New america coming? I don’t think so.

Well, I wanted Hillary, but my second choice is okay too, the president elect, Obama. That's a step in the right direction, he's a very good man, and America deserves some kudos for at least recognizing that fact.
But it troubles me greatly that many regard him as a transformative, even messianic figure. Like he has the power, as president, to right all that is fundamentally wrong with the American culture. Well, NO person, and no governmental institution has the power to right what is wrong with America.
What is wrong with America is systemic. It's not not an issue-based "aphid" eating away at the leaves of our cultural tree, where a hearty spray of disinfecting insecticide can right everything. America has fucking root rot. The soil itself is barren. The very foundation of our founding father's value systems are undermined at every level.
And that effect is so pervasive, so omnipresent, it's invisible to us.
It's been pointed out how constitutional law has been shredded by the Bush administration. Pretty horrifying, granted. But I'm talking about something much more subtle, systemic, and insidious here, I'm talking about the fundamental erosion of American ethics and morality in virtually every one of it's citizens.
Again, I'm not talking about "issues", gay rights, abortion rights, or the notion that to be an upstanding American citizen now seems to require belief in a christian God. Im talking about a much larger, widely accepted, new paradigm of what it really means to be American.
And that is, almost magically, we have become a nation of mindless consumers. We don't make anything anymore, we buy, we consume only. And we replace those consumptions periodically, not by choice. We have managed to make everything in our lives temporary, ultimately, utterly obsolete. And in doing so, we have reduced OURSELVES to ethic-free cogs in a mindless corporate wheel. That's not a new concept. To wit, Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", or Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights". What IS new is that the transformation in American culture is utterly complete... that is, so complete as to become invisible, a non-issue.
Let me try just one example; there are many. Let's take recorded music. Anyone ever notice the pattern here? Listeners who in the 1950's, 60's and early 70's loved music so much, they collected hundreds upon hundreds of vinyl records, got, as a reward for their support of the record-making industry and for their love of vinyl records, the development that vinyl records were made utterly obsolete, without any consideration of them. It simply happened, a new technology replacd their records. And they had no say whatever in it. (Kind of turns the "building a better mousetrap" idea on it's head). And almost overnight, their vast record collection became a dead asset.
Just logically speaking, as a business model; in the long run, is that any way to reward a dream consumer of your product? What signal does that send?
Then, in the 80's, there were those who invested, or reinvested heavily in a comprehensive collection of audiocassette tapes, the new technology. Their efforts also, made for nothing with the introduction of CDs.
Also, in the 90's there were those who amassed great collections of VHS movies (literally hundreds of millions of people!). Those huge, expensive videotape movie collections at $20 a pop,... a massive consumer investment, now worthless. Those $20 VHS cassettes don't even get bought at thrift stores for a 25¢ each.
Let's keep going, consider those who upgraded their recorded technology to DVDs and CDs. Almost defunct already: we're very near moving to a totally downloading technology. Again, their great investment, faith, and effort also, will soon be reduced to ashes.
We keep doing this, again and again, and again,... and for what?
What kind of business model is it that you reward the people that MOST invest in your industry by making them the biggest fools. This new, souless business model is based on the notion that technology ITSELF reigns, at all costs, no matter who gets burned. And simultaneously, the recognition that NO technology will last. What a ridiculous cycle!. My analog tv works fine. I get the picture, but now I must throw out 5 analog TVs, and replace with digital TVs. Last night I saw a news report that showed images of perfectly operational 36" tube TV's (at $600-$800s each) piled into trash trucks like garbage.
Maybe this is good for technology developers in the short run, but you can't build a long-term technology business on this model without utterly destroying yourself every 8 years or so. And it's utterly horrible for consumers. Oh, and not to mention, a GIANT waste of property!
We are currently and completely engaged in a kneejerk process of totally throwing out ANYTHING that's old, whether a great product or not, in favor of the new (and very temporary matrix). What made us worship the new to the exclusion of all else?
And why hasn't anyone noticed that in this process of finding new and increasingly abstract ways (to publish music for my example), the artists that actually CREATE the content for the technology are increasingly marginalized as mere cogs for selling the technology. These so-called artists at the core of the industry are themselves temporary. You don't get Thelonious Monks, Louis Armstrongs, or Frank Sinatras anymore, people who have a lifetime of song-making. Musical artists now pop up and disappear in just a few years, in synch (pun intended) with the technology. Current musical artists are universally young. That's no accident. Musicians themselves have become as expendable as those that buy their music.
We do the same thing with art, fashion, architecture, basically any commodity that consumers will buy. We abstract it and make it impermanent, eventually useless, by design. We marginalize the creators that provide content. Let's face the facts, as consumers we no longer CARE about the product itself, or the mind that created it.
We don't care who's making the money, or if our purchase supports the corrupt system. We WILL buy the latest thing, and we want that latest thing despite knowing it will soon be obsolete and valueless.
And the net effect is this... valuelessness. Not only our products, but ourselves. We define ourselves as our collection of stuff, and that stuff had better be "current" stuff, or we ourselves risk being viewed as obsolete. It's a horribly destructive cycle that devalues all that is human in a culture. We no longer have respect for anything, or for anyone who is not "current". Such PEOPLE, who try to step out of this vicious cycle of re-acquiring consumerism are regarded as unhip, obsolete people, with no place in society. NONE. Non-citizens.
What has this got to do with ethics, with America? Absolutely everything.
When a democratic society chiefly defines its citizenry as consumers, it's a game-changer. Matters of ethics are at best, inconsequential. Morality itself is inconsequential. Thats why we get our goods from China, who creates them with virtual slave labor. We don't care about that. We don't care if it's a knockoff, that is stolen property, either. It's after all, our "right" to get whatever we want at the cheapest price, regardless of the corrupt system our desires support. We don't give a fuck.
This is what Obama can't fix. It's an hidden, unspoken attitude that prevades the entire American population. It's dyed in the wool among the youth that can remember no other system. In defining our citizenship as mere consumers of product, we set aside "old" aspects of American character; hard work, honesty, integrity, the things that made us proud of ourselves. We know who we are now I think, and we're not to proud of it.
So,... news flash. We are NOT a democracy folks. We haven't been for a few decades now. We are a Capitalistic Dictatorship. We accept and buy whatever is put before us by the already wealthy. Money controls us completely. And I'm not just talking products. Ever notice, you are no longer a "man" if you are bald (that's what Hair Club espouses). Or if you don't walk around with a permanent boner? Viagra, Cialis. Or if your penis is small? We're now having our own bodies marketed back to us. Get the new improved model of yoursef, or you're OUT!
You're no longer a woman if you are not beautiful. Cosmetics and elective surgery buisnesses are booming!
We have not only managed to make temporary and devalued, our possessions. We have made temporary and devalued, ourselves. This?... no person or government can fix, at least not without utterly DESTROYING the business template we have come to accept and live under.
That accomplishment will ONLY come with a universal, public rejection of our very system of sustenance. So, very painful, possibly requiring bloody revolution. Not likely in my lifetime I think, as there is not yet even a recognition of our collective cultural rot.

12:22 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The US is very nearly a complete, functioning Plutocracy

Below are listed the different types of world governments and their definitions.

Take into account these definitions,... and then consider the Wall Street bail out this October, and the phenomenal increase of lobbyists into our political system over the last 3 decades.

One can ONLY conclude that America is morphing, rather rapidly from a Democracy into a Plutocracy. That this is happening so fast, why has no one in the media identified this fundamental sea change in our political system? ... it's a HUGE story, no?

Answer: Because the media itself has already been commandeered by (the wealthy) corporate monopolies (i,e. the Rupert Murdocks). Their new mission statement is hiding basic truth from the non-wealthy masses. It permits this fundamental political shift to continue unrecognized and therefore unopposed.
________

• Anarchy - Absence, or lack of government.

• Democracy - Rule by a government where the people as a whole hold the power. It may be exercised by them (direct democracy), or through representatives chosen by them (representative democracy) What we have here in the USA.

• Despotism - Governing by a single individual, the despot, who wields all the power and authority of the state. Other persons are subsidiary to the despot.

• Dictatorship - Rule by an individual who has full power over the country. See also Autocracy and Stratocracy.

• Monarchy - Rule by an individual who has inherited the role and expects to bequeath it to their heir.

• Oligarchy - Rule by a small group of people who share similar interests or family relations.

• Plutocracy - A government composed of the wealthy class.

• Theocracy - Rule by a religious elite.

• Tyranny - Governing by a single ruler, the tyrant, holding vast, if not absolute power through a state.

_____________

There is a well-known theory of economics that says that, left unchecked by regulation, it's FAR easier for the wealthy to increase their wealth (through investments
of their existing wealth) than those less wealthy.

It's important to note that this does NOT mean the "creation" of new wealth. It means that, without proper regulation, a coalescing of "existing" national wealth is merely transferred, (surprisingly quickly, BTW) from the general working class, to those who are already rich.

All countries (and the world at large) have a somewhat fixed year-to-year GDP or national treasure chest, a wealth that remains somewhat static. So money is merely being transferred. In order for the rich to get richer, this necessarily means the poorer MUST get poorer. And it is shown that this trend gets both easier, and more efficient as it progresses.

It is also predicted by this economic theory that once ENOUGH wealth is concentrated in the hands of the rich, it is perfectly natural next step for them to overtly exercise that monetary muscle by infiltrating the Democracy (read: Washington lobbyists) to remove any existing impediments to them commandeering ALL wealth. The goal at that point is to install a permanent leadership that is both sympathetic to their goals, and totally beholding to them; at it's CORE, anti-Democracy, a Plutocracy.

What is happening in America, right now, is the proof of this economic theory, and the very definition of an arising Plutocracy.

THAT is why this election is more important than any election in US history. It is possibly the middle class's LAST CHANCE to reverse the trend. And, as goes the United States, so goes the world.

What we are fighting her is nothing short of the survival of global Democracies.

1:23 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Wake Up! The Robber is in your house!

I recently made a simple chart of govenment bailouts since 1970. I've been circulating it to my email friends. I'd like to include it here, but this browser does not accept anything but plain text.

It's an astonishing chart, culled from a more detailed chart presented in the "Pro Publica" Blog. The chart in addition to being astonishing, has the distinct virtue of being completely verifiable by GAO statistics.

The chart shows clearly that ALL the Republican presidents since Nixon: that's Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush 1, and Bush 2 (note, not one Democrat in there) have used American tax dollars to bail out rich companies in trouble...in short, the rich.

Such vast money transfers, via bailouts, from the public coffers to wealthy private companies in bad times, reveal a blatant hypocrisy of Republicans.

We've all heard the Republican refrains. "Smaller government! "Get government off our backs!" "Free markets! End welfare!" It's their number one thing, right? Well, this bailout practice they've engaged in for nearly 40 years, exposes that it's not really "government welfare" per se, that they resent. What they REALLY resent is that the NEEDY get the money, and not them, the rich, and their rich brethren. They WANT welfare. They just want it for THEMSELVES, as opposed to the poor.

Tthe chart interestingly shows the 2 Bush presidents are absolute standouts in this welfare-for-the-wealthy scheme. Between the two of them, they've given away more than the other republicans by almost a factor of ten. The sheer mass of dollars handed to the rich is almost beyond comprehension.

This current 700 billion bailout seems large, but is only the tip of the iceberg, a nice chunk, granted. But it mst be seen in a continuum of huge taxpayer-funded givaways that increases (not so gradually) in scale with each subsequent Republican presidency.

The sum totals of the republican bailouts in last 38 years amounts to many TRILLIONS of dollars. This is in it's most basic form a direct, intentional transfer of wealth from the workng class, to the rich. Robin Hood in reverse, the rich stealing from the poor. Not so unique really. But what IS unique is this... the theft has got the stamp of legality from our government. Nonetheless, it is THEFT pure and simple. And we have no say in the matter.

It's been said this current 700 billion dollar bailout will cost each working American another $5,000 each. If Bush and McCain have their way, that'll simply be a "loss" to the American taxpayer, that is, not recoverable.

The effect is precisely the same as if a thief broke into your house and stole $5,000 from you (only spread out over time in ways you hopefully won't notice). Still...THEFT. But this case, you never even have a CHANCE to recover the stolen money, and the theif will NEVER be prosecuted. You have no legal recourse. In this way, it's WORSE than theft.

But, the REAL problem not even this LEGITIMIZED aspect of the theft, it's the following.
It's not even RECOGNIZED as theft by the victims!

The theft is shrouded in patriotism and inevitability of "we have no choice".
We get, "They are too big (read, too "rich") to fail", (as if a rich enough company is actually more American than you or I).

We're fed fear, that America will "collapse" if we don't give these people the money. So, not wanting to be selfish or unpatriotic, we hand our money over. As I said, we don't actually feel immediately the money leaving our wallets. But it does, in future gas prices, food prices, mortgage rates, college tuition, etc, etc. etc.

The supreme irony to me is so blatant it's almost comic.
These companies are failing exactly BECAUSE they are proven thieves. Their entire business has been shown to be a house of cards, a pryamid scheme, of fraudulent debt. We already KNOW these people are thieves. Wealthy ones at that.

And we are being asked to give THESE same people our hard-earned cash, by the folks that brought you a war based on lies, and a trillion dollar tax cut to the rich?
Uh, excuse me? Is ANYONE paying attention? Media? No?

And we let Bush, arguably the worst strategist and president of our country's history (the doorman to our house) open that door up wide to let this "known thief" into our houses. Yeah, Right now, he's in your house. He's stinking rich, he's a proven thief, he's looking for more of your money. Even knowing you don't have a dime to spare.

That American workers haven't a dime to spare doesn't seem to matter to Bush or McCain, our two big, "country first" patriots. WHY doesn't it matter to them? Because they're stinking rich too! These rich crooks are their buddies! And they know this money will trickle to them in kickbacks or jobs after they leave office, or hell, maybe WHILE in office.

So I say, "ENOUGH!". Kick all the rich thieves out.

Don't be fooled yet again that this is an issue of "corporate patriotism" or a shoring up our "venerable financial institutions". They are all self-deluded thieves, pure and simple. They not only deserve no bailout, they deserve to be in JAIL for impoverishing this country by their Pyramid sceme frauds.

Yes, in the short term denying a bailout may indeed hurt the economy, the same way putting iodine on a cut hurts. But it's a necessary hurt in order to get healthy again.
It is only because we've already acquiesced too much of our country's wealth, feeding the infection in times past, that we are in dire shape now. All we need to do is pull the nutrients to the infection.

Here's basic economic truth to keep in mind.
With money, there is reality, and there is religion.

Everyday Americans create goods and services. Those are TRULY worth something.
"Financial Services" provide nothing tangible, no goods, no services, nothing really, (unless you consider fraudulent loans based on faith in one's own system of money laundering, a service,... a service BTW, which is now PROVEN to be without merit.)

You want financial stability America? Dump these phoney people with their phoney money. And in the future, bet on the real, the hard sweat of taxpaying people with REAL assets.

In the meantime, Wake Up! The thief is in your house now!

12:01 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Okay 3rd shot,... are Americans STILL stupid?

I think this is the larger question. Forget the Iraq war, an acknowledged political
failure from the get-go. Let's talk about the greatest LIE that the American people bought into....TWICE!

Since as long as I've been alive, the 3 Republican mantras screamed ad nauseum have been "Less taxes!. Less government! Free markets!"

We had about 6 years of total Republican control of this country, the House, the Senate, the Executive Office, AND the Supreme Court. This in itself is a watershed occurance that the framers of our system of gorvernance NEVER wanted to happen...
by any party. Our system of government was "designed" to be a balance of ideas.
But the Rebuplicans got what they always lusted for, utter complete control to remake
America into their image.

They FINALLY had the chance to "Lower Taxes". Which as we saw was actually veiled code for lowering taxes for the rich, and increasing taxes on the middle class. No one of ANY reason can debate this is what happened.

"Less Government" also was exposed as a cunnard. The Republicans oversaw possibly the largest increase in government control in history by creating huge NEW govenment beauracracies, like the Dept. of Homeland Security. This exposed thier REAL dissatisfaction with how "big government" undermines freedom. They never really wanted freedom from government interference. They merely wanted to eliminate the controls they didn't like, pollution control, funding for public education, heathcare, and social security and add even bigger, new beauracracies. Curiosly to me, beaurcracies that
LIMIT freedom. I for one, (sarcasm) LOVE the fact that the government has created a whole new agency staffed with people whose job it is to access my medical records, record my phone calls, scour my emails and web browsing. I feel so free now.

Finally, the FUN one. Free markets. Well, they accomplished that one, removing all federal and local restrictions and oversite to the big "free market" businesses. And you see what happened. Rampant greed happened. WEE-HOO!!!

Major manufacturers went offshore, either to avoid paying US taxes or to cash in on cheap labor, or avoid unions demanding fair working conditions, aviod paying pensions, etc.. or more likely, all of the above. A fricking exodus of corporate wealth.

CEO's of lending institutions driving their companies, customers and shareholders into bankruptcy, escaping themselves with mountains of cash. A trade deal with China that basically allows them to freely steal any American invention or copyrighted material, any technological inventions, clothing designs, books, CDs, DVDs, art, whatever.Yours to make knock-offs of...and sell to US!

The effect was not rapid economic growth, as the Repubs always claimed, it was wholesale THEFT. If any conclusion can be drawn it is that large companies showed themselves
they cared NOTHING for "America's" financial health. Absolute ZERO display of patriotism.
It was simply pure, unadulterated, naked greed, the kind of amoral behavior that destroys everyone and everthing in it's path, hell be damned.

All 3 mantras the Rebulicans touted endlessly for at least the 50 years of my life, and probably before, were finally implemented. And THIS is the result. Oh, and lets not forget the penchant of Rebulicans to be warhawks. That adventure didn't work out so well either.But I said I wouldn't talk about that.

So here comes my point.

Bush, who took on the Republican manta of "Less taxes!. Less government! Free markets!" won the election in 2000. (Well,.. let's just say he did.) And with the help of a Republican majority in the House and Senate implemented the long-held republican dream-state.

Within a mere 4 years, Clinton's 2 1/2 trillion dollar trade surplus, vanished. Not only was that money gone, it was replaced by a war that by 2004 had cost Americans roughly, an additional trillion dollars. Add to that loss, a trillon dollar tax givaway to the wealthy corporates (Oh boy, here comes that wonderful trickle down economy!....NOT! It didn't happen with Reagan, Bush senior or THIS Bush. So let's put THAT bullshit to rest forever shall we?) And an additional 2 trillion of American economic DEBT (trade imbalance)created, then bought by China.

By ANY means you want to calculate it, Bush spent money MORE money in 4 years than ANY "tax and spend" Democrat. In fact, more than ALL presidents that preceded him, put together!

But here's the weird thing. Usually, when you spend money like that, you have great things to SHOW for it, new roads, better schools, health care for all, bolstered social security, national security, economic recovery etc. We not only gained absolutely NOTHING, we lost ground, in ALL these areas and more. I for one would not have thought that even possible.

Okay.

In 2004, we got a chance to correct that ideological blunder. I remember the 2004 campaigning. NONE of the REAL problems Bush created were addressed by Republicans. Not even addressed! Instead, we got Swiftboating of Kerry, a TRUE war vet BTW, and petty talk of his character, his windsurfing, his "elitism". Apparently, Americans, (and the media), so LOVE their petty trash talk, (doesn't even MATTER if it's true trash or not) that we can be made to substitute that for the clear facts of national proportion, HUGE, BASIC GLARING FACTS for common personal snarky innuendo s. We set aside that, in the eyes of the world, we were corrupt, even our allies were (are) disgusted with us. Decreased, not increased freedom, and a lack of confidence in our own sense of national security.

Despite clear evidence in 2004 that Bush was a bungler, we gave him a second shot... to correct his mistakes. Recognize the horrible errors of actually following the ancient shopworn Repub mantra which had demonstrated so clearly it's failure in practice. But Bush stuck to his ideological guns.
For the next 3 years he either spun, or flat out lied about the state of the war, the state of the world, the wisdom of his policies, politically, morally, financially.

Now we see. The emporer had no clothes. Amereicans bought his line again, this time with evidence against it. After his 2004 return to office (Ohio debacle again), I must say, my faith in American intelligence took a hard dive south. I clung to a flagging excuse tho...that perhaps the media did not do it's job of informing people just how bad things were in 2004. I heard no real alarm bells. (But I go elsewhere for news, I knew, and I said so to anyone that would listen, Bush has gotten us in deep deep shit.) It was possible perhaps that the average Joe just wern't informed by the mainstream press.

Well, NOW they are. How can you NOT be. Every week there is a fresh catastrophe
stacked one upon the other, like cordwood, that is just head-shaking
in it's magnitude. Bailouts of hundreds of billions, now trillons, to one failed company after another, to name one example. Put together these catastrophes threaten not only the very fabric of the nation, but world well-being! I'm not saying that. Greenspan did.

So, here's my question...after 8 years of unmittigated DISASTER on an almost supernatural scale, Is Amereica STILL going to buy, for the 3rd fricking time, the utterly debunked, worn out rhetoric of Republicans that all that is needed is "Less taxes!. Less government! Free markets!"
Because this is what McCain/Palin are STILL hawking in their stump speeches.

I must say, if for some far out reason McCain is put in office,... that's it.

America has then PROVEN to the world, it's just fucking STUPID!!!! Incapable of learning. Distracted. Childish. Tthe blade of fucking Damecles! hovering over it's neck, they retreat to petty trite, meaningless fully discredited simplifications based on repetitive cynical id-tweaking.

Wake the FUCK UP people!!!! It's the 11th hour and America is on the ropes. CHANGE is not just needed, it's IMPERATIVE... for our very survival.

For two YEARS now Obama has been campaigning for change. Wholesale CHANGE! He has given hundreds if not thousands of stump speeches on it. He talks about not only the very specific PROBLEMS, but his very specific SOLUTIONS. That's not only bold, mature, it's brave as it is virtual political suicide. It's intelligent too, and he is counting on Americans being equally intelligent.

Only in the past 3 weeks has McCain realized the political advantage of talking about change. (I'm thinking after seeing Bush actually TAKE Obama's cue on troop pullouts, doing something in that line). But make no misake, McCain started using the "word", he doesn't intend actual change. Hell, he STILL wants troops in Iraq!
Right after lambasting "the Bush administration's failings", his subsequent policy statements actually mimic Bush's completely.

Is the American public going to be duped yet again by such transparently false talk, and simple-minded jingoistic boilerplate of "honor and patriotism". Are we indeed so SMALL, so PETTY
that we'd buy this bullshit over someone NEW, and by all evidence apparently TRULY ernest in his call for change?

What it boils down to is this. This is not just another election. This is probably the ONLY election in your lifetime that has this degree of import.
It's the one where you get to determine the future of America for the next hundred years. No less than that. That is, if America corrects failed policies and regains t's status as a super-power and beacon to the world on ethics and the legitimacy of free thought, open elections and good will, or if it slumps into second-world status,
financially spent, impoverished masses, an ethical code despised by the rest of the world.

This is it.
No less than the election of your life.

The founding fathers are watching from above, praying that Americans
finally, drop the petty fear and trash talk, and and wise up. Recognize their REAL problems and set about to solving them...to LEADING the world again, instead of pettily finding new countries to make war with, simultaneously fouling their OWN nest.

You know, we OWE those founding fathers, and all those before us who died for freedom and right causes for the common man. We must be serious this time. This time it's not optional, it's survival. We MUST reject the tired simplistic, meaningless appeals of getting "govt off our backs". It's been proven. It means NOTHING! What we need is not LESS governance, we need WISER governance, a gorvernance FOR the people (not just the rich people) BY the people (not the lobbyists, which McCain's entire staff is full of).

This time, for once, just think it through.

Don't get hoodwinked yet again to listen to your negative nature, you know, the id that loves to demonize others, don't give into it. It's lazy, and bad citizenship. Make the effort to find the TRUTH.
And then nurture your wiser, better nature. That's represented by Obama.

I'm not saying the man is unflawed. He's fallible. I think his ego needs a check. I personally think Hillary EARNED the vice presidency (at the very least), and that he was just flat wrong not to embrace her as she embraced him. I think he is a passive aggressive. But I don't care. As he says, "it's not ABOUT me." (Actually, that's stolen from Hillary's speech at the convention.) It's about YOU. And that's fresh talk.

On the basics, Obama's RIGHT, and we know it. We're in deep shit, and we need nothing less than a wholesale CHANGE in government. (at least from what Bush established)
Obama, at the very least, "represents" a way OUT. The repair we need,... a focus on creating American jobs, new technologies of energy, reinitiate fairness in wealth distribution, and maybe most of all, a reestablishment of American GOOD will abroad. He's clearly a move awy from the pst and to the future. Even his physical attributes give testament that he is "transformative"

McCain looks like what he is, a Bushie. He represents the past. And despite his cunnard of "change" he represents worn out spent politics.

For THIS time, the THIRD time we've had to decide on the SAME matters, I'm judging not just the candidates ...I'm judging America itself. As is the world.

Mike James, 9-17-2008

2:19 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

On Obama

Anyone who cannot see that the US economy is pretty messed up is daft. I've met a few that refuse to see the obvious. To a person they are dyed in the wool Republicans, the type that prefer ideology to facts.

The US involvement in the war in Iraq WILL end in two years no matter who is elected
president in November. That's a fait accompli...deal with it people.

The continuing erosion of our health care coverage is a JOKE. Europe, Japan and the other first world nations scratch their heads in disbelief that universal health care in the US was not instituted decades ago. Soon, we will have 1/4 of this country with NO, that's ZERO, health coverage! An abomination to core democratic ideals.

That the need for non-fossil-fuels is still being debated is laughable. The world's oil supply is at best "steady", but according to oil men and geologists alike, probably declining. That's "declining oil", just as China begins rolling out 20,000 new cars a day! With India in tow. Within 10 years, it's predicted the number of gas guzzling vehicles will be 5 TIMES what it is today!

Alternative fuels are needed not only to handle this quintupling of usage in ten years, but the save the freaking PLANET! Greenhouse gasses are already choking the planet. Lets quintuple that.

Like it or not folks.....it IS time for a change. Several in fact. Big ones. Life altering ones. Not to do them is nothing less than planetary catastrophe.

So....This presidential election is utterly different than any other election in my life.
It's not about party or ideology, conservative vs. liberal. Or values, morality, credentials, age, gender. All those words mean NOTHING when it comes to THIS word....survival.

When I listen to McCain, a really noble and nice guy I suppose, by any measure, I am struck by his seeming lack of understanding that the US is a nation in crisis on several fronts at once. McCain, by listening to his rhetoric and watching his sorry-ass commercials seems to think this election is "Business as usual". As do those republican pundits (who here thinks Karl Rove needs to be deported?) seemingly couldn't see WINTER coming! They seem to think this election is about the stupid shit. Whether John Edwards had an affair. Who the fuck cares about that!. I didn't care when Newt Gingrich did the same thing. Or Clinton.

Look. I'm not an Obama worshipper. In fact, my first choice dropped out early, then my second choice, then my third, Hillary. Obama was actually only number 4 on my list. I think he is very flawed personally in a couple of serious ways. But in one very important way, he's got my vote. Why? Because he fucking GETS IT, and McCain doesn't.

Obama's slogan says it right there in the first word....."CHANGE". Whether his will be effective change for the good, we'll have to see. But in his speeches he certainly has the basic problems identified.

The 8-year long Bush redistribution of wealth to the rich and powerful was a giant fiscal mistake. It killed tax revenues, while simultaneously giving the wealthy companies the go-ahead to start fleecing citizens, 33% interest on credit cards, ridiculous loans, high gas prices, property taxes, almost every consumable product has doubled in price in 8 short years.

Obama has an aggressive 2-edged plan to roll back Bush's damaging economic policy and create wholly new enterprises (like providing incentives for alternative energy). He's thinking very large, realizing it will take nothing less than RECREATING this country's core economy.

It's BIG thinking of the right kind. I want to give this young guy a chance. I only pray he's not the politico pantload he seems, holds to his lofty campaign rhetoric, and gets some powerful movers and shakers on his team.

1:11 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Prez primary here in PA

I voted in the Pennsylvania primaries the other day, casting my vote for Hillary Clinton,
as I'm a registered Democrat. It was a toughie, as I like Barack Obama very much. But I figured he is young and not quite as politically seasoned. He'll be around awhile, and can to make a few more runs at the Presidency if he doesn't win the party's nomination this go round. This is probably Hillary's last bid, and damn, I dig this chick's fighting spirit. This lady has more cahones than Bush or Cheney, who pride themselves on their ballsy decisions.

At any rate, I'd be thrilled to vote for either a black man OR a woman in the upcoming general. If either Obama or Clinton wins, I will feel that this election alone, justifies my existence in this country as a citizen. It would be a momentous occasion. And I'd feel I had something to do with pushing this country forward. Right now, I feel we're stuck in an anachronistic WWII mentality.

Also, as an old white male myself, I'm sick of seeing the perponderance of old white males in our government. It is simply not "representational". And the general skew of all decisions they make are unavoidablye going to have a white male bias, which is not fair or smart. I'd like to see a "mongrel" gov't. I believe diversity means strength. And it's very American.

So...

Everyone in the wide world knows this country is in DEEP shit trouble, mostly due to 8 years of the current hair-brained prez and his arrogant, listen to no dissenting opinion, administators. Thanks to the current group, the next prez is going to inherit a poison chalice. I have no doubt the next 4 years are going to be a horrible mess. Much like cleaning up after Katrina, yet another mess left to the future prez.

But at least we can BEGIN to rectify the bad decisions. With a little luck, we may even begin to recover a little. The beauty of disaster of this magnitude is that it leaves little else to go but up. Reversing dozens of failed policies will help. But we'll be cleaning wounds for the next four years, and wound-cleaning hurts. But it ALLOWS for healing. No way we can heal with the current guy. He still continues making bonehead decisions.

I just pray he doesn't try something stupid like trying to get his poll numbers up with an Iran air strike. Given his need to be "relevant" at any cost, it wouldn't surprise me. The guy seems congenitally disposed to make the wrong choice every time.

Whoever is next prez, it's GOT to be a change for the better. Even John McCain, whose policies mostly fall in line with Bush's would nevertheless be a fantastic improvement. He is not a vindictive man. He is thoughtful, obeys the law, and WANTS to do right by American citizens. Those qualities alone would be a refreshing change.

1:54 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment