I was watching the Thompson's speech last night 1/2 way (at a restaurant, reading the close-caption off and on) when I noticed him say "...we need a President who won't apoligize for The United States!!!"
Of course there was a huge applause, one similar to the crowd at lifechurch after Craig Groeschel announced his support for the war in Iraq in 2003. Anyway, I couldn't help but remember Bush I's famous quote regarding the martyrs of Iran flight 655 (I call them martyr's because the incident was a primary cause of Khomeni saying "enough" regarding the Iran-Iraq war, saving many lives) when he said:
"I'll never apologize for the United States of America. Ever, I don't care what the facts are."
The last part is important because there was no doubt that what happened was just plain terrorism...the flight took place every single day, they were ascending not descinding as the fabricated reports said...290 civilians were killed. It was a complete disgrace for our country. Hope we aren't trying to duplicate this sick event by electing a cruel, pro-terrorism leader.
Just found some of my ooooooooold internet crap. Here is an essay deal I wrote in 98 about how much I hate South Park.
A bearded, heavy-set mid-twenties sort waddled by me the other day, clad in some random pair of britches those types wear (toughskins, wranglers?) and an a "Oh yipes! They killed Kenny!" shirt (Kenny is a South Park character that dies in every episode, tee-hee). This poor chap, this poor disturbing chap. "Whatch out babes, here I come!" I imagine he thought, as he progressed snails-pace towards his destination: McDonalds. Later that wednesday night, I imagine my portly passer-by dedicated his full attention to the viewing of South Park, along with many just like him all across America. With much glee he chortled at the recycled jokes, the adult-words and whatever else was on that nights episode. And when it was all said and done, said lover of rich deserts pleasingly smiled, and anxiously awaited the next week's show. And as for me, well, I do not watch this show (I saw a couple in effort to appease someone's longing for me to see it), I do not love rich deserts and I do not wear silly pants. So on my newly initiated "I must become this boys complete opposite quest", I shaved later that day. No joke reader, I really-really did.
An article in a magazine whos name escapes me referred to this statement in regards to South Park: "...no one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the american public" The show has it's humorous moments, particularly the subtilties such as the one in the "Patrick Duufy for a leg" episode where a television crew came to town, covering the disaster that was soon to come by a nearby erupting volcano. As the camera pointed to a large group of town residents, who would soon be obliterated by the volcano, one of the town residents comes to the forefront, jumping up and down excitedly, as his lifelong dream had been fullfilled. He then hollared, "I'm on TV! I'm on TV!". Although this humorous event in South Park is not keyed on belittiling it's viewership, it is doing so to one just a few tiers beneath it. A cynical view, but what else does this show deserve?
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"Shock Value" in this country seems to be the most profitable asset to those in the media business, and a few others. Courtney Love is a prime example. Her zany antics in her band "Hole", led her to a part in "The People vs. Larry Flynt" which then led her to a SIX page spread clad in Versace, in most major fashion magazines. I tell you this now, and you heard it here first, if Gianni Versace were alive today, he would never stop throwing up. But enough of that, South Park's "lewd and crude nature" is as subtle as the swooshing sound that alternitive pants make when their non-conformist owners are walking to buy the new Bush album (excuse the tangent). Folks, this can only mean that it now appears South Park will follow in the path of it's predecessors who know it's audience all too well. Ranging from the fat guy who plays "shooter wars" on his computer until he falls into a calm sleep night after night, to the akwardly bald guy that manages your local comic book shop, folks are just plain BONKERSover South Park!
I agree fully that we need "mindless humor" as a form of release from the tedious regiment of daily life. After that aloof boss tells you to do something that makes no sense in ther very realms of actuality, or after just a typical rough day, it is nice to view something light. Putting in a tape of "the naked gun", viewing a re-run of the pre-Stiller sellout "Ben Stiller show", or even an episode of the stooges helps to bring your tensions back down. But South Park does not fit into the category of such, it is somewhat of a sad reflection of the great Clive Barnes quote: "Television is the first truly democratic culture -- the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want." I say somewhat, in that it is only on cable, catering to the dopey minority rather than the dopey majority. What a nifty analogy this leads to: South Park is a part of a huge abyss of a cultured man's purgatory, a small section of a one of fifty or so channel cable-tv territory. In this analogy, I would say the area south park is in would have to be the midwest, where the hip and trendy things in life pay their farewell visit before dying a very ugly death. It is coming very soon, bye-bye retro alternative pant-wearers, check you later South Park.
Speaking of aloofness, numerous psychologists are doing, or have done studies, charting the varying effects the show has on kids and their behavior patterns in school and at home. Where these think-tanks should be channeling their efforts (if they must persist in continuing to waste their time) is in a study of the linkage of South Park viewership to obesity and love of "Magic, the Gathering"
Now, of the few episodes that I mentioned I have viewed, certainly the most foolish was where an attractive substitute teacher came to the south-park school. It turns out that, after all the boys fall in love with her, and as a result one of the South Park girls is very jealous, it is revealed she is a lesbian. Not fully grasping the concept of what that is, the fat boy (or the truest reflection of South Park fans) asks his mom, she enlightens him, and the wacky-zany adult in nature South Park fun begins! Such laugh-out-loud terms as "carpet muncher" and "carpet licker" are used by the kids. Wowie! I can't believe that they said that on the TV! I'm gonna watch this show again and again! At the end of the episode, the South Park girl calls in Arab troops to get rid of the pretty substitute since she is getting all the attention. When asked how she accomplished this, or something like that to bring out the following oh-so funny line: "don't f(bleep) with me!" Har-Har-Har! They just had that girl use the f-word, and they cleverly and unprecedentadly bleeped it out, now that's funny funny stuff!
I liked writing this. I really can stand this whole craze (yes, can not can't) but you know how it is, it would just be nice not to have to deal with it. There is a lot to write about this small speck in the whole scheme of things. I tried to work in a nifty analogy a few paragraphs back, but just could not fully commit, some of you are probably still puzzled. So here it is, here is what I am getting at. In life, you can only expose people to the real things in life: good music and books, good company, and conversation...and hope that they can grow from it and not rely on wacky cartoon characters that say swear words to entertain them. There is nothing better you can contribute to a persons well being than the aforementioned, and nothing worse than encouraging them by telling them "No South Park for you...". 'Cause they will watch it, and become the biggest goob the world has ever known.
..tr>
Marilyn Manson Fans
..tr>
..table>
VS.
South Park Fans
..tr>
..table> ..table>
..tr>
Hate their dreadfull parents
Like their parents. 'Specially Ma when she cooks pies and waffles
Gather together on randomly designated nights, clad in spooky black clothes and wacky black and white make-up
Huddle around the TV set every Wednesday night, pork rinds and slurpee drink in hand
Are an identified, examined sub-culture that contradicts it's self in that it is exclusive to a certain type of dress and mindless attitudes.
A somewhat identified group, but not as a sub-culture. Without them the world would be sans one thing: South Park.
In school, it's members played in the school band and did not excel at sports.
In school, it's members played in the school band and did not excel at spor
Windows Anchor, booming John Williams sounding music, etc...
I've always had weird dreams...but a new phenomena has arisen in my dreams. Something weird is going on, no doubt. I have had 3 dreams this weeks with original orchestral soundtracks to them...no lie. The last one was this kind of cheesy, booming, loopy John Williams style music. It's all original I am sure. Can you explain this? Have you ever had it happen?
The dream with the lame john williams sounding music, I was working in some large bank and I had some IT position with little work to do. In the front there were these huge windows, floor to ceiling, and the ceiling was very high. It was kind of like the place in my default pic (just east of central park on avenue of the Americas)...and there were all these people standing outside, possibly on break from their jobs. All of us bank employees would stand around and watch them, so they'd move and we'd move with them to continue watching......the third time this happened, they detected us watching them so we all had to run around real fast so they couldn't see us watching them and then came the booming orchestral John Williams sounding music.
my boss asked me and my fat co worker to try and get some work done, I thought about adding some stuff to some accounts but he said that he was going to install "Windows Anchor" for us to try and do some stuff on. I don't think there is such a thing, but we were both very excited and I thought to myself "I am going to do something really amazing in Windows Anchor to impress my boss and validate my employment here at the bank"
A year ago or so, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson (Goldman Sachs: stock owned value $632.4 mil!!!) made it pretty clear that the whole housing crisis was the fault of the financial sector, not the common everyday working man. Kevin Phillips writes in his new book Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism "...Paulson's message had the effect he sought. The television news programs carried his sentences about no problems in the real economy, just some collateral mishap. That was the message to Main Street: arcane finance wouldn't hemorrhage into the real ecoomy at the grass roots. However, this did leave a related issue to be finessed: the unappreciated hugeness of a U.S. financial sector that in many ways dictated the circumstances of the erstwhile real economy rather than vice versa"
So to an extent, he knew things needed to change. Ok, so here we are, it's now May of 2008 and all the most looney of ideologues are promoting the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I left out the quote unquote for ideologues who would quit reading if I had done so. I think this is too important an issue not to play somewhat nice for you fine folk!) Watch this funny video to grasp what I mean:
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I won't say anything about this video. If you have questions as to the problems I have with it, feel free to ask and I will answer your questions. And please, no jokes about the noises that man is making out of his nose followed by speculations of him sampling some of Colombia's finer imports. Leave that to Michael Moore or other folks who even if they are 100% right on something (He never has been) are always counter-productive to the cause. Instead, lets look at Paulson's statement on this non-sense from the Treasury website which you and I (American readers) fund:
.. --> Body --> .. --> PRESS RELEASE: START -->
April 7, 2008 HP-911
Paulson Statement on Colombian Free Trade Agreement
"I urge the U.S. Congress to show support for the Colombian people and provide greater hope for their future by passing the Colombian free trade agreement without further delay. Congressional approval of the Colombian free trade agreement will reinforce democracy in Latin America by showing support for a key ally who has made significant advancements to combat violence and instability. Leveling the playing field for American farmers, ranchers, and the more than 9,000 U.S. companies exporting to Colombia will also help strengthen our nation's economy."
Once again, I won't say anything about this statement other than the fact that he's totally given up on what he said he was going to do when the housing crisis hit. This thing is TOTALLY backed by those deeply embeded in the financial sector. They don't give a damn about American workers, nor do they about Colombians. Ask me whatever you please about why this is rotten, and I'll give you an answer. But please allow me to leave you with some words from Ha-Joon Chang on why this is some garbage.
Yesterday at the capitol I learned just how disgraceful a human being can be. Everyone knows that for the most part, lobbyists are scum who don't give a damn about anyone but the monied interests who they do the dirty work for, that is no big mystery. But my goodness, these people are really trained at what they do with regards to every little thing that can possibly happen. Especially them ever being held accountable for their disgusting actions. So I was up at the capitol yesterday talking to some represenatives about the amendment to the quality jobs act which will allow the Sonics basketball team to get $60-$100 million more when they come to the city. A few weeks ago, when the NBA reps came to town along with David Stern they unanimously said that this is a done deal, the team is coming. Lewis Katz, the owner of the New Jersey nets was here in the city with the group and said "it's not a matter of if, but when..." regarding the relocation issue. At that point, the citizens of Oklahoma City had been swindled into renovating a 5 year old stadium, The Ford Center, to the tune of $125,000,000 that could have gone to education, parks, libraries, roads, etc...but the lobbying firm of CMA Strategies and a host of other charlatans ran a $875,000+ propaganda effort to ensure that no discussion on the matter would occur other than that if the people of Oklahoma City didn't vote for this massive giveaway, then we'd be doomed as doomed can be.
Pat McFerron. Charlatan, Coward, Freak.
The people were fairly easily swayed by the propaganda on the stadium vote. Slick tv ads, glossy mailers, fancy parties thrown to promote the thing, religous nuts saying it was the lords will for this to happen (Kirk Humphries) and I think it gave the ownership group (Aubrey McClendon, Clay Bennett, et al) CMA Strategies, and the main orchestrator of all this (big national sports lobbying group...I forget their name right now for some reson...ill update this. They are the ones that told the owners they'd ask us "for the world" to get the team here.) a little too much for their ravenous nature, and they decided they wanted more more more! So they set their sights on The State of Oklahoma this time, demanding an amendment to the quality jobs act which would allow them, to state it briefly a gift of 60-100 million dollars over 15 years from the taxpayers. Normally, companies that qualify for the quality jobs act (they are all MUCH different in nature than a basketball team) get a 5% kickback of their total payroll from the state so that they can continue to develop and add jobs. The monsters doing all the strategizing however have demanded a 5.5% kickback. Also, businesses only qualify for 10 years, however these guys are demanding it be 15 years for them. It would seem so ludicrous what they are asking for, especially with all that has occured before this. But there are many things at work here. One, the ownership group has donated huge amounts to the state legislatures who will vote whether or not to give them this added gift. Secondly, our idiot Governor is backing this thing as our several others like former Senator and current Oklahoma University President David Boren (who happens to sit on the board of Cheasapeake Energy's board....the company Aubrey McClendon is head of!) and a host of other influental and WELL CONNECTED people. Thirdly, and this is the most crucial and links back to what this blog-deal is about, is that very sinister and skilled lobbyists are (for now) able to do pretty much whatever they please here in the state, and usually get what they want. I say what they want and not what the big companies who pay them want, for obvious reason. When they "win" (and the people lose), they get the right to continue being the scum, the filth, the non-persons that they are because they've proven how effective they are, again. So, with regards to how effective they are here is one example. And this shows a lot. District 88 in Oklahoma City is a very liberal part of town, and they voted against the March 4 penny sales tax increase in the precincts located within the district. Two years ago, they elected a man by the name of Al McCaffery. They did so not becuase he is some genious that will protect us from rotten lobbyists, corporate welfare, and things like that, but becuase he is gay and they thought that meant therefore he was some great progressive guys. The two don't always go together, and as I am discovering more and more everyday, rarely do go together.
Al McAfferey, head of the gullible legislatures committee.
So I saw him and thanked him for voting no Monday on the big giveaway. They are voting again (probably today) because there were some ammendments added. He looked at me and said all animated "Actually I am changing my vote! My secretary received 37 calls today in favor of this measure, and only 2 against it!" The mathematical possibilities of this occuring without some kind of intervention (read CMA Strategies playing games) is nil. I talked to a few legislatures about this, who know their business, and Ryan McMullen told me that what these firms have been known to do is call basically everyone in the district, tell them something like "The Sonics will not come to town if we don't pass this!!!" and if they show concern, they tell them they can connect them right away to their represenative and they can tell them to support the thing, and then they connect them. This, by the way, is a best case scenario for what occured in District 88, trust me. Ok. So I am really disgusted with all of this and I want things to change. So, here is what happened. I spotted Pat Mcferron in the middle of the 3rd floor, right between the Senate room and the House room. He was talking on his cell phone, plotting something, and I approached him. I waited for him to get off the call, and when he did I introduced myself and told him that I'd been educating people on his group and what they do. I then said that I'd like to debate him, either in a OMAA forum, or on the radio. He said "No, not interested" and turned his back on me. I then said "Come on man, you need to be accountable and do this, have this debate". He replied again "not interested!" So I decided right then and there to use the tactics pigs like this man use, and use for evil rather than trying to allow for justice to be served. I told him "look man, you guys are deceiving people and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars...." and he then told me that he wont do it, and that I am insignificant. That I don't matter. That made me very mad. I continued and then all of the sudden, this 6 foot 6, close to 300 pound "man" started SCREAMINGLike a stupid little girl!!!! "Seargent!!! Seargent!!!!" he cried at the top of his lungs, going on and on and on about a number of other things. Everyone was looking at us, including house reps, senators, Capitol visitors, you name it.... So the guy comes over, the House floor Seargent. He hears this punk McFerron out and I give my side and he tells us to part ways. The Seargent looks at my, smiles and winks, knowing that McFerron is a sick human being that needs to be locked up underneath the prison for his crimes against humanity, or something like that. So I am done, but McFerron isn't. He isn't happy with the Seargent knowing what this is all about so he goes and gets a sheriff...much more serious. Someone that can not just throw you out but can take you to jail. Shes this pretty tough looking black woman, and she takes me and McFerron to a hall where there can be some privacy and says were going to resolve these matters once and for all. She starts off, looking me in my eyes, and tells me that I had better never, EVER yell like that in the capitol again...that I'll never be back if I do it. Im smiling, really big now, and she's wondering what the hell I am up to and I look at this punk McFerron and he says to her "uhhhh, that was me". So the thing goes on for about 5 minutes, him telling her a bunch of fabrications and me letting her know the truth about this guy. He says that we've met before (lie, he saw me at one of his propaganda events and I didnt see nor talk to him) and then he said to her that I'm always going around pretending to be a media person. I told the Sheriff that I am on the radio and tv sometimes, but that that was irrelevant because I was up there as a citizen and that terrifies scum like Mcferron. So the thing ended like that and he was made to look like the fool he is. I say it is time to turn things up a notch like this, and expose these scum....strong-armed tactics similar to what they use even. Ok so I thought that was the whole story. But I just talked to someone on the phone, and they told me that they saw McFerron at the capitol today schmoozing reps as always. But something is different today. He took his young daughter with him.....I'll let you figure out for yourself why he's done that.....
I think Pat needs to just quit all this non-sense and concentrate on what he is good at. View this ol' clip of him here:
So Brad Henry, Jim Roth, and a host of other Democrats have come out in big favor of corporate welfare for Bennett, McClendon et al. I spent about 10 minutes with Sally Kern in her office at the capitol the other day, and she is very, very much opposed to this stuff. She is doing what she can to defeat it.
what would you rather be done to you. Have something wrong with you (or perceived to be wrong with you) made fun of...or have things that matter to you taken away. The infrastucture of your community destroyed. Your libraries and schools totally screwed. I'd prefer to be heckled or made fun of than the latter.....
People are making such a big deal over her, and yes it is a big thing, but not as big as this corporate welfare crap. John Dewey said "As long as politics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance."
These so Called progressives are screwing us 100x more than people like Sally Kern....and I respect her much more than I do them in these regards....
Plus...I think maybe gay people nowadays are too comfortable and don't respect the people who have fought for them in the past.... It use to be that we get amazing rock anthems from Queen...now we get stupid youtube videos from Chris Crocker. Maybe this can change....
I picked up a copy of Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal yesterday. In it was a ludicrous propaganda piece on the opinion page called "Colombia and Cat" promoting the new Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. It is a disgraceful column that totally disregards facts, history, and people. Flooded with ad hominem against the working class, it is truly a shame people aren’t out in the streets right now beating the crap out of the WSJ staffers....
Howdy from Oklahoma Dr. Chang!
Thought of you while reading the insane 9 April opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal "Colombia and Cat", I don’t know if you have seen it yet but thought you’d enjoy a good laugh. I obviously don’t have to tell you what is wrong with this dumb article, but what I saw with it were
A> With the massive aid we give to Colombia, why would they dare threaten "us" economically via no longer returning the favor to CAT? B> The Ad Hominem attacks on labor are so foolish, as are refusing to note donations given to Democrats from big business. C> Refusing to mention big labor contributions to Bill Clinton, yet he refused to listen to them regarding NAFTA. Perhaps people have wised up since then? D> Do jobs in colombia that require CAT products rely on monies from Tarrifs to train their workers as to how to use the dang things in the first place??? E> Will a shift in the landscape alter their purchasing power and then require us to give them MORE aid for their willingness to embrace the glorious wonders of free trade?
I could go on and on. I am interested on your comments on this non-sense, and if you think this piece is worse in terms of straight propaganda than their prior stuff before Murdoch took over the paper. Thanks for all your good work! - Steve H
Here is the article in full:
Colombia and Cat April 9, 2008
President Bush sent the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress on Tuesday, and Democratic leaders greeted it with a Bronx cheer. No surprise there. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has been promising that the deal won’t pass, and we’re guessing his confidence has something to do with Big Labor’s contributions to the Democratic Party in an election year.
But if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s anti-Colombia motivations are easy to divine, Mr. Sweeney’s are more puzzling. Union leaders like to say they’re looking out for the well-being of the rank and file. But by quashing the Colombia FTA, Mr. Sweeney would weaken the competitiveness of American manufacturing and put some of America’s best-paying union jobs at risk. These are jobs that exist today but could well be gone if Congress rejects this market opening in South America.
Exhibit A are 8,600 jobs at two Caterpillar Inc. factories in Illinois. Caterpillar exports more to Peru and Colombia than it does to Germany, Japan or the United Kingdom. So keeping and growing market share in both countries is important to union members in both plants. Not all are union jobs but both facilities are United Auto Worker shops.
Consider exports of the off-highway truck, made in Decatur. Customers in Colombia now pay a 15% tariff – equal to $200,000 – on the import of these vehicles. If the FTA goes through, that import tariff goes to zero immediately. Conversely, if the deal dies and Colombia, which is trying to expand its world trade, strikes an agreement with another country where similar vehicles are made, U.S. exports will immediately be at a 15% price disadvantage.
Colombia also has a large mining industry, and there are more Cat D-11 bulldozers in Colombian coal mines today than in any other country in the world. Those bulldozers are made in East Peoria. Colombian customers pay a 5% duty to import Cat bulldozers, which compete against Komatsu bulldozers made in Japan. Union members might ask Mr. Sweeney why he wants to spurn an offer that would give U.S. products a 5% price edge against Japanese competition.
Caterpillar – which has a total U.S. work force of 50,545 – faces an even more imminent threat in the case of its motor graders, a piece of heavy equipment used to level the playing field, literally. A company called Champion also makes motor graders in Canada, and Colombia is also negotiating an FTA with Canada. If Canada seals a deal with Colombia while the U.S. walks away from its Colombia pact, graders made in the U.S. will cost more than those made in Canada. Once again, Mr. Sweeney’s agenda makes the U.S. work force less competitive.
The AFL-CIO’s rejectionism makes even less sense when you consider that 92% of Colombian goods coming to the U.S. now enter the American market duty-free under the Andean Trade Preferences Act, or ATPA. In June 2007, 365 members of Congress voted to renew the ATPA and thereby maintain open U.S. markets for Colombian products. The FTA is a chance to open Colombian markets to U.S. goods and services. Killing it is like saying that we want U.S. products going to Colombia to be heavily taxed. Even for a trade protectionist like Mr. Sweeney, that makes no sense. For American workers, it’s crazy.
...of what I am going to say @ City Council Tuesday...I was typing this a few minutes ago and decided that Im tired and will do this in the morning...here is what I just typed...this'll be edited up, I only have 3 or so minutes...and I have to be somewhat civil, which will be hard.
Before I get started, I want to say something so it won't sound like I am just complaining and not doing anything about the situation which I am about to describe. The 28000 people who voted "no" on March the 4th did so for various reasons, and many of those people have desires for this city far from what you and your friends are trying to engineer. So, me and some of the people who worked to fight this thing are starting a website, stateofthenovote.org in which we will discuss how we will get the things we want without relying on a radically anti-democracy mayor and the powers that be who make it feel as if we live in an occupied city. And I will explain that statement so it won't sound like infantie Drew Dugan style ad hominem.
A little under two months ago I came here and spoke on the disgracefully anti free market, anti democratic, and might I even so anti American item of publicly funded stadiums. My reason in coming was to try and help set the tone for the coming weeks by encouraging debate on the issue. None was allowed. On March the 4th, I was planning on enjoying my day off and doing some last minute phone calls and possibly even going out and holding up signs as did a fire-fighter friend of mine. I was called in to work as a fellow at my job had an accident so I did, as it was the wise thing to do. I did however, before I went in accomplish a few things, the first of which was very disturbing and let me tell you about it right now.
I was on a few Seattle radio shows and television shows, and did a pretty good job discussing controversial things like facts and history. People enjoyed hearing what I had to say and I feel I did a good job communicating myself and the real needs of the people. So on the morning of March the 4th, I went to the Citadel office on NW Expressway to talk to Mike Steeley about possibly having me and David Glover on the next morning. What he told me was disgraceful. He pulled me aside and said "..Steve, I am so upset about all of this. I support the Yes side, but you know what, the higher ups at Citadel told us that we were not allowed to have any debate on this issue" he went on "no debate whatsoever, that upsets me because that isn't right and you know what, debate makes for good radio!"
And the people own the airwaves??? What a sickness. But it made sense. When Jim Traber was saying disgusting things about those of us who were fighting this thing for reasons which you claim to be the basis of your political beliefs, Mr. "Ronald Regan is my hero!" I decided to go to him and challenge him to a debate. Not long ago he'd demanded a girl who plays basketball for OU play him a game of horse, so I figured he'd be up to a challenge, against a man. But no, Jim went ballistic and I though he was going to punch me. But no, he saved that for his radio show. As all cowards do. "You know what, its going to be those liberals who vote no on this...they always vote yes for tax increases" he went on and on and quite humorously the next day I spoke at the OCPAC meeting and basically everyone there voted to support the "no" side.
Had I known what I was up against when I came, things would have been different. And let me explain in detail what I and people like me who believe in Democracy have witnessed in our city the past few weeks. And these are just a handful of incidents:
We live in a very free country, but as each day passes it seems as if there are people who want to change that. At the end of your ad for your congressional campaign, you made the statement "Flag burning, out of the question!" what I saw you do the past few weeks, with regards to belittling the things brave men in our country have fought and died for, makes Flag burning look like a wonderul thing.
"The theme of Astroturf group "Citizens for a Big League City" was centered on the idea of putting Oklahoma City on the map. Not the Oklahoma map, but the national map. To do so, this group hired the crafty PR firm CMA Strategies. CMA Strategies knew that this vote was a national issue, all about what your logo said, putting us on the map. But on their contracts with Channel 4, 5, 9, 25, 34, 43, Clear Channel Citadel Renda Bott Networks Perry Broadcasting etc. etc., they checked the box which indicated that the vote was not of any national importance. The FCC only requires issues of national importance to be put in public files This is because they knew that way they could hide their shameful advertising files. Luckily I am smarter than most people involved in your games and I was able to acquire those files.
$99,015 spent on ads on Channel 9 alone. $75,785 on Channel 5 $62,105 on Channel 4. You ran 79 spots on BOTT Network, the local Christian radio station mirroring Kirk Humphries message that it is Gods will for us to spend money on an arena rather than the public good.
I want to put this in perspective for you.
My group The Oklahoma Media Awareness Alliance brought Pulitzer Prize winning author David Cay Johnston to town. He spoke in a number of public venues, did an some radio interviews and when all was said and done he emailed me saying that his trip to Oklahoma City was one of the most fulfilling he had had in many years. And when I received his expenses, I calculated that it was 1/6th the cost of one big league city ad during "Total Home Makeover" which cost $5,000 or $167 a second. Almost 1/4th for a $3,200 ad during "Oscar Countdown". Same thing with "Survivor", $3,250 for a 30 second spot on a show about a bunch of people that look like they go to Lifechurch running around in little outfits eating bugs. And you think this is how you make us a big league city? Throwing money all over the place, subverting democracy and acting like a dictator? Give me a break.
Part one of several blogs on the march 4 vote in okc
Shortly after the bombing occured here in Oklahoma City, Connie Chung was sent to cover the story. She went to fire cheif hanson and asked:
"Can you people in Oklahoma handle something this big and disastrous?"
People were furious about that, and it really cost her. She basically thought Oklahoma City was some stupid place and nobody could do anything, and that we were no doubt doomed. The rescue efforts and everything were amazing and she looked like a fool, a huge stupid fool.
I saw her down there, I worked around the corner from the place and I hollared at her "hey Connie do you think you can handle an interview what with asians normally being more skilled at math and sciences.." and some people liked that. I'm not like that anymore, I was really a dope back then, but as I have stated over and over that event, the murrah bombing was when I started to change and think about things.
So now I am very, very involved in this March 4 vote, the publicly funded stadium non-sense. I haven't been so wrapped up in anything in quite some time, and I am ready for it to hurry up and end and for us to move forward.
All the Seattle reporters I talk to, all the people outside of our state I know, they all just ask questions similar to Chung's with regard to the March 4 vote. They ask how the hell will we vote no what with everyone falling for the lies of the so called "fiscal conservatives" and with everyone here being dumb people that read bibles and eat at the buffet all day or whatever. I immediately think of her question when they do because:
a.> This WILL be disastrous if it passes b.> People on the so called left have NO respect for us, a common theme of the past few decades and the reason the some of the filth on the so called right have been so successful.
We in Oklahoma City can and hopefully will show the country that we can not only handle something like this, but that we can take the lead on turning this country around. Cornett ranted and raved during his congressional run about how he was perhaps the greatest Christian since the apostles, and yet now he is telling everyone they can just go to hell if they don't approve of corporate socialism. Go to 1:40 in this clip and hear what I say, and then what he says in response to it...
Cornett now knows that there is quite an opposition. The polling firm they hired was hired to discover how much the chamber would have to infuse into the campaign to try and trick people so they could win....it is apparent that the numbers were not good for them as ads are everywhere for this thing, they are spending sooo much money. There are quite a few people against it and Cornett refers to them as "those types of people" in a dispicable tone....flat out saying that they are fools and how on earth could they possibly think that this thing is bad.
The propaganda is so sickening, from the powerful interests on this is so intense, and their absolute hatred of democracy, of working people, of the real needs of human beings...I think that before this is over it could get very, very ugly. Consider this ad from Drew Dugan's campaign while he ran against Andrew Rice who's brother died on 9-11 while he was working in the World Trade Center. Dugan works for the chamber of commerce and is their contact guy for press concerns
Really nice stuff. These are the antics of children, the ways of children, and totally unacceptable. Yet this "man" is now a big part of the efforts to convince people to give their money so wealthy men can become wealthier.
Here is their latest television ad. They are spending millions to try and pass this thing. It is a complete disgrace:
In the video they say there will be "no tax increase!" which is pure propaganda. The tax right now is higher than normal because of a current program that benefits schools and other things that need help, the tax was supposed to go down at the end of the year and this would extend it. If these people weren't what they are they'd admit that "if you vote no your taxes will go down", but thats just a little too much reality.
These tricks they are playing on a fairly gullible public, but a public that can fight these sorts of things as they did in 1995..these disasterous things proported by selfish people who care only about themselves and their agendas...are not learned from the "stupid hicks" in the midwest but from the fancy folks in progressive, so called left leaning states like New York and Californina. The slick marketing, the witholding of truths, the synthetic lifestyles that you should embrace or else...this isn't us, not even close.
This thing is huge. Im just writing a little bit now but there is tons to come. The rationale behind all of this keeps changing...first it was it would create jobs. Then it was that it would bring more revenue to the city...then it becomes "making Oklahoma City into a brand". Eveything is either lie or totally ludicrious. The marketers behind all of this must realize that they are a part of what is a 1/3 of a trillion dollar a year industry. Thats good for them becuase they get some of it! But with all of that money thrown into that dispicable industry which has cut so deeply into the creativity and the productivity of our country, how can Oklahoma City possibly compete with something so big and disasterous? It takes really rotten people to win at that game, and while Cornett et al are rotten, they aren't the worst so we should focus on what we are good at here and not try and be like everyone else...
dave ross show....
11am feb 21(mp3 link...I appear @ the beginning of the hour)
About to take on the publicly funded stadium beast....
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who lost to the pathetic Mary Fallin in the Republican Congressional primary in '06, is currently trying to preserve his legacy by bringing an NBA team to Oklahoma City. Recently, an Oklahoma City group purchased the Seattle Sonics, obviously with the hope of bringing them here since the New Orleans Hornets decided to only stay in Oklahoma City temporarily until thing settled back home after Katrina.
Per Wikipedia, Clay Bennett is the "...chairman of the Oklahoma City-based Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), which owns the NBA Seattle SuperSonics" and "...is the husband of Louise Gaylord Bennett, the daughter of Oklahoma City media mogul Edward L. Gaylord." The Gaylord's, as we all know are the owners of America's worst newspaper, the radically right wing...brutally pro war and pro "personal responsibility for people not for big business" so things will no doubt get interesting here....why?
Because Cornett has set a March 4 vote on whether or not the people of Oklahoma City should be taxed so that $150,000,000 can go to add on to the Ford Center and that a NBA quality practice facility can be built. This "needs to be done!" to "ensure that the Sonics will come here" is the message being sent to the people...apparently the group that wants to move them here...(who btw has millions upon millions of dollars so the obvious question is why can't they build it themselves...) it has to be done because Bennett and friends apparently go before the NBA board of governors to see if it is ok for the Sonics to move from Seattle to Oklahoma City.
Seattle faced a publicly funded stadium initiative recently, and voted hell no. Apparently their stadium is "inadequite" and the people therefore needed to fix that....they didn't so now they are going to leave. Actually, that is how it seems but I think it is more that the new owners, who are from Oklahoma, want their team here...especially since the Hornets who were here two years were so successful. Not for the "people" per se but for the business owners..of the Hornets. At work last night I was talking about this matter to a guy at work, and it was funny what he said.. "..well Seattle voted no because they are a much more liberal place". That is true, but it is funny that the liberals would be so much more for personal responsibility and conservatism (you know, people should pay for their own stuff and if they can't afford it then they can't have it) whereas the bolde usa people, well...are totally opposite.
Im going to put on a town hall meeting thing next month, using the Oklahoma Media Awareness Alliance group thing we've setup...and I don't think I am going to be nice about this...I'll allow the pro public funding people to speak...but this sickness must end....
ck out this column by David Zirin on the matter...I don't want to duplicate a lot of the work he has done, rather just present it here and possibly at a city council meeting and maybe print several thousand copies and hand them out all over town. Sure, this is how it is...tax payers fund stadiums or else. But like slavery or public acknowledgment that various incidents of genocide did occur, this non-sense can end. Were supposed to be the United States of America, not the Competing States of America. People can unite against these dumb animals and do the right thing I do think....
lots more to come on this...
Sports columnist DAVE ZIRIN reports from Washington, D.C., on how cities and states have been ripped off to build sports stadiums and arenas.
IN THE weeks before the state legislature's vote on funding for a new baseball stadium, the Minnesota Twins ran a TV commercial featuring a ballplayer visiting a boy in the hospital. A voiceover announced, "If the Twins leave Minnesota, an 8-year-old from Wilmer undergoing chemotherapy will never get a visit from [Twins infielder] Marty Cordova."
It turned out that the boy had already died by the time the commercial aired. Whoops. But lying about a cancer-stricken child is small potatoes when it comes to the depths pro sports owners will sink in their drive for publicly funded stadiums.
Pro arenas paid for on the public dime now dot the country--monuments to corporate welfare.
The process is outright extortion: A major sports owner threatens to move his or her team, and demands that city or state taxpayers put up hundreds of millions of dollars to build a stadium that would be owned not by the city, but by the team's owners. Imagine if you wanted to move to a new town and demanded that your neighbors build you a home for the privilege of having you move in, and you begin to see the insane logic.
Over the last 20 years, working people in this country have paid an average of more than $500 million a year in stadium construction and upkeep costs, for a total of more than $7 billion spent on new facilities by 2006. And this doesn't include the $600 million that Washington, D.C., just pledged to build a baseball stadium for the newly named Washington Nationals (formally the Montreal Expos).
D.C. just laid off 300 public school workers, closed its only public hospital and has an infant mortality rate that is worse than every country in the Western Hemisphere except Haiti. The proposed site is an impoverished section of the city called the Anacostia Waterfront. Building the stadium will involve destroying low-income housing and homeless shelters under what is called, without irony, "fair use."
The D.C. stadium swindle moved forward even though 70 percent of the city oppose the proposal, and more than half strongly oppose it. These numbers cross all ethnic and racial lines in this heavily segregated city.
This opposition remained consistent even though Major League owners--and their shill, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams--continue to sell the fiction that the stadium will provide major economic benefits. This is pure folly, not only in D.C. but around the country.
According to a report by the Brookings Institute, "No recent facility has earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment. No recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues...[T]he economic benefits of sports facilities are de minimus."
As Roger Noll, co-author of the book Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums, put it, "Any independent study shows that as an investment, it's silly. If they're trying to sell it on the grounds of actually contributing to economic growth and employment in D.C., that's wrong. There's never been a publicly subsidized stadium anywhere in the United States that had the effect of increasing employment and economic growth in the city in which it was built."
Cleveland is another loser in the stadium swindle. This former industrial city was once used as an example for how publicly funded stadiums could turn cities around.
In 1990, Cleveland's Central Market Gateway Project promised in full-page newspaper ads that a new sports complex would generate "$15 million a year for schools for our children." Instead, the Cleveland Teachers Union has calculated that tax breaks given to the project drained $3.5 million a year from the Cleveland school system, which is now in receivership. Cleveland was also recently named the poorest big city in the U.S., with a poverty rate of 50 percent and unemployment hovering at 33 percent.
The truth is that stadiums help nobody but the sports bosses and their political cronies.
When Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell secured funding for his $300 million playpen, he commented--in a rare moment of candor--to reporters, "The pride and presence of a professional football team is more important than 30 libraries." Maybe for Modell, but growing legions of people disagree.
The owners' friend in the White House
THEY DIDN'T think he was good enough to be their commissioner, but Major League Baseball's cabal of billionaire owners ponied up the dough to keep George W. Bush in the White House.
A recent Associated Press article found that Bush--a former co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team--had his palm greased by over half of the 30 major league teams. Seven owners even hold the distinction of being "Bush Rangers"--meaning they raised at least $200,000 each--and six are "Bush Pioneers," signifying $100,000 a piece.
Owners love Bush for a more complex reason than the usual ardor that billionaires have for their tax-cutter-in-chief. They all want to get taxpayers to pay the tab for new state-of-the-art stadiums--and no one ever fronted a stadium swindle better than George W. Bush.
Bush set the standard for large-scale extortion when his ownership group got the state of Texas to pay for the Ballpark in Arlington. After an adult life of professional incompetence, Dubya had finally gotten his dream job as a managing partner of the Rangers. For an initial investment of $600,000--borrowed, of course--the then-president's son endured the toil of attending home baseball games and smiling a lot for the cameras.
As Bush smirked his way through his forties, the owners behind him (think a dozen Dick Cheneys in ten-gallon hats) threatened to move the team if the city of Arlington didn't pay for a new park. The local government caved. In the fall of 1990, it guaranteed that the city would pay $135 million out of an estimated cost of $190 million. The remainder was raised through a ticket surcharge. In other words, local taxpayers and baseball fans footed the whole bill. This plan was sold to Arlington voters with Bush's glad-handing help.
At the end of the day, the owners of the Rangers, including Bush, got a stadium worth nearly $200 million without putting down a penny of their own money.
But the scam didn't end there. As part of the deal, the Rangers' ownership was granted a chunk of land in addition to the stadium--land that, of course, increased in value as a result of the stadium's construction. To make this happen, Democratic Gov. Ann Richards signed into law an extraordinary measure setting up the Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority (ASFDA), which had the power to seize privately owned land deemed necessary for stadium construction.
"Never before had a municipal authority in Texas been given license to seize the property of a private citizen for the benefit of other private citizens," wrote investigative journalist Joe Conason. "On November 8, 1993, with the stadium being readied to open the following spring, Bush announced that he would be running for governor. He didn't blush when he proclaimed that his campaign theme would demand self-reliance and personal responsibility rather than dependence on government." Bush held onto his stake of the team as governor, and by the time he cashed out in 1998 for $15 million, Bush's return on his original $600,000 "investment" was 2,400 percent.
So the next time someone complains about the "greed" of pro athletes, tell them that if they want to get bent out of shape about someone's undeserved wealth, they should take a detour to the upper deck and boo outside the owner's box.
Organizing against these rip-offs
WHEN SPORTS owners and their media prizefighters are confronted with the mountains of statistics showing that publicly funded stadiums are fool's gold, they say, "People want their sports, and we're just giving it to them."
True, sports are insanely popular in the U.S. But ordinary people have shown time and again that they can distinguish between loving a team and not wanting to be taken to the cleaners by the billionaire bosses.
Polls show that up to 80 percent of people oppose public subsidies for stadiums. Stadium funding referendums have been defeated in both "red" and "blue" states, from California to Minnesota to Virginia.
But since polls and public opinion haven't been enough to shut the gaping maw of the ravenous stadium beast, organizations--ranging from lobbying operations to grassroots protest movements--have popped up around the country to fight against these temples of corporate greed. The groups (courtesy of the Web site fieldofschemes.com) include: Save Fenway Park! (Boston); People for Fair Development and Develop Don't Destroy (Brooklyn); No Jones Tax (Dallas); No Stadium Tax Coalition (Minnesota); Taxpayers Against an Anoka County Vikings Stadium (Minnesota); hellskitchen.net (New York); Hell's Kitchen/Hudson Yards Alliance (New York); New York Association for Better Choices (New York); Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums (St. Louis); and No D.C. Taxes for Baseball (Washington, D.C.).
Fighting stadium giveaways can raise big questions for people about the priorities of a system that will spit shine sports arenas while schools and hospitals crumble. All people who believe in human need over corporate greed should join the fight.
Read the Edge of Sports
You can read Dave Zirin's weekly column on sports at www.edgeofsports.com on the Web. And look out for his upcoming collection of sports writing, What's My Name, Fool: Sports and Resistance in the United States, to be published by Haymarket Books.
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