Say Anything Blog

The fondest memories of my childhood were the family summer vacations. Before corporations destroyed our towns, the best part of the vacation was the travel to and from your destination. Back in the day(the 50’s) with no air conditioning , The windows in the family car were down and the smell of the farms and the fresh air added to the stimulating scenery of small town America. Every passing town was different than the last. There was no same restaurant, hardware store, motel or gas station. I always enjoyed getting gas. There seemed to always be an interesting group of folks sitting around talking and drinking a bottle of soda.

My favorite stop was the restaurants. Our regular stop each year was a place where they had the Paul Bunyan Burger, which consisted of a third of a pound of fresh ground meat with onions and a thick slice of tomato on a huge soft bun. The choice of drink was a malt, not a puny shake but a real malt, made with real ice cream and blended in a huge metal container right in front of you. While enjoying my food, I always noticed an elderly lady quietly knitting while rocking back and forth in a squeaking chair in a side room to the kitchen. The following year the chair was empty, and her grand daughter, who worked as a waitress, said she passed the previous winter.

The memories are still with me, but the places are all gone now. All the towns are one endless display of huge corporate box stores and fast food chains. The folks working there all have name tags and uniforms. Gone is any form of creativity , warmness or camaraderie. On the highways are cars with windows up and air conditioners on. The folks are gabbing on cell phones , listening to i-pods or typing on a lap top. Instead of the smell of the farms and fresh air, the smell of the fast food bought at the last drive-through window runs through the car. I feel sad for all these folks; they never had the joy of experiencing the real small town America before our corporations reeked havoc on them.

Joseph Goebbels, the brilliant but evil Nazi propagandist, coldly and succinctly stated the fascist’s view on the news media: “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.” Studying the record of President Bush’s Federal Communications Commission, one could easily envision the FCC’s commissioner heartily endorsing the quote.

The Bush gang has not yet started goose stepping or wearing arm bands, but the FCC are making proposals that have many folks very concerned . The concern is that they are attempting to consolidate the most important element of a free and democratic state- the news media.

Our FCC is made up of five people, all appointed by the President. Currently we have three Republicans and two Democrats.  The Commissioner is Kevin Martin, a Republican who replaced Michael Powell, the son of Colin Powell, in 2005.  Both Martin and Powell have made every effort to loosen the rules on media ownership that will give major corporations the ability to own more media outlets. 

Evidently they are still not satisfied with how much the media has been consolidated already. Currently six corporations control half of all news and entertainment flows on the planet- Rupert’s News Corp plus Viacom, TimeWarner, Disney, CBS and General Electric. On August 1st, Murdoch put yet another notch in his belt with a hostile takeover of the Wall Street Journal which was a family owned paper for the last 100 years. Murdoch’s News Corp. has an empire of 35 television stations, 26 papers, 5 magazines, and 26 publishing companies . Think of all the fair and balanced reporting that is spread all over the world.

During the reign of Michael Powell, Bush’s first commissioner, the FCC proposed major rule changes which would have allowed companies dual ownership of a daily newspaper and a television station in markets with more than four television stations and cross-ownership in markets with nine or more stations. Further he wanted to give companies the right to own up to three stations in markets with 18 or more and allow a single company to own two stations in markets with five or more. Despite 750,000 comments submitted to the docket (almost all against the proposals) and protests in 14 cities, the FCC voted in favor of the changes. 

Fortunately On September 3, 2003 The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted an emergency order to stay the rules pending a lawsuit against the rules. Lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Andy Schwartzmann, later acknowledges that the stay was granted because the court acknowledged that “a million people” wrote in against the rule changes.  In June of 2004 the same court ruled against the FCC, deeming the rule changes “irrational” and “inconsistent”, keeping the stay in place and requiring the FCC to start anew on its attempt to revise the rules. All subsequent attempts to appeal the ruling in the next two years have failed.

The fight is nowhere nearly over. Despite public resentment of the commissions proposals, Bush’s newest commissioner, Kevin Martin, is pushing the same agenda as his predecessor. It is up to us, the folks who rely on a diverse news media to keep us informed. Some polls conclude that anger over these proposals to consolidate an already shrinking media ranks second only to the Iraq war.  Let’s help prevent the Murdochs and other corporations from being the only ones serving up the news.

I have read some very heartfelt articles on the horrors of the Iraq war, but the one I have listed here stopped me in my tracks. Op-ed columnist Frank Rich's article entitled,"The Good ‘Germans’ Among Us” makes me want to bury my head in shame for what my country has done in Iraq. If this article does not move you, nothing will.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/opinion/14rich2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us - New York Times

I am a huge proponent of the United Nations. In a chaotic world, it is imperative that we have a legitimate international forum which represents the world. Yes, the critics are correct, the UN has had many failures, but failure is almost inevitable when you have a mission like the UN has. Usually, the only people naive enough to believe they can deliver world peace are future Miss Americas. But the UN puts forth the effort, despite the fact they have to deal with a cast of pretty ruthless characters who have no interest in peace, such as Middle East terrorist, nutty neo-cons, and developing country dictators. Even with the uphill fight, our UN patiently goes forward, and every once in a while they succeed. Such is the case with the war torn country of Sierra Leone.

The UN dispatched 17,500 soldiers to Sierra Leone in 2002 to help end an 11 year war which took the lives of 50,000 people and displaced another 2 million. One of the lasting trademarks of the war was the many amputees whose limbs were ruthlessly severed by the rebel army. There were many failures along the way which critics like the Neo-Cons were quick to point out. In 2000, 500 UN soldiers with out dated maps got lost and taken hostage by guerrillas. They were stripped of their weapons by the very people they were sent to disarm. The rebels also made off with their armored personnel carriers and gear. Despite being dissed by all their critics they kept on, and in 2007 after a long up and down ordeal, Sierra Leone had elections in which over 1.5million people voted at 6,171 polling places. On September 17th, 2007 Ernest Bai Koroma was sworn in as Sierra Leone’s newly elected president.

In a developing nation like Sierra Leone with a bitter war behind them, things can still go wrong, but the UN has helped in sustaining peace and been engaged in assisting the new Democracy. Hopefully this huge undertaking will continue to succeed. Yes the critics will still be calling for an end to the UN, and they will continue to mock their shortcomings. But don’t tell that to the 5 million residents in Sierra Leone who now have a chance at living a peaceful life.

After reading that a report on arms sales for 2006 was coming out this week, I took a look at the record for 2005. According to the Conventional Arms Transfer to Developing
Nations report 1998 to 2005 published by the Congressional Research Service, the United States was number one in world wide sales at 11.6 billion dollars. The U.K. was second at 3.1 billion, and Russia was third at 2.8 billion.

I was startled to read that most of the weapons sales went to developing nations. Of the 32 countries who imported American weaponry, 18 had poor human rights record, and in 12 , citizens did not have the right to peacefully change the government.

Besides the moral argument that can be made against peddling arms to developing nations, it is also bad policy. What about the potential problem of these sales coming back to haunt us? In the report,they cited past problems: “ The last seven times the United States has sent troops into conflict in substantial numbers: in Iraq (2003-present), Afghanistan (2001-present), former Yugoslavia (1998),Haiti (1994), Somalia (1992), Iraq (1990) and Panama (1989); they faced adversaries with weapons or military technology ‘Made in the USA.’ The widening war on terrorism and accelerating weapons sales to coalition partners will only increase the likelihood of the boomerang effect continuing to haunt us.”

One ray of hope in stopping this insane practice is the United Nations. 153 governments in the General Assembly voted in favor of working on an International Arms Trade Treaty. Only one country voted against it- The United States, despite an appeal from 14 U.S. Senators to Condoleezza Rice. The General Assembly will take up the issue again late this year. I still remember a quote from one of our early cold war adversaries, V.I. Lenin, which rings true today: “ The capitalist will sell us the rope which we will hang them.” Let’s hope the U.N. can prevent us from contributing to our own demise.

The Bush Adm. has made some ridiculous remarks over the years, like Cheney saying that the Iraquis will greet us with flowers when we liberate them, Bush’s “mission accomplished,” and his most recent remark that we have 36 allied countries fighting in Iraq. Just when you think they would run out of dumb remarks, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters comes to the plate and hits one out of the park. You won’t believe who she feels is to blame for the tragic collapse of the bridge in Minnesota? How about the nation’s bicyclists and pedestrians. Peters feels that they, plus museum goers and historical preservationists hog to much of the gas tax money that should be used to repair bridges. Someone should tell Peters that only 1.5% of transportation dollars go to bike and walk paths while 10% of trips to work, school and store are made by walking or bicycling.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/09/14/bike_paths/index_np.html
The bicycle thief | Salon News

In the last sixty or so years, our world has produced some very unsettling figures who we label as war criminals or people who have committed crimes against humanity-- Africa’s Idi Amin, Iraq’sHussien, Serbia’s Milosovec , Cambodia’s Pol Pot, and the king of kings, Germany’s Hitler quickly come to mind.

It is strange that with our immoral foreign policy in Vietnam in the 60’s, Central and South America in the 70’s and now Iraq, no one from the USA is on the list. However, things could be changing. Fingers are pointing at Henry Kissinger. Christopher Hitchens has written a very well researched book about Kissinger’s involvment in the bombing of Cambodia and the overthtow of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile. I have always suspected Kissinger of being a bit of an evil sort, especially after reading a despicable quote he made days before the overthrow and murder of Allende: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people. The issues are much to important for the Chilean voters to decide for themselves.”

Besides Hitchens, Kissinger is feeling the heat from the international community. Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and France want him for questioning for possible war crimes. While in Paris in 2001, Kissinger was summoned to answer questions about murders and disappearances in Chile, but he
promptly left France the day after being summoned without answering anyquestions.

It is doubtful that Kissinger will ever be prosecuted, but we should always realize that war criminals are not always from “somewhere else.” They can be part of our very own government.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A773804
BBC - h2g2 - ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ - a Book Review

Vince Lombardi, a god to many up here in cheese-head country, once admonished his team for a locker room celebration after a lack-a-daisical win over the Detroit Lions. Lombardi yelled, “what the hell are you celebrating, we didn’t win the game, the other team lost it.” The same can be said to the Democratic party. Perhaps the Dems should just sit back and watch the Republican party self destruct. Besides the sexual misconduct involving prostitutes and public restrooms, the GOP seems to be striking out on many policy issues: the war, the loss of hispanic voters on the immigration issue, and the economy which now has us all worried about a possible recession. But never fear, there is more stupidity and greed. Strong Republican areas of red state Colorado are now up in arms over oil and gas drilling on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains. Here are the words of just one of many conservation conscious Republicans : “I can only speak for myself and I’m a registered Republican, but last year I voted a straight Democratic ticket. First time in my life,” said Bob Elderkin, 68, who heads the town of Rifle’s chapter of the Colorado Mule Deer Association, a hunting group that has made common cause with environmentalists against drilling. “The Republicans have kind of lost touch with reality."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/15/AR2007091500893.html?wpisrc=newsletter
In Colorado, Drilling Some Holes in the Republican Base - washingtonpost.com

Every time I read about our political campaigns and the obscene special interest money that is involved, I think of one of my favorite lines from a Bob Dylan song: “Money doesn’t talk, it swears.” Even though poll after poll shows that over three-quarters of the American people believe that raising campaign money from Washington lobbyists is unacceptable, the practice continues.

With some very important issues facing us, it is naive to think that money will not play a part in the decision making. For example, our health care system is in need of huge overhaul, and money from the health care industry is flowing into the coffers of the candidates: For the first half of 2007, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, senator from New York and the leading fund-raiser, collected $63.1 million, of which $1.7 million, or 2.7%, was from the health sector . Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the second-leading fund-raiser among the Democratic candidates, collected $58.9 million; $1.2 million, or 2.1%, was from the health sector. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the leading Republican fund-raiser, collected $44.4 million, including $1.4 million, or 3.1%, from the health sector. Rudolph Giuliani, the second-leading fund-raiser among the Republican candidates and the former mayor of New York City, raised $35.6 million, including nearly $900,000, or 2.5%, from the health sector. Is it surprising that all of the candidates except Kucinich are moving away from the idea of single tier health insurance?

Perhaps hope is on the way with a new proposal called the Senate Fair Elections Now Act recently introduced by Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter. Representatives John Tierney of Massachusetts, along with Representatives Raul Grijalva and Todd Platts, introduced companion legislation in the House. Under this bipartisan proposal, candidates raise a large number of small donations to show their credibility with the public and then qualify for a set amount of public money for their campaigns. The legislation is modeled after clean-election laws in seven states, including Arizona and Maine, where the systems have been running well for four election cycles. (Massachusetts had a similar law, but it was repealed.)

Until then we can only monitor our representatives campaign coffers. Here is a web that will help you with the information.
http://www.cleanupwashington.org/sii/
CleanUpWashington.org - Under the Influence

Saw this great post by LLL on another site, and I thought it to be insightful. Happy Labor Day to all.
Donora gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With her first swallow of water, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of her medications are paid for by her employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Donora gets it too. She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Donora’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Donora reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained.

Donora dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

She walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Donora begins her work day. She has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Donora’s employer pays these standards because Donora’s employer doesn’t want her employees to call the union. If Donora is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Donora needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Donora’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Donora’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Donora has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Donora and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime.

Donora also forgets that in addition to her federally subsidized student loans, she attended a state funded university.

Donora is home from work. She plans to visit her father that evening at her farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.

She arrives at her boyhood home. Hers was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans.

The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck her nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.

She is happy to see her father, who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure she could take care of himself so Donora wouldn’t have to.
Donora gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. She doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Donora enjoys throughout her day.

Donora says: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made woman who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”

Imagine having a son or daughter in Iraq. Imagine the 24 hour-a-day stress.imagine getting that knock on the door notifying you that your loved one was killed in action. That was the nightmare come true that Cindy Sheehan faced in Apriil of 2004 when her son Casey was killed during combat in Baghdad. Like the parents of 3723 other brave servicemen she must have been heartbroken. But unlike many of the others, she spoke out about her tragic loss. She was determined to prevent more parents from facing losing their sons and daughters in such a foolish war.

As she spoke out against the war, her critics savaged her. Rush Limbaugh and America’s version of the wicked witch of the West,Ann Coulter, said she was exploiting death. Convicted felon Gordon Liddy made the absurd claim that she was anti-Semitic,and England’s favorite drunken curmudgeon, Chris Hitchens called her a liar.

But the name calling did not stop this humble, soft spoken mother. As she became more involved she became less naive. Her travels took her to Cuba where she protested against GITMO, and to Venezuela where she met and praised Hugo Chavez for his stance against our war in Iraq.

But her most famous visit was to Crawford, Texas where President Bush vacations. After failing to get a second meeting with the president to hear his explanation of the “noble cause” for which her son Casey died, she founded Camp Casey, an area close to where the president presides.

Her efforts attracted growing crowds, including many parents of soldiers killed in Iraq. To accommodate the crowds, Sheehan bought five acres of land for 50,000 dollars. The money was from the benefits from Casey’s death. Sheehan promised to eventually donate the land provided they make a peace park in honor of Casey.

Sheehan became more optimistic in 06 when the Dems won back both houses of congress; however, those hopes were dashed when Speaker Pelosi announced that there would be no impeachment efforts against the president. Because of that Sheehan announced that she will run against Pelosi for her house seat in the 8th district of California. It will be an uphill fight trying to unseat the speaker of the house, but Cindy Sheehan is a fighter who has come a long way since the death of Casey.
No matter what the outcome, she is my hero for courageously speaking out against this immoral war.

http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/post/
Say Anything: Reader Blogs
Found a humorous,and true, article on a web here in Wisconsin. Here are 5 of the 50 things you won’t hear on talk radio.

1 might does not make right.
2 Repetition does not make anything right.
3 You are your brothers and sister’s keeper.
4 guns do kill people
5 I was wrong

(more...)