I’ll bet you’re not alone. You are not the only one noticing that in the broad scope of national discourse, the left is marginalized by corporate media, the radical Right, and the White House. And this exclusion would go far in explaining why things are going to hell so fast for the US. This really annoys me. In fact it makes me want to SCREAM! I have assembled a few "mini rants" I wish I could scream loud enough for the nation and world to hear. Corporate media will not convey this for us. Maybe all we need for a decent start are a few million bumper stickers and a few thousand billboards.... Along with perhaps some very loud assertions.
Since change starts from the bottom, we at the bottom need to send clear and simple messages. The messages need to resonate with the public, and maybe even with the least bought off corporatist Dems. Let’s send a signal to the rest of the country. So, here they are in no particular order. I have tried to keep them small enough to fit on a bumper sticker, or at least short enough to speak with one breath.
Corporations are NOT persons.
Money is NOT free speech.
Too big to fail is too big
Tax the rich. Rebuild America.
War makes us LESS safe.
War destroys our economy
War destroys freedom.
Creeping Fascism is the enemy.
A Constitutional Republic cannot survive permanent war.
Jesus was NOT a gun-carrying white Republican.
*
Obama and the Democrats do not know which side they're on. They need to choose between appeasing the right and preserving the status quo, or representing the majority of Americans who voted them into office. They try to do both, and that cannot be done.
*
One for the Gipper: The most frightening words in the English language are: “I’m from the US Chamber of Commerce and I’m here to help…elect Republicans, …deregulate everything,…build the surveillance state,…perpetuate war for obscene profits,…destroy democracy.”
*
Journalism died after the Right neutered it with their "Liberal Media" lie.
Corporate power and Right Wing media have always valued dishonesty, and will continue to, because it is necessary for their political dominance.
*
Republican American "conservatism" is no different from a cult. The authoritarian leaders have indoctrinated their followers just as thoroughly as Moonies. It is a fearful, paranoid, and hateful stew of pseudo-Christian religious exclusivity, racism, reverence of wealth, and militarism.
*
Mixing religion with politics allows all hell to break loose.
Change has come. This is Obama's America. Now only blacks are racists. Just ask the Tea Party, FOX, Breitbart, Beck and Limbaugh. Curiously everyone they call racist happens to be black.
*
We have arrived at the nexus of the economic elite and the authoritarian minority. The 20 some percent of the population that are authoritarian personalities by nature are the Brown Shirts of the Aristocracy. Their propaganda network of Fox and Talk radio is what keeps them united in their antagonism towards democracy. They reject the government voted in by a majority of voters, and do everything in their power to destroy it. They are fascists, not the “real Americans” the Twit of the Tundra, Sarah Palin, calls them.
It's not enough for the Reich Wingers to feed into class and ideological warfare, they want to provoke a race war as well. Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod and ACORN have all been systematically media-lynched by the radical Right. Now we see FOX and “Fiends” are hard at work demonizing Muslims. They want not only class war and race war; they’re crusading for an all out religious holy war.
Republicans ARE extremists, for God's sake! Look what the GOP (Guardians Of Plutocracy) has done. In a supposed free democratic republic, unprovoked war, warrantless domestic surveillance, imprisonment without counsel or charges, torture, and rigged voting machines are EXTREME and illegal acts. This ain't America anymore, it's Republistan.
The Radical Right Republicans are fascists to a far greater degree than Obama could ever approach being a socialist.
The economic elite and their Republican Party want nothing short of neo-feudalism, where they are the lords and the rest of us are serfs.
Bottom line: For the Republicans to succeed, the American working class must lose.
*
I'm afraid my prejudice has been confirmed. Homo sapiens is a herd species. FOX moos and we listen. O"baa"ama speaks, and we hope.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Constitutional Amendment
It’s a common frustration with many of us. Why is it that only we the little guys are supposed to follow the rules and the law? Apart from our inclinations to do the right thing, the answer is we simply cannot afford to break the laws and violate the rules. It costs a lot of money for that luxury.
A friend sent along a different kind of forwarded message. This was not the usual Republican/racist anti Obama disinformation. It was riding the wave of discontent over health care reform somewhat, but seemed less overtly partisan than most. Why don’t we amend the Constitution to include Congress in following the law? Good idea, eh? Well, that’s sort of what the Supreme Court’s job is.
Of course, like many, or all, forwarded messages much of it was not true.
As Snopes.com said, “...The supporting arguments it puts forward are all false.”
My sympathies were aroused anyway, and I decided to share my thoughts with the rest of the recipients of this message:
***
Proposed 28th :
Governors of 35 states have already filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention. This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on. An idea whose time has come!
For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest was to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform....in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law.
I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. A Constitutional Convention - this is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come. I'm asking each addressee to forward this Email to a minimum of twenty people on their Address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States .."
***
So I responded to everyone in the group who received this:
What, equality under the law in America? That almost sounds radical to me. But then, I may be a bit radical myself.
It’s a nice sentiment, but there’s a glaring omission or two. Shouldn’t we include the president as one also subject to the law? Bush violated the Constitution repeatedly without accountability. People who denounce Obama for wrongdoing only sound like ignorant hypocrites if they let Bush off with his crimes.
How about we include corporations like BP, Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton as well. They have all the rights of legal “personhood” but none of the accountability. If they did, someone would be doing time for the deaths of 11 Deepwater Horizon workers and the spill that followed. Somebody from Blackwater would be locked up, fined or executed for the slaughter of 17 unarmed Iraqis. Who’s been accountable for the KBR-built showers electrocuting our troops in Iraq? The list goes on...
And what about the FBI, CIA and NSA? Shouldn’t they be under legal guidelines? Maybe they should be made to follow the law too. (That includes any government agent who might be reading this.)
And while we’re at it, let’s include those governors. I bet more than a couple of them are guilty of imposing unlawful burdens too. I seem to remember a former half term governor of Alaska who was found to have been guilty of “abuse of power” by a bipartisan panel after harassing a state trooper, who happened to be her ex brother-in-law, and intimidating his boss to fire him.
Yes, equality under the law sounds like a good idea. Maybe America should try it sometime.
A friend sent along a different kind of forwarded message. This was not the usual Republican/racist anti Obama disinformation. It was riding the wave of discontent over health care reform somewhat, but seemed less overtly partisan than most. Why don’t we amend the Constitution to include Congress in following the law? Good idea, eh? Well, that’s sort of what the Supreme Court’s job is.
Of course, like many, or all, forwarded messages much of it was not true.
As Snopes.com said, “...The supporting arguments it puts forward are all false.”
My sympathies were aroused anyway, and I decided to share my thoughts with the rest of the recipients of this message:
***
Proposed 28th :
Governors of 35 states have already filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention. This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on. An idea whose time has come!
For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest was to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform....in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law.
I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. A Constitutional Convention - this is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come. I'm asking each addressee to forward this Email to a minimum of twenty people on their Address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States .."
***
So I responded to everyone in the group who received this:
What, equality under the law in America? That almost sounds radical to me. But then, I may be a bit radical myself.
It’s a nice sentiment, but there’s a glaring omission or two. Shouldn’t we include the president as one also subject to the law? Bush violated the Constitution repeatedly without accountability. People who denounce Obama for wrongdoing only sound like ignorant hypocrites if they let Bush off with his crimes.
How about we include corporations like BP, Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton as well. They have all the rights of legal “personhood” but none of the accountability. If they did, someone would be doing time for the deaths of 11 Deepwater Horizon workers and the spill that followed. Somebody from Blackwater would be locked up, fined or executed for the slaughter of 17 unarmed Iraqis. Who’s been accountable for the KBR-built showers electrocuting our troops in Iraq? The list goes on...
And what about the FBI, CIA and NSA? Shouldn’t they be under legal guidelines? Maybe they should be made to follow the law too. (That includes any government agent who might be reading this.)
And while we’re at it, let’s include those governors. I bet more than a couple of them are guilty of imposing unlawful burdens too. I seem to remember a former half term governor of Alaska who was found to have been guilty of “abuse of power” by a bipartisan panel after harassing a state trooper, who happened to be her ex brother-in-law, and intimidating his boss to fire him.
Yes, equality under the law sounds like a good idea. Maybe America should try it sometime.
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