Stop Big Media

I have just been listening to Chris Proctor - beautiful music - do you know who he is? No, I didn't think so. Why? Because commercial radio isn't about informing and educating the public it's about advertising dollars and market share. Our airways are a cultural wasteland. Is America really that obsessed with Paris Hilton are we the sum total of our lowest common denominator? A bigger portion of the airwaves should be set aside for public radio so information and talent not consolidated by the big three media powers has a voice. It's good for the country it's good for the culture and in keeping with the vision of free speech and the right to assemble given to us by our Constitution.

The right to assemble you might ask? Yes the right to assemble. Because of the consolidation of our airwaves, print, radio and television into three or four huge conglomerations we have homogenized society. The assembly of local talent, concerns and voices aren't heard they have no outlet. This country is way too big to have Infinity or Murdoch telling everyone what to think, what to listen to. It's a real Orwellian nightmare come true. The FCC needs to stop consolidating and go back to healthy regional markets. They need to open up more bandwidth to community, college and public radio stations. Everyone in D.C. listens to NPR anyway and not the over-homogenized, narrowly focused widest aiming capture of markets which radio and television have become. The only group with that goal is the advertising industry and the companies they lavish their money on.

Our airways are a part of our national heritage and not the domain of a few big corporations. That's just un-American. Media, radio, television and print should be about the news and celebrate the diversity of culture that is the bedrock of our society. Small business is the backbone of our country that is a Ronald Regan quote. The FCC needs to stop listening to and servicing big consolidated corporations and serve the people of this country in an open, free and diverse way that reflects who we are. The FCC is not in existence to be the business partners of Murdoch and the big ad firms. Why should we the tax payers care to limit our lives to their narrow views. Our government shouldn't care and strive to enhance the individual market share of a few very rich, very powerful megalomaniacs so they can make more money and drive all that is good, rich and diverse into oblivion.

Dissent of opinion is the healthy symptom of a thriving democracy. Diversity is its corner stone. Freedom is to be heard and is what it needs. More consolidation equals less freedom and drops the power to corrupt through propaganda into the control of too few hands. No, in order to protect our democracy and invigorate, and enhance our citizenry we need to have more regional, local and advertising free radio, print and television. At the very least level the playing field for the Chris Proctor's of the world trying to enrich, enhance and build more of that "backbone" Ronald Regan was talking about. Murdoch and Infinity don't need tax payer support. The FCC is not in business to make sure they maximize their profits and obliterate what's left of our collective, separete and regional cultures. It is the diversity that enhances our quality of life and not another McDonalds commercial.

The Second Amendment

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The phrase “…the right of the people…” is not a new sentence and it is tied by punctuation and the lack of a capital letter to the front end of the sentence which begins "A well regulated militia...". It clearly shows the framers intent. This phrase is about a militia and the security of a free state – it is disingenuous to read just the part that suits your political agenda. This is the same disingenuous tactic used by the NRA. Everyone please in the future read the whole phrase and include the punctuation … if the often quoted …or rather mis-quoted right to bear arms was the sole intention of the framers it would have gotten its own amendment and started off with a capital t. This amendment is talking about state’s rights and the ability to raise a militia in the face of tyranny from a centralized government. That is the issue much dearer to the hearts of the framers than arming every citizen in the public square. How people got their food was not the intention of this amendment.

Let's get it right citizens!

Conservatives, Liberals and Neo-Cons

Let's get some definitions right:

Liberal - adj 1: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant of his opponent's opinions" [syn: broad, large-minded, tolerant] 2: having political or social views favoring reform and progress 3: tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition 2: a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets.

Conservative - adj 1: Favouring that which is established or traditional, with an opposition to change. Resistant to change. Traditional, conventional, orthodox, cautious, guarded, prudent, archaic, conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class. As an estimate or calculation: deliberately low, for the sake of caution, unimaginatively conventional.

Neoconservative - An intellectual and political movement in favor of political, economic, and social conservatism that arose in opposition to the perceived liberalism of the 1960s: “The neo-conservatism of the 1980s is a replay of the New Conservatism of the 1950s, which was itself a replay of the New Era philosophy of the 1920s”(Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.). Moderate political conservatism espoused or advocated by former liberals or socialists.

I particularly hate the term neo-con - it's meant as some sort of hybrid bridge between liberal and conservative and I think it just clouds the issues. For instance all of the alleged conservatives name calling and saber rattling support a President who has extremely liberal views towards creating large government agencies, creating historically large fiscal deficits and an extremely liberal approach to using military power. George Bush is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination his actions define him as liberal. He also has an extremely liberal interpretation of the separation of church and state in direct opposition to the conservative (safe, guarded) approach of our forefathers.

The Liberals so vilified by the republican controlled congress reduced the deficit, created a surplus and shrunk the size of the federal government (by outsourcing) to government contractors. The Executive, head of congress and head of senate - Clinton, Gingrich and Dole - did a helluva better job running this country than the gang of Bush, Hastert and Delay. No once the republicans got complete control (and it took them decades to do it) they went nuts - like kids in a candy store - they built bridges to nowhere.

The Iraq war is a war to secure oil fields for American and Western allied countries. That's all it is - Saddam was a loose cannon but unlike his Dad - W didn't just go in and fetch Noriega and get out - nope he dismantled the whole countries security guard and has been scrambling to put it back in place ever since. He F'd up big time but in about three to five more years it should be stabilized or completely destroyed.

Finally how can anyone get all misty eyed, flag waving patriotic supporting our President when this President is cutting the benefits of the very soldiers doing his oil company backers bidding? How dare they. Look it's not what the politicians say ignore their speeches - it's what they put in writing and pass as law. Behind closed doors they screw the little guy again and again. Our tax dollars get redistributed to the uber wealthy - the over-represented 1% of our population that controls the politicians through their vast resources of money. Unless we watch the votes and pressure them they'll give the big money whatever they want - hopefully that doesn't get us all killed in the end.

Independent Media Now More Than Ever

There is no more bright line between politicians and corporate America (perhaps there never was) and there is no more bright line between the media and corporate America. The media now more than ever has an obligation - a patriotic duty to write independently about politics and the governing of our country. With the scary consolidation of financial power and the control of the media and the political process we are in a world of trouble if we can't cry foul when we have been wronged.

Audible, credible dissent is the indicator of a true democracies health even in a Republic.

What galls me the most is that the Politicians have the nerve to wave the flag. They deliver their speeches calling for the support of the President, the support of the war, the President calling for the support of himself, and calling for the support our troops, and if you don’t you are un-American. That rhetoric is trumpeted far and wide in the public square and out in the open in front of carefully crafted media events. While behind closed doors our politician’s actual deeds and the words they put on paper and their behavior is divisive, corrupt and inflaming.

It would be easier for all of us to stand together with the war in Iraq and other administration initiatives if behind closed doors the President wasn't giving huge tax breaks to the uber wealthy 1 percent of the population, giving tax payer subsidies to the uber profitable oil companies, shredding environmental laws like the clean air and water acts, trying to tell people who to love, how to love and when to have babies, distorting the true intention of the second amendment, advocating for a State sponsored religion, building bridges to nowhere, cutting our troops pay and benefits, not supporting our 9/11 rescue workers fully and completely, and basically screwing the little guy because the President’s constituency is “the haves and the haves more” (those are his words) ... and handing out fat contracts to his financial contributors while they fail to provide the necessary and basic equipment to our fighting men overseas and our rescue teams at home.

These men in charge are horrible hypocrites and the whole world can see through their act. The citizens need to stop wondering why the rest of the world hates us and elect men and women of integrity. Now more than ever we need an independent press to say what is necessary and true. It is the balm that soothes our souls and the catalyst to cure our misdeeds. Otherwise it’s all one big propaganda machine and we are now the Soviet Union of the cold war. That’s not what I want for my country and I hope those who control the purse strings feel the same.

Disdain, disregard and disgust

This from Dick Polman's blog -

"...(S)ome Republican strategists remain seriously concerned about their prospects in November. They fear that the party's control of Congress is imperiled simply because swing voters equate the GOP with the status quo -- at a time when the status quo is not popular. "

I agree:
Status quo is the issue - look the status quo is the war strategy, the status quo is our energy policy the two are tied together. The Dems are just politicians like the GOP so big oil will have plenty of money around on both sides of the isle. But with the Dems you get some progressive (liberal) ideas. The old hey it ain't workin' lets try something different imagination thing and a lot more environmental sensibility, and a minimum wage increase. Whereas with the Bush acolytes you get policy for the uber rich 1% of the population. That ain't you and me brother and it never will be.

As long as upper middle and middle class America walk around idolizing the uber wealthy because someday it might be us (which is a complete pile of b.s.) we are going to continue to elect these unrepresentative whores. They have no allegiance to us (the other 99%). They look at our regular but vastly more important daily concerns with complete disdain, disregard and disgust. We have a better shot at improving our daily lives, pay, health care and legal recourse against big corporate america with the Dems than the GOP (Grand Oil Party). Vote your pocket book and tell the moral majority and big oil go fu** yourselves. America needs to stand up and be counted!

http://dickpolman.blogspot.com/