Politics as it should be talked about.

One step forward, two steps back. When Bob Shieffer derided the scramble to interview Paris Hilton, I applauded the man. There is so little to applaud on Sunday AM talk shows. The next Sunday he’s back in the style of all the bubble heads. Everyone’s talking about the London car incidents as cars filled with explosives. Gasoline is NOT an explosive! To create an explosive using gasoline as a part, the air/fuel ratio is critical and must be controlled. In essence, those three cars weren’t even good Molotov cocktails. Of course that label, "Three badly made Molotov Cocktails," is not as titillating or fear inducing as propaganda necessitates, which explains the terminology. Excited fear is the need Du’ Jour in order to mold public backing for bombing Iran. Funny that the same tired, talking point spouting, chicken-hawks that fed us the lies that led to the debacle that exists in Iraq, now have carte blanque credibility on their prognosis of the threat Iran poses.

I’m watching Ralf Nader, thank you Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, and I’m reminded, once again, why I voted for him every time he’s been on the ballot. Twice when he wasn’t. Did he cost Al Gore the election? No, Gore won. It was only the media and the Supreme court that thought $hrub should win and worked to give the office to him. Even the Repugs know he stole it. “Washington, DC, is Corporate occupied territory,” is a quote that is missing from all current Presidential candidates. You can’t fix anything till you know the root cause of the problem. Which leads to the next paragraph.

Two items for your consideration. Over half the budget is for the military. What, no waste or unneeded programs? How about the F-22 which has rizen in cost from $40 million to $400 million each. The US government pays more than half of all medical payments. By paying all, it would immediately reduce costs by at least 30%. A practical, radical solution towards resolving the world’s health care and the US's fiscal crisis': Stop using war to resolve political and economic problems. Not only does it not work, it is in fact, counter productive.

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A Wakeup Call

Manuel Valenzuela posts a powerful essay that is in essence a call to action. The above link is to his blog. I read his post off of ICH, a great source for news and opinions, but Manuel proves to be good for some independent truth.

Like I, he has noticed how the corporate media leaves more questions than answers. No longer a source of information, they've become the propaganda branch of government. Television and the public school system are major tools towards creating compliant consumers.

Congress consists of a two headed Hydra with both heads up the corporate ass. Both parties are in collusion as far as war is concerned and too much money is being made for it ever to end, if they have their way.

The official 9-11 conspiracy theory doesn't hold up to the rational questioning it deserves and neither the corporate media or the corporate congress will do the right thing unless we force them to do so.

A decent corroboration comes from Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) via Media Matters. Both articles end on a positive note. The Internet provides an alternate route for truth to spread and we can use it to try to awaken the public. If the public continues to sleep, there will soon be no America to wake up to.

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Beneath the Radar of the MSM

Paul Hawken ends with a simple statement:

Healing the wounds of the Earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party. It is not a liberal or conservative activity. It is a sacred act.

He began with a dawning realization:

I have given nearly one thousand talks about the environment in the past fifteen years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people offering their cards were working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more.

The bulk of his text contained his growing realization that people in general are pissed and not willing to take it anymore. It is under the radar because it is sometimes comprised of just one person drawing her own line in the sand. Under the radar because the MSM is too busy chasing the latest gossip to notice a million separate actions whose only commonality is dissatisfaction with the status quo. After all, the business of the MSM is maintaining the status quo. Come on now, you didn't think they were here to inform us, did you?

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Long time no posts

Too busy playing with videos over at U-Tube to do much writing. Politics was getting me down. Seems them Dimocrats weren't going to do much of anything other than blow their horns about how different they were. A little bit of noise about ethics reform. The Supreme Court thinks legislators are more qualified than Doctors about how to treat women. Impeachment off the table and lastly continue the Iraq war at least one more year with no restriction on bombing Iran. Lately, things seem to be warming up. Rep. Waxman is getting ready to issue subpoenas. Everybody's mad at A.G. Gonzales. Congress is beginning to look like an actual branch of Government.

Global warming is getting a whole lot of talk but, I don't really expect any real action. Too many people still grubbing for the next dollar to buy the latest new toy. Even good and good hearted people are too burdened by their daily lives to do much more than pop open a beer, turn on the boob tube, and turn up the A/C at the end of their workday to even realize how their life style contributes to the problem. Took me eight years to convince one friend and he only came around when he heard $hrub admit it was real.

Believe it or not but I found me this place back in '86. I hear a lot of talk about what people are going to need when the economic crunch comes. Stockpiling food, gold, and all kind of things. Me, I found a place with a year round spring that flowed even during the dust bowl days. I reckon with water I can trade for any other need.



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Independance in the US

I discovered Dawkins almost as soon as I learned there was any controversy about evolution. Since at the time I was still a church going Catholic and the Pope had no problem with Darwin, so I didn't bother exploring his views. Catching him on C-Span the other night was, to say the least, enjoyable. As far as religious conflicts go, I've come to a new conclusion: If your religion lacks a feminine Godhead, you've picked a
looser; The less organized your religion is, the better off you are! My favorite of Dawkins' statements was, (to paraphrase) "If your morals are predicated on fear of God, I fear you losing your faith."

As far as our "Christian" founders, this bit of propaganda has long been swallowed by the incurious public. I blame our public schools in large part. Most of my teachers would send me to the library rather than open up the class to discussions when I questioned the information in the textbooks. My childish curiosity, which, thankfully I still retain, has been viewed with an anathema by most people with any amount of authority. Seems to me that most people stifle their curiousness in order to keep from being singled out. Very few people can handle being "different." For all the talk of the "Independent American" pulled up by his own bootstraps, lonesome cowboy images portrayed on TV and film and portrayed by "maverick" politicians, try actually stepping outside of mainstream thinking and you'll quickly learn how much independence is valued by the herd mentality that predominates in our society.

Yesterday I learned that female chimps were making spears. Looks like whatever God there is might be getting ready to replace us.

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Even More War Drums.

Seems that now, it's a given assumption
No need to question the White House spin.
They've lied to the public since quoting the oath
But, now, all is gospel, again.

Oh, they're willing to question political promises
And anything goes in matters domestic
But question the war or the actions of AIPAC
And you're marked as a traitor or anti-semitic.

I question ALL statements my government utters
For the one constant truth is that governments lie.
Their main simple function: Control of the public,
So rich people can profit while poor people die.

Keep all the peons real busy working
Worried and weakened and scared to the bone.
Don't allow any tools like critical thinking
Keep them lost in the circus and feeling alone.

Taking cues from mien kamp we are treated like chattel
They're afraid we might learn of the power we hold.
They fear the changes that we can create
When we stand together and really act bold.

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Who is driving the bus?

So, I watched the ending of the playoffs, Colts vs. Patriots and the CEO and the head coach, both gave the glory and credit of the win to God. I assume they meant a Christian God of one denomination or another. Maybe even a particular denomination. After all, some of them are very jealous and intransigent in their insistence on being the only correct interpreters of the Bible. I can only wonder, were they judging the losing team to be less Christian, less devout, or merely members of the wrong congregation.

And meanwhile we have this: Lobbying for Armageddon. More than one of these self righteous sects are egging on the “End Times.” More than one. I can only imagine how scared, how empty and unfulfilled a person’s life must be, to attempt to find solace and community only to end up among a group of people whose aim is to destroy the world. Of course, they will get whisked away, just before the bad stuff happens to all those who don’t ascribe to their particular doctrine.

So here we are. Getting ready to make war on Iran. Nuclear war. The Resident has destroyed our armed forces in Iraq and the only tool left in his tool box is the nuclear option and since he has his bomb shelter, he’s not worried about the fallout. The wing nuts think he’ll bring them along (Ha. Ha.) The religious wackos are willing sacrifices to their dogmatic leaders. Our congress critters are beholden to the (supposedly non-existent) Jewish lobby (for campaign money) which is willing to bomb Iran on their own if we won’t.

On a different note: A huge event unfolded in Memphis the other weekend and not even c-span covered it. Big media is big business and even though the airways are ours, they ignore us. A bunch of videos are at that link for your educational pleasure.

And my latest You Tube rant!

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Sunday Morning Talk Shows

The Press/News are still divided, pro Surge or Anti and filled our airways with their pompous pontifications creating noise. "Face the Nation," made listening to their rants worthwhile, for at the end good old Bob said it's time for real campaign finance reform. Publicly calling for publicly financed campaigns. Inspired me to write a poem, which I put up on You Tube.

Also did a vid on the Resident's speech last week. Sounds to me like World War 3.

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The 110 Congress

Baby steps and not much more will get done till we leave Iraq and the endless drain of resources.

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November, already.

Voted already, to ensure I leave a paper trail. I intend to spend Tuesday at my local polling place, just to interact with the populace and hopefully educate on the stupidity of our current system of trusting those black boxes with our votes.

It is almost too easy as nearly everyone has a computer and no one has had a trouble free experience. Ask them if they'd trust their life on the reliability of a computer and at least it gets them to thinking. I tell them they have a right to request a paper ballot and I was pleasantly surprised how many took that option during the primaries.

Dickhead Pearle has learned that the war he championed so loudly for, four years ago, turns out to have been a mistake. If it took this long for him to learn that, he's a slow learner and probably unable to project that lesson forward. I can hope that he will stop banging the drum for a new war with Iran. If he thinks that the war with Iraq was a "mistake," I lack the language to define the boondoggle that will insue should the cretins in control ignite the conflagration of a war with Iran. The truly maddening part of this is that I have to include way too many Democrats in the insane list of warmongers. Too much money in military contracts, I reckon.

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Terror, Terror, Terror

With out doubt the propaganda's been successful, in congress at least. The Resident is now Cowboy King George. Pre Magna Carta, above the law and below contempt. The laughable 32%, quaking in fear and whom congress, for some ungodly reason, desires to impress have driven our country into some freaky semblance of a dictatorship ruled by a dry drunk.

His shining star, the Iraq war. The "War on Terror" a simple side note simply enacted to consolidate power. Every action by the rabble in power have had only one aim in mind. The creation of an Imperial Presence. Oh, they call it an Unitary Executive, but them's just fancy words. what they want is unchecked power, beholden to none. Drooling with the idea of a big daddy strong man giving them permission to fullfill their wildest fantasies and sickest dreams.

Now, since our(?) congress has given them free rein, our only hope is the collapse of our army in Iraq. The growing resistance to that illegal (a fact quite often overlooked) war by the men and women fighting there might bring the whole fiasco to a grinding halt and throwing public light on the hell hole of a mess that passes for public office in these modern times, jar the sombulant population into action. After all, this experiment we call the U.S.A. is supposed to be directed by "WE THE PEOPLE."

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Pages of pages to Pages

What in the ____ is the fuss all about?
The pages went up the Hill
To learn how our Government operates
And bends to the People’s will.

They learned well how the people in power
React to the threat to their station.
Or rather the lack of proper response
And their self serving, quiet, inaction.

Well, the lesson, it seems, continues apace
I hope everyone understands.
True power resides, not in powerful lies,
But by citizen’s voicing demands.

From the very beginning of the National Creed
The voices cried out for protection of speech
Demanding Amendments before ratifying
Constitutional limits on government’s reach.

So the masses are stirring
Protesters speak out
True power in action
Is what the fuss is about.

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Electronic Voting Machines

In just a little bit more than a month, I will be asked to cast my vote, for the second time, on a machine that has no paper record. A machine made by a company that also makes ATMs, which, weather you ask for a receipt or not, create a paper copy of every transaction. In addition, the programs that both the ES&S machines, which record the votes, and Diebold machines, which tabulate the totals, are programmed using a program similar to Windows as the basic operating system. If you have used Windows as long as I have, since Windows 3.1 in 1991, you can be certain of two constants: At some point, the system will crash (it seems nearly always at a critical juncture); Windows' operating systems have always been extremely vulnerable to malicious manipulation.

The reason that systems like Windows tend to fail is that they are written by a limited number of people and not peer reviewed during the creation process. The public then tests it by practical application and the problems then become apparent. Programs like Linux are created by 10s of thousands critiquing, evaluating, and improving the stability and security until consensus is reached that a viable system has been created. After release, continued evaluation is not just allowed, it is encouraged. Owners of proprietary systems actively seek to keep the inner workings secret.

I can state this as a fact because I've purchased each Windows upgrade for two reasons. Exploring its weaknesses and playing computer games (to test the strength). Voting is not a game nor should it be done on a system long noted for its frailty. I use an operating system call Linux for all computer activities that require security such as on-line transactions and surfing the web. I also print a paper record of every transaction I make with my computer. This has proved very helpful in resolving disputes with both my telephone company and a credit card provider. My vote is as important and should have a paper record of every vote made in order to resolve disputes should the need arise.

The machines have the capacity to attach a printer and the operating system is capable of creating a paper record. The only excuse my elected officials have given me for not having a paper record is the expense. Surely the integrity and validity of our vote is worth the few extra dollars required to ensure this.

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Residential Insanity

The Resident is ill and lack of public awareness is leading us down a dark, dark path. Paul Levey correctly lays the blame on "WE THE PEOPLE."

The situation is very analogous to when seemingly good, normal, loving Germans supported Hitler, believing he was a good leader trying to help them. The German people didn't realize that the virulent pathogen malignant egophrenia had taken possession of Hitler and was incarnating itself through him. By not seeing this and supporting Hitler, they became agents used by this non-local, deadly disease to propagate itself. This was a collective psychosis, and this is what is taking place in our country right now.

So easy to blame someone else, but each of us who remains silent or acquiescent is culpable and responsible. The Author bases his writings from the point of view that all is a manifestation of a collective dream and by conscious dreaming we can start to correct the nightmare we find ourselves living in.

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