If you are still under the illusion that your vote counts in an American election, I urge you to take 40 minutes out of your day and watch the short documentary "Uncounted." This doc looks at the myriad ways in which California voters were thwarted at the polls, and how (surprise!) it all seemed to benefit Hillary Clinton. It should be shocking to anyone to learn about how unprepared volunteers are at polling places to answer even the simplest questions, to see how many registered voters were given provisional ballots that weren't counted that Tuesday, to try to comprehend how confusing some of the rules were and how frustrating all of this was for voters.
And the scariest part of all this is that this scenario was probably played out in other states as well. Our system of voting in America is not merely antiquated and confusing, it is being clearly manipulated in a variety of ways, through voter suppression tactics, hacked and corrupted voting machines, and partisan players within each state's voting hierarchy. I hope "Uncounted" disturbs you, because it should. We cannot let this stand.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Anatomy of a Primary: Sanders Got Screwed
To the surprise of no one who supported Bernie Sanders
during his primary run, analysis of the voting results by researchers
(including a paper by Axel Geijsel of Tilburg University, The Netherlands and
Rudolfo Cortes Barragan of Stanford University) show clearly that Sanders was
the victim of a rigged system. From our corporate media that virtually ignored
Sanders during the early months of his campaign to the Democratic National
Committee’s shameless crowning of Clinton long before the votes were counted to
the shady dealings of state democratic parties (such as California’s) that
aggressively worked to disenfranchise Sanders voters, the deck was stacked
against Bernie from the moment he made his announcement to run for the
nomination.
While the press was giving the buffoon Donald Trump billions
of dollars in free media exposure, it was ignoring Sanders and the huge,
enthusiastic crowds he was drawing all across America. My friends, no one has
to tell you that this is not how a democracy works.
Related to this is a documentary I just watched this morning
called “Spin.” It was made in 1995, but the theme of how the media manipulates
the message is as relevant as ever. The filmmaker who made Spin took a very
interesting and revealing approach to his subject matter. I didn’t know this,
and I don’t know if it’s still true today, but in 1995, you could use a
satellite dish to download feeds of raw video taken during television
broadcasts of breaks and downtime not edited for broadcast. For example, the
Larry King Show was huge in the nineties, and there are numerous clips of Larry
talking to guests during commercial breaks.
Anyway, these off-air segments are very revealing in several
ways. They clearly show how our news is both overtly and subtly managed, slanted
and sanitized for consumption, often not by outright propaganda, but by what’s
omitted. The news we see on television is the news the networks and cable
companies want us to see to be good little zombie consumers. Spin also shows
how political handlers help politicians “spin” uncomfortable topics or
questions as they are coached during breaks. And the documentary exposes the
sycophantic relationship between television personalities and politicians.
Larry King practically polished George HW Bush’s shoes during an interview.
In the twenty years since Spin was released, the news has
gone from bad to worse, democracy in America has died and the possibility
exists that Donald Trump could become President of the United States. Have a
nice day.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Alien Reptile People Are Real, And They're Voting for Trump
I am now thoroughly convinced that a portion of the world’s
population is in fact, made up of reptilians from another planet who are able
to take human form and call themselves by various names; Evangelical
Christians, political conservatives, Dominianists, white nationalists, Nazis,
Islamic fundamentalists and Trump supporters. While advanced enough to reach
the Earth from their galaxy, their mission is to destroy our planet from
within, using an ability to appear in human skin to sew the seeds of their
primitive, hateful beliefs among the people living on this blue marble.
How have I comet to accept this remarkable reality? The
reactions expressed by the far Right to the Orlando shooting cannot be coming
from actual human beings. No born and bred earthling would spew the callous,
disgusting, soulless bile that I am reading on various online comment sections.
Lead by the orange lizard himself, Donald Trump, the reptilian far right fringe
is infesting the Internet with its poisonous rhetoric, blaming the victims and
exposing their rotted, maggot riddled souls to the world.
The hypocrisy is beyond real human understanding. Christian
fundamentalists who claim they’d like nothing better than a holy war to wipe
Islam from the face of the earth, convey their grateful regards to the Muslim
who murdered the gays. Come on, people, you’ve got to decide who you hate more,
Muslims or gay people. Your wishy-washy attitude weakens your brand. The
reality that you cannot face is that you have far more in common with radical
Islamists than you do with the American LGBT community.
The tragedy of Orlando has brought the reptiles out from
under their rocks to disrupt the grief of tens of millions with inane, inhuman
observations that unmask their cold-blooded, brainless nature. Trump and his
hateful minions must be sent back into the darkness this November or the
reptile invasion of Earth will be complete, and the future of humans doomed.
Oh, and apologies to all home-grown reptiles.
Labels:
aliens,
bigotry,
Donal Trump,
Islam,
mass shootings,
Muslims,
Orlando shooting,
Reptilians
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
Windmills 1, Democracy 0
A note about yesterday’s primary vote here in California
that seems to exemplify the shady nature of the Democratic nomination process.
Both Katharine and I are registered to vote in California. We both received
confirmation of this, and we were sent a card notifying us of where to vote.
Despite this, when we went to our polling place, surprise, we weren’t on the
list. We were given “provisional” ballots that, instead of going through the
machine and being counted, were stuffed in an envelope and ended up god knows
where.
Of course, I can’t say if this was the result of any
shenanigans on the part of the Democratic Party, but the result is our votes
for Sanders were not counted yesterday. Since the beginning of the campaign for
the Democratic Presidential nominee, the process has been compromised,
controlled and co-opted by the DNC in conjunction with national media outlets
to anoint Hillary Clinton the Party’s champion in November.
It’s a no-win situation for Sander’s supporters. Despite the
obvious collusion between the Clinton campaign and the DNC, Sander’s supporters
who complain will be labeled as sore losers and conspiracy theorists by the
corporate media. Using every dirty trick at their disposal, the establishment
has won, as it was ordained long ago by America’s elites.
This ugly coronation called a campaign only serves to
reinforce the sad reality that America is an oligarchy, a country governed by
the rich for the rich, and Clinton is a bona fide, card-carrying member of the ruling
class. So far have we fallen that the choice given to us on election day will
be between a narcissistic, racist dictator-in-waiting and a morally bankrupt,
money-worshipping tool of the elites.
I thank Bernie Sanders for taking on the hapless job of
attacking the windmills. Though the odds were always against you, you fought
courageously and for all the right reasons.
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
I Understand the Futility of Voting in a Rigged System
So this morning I went through the motions of voting. I say, “went through the motions” because
yesterday, one of the major news services made the announcement that, based on
information from the nefarious and undemocratic Superdelegates, Hillary Clinton
had wrapped up the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. The announcement,
timed conveniently the Monday night before the California and other primaries,
is one more example of the political establishment hijacking the democratic
process to essentially install their candidate as the nominee.
This Presidential campaign cycle has already shown a glaring
light on our broken electoral system. Yes there’s Donald Trump, but the
problems I’m talking about are systemic issues that run across party lines to
rig the election in favor of America’s elites, whatever their party. This
campaign season the DNC has pulled out all the stops to assure Wall Street, K
Street and every street lined with multi-million dollar homes that they will
have one of their own sitting in the White House come January. The one percent can let out a sigh of relief
knowing it will be business as usual for the next four years under Clinton,
that greed will be rewarded and short-term profits over long-term stability
will still be the order of the day.
The only hope is that the Sanders revolution will continue
rolling on past the election, and that it will have energized young people to stay
in the trenches and fight for progressive ideals and candidates. We need to
cultivate younger candidates to run for offices at all levels of government around
the country and start making inroads into the old boy’s network that has a
stranglehold on our democratic institutions. Had this been a truly democratic
election, Sanders would have won, but the fight can’t stop here in defeat, but must
move on and grow stronger and smarter for the next battle.
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
Humanity’s Way Forward: Competition or Contributionism?
Over the past few weeks I’ve been sliding down the rabbit
hole of some very esoteric and controversial subject matter – the Sumerians,
alternative history, the origins of religious texts – and I came across a very
interesting guy named Michael Tellinger.
A South African, Tellinger is an author, researcher and speaker whose
area of exploration is extremely controversial and includes a mysterious tenth
planet called Niburu, actual giants on earth in our ancient past and the
incredibly advanced Sumerians, who were responsible for such “firsts” as the
first schools, the first proverbs and sayings, the first messiahs, the first Noah
and the Flood stories, the first legal precedents in court cases, the first
tale of a dying and resurrected god, the first funeral chants, first moral
ideas and the first concept of time, among other achievements.
If you haven’t already rolled your eyes
and moved on at this point, I appreciate your openness and thank you for
hanging in there. Let’s set aside Tellinger’s more controversial historical conclusions
for a moment, because out of his research and studies, he has created an
organization called the Ubuntu Liberation Movement. I’m new to this, and if you
want to know more about it just google the name, but the movement’s goals as I
understand them are to create societies from the ground up designed to release
humans from the systems and traditions that keep us more or less emotionally and
spiritually enslaved (to the benefit of the worlds elites), and this includes
money.
Tellinger argues that money, which also
originated in Sumeria, was created as a way to control and suppress human
interaction and, as we can clearly see today, is the force that allows the one
percent, a tiny fraction of the population, to control the wealth of the world,
and our quality of life. Tellinger envisions communities that do not use money, but rely on the latent and learned talents of all community members for
success, and are guided by the simple principal, “if it’s not good for
everyone, it’s not good at all.” Anyway, if it’s of interest to you, check out
their site. What I want to discuss further is Tellinger’s (and my own) views on
competition.
In Western societies, the idea that competition is a normal
and natural aspect of human life has been drilled into us for ages.
War is the ultimate competition, deciding who gets what plot of land and ruling
rights. From Gladiator fights to Darwin to baseball’s World Series to who gets
the corner office, the concept that competition is normal and necessary to human
progress is now simply taken for granted today. Tellinger, however, says no,
competition is actually destructive and demeaning, and is counterproductive to
real human progress. He argues that collaboration that incorporates contributionism, not competition, is the key
to our future survival.
Tellinger is certainly not the first person to point out the
problems with competition, but it still seems like a revolutionary idea to many
people. Just one look at the current situation on planet Earth, however, should
convince anyone that this is not really a controversial concept at all.
A major problem with competition versus contributionism is
that when you compete for something, you are far more likely to fail than to
win. Just as in Vegas, the odds are always against you. In most cases, there’s
only one winner who gets the coveted job, who can hold up the gold trophy,
who is able to deposit the big check. The vast majority of us are simply
expected to accept our status as losers and move on with our lives. In
addition, what we face under present day capitalism is not a level playing
field where everyone gets an equal chance to succeed, but a highly rigged
system where past winners already have tremendous advantages over the rest of
us. The elites who control things – the banks, Wall Street, world capitals –
are continuously perpetuating the myth that competition is the natural order of
the world, all to their continuing advantage, and our continuing enslavement.
Contributionism, according to Tellinger, is the way to break
the cycle of oppression and truly realize what it means to be human. And what
are our options? Our current course is leading the human race to
self-destruction. Can we put any hope in the idea that our ruling elites with
their powerful institutions will somehow have a change of heart and begin
working in the interests of the masses? We all know the answer to that.
Tellinger’s ideas are radical, and his Ubuntu Liberation
Movement is certainly below the radar of most people, but I believe there are
only two paths humans can take at this point in history: One is to continue on
our current march of endless war and conflict perpetuated by the elites for
their own gain or two, start from scratch. A new way forward for humanity has
to come from the bottom up, one community at a time. Tellinger’s idea of a
collaborative society unshackled from money and competition may not be the
answer, but to me it seems like a compelling start.
Monday, May 23, 2016
New Short Scary Story: The Love Interest
Having a stalker is bad, but having to work with that person would be a nightmare. Find out more at They're Only Shadows.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The Obama Administration: One Step Forward, One Step Back
I’ve always liked Obama as a person, good sense of humor,
not a privileged white male, and tried to like him as a President, but it seems
like for every step forward his administration takes, there is a corresponding
step back. Just a couple of days ago, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, gave an
impassioned speech in support of the rights of the LGBT community and lashed
out at North Carolina governor Pat McCrory and other governors who are
attempting to legally discriminate against gay and transgender Americans. One step forward and two thumbs up from me.
So what does the Obama administration do next? It turns
around and gives war criminal and mass murderer Henry Kissinger the highest
honor that the Department of Defense can bestow on a civilian: a Distinguished
Public Service Award. This is the man who is responsible for as many as 4 million
deaths in three countries. Kissinger’s approval of the illegal bombing of
Cambodia in the 1970s set a precedent of international law-breaking and violence
that every subsequent President has taken advantage of, including the Nobel
Peace Prize recipient Barack Obama.
Kissinger should be sharing a jail cell with Bush, Cheney
and Rumsfeld for crimes against humanity, not receiving medals. One step back.
Thursday, May 05, 2016
Trump is the Republican Party Stripped Naked
I find the hair pulling and garment rending by the
Republican establishment over Donald Trump becoming their presidential
candidate hilarious and totally disingenuous. You would guess from all of the
wailing that Trump had somehow betrayed the Republican Party’s core values or
insulted Ronald Reagan, but that’s not what’s going on here. Most of Trumps
ideas and ideals are straight from the Republican playbook (“The Art of the
Lie”) and probably differ little from Rubio or Kasich or McConnell. So why is
Mr. Combover despised by so many in his own party?
Republicans are upset with Trump because he dared to break
the golden rule of conservatives campaigning for office: Always talk in code.
The Code is a laundry list of words and phrases used by Republicans to convey
their true values to the faithful without coming across to the rest of us as
obviously racist, homophobic, misogynistic or cruel. For instance, when a
politician talks about those who have become dependent on welfare or “the
takers” or welfare queens, they’re talking about African Americans. If they
talk about people attacking America’s core values, waging war against Christmas
or East Coast elites, they’re referring to liberals. And when they talk about
almost any issue relating to women, the real message is “we must maintain
America’s patriarchy at any cost.”
Trump, however, ain’t playing that game. He has thrown away
the codebook and blurts out what every racist, misogynistic, homophobic
American wants to hear in one and two syllable words. No more talking in code
for Trump. He’s going to tell it like it is, and his fellow Republicans are
outraged because their horrible, hateful values are now on full display in
every Trump speech and interview.
Trump is the Republican Party naked, revealing every ugly
blemish, every deformity, every open sore and it is a truly an ugly spectacle.
Mainstream Republicans don’t hate Donald for what he says, but for how he says
it, and in the end, it might be the one positive thing to come out of Trump’s
run for the White House.
Monday, May 02, 2016
Is Science Picking Up Where Religion Leaves Off?
One of the most profound questions humans have pondered
since they were able to ponder is the nature of reality. Is reality the sum of what we can experience
through our senses and nothing more or are there worlds that exist beyond the
tiny bubble in which we live that can only be experienced under certain
conditions, like meditation, prayer, psychedelic drugs or the death of the
body?
At some point in our past, and archeological discoveries
keep pushing that date farther and farther back in time, humans began worshiping
the unknowable — a creator, nature in all
its beauty and cruelty, ancestors, the mystery of death and the purpose, if
there was one, of our lives. Religion
was born as a way to try and make sense of an existence that seemed otherwise
meaningless. Early humans sensed that there was something beyond day-to-day
survival and, even though they had no idea what it was, began to create stories
to explain the unfathomable in terms others could understand, to try and bring
some meaning to our existence on this planet.
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century. Religion is, of
course, still a significant factor for billions of humans world-wide, and,
unfortunately, continues to be a source (or excuse) for violence in many spots
on the planet. In the developed world, especially in Scandinavia and western
Europe, organized religion is losing its hold on each new generation. Take
Sweden, for example. In a 2009 Gallup Pole, a mere 17% of respondents answered
“yes” to the question, “Is religion an important part of your daily life?”
However, lack of interest in organized religion doesn’t necessarily mean
non-belief. In another 2010 poll, 45% of Swedes asked said they believed in
some sort higher spiritual power.
The same trend is happening in the United States, although
you wouldn’t know it by listening to the mainstream press or the Republican
Presidential race. Millennials are far
less religious than their parents, and there is no reason to believe this won’t
continue to be the case with every succeeding generation. So while the
beginning of the end of organized religion is taking place in western
countries, a second phenomena is just underway that ironically may
scientifically prove that the mystics, seers and shamans were right all along —
reality is not merely what we can see, hear and touch, but exists not separate
from our consciousness, but as a result of our consciousness, and may very well
exist in other dimensions.
The work of Dr. Adam Lanza, captured in his book, Biocentrism, offers an intriguing theory
about the essence of reality that stretches back at least as far as Decartes,
the French philosopher, but, he claims, is being confirmed today by experiments
in quantum physics. Lanza believes that
“there is no independent external universe outside of
biological existence,” and “that what we call space and time are forms of
animal sense perception, rather than external physical objects.” In other
words, our universe, our reality, is a creation of our consciousness, not the
other way around. Lanza’s understanding of quantum physics far exceeds mine,
but in his book he explains how certain experiments are showing that elemental
particles behave differently depending on whether they are being observed or
not.
Other experiments in quantum physics
are causing physicists to seriously debate the existence of multiple dimensions
that exist within or along side our own. So science is just beginning to unlock
the complexity of what we call reality and discovering that it does indeed
extends beyond what we see, feel and touch on a daily basis into previously
unseen realms.
My own views on religion and the
“unseen realms” have changed over the years. I have been in and out of
organized religion during my life, but over the past three decades, I would
characterize myself as an agnostic teetering on the cliff of atheism. I never
made the final leap into the chasm of absolute non-belief because, like most
human beings, as much as I tried, I couldn’t convince myself that life is
meaningless and death is the absolute end. And I feel I am even now stepping
back farther from the cliff’s edge after being exposed to the theories of Lanza
and other scientists.
Let me add a personal observation.
Humans are, of course, animals. We share characteristics of all mammals, with
one distinction; our cognitive abilities. For reasons that could fill a
library, human brains have developed thinking skills far beyond the capacity of
other mammals, resulting in great cities, poetry, medicine, and Pop Tarts. Our
minds (and opposable thumbs) allow us to do amazing things that exceed not only
the abilities of our fellow mammals, but their reality, as well.
So one day I decide I want to teach a
cow about photography. I go to a field with my laptop, sit down in front of
Elsie, and begin explaining to her everything I can find related to
photography. I do this 24/7 for ten years. At the end of this time, Elsie moos
and moves on to greener pastures. Elsie’s cognitive capabilities are simply not
developed enough to even understand my words, let alone the concept of photography.
To her, I would simply be some type of annoying animal making noises. My point
is, photography is outside of Elsie’s understanding of the world, so it is not
a part of her reality and therefore doesn’t exist. This would be true for all
non-human mammals. Even though photography does exist in the same world as the
cow, it does not exist for the cow.
So why couldn’t this be true of humans?
Isn’t it possible that there are beings, knowledge, worlds, even within our
reality, that are simply beyond our ability to understand, and therefore, do
not exist to us? And perhaps humans occasionally catch a glimpse of the
unknowable through dreams or drugs or near death experiences. It’s exciting to
think that science is now opening the door a crack to a new understanding of
the complexities and mysteries of reality at the same time our belief systems
are losing their relevance. We may be
coming to a point where science will take us to places and realizations as
amazing as any story we can possibly dream up.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Broken Hand
Broke two bones in my left hand a week ago so my postings will be sparse until the cast comes off in three weeks :-(
Friday, April 22, 2016
The Neighbor - Newest short scary story
How well do you really know your neighbors? This latest short scary story, "The Neighbor" might inspire you to keep a closer eye on the people next door.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
The Changing Room - New Short Scary Story
The Patterson's are moving into a turn-of-the-last-century Victorian home that has seen its share of change, but nothing like what Paul experiences when he finds a secret room at That's Going Too Far!
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
The Upgrade - New Short Scary Story
Al Donner doesn't understand why his boss is sending him to IT, but he'll soon find out, and so can you when you go to They're Only Shadows and read The Upgrade.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Ping - A New Short Scary Story
We've learned not to text and drive, but that's not the only situation where texting can be dangerous, even deadly. Read "Ping," my latest short scary story at They're Only Shadows and you'll never take texting for granted again.
Friday, March 25, 2016
The Nightmare that is Donald Trump
Donald Trump is a despicable human being. With the maturity
of a nine-year old and the vocabulary to match, Trump proves day in and day out
he is the ringmaster of the current GOP circus masquerading as a Presidential
campaign. As if anyone with an IQ over 70 needs additional proof, here are some
headlines from Trump supporters on /r/The_Donald subreddit.
If @tedcruz was elected president, his wife would be the
sixth lady.
ViveLaFrance Breaking: The end of Ted Cruz >>
Washington Times confirms accounts of multiple @tedcruz mistresses as accurate.
Hillary is afraid. Donald has destroyed the career of
everyone who has attacked him. She should be afraid.
You can bet your dick that if this scandal was happening to
Trump, everyone and their god damn mother would be reporting it and censoring
it would be absolutely out of the question. Fuck the MSM.
I would expect to find mini-rants like this in a ninth
grader’s notebook or on a restroom wall. The grammar and punctuation mistakes
and crude humor only emphasize the fact that Trump supporters are truly the
poorly educated he claims to love. Even the few Republicans I know claim they
won’t vote for the Donald.
Trump’s success so far has made America the laughing stock
of the global community, which is probably something his followers would take
pride in. Like a nightmare you can’t wake up from, the petulant man-child from
New York City is seizing on the misplaced anger of less educated citizens to
stoke his ego and legitimize his bigotry, and it looks as if he will be the
Republican candidate for the Presidency. What a world.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
America’s Racist Legacy: The Real Reason for the War on Drugs
So here we are, forty-five years after the inception of the
war on drugs, after spending tens of billions of dollars, after overseeing the
deaths and imprisonment of untold numbers of people, after ravaging numerous
Latin American countries, after helping establish and expand bloodthirsty drug
cartels, after creating the cocaine epidemic of the seventies and eighties,
after jailing tens of thousands of Americans for non-violent drug offenses,
after all of that we learn what the war on drugs was really all about: racism.
John Ehrlichman, a former top Nixon aide and central figure
in the Watergate scandal, confessed to a reporter in 1994 that the primary
reason for initiating the war on drugs was to oppress Nixon’s primary enemies,
blacks and hippies. This is what Ehrlichman said:
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the
Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black
people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to
be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the
hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both
heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders,
raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on
the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
If this doesn’t make you ashamed of being an American, you
must be a Trump supporter. The toll that racism has taken on this country since
its earliest days is incalculable, and in 2016 we have presidential candidates
appealing once again to the bigotry and hatred felt by a segment of white
Americans. It’s shameful and disgusting and is cause for much of the rest of
the world to see us as the village idiot of the global community.
Thinking people have long argued that the war on drugs was
racist in nature, but even they believed incarcerating large numbers of people
of color was a byproduct of a war that’s primary mission was to end the illegal
drug trade. They were wrong. It was from the very beginning a tool to oppress
and disrupt the lives of American citizens who were perceived to be a threat to
the establishment.
Perhaps the saddest part of all of this is that no one will
ever be brought to justice for this major crime against U.S. citizens. Like the
perpetrators of the Iraq war and the 2008 financial crises, the bigger your
crime, the more likely you are to go unpunished. And many citizens of this
country continue to harbor racist beliefs and support leaders who espouse white
supremacy. Nixon’s legacy lives on in today’s Republican presidential
candidates.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Newest Short Scary Story: The Baker Family Reunion
Depending on how you feel about your relatives, family reunions can either be a fun occasion or a pain in the butt, but rarely are they fatal. Then there's the Baker family... Check out my newest short story at They're Only Shadows.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Will Our Next President Have the Courage to End the War on Drugs?
The war on drugs has been a hopeless boondoggle since its
inception in the mid-seventies. It has syphoned off billions of dollars over
the past 40 years that could have gone to much more useful endeavors such as
renovating America’s crumbling infrastructure or funding clean energy sources.
And who has benefited from this unwinnable and costly war?
As the chart above clearly shows, a major benefactor has been the nation’s
prison system, and in recent years, a growing number of privately run prisons
around the country. This is, however, only the tip of the iceberg. Local law
enforcement organizations have hauled in tens of millions of dollars by seizing
property and cash from both guilty and innocent suspects. A huge government
bureaucracy was built that employs thousands of people who have a stake in
keeping the drug war going. And the war has given rise to numerous vicious drug
cartels that spread chaos and violence as they fight for their piece of the
illegal drug trade.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that people of color
are the primary victims of our drug war. Millions of young black and brown men
sit in prison cells learning how to be better criminals instead of gaining job
skills and contributing to their communities.
There is some hope. The movement to end the war on drugs is
coming from the bottom up as more and more states move to decriminalize pot, a
substance that is still considered as dangerous as heroin by the federal
government. We now need a President who will end this fruitless and wasteful effort
and channel that money into projects that benefit all Americans.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Unrestrained Capitalism is Killing America
The myth of the “liberal media” suffered another blow
yesterday when CBS CEO Les Moonves was recorded telling a group of investors
that the sudden rise of Donald Trump “may not be good for America, but it’s
damn good for CBS.” Let that sink in for a moment. America is going down in
flames, but CBS doesn’t care because it makes for great TV.
This is capitalism at it’s finest — screw everything as long
as we’re in the black. And I would guess that this is the sentiment of other
media owners as well. The media has never been liberal. It’s a business run by
people whose only goal is making a profit and satisfying investors. That’s it.
Public service? Ha! Actually informing viewers? Forgedaboutit.
Bible belt voters run screaming from the room at the mention
of “socialism,” but don’t seem to have a clue that this country is being run
into the ground by greedy amoral capitalists like Moonves. And that’s the key. There is no room for
morality in capitalism. There is no incentive to do the right thing if the
right thing interferes with making a profit, so we ship jobs overseas, resist a
living minimum wage and create loopholes to keep from paying our fair share of
taxes. It’s all about the bottom line.
Add the amoral nature of capitalism to the fact that only
six companies own over 90 percent of the media in America, and you have a near
monopoly that provides the information and entertainment that will bring in the
highest profits and keep the masses resting numbly in front of their TV
screens.
Trump is a disaster for this country, but Moonves and others
are making money hand over fist by giving The Donald tons of free airtime. Because
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that might even try to shake up the
currant dynamic, he’s on the media’s enemies list, receiving negative attention
when he gets mentioned at all.
Unrestrained capitalism is destroying America. Isn’t it time
we try something different?
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