Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Obama says Fox News is bad, bad, bad
[AP photo from the Huffington Post]And it's about time!
I don't think Faux (Fox) News should be shut down. The people that run this miserable excuse for a "news" station have the same free speech rights as do the rest of us. But that shouldn't mean they are free from criticism, or their perfidy go unremarked, nor should the fact that they have become the equivalent of a country crushing bulldozer...all in pursuit of the almighty dollar...be ignored.
It was in Rolling Stone that President Obama noted that the point of view promoted by Faux News "is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world."
That was, in my opinion, a very mild criticism, and I'm sure Mr. Obama felt a certain constraint when making his comment. He could have said much more. He could have said that not only in Faux News not "fair and balanced" as they love to claim, but the outlet is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the vilest and craziest politicos in our country. Day after day they do nothing but spew garbage all of which is geared toward one goal - bringing down Obama and the Democratic Party.
Perhaps other progressives and sane people still able to reason will follow Obama's example and begin to call Faux News what it really is and put a stop to its menacing steamroller of lies and destruction!
Internet freedom and you
Why is it that the dipshits we elect to Congress think they have the right to limit our freedoms?
I'm not referring to the kinds of things the teapot crackpots get all worked up about, such as not having to pay their fair share of taxes or insisting that the very rich get huge tax breaks, or that Obama is a Muslim and trying to impose Sharia law in this country, or that we should have people who believe in Jesus in charge, blah, blah, blah.
I'm talking about the tendency of the "freedom-loving" right-wingers on both sides of the aisle to mess around with our personal lives via disallowing abortions or gay marriage (and at least one of the teapot crackpots looking to become a senator thinks everyone in the USA should refrain from having sex at all [Christine O'Donnell], and to tear up the Constitution by giving the government the right to wiretap our conversations, photograph our driving methods, build huge data banks on every citizen in the country (for what purpose?), etc.
And now these same Congressional morons (on both sides of the aisle) have come up with something called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). What this would do, according to an AlterNet article by David Segal and Aaron Swarz, is "vastly expand the government's power to censor the Internet."
Read all about it here.
I'm not referring to the kinds of things the teapot crackpots get all worked up about, such as not having to pay their fair share of taxes or insisting that the very rich get huge tax breaks, or that Obama is a Muslim and trying to impose Sharia law in this country, or that we should have people who believe in Jesus in charge, blah, blah, blah.
I'm talking about the tendency of the "freedom-loving" right-wingers on both sides of the aisle to mess around with our personal lives via disallowing abortions or gay marriage (and at least one of the teapot crackpots looking to become a senator thinks everyone in the USA should refrain from having sex at all [Christine O'Donnell], and to tear up the Constitution by giving the government the right to wiretap our conversations, photograph our driving methods, build huge data banks on every citizen in the country (for what purpose?), etc.
And now these same Congressional morons (on both sides of the aisle) have come up with something called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). What this would do, according to an AlterNet article by David Segal and Aaron Swarz, is "vastly expand the government's power to censor the Internet."
Read all about it here.
Michael Moore on who controls the military
[Photo of Michael Moore from here]In a review of Bob Woodward's most recent literary exercise, Michael Moore concludes that good old Ike was right on when he warned us of the dangers inherent in a "military-industrial" complex.
While the United States is supposed to operate on the much-vaunted principle that the military is under civilian control, it actually doesn't operate that way at all, but the reverse.
Moore says that you may have "thought you voted for change when you cast a ballot for Barack Obama" ... but actually that isn't and will not be true "when it comes to America occupying countries that don't begin with a 'U' and an 'S.'"
In other words, it doesn't matter what Obama thinks or wants, because "The only people really making the decisions about America's wars are across the river from Washington in the Pentagon. They wear uniforms. They have lots of weapons they bought from the corporations they will work for when they retire."
Moore continues: "It matters not whom we elect. The Pentagon and the military contractors call the shots. The title 'Commander in Chief' is ceremonial, like 'Employee of the Month' at your local Burger King."
The president of the United States is beholden to and under the control of the military! Moore explains that it doesn't matter what's written in the Constitution because "the Constitution's just a piece of paper." In the real world, the president cannot fire all of his top military people to stop a war. A president who tried to do so "would be ruined before you could say 'bloodless coup.'"
And you thought Obama was reneging on his promise!
Read the Moore piece in its entirety here (especially the last paragraph or two!)
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