Month: September 2011

Social Networking–Friend Or Foe?

Today I begin my mental relaxation period and for two days I shall think about anything but the buttholes in Washington………

We can now tell our friends what we are doing at any moment….when you are sitting on the pot or after you just had sex the cute whack job in 4B….and thanx to old what his name and the bobbsy twins and the Twitter dude…there is nowhere that we cannot go and still not share our most intimate moments……and in 140 characters.

Social networking can be used for a lot of things….like a political campaign, selling merchandise and services…..and recently as a tool to coordinate a revolution.  Yep!  the protests and civil disobedience known as “the Arab Spring” has been coordinated on Twitter and FaceBook……the protesters used it to tell when and where protests were to break out…in other words it was used to bring about change in an authoritarian system and to move many Middle East countries toward the possibility of a democracy breaking out.  In this case it was a friend!

Recently, there was a protest called to bring attention to the crimes and the thieves on Wall Street and it has been reported that 50,000 people took part in the protest….but where was the media?  There was NO reporting on this turn of events like there was during the continuing Arab Spring movement.  Why?  You would think that a protest of 50,000 people would get someone’s attention in the media.

It seems that the authorities, regardless of who they are, used social networking to get ahead of the protests……they were able to know where and when the major events were to be held and at what time…thus these protests were controlled to the point that the media did not feel it was news worthy plus the media is controlled by corporations and did not want to strike the hand that feeds them…..so social networking was ineffective as a protest tool, they allowed it to be an organizing tool but not let it go much further….in this case, social networking was NOT a friend and was a FOE!

If protests are to be successful then the movement needs to find another way of coordinating the protests.  Straight networking is NOT friendly to the revolution.  Social networking is being used against the movement….if you are planning civil disobedience then networking is your FOE!

To Hell With The Constitution

This post is for a loyal reader, Terrance of Sibboleth (go to blogroll and visit this interesting blog….and SOON!)..he lives in Michigan and maybe he  will have some further insight……

For decades now the sacred piece of paper, the Constitution, has been used as a political prop and has been used as a reason to oppose everything from equal rights to marriage…..and you would think that this document would mean more to Party that has used it way too often for political gain….the Republicans.

But recently a Repub governor has shown just what they really think of the Constitution……

Recently, the Benton Harbor City Council – governed under the authoritarian emergency financial manager appointed by Tea Party Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder – passed a resolution to honor the US Constitution the week of September 17.

The emergency financial manager for Benton Harbor declared, in the spring, that the Benton Harbor City Council could only do three things: call meetings to order, approve minutes and adjourn meetings. As a result, the state-appointed manager of Benton Harbor declared the city council resolution honoring the US Constitution as null and void.

As Rachel Maddow pointed out in a September 19 commentary, there is a frightening irony in “elected officials not being allowed to honor the Constitution because they’ve been overruled by an appointed overseer who nobody voted for.”

In April of 2011, BuzzFlash at Truthout wrote a commentary entitled “Tea Party Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Adopts Soviet-style Authoritarian Powers Over Michigan Cities.”

Maybe the emergency financial manager for Benton Harbor will force the Benton Harbor City Council, chosen by the voters, to follow the Politburo books of rules and orders.

The Constitution is important when they are attacking a person’s right to marry but NOT important enough to celebrate its creation….maybe now people will see just what a/holes they are and see that the Constitution means NOTHING to them if they cannot use it as a tool for political gain…..

Waiting For The End

When I came up with the title I immediately thought of the Doors……

Before I go on….over the weekend I heard Sen. McConnell when criticizing Obama’s new proposal, he said….”Tax on billionaires?  Who thinks this is a good idea”….I wished I would have been there in person for I would have said…..EVERYONE but the cowards in Congress!

Okay now to the meat of the post…….I know some will say that I am harping on the premise that the Middle Class is disappearing….I posted much on the subject….but this time I ran across an article that puts it all in perspective…..warning!  It is a long piece with many links……but if you want proof of the assertion then please read the article and the facts and then tell me that I am over-reacting……

http://bit.ly/nBMAUU

Like I have said….lots of info to digest….but the end is coming……and unless we, the American people, do something drastic then you can kiss the Middle Class….GOODBYE!

I Love This Woman!

I liked her as a professor, I liked her as a Washington trouble maker and now I love her as a candidate for the Senate……the only thing I do not like is…….I cannot vote for her….I live in another state…….

Watch the video and tell me she is not the absolute best person for the Senate…… http://bit.ly/oKZISU

Now tell me this not the absolute best person for Washington!  I love this woman!

Whatever Do You Mean?

The Fed has been doing little things to try and keep the economy from bottoming out….like keeping interests rate near zero…thus making money more available to the innovators….but so far few have taken the bait…..but once a month there is all kinds of stories about what the Fed chair, Bernanke, is going to do to help the economy….

But there has been a turn of events…..it seems that some in Congress have taken it upon themselves to write a letter to Bernanke……

“[W]e submit that the board should resist further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, particularly without a clear articulation of the goals of such a policy, direction for success, ample data proving a case for economic action and quantifiable benefits to the American people,” the Republicans write.Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), ostentatiously cautioned Bernanke against providing the economy any further monetary stimulus.

Can Repubs be any more transparent?

Cool letter….but……According to the Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve is independent within government in that “its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government.”

However the Fed is subject to congressional oversight but not interference.

But the letter seems to warn the Fed from doing anything that may help the economy…now is it a desire to try and use it as a political tool?  Or are they truly worried about something?  Personally. I think it is a pathetic attempt to keep the economy in the toilet for as long as possible.

Soviet-Style Purge?

Remember the days of the Cold War, when the USSR would change leadership there would be a huge purge of those that were in bed with the previous premier?  Stalin did it…..Krushev did it…..on and on……they would purge these people because they did not fit into the grand plan……..but all that stuff just has the smell of what is happening in the US Congress…..NO!  I am NOT calling these people communists!  Only that there are similarities on the events occurring now…..

I will bet that you, my reader, is scratching your head and wondering just what the Hell I am going on about, huh?

The other day, the #3 GOP leader, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is resigning as the head of the Republican conference in his resignation he said…..”Stepping down from the Republican leadership will liberate me to spend more time trying to work toward results on the issues I care the most about,” he said.

Sounds good and promising….but personally, I think he was purged because he is a moderate Repub in a sea of extreme conservs……in a Senate where compromise is a dirty word….a senator like Alexander is an unwanted person in a leadership capacity….he may want to put smiley face on his resignation….but the truth is he was PURGED!

And no matter how much a smiley face or some noble BS…the truth is that he is a moderate and in such is NOT capable of passing the purity test….and they cannot have a moderate in a position of leadership….I say again….HE WAS PURGED!

Is A War Possible?

We have had our day of gays and Palestinians….and the media will move on to something else….but NOT in the direction of this post…..

We are entering the doldrums of fall when the political landscape in Washington gets more boring and silly by the minute….for that reason……and now for something completely different (thanx Monty Python)…..

We all know that Europe is up to its ass in problems….Greece, Spain, Italy, et al……and the Euro, the currency of the EU is having its share of troubles also…..to the point that some have predicted that the Euro could be finished….and if that actually occurs can the EU be far behind?  And if it does fail, what could be the consequences?

A collapse of Europe’s monetary union would likely lead to a breakup of the European Union as a whole, posing significant risks to the region and even raising the possibility of war in the long term, Poland’s Finance Minister told CNBC.  “Therefore the danger in a longer-time horizon, in 10-20 years, in the absence of one of the key elements of our security system and one of the key elements of our political system, which ensures we deal with problems in this peaceful, democratic way we’ve developed, the risk of all sorts of authoritarian political movements, and therefore even war, in the long horizon, rises,” he said.

Full article here

Is it possible?  Dunno….but he makes a compelling case.  Thoughts?

U.S. Day Of Rage

Well for me the day of rage is just about every day when you see the political games and cowardly acts of our “respected” Washington representatives……but in this case I am talking about a protest that was called for this past weekend……I waited for the report of it from the mainstream media….and I waited…..and I waited….kinda like that plane to Lisbon……

Remember when they were going to have the debt ceiling vote in Washington and Bachmann held her press conference and asked the people in attendance if she should vote NO?…..Remember?  The news report showed all of 12 people standing under some event umbrella and all weakly said….NO!

I bring this up to ask if those 12 people constituted a news story why is not 50,000 one?

In a story in Politics USA by Jason Easley……

Most Americans are being kept in the dark about the US Day of Rage by the corporate cable news giants at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC who have imposed a de facto blackout on the protest.

Even though estimates have varied from hundreds to as many as 50,000 protesters flooded into Manhattan and others cities to take part in events around the country to, “nonviolently disrupt the disloyal, incompetent, and corrupt special interests which have usurped our nation’s civil and military power, spawning a host of threats to our liberty, lives and national security,” the three cable news networks have devoted no airtime to the story.

This is becoming an all too familiar scene. In Wisconsin hundreds of thousands of regular people took to the streets each weekend to protest the theft of their rights, and were completely ignored by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.

We keep hearing people like Palin and Bachmann and Perry and any other of the Teabaggers bitch about the MSM…..but this is just another reason that their bitching is just ginned up crap.  And why would the media NOT report on this protest?  (I know the answer but do others)…..if there is ever some sort of uprising against the machine of state….they cannot count on the media to there reporting the real news….

Now you see why I say that bloggers are the best way to get info….even if I do not agree with them…I trust them more than the mainstream media.

All Things Political

Nope, not a spot on NPR or some wild accusation by Glenn Beck…..but rather an explanation and a bit of history…..

Politics!  As my readers will know that I enjoy all things about politics….all the little things as well as all the really big things…..but what is meant by the term politics?  According to Gore Vidal the word politics is a combination of two Greek words…….poli meaning the people and tics which are blood sucking insects…..

Back in the day……way back to as early as the Greek city states……politics referred to the operation and the administration of the state or the sovereign….everything else fell into the realm of social or private…it is a recent invention to include just about everything as political…..our leaders wishing to claim responsibility for all things good in our society and dealing out blame for all things that are bad, all are happening because of political decisions made by the state or its opposition…in other words blame everything on nature of politics.

Issues like marriage, guns, prayers, flags, etc….these are social or private issues and do not belong in the realm of politics….these are decisions made by an individual and not by a government.  I know…I know…this sounds a bit libertarian….believe me these issues have only recently been associated with the study of politics……personal opinion…..they were introduced into the conversation because some had NO idea how to govern and they were used to divide and conquer a populace.

In these days of limited government/small government maybe a real good place to start would be to limit the politics to issues that actually pertain to the governing of the masses……..I realize in these days that the concept of government be about the running of the country and to stay out of people’s lives is a novel concept….but what the Hell?  We could do no worse than the system we have today.

Theatrics is NOT the way to have a successful government……and since that is true……we have a dysfunctional system of governance…..lack of civility, disrespect and lack of national unity….the three pillars of American politics…….is going to kill a system that our Founders were proud of……if only they could see it now!

Who Was The True American Liberal Lion?

Yesterday was Constitution Day and keeping with the thought I decided to post this draft I have had for some time and could not decide when to post it……..A title many have sought, but few can claim……..NOW is as good of a time as any……

With the death of Ted Kennedy many have been calling him America’s liberal lion….a good title for a man that work tirelessly for the middle class and the poor his whole career and did so with the help of many Repubs in the Senate…….he deserves the title….but was he America’s “real” liberal lion?

There have been many Americans that could claim this title….How about FDR?  Regardless of what you think of his politics, he was and is an American liberal lion.  His policies did more to help the American people cope with a massive depression and still be able to look to the future, even when all was bleak.  Without his policies there would be many more Americans living in poverty than there are today and we have way too many doing so these days……but does he deserve the title of “American Liberal lion”?

Or….let us step back a little further into our history……how about Woodrow Wilson as the American Liberal lion?  I know…I know…he got us into WWI….but there was more to him than that….besides being the only president that had a PhD……….he gave us many liberal policies, unfortunately most have been totally crap on in the years afterward…policies like the Fed (who many think is some sort of anti-Christ)….or the Federal trade commission….or the income tax (which he is being demonized for)…..or Clayton Anti-trust Act…….or the Federal Farm Program (which is a buzz kill for conservs)……and the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN, was his idea (which is being crapped on from all quarters)……whether you believe in his policies or not….they were very liberal for the day and in some cases liberal by today’s standards as well……with all his accomplishments can he wear the mantle of American Liberal Lion?

Another step into history……how about our Teddy Roosevelt?  Yes!  I said TR was a liberal!  Not while he was president but later when he and Taft had the split in the GOP.  Why would I say he was a liberal?  The Progressive Party that he founded for the 1912 election….some could say that his battle with Taft gave Wilson the presidency….that would be his detractors……but a liberal?  Believe it or not…a liberal!  Some of the policies pursued by the Progressive Party……national health insurance, women’s suffrage, workers compensation, limits and disclosure of campaign donations, just to mention a few of the ideas……so yes….very liberal ideas….but a liberal lion?

Let me stop pussy footing around……we can look at each of the so-called “liberals” through our history but the one true American liberal lion is……Thomas Paine!

Why would I say that?  After all he was a Brit that came to the Colonies for a job in printing…..good one!  But shows a serious lack of American history….

Before the publishing of  “Common Sense” which Paine wrote about the colonies should declare independence and establish our own country….most of the so-called revolutionaries were more concerned with reconciliation with Mother England than declaring independence…..even the “hero” of the revolution, Washington once wrote to a friend….

If you ever hear of my joining any such measures, you have my leave to set me down for everything wicked.

And then there is everybody”s “hero”,  Jefferson…….

“Believe me , dear sir, there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain more than I…..It is neither our wish or our interest to separate from her (England).  ……Let them name their terms and let them be just….”

As you can see most of the Founder’s were more concerned with reconciliation than independence….all that changed after the publishing of  “Common Sense”….once the common man heard what Paine was saying the movement for independence became more common place…..Paine’s very liberal concept…..but it did not stop there…..

Paine was the first person in the colonies to talk about ideas publicly like….

He proposed the Abolition of Negro Slavery; proposed Arbitration for International Peace; advocated Justice for Women; pointed out the Reality of Human Brotherhood; suggested International Copyright; invented a suspension bridge and smokeless candle; proposed the Education of Children of the Poor at public expense; suggested a Great Republic of All Nations of the world.  He urged the Purchase of the great Louisiana Territory.  He proposed pension payments or Old Age Pensions.  He also suggested protection for dumb animals.

All ideas are LIBERAL….he was very outspoken on these issues…..and because he was so outspoken….he deserves the title,  American Liberal Lion……all others that came after Paine are just pale imitations of a TRUE Liberal Lion…..if we had listened to the others then our independence would have been a long time coming and we would look more like Canada…….

We should honor him for what he was……THE TRUE FOUNDER OF THE USA…..Why?  He was even the FIRST person to use the title United States Of America………and AMERICA’S ORIGINAL LIBERAL LION!