Too often we . . . enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy

Walking down the street in Cuba to a protest against violence she and her friend were grabbed, tossed into a car, driven around for 20 minutes while being beaten, then dumped from the car near where they were picked up. Sounds like something out of a movie or a story about the old KGB doesn’t it? And what was her crime? “Since she began signing her name to blog posts she composes in Cuba and e-mails to friends in other countries for publication, Sánchez has received critical acclaim and several awards for her social commentary and missives about everyday life on the island from the government to food to baseball.” (Hmm… want to complain about our social justice now anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)

In this country recently the DOJ made a request for ALL IDENTIFIABLE information about visitors to indymedia.us an independent news site. This included physical addresses, social security numbers, bank numbers, basically all PII. (Personally Identifiable Information for you non-techies)

“In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day. The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site “not to disclose the existence of this request” unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.”

That is until they contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the EFF lawyers contacted the DOJ. Then all of a sudden the request was pulled and NO reason given for why it was requested in the first place. This also raised freedom of the press issues with the request. Remember during the campaign team Obama went after several people threatening lawsuits because those people disagreed with the one publically? Or how about flag@whitehouse.gov remember that? In Washington State they tried to force the list of people who signed SR71 (anti-gay marriage) to be made public. For what reason other than to camp out on their lawn like they did to the mayor and his family. Seeing a pattern here? Public shame is now an acceptable means of suppressing speech and political action. Fox news is just the tip of the iceberg, and the one’s poster child for any dissent. For those of you who don’t live there or know it’s all Chicago politics. Bribery, arm twisting, threats, intimidation, and above the law mentality. Welcome to White House 2009!  Saul Alinsky would be proud!

So when someone tells you that your opinion doesn’t matter (left, right, or middle), or that it won’t make a difference just remember the story of Yoani and indymedia.us. They are telling you that because they fear your right to speak your mind. (Can anyone say town hall?) Freedom of Speech, it is a freedom we in this country take for granted every day and shouldn’t. People will try to minimalize, marginalize, and polarize you, but at least you won’t be scooped up off the street and beaten at random. Yet…

And people wonder why I use the name…

Consti.

Related posts:

1. Political Speech vs. Hate Speech
2. Two Dangerous Ideological Enemies of Freedom. One Left & One Right
3. “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–Of cabbages–and kings”

Blog after blog and conservative news media outlets loudly proclaim how the American public has turned “anti-big government” and that a conservative wave is sweeping across the nation. The late summer was dominated by images of large throngs of Tea******s telling reporters that they are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore” while flashing signs with anti-Obama and anti-government slogans. The GOP and conservatives point to last Tuesday’s defeat of Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey as proof that the resurgence of the Right has begun. But a little mentioned, and much more telling, sign of the true mood of this country occurred on Election Day too… and you won’t hear about it on Fox News.

In yesterday’s Washington Post, op-ed columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. brought attention to a little discussed pair of referendums that were on last Tuesday’s ballot in the states of Maine and Washington. The proposed legislation was entitled the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, and would limit future tax revenue in the states. What this legislation caused people in those states to do was examine what the government actually does, why it is important and how cutting back or limiting government’s ability to act can be harmful to both individuals and the common good. TABOR opponents brought into very real public focus what the loss of revenue caused by the proposed tax-limitation legislation would do to vital services such as education, social services, and senior’s programs. The voters of those states reacted to those questions by shooting the referendums down by a margin of 60-40 in Maine and 57-43 in Washington.

Surprising opposition for the measure was found in Washington state in the likes of several prominent moderate Republicans, such as former governor Dan Evans and former senator Slade Gorton. In Maine, voters rejected gay marriage on the same day as they rejected TABOR, showing that they are willing to cross the liberal-conservative divide. This displays that even those who are conservative on other issues still reject the idea of limitations on government and see the benefit that a strong government provides.

Tea******s were hoping for resounding victories on those referendums in order to validate their claims of widespread support for their anti-big government message. In an October visit to South Portland, national anti-tax spokesperson Grover Norquist said, “I think the Maine TABOR will sort of be a spark to other states. I’m talking to taxpayer activists and citizens’ groups, all of whom are looking to see that if Maine, a moderate Northeastern state says, ‘Yes, let’s take a look at this,’ it then becomes a stronger sell in Arizona and Washington and Oregon and Florida.” They went home with a very different message to try to sell, and no one really seems to be buying.

So don’t let the Tea******s convince you to buy the message that the American public is at war with the idea of a strong government; that they are “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” Tell them to pack up the snake oil they are trying to sell to the majority of the American public into their carpetbags and go peddle it to the guy down the street watching Fox News.  Let’s look inside those bags- I want to see what else they are selling…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/08/AR2009110817810.html

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FOX NEWS has said loudly, that it is not the Union Broadcasting Company (UBS), that its star performers are not Howard Beale wannabes, that it is not spiritually channeling with the late Paddy Chayefsky for its nightly scripts.

Well, that is what they say, but that is hard to believe. Just look at Old Glenn Becks crying, delivering, nightly, Beale-like drama, and if you don’t hear Peter Finch chuckling in his grave, laughing about how copy cats have stolen his act, you haven’t seen the movie Network.

But, maybe the sly foxes at FOX NEWS are telling the truth. Though like UBS, they were struggling in the rating before they quit journalism all together for drama.

Maybe, Vince McMahon of the WWE. (World Wrestling Entertainment), is their inspiration.

Yeah, money making McMahon. That big old fox, Rupert Murdock, is just the kind of fox who would do for news what McMahon did for wrestling, hype up, and up, and up, the drama.

Rassling is faked, right? Everybody knows that, right? Some people don’t.

Mr. McMahon is a fair businessman. He tells everybody that he’s selling sports entertainment, not sports. Mr. Murdock has a big, old, global money making machine, that has to be kept fed, that has to keep the eyeballs coming to his networks –has to, or everything will collapse, and so with him, it’s wink, wink, and hush. He knows that he’s is selling news entertainment, entertainment for the angry. But he can’t say that, too many eyeballs want to believe that it’s news, the news. He is making too much money to disappoint those eyeballs.

Mr. Obama is a very brilliant dude. Team Obama boycotted Fox news for a minute, to call out the actors at Fox, and the sly, big fox, Murdock, to say, “Hey, I know your game.” Before Team Obama called attention to the Fox game, a lot of people had begun to see Fox for what it is. Still, there are some who believe rassin’ ain’t fake, and Fox news is journalism.

Fox has all of those eyeballs watching, so Team Obama boycott of Fox was only for a minute, lasted just long enough to put those fakers on notice. As Team Obama engages Fox, hopefully, they will do so, prepared, focused, and ready to rumble.

No related posts.

Section 8, Article I of the Nancy Pelosi Constitution:

“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To establish a government run healthcare system;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof”

Did you catch the line that doesn’t belong?

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Here is where some of YOUR money went:

- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state. I’ve used Geiger counters before they are cheap and so is manpower. Handheld GPS units are cheap too.

- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. I lived in AZ and there is already plenty of training facilities. This shouldn’t be government funded. It’s tourism! Ask anyone from AZ how they feel about the Cardinals stadium and you will get an ear full!!

- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway. I’ve actually seen this project being worked on. Drive past it every day. Why are we funding tax dollars for what should be a private corporation concern?

- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day. Is this a safety issue?

- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway. 20 a day and they need a backup? WOW I’ve been in airports big and small. That’s congestion?

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women. For $50 and a bottle of whiskey I can tell you right now! But I’d have to whisper.

- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid. Who’s a jigawhat? AND a “longhorn” beetle! OH my Christian sensitivities’! (Sarchasim)

- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla. $3.4 Mill for 50 ft of PVC? Remember the $30,000 toilet seat?

- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla. Dry lakebed. Sounds like a desert party to me. But at $1.15 mil is it really that necessary.

- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades. ER….WHAT!! MILLION!! SERIOUSLY!!

- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased. Dead and LOVING IT!!

- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn. WAIT A MINUTE! Minnesota? Like Minneapolis Minnesota? Minneapolis Minnesota where their major state export is snow and hard to understand accents!

- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill. This actually is reasonable. Especially given that Ill salts the streets in the winter.

- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota. Home Depot!

- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan. This is actually a good thing.

- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money. THIS is RETARDED!

- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio. $1.5? For two hundred bucks and a six pack I can take care of this with Home Depot!

- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago. What for?

- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech. We all know kids pick up language at an early age duh!! This is redumbdant!

- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine. Eh… why do you think locals joke about the Space NEEDLE and how it should have a SPOON next to it? You want to study that here just go downtown and talk to some of the punks. Again this is redumbdant.

- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. For concrete? Really? Seriously?

- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state. Who wants to ride in a museum? This is just a terrible idea.

- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival. SIGN ME UP! I did basket making in Scouts! Any 5 year old can weave baskets! JEESH!

- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle’s energy efficiency. Green brain washing anyone? And will the city pay when someone keys the car for being a tool?

- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles. Interesting, and not a terrible cost I guess but how does this create long term employment?

Pasted from http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/After-a-flurry-of-stimulus-spending_-questionable-projects-pile-up-8474249-68709732.html

I promised myself I would keep this below a thousand words. So really, take a good long look at this list and ask yourself; how does any of this create long term jobs? Where are the jobs saved or created? Really I don’t see them, and the numbers that are cooked up coming out of the administration are laughable at best and distorted at worst.

Just at 1,000 words and trillions in future debt.

Consti.

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The opponents of the health care reform act are made up of the following: wingnuts, birthers, Conservative Democrats and Republicans. They have been trying to put the kabosh on this thing from the beginning. Why is it so hard to admit that our country’s health care system is severely flawed. There are millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans who have to deprive themselves of medical care because of not being able to afford it.

The first thing is to get the uninsured and underinsured taken care of, that is the main priority. These are the people whe have been neglected and ignored in this country. Many people cannot afford health insured that is being offered to them through their employers because of high premiums and costs. On the other side of the coin, you have the working class and so-called “working poor” who fall between the cracks and do not qualify for Medicaid or state-sponsored health insurance because their incomes are too high. When you have people who have to make the critical decision of whether to pay for their prescriptions-or buy food, pay rent, etc-it’s a very disheartening thing. Especially in this country with all it’s weatth, advancement and power.

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On the Democratic side, freshman Congressman Alan Grayson has had his fair share of wing nut one-liners that the mainstream news gobbled up. Calling a former Enron lobbyist a “K Street whore” or describing on Chris Matthews the blood dripping from Dick Cheney’s teeth.

But are these wing nuts actually nuts? Highly doubtful. Many are highly educated (with some possible exceptions: Sarah Palin, et al.) and wouldn’t be in their current positions without some political and economic smarts. Rep. Grayson, for example, claims to be consciously using the Republican wing nuts’ own tactics against them as a subversive political tactic.

Within a media environment that feeds on sound-bytes and outlandish characters, it’s no wonder how wing nuts have gained enough attention to drive debate, and even kill potential legislation. Combine this with a general cynicism of an elite homogeneous body that buys and sells power to conserve their own elite positions and the popularity of the wing nut is born.

What is of concern is not simply the dumbing down of political discourse, but what is the “self” in this political self-satire. It is not only the individual performing the art of wing-nutery. The wing nut is an outspoken example of the way we view the structure of power in our society as a whole. We continue to make fun of the powerful as if their power is illegitimate. The powerful, in turn, make fun of themselves as if their power is illegitimate. In reality, their power couldn’t be more true. It is a system making fun of itself, willfully exposing its failed structure in order to conserve it. Political candidates’ campaigns criticize politicians as-such in order to become just that. Citizens, in turn, vote in the candidate as to not “waste their vote” on a candidate that is not funded by the elite power structure, conserving the system’s status quo. Meanwhile, we all continue to joke about the illegitimacy of the whole game in a sort of Seinfeld-ian gesture.

Seinfeld’s series finale concluded with the cast of characters sitting in jail for not following New York’s new good Samaritan law. The characters accept their fate while fully acknowledging the absurdity of their situation. In the same way, we continue to acknowledge that our political system is a running joke, but we will do whatever we can to preserve the punchline.

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K.I.S.S. – Keep it simple stupid!

It seems to me this whole healthcare debate is more complicated than it should be. Coverage concerns, abortion, immigrants, death panels, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. What are the main goals? “To reduce costs and expand coverage Consti!” And right you are. There has been a lot of demagoguery of the capitalist system. However, since insurance companies can’t go beyond state lines I say that capitalism hasn’t been applied to healthcare to begin with. It comes down to the flawed argument of competition. The administration would have you believe that the government option won’t compete with insurance companies. However, right now the insurance companies are not competing with one another! When companies compete costs come down, choice goes up, and coverage expands! Imagine that! All the goals with ONE (1) simple answer!

Are you REALLY interested in the compassionate plea of fixing healthcare? Then there are only three (3) things really that need be done.

1. Allow ALL insurance companies to compete across state lines on a National level. This will encourage people/business to shop their insurance around thus lowering costs, making it more affordable to lower income, expanding coverage, and WON’T COST ONE (1) TAX PAYER DIME!
2. Limit non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases. This gets the lawyers out of the equation and lowers the cost to your doctor’s liability insurance. Savings that should trickle down to the consumer. Shakespeare said it best; “Kill all the lawyers.” We are an overly litigious society and any doctor will tell you their greatest expense is liability insurance.
3. Mandate that in order to do business in any state Insurance companies must cover ANYONE that can meet the financial requirements regardless of pre-existing conditions. This would include business paid plans so that owner/participant plans also apply. You already have the requirement of ER’s to treat people so you can justify imposing this on insurance companies as well.

K.I.S.S. Healthcare fixed! And look no tax payer money spent! “But Consti that doesn’t cover EVERYONE in America!” And you are right again. But neither does the current 2,000 page proposal before congress. So why should we settle for 1.2 Trillion more debt over the next 10 years if the bill isn’t as advertised? Additionally there is enough mismanagement and misappropriations in Medicare/Medicade that if you cleaned up the system you would be able to expand coverage for the existing systems with the ACTUAL savings. Perhaps, dare I say it; keep both Medicare and Medicade from going under as has been predicted?

Are you interested in REAL change? Nine (9) reams of paper, close to 2,000 pages, and NO 72 hours to read legislative language? So much for “Fancy Nancy’s” pledge to post the legislation. Sounds like politics as usual to me. The Republicans prepare to release 230 pages that doesn’t have the teeth the people want. Universal coverage, including pre-existing conditions. The CBO however did say that the Republican plan will decrease costs by 10% and reduce the deficit by $68 Billion. Not add 1.2 trillion to the debt. It still lacks the teeth of denial of coverage reform though.

It’s not really about the number of people covered. If that was the case the Democrats shouldn’t settle for only 20% more coverage. It’s not about forcing people to buy insurance. That’s only another form of tax hike and constitutionally questionable as “health” doesn’t appear in the Constitution. The secrete that is kept is that if all insurance companies HAD to cover people then coverage REALLY expands. If insurance companies could attract customers from other states then coverage expands AGAIN!

Current legislation adds 1.2 Trillion dollars to the debt of you and your kids. Want to see what that looks like? As of Nov 03, 2009 at 08:04:51 PM GMT the National debt is $11,907,922,079,519.11. The estimated population of the United States is 307,220,800 so each citizen’s share of this debt (regardless of AGE) is $38,760.12. Don’t you just LOVE math! I do! So new mothers, keep in mind this applies to your newborn as well.

So I ask you this simple question. Are you REALLY for change? I’m personally for a change for the better! Not just for the sake of change. Not a change to make healthcare paperwork look like the IRS forms we all file. I’m for spending responsibly, not saddling our future with a football field of debt. Real change, substantive change, not just more political pie in the sky and everyone gets a piece change. That’s politics as usual, and that’s not what we were promised.

Time for my exam! I hope they ask me to turn my head and cough.

Consti.

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I had gotten annoyed at a certain writer for, what I had viewed, using my article as a “soapbox” for preaching to my choir. After further thought, however, and after getting advice from an unexpected source (John Chow, page 14), I now realize that I was wrong.

If a person can spend what must amount to several minutes and several paragraphs refuting something I have said, then I, as a writer, should be thankful due to the fact that I have triggered even one person’s passion, regardless of whether or not the response is negative or positive.

Leonard Nimoy wrote an autobiography in 1977 titled “I Am Not Spock”. Later, he lived to regret it since he had gone to such pains to deny America Spock at a time when they were craving and demanding the character. Obviously, I am no Spock or even a Nimoy, but I can learn from his experience as well.

Though I’ve been writing seriously for about two years and am still in the position where I would like to increase my reader base – particularly because I feel that it is important for people to hear what I have to say – I never again want to be so dim as to not see an interest in my material when it is right before my eyes.

So, if I write something that really ticks you off, I hope it is only because of the content of the material, and not my reaction to what you might have to say. After all, I not only value the fact that some of you take time to read my articles, but comment on them as well.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’m turning my back on some good, old-fashioned dissent!

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