“The time has come” the walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing wax– Of cabbages–and kings– And why the sea is boiling hot– And whether pigs have wings.” –Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Ah, yes, let’s distract from the abstract. Let’s diffuse, distort, dissemble and dismember our rationality. Let’s [...]
Entries from September 24th, 2011
Greed
May 31st, 2010 · Comments Off · Capitalism, Corporations and Industry, Economics, jobs, taxes, Wall Street
Tags: Bush tax cuts·deficits·Economics·government spending·income inequality·national debt·Peterson-Pew Commission·reducing the national debt·securing Social Security and Medicare
The Dangerous Game
May 29th, 2010 · Comments Off · Capitalism, Corporations and Industry, Culture, Economics, Labor, Media, Politics, Populism, Wall Street, wars and militarism
Anarchy is the absence of government. It could be a placid, pastoral society or it could be the wild, wild West. The fact is, however, that it is dangerous to contemplate anarchy unless you can be certain which it will be. You may call the Soviet Union a state that grew out of a Communist [...]
Tags: anarchy·Communism·Corporatism·media control·media elitism·Right Wing control of media·Socialism
Lies and Misunderstandings
May 28th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Entertainment, Media, Politics, Populism
When are we going to grow up as a nation? We have an entire media spectrum…that is, all the radio stations and all the television stations and channels and podcasts and people blathering on street corners and in coffee shops….and there is no substance, no facts and very little concern for the truth. Just stop [...]
Tags: fairness doctrine·Fox News Network·Glenn Beck·Media concentration·Right Wing lies·Rupert Murdoch·the impact of television
Neoconservative Vs. Liberal
May 27th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Culture, Economics, Lobbying, Politics, Populism, Wall Street
Let’s make some distinctions, shall we, so that when Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or some other anti-American, pro-internationalist, pro-corporate hack comes on television to dissemble about the distinctions between Neoconservative and Liberal we will have our foundations clear. In no particular order, let’s take the differences one at a time between Neoconservatives and Liberals. [...]
Tags: corporatist·huge corporations·Liberal·lobbyist·Neoconservative
Sarah in Wonderland with the Mad Hatter
May 25th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Media, Politics
They’re called Neoconservatives. Some of them on the far Right are called tea baggers or members of the “Tea Party.” Before we get started, let’s remember what the Tea Party is. This is a group of Mad Hatters, wildly scampering about the landscape of the country, willy-nilly, without a clue as to what is really [...]
Tags: BP·Conservative radio commmentators·Glenn Beck·gulf oil spill·illegal immimgration·immmigration reform·Palin·Right Wing lunatics·tea party
Using Public Jobs to Stimulate Private Enterprise
May 21st, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Economics, energy, jobs, Populism
During the Presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama said he would spend $210 to create 5 million jobs. This was something like 500,000 jobs a year over ten years. In green jobs and in construction related to green jobs and infrastructure. And that’s nice. But we need 5 million jobs now. NOW. And here’s how we [...]
Tags: developing private industry jobs·economic development·economic recovery·economic stimulus·growing the economy·jobs·manufacturing in the U.S.·public jobs·stimulus
The Iraq War. Flesh and Blood.
May 20th, 2010 · Comments Off · International affairs, Politics, wars and militarism
The war in Iraq was a mistake. Whatever point of view one takes, there is no real benefit to us any longer to have troops in Iraq. They should come home as soon as possible. But that is not the end of it. We need to tell the rest of the world we’re sorry. We’re [...]
Tags: a war of choice·Bush and Cheney war criminals·Cheney·deliberate aggression·George W. Bush·illegal wars·Iraq war·Rumsfeld·war crimes·weapons of mass destruction
A Radical Proposal: Peace and Justice
May 18th, 2010 · Comments Off · Courts and the Law, International affairs, Politics, wars and militarism
This is about war and peace. Yes, the most important thing today is more jobs. That is the very first item that should be on the White House agenda every morning and every afternoon and every evening. That is number one. And there are good and relatively simple ways to create jobs and really jump-start [...]
Tags: Bush and Cheney as War Criminals·end Iraq War·lied into war·Saddam Hussein·the Iraq War·unjust wars·war crimes·war criminals
It Can Happen Here. It’s Happening Now.
May 16th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, International affairs, Lobbying, Politics, Wall Street
First they came after our land. Then they came after our trees. Then they came after our money. Now they want to take our water. The Gulf of Mexico is now polluted and large parts are becoming unusable for life-sustaining fishing as we speak. The people of Mississippi and Louisiana, parts of Florida and Texas [...]
Tags: big oil·conservative lobbyists·corporate campaign contributions to Republicans·corporate environmental mistakes·corporate influence·corporate pollution·corporate profits·corporate takeover·Gulf of Mexico oil spill·Republilican support of corporations
Wake Up, America!
May 14th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Lobbying, Media, Politics, Wall Street
When will Americans finally wake up? Corporations have taken over the United States. The Republican Party has become, as Anthony Weiner said, in his complete frustration during the health care debate. “a wholly owned subsidiary of the health insurance business.” Today, May 14, 2010, an oil spill from a company that makes billions of dollars [...]
Tags: Corporations and Republicans·Corporatism·Neoconservative media·Neoconservative propaganda·Republican corporate pandering·Republican lobbyists·Republican support of big oil·Right Wing radio
Debts, Lies and Obstructionism
May 12th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, energy, Politics
No mistake about it. We are in crisis mode. No matter what the stock market or the boys knocking down millions on Wall Street say…we are in an economic crisis. And we are in a political crisis. We have trillions of debt that we need to pay off. We owe about $12.8 trillion of which [...]
Tags: corporate lobbyists·lobbyists·Neocon Republican obstruction·Republican obstruction
Jobs, Wages and the Urgent Need for Unions
May 8th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Economics, jobs, Labor, Politics, Populism
Where are the jobs? And where is new union legislation? We need both and we need them now. We have a minimum of 15 million people out of work. We have an economy that created 230,000 jobs in March and 290,000 in April and unemployment still went from 9.7% to 9.9%. But what about the [...]
Tags: Employee Free Choice Act·job creation·jobs·Labor·unemployment·union avoidance consultants·union organizing·union-busting·unions·wage restrictions·wages
May 1910 to May 2010–100 Years of…Progress?
May 7th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Culture, Economics, General, Politics, Populism, Wall Street, wars and militarism
By 1910, the United States had changed from a collection of states along the Atlantic Coast and a group of Southern slavery states to an emerging nation spreading across the entire continent. There were only three major cities: New York, Chicago and Philadelphia with over a million population. There were half a dozen other metropolitan [...]
Tags: American history·corporations·economic history·Economics·history·income distribution·income inequality·manufacturing·Medicare·political history·Politics·Social Security·taxation·taxes·unions
Halliburton, Again.
May 5th, 2010 · Comments Off · Corporations and Industry, Courts and the Law
When the smoke cleared at the site of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a name appeared in the various stories of the even. It is a name long familiar to those in the oil industry for more than 80 years and also familiar to some in the general public. But not [...]
Tags: Bunnatine Greenhouse·Dick Cheney·government contracts·gulf oil spill·Halliburton·Halliburton fraud·offshore drilling·oil spills
Truth and Freedom of the Press
May 21st, 2010 · Comments Off · Culture, Media, Politics
It might surprise some people to learn that according to an organization called Reporters without Borders, a group that monitors freedom of the press across all nations, the United States ranks 20th in freedom of the press, behind Denmark, Sweden, and others. But you run out of the very liberal Scandinavian countries after five, so [...]
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Tags: far right propaganda·lying in the media·Neoconservative propaganda·oppression of the free press·ownership of media·Right Wing commentators