Given all the crap that has happened in the past few weeks - Sarah Palin, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Wall Street Meltdown, etc. - every day I think "I need to write something about this". And then something else happens and the first thing doesn't seem so important anymore. So then I start thinking about the new item and then something else happens. It's enough to make you just want to give up. So, here are a few scattered rants about stuff.
Sarah Palin:
I cannot believe for one minute that a) John McCain is the best candidate the Republicans could find. Surely in the ranks of the millions of R's there is someone better qualified (and younger!) who could be their candidate? and b) that Sarah Palin could be a (old, traumatized) heart beat away from being President of this country (of the world actually). What happened?
My theory is that someone somewhere decided that since 'we' liked that moron George W. Bush (a guy 'we' would like to have a beer with) that we needed an entire ticket that was even stupider than him! Of course, the last few days I think McCain is beginning to be sorry he ever heard of Sarah Palin. She slipped up (twice) and referred to the ticket as the 'Palin and McCain' administration. Ooops! And then there are now campaign signs that say simply "Sarah!" One Alaskan pundit dryly observed that if McCain thought he would be able to put her in some back office and forget about her, he was in for a big surprise. I'll quit now so my head doesn't explode.
The Hurricanes:
Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast not too far from where Katrina hit. Although the amount of physical damage that was done was great - the death toll was not high, thank goodness. People are still without power and ice, medical supplies and prescriptions, and are subsisting on MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat) otherwise known as the lovely crap they feed our military personnel when they are away from the base (otherwise known as combat). For more info on this one, see the previous post.
Hurricane Ike made landfall over the top of Galveston County, Texas. The storm was over 700 miles across, and while the wind speed was a Category 2, the barometric pressure in the eye was that of a Category 4. The monster storm was moving at only about 4 miles per hour, so it seemed to take forever to move out of the area. Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula were inundated with a 20-foot or more storm surge. The Peninsula is gone, the land bridge washed away, and what remains is a barren island where several thousand people once lived.
Firefighters from Austin returned home today from working on Galveston Island. They report that absolutely nothing is left. One said he watched a pickup truck with a person inside being washed out to sea in the surge. There was nothing they could do to help.
The Galveston Island/Bolivar "Island" area is under a complete news blackout. A no-fly zone has been put up. No one is being allowed close to the area, and people are told they cannot take any pictures of the beaches even. There are reports of huge numbers of bodies up in trees, some said they were from the cemetery, but others said that could not be correct. In any case, thousands, possibly as many as 30,000 people are 'missing and presumed dead'. Anyone who chose to stay on Bolivar or Galveston is certainly dead. And most of the bodies have probably been washed out to sea and will never be found.
Of course, no one is talking about this now because of...
Wall Street Meltdown:
The neo-con agenda of completely unregulated free-market capitalism (otherwise known as unbridled greed and corruption) has run its natural course and ended in inevitable ruin. The taxpayers of this country have just taken on what could be up to $10 TRILLION in debt - all of it underwritten by bad mortgages and 'financial instruments' that are worth less than the paper they are written on. Thousands of employees of Lehman Brothers are out of work, and thousands more from Merrill Lynch and AIG are soon to follow. Ten central banks from other countries have put up $71 billion for a 'liquidity' fund - no one knows which banks, and no one knows what they are getting in return for this - screens were put up around the White House while all the negotiations were going on so no one could see who was coming and going. And it is not over yet. Washington Mutual and Goldman Sachs are looking like they will be next, Wachovia is in trouble, Citigroup is shaky, and who knows about the rest of them.
The Republicans in this administration and Congress have been telling us that we don't have enough money to fix our failing infrastructure, to pay for VA care for our wounded vets, to provide healthcare for children and the like. We are fighting two wars. And Bush gave 2 trillion dollars in tax cuts to the top 5% of the richest people in the country. We are borrowing money from China to buy oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Bush has almost doubled the national debt (before this happened) and as of right now no one, and I mean no one, knows just how much this whole thing is going to cost.
I am not a financial expert, but I think that if the taxpayers are on the hook to bail out these companies, then they should just be nationalized. If there are ever again any profits to be made from the remnants of these crooked, greedy and corrupt institutions, it should all be put back into the public till. The shareholders should be told to take a hike. And none of the upper management should receive a dime of compensation and should have to give back any money they got over and above about $100,000. If that. If they have more than one house, that should be taken back as well.
But of course, I'm not in charge here.
So....how about some comic relief?
The Palin/McCain camp has been saying that Obama has never reached across the aisle to introduce any legislation that was important.
Palin said just today that when she gets to the White House she wants to put the national 'checkbook' on the internet so people can see where there money is going - just like she did in Alaska.
One small problem.
Back in 2006, a Republican Senator by the name of Coburn and a Democratic Senator whose last name starts with 'O' sponsored a bill, the FEDERAL FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT, that put a good chunk of the national checkbook on the internet. It passed the Senate, and the House, and was signed into law by Bush. In 2007, the two of them re-authorized the bill and added even more departments and expenditures, including earmarks to the list of stuff now on the website. You can read Obama's speech to the Senate where he describes the contents of the bill here: http://ftp.fas.org/sgp/congress/2006/obama091106.html
Okay. So Obama is so uppity that he managed to leap forward in time, steal her idea, and then go back to 2006 and pass a law about it.
It must not be too important though, since according to her and McCain, Obama has never reached across the aisle to do "anything important".
Now it's kind of sad that she's so clueless. NOT.
DON'T ANYONE DARE VOTE FOR HER! Our country simply can not afford four more years.
By the way, Obama and a certain Republican Senator Lugar went to Russia, spoke with the leaders there, including actual Vladimir Putin, and then came home and wrote what many said was a landmark piece of legislation to help Russia gather up and protect a lot of 'loose nuclear material'. This bill also passed both houses and was signed into law.
But he has no foreign policy experience unlike Sarah Palin who can 'see Russia from an island in Alaska'. And he has never reached across the aisle to pass an important bill. Not one.
Yeah, I know. Lots of bad news and nothing any of us little people can do about it, right? Well, not the big stuff certainly. But remember the truism that 'all politics is local'. In this case, not politics, but survival - do what you can on a local level. I have listed some ideas below - you can think up more.
Investigate Simple Living at http://www.simpleliving.net/ for ideas on how to cut back on spending. Stop using credit cards - cut them all up. Keep your debit card - and live WITHIN your means! If you have a yard, plant a garden. Learn to preserve the stuff you grow there. If you live in a condo or an apartment, find or start a community garden. Either move closer to your job, or get a job that is closer to your home. Carpool. Ride the bus. Think before you buy stuff. Buy local. Form barter co-ops. Get to know your neighbors - you'll need them and they'll need you. Go to http://www.hivethrive.com/ and read the older posts there for ideas on community gardens and other cooperative and sustainability ideas for our communities and ourselves. Re-use as much as possible. Recycle as much as possible. Try not to buy products in tons of excess packaging (helps if you buy local - no packaging at all!) Turn off the lights. Turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater. Put air in your tires (!) Get a bike and ride it everywhere you can. Vacation close to home - explore your own town, have a picnic in every park, go to all the galleries, plays, and community concerts. Volunteer at a food bank - or donate to a food bank - or both. Give all the clothes you never wear to a homeless shelter. Form a committee to help do maintenance for your local public school. Make up your own ideas. Then go do them!
This economy is taking a crash dive into a deep pit right now and we cannot see the bottom. We all need to take a deep breath, remember that it is not the end of the world, but begin to develop a more sustainable lifestyle. This is not a suggestion, it is mandatory. Because if we don't do it now - and in our own way - sooner or later, and probably sooner - we will be forced into it whether we like it or not. No, it doesn't mean we all have to live in a cave and eat twigs and bark. It DOES mean that we need to be more conscious of what we buy and why, do we really NEED it or just want it.
Best wishes to all, we are going to need it in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McCain. Show all posts
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
About the FCP (Fawning Corporate Media)
This past week has been absolutely and blatantly shocking in its bias for John McCain and against Barack Obama.
John McCain, at a town hall meeting, called on a Vietnam veteran for his first question. The Vet wanted an answer to the question of why McCain had voted against increasing funding for the VA in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. McCain took offense and started whining about his awards from Veterans service organizations claiming he had awards from them all. (He does from the VFW, DAV and AL - but they are all from years ago) The veteran replied that he had received his information on McCain's votes from the VFW and IAVA. McCain got visibly angry and all but accused the veteran of dissing his (McCain's service), and then claimed credit for helping pass Jim Webb's new GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He never did answer the question. (Fact check: While McCain did vote against bills containing additional monies for the VA, later on in the same sessions he voted in favor of different bills containing additional monies - but those amounts were always much less than in the original legislation. You know - I was against it before I was for it.....)
While McCain was inside slamming the Vietnam veteran, his campaign staff had a woman holding a sign that said 'McCain = Bush' cited for trespassing and removed from a semi-public space. The 61-year-old librarian was unceremoniously escorted off the property by three policemen at least a foot taller than she. When asked who had complained, the McCain people lied and said it was the Secret Service. However, it has since come to light that it was the McCain campaign. The librarian's question remains unanswered "Why would a bunch of Republicans, who elected Bush twice and McCain is their candidate now, take offense at this sign?" Final response from the FCM? *crickets*
McCain lied about naming the players of one football team (Pittsburgh Steelers) instead of the one he really named (Green Bay Packers). For one thing, the players he mentioned weren't even famous until after he got out of the Hanoi Hilton. For the other, he has stated that the Packers were the group in his written memoir, as well as in the movie and in every other time he has told this anecdote. Response by the FCM? *crickets*
McCain's chief financial advisor, Phil Gramm, announced that the American People are in a 'mental recession' and are all a bunch of whiners on the subject of the economy. McCain himself has noted on several occasions that a recession is a psychological problem rather than a real one; that his gas tax holiday, and also drilling off the Gulf Coast were purely psychological. Response by the FCM? *while noting that we probably are in the beginnings of a recession - defending Phil Gramm*
McCain, who has flipped, and flopped, and flipped so many times I can't keep track on the subject of privatization of Social Security, announced that 'the way Social Security is funded by having the taxes paid by current workers used to fund retirees is a total disaster and must be fixed'. McCain is apparently unclear on the idea that the Social Security system has been funded that way since day one - about 75 years - and it has been working just fine. Response by the FCM? *crickets again*
McCain, who is rabidly pro-life (the one issue he really has not flip-flopped on apparently) was asked a pointed question about a statement Carla Fiorina, his chief of staff made regarding the unfairness of health insurance companies paying for Viagra, but refusing to pay for birth control. The reporter posed this question directly to McCain who first 'didn't want to discuss the issue' and then, to use Rachel Maddow's words - tried to squirm his way out of his own body. He stated that he couldn't remember ever voting on anything like that (he has, several times, and always against the mandatory payment for contraception if paying for ED drugs), and then claimed that he really hadn't thought enough about it to make a comment and would try to get back to her. Response by the FCM? *other than KO/Rachel on Countdown laughing themselves silly over the incident, crickets again*
And finally, responding to a story that the amount of trade we are doing with Iran has increased exponentially, in spite of increasingly harsh trade sanctions, especially in the area of cigarettes, McCain made one of his rather lame so-called jokes (while his wife Cindy elbowed him in the back to make him shut up!) that we should send even more since that would kill a lot more of them off. Response by the FCM? *Well, that's just McCain being McCain. No harm, No foul*
And so, by the end of the week when these events all happened (and probably more that we don't know about), the FCM reported that on balance, McCain had a pretty good week, or that he 'won' the week.
How did he 'win'?
Well the big story for the Obama campaign was some comments by Rev Jesse Jackson on an open mike at (where else?) Faux Noise. Jackson apparently believed the mikes were off and said that he felt that Obama had been talking down to black people (regarding Obama's Fathers Day speech calling for more responsibility on the part of fathers) and that he (Jackson) wanted to cut Obama's nuts off.
For three days we were treated to bleeped out re-runs of the tape, followed by multitudes of mea culpas from Jackson at every venue on the planet. Jackson's own son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. denounced his father. The Obama camp was pretty quiet on the subject and accepted Jackson's apology. But the FCM would not let it go.
The Obama campaign, nor any of Obama's surrogates, representatives, family members or anyone else even slightly associated with his Senate office, he himself or anyone else did or said anything. Jesse Jackson was speaking for himself. He says he didn't mean any harm to Obama or his campaign, but my opinion is that you hear a person's true feelings more often when they think no one is listening or paying attention than when opportunities are staged and obviously then self-censored. I believe Jackson when he said he wanted to cut Obama's nuts off. He is jealous, resentful, and angry. Obama is achieving what he could not. But that's a discussion for another day.
So, just imagine this. Insert Obama's name wherever John McCain's name appears in any one of these stories and then try to just imagine the result. It would be Jeremiah Wright amplified 100 times, and for ten times longer and 50 times louder! The truth is that Obama is not running against John McCain - he is running against the entire Fawning Corporate (right-wing) Press Corpse. And that same press corpse (misspelling intentional) is worrying that Obama not taking public financing (and the restrictions imposed therein) as somehow unfair to poor John McCain. Cry me a river!
Robert Parry at Consortium News has been doing a series of reports over the years about the development of the right-wing media. It has been a conscious effort - and in his words, the biggest illegal political campaign contribution there ever was. The FCM (his appellation) is a 24/7/365 campaign commercial for the right and whatever its issues are. If they can't find something, they just make stuff up. And it works. And it works well.
The left has spent its money working on campaign finance reform. And that does not work. Especially since the issue of this right-wing political media-machine has never been addressed.
Maybe we need to do something about that!
To read more on how the right-wing media machine came into being: http://consortiumnews.com/2008/062908.html Iran-Contra's Lost Chapter by Robert Parry from Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
John McCain, at a town hall meeting, called on a Vietnam veteran for his first question. The Vet wanted an answer to the question of why McCain had voted against increasing funding for the VA in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. McCain took offense and started whining about his awards from Veterans service organizations claiming he had awards from them all. (He does from the VFW, DAV and AL - but they are all from years ago) The veteran replied that he had received his information on McCain's votes from the VFW and IAVA. McCain got visibly angry and all but accused the veteran of dissing his (McCain's service), and then claimed credit for helping pass Jim Webb's new GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He never did answer the question. (Fact check: While McCain did vote against bills containing additional monies for the VA, later on in the same sessions he voted in favor of different bills containing additional monies - but those amounts were always much less than in the original legislation. You know - I was against it before I was for it.....)
While McCain was inside slamming the Vietnam veteran, his campaign staff had a woman holding a sign that said 'McCain = Bush' cited for trespassing and removed from a semi-public space. The 61-year-old librarian was unceremoniously escorted off the property by three policemen at least a foot taller than she. When asked who had complained, the McCain people lied and said it was the Secret Service. However, it has since come to light that it was the McCain campaign. The librarian's question remains unanswered "Why would a bunch of Republicans, who elected Bush twice and McCain is their candidate now, take offense at this sign?" Final response from the FCM? *crickets*
McCain lied about naming the players of one football team (Pittsburgh Steelers) instead of the one he really named (Green Bay Packers). For one thing, the players he mentioned weren't even famous until after he got out of the Hanoi Hilton. For the other, he has stated that the Packers were the group in his written memoir, as well as in the movie and in every other time he has told this anecdote. Response by the FCM? *crickets*
McCain's chief financial advisor, Phil Gramm, announced that the American People are in a 'mental recession' and are all a bunch of whiners on the subject of the economy. McCain himself has noted on several occasions that a recession is a psychological problem rather than a real one; that his gas tax holiday, and also drilling off the Gulf Coast were purely psychological. Response by the FCM? *while noting that we probably are in the beginnings of a recession - defending Phil Gramm*
McCain, who has flipped, and flopped, and flipped so many times I can't keep track on the subject of privatization of Social Security, announced that 'the way Social Security is funded by having the taxes paid by current workers used to fund retirees is a total disaster and must be fixed'. McCain is apparently unclear on the idea that the Social Security system has been funded that way since day one - about 75 years - and it has been working just fine. Response by the FCM? *crickets again*
McCain, who is rabidly pro-life (the one issue he really has not flip-flopped on apparently) was asked a pointed question about a statement Carla Fiorina, his chief of staff made regarding the unfairness of health insurance companies paying for Viagra, but refusing to pay for birth control. The reporter posed this question directly to McCain who first 'didn't want to discuss the issue' and then, to use Rachel Maddow's words - tried to squirm his way out of his own body. He stated that he couldn't remember ever voting on anything like that (he has, several times, and always against the mandatory payment for contraception if paying for ED drugs), and then claimed that he really hadn't thought enough about it to make a comment and would try to get back to her. Response by the FCM? *other than KO/Rachel on Countdown laughing themselves silly over the incident, crickets again*
And finally, responding to a story that the amount of trade we are doing with Iran has increased exponentially, in spite of increasingly harsh trade sanctions, especially in the area of cigarettes, McCain made one of his rather lame so-called jokes (while his wife Cindy elbowed him in the back to make him shut up!) that we should send even more since that would kill a lot more of them off. Response by the FCM? *Well, that's just McCain being McCain. No harm, No foul*
And so, by the end of the week when these events all happened (and probably more that we don't know about), the FCM reported that on balance, McCain had a pretty good week, or that he 'won' the week.
How did he 'win'?
Well the big story for the Obama campaign was some comments by Rev Jesse Jackson on an open mike at (where else?) Faux Noise. Jackson apparently believed the mikes were off and said that he felt that Obama had been talking down to black people (regarding Obama's Fathers Day speech calling for more responsibility on the part of fathers) and that he (Jackson) wanted to cut Obama's nuts off.
For three days we were treated to bleeped out re-runs of the tape, followed by multitudes of mea culpas from Jackson at every venue on the planet. Jackson's own son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. denounced his father. The Obama camp was pretty quiet on the subject and accepted Jackson's apology. But the FCM would not let it go.
The Obama campaign, nor any of Obama's surrogates, representatives, family members or anyone else even slightly associated with his Senate office, he himself or anyone else did or said anything. Jesse Jackson was speaking for himself. He says he didn't mean any harm to Obama or his campaign, but my opinion is that you hear a person's true feelings more often when they think no one is listening or paying attention than when opportunities are staged and obviously then self-censored. I believe Jackson when he said he wanted to cut Obama's nuts off. He is jealous, resentful, and angry. Obama is achieving what he could not. But that's a discussion for another day.
So, just imagine this. Insert Obama's name wherever John McCain's name appears in any one of these stories and then try to just imagine the result. It would be Jeremiah Wright amplified 100 times, and for ten times longer and 50 times louder! The truth is that Obama is not running against John McCain - he is running against the entire Fawning Corporate (right-wing) Press Corpse. And that same press corpse (misspelling intentional) is worrying that Obama not taking public financing (and the restrictions imposed therein) as somehow unfair to poor John McCain. Cry me a river!
Robert Parry at Consortium News has been doing a series of reports over the years about the development of the right-wing media. It has been a conscious effort - and in his words, the biggest illegal political campaign contribution there ever was. The FCM (his appellation) is a 24/7/365 campaign commercial for the right and whatever its issues are. If they can't find something, they just make stuff up. And it works. And it works well.
The left has spent its money working on campaign finance reform. And that does not work. Especially since the issue of this right-wing political media-machine has never been addressed.
Maybe we need to do something about that!
To read more on how the right-wing media machine came into being: http://consortiumnews.com/2008/062908.html Iran-Contra's Lost Chapter by Robert Parry from Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
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