DragonFlight

I need to thank a fellow Post blogger for setting me straight on a lot of misconceptions I’ve held about what really threatens us as a nation. One of his latest, entitled, “Death by degrees,” has truly opened my eyes and helped me see the error of my concerns. He speaks about the “death of liberty” brought about by a culture of “liberal thinking” which is “eroding away our little freedoms.”

I had missed the “liberal thinking” threat, instead mistakenly concerning myself with the new “conservative” thinking, or is it more accurately described as neo-conservative or Republican thinking? It’s hard to know. Namely, I’m referring to the thinking and policies brought to us by the present Administration and largely enabled by the Republicans in Congress; call it what you will.

I was focused on what I now realize were small things -- illegal government wire tapping, the suspension of habeas corpus, torture and compromise of the Geneva Conventions, the coercion of the phone companies to allow government access to private conversations, political interference by the Attorney General, desire to alter the Constitution to define marriage, and attempts to control what a woman might do with her own body. I was also needlessly worried about tax cuts for the top one percent not needing them, and, coinciding with an illicit war (costing 1.5-2 billion dollars per week), war profiteering, the misuse of billions of dollars, and the loss of billions in cash and large number of missing arms – all resulting in cries to spend less by cutting funds for unnecessary social entitlements like healthcare and education. I was also stupidly focusing on the inability or absence of motivation for our government to safeguard US consumers from toxic products coming in from China, the outsourcing of too many jobs, the sub prime lending fiasco, and rapidly rising credit card debt which has many in serious trouble.

I’m surely grateful for being reminded I was stuck in minutia, and getting enlightened about the “real” threats to our nation and society – required wearing of seat belts and motorcycle helmets, no smoking in public places, protecting people from prejudicial and bigoted hiring policies, sexual harassment in the work place, and requiring restaurants to post caloric content of foods they serve. WOW, was I really focused on the wrong stuff! As you say, we sure are possibly already a “dependent class of jello-spined victimhood obsessed society lurching toward Socialism.”

I had gotten it all wrong. I had thought those seat belt, helmet and smoking laws were created to save lives, and greatly cut the cost of medical care for seriously injured and ill people, ultimately decreasing the cost to society as a whole. I had just assumed that eliminating prejudice and bigotry when hiring or firing, and preventing sexual harassment were just common sense in a “civilized” nation formed on ideas such as equal rights, liberty and freedom for all. Silly me!

And of course people don’t need to be reminded about how many calories might be hiding in that caesar “salad,” or quadruple cheese, meat and bacon avocado covered burger extravaganza. As you stated, this presumption that “we are too ignorant to sort out” the obesity problem is ridiculous. The current statistics on obesity, diabetes and other food related illnesses in the U.S. surely inform us of just how capable and responsible so many Americans are at picking what to eat. Imagine the great loss of freedom involved in requiring a restaurant to simply post general guidelines on the food they serve. This ranks right up there with supermarkets having to disclose the country of origin of a food (something Congress talks about changing) and what chemicals it might contain. Egads, alas poor freedom!

Thanks for setting me straight!

Posted by Stephen at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I heard a news pundit just today characterize the way the media took some recent remarks by Bill Clinton about Barack Obama, and out of context, as simply being “what the media does.” This woman appeared quite young, and in her defense perhaps it can be said she doesn’t know any better, and doesn’t have a memory reaching back to a time when reporters actually reported facts instead of misreporting and twisting people’s words to sensationalize rather than inform -- a time before media was controlled by a government owned by corporations.

The latest fiasco is NBC’s decision to renege on their invitation to Dennis Kucinich to appear in the Las Vegas Democratic primary debate. I find this rather outrageous. It should not be up to the media to determine the voter’s access to all candidates, and, Kucinich had already met their criteria (being the fourth contender), been invited, and then informed they had decided to change their mind about allowing a four candidate debate. I say @#*$@& to NBC! I wrote to them, as did several others I know, and spoke of my outrage, telling them Kucinich should be re-invited. Good luck!

Dennis Kucinich may not be a frontrunner, or be in a position to take the Democratic primary, but it is not up to a media conglomerate to make that decision for the people. The primary is not over until it is over, and it is not NBC's role to decide when it’s over for a candidate. There happen to be a lot of people in this nation that like what Kucinich represents, basically, honesty, telling it like it is, and not just being another political mouthpiece. He is the person most needed in a debate because he will bring forward the questions and honest answers that those qualifying as frontrunners have begun ignoring, as they compromise their true positions in order to appeal to everyone, rather than just actually say what is truly in their minds and hearts. Kucinich has kept previous debates grounded and more honest, just as Ron Paul has in the GOP debates. Whether or not they will, or even can win is not the point.

Some apparently don't want honesty and forthrightness to be part of the primary process, but prefer "politics" as usual.

As it turns out, Kucinich filed a lawsuit against NBC-TV in Las Vegas yesterday. His lawsuit claims, “Kucinich is a credible and serious candidate in Nevada, where he is actively and vigorously campaigning and has statewide headquarters in Las Vegas.” This might threaten tonight’s debate, and I surely hope it does. I’m equally outraged that the Democratic party has agreed to NBC's decision, and I’d love to see it blow up in their face. I grow more and more aggravated with the Democratic Party with each passing day, but that is another story. They still appear to offer some hope compared to the absolute debacle known as the GOP.

One of the gravest threats to our nation at present is a crooked media. And if they aren’t “totally” crooked, they are at the very least mediocre, uninformed, and biased, a byproduct of a self –serving corporate directed misinformation machine. Controlling the media, the major source of information for the citizenship, is usually one of the first steps taken by a dishonest government, their servants, and/or their true masters.

Is it just a cowinkydink how frequently so much "stuff" seems to always reflect back on corporations, in one form or another? Hmmmm.

As I see it, our nation is in grave jeopardy. Our Republic /Democracy/Whatever, is rapidly in danger of becoming a thing of the past. For how long this process has been actually occurring, I don’t know; but I’m assuming it has been going on for quite some time. There is one thing, and only one thing, for which I am grateful to the Bush Administration, and that is making all this more obvious than it would have been otherwise -- talk of blessings in disguise. Phew!

It’s a shame that Americans still do not act. We should be marching on Washington DC by the millions, and boycotting almost every large corporate owned conglomerate in sight. I agree with the old axioms: “every people have the government they deserve” or “deserve the government they have.” All the more is the pity when it is realized too late.

Posted by Stephen at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)