On November 22, 2014, John Thompson writes in the Russell County News-Register:
I hardly know anyone who’s happy about the way the country is going at the moment. But before I get started, let me say this first, just to make some people mad, because they hate it when Bush is blamed, especially since Obama’s been in office for the last six years. Know what? I don’t care.
It’s Bush’s fault.
It’s Bush’s fault.
It’s Bush’s fault.
Bush isn’t only to blame. Actually we all are, but man did he ever push this increasingspiral downward.
I sit and listen on the radio, or read on the internet or newspaper and it gets rather depressing. Actually it gets quite depressing sometimes. Especially when you hear stories of 2.5 million homeless children in the U.S. butted up against a story of a $325 million contract to a single baseball player, butted up against a story of an electric company who wants to shut down in upper Michigan since a major customer of the power plant moved and now customers actually face an increase of hundreds of dollars a month in costs.
This morning it was that Kentucky will lose $129 million for road funding with the cut in gas tax which will result in the cost of gas being about four cents a gallon cheaper. That is really going to cut road funds in Russell County, and the magistrates are going to have a hard go of it. Guess they’ll get a little taste of what the purpose of taxes are.
McConnell is pushing Republicans to be silent on the NSA reform bill, not allowing it to be discussed for much needed reform, so we can further devolve into the spying police state we’re becoming as well.
Also, congress just passed a measure which seeks to forbid scientists from advising the Environmental Protection Agency on their own research, but allows corporations to advise, of course. I can’t imagine the measure will get past the House, but if it does, as the director for the Union of Concerned Scientists said, “In other words, academic scientists who know the most about a subject can’t weigh in, but experts paid by corporations who want to block regulations can.”
Being ruled by corporations is fascism. It is corporate fascism, and that is what our country has become.
Yes, the rule of unintended consequences. Republican politicians hate the EPA and would like to dismantle it, returning us to the glory days of smog and heck, why not throw lead in the air again?
Nothing makes any sense to me. We are in an economic crisis. The crisis isn’t that there isn’t a strong economy, it’s that only a very few OWN the economy. The “people” have always had to fight the wealthy to try to have some kind of life beyond forced servitude, but somewhere back when, the wealthy learned how to fool half the population into fighting for them and against themselves.
Here we are in an age of amazing technological advances which has increased productivity hundreds of times, yet unlike the 50’s, where one person in the household could work and provide well for the family, now it takes both heads of household working to make ends meet.
We’re at a time where the poor work hard but are blasted for being lazy. Where it’s believed if you aren’t doing well it’s your own fault only, or the belief that everyone has the same capabilities if they’d just apply themselves.
One problem is absolutely the confusion people have, and I’m certain it’s because of the amount of propaganda that’s thrown at them. It leaves them confused and fighting against what they actually want.
Take the issue of net neutrality, for example.
In a nutshell, net neutrality is the concept that internet providers MUST treat all data equally. They are not allowed to pick and choose who can transmit data faster so it can be received faster. It’s the way the internet has been run up until now.
The devil is in the details, as they say, and I’ll give you a few examples of how bad it could be if ISP’s are given this control, but first let’s finish the explaining of net neutrality.
Recently President Obama declared a strong support for net neutrality, and feels it’s the governments place to insure that everyone has free and equal access to whatever site they would like to visit.
Of course what the corporations have done, well specifically the ISP (Internet ServiceProvider) corporations, is put out propaganda that the government wants to regulate the internet. Well we all know that “government” and “regulate” are bad words, so of course those who aren’t paying attention are up in arms, believing the government is wanting to control the internet.
But it’s the opposite; the government is trying to insure that the internet remains free and open. Of course it’s the government, and independent agencies need to insure that the government doesn’t try to control the internet itself. But to be against net neutrality is to say we need to privatize the internet, and if that’s done, well I’m sorry if you’ve bought into this idea of “freedom” because it will absolutely no longer be free and easy access.
How so? You might ask.
First of all, and it’s happening now, a company can pay a provider for faster data delivery. This is helpful to a company like Netflix or others who stream video. Well, those who stream video for a profit that’s paid by the customer. But if this becomes a permanent business model, I would say it’s safe to assume you’ll no longer have a free Youtube, or at least not one that’s worth watching because the load time would be ridiculous. Personally I think I’ve already noticed it’s getting slower and buffering more.
What else could it mean? Well one company could outbid another in the same market and be given faster data speeds, or restrict viewing of the competition. You know, kind of like cable.
You could even possibly have to pay for access to sites, not by the site, but by the internet provider. Let’s say you wanted to get the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times via the computer. Well what if one pays to have there’s load 10 times or 100 times faster? With the speeding up of some sites you’ll have the slowing down of others.
You might think that’s all good and fine. I mean this is capitalism after all. But you know what? I’m sorry, but sometimes not everything is about money and profit. The idea of the free spread of information and ideas goes beyond money. In fact money KILLS the free spread of information and ideas. It’s part of why our society is so dumbed down. We can’t even get an honest assessment or comparison of say, the economic philosophy of capitalism versus some other way. Sorry, yes you can…over the internet. Why? Because right now it’s free and equal to everyone.
If we are not careful,and equate “freedom” with allowing the internet to be owned in the hands of a few corporations, then we are going to lose what is possibly the most important social experiment in generations: the internet.
Another subject. The Keystone XL Pipeline. This is another prime example of how misinformation and pure propaganda has people fighting for this to happen.
In case you don’t know what it is is an oil pipeline that will run from Canada through the U.S. down to the Gulf of Mexico into awaiting ships to be shipped to other parts of the world. Where the difficulty comes in is, well there’s many, many difficulties. Environmentalists aren’t happy with it because it puts the oil pipeline over important, I mean life important, water aquifers which puts them at risk for contamination. Pipelines rupture more than you might think.
Another great difficulty is, and this one amazes me, because on the right, the conservatives are clamoring for this pipeline, claiming it will create massive numbers of jobs and also, well FREEDOM! But the fact is, the government is having to take land from many people through the use of imminent domain, in order to give the rights to the companies to put the pipe through the land. So sorry for anyone who just happens to have their land split by a pipeline.
Seriously, I thought FREEDOM! … but freedom is just a word to the brainwashed masses of conservatives. Like it’s been said, you shouldn’t be a conservative or a Republican unless you’re rich.
But what about the jobs? Well I pointed out to someone the other day that the pipeline will create a few thousand temporary jobs but in the end only like 50 permanent jobs… 50 permanent jobs!
I was rebuked by being asked if I got that from some liberal television or website. I had to happily inform them that no, I got that figure from none other than the CEO of TransCanada, the company that constructs and maintains the oil pipelines.
50 jobs. Willing to confiscate peoples land, risk untold miles of environment, land and water, and for what? So that oil companies can ship the oil somewhere else. In fact studies show that the pipeline will likely INCREASE gas costs in parts of the United States.
But you know what? What is right, or what is good, or what is just… well these things mean nothing if it just means beating a liberal on some issue. So no matter what harm it would do, the right will cheer, because hey, we beat the liberals! And FREEDOM!
Lastly, I get accused of being anti-gun sometimes. I’m not, but again it doesn’t matter. It’s like agreeing with an Obama policy. If someone believes in an Obama policy, well to some then I must think he’s the Messiah. Yeah, it’s silly, it’s childish, and it’s a rampant thought process; or lack thereof.
I’ll tell you I am not against guns or gun ownership, but what I am against, what really gives me concern is this gun fetishism and fear. Why is it that it seems so often that it’s the ones who insist on carrying a gun that seems the most fearful? Shouldn’t they be less afraid? Well I’ll tell you what I think it does is it always keeps in the front of their mind that they have a weapon, and if they have a weapon it must be because of a perceived threat or possibility of threat.
As Atticus Finch said in To Kill a Mockingbird, “I wanted you to see what real courage is. Instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.”
Personally, I kind of like not thinking about carrying around a gun. I’d rather spend my time griping about too many darn people in my way while I’m trying to shop instead of the anxiety of carrying a gun or knowing that I’m carrying it because I’ve become scared of everything.
There’s a second part to that quote from To Kill a Mockingbird: “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
I know I’m licked. There’s no way it seems to get people to see things from a different perspective. There seems to be no way to get people to realize there’s plenty for everyone if some didn’t need a million times more than they need while others have to work themselves to death just to survive. There seems to be no way to get people to understand that WE helped give the government to the rich. They didn’t just take it, WE gave it to them, and we keep giving it to them because of our ignorance, our fear, our meanness. I’ll leave you with a very fine quote from a Facebook friend:
“One day you’ll all wake up and realize that government restraints are all that are protecting you from unscrupulous, conscienceless, greedy, profiteering corporations that have no allegiances to you, the country or their employees. They’ll deny your insurances, steal your pensions, outsource your jobs, and let you die all on the name of profit.”
Great summation of the plight of America today.
Excerpt:
“Nothing makes any sense to me. We are in an economic crisis. The crisis isn’t that there isn’t a strong economy, it’s that only a very few OWN the economy. The “people” have always had to fight the wealthy to try to have some kind of life beyond forced servitude, but somewhere back when, the wealthy learned how to fool half the population into fighting for them and against themselves.”
