundreds or damage to other Americans in the billions of dollars—they are strangely usually let off with innocuous slaps on the corporate wrist.

A company with quarterly profits in the billions of dollars knowingly produces products that hurt consumers and gets fined a few million dollars; then they hire a great PR team, invest ten times the amount of their fine and somehow turn the tables so that the fault lies not in their decision as a board but in “too much government regulation;” or, the “socialist plans for the country that so-and-so president/politician has.” Had a regular Joe done what the corporation had, he would be on death row in most states.

The Myth

As the elite grows and gains power, it invests ever more money in creating a myth that some liberal, better-than-though, well-educated people—quite often from the north—seek to create an “elite ruling class” bent on making America socialist if not communist. These liberal people seek to obtain power so that they can offset the unfair advantages the “wealthy elite” have gained thanks to—in our case--thirty years of Republican obstructionist governing. Now, obstructionism in this case is not the same as it is today when the Republican minority refuses to govern while President Obama struggles to reset the scales.

The Republican obstructionism of the past thirty years has tried to completely alter all of the rules of the playing field so that they always favor the wealthy elite. So that the working American doesn’t pay too much attention to the fact that fifty-eight cents of every dollar of real income growth since 1976 has gone to the top 1% of the nation, the wealthy elite through their very own political party—the GOP—create emotional scandals and regularly find bogeymen in the dark: communism everywhere, Whitewater investigation (while we should have concerned ourselves with Al Qaeda), WMD, gay marriage, Swift Boat controversy, no global warming, Obama is a socialist Muslim, death-squads just to name a few.

Obstructed from being able to progress forward as a nation, from solving our current problems; from protecting our people from natural disasters and poor decision-making like the illegal invasion of Iraq, the wealthy elite thanks to their mouthpiece and protector guarantee that while the interest of the nation is held distracted by the endless scandals the GOP fabricates, they will plod forward, passing laws that further ensure the indentured-servitude of tens of millions of working-poor thanks to predatory lending policies; they will pass legislation that steals more and more of our Constitutional Rights while vociferously shouting from the rooftops that they are actually “preserving our Constitutional Rights;” they will find more nations of no consequence to play our fools only to then be invaded by us when the elite feel the next round of military technology is ready for use—to be bought by this same federal government they so claim to hate but whose pockets are always as deep as they need be when shifting the nation’s wealth from the working Americans to the elite ruling class.

The United States is the world’s largest economy. It is arguably the most complex and important society in the world today. The president and the people helping him oversee the massive machine that is the federal government should be well-educated, experienced, balanced and not given to emotional outbursts or just plain old deceit.

Smart People--so what

If the Americans, who happen to be smart, well-educated liberals running our country today happen to be considered an “elite” then I say so be it. Their elite status, for the most part, comes from the fact that they have always been the top of their class; they have always excelled academically and professionally and they probably went to colleges that are very selective. Today, they are President Obama and his advisors. I see nothing wrong with that. Actually, I love that fact. I love knowing that the President of the United States of America is smarter than me.

That couldn’t be said when referring to W; it certainly can’t be said about the current leader of the GOP, Sarah Palin. What can be said about them, though, is that they will do their “darndest” to make the wealthy elite proud of them—and vice versa.

Fox-News Flash: Obama is really a woman!

D-Day 2010--Lessons learned and forgotten

As I checked into the small hotel not far from the town of Bastogne awkwardness overcame me: here I was, like some child chasing a balloon that had slipped from his hand; chasing a moment in history that had passed 66 years ago.

These people had probably moved on long ago, I thought; and, like in my life, over those 66 years, so much had transpired: births, deaths, other wars had come and gone, marriages, divorces, accidents and worldwide epidemics had even changed the way we speak.

What happened in the woods and fields surrounding the town of Bastogne were events lost to text books and Hollywood, I figured; certainly the people here in this little village, the man plowing his field at ten o'clock at night so as to catch the last few strands of sunlight from this day, had forgotten.

Oh, how I was wrong.

The Belgians are aware of our sacrifice. They celebrate our veterans in plaques, memorials, town squares, through hotel and bar names, museums—so many of them—and fields that have been set aside not to be plowed but to remember the young Americans who gave their lives to push the German offensive back into the forest and out of Belgium.

Inundated in this love-fest for America, I walked around the woods of “Bois Jacques” and the town of Bastogne and, yes, tears of pride came to my eyes. When asked where I was from: “the US,” nods of silent recognition and small smiles pulling at lips greeted me; the unspoken thank you hung in the air. As I sat, sipping on a Belgian Ale, I so wanted to share with my relatives long-since-passed (Uncle Charlie, Aunt Lottie, Gram, my mother and father) the stories, the impressions being made upon me by these people. In place of them, I found an elderly couple from Pennsylvania , the man had fought in those very woods, and we talked. I felt a little better. 

I left Belgium for Normandy.

The Normans

On 5 June, I tried to enter the town of Ste. Mere Eglise but due to the crowds the town was closed to traffic.  I was forced to park about a mile from downtown. As I clicked my car doors locked, 30 WWII-era C47’s roared overhead and left in their wake a trail of parachutists; floating in peace toward the earth, it was hard to imagine the gunfire, the ringing church bells and the flames from the burning farmhouse which had accompanied a similar jump 66 years ago. 

It was all so festive and restoring.

Once on the town square, with American, French and British flags draped all over the town like some set for a movie, I found myself in “Love Fest Number 2.” Packed with revelers, picnics everywhere, rides for the smallest children whirred and smoke from grilled sausages filled the air tugging at stomachs; I grabbed a cold beer and settled in next to a table of vets from the 82^nd who had liberated the town. They were regaling with stories of that night paratroopers from today’s 82^nd and their French, British and even German “brothers in arms.”

Despite the dwindling number of veterans at the festivities this year and the less-than-obvious presence of townsfolk who were awoken on the night when some of our boys had the misfortune of landing on the main square—resulting in their immediate deaths—the baton of gratitude has been passed. The Normans are grateful and in their French stoicism, even I felt like they were glad to have us there on that day celebrating with them.

Yet, whereas the Belgians are almost giddy at seeing Americans coming to their country to recall those tough months of battle, the French being the French always reserve their most precious emotions for themselves; we get a big thank-you but it still is, like it was only weeks after the liberations, marked with a sense of “okay, you freed us now get going so we can get back to our amazing lives.” Yes, the French still somehow imagine that the greatest sacrifice on that day was their own sacrifice.

Perhaps, they are right but being an American, I simply will never agree with that sentiment. Having walked the beaches and sat in the hedgerow shortly after midnight on the 6^th and listened to the sounds that greeted our boys, I was frightened—and this is 66 years later.

The Normans make great cider and wonderful cheese and have accomplished countless amazing things throughout history, but, on D-Day the sacrifice belonged to us, to the Brits, to the Canadians and even the to the French paratroopers who jumped in shortly before midnight on the 5th.

Sacrifice

Over the course of these two days this past June, I had the great honor of meeting and thanking our veterans—“the boys” as they prefer to be called. Two of the men I met had landed in the first wave literally 100 yards away from each other and had never met before. They started recalling similar events—particularly large explosions, pauses in the shooting—“like everyone on both sides just took a deep breath”-- and the many tragedies from that day. 

As they recalled a certain LST—troop carrier--explosion, they both fell silent, turned toward the gathered crowd and made some comments about how they had lost the groups they had come here with; the tears had dried already for these men as slowly walked off toward the white crosses, but for many of us present, the tears fell.

“I was there.” One 93-year old vet looking at my “Battle of the Bulge” baseball cap said. Reaching out my hand, I began to stumble over the words, swallowed and said “thank you for your service, sir.” A tear fell and I wondered, what else can be said to a man who landed on D-day, fought through Bastogne and ended the war in Berlin?

As I sat in my car overlooking Omaha Beach just after H-Hour, I sipped on a cider from trees that had been christened by the blood of our boys. Marveling at the distance from the water to the seawall, I wondered, are we as good a nation today as we were then? I wondered, could I have made that run across the sand under such intense fire? Would I have even tried?

The boys on those beaches, falling from the sky, rotting in the jungles of the Pacific, fought not so we could become the nation we are today; responsibility for everything shunned by all, pinned to some “deep dark moment from childhood;” gluttony now the new national pastime and like dark periods from what we had hoped were in the past, immigrants—both illegal and legal ones—being persecuted not by fanatics this time but by so-called mainstream—although somewhat radical—Americans. 

And, these policies are being veiled in “Christianity” and "patriotism." Sounds, however, just like the ideology our boys landing on these Norman shores were fighting to rid Europe of.  

The Boys fought for Different Reasons

The boys of D-Day did not fight for an intolerant America; an America where corporate interests and the wealthy are permitted to spend however much they want to get their “representatives” elected; an America that disrespects a President because he is black, has a Muslim-sounding name and tries to off-set the gains of thirty years of political abuse by the right in order to give the struggling American worker a fighting chance.

The boys of D-Day fought for truth, liberty and justice for all: not lies passed off as the truth ( WMD, no global warming, health care is socialism), imprisonment because you are poor and no justice for the same reason. They did not fight for an America that has come to so hate educated and smart people. It used to be a sign of accomplishment to have obtained a great education but today, unless your institution of higher learning is not a place linked to bible studies or great football teams, then you are considered a leftist, a “communist.”

In Normandy, I was so proud and I thought: if only every American spitting the vitriol of today’s political hysteria (the Tea Party nuts) could see this, we would be a better and freer nation still.

Tomorrow would be better than today--a very American notion, indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

The Curtain has been Pulled Back...Again

It's official. America is finished as one nation.

Republican hysteria has once and for all replaced economic sense and the never-ending obsession with maintaining power has driven them to finally, slide back the curtain and permitted all to see just how sad and crazy the wizard of their anti-America movement is.

Seven senators who had previously supported a bipartisan bill to cut the debt, refused to support it simply because the General Secretary of their Party ordered them not to: "do so, and we might not regain power in November."

The Sharks are Circling

America is wounded and bleeding and all republican members of Congress are circling, nipping at the drowning swimmer, waiting until the legs have stopped paddling and then they will strike for the final and deadly blow--slowly then, America will be bled to death.

Neo-cons and their republican breathren blame President Obama for all of the problems that exist. The laughable and hysterical name-calling that has united them behind idiots like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney and all republican members of congress has replaced any semblance of governance. They do not seek to help the majority party govern the nation out of its death throes. They want to pull the plug.

The verdict is now in: the Bush tax cuts and other legislation, plus two wars, were the final straws that collapsed the camel's back. The "government is the problem" hysteria and the anti-regulation movement of all financial markets and our banking system also played its role: this recession would not have happened if we had just some government regulation.

Yet, the republicans are truly genious. Reagan cut taxes and spent the nation into its largest deficits since the end of WWII. When Clinton became president, burdened with the Reagan legacy of deficits, he was forced to concentrate on balancing the budget; this pretty much meant that any social programs he might have wanted to pass had already been thrown off the table long before Mr. Reagan forgot his own role in that mess--let alone his name.

Reagan forced Clinton to be fiscally, socially conservative.

With surpluses of $5.6 trillions projected when W took office, within a few short years after his and the incomptence of his aides--Condie Rice and Ashcroft in particular--led to the single greatest and most deadly act of terrorism on our shores, our nation's economy began its slide into idiocy. Today, we are only relevant because we are consumption addicts and because we owe the world an unbelievable amount of money. Half of our public debt is owned by foreigners with China owning half of that.

Doing Nothing

And what do the elected officials of the minority party do? They make-up ridiculus names like "socialist" and "goverment takeover" and stoke the flames of obstructionism. They do nothing but let completely ignorant and stupid people like W, in the past, and Palin now, speak for their party; in one case, speak for America; and, in the other, wanting to speak for America.

The republicans are destroying our nation and their refusal to compromise is the single greatest proof of this; the other being the leaders around whom they coalesce. When Reagan was President, the dems worked with him; they compromised because they knew that the greater interest was America's and not their party's. The same held true when Bush I and II were presidents. Challenges arose for the nation that forced the dems to pass legislation that was not in line with their party's sensibilities--under Bush II, they really had to eat crow but they did so because the nation needed it government.

What have repubs done since Obama became president? Let us look at their role in governance, in defending the national interest. Other than saying "no" and more "tax cuts," please, they have been absent.

If the shoe was on the other foot and it was a republican president and a republican-led Congress, the likes of Beck, Limbaugh and Palin would be creating more hysteria in the media by accusing the dems of treason. Congress would be setting up commissions to study the Democratic Party's unlawful refusal to govern; the republican-controlled Supreme Court would already be passing down decisions on cases not brought to them on "why dem obstructionism" was against the law and so therefore, a punishable offense (they would probably somehow pull this lose interpretation out of the First Amendment).

Everytime they rant and whine about some made up boogey-man, eventually, they manage to sway the nation's misguided--those who get most or all of their information from Fox or radio commentators--into believing the hysteria. Ruin the banking and financial system and yes, you get temporary government take-overs--thank God, President Obama did that!

The republican method for governance when they are in power is to destroy the government of which they are a part and while it dies, to ensure that they will all be covered commercially in the all-encompassing and destructive market which will replace what had once been the American nation.

If you know the history of the Soviet Union, you will know that this is exactly what was done by the one party in charge there. So, so sadly this is being done by the republicans and it is being masked in patriotism.

Yeah, and Lenin and Stalin really wanted to give "power to the people."

The Wild (and Wet if you are New Orleans) World of Dick Cheney

As in Disney World, a land of magical fun where fantasy and dreams meet reality, so too the world of Dick (and I mean that literally) Cheney--aka Mr. Potter--is one where fact and fiction wed and the result is often times a bitter concoction of anti-American diatribes cloaked in fear-mongering and patriotism.

Terrorists, schmerrorists...

Selected by the Supreme Court and elected by a minority of Americans, monkey-boy W Bush came to down riding a carpet woven together by anything but a mandate for drastic action. As we would find out, W and his VP were not so concerned with the reality at hand and what they did was force through the largest tax cut in the history of the world!

Yes, not just our history but world history! Imaginez, s'il vous plait, le petit prince disregarded dire warnings of an imminent terrorist attack because as Condie Rice said to Richard Clarke--the single greatest authority on Al Qaeda in the government at the time: "The President is too busy right now to meet with you about possible terrorist attacks because he is busy getting his tax cut passed."

Those words were uttered by the queen of incompetence in the Spring of 2001. And, right up until those buildings collapsed and 2,750 Americans were crushed to death, the president responsible for our well-being simply had no time to meet with anyone concerning the imminent attacks.

The month prior to those attacks he was AWOL at his ranch, clearning brush! Isn't that why we allow illegal immigrant Mexicans to hang on street corners? Why didn't monkey-boy ride a pick-up down to the corner and slow to a crawl to let a few of the Pepe's and Pedro's jump in for an honest day's labor?

No, our macho prez had to do it himself and America was rudderless in the final month prior to the attacks despite daily CIA warnings that an attack was absolutely in the works and going to happen "any day now." The rest is sadly history.

Cheney's World

On Christmas day of 2009, a want-to-be terrorist failed to blow up a plane. Bored and having nothing else to report on, the media decided to somehow make a national obsession of almost nothing. Yes, again the incomptence of government bureaucrats permitted a loser like that kid from Nigeria to board a plane. Yes, the heroics of passengers saved many lives on that day.

And then, rather than sit down and really study what went wrong, in a manner that should have been done after 9/11 but thanks to the criminal obstructionism of the Bush/Cheney White House we still do not have complete picture of government wrongs leading up to and 9/11, CNN and Fox started to quote Cheney. "This president does not know their is a war going on against terrorists."

Now, why didn't a smart America and an astute media pose one question that could have and should have shut that clown up: "Dick, on whose watch did 9/11 happen in the first place? Where were you and your 'know-it-alls' when those warnings were being given to both you and the president on a daily basis for 3 months prior to 9/11?"

Some follow-up questions could have been: "Um, Mr. Potter, wasn't it you and W who decided to stop pursuing Bin Laden in Afghanistan when he was cornered in the mountains? Wasn't it you who ordered an illegal invasion of Iraq and who STOPPED that war against Al Qaeda rebels in Afghanistan in December 2002? Wasn't it you who started a war we are still in against people who are NOT the terrorists? And isn't it President Obama who has redirected our efforts at engaging the terrorists in Afghanistan by sending an additional 30,000 troops? If that is not an understanding of war, then what is?"

First of all, Cheney is one of the most anti-American people in America today. He honestly is probably sad that that plane didn't get blown up all so as to show that Obama is incompetent.

Secondly, Cheney wants Obama to stoke the coals of fear. He wants the American people to become obsessed again with the monster in the dark closet; the one hiding under the bed. He wants civil liberties to be encroached upon; he wants Obama's domestic agenda to fail so he is trying desperately, and succeeding thanks to a disgusting and irresponsible media, by sowing the seeds of doubt in this man's leadership.

A Great Leader

And, a leader he is. Obama did exactly what he was supposed to have done: nothing. "Nothing" is good and why? Because terrorists want to know that they are disrupting everyday life, weaving fear and anxiety into everything we do, day in and day out. Obama's reactions behinds closed doors should have been to head butt some people for this failure to detect this kid with the exploding underwear. But, in public he should have merely praised people for their heroics, announced the beginning of an investigation of what went wrong and then gone back on vacation.

The terrorists were emboldened, however, by Cheney and the anti-America GOPCON idiots who have since that day made careers denouncing Obama for his "weakness on terrorism" and by saturating the airwaves and printed media with dire warnings of armageddon thanks to the next generation of "jockey underwear bombers" in training in the outback of Africa.

Attention and fear is what they were aiming for and when I flew to Miami on January 2nd, it was simply chaos! The lines were endless and the "checks" of our personal belongings the same, nothing had changed but for some reason we waited 2 hours to pass through security only to have had to run to the gate in our socks. The terrorists had failed but Cheney and the GOP had once again succeeded in drawing our attention from real problems at hand and for making all of America ill at ease.

It's not the terrorists but anti-America Republicans, it's the economy, it's their failed leadership since 1994 and it is their demonizing of government that has made our nation a much less safer and even a poorer nation than we had been in 1996.

Always remember, 9/11 happened because of a mixture of arrogance, ignorance and sheer laziness and it happened while Bush and Cheney were in charge. So, who is he to talk and why is it that the American media listen? (Oh, yeah, because when a lot of people are watching TV, the ratings go up and they can charge more to advertise on their channels...)

Eat Less Meat, Save the Earth

Whilst the pawns of ministers race to and fro from small country working group to big country working group in Copenhagen discussing ways to reduce carbon emissions, which are being caused by excessive use of fossil fuels, once a day the lunch bell rings and these same pawns, a smattering of bishops and an assortment of rooks retreat to the cafeteria.

Tucking into soups and salads and breads with butter many do. Topped with jams are hams. Burgers of beef, salads of chicken and kebabs of lamb adorn plates of paper amidst conversations of conservation and ways to avoid the flu. What the world's climatological elite seem to forget, however, is that world eating habits are as destructive if not more so than world manufacturing.

Meat for Everyone

In 1958, per capita consumption of meat (beef, chicken, turkey and lamb) in the United States was 196 pounds, today it is 273. In Europe it was 123 and today it is 196. Ireland went from 121 to 213; New Zealand from 248 to 312 and China rose from 8 pounds of meat to 119: 1.3 billion Chinese are eating 119 pounds of meat each year.

Most of this meat is eaten in the form of the sadly-ubiquitous and highly-processed hamburger and other such similar "culinary advancements." The hamburger and fast-food industry is like none other with its universal disregard for worker's safety, abuse of the cows, relaxed attitude toward consumer's safety, destruction of the environment, etc.

Now, let us consider this little fact: 33 calories of fossil fuel (as they say "from semen to cellophane") are burned to produce one food calorie of beef. For every 1 calorie of fossil fuel burned, grains and vegetables give us 1.5 to 2 food calories. For every single bite of a piece of meat, we are wasting the earth's limited resources. The larger the steak, chicken or turkey, the warmer we cause the earth to get. It is a simple as that--well, not really, but, for argument's sake and so as not to bore with Gore-like facts and figures, this is the case.

Mass Produced Meat (including "free range and organic") is Destroying the Earth

All across America and the world, ever more and more arable land is being set aside to grow grain and soybeans for the raising of livestock. All throughout Africa, the ruling elite, realizing the wealth that can be attained via the exporting of beef to Europe, China and the US, enforces the planting of crops for the raising of feed for meat production.

We all have heard about the dangers of deforestation. The Brazil rain forest loses .3% each year. The local people hack away hundreds of acres a day, then burn the chopped wood and then plant crops for the production of grain and soybeans. Brazil's loss, however, is nothing in comparison to places like Argentina and Columbia.

In America, Africa and other parts of the world, it is not called deforestation but rather "desertification." In the world today, there are around 1.5 billion cows (20 billion chickens, a billion pigs, a half a billion turkeys and 800 million goats). When millions of cows graze and graze over and over on the same tens of thousands of square acres, the land is destroyed: rivers are destroyed as a result of the destruction of vegetative cover, compaction occurs from the extreme scuffling and infiltration declines resulting in runoff and soil erosion (boring, yes).

(By the way, a single pig farm in Texas produces 2000 tons of urine each day, all which goes into water tables; and daily in the US, 24,000,000 chickens are slaughtered.)

In addition, to ever increase the amount of grain obtained from one acre of land (monocropping), excessive applications of nitrgen-laced fertilizer are used. Nitrogen is 100 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide and will tip the scale toward destructive global warming much sooner than C02 will. Nitrogen leads to the formation of vast wastelands of toxic algae which choke life out of the oceans leading to a depletion of oxygen and an increase of CO2; nitrogen also depletes the ozone layer, to say the very least.

As the world meets in Copenhagen bent on protecting its "development"--a misnomer if there ever was one-- and ever devoted to the post-WWII Pax Americana principles of hyper-consumption, the real issues are not being discussed. Each country will do its best to ensure that its "economic interests" are not being tread upon; however, the ultimate destruction of the earth is not one they consider potentially debilitating--if we in America were to look at the tax payer dollars going to recover areas devastated by hurricanes, forest fires, floods, etc., we would all agree that it would be cheaper to prevent global warming then to deal with its growing effects.

So, as the world misses yet another chance to do something good for all of us, each one of us can start today by merely cutting our meat consumption in half; and, in a year, cut that in half and 6 months after that, cut that in half. With such progressive and positive eating habits, we will have done more to prevent the dangers of global warming then the so-called elected officials whose job it is to protect our interests at day's end.

Eat more veggies, less meat. However, with that said, I will enjoy my monthly stewed rabbit with rosemary and peeled, cherry tomatoes and carrots. Nothing wrong with enjoying some meat, just do it in great moderation.

The Daisy Spot and Sean Hannity

A young girl is playfully counting as she pulls the petals off of a daisy. She is counting incorrectly. Suddenly, a man's voice starts a count-down of his own: 10-9-8-7 and so on until zero. At the end of count-down, we see a horrible mushroom cloud and hear: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high."

Run by the committee for the re-election of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and against the arch-conservative and father of today's conservative movement, Barry Goldwater (Ronald Reagan was not the father of this neo-fascist movement,like many want to believe, but rather merely its offspring).

Produced by the advertising pioneer Tony Schwartz, the ad immediately created an uproar amongst Republicans. They feared the images would too accurately show Goldwater for what he was: a man of extreme views and liable to act without thought as opposed to being a moderate, as they were trying to sell him to the American public.

Image Manipulation

The soundtrack for this ad, the images, the allusion that if Goldwater were elected we could expect nuclear war, were next to genius. They were primitive and straight-forward assaults upon the emotions of the viewers: tactics very common at the time. A billboard in Pittsburg, PA in 1959 showed the hand of a black man in a menacing, reaching pose, fingers curled as if ready to pounce and a white woman with a purse is reacting in horror supposedly seeing this hand. Beneath this imagery are the following words: "Vote Republican on November 4th."

Wow!

Although it seems we have been evolving away from such outright manipulation, such overt racist abuses in political ads, we should not forget Republican abuses like the Willy Horton ads run by George Bush I. I want to hope that that was the exception, really, and that even the win-at-any-price, earth-scorching Republicans know not to abuse black-white tensions so openly--not to say that it still doesn't happen.

This new era of high-tech manipulations, putting people in photos when they weren't there, putting in soundtracks that come from completely different situations, splicing in video in :03 seconds chunks and bits interlaced with venomous so-called "news-reporting/commentary" harkens back to clumsy and historically obvious cuts and purges of photos during Soviet times.

An entire exhibition in Moscow a few years back showed how Russian/Soviet history had lost figures from prominent photos only to see them reappear in the same photos some years later when the "lost person's" standing was renewed: the Soviets proved that the manipulation of journalistic history for control sake, for victory was a valuable tool; a tool in a society that is run by corrupt and evil-doing dictators. As a result, today few Russians put any stock in photos or video for they all know that it can be manipulated and doctored to sell any "present or historical truth.:" reality is in the eye of the editor.

The Republican Party's Propoganda Station: Fox TV

No one can ever accuse Fox-"News" of being journalistic. Truth and facts are not issues they seek to report but rather simplified and emotional versions of the former and latter. A less diplomatic person than myself would call what they report as "news", outright and blatant lies.

Many Americans tune into this channel for their daily dose of news. Sadly, the vast majority who thrive on the Kool-Aid ladled out by Fox-"News" don't seek to back up their information with other more reliable and factual sources: the Associated Press being the least opinionated of them all. The average Fox-"News" watcher doesn't read books on history or political histories. He doesn't have the time, desire or inclination to study these things and that is his free-choice. More power to him.

My beef is not so much with the arguably lazy Fox-"News" viewer as it is with the creators of the reality they pass off regularly as facts. These people are abusing a privilege they have earned from the blood, sweat and tears of generations of Americans who came before them. The boys who assualted the beaches at Normandy would be the last ones to lie or embellish the reality of their accomplishments of that "longest day." As was so sappily brought to my attention recently, the ideas for which our flag stands are ones of honor, truth, goodness, fairness and America.

Sean Hannity's abuse of journalistic principles, his open and obvious manipulation of video footage to create news where news was void, is heinous, irresponsible and should result in castigation. The fact that the ever-vigilante and real-left John Stewart caught this "mistake" should not draw our attention away from Fox's abuses of modern technology.

Fox regularly manipulates and bends the truth via video and audio technology in order to destroy any fair chance democrats--Obama--can have at properly and sanely governing our nation through hardship. Fox was the biggest cheerleader on the race to the illegal invasion of Iraq. They spliced and split and lied to provide "factual news coverage" to the viewers who use this news medium as their sole and gospel one. So many still believe that bombs of mass destruction were found and that Al Qaeda was funded by Saddam Hussein, all thanks to Fox and their support of Bush's lies.

Fox-"News" is not a news organization. It is mouth-piece of the GOPCON Party. It is the propaganda bureau of the GOPCON Party. Fox-"News" is no better than ITAR-TASS--the official "news" organ of the communist party in days gone and now the United Russia Party.

Nevertheless

Sean Hannity and his abuses will go unpunished. Fox-TV will actually gain viewers thanks to this scandal. GOPCON'ers will actually express delight about the fact that they are being duped, entertained by the likes of Hannity. In the vein of Limbaugh, these lazy and dangerous followers of propaganda geniuses on par with Goebbels, will become more boisterous and more anti-America than ever before.

And, as the problems fester and the calls for more tax breaks and less governance increase thanks to lies and abuses of journalistic rights, rights which have been guaranteed thanks to the spilled blood of soldiers past and present (and future), Fox and Hannity will keep laughing their way tot the bank as their viewership increases and the advertising dollars pile up.

The Daisy ad was genius as it mastered the subtlety of allusion. The Daisy Spot was a paid-for political advertisement. Fox-TV pawns off this mockery as factual news coverage or somewhat biased commentary; commentary, however, they claim based on facts. Like the Swift Boat scandal, which was proven to be all lies after the election was "won" by W, the Republicans continue to demonstrate that they will stop at nothing to denigrate Democrats and our president.
And in attempts to hide these despicable tactics, they drape themselves in flags and the memories of battles fought by soldiers in whose ranks they never stood. They cry patriotism when they fail to realize that their tactics for maintaining power are anti-America, anti-small town values, anti-freedom. They too become the walking, living lies that they listen 24/7 on the channels led by the likes of a drug-addicted fat-ass, Limbaugh, and Mr. Hannity.

Journalism is dead, long live journalism!


http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1964b.html