Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Story Continues

How do Americans!

Well, the title says it all. As it was in the days of the founders, so it is today. As some of you know, newspapers were born to be partisan. That was how they existed. The concept of journalism being unbiased is an evolution of the news business. So in all actuality, groups like FOX are just imitating the early editions of the news delivery system. To them those are the good ole' days, when you can lie and make false accusations under private ownership that encourages it.

News on the other hand, evolved. It realized it needed to to serve the common good, which is lost on any group that is partisan. Or controlled by ownership, which is close to the same thing. Today though, we can get the partisan stuff on the web. It shouldn't be in the news. Yet it seems in the evolution of the delivery of truth in journalism, that the truth sayers are moving TO the web as the main stream media becomes a voiceless noise of no impact.

And so it is that I received from a friend the e-mail he got from Townhall.com. It is a right wing web site. And it of course, true to the original intent of "news", full of lies. Townhall.com Claims it "has been fighting for free markets, limited government, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. "

Oh really? Shall we dissect? Lets look at the effect big box retailing has had, and ask just how free market that is. Wal-Mart has junk made in China, which undermines the US economy, sells it here at exorbitant profit while keeping their wages down and benefits non-existent. Wal-Mart employees are a major portion of welfare recipients in many large markets because they cannot exist on the wages and lack of health care. Is that free? No. It costs the American taxpayer a lot of money. So we are all subsidizing some of the richest people on the planet, whether we shop at Wal-Mart or not. And Wal-Mart is just one example.

Limited government. Who wants to decide who can marry who? The right or the left? Who wants to decide whether a woman has the final say over her own body? The right or the left? What President scripts his teleconference calls and has the answers coached? Who wants to limit what you have available to read in a library, or a school? The right or the left? Who wants to be able to enter your house with a secret warrant and be able to snoop through all your records without notifying you? The right or the left? Who wrote an education bill that exposes your child to military recruiters without the parents knowledge or consent? The right or the left? Who wants to reduce your mortgage deduction by 85% while eliminating dividend taxes and reducing capital gains taxes to 25%? The right or the left? I think I said enough.

Hmmm. Traditional American values. Lets see. Tom Delay has been indicted on corruption charges. The President is an untreted alcoholic. Dick Cheney unapologetically told a fellow politician to fuck himself on the Senate floor. Cheney's former chief of staff has been indicted in the revealing of a CIA officers identity during "wartime." The Senate passes a resolution against torture, and the White House wanted to let the CIA continue to be able to torture. John Bolton: 'nuff said. William Bennett makes racist comments on TV, and the right jumps to his defense. Pat Robertson, the well known pastor/evangelist, calls for assassination. Look at the budget: spend on the military, cut the taxes on the rich, and cut services to every one else. To quote their supposed God, "You shall know them by their fruit."

And strong American defense. Defense. That means defend from attack. It does not mean attack. Or invade. That would mean that soldiers are or our soil, defending us. On the sea, keeping guard. That means we don't spend money developing systems and weapons for attacking other countries. Like the new stealth boats. They aren't for defense. They are singularly offensive. We can fight terrorism better from our own shores than anywhere else, and considerably cheaper to boot. And besides, what is actually being done to protect the rail systems and ports in this country? Precious little actually. And our borders are as porous as ever. So even defense is being ignored. And in the face of a possible pandemic, the president wants to spend fighting a possible flu outbreak about what he spends in Iraq in 3 days. That's how much America means to him. And, one the so called vaccines, which merely mitigate the symptoms, is made by a company which has Rumsfeld as a major stock owner. Imagine that! The one thing they are defending is their own wealth.

Yet, in all this the left "... want(s) a larger government and higher taxes and they want to impose their values on our families."

Yes, we want women to decide for themselves what happens to their bodies. The conservatives don't want women to have that right. Who is imposing a value? And with all the laws that the right wants, and the amendments they seek to the Constitution, and the size military they want, and the new Homeland Security Department, and the relative amount of GDP the government consumes, the largest governments since the '80s have all been conservative. Higher taxes? The taxes on everyone except the top 5% will go up to pay for tall the deficit. Already we subsidze large corporations, and the new energy bill continues that policy. I already mentioned the decrease for the average American in the mortgage deduction. And who pays for the tax cuts to the rich? That's right, every one else. Which means higher taxes. They don't call them Cons for nothin' you know!

So despite how much things have changed, a lot remains the same. Or gets worse. But take heart. Things are changing, and the American people are waking up. We won't long live under any tyranny. Changes are indeed, blowin' in the wind!

2 Comments:

Blogger Garlynn Woodsong said...

See my post regarding the news media and the CIA "Black Prisons," at:

http://undergroundscience.blogspot.com/2005/11/those-secret-cia-black-site-prisons.html

I generally agree with you about the news media; however, I'm looking for signs that the individual members of the media, the reporters, who may have chosen that profession over politics initially in their careers as a perceived way to "change the world" or "make a difference," will finally step up, stop kow-towing to the republicans, and report some real news. The WaPost story about the CIA/Black Prisons is a good first example of this happening. Now, I'm looking for more -- and I don't want to see back-pedalling on that particular issue, either. I'm losing respect for the NY Times as each day passes without it bringing its own formidable reporting weight to bear on the issue.

9/11/05 15:08  
Blogger Bruce Larson*Moore said...

The simple reason there is a lack of leadership, is persons of power have been elected, instead of persons of leadership, persons of power are being hired, instead of persons of leadership, persons of power are looked up to, instead of persons of leadership, persons of power control what is seen and heard, instead of persons of leadership. Each must look to one self for the leadership and power to change this situation.

When this occurs, the power of leadership will emerge from within the ranks of those people.

15/11/05 12:18  

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