Obama/devil no coincidence

Not the Devil

By Jeff Stevens

I hate to say it, but the likeness of the Bible miniseries' devil to the president is no coincidence. I thought about this for a while because, frankly, I really didn't want to believe someone would do something so sinister. But upon reflection, I just don't see how any other truth is possible.

Here's my case.

1. President Barack Obama is arguably the most recognizable person in the entire world for the past five years. You don't get to be the first black president in American history and not have everyone know what you look like. Hell conservative talk show hosts are the dumbest humans alive and even they know what Obama looks like. And even though the producers of the Bible show are from the British Isle, they work in Hollywood. They know what the president looks like.

2. They cast the show and had to know the guy they picked looked the president.

3. Unless this is the first program in recorded history not to go through edits, they saw the devil during edits and had to see the resemblance then even if they missed it during casting and filming.

So even if they didn't do it on purpose, they knew a long time ago they were representing the devil as someone who looked like the president. They could have changed it at several points and didn't. Which means that they did do it on purpose. This is sinister, ugly, immoral, unpatriotic at the least and possibly even treasonous. What these "good Christian people" did was basically portray the president as the devil and they did it on purpose.

So you have to ask, 'Why would they do something so wrong?'

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey both claim to be devout Christians. I heard them say so just two weeks ago on the Glen Beck Show, ran by that other great Christian who spreads hate and evil across the airwaves. The problem is, I've encountered more than one Christian who truly believes Obama is the devil. I even attended church in New Mexico and heard a pastor say, "Everytime I see that man on television, I see a shadow of evil behind him." The pastor was encouraged with hearty "Amens" from the crowd.

So maybe the show's creators really believe Obama is the devil and they are just doing their Christian duty by alerting the world with subliminal messaging. In which case they are morons and should be placed in some sort of facility that protects ignorant and delusional people from hurting themselves and others.

The real reason, however, these fine Christians made the devil look like Obama is that it's just good old fashioned bidness. They cast Obama as the devil because it's good marketing. You can't argue that it has created lots of Buzz, everyone in America is talking about The Bible series. You can bet next Sunday even more people will be watching the show. Internet hits on the topic are through the roof. And most importantly the Obama/devil scheme will be selling DVDs until Jesus comes back.

Given the shows creators Downey (from Ireland) and Burnett (from England) would attack the President of the United States so openly for profit might even be seen as seditious. I'd argue it's treasonous. It's distasteful, tacky, un-American. It might be even seen as an attack by a foreign power.

What it isn't however, is very Christian. Or maybe it is. Because like most Christians I've encountered, Burnett and Downey should maybe promote the Bible less and read it a little more.

Related articles

• Obama As The Devil? The History Channel's The Bible's Stunning Look-alike
• International Uproar - Mark Burnett Casts Obama As Satan In The History Channel's 'The Bible'
• Does History Channel's Devil in "The Bible," Played by Mehdi Ouzaani, Resemble President Obama?
• What the devil? UPDATE: The devil did it!
• TV: Newswire: The Bible says Barack Obama is the devil, according to people who have already been saying that for years

A PSA from my favorite JAP

When corporations can be classified as people, the constitution no longer has meaning. The constitution  is by definition a roadmap of equality. Once a corporation is included as equal with people, the person no longer has equality because the person can longer hope to enforce their own equality. In other words I can't beat Chuck Norris in an ass whipping contest no matter what the constitution says about it.

Ideological hypocrisy from Rand Paul

By Jeff Stevens
pSSdOffPatriot

Like so many other conservatives, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is in favor of limited government and the constitution unless of course more government and defying the constitution would enforce his morality.

Friday, Paul introduced a fetal personhood bill that would define life as beginning at conception. The bill is an attempt to end around the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalizes abortion.

English: Graph showing public support for Roe v. Wade over the years (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The Life at Conception Act legislatively declares what most Americans believe and what science has long known – that human life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore is entitled to legal protection from that point forward,” Paul said in a statement. “ The right to life is guaranteed to all Americans in the Declaration of Independence and ensuring this is upheld is the Constitutional duty of all Members of Congress"

In addition to wanting to ignore the Supreme Court regarding abortion, Paul supports amendment that would prohibit same sex marriage. I hate to point out the obvious but such laws are absolutely against the idea of limited government. You can't say, I want less government for the things I don't like and more government to enforce the things I do like.

That's the whole problem with government and it's the basis of the constitution. No matter how much the world moves forward, we will never have a unanimous coalition about anything. It's why American Democracy is the best thing invented yet for government. It allows us all to live in a society of equality. It provides for change when enough of us agree that change is just and necessary and it protects the unpopular along with the popular. 

The American Constitution was designed by men who didn't agree. It was written, argued, fought, argued and fought anew by men with widely varying views about what was important. I digress.

The point, of course, is that Paul has been a staunch libertarian in most areas of politics. It's shameful that he would take such an anti libertarian stance as to create more government for no other reason than his belief that his God doesn't like abortion or gays.

But hey, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt if he'll do one thing for me. If he can get his God to come to Congress and give testimony on why he doesn't like abortion or gays, I'll come out in favor of banning both. 

One other point, I find it hilarious that Paul would cite science as his reasoning for presenting this bill now, when conservatives and Republicans alike deny so much that science has proved. For instance, science has proved homosexuality is not a choice but a "scientifically" unavoidable reality. Science has proved that too much carbon in the atmosphere is heating up the world. Science has proved the Bible assertion that the world is only 10,000 years old absurd. 

Of course science like religion and assault weapons is only as good as the kook who wields it.

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rand_Paul.htm

This link provides a rundown on how Rand Paul stands on most political issues.

Related articles

• Tea Party Senator Rand Paul Seeks To Ban Abortion Completely With New Fetal Personhood Bill
• Sen. Rand Paul introduces 'fetal personhood' bill to outlaw abortion
• Rand Paul Is Back To Being a Fascist Asshole
• Rand Paul at CPAC: "This Government is Totally Out of Control"

GOP has warped ideas about America

English: Official portrait of US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Jeff Stevens
Marco Rubio spoke at CPAC Thursday and among the other misinformed things he had to say was this, “We don’t need a new idea. There is an idea. The idea is called America.”

He actually stumbled into being right in the wrong way. America is the idea. And America chose Barack Obama legally, by a vote of a majority of Americans. That’s the idea that was formed two centuries ago.

But conservatives don’t agree with a majority of Americans. They don’t believe in the ideas of America which was to establish a government aimed at equality for all people, a voice for all people and a government for, by and of the people assembled legally within our borders.

Those ideas have twice now resulted in a government led by Barack Obama. They don’t like that. And in their infinite wisdom handed down by a magician in the sky no one has ever seen and no science has ever revealed, they have decided the majority is wrong. They have decided the idea of America is wrong.

They have an idea that says money is more important than votes. They believe religion is more important than equality for all. They believe a lot of things that are good for a few but bad for the many.

So they get together in Maryland and plot and scheme on how to cheat, steal, lie and outright deprive the rest of us from the true ideas of America. They concoct ways to rob the low of their vote because when the low vote, the mighty suffer. Republicans represent the mighty and so they sue to classify corporations as citizens, giving them undue power. They gerrymander districts and scheme plans to keep minorities and the elderly away from the polls. They seek to destroy every institution that battles in defense of their enemies. They funnel money into propaganda organizations to distort the facts. These are the ideas of America? Of course not. And in fact, a close inspection of how Republicans are operating today has much more in common with the National Socialist Party of Germany.

I find this funny, and dangerous because Republicans are quick to compare Obama to Hitler. However, I say again Hitler was out of step with the majority and schemed to use the government legally to put himself in power. He never would have gained power without the financial backing of the largest German corporations.

But to them, these are perfectly justified, because they are working in the service of God and righteousness. And in that service, isn’t any thing fair? Maybe, but it’s not American

Related articles

• 2016 auditions begin at CPAC
• Ryan fifth, Walker sixth in GOP straw poll
• Can GOP reciprocate Obama's bipartisan outreach?

Gay rights gain traction in Texas, among Baptists

Rainbow flag. Symbol of gay pride. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Jeff Stevens

It’s official hillbillies have lost the fight. They are going to have to allow gay people to be classified as people entitled to the same rights as the rest of us. I know, I know. It’s really going to piss off the Tea Party which still hasn’t forgiven the rest of us for the cardinal sin of electing a black guy to the presidency.
http://equalityfederation.salsalabs.com/o/35034/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9072

Whether they like it or not, two of the most backwards groups on earth have come out in favor of gay marriage -Texans and Southern Baptists. A recent poll by Equality Texas (a gay rights group) showed 47.9 percent of Texans, versus 47.5 support gay marriage.  A narrow margin to be sure., but bear in mind this is Texas and those two tenths of a percentage point might as well be the Palo Duro Canyon.

But even more shocking, 64 percent of Southern Baptists agree that same sex marriage will become legal. Both polls have the LGBT community seeing rainbows. As for myself, I think it’s a step in the right direction.

What bothers me though is the fact we are even having a debate. This is America after all, land of the free and home of the brave. But the very idea that some members of our society are denied rights readily available to the rest of us indicates we are neither free nor brave. Other nations don’t take us seriously when we try to force our democracy on them, because to them we have no credibility. We say, freedom is for everyone, except this group and that group and this other group.

I say freedom should be for everyone. I say discrimination should be used against no one, well except maybe Republicans. Seriously, the only justification I’ve ever heard for denying gays the same rights as everyone else is the Bible. I also heard God was about love. It’s a message his followers haven’t heard.

Not having the ability to get married, cheats homosexuals out of insurance benefits, tax benefits, inheritance rights and just the human right of truly sharing one’s life with another soul through a lifetime commitment. If your God is against that then maybe you should start interviewing for a new one or you can move. Because the same principles, the same constitution and the same Bill of Rights, that give you the freedom to worship who and how you choose, also guarantee the rest of us the rights to live, worship and love who and how we want.

Related articles

• Boehner: 'I can't imagine' supporting a gay son's marriage
• Southern Baptists Convention's Embarrassing Poll
• POLL: 64% Believe Same-Sex Marriage Is Coming To America, Like It Or Not

Why is the right silent on prosecuting banks?

President Barack Obama listens as Vice President Joe Biden (left) presents the report on the Roadmap to Recovery as he meets with his Cabinet in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, June 8, 2009. Looking on at right are Attorney General Eric Holder and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The gutless shills at FoxNews and RushRadio will call President Barack Obama every ugly name in the book for such awful crimes as ending White House Tours. But when the president and his Department of Justice engage in everything but justice concerning banking criminals, oddly they have nothing to say. You have to ask yourself why.

The GOP and conservative commentators have tried to position themselves as the great defenders of the constitution. However, Attorney General Eric Holder's admission that banks are just too big to prosecute threatens the constitution and America's rule of law more than anything since the Civil War. Yet nothing is being said. No Senate filibusters from the right, no indignant muckraking from the great windbag Limbaugh, nothing.

The reason is obvious. The right is in the pocket of the criminals who destroyed the world economy. The crooks pad the campaign chests of Republicans. The crooks, pay the advertising budgets that keep Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck and Roger Ailes in fine cigars and eating at expensive restaurants.

Pay attention America. Almost half of you pretend that the right is on the side of America. But the last week's events have proven one thing and one thing only. Socialism is not the greatest fear of Americans. The greatest fear is slavery, bondage, feudalism. When one segment of a society is above the law, then the rest of us have no chance of justice.

Boycott anyone who doesn't demand equality for all citizens. Demand your government hold the banks criminally liable for their theft. The financial crisis of 2008 did not occur in a vacuum. The causes of our financial depression are not mysterious. We know what happened. We know who is responsible. Demand they be held accountable.

In most states in the country, if you get pulled over with weed in your car, you will go to jail for no other reason than rich, white Christian Republicans have decided Jesus doesn't like marijuana. So how in God's name can the biggest criminals in world history be left to commit more crimes against America. That is the real tragedy. The banks literally got away with murder and they are still committing crimes. Why wouldn't they? If I had a free pass to steal trillions of dollars, I'd do likewise.

Actually, I wouldn't as a poor person, I still labor under a yoke of morality and responsibility to my fellow man that just doesn't apply to the rich.

Demand justice for all or law for none. How can our democracy stand if law doesn't apply to all?

Related articles

• Attorney General Holder refuses to do his job
• Welcome to the new feudalism
• SEC Nominee Signals Cautious Approach to Prosecuting Banks
• Holder: Banks too big to prosecute
• Realities behind prosecuting big banks

Attorney General Holder refuses to do his job

Well I hate to say the Republicans were right. But there seems to be no way around it. The Obama administration has brought about the end of our democracy. Of course, it didn't happen the way the GOP predicted. And in fact, it has occurred in a way that benefits them.

It didn't come about as a result of revolution or the total collapse of the economy (GOP can still take credit for that) or an across the board implementation of Socialism. Our democracy was cratered by Attorney General Eric Holder and his absolute abdication of his duty as the nation's top cop, Wednesday, when he told a Senate committee that some banks are just too big to prosecute.

"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions become so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge it will have an negative impact on the national economy and perhaps the world economy and I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large," Holder said Wednesday.

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Where can you even begin to answer such an egregious statement? I'll try anyway. First of all, sometimes you're job is hard. Get over it and do the job you accepted. Because when the Attorney General of the United States abdicates his responsibilities, the very foundation of our democracy suffers.

As to the effects of the economy, our economy imploded in 2008 because of the crimes committed by these very banks. On their heads are the suffering of millions of Americans without jobs, millions of children going to bed with growling stomachs, millions of mothers and fathers faced with hard choices about how to feed their children and provide a roof. Millions of families were left homeless and the entire world economy put into turmoil. Yet, the attorney general of the United States of America has the audacity to look those Americans in the eye, most of which have abode the law of the land their entire lives, and tell them they don't deserve justice. And why don't they deserve justice? "Well you see, our government was lax in its responsibility to uphold the laws prohibiting monopolies and we just let them get so big, nothing can be done about it now."

Again I say bullshit. If these banks are too big to prosecute under the law, then they are too big to enjoy the protection of the law. Every day, the courts, supported by taxpayer dollars, are used by these same banks to evict families from their homes. Every day, somewhere in America, a sheriff's deputy paid by tax dollars, is sent to a home to throw women and children and all their belongings onto the street all in the service of a bank that is too big to prosecute.

So if Eric Holder is going to maintain that these banks are too big to prosecute, he should declare that banks no longer have the protection of law. It should be declared legal to rob banks. The law should no longer be used to protect the property they stole. And if you decide to just whip the living dog shit out of a banker, he shouldn't be able to file assault charges against you. My point is that if the law doesn't apply equally to everyone, then it has no function and anarchy must be the end result.

To quote a Kris Kristofferson song, "I want mercy, but I'll settle for justice." Unfortunately, Eric Holder will give you neither.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Welcome to the new feudalism

In case you are a Republican and have found yourself reading this blog, first let me define feudalism for you. n. a medieval system of land tenure with allegiance and service due to the land owner. Ah hell, never mind, you probably won't even understand the definition. I'm not trying to be hateful, but let's face it, if you are still a Republican after 2000, you have to be mentally deficient. And if you're still a Republican after 2008, then you must be brain dead.

Remember the years from 2000 until 2008 are what ushered in the end of American democracy where George W. Bush, used the lives of poor Americans to steal oil from the Middle East, when he handed over the keys of the nation to the richest Americans, left millions homeless and then stole $3 trillion to bail out his cronies in the banking industry.

Sorry, buried the lead. Because what this post is really about is the fact that now Attorney General Eric Holder and by proxy President Barack Obama are on the record as saying that if you are rich you have rights and if you are poor, you don't. I'm speaking of Holder's confession, Wednesday, that if you are rich enough, the law just doesn't apply to you. And if you are a bank, the federal government will even hold the door for you while you steal everything and anything the poorest Americans have.

Holder said, some banks are just too big to prosecute, no matter how sinister their crimes, because it might negatively affect the economy. The problem is Holder's reasoning and apparently the entire Department of Justice's reasoning is just wrong.

Either we are a nation of laws or we are not. If we are a nation of laws, then those laws must apply to everyone, from the guy blowing leaves for $8 an hour to the crooks who run big Wall Street banks. If we are not a nation of laws, then that's okay too. I am more than happy to compete with the pasty faced banker from a standpoint of Jungle Law. What I am not willing to do is compete in an arena where I have different rules and am then told by the people who purchase their advantage that I am deficient because I can't overcome those rules.

But to say banks and bankers are too big to prosecute, is just dishonest and the truth is there is no reason why prosecuting big finance should be detrimental to the economy. If I commit a crime, the government can come in and take my house, my car, and everything I own if they can prove it was used in the commission of a crime. They will then auction off everything I once owned to some rich guy waiting in the wings to profit from my misfortune.

The same laws can be applied to banks. If the DOJ can prove that Bank of America or Morgan Stanley or HCSB (which isn't even an American Bank) committed crimes, we can seize all their assets. We can auction off those assets, we can federally take control as if nothing ever happened or we can parcel it out into smaller banks across the country. In fact, that is exactly what we should do. We should prosecute every bank,that needed a bailout, take their assets and create small and medium sized banks across the country. The end result would be a stronger economy and one that is not subject to the avarice of a tiny portion of the overall population.

And bear in mind that when Theodore Roosevelt took on the giant trusts of his day, those guys are cried and squealed that to bust the trusts would throw the economy into turmoil. Turns out the economy did just fine. The only ones who suffered then were the robber barons. Of course they figured out another way to exact their revenge in 1929.

My final point is this. History, for anyone who will take the time to study it, teaches us that greed unchecked is bad and that without safeguards it will find a way to express itself. I am no enemy of Capitalism. But Capitalism without morality, legislated or not, is as sure a failure as any brand of Socialism.

http://www.campaignforfairsettlement.org/100_days

If Obama were canonized GOP would call God an ass

Once again, the GOP showed this week that they have no principles other than hating the president. President Barack Obama closed tours of the White House this week because doing so would save the federal government between $18,000 and $70,000 a week. One would think this move would make Republicans happy. They've advocated cutting education, Medicaire, Medicaid, Unemployment benefits and defunding Obamacare. In fact, Republicans have come out in favor of cutting anything from the budget that doesn't directly put money in the pockets of their billionaire donors. However, cutting the budget by closing the White House tours really got their dander up.

 

In fact, the partisan website "Hot Air" had this to say.

The White House’s transparently petty decision to inflict sequester’s pain on America’s middle-schoolers (as if those years aren’t tough enough) revealed its sequestration doomsaying as silly and its post-doomsaying behavior as spiteful.

Yet Republicans are more than willing to deprive those same middle schoolers of food, education and healthcare. What a bunch of asshats. At least Hot Air is honest in it's name which proclaims proudly that everything they say is just so much intestinal gas.

If closing White House tours saves that much money, then so much the better. Either we are spending beyond our means, which no one can argue, or we are not. If we are, cut everything that isn't absolutely necessary. Cut Congressional salaries, cut their staffs, cut their benefits, cut the military and by all means cut the $100 billion a year we spend in corporate welfare. Cut it to the mutha effing bone.

Americans are hurting, (50 million unemployed). The one in four American children on food stamps won't be visiting the White House this year. I have no sympathy if the other three don't get to see the White House.

But of course, Republicans don't really care about White House tours. What they care about is pushing their lies that Obama is bad. Get informed America. Corporate America and the Republican's are responsible for our current crisis and they will tell any lie to finish the job they began under George W. Bush of enslaving average Americans.

Dear GOP God says its a sin not to support Obama

The GOP uses the Bible to justify denying gays the right to marry. They use it to justify their arguments against abortion. They use it to justify their subjugation of women. They use it to justify their hatred of everyone who doesn't goose step their tune. They use it to deny global warming, science, human decency and progress.

The GOP and Christians can find a Bible passage to make almost any ridiculous assertion to keep the human race in the dark ages. But when it comes to showing a Black president even the smallest degree of respect, all of a sudden these hypocrites don't seem to know what the Bible says.

So I'll tell them. Romans 13:1. "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."

Now I'd like to be able to cut these great devout Christians some slack over this oversight. Unfortunately, while their president George W. (kill all the world's brown people) Bush was picking wars all over the planet, preachers nationwide were reminding their congregations of this little fact. So, they know what the Bible says. Which means, one can only be left with one conclusion. Christians hate black people so much, they would rather burn in hell than respect them.

Dow is up, middle class still down

Yeah! The stock market has hit a brand new high. That must mean the recession is over. Unemployment is just a scary legend of the past used to scare the young into productivity. Inflation has deflated and gas prices are reasonable again. Home prices are up and credit is easier to find than a conservative talk show host that lies.

Oh wait a minute. Nope same as yesterday and last year and last decade, the rich are still getting richer and the rest of us are still getting poorer. Which is still something no one talks about. The recession hasn't hurt rich people and in fact they are doing better than ever. If the 2012 election is any indication, the rich are doing so well they have billions of extra dollars to spend in no other effort except to elect other rich people to push their agenda of keeping the system fixed in their favor.

And there are very specific reasons for that. Let me take you back a few hundred years when there were feudal lords and serfs. In those days, the serfs toiled from sunup till down and never found a way out of their poverty because their labor was tribute to bolster their wealthy landlords. Turns out those wealthy landowners had no interest in changing that system either.The reason then is the same as now, the system benefited them.

The rich argue they should pay lower taxes because they need their money to create jobs. But they are making more money than ever and creating fewer jobs and the jobs they create produce lower wages. I can't figure out what the argument is that has created so many monopolies in a country where monopolies were outlawed 100 years ago by Theodore Roosevelt but they exist nonetheless. They argue they need fewer regulations to boost the economy. They wail they are hamstrung by too stringent laws, like prohibitions on air quality and fair, safe working conditions. Unions and minimum wage laws choke their profits, blah blah blah ad nauseum.

And yet they blame the poor people for not doing their fair share, not paying enough taxes, not tightening their belts enough, not working hard enough. That's a fun game. I bet the rapist would love to get out of jail for blaming the girl for being so rapable. The thief would love to blame the bank for being so robbable. And the murderer would love to blame the dead guy for needing to be killed.

But the rich even have an answer for the best argument. It must be just or God wouldn't let it happen.

Liberal Media, my broke ass

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about the liberal media. There is absolutely no such thing as a liberal media and in fact almost all media is conservative or Republican or more to the point Capitalist. In other words 99.9% of all media is in favor of the rich (Republicans) and diametrically opposed to the poor (Democrats). And if not for the independence of the Internet, PBS and the BBC, it would be virtually impossible to get any real news in America.

Unlike conservative radio talk show hosts, I won't just make some blanket statement and then fail to prove it. First of all, virtually every newspaper, radio and television station in America is owned by corporations, the same corporations who suffer by higher taxes enacted by President Barack Obama. If you took basic economics you know that corporations are in the business of making money, not in reporting the news. Whether you know it or not, the corporations know it and are actively in that business and only passively in the news business. In fact, news is the least of any corporations primary concern and a quick reference to the facts will prove it.

Six companies control 90 percent of all media in the country: Time Warner, Disney, General Electric, Viacom, CBS and News Corp. That's a veritable who's who of Socialist supporters? Nonetheless, these are the people, Limbaugh and the like refer to as the liberal media. These are the folks he and his ilk claim refuse to hold Obama to the fire.

How could anyone convince themselves that these companies support Obama?

The reality is much different because in fact, these are the companies that refused to ask George W. Bush the tough questions, like "Why are we in Iraq, Where are the WMD's, Why did you lie to us, Why did you destroy the world economy?????" They also contributed heavily to Bush's and Romney's campaigns.

Like I said the reality is that there is no Liberal Media only a conservative media and your media has one aim, to protect the power of corporations over the labor force. The media is owned by the very people who have destroyed the middle class while gathering more money and power to themselves. To claim anything else is propaganda.

A couple of links for further study
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00000286
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/47530.php
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

And perhaps the best book to explain the how and why and all the nuts and bolts of the media's incestuous relationship with the elite is Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent.

Proof Republicans are dirty rotten scoundrels

Who are  Republicans?

I think I can make a pretty good case that they don't pay their taxes and they can't control their children. This is both funny and disgusting. This is especially disgusting since not paying any taxes is their accusation against anyone who isn't rich or doesn't agree with them. And unruly children is another fun fact, given Republicans want to insist on setting the conduct for the rest of the world.

Here's my case.

As I wrote Wednesday, I've spent a lot of time listening to conservative radio this week for several reasons. 1. It's a good source off material
2. There isn't much liberal talk on the radio
3. Conservative talk show morons are so dishonest and say things so ridiculous it becomes really good comedy.

But I discovered an even more important reason to listen: commercials and their revealing clues to who listens to this stuff.

You may not like advertisements but they are a foolproof indicator of audience. Advertisers have a limited number of dollars to reach their prospective clients and an unlimited marketplace by which to reach that audience. So naturally, they have to be as targeted with their advertising dollars as humanly possible.They target to the minute detail to ferret out who will buy their product. This microtargeting was a strategy used by Machiavellian Evil Genius Karl Rove to put and keep George W. Bush in the White House.

Rove's patented strategies will endure - Jeanne Cummings - POLITICO.com

(Excerpt from above link, published on POLITICO.com August 2007) 

Microtargeting became the rage of the 2004 campaign after Rove green-lighted a project to use a wider array of databases to identify potential Bush voters. The campaign bought data that allowed it to cross-reference religious affiliations, shopping habits and club memberships to unearth pockets of Bush supporters in normally hostile or inscrutable areas.

All of the major campaigns today are buying up similar lists to help them scratch out every possible voter and deliver direct mail messages tuned specifically to their interests.

What that means is ads on conservative radio are targeted at that audience and some of the most frequent advertising on conservative radio is for a program called Total Transformation (a program for people with children out off control). and for companies who help people get the IRS off their backs.Another front runner is for identity theft, which makes sense because if you don't pay your taxes or spend so little time with your children that they become delinquents, then you probably have more money for identity thieves to steal.

So the next time you hear a Conservative put themselves up as a good Christian defending God and country from the dirty liberals you'll know that at least from an advertising standpoint, the truth may be a bit more mirky.

While I'm on the subject of advertising, every American who believes in free speech, the constitution and the Democratic idea that our entire system is based on the idea of majority rule, should actively boycott any company that advertises on conservative radio and the Fox Propaganda Network.

Thanks for reading. Please leave comments, even if its how to improve my blog.  And follow me on Twitter @pSSdOffPatriot

Liars, filthy, nasty, UnAmerican liars

In expression of my masochistic tendencies I’ve been listening to Sean Hannity for the past week and this guy is some piece of work. If he ever tells the truth, it’s by accident. (Disclaimer: I actually heard him do something I actually respected. I put it here, because if I put it at the bottom, no one will likely see it.) But the biggest lie he tells is that Obama has expanded the federal deficit by $6 trillion and then claims he’s raised the budget more than all the other presidents combined.

Hannity’s lies resulted in Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison trying to take him to task on FoxNews Tuesday night, calling Hannity a lying immoral yellow journalist. But when Hannity asked him how he had lied, Ellison, a Democrat, couldn’t answer the question even though he was right.

Here’s the answer.

When Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009 the federal deficit was $10.6 trillion. When Bush took over, the deficit was $5.7 trillion. In other words Bush doubled the federal deficit and that doesn’t account for the fact that his policies affected the deficit well into 2009. Bush policies were still in effect through the fiscal year which was October 2008 until September 2009. The Congressional Budget Office had predicted that the 2009 fiscal year, which was still a result of Bush policies, increased the deficit another $1.3 trillion in 2009. So Bush was actually responsible for $11.9 trillion in debt when he left.

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/41753

But shrub’s responsibility goes even further. Republicans are always eager to compare the average family budget with the federal budget. But somehow these dimwits forget to understand that the average family has to pay interest on their debt. The point: a conservative estimate for the interest on the debt Bush left puts us at about $350 billion a year in interest alone. Or for the four plus years of Obama’s presidency, we’ve paid another $1.2 trillion plus in interest bringing Bush’s responsibility to a conservative $13.2 trillion.

At the worst, Obama has increased the deficit by no more than $3 trillion. And even that is stretching it because we were still paying for the wars Bush started.

As to Hannity, no fact supports the statement that Obama has increased the deficit more than any other president. That distinction belongs to George W. Bush. And given that Bush’s policies destroyed the entire world economy and put the entire human society in jeopardy of failure, $3 trillion seems a paltry sum to avert complete system failure.

Ellison doesn’t get off the hook though. He’s a congressman for God’s sake. If you’re going to go on TV and challenge a guy on his own show on his own network, you damn well better be able to defend your position. All Ellison did was look like an ass and make the rest of the world think Democrats don’t know anything.

Now that I’ve called Hannity a dirty rotten liar, I will say this. I heard his show last week when a poverty stricken woman called in to whine about how broke she was and Hannity offered to give her $1,000 for supplies to start her own business and she wouldn’t accept it. He offered this woman a hand up and she turned it away. I will admit some grudging respect for Hannity’s offer.

As wrong as Republicans are on almost everything, they do have one idea that has merit. Work has merit and work building up your own business has the greatest merit of all. Unfortunately, most of America can’t be bothered to take responsibility for their own lives and this woman demonstrated that. None of us can hide from our responsibility and if we would all work a little harder and laze a little less, our deficits would be a thing of the past.

Sequester Away

Sequester away
The new year brought us the fiscal cliff which passed with barely a speed bump. Today the boogie man is sequestration. Obama is out preaching all manner of evils will befall us and Speaker John Boehner is calling the president every name but the one he reserves for private talks.  The media is doing its part to spread the word of the Emperor’s new clothes.

Unfortunately, I can’t muster much strength to care. We’re talking about two percent in across the board  cuts. Frankly if we can’t manage such a pitiful cut in our national budget, our problems are much bigger than anything that’s being discussed. And as much as I respect the president and empathize with him for all the absolute mistreatment and disrespect he has to deal with every day, I’m not accepting the idea that the sequestration is all that bad.

First of all, most Americans don’t have to wait until Friday to feel the effects of the economic crisis. The worst off Americans have already lost their homes while banks pocketed a profit. They lost their jobs. They have tightened their belts. They have done their part.

What’s going to be affected? The Transportation Security Administration.  This is an agency that didn’t even exist until Republican George W. Bush created it, adding 47,000 federal jobs. And as much as I appreciate providing jobs for small people with a large degree of self importance, it was never necessary. The World Trade Center didn’t get bombed because we didn’t have morons with undue power to subvert American rights. The Trade Center was bombed because Bush and the Republicans ignored warnings that Al Queda was planning an attack on the United States.

And if TSA cuts cause longer lines at the airport, I don’t give a crap. I’m poor. I don’t fly enough for it to make any difference in my life whatsoever. I suspect most of America’s poor and former middle class are in the same situation. So should I care that rich people will experience longer lines at the airport? NO, NO, NO.

They say we won’t be able to defend ourselves. Bullcrap. The United States spent $711 Billion last year in defense. China came in second with $143 Billion. The U.S. spent more than the next 10 other countries combined among the top military spenders. In other words, we can afford the cuts to the military. Given that China is the largest potential military threat in the world and only spends $143 Billion, it appears we can afford to cut a bunch from the military.

And besides, quite frankly I’m tired of my tax dollars being spent to kill the world’s poor people in order to enrich capitalists, many of which aren’t even American capitalists. We spend too much on military. We spend too much on military. We spend way too freaking much on the military. We are supposed to be a Christian nation. So why for the love of God do we spend $711 billion every year to kill people. The only possible answer is that we are a Christian nation that has no concept of what Christianity is. And finally, I bet if we spent $711 billion a year on diplomacy or bringing Democracy to the nations of earth, there would be no need for any military. EVOLVE. All human life is equal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

And one more point. So far, the richest Americans have done just fine since 2008. The only people who have suffered were already poor when the Republicans started this mess. I think it’s high time to spread the equality of austerity far and wide. So for my part, I say sequester away. The budget needs to be cut and frankly I don’t care from where the cuts come. Times are tough but it seems to me they’ve been tougher for the majority. It’s time the feudal lords felt some belt tightening.

Follow me on Twitter at pSSdOffPatriot. Please leave comments. Given that I'm not a Republican, have an open mind, and desire a free exchange of ideas I always seek intelligent debate.

Knowledge, knowledge everywhere and not a drop to think

Information surrounds us. It bombards us from boxes and boxes everywhere. It blares, it assaults, slaps,  rings, beeps, it leaks in and sneaks up,,,everywhere. So much information, yet we may be the most ignorant generation of humans to ever inhabit the planet.

It was not the Democrats, nor Obama that set the world on its present course. Despite protestations from the right, every problem America currently faces is a direct result of corporate greed and the Bush administrations loyal service to it.

Banks killed the economy. Banks put ten percent of the population out of work. Banks forced businesses to close. Banks destroyed the housing market. Banks bankrupted millions and put 100s of millions more in a tighter financial situation than what is comfortable. And the Republicans helped them do it by creating an environment that allowed it. By looking the other way. By making it legal to do things that should have been illegal.

Banks perpetrated the greatest crime in American history and got away with it. Because the average human has no clue what a mortgage backed security is; much less how it’s the source of all the world’s financial ills; these crooks have no fear of ever facing their responsibility.

Be clear America. Bush, the GOP and American corporate greed put us where we are today. And somehow the same failed policies that put us here are still being preached as the savior.

Just last week, New Mexico Republican Congressman Steve Pearce tweeted that the folks at Washington Federal wanted fewer regulations.

Great tell them, America’s tax payers want their money back.

And before you tell me the banks paid back the $3 trillion they got in the bailouts, first let me say, “Bullshit!”

We’ll never really know because the way they got the money was so wonky, no one will ever really know. But that’s beside the point. The money stolen from the American taxpayer to prop up banks was for Toxic Asset Relief Program. In other words the money was for the houses for which they had loaned too much money.

What they got to keep was $3 trillion in real property. They still foreclosed on the houses occupied by the very tax payers who got robbed to protect the banks from their crimes. And they still collected mortgage payments from the ones lucky enough to hold onto their homes. And while all this was going on, Republicans were screaming bloody murder and crying that Obama was going to socialize the banks.

He should have. That’s right. I said Obama should have socialized the banks.

They were criminals who committed a crime so large that the only way to avoid total system failure was to steal $3 trillion from hard working people and give it to the very people who caused the problem. Once the problem was averted, they should have been punished. The banks should have been socialized and all their directors stood before a firing squad and executed on CNN.

I’ll make no apologies for the statement. Kill one person in the process of stealing his wallet and you will get the chair in many U.S. states. Banks destroyed  millions of lives. And have no doubts that many actual hard working patriotic American lives ended because of the economic crisis. Banks and their directors deserve the harshest punishment our society allows.
.
Nothing I’ve said is new or news yet no one talks about this. Not the politicians, not the media right or left, no one.

So a couple of ideas. Since the banks caused our problems, make them fix it. If the deficit is a problem, tax the banks. If they don’t like it, they can trade jail time until it’s paid. I didn’t like it when they made me pay for their mistakes. So I don’t really care what they like. Banks are state sanctioned criminals and I want that status ended.

And as for you, America, for God’s sake learn. They robbed us because our economy can no longer function without these mega banks. You can fix that. Stop patronizing them. Put your money in gold or in your mattress.

Spend cash. Stop rewarding your oppressors for oppressing you.

Businesses, offer discounts for spending cash. You should do this anyway because the banks charge you 3% for processing a credit card.

And all of you should call your congressman today and demand these criminals be held responsible.