Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Mini-Rants



Election rigging, Diebold (R), voter registration restrictions, limiting hours and access to polls, cutting early voting, voter roll purging, gerrymandering to the point the Republicans control the House of Representatives despite the fact a majority of Americans voted for representation by the other party,  limiting reproductive choice and forced unnecessary medical procedures for women, corporate "personhood", Big Money is "free speech", torture, warrantless surveillance, indefinite detention without charges or counsel, etc. are all Republican initiated assaults on civil liberties and democracy.

Their Bill of Rights ends at the Second Amendment. (Do they know here was civilian firearm ownership in the Third Reich?)

The truth is clear to anyone with even a partially open mind. The pseudo-fascists of the radical Right are the domestic enemies of equality and democracy. They want to suppress the interests and will of the majority of Americans.

And corporate owned Democrats are the appeasers that cripple any opposition to the radical Right’s war on democracy.
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The radical Right's "liberal media" propaganda campaign, aka the Big Lie, has worked so well.

No wonder so many millions of Americans are so ignorant and fearful to think Obama is a foreign born Muslim socialist and even the Antichrist. There’s no liberal media campaign against that ignorance.

The vast portion of national media is corporate owned and corporate biased. How can corporate media be as liberal as the Right says it is? It is not.

When has anyone seen the NY Times or Washington Post advocate for cannabis de-criminalization?

When has anyone seen the NY Times or Washington Post advocate investigation of Bush/Cheney torture, their false statements leading to war, and demand the repeal of the Patriot Act, etc.?

Remember the NY Times' Judith Miller's parroting of the Bush/Cheney Iraq lies? Remember the Times withheld warrantless surveillance stories, demanded by the Bush White House, until after the ’04 election? Some liberal media, eh?

When has anyone seen the NY Times or Washington Post advocate for the repeal of corporate personhood, for restoring Glass/Steagall, for public funded elections, for Medicare for all, for...you get the picture.

“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.” - Noam Chomsky

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Let’s look at the most rabid anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-bargaining rights forces, and the lines are clear. Dictators, Fascists, Communists...and Republicans all need to suppress the people in order to hold power. This is nothing less than the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism.
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When nearly half of all Republican voters believe Obama is a foreign born Marxist Muslim, the Big Lie is in effect.

When nearly half of all Republican voters believe ACORN stole the 2012 re-election for Obama, after ACORN no longer existed, the Big Lie is in effect.

When Beck accuses Obama of being a racist who hates white people and still keeps his multimillion dollar job as propagandist and fear-monger, the Big Lie is in effect.

When Limbaugh claims that the Left, not the Right is racist, the Big Lie is in effect.

When a hundred thousand pro-union demonstrators peacefully protest a governor’s fascistic stripping of their rights, and are constantly called “union thugs” anyway, the Big Lie is in effect.

When moderate right democrats are called socialists for advancing proposals initially espoused by republicans, the Big Lie is in effect.

When liberals are portrayed as communists, and accused of destroying America, this is fascist scapegoating, exactly in the pattern of twentieth century European fascist propaganda.

Now it has transformed into Republican American “conservatism”.

When Republican "conservatism" is believed to be American conservatism, the Big Lie is in effect.
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What Are “Conservatives” Trying to Conserve?

Great question. Whether they know it or not, what they are trying to conserve is complete political, economic and social dominance by the economic elites by what amounts to a "Divine Right of Wealth".
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The human race is a herd species. They are generally oblivious to anything but their grazing, until they become frightfully responsive to any loud alarm of threats, real or unreal. Big Money has the loudest voice over their pasture, and liberals and democracy itself are the threats bleated in their false alarms to the herd.
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Suggestions for new national motto and pledge:

 "In Greed We Trust"

"I pledge allegiance to the wealthy elite, and to the wealth they must amass, ever more at my expense, and to the nation's decline, in war after endless war.”

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Thank You Note


To any observer back in the summer of 2008 it became clear what kind of president Obama would be. He voted to support Bush’s FISA amendment allowing for warrantless eavesdropping on Americans while exonerating telecoms for tapping our communications.

Last month the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012 was up for renewal. Of course it passed.

One thing stood out, though. Republicans were far more in lock-step than Democrats in voting for this continued gutting of our Fourth Amendment.

More Democrats than Republicans had the courage and conviction to do the right thing for our Constitution. I guess this would be more proof the only right the Republicans care about is the Second Amendment. Since there was civilian gun ownership in the Third Reich, I’m not very comforted by the GOP’s narrow interests in our freedom.

I want to thank the following senators for not supporting the Bush/Obama Surveillance State.

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Coons (D-DE)
Durbin (D-IL)
Franken (D-MN)
Harkin (D-IA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Lee (R-UT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Paul (R-KY)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Wyden (D-OR)

"Socialist" Pope




"It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism."


"The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable. These must be stabilized and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to the very poor."

Pope Benedict XVI December 28, 2012