What's Missing From This Picture?

A member over at Huffington Post commenting on this article pointed out that in the above picture, Ron Paul was the only one not wearing a red tie. But I noticed something else missing. Something obsequious during the last presidential election cycle, something that was an issue in certain cases.
Of course, I'm talking about the flag lapel pin that every politician wore to show people that he was his own man and didn't bow to any pressure they were a real American. Don't get them, wrong, the Republicans are still trying to sell themselves to voters as the party of America, Ronald Reagan, Jesus Christ and working people. Well, their definition of "working" people may differ from mine of yours, what we call workers, they refer to as "whiners", lousy ingrates who work long hours for less than a living wage and want the government to enforce job killing safety regulations.
No, their definition of "producers" are the bean counting misanthropes who try to squeeze every drop of sweat from those whiners while trying to squeeze every last dime out of consumers. And if the government would just let them privatize everything, we'd all be better off because more of us would have jobs hauling these 'producer's' big bags of money back to the panic room of their McMansion in a gated community. Hooray. Yippee.
So the GOP is trying to sell itself as the party of change-remember when they mocked candidate Barack Obama for that whole "hope-y change-y thing"? No lapel pins, vote for change, it sounds like the GOP is trying to morph itself into a whiter, older, and meaner version of Our President. The only thing that might possibly stand in their way is the next two years of Republican obstructionism in the House of Representatives, which will remind people of what they really stand for, which is rich people getting richer while government services to the victims of their economic policies are removed. None of this will create jobs, but it will continue the Middle Class removal program started under the Reagan years.

Ronald Reagan: The First President Of The Corporate Idiocracy

Today marks what would have been Ronald Reagan's 100 birthday, and were he alive today, he probably wouldn't remember it. Just like he could barely remember being president. Or the many crimes committed by his staff while he napped or vacationed playing cowboy.
You can hardly blame right wingers for admiring a man who was basically a puppet for corporate interests, conveniently forgetting that he raised taxes and tripled the National Debt. These people are the same people who call Mubarak a good friend because he helps us out when we need to send alleged terrorists to be tortured for crimes they may have not committed, but give them a while and they'll be having them admit they like to wear women's panties.
But mostly, right wingers adore Reagan because he was the first president of the Corporate Idiocracy. His anal raping of Patco sent a message to all working people: don't stand in the way of obscene corporate profits.CEO compensation has gone up 500 times since Reagan while worker's pay has stagnated as costs have gone up. And why have costs risen so dramatically? Because CEOs want more money!
The Corporate idiocracy also applauds Reagan for bringing down communism, which means that communism does work, and must be undermined because it runs contrary to corporate interests. His administration also committed crimes such as the Iran/Contra affair, which sent weapons (illegally) to Iran, with the funds be used to buy weapons (illegally) for Central American right wing death squads. Reagan also helped create the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, becoming responsible then for 9/11.
So as the corporate media spend the day today in revisionist history lies about the worst president until George W Bush, remember the truth. Because Reagan certainly couldn't!

No, I Didn't Vote

That's right, I didn't vote. I refused to participate in the Corporate Idiocracy charade of the-lesser-of-two evils where either side argues about which side is better like a couple of High School students debating the merits of one mass produced beer over the other. I looked at both sides of the coin and decided that beyond the empty platitudes launched to entice me to spend my one vote on them, there wasn't really any difference.
Maybe I've been burned before. I remember voting Democratic in 2006, on the hope that they would bring about an end to the wars in the Middle East. Nope. Didn't happen. Maybe they'd hold the incumbent administration responsible for acts of malfeasance perpetrated by those at the highest level. Instead, almost immediately, impeachment was taken off the table.
In that time, despite their general incompetence at being able to accomplish anything beyond deciding the best way to repair our health care system was to tax my work-related health benefits as income. Huh? Leadership? No, just mindless water-treading, pretending to serve people like me while assuming the position for their corporate masters.
And speaking of being one of me (of which there is only), who do the Republicans think they're fooling. I'm not a soulless money grubbing thick-headed Islamophobe who thinks the world would be a better place if we enslaved everybody under the capitalist system. I do not drive my gas guzzling Sport Utility Behemoth to an energy inefficient McMansion in a gated community in the suburbs. I work a cruddy job for crappy pay and am happy about it because the alternative is giving my soul to a corporation that would gladly chop me off at the knees if it meant another thousand bucks in that year end bonus for the people at the top.
I don't care if some sport team from a college I never attended makes the play-offs, how cute Bristol Palin is on Dancing With The Stars, or the latest patented "outrageous" outfit worn by Lady Gaga to obscure the fact that her music is pedestrian and ordinary. Don't lump me in with you. Please.
So, I didn't vote, and looking at the latest returns, there wasn't one candidate I may possibly could have hoped to maybe win that lost by one vote. And before you tell me that if more people who didn't vote had gone out and made the effort, it could have changed the outcome, I say if more people would ween themselves from the Republican/Democratic Corporate Axis Of Evil, we could have one great country.
So you can go ahead and con yourself into thinking that you're "trying to make difference" by aiding and abetting the status quo, but the truth is as long as we keep enabling the Corporate Idiocracy, the longer we all will have to suffer.

The Lopsided Foreign Policy Of The Corporate Idiocracy

Consistency has never been a key factor in US foreign policy. It doesn't matter if there's a Democratic president, or a Republican one, the double standard employed by both always been the same.
Take today, as an instance. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced sanctions against eight Iranian officials for human rights violation following a crackdown on protesters after last year's elections. On the surface it sounds good, not just more posturing designed to soften the television watchers up for an attack on Iran.
In the meantime, the UNHRC says Israel used incredible violence against a Gaza Aid flotillaviolated international law by storming the flotilla and killing nine human beings, including an American in execution-style killings, and what does our country do? It criticizes the report as 'unbalanced'. The truth is, the only thing unbalanced is our foreign policy, which seeks to condemn one act of brutality, while defending another.
Now one case is set to go to the International Criminal Court, which the US opposes, mainly because between Iraq, Afghanistan, and the crackdown on the Gaza strip, American-Israeli exceptionalism rules the day. We can torture, kill, and maim whom ever we so please, as we are better than the people living over all those preciou natural resources the Corporate Idiocracy needs to keep it's followers happy and buying more useless things, giving up their time and money to make the incredibly wealthy, more incredibly wealthier.
I don't suspect this will end anytime too soon.

Bring On Teh Crazy

Republicans seem to think this midterm election will be a cake walk, that they'll end up with the control of Congress, giving them ample opportunity to continue their obstructionist policies. But I don't think so. Why? Because instead of offering answers and solutions to the myriad problems facing this country, the emperor wannabes new clothes are steaming hot piles of insanity.
First up is the insanity intern and future Palin hopeful Christine O'Donnell, who was revealed to have dabbled in satanism as a teenager, by her own words forcing her to cancel her appearances on the Sunday Morning Talking Heads New Shows on CBS and even Fox. You know when a Republican cancels a chance to knock softball questions out of the park on the media arm of the GOP, something is up, and that something is teh crazy.
Next at bat in the bat-shit crazy line-up is, no, not bat-shit crazy Michelle Bachmann, but the Montana Republican party which, in a moment of pure unenlightened unenlightenment have decided to adding homosexuality as a crime to their party's platform this year. It takes some severe homophobia to want to lock gays away, where you wouldn't be tempted to want to join them. Why else put them in jail, because what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is something Republicans say that the government should stay out of, right?
And from homophobia, we cross the crazy trail to the phobia du jour of the conservative regressives-Islamophobia! Failed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is proposing a law to ban Sharia Law's use by judges in deciding cases. First off, you should have done that when you were, you know, an actual member of congress, doofus, and not now when it does no good but stokes the fires of a thousand burning Korans. Secondly, we already have that in our constitution, it's called the Establishment Clause, and it bars any decision made based on Sharia Law, Biblical law, Judaic Law, or any other law emanating from some all powerful invisible being who doesn't exist. All this does is play into the ignorance of haters who think that Muslims are taking over the country, and that our president is one of them. And that is the Republican plan. No policies. No solutions. Just pure unadulterated hate. And not a hate based on reality, but an unfounded hate based on insecurity. That is pure paranoia. Which is nothin' but teh crazy!

...You Just Might Be A Terrorist!

Ever march against BP? Carry misspelled signs at a Tea Party rally? Ever stand up for LGBT rights? Well, according to Homeland Security, you might be a terrorist! You're either for us or against us, and if you're protesting us, you must be against us, and if you're against us, you might be a low level terrorist, or so goes the specious reasoning of the lovely folks at the Pentagon.
So while corporations are able to avoid the scrutiny of the Patriot Act when it comes to it's wheelings and dealings because they are a matter of national security, you're on a no-fly list because air marshals have a quota to fill in order to get raises, bonuses, awards and special assignments.
Got it yet? It doesn't matter if we have a Republican controlled congress, or a Democratic. Corporations own the politicians; we just pay their salary. That's why you probably won't get a tax cut, but the Bush tax cuts will likely become permanent. And if you don't like, be careful who you tell it to, lest ye become labeled a terrorist.

Pretty Ladies Selling The Lie

Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11, and while there were a number events to commemorate that day, and to honor those who lost their lives so that the Corporate Idiocracy could engage in endless wars to secure it's energy needs until the world runs out of oil, none were more obviously selling the cover story than Michelle Obama and Laura Bush honoring the 'heroes' of Flight 93.
The official story is that passengers on that fateful flight overtook their MossadBlack OpsArabIraqi?Al Qaeda! hijackers and forced them to crash into a field in Pennsylvania. But not according to Donald Rumsfeld who stated that Flight 93 was shot down by US fighter jets, which is supported by an examination of the crash site.
Now I'm not suggesting their either of the First Ladies know anything about this, or were anyway involved in a cover-up. I'm just cynical about anything that concerns the 'official' conspiracy of 9/11.
But not that I expect anyone else to be cynical. If you think that an administration that was dishonest in Florida in 2000,and lied about Iraq's WMD is being honest to you about the events of 9/11, I understand. If you think a steel frame building can be brought down by mere kerosene( the most of which burned off in the initial explosion following the crash), good for you! Just don't expect me to go all rubbery when ever some one chokes out 'hero' in a story that basic facts do not support. No matter which side of the corporate idiocracy you bring out to sell it to me.

Abe Lincoln Would Not Be Proud

The GOP for years had portrayed itself as the party of Abraham Lincoln, author of the Emancipation Proclamation. But ever since they decided to instead be the party of Reagan (whom himself was no friend to the working man), things have changed. And that's something to remember this Labor Day.
Especially when a person charged in the largest human trafficking case in US history,(that's slavery to you and I) one Mordechai Orian was also a major contributor to the Republican Party between 2004 and 2006. Curiously enough, that's when the GOP was pushing their"guest worker program".
Now I'm sure the corporate idiocracy would love to import as much slave, er, I mean, cheap labor as possible. It doesn't improve anything but the bottom line, since CEOs of the 50 firms that have laid off the most employees since the economic crisis began took home 42% more pay. Imagine how much more they could make if they didn't have to pay their remaining employees anything! Of course, that being the case, they would eventually lose their jobs because no one would be able to buy their products, but when you make $50 million in one year, how much longer do you need to work anyway.
So their you have it. So while you're out celebrating the murder of labor organizers by US marshals by grilling a steak from a non-union slaughterhouse, remember that while neither party seems too interested in watching your back, the GOP is even less likely to be concerned about your human rights as well.

Thanks, Idiot, Now Go Be Snarky Somewhere Else (And Check Your Facts)

That annoying squeaky voice. That smug self-satisfied delivery. That errant speech pattern. The complete disconnection from the truth. No, I'm not talking about Glenn Beck, but Sarah Palin who said at the "Restoring Honor" rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, activists must honor King's legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect America in uniform.
Huh? That don't make no sense!
You see, Dr. King opposed the Viet Nam War, as well as imperialistic US military action that diverted money and attention from domestic programs created to aid the poor blacks. Civil rights and antiwar are King's true legacy, not the celebration of the neocons imperialistic aim to inflict US based global hegemony.
In fact, it was that opposition to capitalism that led to his assassination by a conspiracy that included agencies of the US government. But Palin would never read that in the history books of the corporate idiocracy. Those tell us Dr. King was a great man, without detailing too much what he was really about, since economic, social and racial equality makes some people nervous.
And since were on the subject, how are our 'men and women who protect America in uniform' (shouldn't that be 'our men and women in uniform who protect America'?) restoring honor to our country? Neither the 34,000 civilians deaths inAfghanistan nor the 1,366,350 civilian deaths in Iraq were any sort of threat to our country. And their deaths have done nothing to 'restore America's honor', in fact, it's just the opposite. And how are they any different than the 'honor killings' alleged to by professional Islamophobe Pamela Geller?
Restoring America's Honor and honoring Dr. King's legacy would be easy. All it would take is a slight shift in our foreign policy. But getting a couple of thousand television watchers off their couch is a good start.

Delusional Paranoia Or Creeping Fascism?

Face it. While the right wing has been demonizing Islam and branding it as a cruel religion, the truth is all religion is cruel, barbaric, and just plain wrong when it's extreme (as in extremely conservative).
Here in the US, extremism takes another shape. I speak, of course, of the political religious zealotry of Sharron Angle. Known in progressive circles for spewing the fear mongering rhetoric of the right, Angle now claims there are domestic enemies in Congress, a claim she twice refused to disavow. Sure there are, Ms. Angle, they're called lobbyists. People to whom money is speech and corporations are people, their agenda is to tilt our system away from the will of the people and towards the will of the Multi-Nationals.
These are not the enemies of which Ms. Angle spoke, obviously. Unaware of the 14 characteristics of fascism, she is proving ample distraction for those whose loyalties lie not with a country, but with it's capital, taking as much as they can for themselves while left and right rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.The second Great Depression is upon us and even a college degree doesn't guarantee a good job.
So you could take Ms. Angle's paranoid delusions at face value, and believe she must have stopped taking her meds, or just conclude that she's just another rodeo clown, distracting bullish Americans from the corporate cowboys who are riding us until we are broken.

Do The Republicans Have Any ideas?

With the Gulf of Mexico an ecological nightmare, the economic recovery not going as planned, and the US mired in not one but two endless wars, you'd think there'd be plenty of ammunition for an opposition party to run against the Democratic Party, wouldn't you?
These are real problems, problems that affect every American in one form or another, and yet to listen to the GOP, you'd almost think these problems are either non-existent, or not really problems at all. And what are our problems?
Muslims. Muslims exercising their freedom of religion.
As an example the number of television watchers who think President Obama is a Muslim has doubled. The most confused group is of course, Republicans. And it doesn't help matters when you have some Dick claiming that the "Ground Zero" Mosque will be used to train terrorists on Fox News, that beacon of rationality. Didn't the GOP from the last election cycle that a noun, a verb and 9/11 didn't work for Rudy Ghouliani, do they think it will work again?
All this manufactured hysteria is part of the corporate idiocracy's plan to distract television watchers from the simple fact that people are still losing jobs, and the Republicans and Democrats aren't doing anything to stop it.

Who Owns The Rain?

I know, it sounds like a Creedence Clearwater Revival song, right? But since rain falls everywhere, you would think that no one could claim it as their property.
But, apparently, in some states, it's illegal to collect rainwater, because the water belongs to the state. I'm sure some of you are thinking that is some sort of reconstituted hippie thing, that collecting water affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. Actually, it's completely the opposite.
So any multinational death conglomerate can tap into an underwater spring, purify and put it in plastic bottles, and that's not a problem, but collecting fresh and pure rainwater is illegal? In past times many people had rain barrels in their yard, at what point did someone say "Hey! You can't do that! You need to pay for water from the city!"
A news study says that thanks to global warming"climate change", 70% of US counties will face water shortages. So wouldn't it be prudent for people to now begin collecting and savingn water? Wait, conservation is the opposite of the American Way! Use it all up, then bomb some foreign country to take theirs because they're not using it up fast enough. Besides, once the polar ice caps melt, and water levels rise, won't there be more than enough water?

The New Slavery? Fuck You!

I don't watch sports. I don't care too much for it and can find better things to do with my time than spend it spread out in front of a television set, junk food and beer within reach getting myself worked up over something that has no impact or bearing on my life. Not that I have anything against sports, mind you, and if an opportunity to engage in any physical activity should arise, I would do it as I could really use the exercise.
I really don't care much about college sports, mainly because the art school I attended didn't have a sports team of any sorts, so I don't see how people can get bent out of shape about a college football team from a school they never had any intention of attending.
So I was very dismayed to find out that The NCAA is slavery! The poor put upon college athlete, who is offered a free ride at some of the finest school to get a higher education most people only dream of getting are no better than a slave. After all, they're only there to pass the time until they become eligible for professional sports anyway, why shouldn't they be able to accept gifts from generous donors?
The writer of the piece seems to think it's unfair that Reggie Bush (who, as I found out, is not a member of the Bush family) should have to forfeit his Heisman just because he broke the rules. As everybody knows by now, rules aren't for our professional athletes, especially if they're really good. He also feels that it's not fair that deans, athletic directors and coaches can make big salaries while the poor student has to wait a couple years to make the annual salary of the three aforementioned college professionals combined. He also feels it's not right that the money that colleges make should go to subsidize other "welfare sports", you know, everything that isn't college football or basketball, at the expense of the star player who is only receiving a free education, room and board, books, etc. And heaven for fend that some of that money be put towards academic scholarships for students who have the intellect but not the means nor athletic ability to go on to higher learning with out some help.
Now in Jason Whitlock's defense, I'm sure Reggie Bush wasn't doing anything that any other star athlete does, the problem is, that Bush got caught. But his idea that Bush isn't being compensated because he's too fucking stupid to appreciate a full college ride, well, that's a problem of Bush's lack of a value system, not the NCAA.
Our society puts too much emphasis on sports, winning and money. Sports dominate the world of the television watcher like no other single entity. Winning has become the most important thing, taking a back seat to decency, honesty, and integrity. And money has become everything for so many people in this country that it won't be long before we're all tearing each other apart so we can sell our rendered remains for a fistful of scratch.So I won't weep for the college athlete who should have to follow rules, at least while he's attending college, because he's living a dream. He's just too fucking stupid t5o realize it.

General Casey Wants To Give Afghanistan What We Don't Have In America, And He Wants Us To Waste Another Decade Giving It To Them

Speaking at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival Friday, Army Chief Of Staff Gen. George Casey says we may be fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq another ten years. Whose idea is that? Certainly not mine, but I'm not invested in the military-industrial complex, so I won't be making a dime by bleeding the country dry.
But what's more upsetting are the objectives of the military in the region.
1.)You are only going to succeed when the people perceive there is a government represented by their interests-So why should the people of Afghanistan have what we don't? My interests don't include making the rich people richer, mine include something like providing decent health care for every American,or that those struggling through tough economic times not of their creation can keep their homes and feed their families. These were both wars of choice, only I didn't choose them.
2.)when there is an economy that can give them a job to support their families-Wait a minute-we had that here! I remember it well. Then our corporate idiocracy said, you know what, if we outsource your jobs to another country that doesn't have organized labor, we'll make out-we mean, you'll be able to buy more consumer goods because they won't cost as much. And the television watchers all said "Yup, yup, yup, more stuff for me! I like the sound of that~!"
3.)when there are educational systems that can educate their family-Do you mean like we used to have? Nowadays, many right wing candidates are calling for the abolition of the department of education. Why? Because the Official Party of 'NO!' said that education is bad because they won't let your myths be taught to other people's children, science is bad because it disproves their faith, and the only thing children should be reading is our big book of approved fables.
4.)States, non-states and individual actors who are increasingly willing to use violence-You mean, like flying unmanned drones into civilian areas, casually referring to civilian deaths as collateral damage, and bombing areas where we think there may be people we want to kill? Doesn't anybody in charge have at least one iota of common sense to realize that maybe the reason that they are shooting at us is because we started shooting at them first?
Of course, the general, who is set to retire in nine months , was followed by a Pentagon spin doctor, who stated:"General Casey was speaking of the types of conflict we will be fighting for a decade or so. He did not, nor did he intend to, imply that we would be fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan for 10 more years."
What he really meant to say was "We'll be fighting in Iran as well. That could take some time."

I Thought America Won It's Independence From High Prices

It's about time we faced up to the fact that the United States is a corporate idiocracy. Large multi-nationals beam mind numbing drivel into our homes featuring meta-celebrities in voyeuristic situations and call it reality. We are rapidly becoming a nation of slack-jawed mouth breathing window lickers who haven't read a book since they got out of school and couldn't locate Afghanistan on a map, let alone give a clear concise reason why we need to spend another $33 billion there.
How do I know? More than twenty five percent of Americans couldn't tell you from whom we won our independence. So where does these mentally challenged people emanate from? I mean, they can't all come from the Tea party, as they only comprise 18% of the population, but it is nearly as many Americans who think that Sarah Palin resigned as governor because it was the right thing to do for Alaska (which in a way, it was).
To some, the dumbing down of the United States isn't happening quick enough. There's only so many episodes of Jersey Shore that you can get people to watch. So to help ease this country into a more acceptable moronic state, Glenn Beck has plans for an university ('magic underpants' not included). This exclusive chance to be taught revisionist history by avowed theocrats is available exclusively to subscribers of Beck's Insider Extreme, a website devoted to fleecing the sheep to line Glenn Beck's pockets. Once you pass this course, Glenn Beck doesn't promise you'll get a job from it, only that you'll be as confused politically as he is, just what you need when you're working your new job, wrangling shopping carts in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
(Cross posted at American Insurgency)

Torture By Any Other Name......Would Still Be As Painful

That darn crazy librul media. You know, the one that bends over backwards not to offend the easily offended by not being too controversial?
Well, it seems for years, it called waterboarding torture. Well, it still considers waterboarding torture, just not when the US does it.
Sure, it's a double standard, but in order to placate those who maybe torturing, or have family members in the torture business, they can't infer that there's anything wrong with it. It's like, for fear of offending drug dealers, they started calling them entrepreneurs.
It's obvious by now that criminals are in charge, enabled by the corporate media, embedded in the social political elite, afraid to offend the leadership, because somewhere down the road, there may be a cushy government position for them.
Our corporate media has long abandoned the responsibilities of a free press. Maybe that's why newspaper circulation declines, and maybe why the country has devolved into a corporate idiocracy.