There once was an American creed which, to paraphrase, stated the following: to those who rise early, who are honest and who respect their neigbors, the fruits of their labor will bring them rewards.
And then, the era of corporate welfare began in earnest; the era of hysterical governing in which a tactic often used by "communists" in Russia was employed to such a degree that still 15 years later we are stuck in this quagmire of "ungovernability."
The deke used with such amazing success by the hysterical-right (HR, hereinafter) is a simple one: lie about one's enemy with passion, believe your lie, and then force him to disprove the lie, nevertheless however, the stain will be on the dress (thank you Monica for saving it). This has been an amazing tactic used for nearly a century by Russian communists and now today's so-called democratically-elected governing party. In Russia, and in other low-trust societies, you lie and he who has the money to spin that lie and make it "reality" is the ultimate victor for the other guy expends all his energy disproving the lie.
Not My Concern
Russia, however, is not my concern. Despite living here for many years, I have learned one thing: keep your mouth shut in this society. You can have a negative opinion but just don't try to apply that to action or else very quickly you will be identified, isolated and expelled or arrested.
My concern is what I see happening in our America. Yes, we have always had an emotional and slightly hysterical bent to our politics. George Washington hated the media and the opposition so much when he left office he secretly feared that America couldn't last if new rules for governing weren't instituted. Not much was done, though, and today we still see similar tactics being applied by the media and the opposition.
The danger, however, lies not in these tactics but in the collaboration of these tactics. When the media becomes the opposition then we set out into swamps only traveled by the likes of Nazi's and Communists. For 15 years, all media in Nazi Germany were slipping into all aspects of their reporting, from weather forecasts to sales of lady's pantyhose, that Jews were "vermin." Guess what? During the immediate de-Nazification era after the war, Germans from 15 to 30 years of age were absolutely convinced that Jews were vermin. Fed lies by the mass media for over a decade, the lies became the truth.
Under Communism, for 70 years, lies (propaganda) were spilled across every aspect of society: from newspapers, to radio, to TV, to subway walls to park benches, the glory of communism was extolled. True, many knew that these "glories" were not so great. Yet, to this day, there are entire generations who are convinced that it was the American army that committed atrocities during WWII against Germans and Jews; that the firebombing of Dresden was genocide; that presidents are chosen by elite committees behind closed doors and so on. Now, the current system is again spoon-feeding the nation lies, opinions and creating for modern-day Russia, it's reality.
Hysteria for Power's Sake
The HR, the GOPCON Party and Fox-"News" are taking plays from the playbooks of some very dangerous and destructive parties. No good can be gained when a major network news program, with the resources of not just a TV station, but countless internet sites, newspapers and magazines, so vociferously creates a false reality for to the nation about politicians it does not feel fall in line with its political views.
Fox's behaviour is traitorous. The support of the HR for Fox's tactics is based on greed and immediate political gain. The GOPCON wants power so they can go back to ruining our nation through their inherent mismanagement; go back to bankrupting our nation through their ridiculus corporate welfare (tax cuts); so they can return to making America dumber by NOT investing in education, by making it less likely that working Americans can get student loans, by perpetuating our obsession with fossil fuels which leave us stuck in the go-nowhere economic muck we are currently in.
The dangers of letting Fox mangle the truth by inseminating it with lies is that since the birth of Fox, a generation of youth have come to age. These youth now believe these lies to be the truth. Class assaults that under Reagan would have been considered impeachable offenses, thanks to the hysteria and lies stoked by Fox, are today reasons why Republicans get elected in many states. And, the danger lies in the simplistic world of dichtomies: good versus evil, us v. them, black v. white, Yankees v. Phillies. The simpler the argument, the easier it is for people to understand.
Fox is for Dumb People
If we were to look at the places where Fox is considered the Gospel, we would notice that these parts of America are the least educated. The more outrageous and simplistic the lie, the easier it is to understand, the less worry a politician has about his hysteria and lies being questioned by an informed electorate.
Last year in Russia when the chess-genius Gary Kasparov tried to run for president, his followers were beaten and jailed. Why? Because he is smart and his platform was simple: are we better off today than we were 8 years ago? And then, the smart, well-spoken and well-respected, if not adored by many Russians chess champ merely laid out the problems that have gotten worse under Putin. He was chased out of the country. The goverment/party-controlled mass media made him out to be a drug-using, child-molesting lunatic--all lies, but, the truth was created by a the ruling party's media.
Putin feared Kasparov's intelligent and rational critique would result in smart voters, the majority being concentrated in St. Petersburg and Moscow, not turning out to vote on election day. So, he silenced rational, unemotional opposition and he kept the voters in the dark; instead they spent months pondering whether it could be true that their chess hero was really a heroin-addicted pedofile. And, Medvedev won by a landslide. He created emotional responses where none should have been and manipulated them against his potential opponent.
Some Questions
Finally, I would like to ask some questions of my sane and educated breathren on the other side of the political pendulum: can you really think any good will come out of joining the GOP with Fox-News? Can you really think any good will come from making our electorate dumber so they will question less? When will you return to the core values that made our nation strong, sustainable and great?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The GOP is Obsessive-Compulsive
Everything is governed by a natural order. We blink when something nears our eyes; when cold we shiver, when hot we sweat; when sick the body grows tired and forces us to lie down. All of our energy then goes to battling the illness.
Sex is pleasurable. Even this was done for a reason. Imagine if it was torturous (yes, it is for some)? If sex were horrible and not pleasurable, then man would long ago have become extinct.
Sex, in nature, among animals, mammals, etc. is a natural need; like eating and like so many other innate acts which escort them through life each day. For man, however, sex has become a mix of emotions which go beyond our absolute natural need. Yes, we need it, but probably not in all the costumes, positions, places and with varying partners as we seek it out. These aspects of sex are less physical and more mental--the brain craves the act, the excitement, the smells and it drives many to ever more acts of sex.
Let it be said, there is nothing wrong with this fascination for sex. So long as sex, like anything is, kept in its place and life is not handicapped by this passion for "getting sweaty." Sex, however, like anything else, when it becomes an act of obsession than it is not good.
Prostest is next to American-li-ness
There is nothing wrong with protest. The right NOT to like a sitting president or the party in control is the Constitution-given right that makes our nation great. It is natural to protest in America. However, when the protest becomes detrimental to the nation's welfare, when the protesting (opposition) party stops offering any constructive advice and just votes as one big bloc "no" so as to prevent the nation's business from being conducted, then this is obsessive behavior. And, like any psychologist will tell you, obsessive behavior is detrimental to proper development.
The GOPCON Party has not offered one single, legitimate counter-argument to any issue in our nation since January 20 of this year. For all intents and purposes, from the moment their wreckless and child-like obsessions for tax-cuts (the boogey-man) and "less government" ("I am afraid of the dark") led us to the brink of economic disaster last September, they silently slunk (past-tense of "to slink") away, tail between their legs (or, rather, heads up their asses) and quietly waited for the democrats to start governing the nation again out of the sink-hole of their destruction.
After a summer of farcical protests, which had been preceded by even more ridiculus "tea parties" (which I originally thought kind of creative until I found out that it was Fox-"News" who promoted and launched this hysteria), the cons, despite their deep-seated belief that the healthcare reform being put forth by Obama will help our nation in the long-run, are now going too far in the destruction of our nation by launching their boats to the sails of insurance industry lobbyists.
Again, the God-fearing and Bible-thumping, Southern-accented crackers (except their Uncle Tom leader), are willing to seek short-term political/financial gain at the expense of our nation.
By Any Means Necessary
The behavior of the cons and their minions is again shameful. Recently, a leading Senate GOPCON'er said that regardless of what the President puts forth, we will seek to destroy the legislation 'by any means necessary'--filibuster, lies, scandal, obsessive behavior, foot-tapping in men's bathrooms, anything goes for them.
So in other words, regardless of whether the President puts out a plan that meets all of their demands, they will still kill it so that their short-term political gain will be greater than the gain of the average, working American. And, even more ridiculus and harder to comprehend is that many of the same nuts ranting about Obama being a communist because he wants to reform healthcare will sometime very, very soon benefit thanks to the reforms that will be enacted.
When this low-skilled worker finds himself without a job because the gains that could have been made thanks to the green revolution instead went to China, Germany and elsewhere, silly, obsessed Cleet from Arkansas will find himself uninsured because the GOP ensured that the status quo live on for another generation. He will be eating moon-pies and RC Cola for Thanksgiving whilst his obese wife rots from the inside-out because she can't get the needed operation "cuz we ain't gat dah money to pay the doc."
Obama's green revolution, which could still create millions of jobs, even whole new industries and make American an economic leader in something other than weaponry, also suffers from the abusive and obsessive idiocy of the GOPCON.
Every initiative he has put forth to make the lives of average Americans, all Americans a little better, a little sounder, a little safer, has been obsessively attacked and mocked by a vociferous and well-fianced minority of greedy, greedy Americans. Americans, whose political views would never have let their relatives even set foot in this great nation 100 years ago, sit in the safety of their well-groomed communities, many behind gates and embarass themselves and all of American by their obsessive, self-serving whining.
For the sake of our great nation, I pray to a God, not the one they worship, that President Obama succeeds. I hope he passes healthcare reform; I hope his reforms of the credit card industry stick; I hope he can force tougher and real regulations upon the giant financial houses on Wall Street; I hope he can make our future less hot and longer and filled with less rain and less hurricanes thanks to massive, massive cuts in greenhouse gases all thanks to the successful launch of our green economic revolution.
"Oh for Our Sake"
If he fails on all of those fronts, then, that whining, greedy minority of "America-haters" will have won and we, the people, the majority, will have lost. They are wealtheir than us, they are more wily than us and they have fewer morals and so their tactics are free from rules like no kicking or biting.
We must fight the good fight and win. And, if for a second it seems we will lose, always recall that the sneakiest and arguably most effective blow to an unsuspecting opponent is a good, crisp head-butt to the bridge of his nose.
And then victory will be ours! After all, it is the end result we are seeking and the means mean nothing at all...for the victors, at least.
You go, President Obama!
Sex is pleasurable. Even this was done for a reason. Imagine if it was torturous (yes, it is for some)? If sex were horrible and not pleasurable, then man would long ago have become extinct.
Sex, in nature, among animals, mammals, etc. is a natural need; like eating and like so many other innate acts which escort them through life each day. For man, however, sex has become a mix of emotions which go beyond our absolute natural need. Yes, we need it, but probably not in all the costumes, positions, places and with varying partners as we seek it out. These aspects of sex are less physical and more mental--the brain craves the act, the excitement, the smells and it drives many to ever more acts of sex.
Let it be said, there is nothing wrong with this fascination for sex. So long as sex, like anything is, kept in its place and life is not handicapped by this passion for "getting sweaty." Sex, however, like anything else, when it becomes an act of obsession than it is not good.
Prostest is next to American-li-ness
There is nothing wrong with protest. The right NOT to like a sitting president or the party in control is the Constitution-given right that makes our nation great. It is natural to protest in America. However, when the protest becomes detrimental to the nation's welfare, when the protesting (opposition) party stops offering any constructive advice and just votes as one big bloc "no" so as to prevent the nation's business from being conducted, then this is obsessive behavior. And, like any psychologist will tell you, obsessive behavior is detrimental to proper development.
The GOPCON Party has not offered one single, legitimate counter-argument to any issue in our nation since January 20 of this year. For all intents and purposes, from the moment their wreckless and child-like obsessions for tax-cuts (the boogey-man) and "less government" ("I am afraid of the dark") led us to the brink of economic disaster last September, they silently slunk (past-tense of "to slink") away, tail between their legs (or, rather, heads up their asses) and quietly waited for the democrats to start governing the nation again out of the sink-hole of their destruction.
After a summer of farcical protests, which had been preceded by even more ridiculus "tea parties" (which I originally thought kind of creative until I found out that it was Fox-"News" who promoted and launched this hysteria), the cons, despite their deep-seated belief that the healthcare reform being put forth by Obama will help our nation in the long-run, are now going too far in the destruction of our nation by launching their boats to the sails of insurance industry lobbyists.
Again, the God-fearing and Bible-thumping, Southern-accented crackers (except their Uncle Tom leader), are willing to seek short-term political/financial gain at the expense of our nation.
By Any Means Necessary
The behavior of the cons and their minions is again shameful. Recently, a leading Senate GOPCON'er said that regardless of what the President puts forth, we will seek to destroy the legislation 'by any means necessary'--filibuster, lies, scandal, obsessive behavior, foot-tapping in men's bathrooms, anything goes for them.
So in other words, regardless of whether the President puts out a plan that meets all of their demands, they will still kill it so that their short-term political gain will be greater than the gain of the average, working American. And, even more ridiculus and harder to comprehend is that many of the same nuts ranting about Obama being a communist because he wants to reform healthcare will sometime very, very soon benefit thanks to the reforms that will be enacted.
When this low-skilled worker finds himself without a job because the gains that could have been made thanks to the green revolution instead went to China, Germany and elsewhere, silly, obsessed Cleet from Arkansas will find himself uninsured because the GOP ensured that the status quo live on for another generation. He will be eating moon-pies and RC Cola for Thanksgiving whilst his obese wife rots from the inside-out because she can't get the needed operation "cuz we ain't gat dah money to pay the doc."
Obama's green revolution, which could still create millions of jobs, even whole new industries and make American an economic leader in something other than weaponry, also suffers from the abusive and obsessive idiocy of the GOPCON.
Every initiative he has put forth to make the lives of average Americans, all Americans a little better, a little sounder, a little safer, has been obsessively attacked and mocked by a vociferous and well-fianced minority of greedy, greedy Americans. Americans, whose political views would never have let their relatives even set foot in this great nation 100 years ago, sit in the safety of their well-groomed communities, many behind gates and embarass themselves and all of American by their obsessive, self-serving whining.
For the sake of our great nation, I pray to a God, not the one they worship, that President Obama succeeds. I hope he passes healthcare reform; I hope his reforms of the credit card industry stick; I hope he can force tougher and real regulations upon the giant financial houses on Wall Street; I hope he can make our future less hot and longer and filled with less rain and less hurricanes thanks to massive, massive cuts in greenhouse gases all thanks to the successful launch of our green economic revolution.
"Oh for Our Sake"
If he fails on all of those fronts, then, that whining, greedy minority of "America-haters" will have won and we, the people, the majority, will have lost. They are wealtheir than us, they are more wily than us and they have fewer morals and so their tactics are free from rules like no kicking or biting.
We must fight the good fight and win. And, if for a second it seems we will lose, always recall that the sneakiest and arguably most effective blow to an unsuspecting opponent is a good, crisp head-butt to the bridge of his nose.
And then victory will be ours! After all, it is the end result we are seeking and the means mean nothing at all...for the victors, at least.
You go, President Obama!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The Anti-America Movement grows...in our own backyard
When I open my passport, the words "United States of America" greet my eyes. When I flip through its pages, an assortment of state seals guide me through our great nation. I see the words "US Passport Agency" and other such harmless and generic terms. What I don't see are republicans and Democrats. Not present are the hysterical tea-parties, neo-fascist anti-health-care protests and other partisan aspects of our, once again, great nation.
An Award to Be Proud of...you'd think
And yet, a little less than a year after we, the America people, demonstrated to the world that two of our greatests assets as a nation still exist, the ability to peacefully elect a president and our system of balances, that mass of hysterical and anti-America idiots scoof and snort and mock when our president receives one of the most prestigious awards that exist. The conservatives, again, demonstrate their true hatred for our great nation.
I must comment on our system of balances. Peacefully electing a president is being done by more and more nations each year: great but less unique than it used to be. The world has learned from us well. What still seperates us, however, from so many is our amazing system of three branches of government: the Legislature, the Judical Branch and the Executive one. Under W and Mr. Potter, the Executive Branch gained inordinate amounts of power at the expense of the other two--many will say (including me) that an abuse of the Judicial Branch is what gave us W in the first place.
After 8 years of no leadership, corruption the likes only seen before under Reagan and Nixon, and sheer and complete incompetence--even, an obvious reluctance to govern by W (he was sitting in front of the Ranger games by 6 PM each evening and clearing brush by the months each summer at his ranch), Americans and even many of the most reactionary and the loudest in the current "I hate America" GOPCON Party were ready and willing to see W head off into that January sky on Marine Two. A sigh of relief was heard for many even feared that Mr. Potter might try to pull a military coup that January day not too long ago, such were the abuses of power by W and his coterie of flying monkeys.
Shocked and dismayed at our own seeming hatred for the values that made our nation one of the greatest in world history, foreign governments waited and hoped that our system of balances would once again prove effective. And, it did.
Since that day that Obama assumed the presidency, beyond all that he has done on a 24/7 time-clock to help our nation survive the irresponsible policies of 30 years of republican incompetence--"no government, no regulation, power to the states (sounding very similar to "power to the soviets")--President Obama has made it one of his top priorities to reinvigorate "brand America." And we, as a declining world power whose greatest weapon always was the strength of our soft culture and the lure of an America with streets paved in gold, cannot, should not underestimate the resource that "brand America" is for us.
It Earns us money and it saves lives
Everytime one of these psuedo-wealthy big-mouthes open their traps and criticize Obama, my skins crawls. If they were citing facts and real figures, it would be one thing. However, arguments like 1) he was not born in America; 2) he is a Muslim terrorist; 3) he is a communist/socialist; 4) he is expanding goverment so as take over our lives are simply ridiculus claims fed by the idiocy of Fox-TV and drug-addicts like Rush Limbaugh. Sadly, many in America get their political opinions from these entertainment outlets and confuse it for truth.
Yet, if we were to set aside the issues that divide us and look at the one thing we should all want and hope for, a strong and stable America, then the receipt of the Nobel Price for Peace by President Obama, our president, should be something to make us not just proud but safer and happier.
President Obama has not done one act which you could put your finger on and say, "ah, this is why he got it." No, but he has changed the mood in the world. If W's policies had permitted the patients (Russia's abuse of their gas diplomacy, North Korea's and Iran's nuke programs, a melting Pakistan, etc.) to take over the mental hospital--Obama's reaching out to the world has made diplomacy once again a valid tool and served as sedative to the nuts in the world.
And, if we can spare the lives of over 4000 young men and women serving in our armed forces (and tens of thousands of innocent civilians) from making the ultimate sacrifice caused by to hubris and greed of the neo-con right as they were led by W and others, then I say, President Obama: GREAT JOB! He deserves any award he can get for the sake of us and a better world.
President Obama has changed the mood in the world and being an American who lives in the "world" and has traveled to 12 nations just in the past 8 months, I can tell you this: people are thrilled by this man and the mood is one of change, of hope, of possibilities.
As a result of this feeling in the world, America's stock is going up. Despite our ailing economy, not caused by Obama, the world likes having a sane and rational America once again at the helm. Yes, the world also feels burned and slightly embarassed because of their attempts to deal with W and Mr. Potter as adults only to be spurned and even mocked by those two. President Obama must demonstrate that he can rule regardless of the destructive and obstructionist right. The world waits and it has hope, though. Hope was something they did not have under W.
Congratulations America
Our national brand equity is increasing in value thanks to President Obama and his policies, his beliefs. The Nobel Peace Prize further increases brand America's value. This is something we should not pooh-pooh, this is something we should not doubt, this is something we should not hestitate to take silent pride in.
There used to be a saying in America, before the right became so openly hostile to our nation's future, domestically it is acceptable to disagree and argue with the President; but, internationally, he is the man and we should at least respect him and hope he does well internationally for our own good.
President Obama's award is our award and the world is better for it but sadly, not even that fact is enough to snap those anti-America conservatives out their hateful, obstructionist stupor.
Shame on them all.
An Award to Be Proud of...you'd think
And yet, a little less than a year after we, the America people, demonstrated to the world that two of our greatests assets as a nation still exist, the ability to peacefully elect a president and our system of balances, that mass of hysterical and anti-America idiots scoof and snort and mock when our president receives one of the most prestigious awards that exist. The conservatives, again, demonstrate their true hatred for our great nation.
I must comment on our system of balances. Peacefully electing a president is being done by more and more nations each year: great but less unique than it used to be. The world has learned from us well. What still seperates us, however, from so many is our amazing system of three branches of government: the Legislature, the Judical Branch and the Executive one. Under W and Mr. Potter, the Executive Branch gained inordinate amounts of power at the expense of the other two--many will say (including me) that an abuse of the Judicial Branch is what gave us W in the first place.
After 8 years of no leadership, corruption the likes only seen before under Reagan and Nixon, and sheer and complete incompetence--even, an obvious reluctance to govern by W (he was sitting in front of the Ranger games by 6 PM each evening and clearing brush by the months each summer at his ranch), Americans and even many of the most reactionary and the loudest in the current "I hate America" GOPCON Party were ready and willing to see W head off into that January sky on Marine Two. A sigh of relief was heard for many even feared that Mr. Potter might try to pull a military coup that January day not too long ago, such were the abuses of power by W and his coterie of flying monkeys.
Shocked and dismayed at our own seeming hatred for the values that made our nation one of the greatest in world history, foreign governments waited and hoped that our system of balances would once again prove effective. And, it did.
Since that day that Obama assumed the presidency, beyond all that he has done on a 24/7 time-clock to help our nation survive the irresponsible policies of 30 years of republican incompetence--"no government, no regulation, power to the states (sounding very similar to "power to the soviets")--President Obama has made it one of his top priorities to reinvigorate "brand America." And we, as a declining world power whose greatest weapon always was the strength of our soft culture and the lure of an America with streets paved in gold, cannot, should not underestimate the resource that "brand America" is for us.
It Earns us money and it saves lives
Everytime one of these psuedo-wealthy big-mouthes open their traps and criticize Obama, my skins crawls. If they were citing facts and real figures, it would be one thing. However, arguments like 1) he was not born in America; 2) he is a Muslim terrorist; 3) he is a communist/socialist; 4) he is expanding goverment so as take over our lives are simply ridiculus claims fed by the idiocy of Fox-TV and drug-addicts like Rush Limbaugh. Sadly, many in America get their political opinions from these entertainment outlets and confuse it for truth.
Yet, if we were to set aside the issues that divide us and look at the one thing we should all want and hope for, a strong and stable America, then the receipt of the Nobel Price for Peace by President Obama, our president, should be something to make us not just proud but safer and happier.
President Obama has not done one act which you could put your finger on and say, "ah, this is why he got it." No, but he has changed the mood in the world. If W's policies had permitted the patients (Russia's abuse of their gas diplomacy, North Korea's and Iran's nuke programs, a melting Pakistan, etc.) to take over the mental hospital--Obama's reaching out to the world has made diplomacy once again a valid tool and served as sedative to the nuts in the world.
And, if we can spare the lives of over 4000 young men and women serving in our armed forces (and tens of thousands of innocent civilians) from making the ultimate sacrifice caused by to hubris and greed of the neo-con right as they were led by W and others, then I say, President Obama: GREAT JOB! He deserves any award he can get for the sake of us and a better world.
President Obama has changed the mood in the world and being an American who lives in the "world" and has traveled to 12 nations just in the past 8 months, I can tell you this: people are thrilled by this man and the mood is one of change, of hope, of possibilities.
As a result of this feeling in the world, America's stock is going up. Despite our ailing economy, not caused by Obama, the world likes having a sane and rational America once again at the helm. Yes, the world also feels burned and slightly embarassed because of their attempts to deal with W and Mr. Potter as adults only to be spurned and even mocked by those two. President Obama must demonstrate that he can rule regardless of the destructive and obstructionist right. The world waits and it has hope, though. Hope was something they did not have under W.
Congratulations America
Our national brand equity is increasing in value thanks to President Obama and his policies, his beliefs. The Nobel Peace Prize further increases brand America's value. This is something we should not pooh-pooh, this is something we should not doubt, this is something we should not hestitate to take silent pride in.
There used to be a saying in America, before the right became so openly hostile to our nation's future, domestically it is acceptable to disagree and argue with the President; but, internationally, he is the man and we should at least respect him and hope he does well internationally for our own good.
President Obama's award is our award and the world is better for it but sadly, not even that fact is enough to snap those anti-America conservatives out their hateful, obstructionist stupor.
Shame on them all.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thank You, President Obama
Dear President Obama,
Nearly a year ago, 28 years of hyper-deregulating government policies led us and the world to the brink of economic collapse. You assumed office almost 6 months after this moment, 15 September 2008, and since then, through partisan action and your strong and decisive leadership, we are stepping back from the precipice. We can take a breath and whether others will join me or not, I don't know, but I want to say: Thank you.
Of course, it has not been an easy road for you, for the country, for the world. Many are still without work; new businesses are not opening up and credit is still not readily available to most; yet, during this time, and despite the best (or worst) efforts of the Republican Party, you have fought the fight for the American people.
Laying policies that will lower costs over the long-term; depriving greedy, and in many instances, morally reprehensible big businesses from their obsession with short-term profits (see finance industry, auto industry, energy companies, insurance companies, maybe even Coca-Cola); you have been harassed and mocked by a substantial minority of Americans and what used to be a relevant political party in our nation. Yet, you persevered.
The members of that party, I call it the GOPCON Party (GOP meets CON-servatives), have done everything they could to obstruct you; to prevent you from not just leading our nation out of the morass of 8 misguided years of abject incompetence, but, even in many cases from simply governing. They want America to fail.
You, Mr. President, and your party--although not all of them--initially strove for bi-partisan solutions to problems that had not been seen in 70 years. They, however, chose a talk-radio approach to our nation's future by littering the present with emotional garbage, nonsensical delays, demagoguery, rebel-rousing and tactics so common to roving groups of neo-facsists: fear and threats.
President Obama, I am proud to be an American again. I was shamed by how our nation had behaved over the last 8 years. I live abroad and truthfully, I tend to be somewhat of a loud-mouth and don't fear too many people so not many foreigners could scare me in their overt disgust for our antics since W became president; however, it has not been easy. Many people didn't so much as hate us as they were simply shocked that we, America, would behave so stupidly, be so reactionary and twice vote in a man who could barely speak a sentence that even the dumbest Americans could understand, let alone bright ones.
Your policies have set the auto industry back on a track that at least resembles principles from Business 101: build products that people want to buy. You are trying to get our nation to see the benefits of a green revolution and just how many jobs could be created should "we", I mean those so-called wealthy businessmen ever lobbying for tax-cuts so they could invest in American businesses, use our once great American ingenuity to lead the world in this field--instead of giving this too off to China.
Your Accomplishments
You have fought the credit card companies and made it safer for us to use credit cards. Their irresponsible and predatory customer-trolling policies were nothing more than legalized loan-sharking--who hasn't been cheated by a credit card company? But, changes have been made. You, the president, the government, is forcing them, a monstrous corporate entity against which we, small, hardworking, Americans simply have no recourse, to change their ways. Good job!
The environment bill could have been better but I am a gradualist. If you try to go too far then the "system" will stand to lose too much money and it will prevent you from doing anything. Again, hats off for being a pragmatist. Next time, we will do better. The clunker program was anything but; yet, if we listen to those idiots on the right, they will say this too was farcical. Name one program, Mr. President, that they have supported or passed that has made our nation better in the past 30 years.
Soon, you will save tax-payer money by cutting out the banks as the middlemen in the student loan process and again, despite what you can be sure will be GOPCON obstructionism, the quality of American's lives, those of the "disregarded majority", will be set on firmer ground. You will fight the fight against big business by going after obesity. If people cannot smoke--I am not a smoker--because it harms them and us, why are companies allowed to poison us with these sugary, fake-foods. Why is 30% of our nation allowed to drain our nation's resources because they make life choices that turn them into herds of scootering-zooming fatties?
Finally, President Obama, I sleep well at night knowing that you are doing your best to make our nation as great as it could've been had the GOPCON Party not stopped the wheels of modernity; had we not been side-tracked by sheer and unadulterated stupidity, greed, contradiction and shameless fake-religiosity and anti-Americanism.
You need to be civil to the likes of that idiot southern congressman, Joe Wilson. I don't have to be--I still blame that state for firing the first shot. So, until you are ready to completely and fully accept their political irrelevance as a modern day political party and govern as if they didn't exist, we will continue to fight the battle for you.
The America in which you and I want to live, Mr. President, does not condone such antics like what were seen on the floor of the Congress when you were speaking. The America you and I love, voices our opposition, and then when the nation needs decisions and governance, we make decisions and govern: the GOPCON Party has chosen to extract itself from governing the nation. They should be ashamed, they should be impeached.
What is the next problem we will tackle, President Obama? Perhaps, we can start taking away their guns?
Nearly a year ago, 28 years of hyper-deregulating government policies led us and the world to the brink of economic collapse. You assumed office almost 6 months after this moment, 15 September 2008, and since then, through partisan action and your strong and decisive leadership, we are stepping back from the precipice. We can take a breath and whether others will join me or not, I don't know, but I want to say: Thank you.
Of course, it has not been an easy road for you, for the country, for the world. Many are still without work; new businesses are not opening up and credit is still not readily available to most; yet, during this time, and despite the best (or worst) efforts of the Republican Party, you have fought the fight for the American people.
Laying policies that will lower costs over the long-term; depriving greedy, and in many instances, morally reprehensible big businesses from their obsession with short-term profits (see finance industry, auto industry, energy companies, insurance companies, maybe even Coca-Cola); you have been harassed and mocked by a substantial minority of Americans and what used to be a relevant political party in our nation. Yet, you persevered.
The members of that party, I call it the GOPCON Party (GOP meets CON-servatives), have done everything they could to obstruct you; to prevent you from not just leading our nation out of the morass of 8 misguided years of abject incompetence, but, even in many cases from simply governing. They want America to fail.
You, Mr. President, and your party--although not all of them--initially strove for bi-partisan solutions to problems that had not been seen in 70 years. They, however, chose a talk-radio approach to our nation's future by littering the present with emotional garbage, nonsensical delays, demagoguery, rebel-rousing and tactics so common to roving groups of neo-facsists: fear and threats.
President Obama, I am proud to be an American again. I was shamed by how our nation had behaved over the last 8 years. I live abroad and truthfully, I tend to be somewhat of a loud-mouth and don't fear too many people so not many foreigners could scare me in their overt disgust for our antics since W became president; however, it has not been easy. Many people didn't so much as hate us as they were simply shocked that we, America, would behave so stupidly, be so reactionary and twice vote in a man who could barely speak a sentence that even the dumbest Americans could understand, let alone bright ones.
Your policies have set the auto industry back on a track that at least resembles principles from Business 101: build products that people want to buy. You are trying to get our nation to see the benefits of a green revolution and just how many jobs could be created should "we", I mean those so-called wealthy businessmen ever lobbying for tax-cuts so they could invest in American businesses, use our once great American ingenuity to lead the world in this field--instead of giving this too off to China.
Your Accomplishments
You have fought the credit card companies and made it safer for us to use credit cards. Their irresponsible and predatory customer-trolling policies were nothing more than legalized loan-sharking--who hasn't been cheated by a credit card company? But, changes have been made. You, the president, the government, is forcing them, a monstrous corporate entity against which we, small, hardworking, Americans simply have no recourse, to change their ways. Good job!
The environment bill could have been better but I am a gradualist. If you try to go too far then the "system" will stand to lose too much money and it will prevent you from doing anything. Again, hats off for being a pragmatist. Next time, we will do better. The clunker program was anything but; yet, if we listen to those idiots on the right, they will say this too was farcical. Name one program, Mr. President, that they have supported or passed that has made our nation better in the past 30 years.
Soon, you will save tax-payer money by cutting out the banks as the middlemen in the student loan process and again, despite what you can be sure will be GOPCON obstructionism, the quality of American's lives, those of the "disregarded majority", will be set on firmer ground. You will fight the fight against big business by going after obesity. If people cannot smoke--I am not a smoker--because it harms them and us, why are companies allowed to poison us with these sugary, fake-foods. Why is 30% of our nation allowed to drain our nation's resources because they make life choices that turn them into herds of scootering-zooming fatties?
Finally, President Obama, I sleep well at night knowing that you are doing your best to make our nation as great as it could've been had the GOPCON Party not stopped the wheels of modernity; had we not been side-tracked by sheer and unadulterated stupidity, greed, contradiction and shameless fake-religiosity and anti-Americanism.
You need to be civil to the likes of that idiot southern congressman, Joe Wilson. I don't have to be--I still blame that state for firing the first shot. So, until you are ready to completely and fully accept their political irrelevance as a modern day political party and govern as if they didn't exist, we will continue to fight the battle for you.
The America in which you and I want to live, Mr. President, does not condone such antics like what were seen on the floor of the Congress when you were speaking. The America you and I love, voices our opposition, and then when the nation needs decisions and governance, we make decisions and govern: the GOPCON Party has chosen to extract itself from governing the nation. They should be ashamed, they should be impeached.
What is the next problem we will tackle, President Obama? Perhaps, we can start taking away their guns?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Par for the Course
They should be ashamed, but, they won't be.
There are things like, let's see...a constitution. ""Ah, that's just an outdated piece of paper," they mutter over grits drowned in butter. There is a court that is supposed to make decisions based the letter of the law. "Yeah, but, most of those justices were chosen by republican presidents so they had to choose W for the presidency," they rejoice whilst staring at maps of the world where thanks to our troops "democracy" has taken root.
There is even an office, an oval one, in which sits the highest, elected official in the land. He is the President of ALL the United States of America. Shame was brought to this great office by Nixon; by a republican congress-led witch hunt, which did to Clinton what is trying with some success to do to Obama--spread lies and hate against the president so as to distract him from his agenda and wait until he makes a major mistake. Yes, Clinton was stupid to start that affair given the HUAC-style pressure he was under from a nation held hostage by Newt and company.
W brought shame to the White House, to the nation; but, he was and still is called President Bush and in all my dislike of him, I would be awed to meet one of less than 50 men in the past 200 plus years to have held the title of President of the United States of America.
Last night, some southern Joe from none other than the state that fired the first shot against federal troops in 1861 at Fort Sumter, had the utter indecency to shame the office again by screaming (like a spoiled, rotten brat) "you lie." Not since a southern senator beat a northern one with his cane into a coma in the 1850's has such a display been seen.
Shame on you! Shame on the GOPCON Party!
President Obama is all ya all's president so respect him, or at least tje office, an shut the hell up, Joe!
There are things like, let's see...a constitution. ""Ah, that's just an outdated piece of paper," they mutter over grits drowned in butter. There is a court that is supposed to make decisions based the letter of the law. "Yeah, but, most of those justices were chosen by republican presidents so they had to choose W for the presidency," they rejoice whilst staring at maps of the world where thanks to our troops "democracy" has taken root.
There is even an office, an oval one, in which sits the highest, elected official in the land. He is the President of ALL the United States of America. Shame was brought to this great office by Nixon; by a republican congress-led witch hunt, which did to Clinton what is trying with some success to do to Obama--spread lies and hate against the president so as to distract him from his agenda and wait until he makes a major mistake. Yes, Clinton was stupid to start that affair given the HUAC-style pressure he was under from a nation held hostage by Newt and company.
W brought shame to the White House, to the nation; but, he was and still is called President Bush and in all my dislike of him, I would be awed to meet one of less than 50 men in the past 200 plus years to have held the title of President of the United States of America.
Last night, some southern Joe from none other than the state that fired the first shot against federal troops in 1861 at Fort Sumter, had the utter indecency to shame the office again by screaming (like a spoiled, rotten brat) "you lie." Not since a southern senator beat a northern one with his cane into a coma in the 1850's has such a display been seen.
Shame on you! Shame on the GOPCON Party!
President Obama is all ya all's president so respect him, or at least tje office, an shut the hell up, Joe!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Common Good
Ownership is a good thing. Owning a car, a home, a dog, a bike, a chair and even a garbage can are all good and helpful things.
Each one of those things requires certain care in their respective handling so as to ensure that they will be maximized in their use for us. Each of these things, to a greater or lesser extent, is a resource for the owner and even for non-owners in some cases.
Each of these things becomes a part of our routines of life, a life woven into a common one. We sit in the chair to eat, read the paper or surf the web. We walk the dog and pet him, relaxing on the couch after a long day soaking up the unconditional love of a good pup. The garbage can, if properly used, sorts our recyclables and this act in our personal life adds to the common one which makes it better--good.
Ownership
American society is an ownership society. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; well, there are many wrongs but the overall basis for this concept upon which our nation was founded is not wrong. Yet, when people own things, they strive to ensure that their neighborhoods are good, clean, safe and happy. If all of this, then a town or a neighborhood can be a great place to own a home, a dogs, bikes, balls, TV's, bbq's, etc. By acting in a manner that is conducive to an overall good, one contribute to a sounder, common good.
A common good is something that the GOP and the conservatives don't want for America. I believe this from the bottom of my heart. This is not rhetoric. They do everything they can to put the interests of America behind the needs and interests of a) the wealthy and b) big business. How else can we justify what they did to our nation during W's 8 long years? How else we can justify the way they are creating panic and hysteria over the president's courageuous efforts to overhaul health care? They mocked the clunkers program--an obvious benefit to some but at the end of the day, a benefit to all.
There are so-called preachers wishing President Obama dead and there are talking-heads on Fox hinting that something "radical" must be done to stop him. Is this good for our nation this hate? How is it that when W was lying to the world about Iraq, all debate on the need for that invasion was considered "anti-American" and "support for the terrorists"; and now, when we are trying to pull our nation back from the brink of bankruptcy by overhauling the greatest drain on our nation's wealth, the failed healthcare system, conservatives and the GOP are turning the debate into a screaming match while wrapping themselves in the buntings and banners of silent Old Glory?
The Media
The emasculated and fading-from-relevance, traditional media is not questioning or condemning these tactics. Why? Again, the profit incentive. They too need to make money, they are looking after their own interests. The Iraqi invasion was exciting. It was good for sales of newspapers and magazines. Many a smart journalist probably knew as I that the "truth" W was selling was about as accurate as a history book written by Soviet historians. Those same journalists also knew that uncovering W's deceit would sell still more papers and magazines, etc--help them and their interests.
Writing an article with the facts and figures about the healtcare dilemma, showing support for the president and why these conservatives and the GOP are simply wrong and even anti-American, is boring. Such journalistic responsibility can't compete with the lies of Fox News, the reprehensible and irrresponsible criticisms by Cheney of Obama's policies so why try, they figure.
With no regard for the nation's rules, mores and precedents before him in regards to governing and the US Constitution, Mr. Potter (Cheney) has again broken with protocol and less than 6 months out of office, already, he is vocally challenging the president; trying to plant the seeds of doubt, hate. When will death knock on his door I ask? It will be a great day for our nation when he dies and I will be the first to shout with joy. (So Republican of me, such anger. Imagine, waiting for someone to die. So, non-Christian of me.)
At a time when our nation needs to gather behind our president as he struggles to lead us to a better place, the lies and emotions of the conservatives threaten to destroy our president, our nation. Why? Because they want to be re-elected, they want to limit more abortions, kill more criminals, invade more nations which were not threatening our good, embarass us on the world stage more often, ruin the environment further, give more tax breaks to the billionaires, bankrupt more local governments and states further: California, arguably our greatest state, is stricken by disasterous fires and bankruptcy.
A Genius Idea
Cars pulling into a Burger King in New Jersey drive over a medal speed bump at the drive in and energy is created and stored. Eventually, it is hoped that this would be used at all drive-thrus, toll-boothes, etc. This invention received stimulus money from Obama's "failed stimulus package" (so say the conservatives). If used at all the drive-thrus and in other places throughout a town of 15,000 people, 30% of its energy needs can be taken care of in this manner. This is a simply genius invention which will do wonders in lowering energy costs. This is something that never would have seen the light of day under a republican administration.
A woman was interviewed in a local paper in New Jersey about how she would feel if these things were put around the town" "So long as it doesn't mess up my routine, I don't care. But, if it gets in my way, don't need'em." What has happened to our "can do", "community first" attitude? When did we become so obsessed with our own so-called personal good? When did the cult of comfort, ease and leisure replace our belief in the American nation? Have we become so self-possessed that we can't slow the car a little, add 22 seconds onto our drive to the store, for the sake of creating energy to run the street lights in our town? For the sake of maybe, just maybe, staving off the disastrous effects of global warming by a decade or two: a common good.
What has happened to the common good and who is left to make sure it survives? President Obama is one and this is why the conservatives are finding it so easy to railroad his healthcare overhaul. He has proven himself to be naive and foolish: he believes in the America that drove our troops across battlefields in faraway countries, in their efforts to accomplish the mission and lead us to victory.
He wants to make ALL of us better and not just some of us. How cynical we have grown as a nation. We are more like Europe than we want to admit.
Each one of those things requires certain care in their respective handling so as to ensure that they will be maximized in their use for us. Each of these things, to a greater or lesser extent, is a resource for the owner and even for non-owners in some cases.
Each of these things becomes a part of our routines of life, a life woven into a common one. We sit in the chair to eat, read the paper or surf the web. We walk the dog and pet him, relaxing on the couch after a long day soaking up the unconditional love of a good pup. The garbage can, if properly used, sorts our recyclables and this act in our personal life adds to the common one which makes it better--good.
Ownership
American society is an ownership society. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; well, there are many wrongs but the overall basis for this concept upon which our nation was founded is not wrong. Yet, when people own things, they strive to ensure that their neighborhoods are good, clean, safe and happy. If all of this, then a town or a neighborhood can be a great place to own a home, a dogs, bikes, balls, TV's, bbq's, etc. By acting in a manner that is conducive to an overall good, one contribute to a sounder, common good.
A common good is something that the GOP and the conservatives don't want for America. I believe this from the bottom of my heart. This is not rhetoric. They do everything they can to put the interests of America behind the needs and interests of a) the wealthy and b) big business. How else can we justify what they did to our nation during W's 8 long years? How else we can justify the way they are creating panic and hysteria over the president's courageuous efforts to overhaul health care? They mocked the clunkers program--an obvious benefit to some but at the end of the day, a benefit to all.
There are so-called preachers wishing President Obama dead and there are talking-heads on Fox hinting that something "radical" must be done to stop him. Is this good for our nation this hate? How is it that when W was lying to the world about Iraq, all debate on the need for that invasion was considered "anti-American" and "support for the terrorists"; and now, when we are trying to pull our nation back from the brink of bankruptcy by overhauling the greatest drain on our nation's wealth, the failed healthcare system, conservatives and the GOP are turning the debate into a screaming match while wrapping themselves in the buntings and banners of silent Old Glory?
The Media
The emasculated and fading-from-relevance, traditional media is not questioning or condemning these tactics. Why? Again, the profit incentive. They too need to make money, they are looking after their own interests. The Iraqi invasion was exciting. It was good for sales of newspapers and magazines. Many a smart journalist probably knew as I that the "truth" W was selling was about as accurate as a history book written by Soviet historians. Those same journalists also knew that uncovering W's deceit would sell still more papers and magazines, etc--help them and their interests.
Writing an article with the facts and figures about the healtcare dilemma, showing support for the president and why these conservatives and the GOP are simply wrong and even anti-American, is boring. Such journalistic responsibility can't compete with the lies of Fox News, the reprehensible and irrresponsible criticisms by Cheney of Obama's policies so why try, they figure.
With no regard for the nation's rules, mores and precedents before him in regards to governing and the US Constitution, Mr. Potter (Cheney) has again broken with protocol and less than 6 months out of office, already, he is vocally challenging the president; trying to plant the seeds of doubt, hate. When will death knock on his door I ask? It will be a great day for our nation when he dies and I will be the first to shout with joy. (So Republican of me, such anger. Imagine, waiting for someone to die. So, non-Christian of me.)
At a time when our nation needs to gather behind our president as he struggles to lead us to a better place, the lies and emotions of the conservatives threaten to destroy our president, our nation. Why? Because they want to be re-elected, they want to limit more abortions, kill more criminals, invade more nations which were not threatening our good, embarass us on the world stage more often, ruin the environment further, give more tax breaks to the billionaires, bankrupt more local governments and states further: California, arguably our greatest state, is stricken by disasterous fires and bankruptcy.
A Genius Idea
Cars pulling into a Burger King in New Jersey drive over a medal speed bump at the drive in and energy is created and stored. Eventually, it is hoped that this would be used at all drive-thrus, toll-boothes, etc. This invention received stimulus money from Obama's "failed stimulus package" (so say the conservatives). If used at all the drive-thrus and in other places throughout a town of 15,000 people, 30% of its energy needs can be taken care of in this manner. This is a simply genius invention which will do wonders in lowering energy costs. This is something that never would have seen the light of day under a republican administration.
A woman was interviewed in a local paper in New Jersey about how she would feel if these things were put around the town" "So long as it doesn't mess up my routine, I don't care. But, if it gets in my way, don't need'em." What has happened to our "can do", "community first" attitude? When did we become so obsessed with our own so-called personal good? When did the cult of comfort, ease and leisure replace our belief in the American nation? Have we become so self-possessed that we can't slow the car a little, add 22 seconds onto our drive to the store, for the sake of creating energy to run the street lights in our town? For the sake of maybe, just maybe, staving off the disastrous effects of global warming by a decade or two: a common good.
What has happened to the common good and who is left to make sure it survives? President Obama is one and this is why the conservatives are finding it so easy to railroad his healthcare overhaul. He has proven himself to be naive and foolish: he believes in the America that drove our troops across battlefields in faraway countries, in their efforts to accomplish the mission and lead us to victory.
He wants to make ALL of us better and not just some of us. How cynical we have grown as a nation. We are more like Europe than we want to admit.
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