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I really think Al Franken should not have yielded to his vanity and left Air America to run for Senate. The real power is in the streets with the people not in public office. A politician, in the words of a union organizer and political worker I knew, is "an empty vessel", meaning, they just have what you pour into them. They have to go with the pressure - which either comes from organized people or organized money.
I really don't think Democrats would've won in 2006 or 2008 without Air America. It's what Al Franken was uniquely good at and he would've had more power there than he'd ever have in the Senate.
The right wingers and big business know exactly what they're doing. They put a lot into their media and talk radio.
Even before cable and internet supplanted mass media in the public's focus, free, broadcast mass media was already ignoring stories that didn't help the corporate agenda and heavily promoting stories that did and spinning and slanting to the big business advantage what it did report. That was partly because privately owned, for profit media is business - and big media is big business - and is thus partial to the business agenda. That's not to mention, of course, that its reason for being is not to inform the public or serve the public in any way really but to serve its customers who are not its consumers but its advertizing client businesses for whom it must market and do PR. Only government intervention of requiring news service by law or a fairness doctrine brings about any public information service at all by media enterprizes.
Add to that media consolidation and monopolization and there is not any independent media remaining or even possible.
What's necessary is to discredit the media in the public's mind. The public still thinks, for the most part, that if they saw it on TV it must be true and that if they didn't it can't be.
In recent decades, free, broadcast, mass media that can reach and did reach everybody - and is therefore very useful to (and was very essential to) movement building - has been replaced by subscriber only cable and internet based media that reaches only isolated individuals.
As a result we aren't ever watching the same events unfold but we are each watching a different spin of them tailored to our supposed individual preferences. Any collectivity in the perception of what's taking place in the society and the world is due to the happenstance of there being others who just happen to share our individual preferences. Thus conservatives are only watching the conservative spin and lefties the lefty spin.
As a result shit doesn't hit the fan like it used to. An explosive fact unearthed by journalists that is helpful to one side of a controversy is only heard about by those whose preferences are for that side and any "scandal" is only a scandal for those of that side. Those of the other side are not even hearing about the supposed scandal or are getting a completely different set of "facts" surrounding it tailored to their "preferences" or their prefered world view.
Thus you couldn't have Watergate today like you did then because only a small fragment of society is even aware of what's going on and what it all means and when the truth comes out about something, like it always eventually does and like it inevitably will on matters like TPP, we as a a society and as a community will not hear about it. Only individual, isolated aggregates will.
Palin, fracking does not cause earthquakes or poison your water please do what you ask me to do and look at the science not some phoney movie.
solar panels are made from rare earth metals. Because of the solar boom they are being mined in third world countries with no environmental rules at all. Mainly China. That is the real toxic waste poisioning water systems. But I guess it doesn't matter as long as isn't in your back yard.
We can kill the Poor Chinese people and millions of birds but at least we didn't buy ethical oil from Canada.
Alice the Turbines can't be fixed easily or they would have done it already.
The keystone pipeline would stop 900,000 barrels of oil a day from going through the gulf a maybe stop a further disaster from Happening.
DAnneMarc: My bad! At 21minutes and 50 seconds into that last video...the backdrop fell down displaying a bare wall. There was no high rise overlooking tall buildings...so it could very well have been at the Bethesda address after all. She may have been trying to disguise her whereabouts... especially after some blogger and his young son died about that time from gunshot wounds and burned up in the house fire..very suspicious! Authorities called it a murder/suicide. But was it really. The guy was very active in blogging about what Karen Hudes has been saying.
DAnneMarc: That Arc of the Covenant might even be buried under a track/football field somewhere. Hot foot! ;-} But, it looks like you know a lot about the Golden Lily treasure. Yeah, Roxas got the shaft from Marcos. But I believe he actually won a big court case in Hawaii against the Marcos'. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to collect.
I have been watching some videos of interviews of a woman who worked as a lawyer for the World Bank who turned whistle blower on massive corruption of that organization and the bankers that run it. It turns out that she found some crooked dealings between the President of the Philippines and the major bank in the Philippines. She also claims that that was just the tip of the iceberg. Here is a Breaking the Set interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7E9SUwlooE
In other interviews, by other interviewers, she says some pretty freaky things...like at the end of this interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgT8EJp0SYU
She says some things about the Obamas when asked if someone had something on them.
I don't know if we can really believe some of what she says...like, for instance, in the beginning of another interview she looks from side to side and then makes the statement that the reason she is looking side to side is because she lives there (2mins35secs into the 1st vid). I don't quite understand that unless she was trying to say that she was looking at others like her kids or husband. Anyway, the setting looked like she was in a very spacious high rise overlooking other high rises...skyscrapers..very modern steel and glass. But when I looked at her address on a pdf document of a law suit she had against here "illegal" termination from the World Bank...Google Earth showed a simple two story house in residential Bethesda, Md. I suppose she could own both properties or may have moved since Bethesda to the swankier place but I wonder. Street View shows that it could not be the place shown in the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2zXdRt86LY
Kend: I'd rather have fewer birds than fewer people needlessly dying as the result of massive chemical pollutants in our air and water... and that's just what is likely to happen if our aquifers are poisoned by the fossil fuel industry... whether it is fracking or the XL pipeline leaking. I wonder how many birds are killed each year by jet liners? So, it looks like no matter what we do, we will most likely kill some birds. But, at least it would be limited to birds...other animals would die at those huge toxic sludge ponds...but not so from windmills. And I don't know of any animals or birds that would be hurt by solar cell arrays...or geothermal generators. We've got to move away from fossil fuel and into alternative forms of energy before it is too late. Other countries are doing it and the US is tailing far behind other countries in that regard. But too many rich and powerful people are too willing to sell out their children's, or grand children's, future for a quick profit now.
If there's one thing you righties have going for you, Kend, it's perseverance! But please spare us your sob story about the birds. I'm sure that problem with the turbines and birds can be easily fixed. Compared to all the carnage from oil spills we've endured through the years, not to mention that BP disaster on the Gulf Coast, I'm certain the number of birds pulverized by wind turbines is miniscule by comparison.
So what's the next of these compelling arguments you've got up your sleeve? Fire away! Tsk. - AIW
Palin yes a few birds died in the tar ponds. approx. 1200. There was a unusual amount of snow one year and they didn't get the noise makers out quick enough. But hundreds of thousands of birds die yearly to wind turbines and to replace fossil fuel energy with wind turbines you would need millions of them. Who needs birds I guess.
I guess you don't understand anything about keystone. If built it would replace 900,000 barrels of oil a day that is brought by tanker through the gulf from Venusula. We all know what can happen there. A pipeline on the other hand has valves all along it that can be shut down in seconds if there is a leak. I guess you didn't know that Canada ships 2.2 million barrels a day already of our toxic waste to the US via pipeline already. Where is the protests to stop them from getting into your aquifers.
I think I did see White water black gold it has so many false truths in it I don't know where yo start but I will confirm we are talking about the same ting. . like Gasland. Give me a break. there is almost no truth in that movie.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Thank you! You are too kind!
Palindromedary ~ Still hung up on Golden Lily; or, Yamashita's Gold? I'm much more concerned with The Arc of the Covenant. They say it's here in the US you know. Personally, I think it has to be right here in the Bay Area. After all, the Bay Area is the coolest part of the country. The smartest people live here; and, the most profitable business is conducted here. I can feel it's energy permeating the atmosphere while writing this. Forget Roxas's discovery. That's just loose change compared to the real treasure...
You too, Marc. You shine. - AIW
"Why drag it on and on?" he pleads. "Please Mr. President say no then… then it would be over…" Kend, Kend, Kend… I'm hearing violins. And what I read between the lines goes something like "Ohhh pleeeez you're tearin' me apart, stop torturing me! Go ahead, reject our pipeline an' break m'heart… I'm a big boy I can take it…" Wah. Boo-hoo-hoo.
Kend- "Research doubting the cause" of global warming? Don't make me laugh. You company shills never quit. Don't you guys ever sleep?
Sorry pal, you're not getting away with that here. Keep it up on this forum and you'll just get scoffed at. Nobody will take you seriously, except maybe the occasional yahoo rightie from Fauxland. Far as your precious Keystone is concerned, you kah-nooks have one hell of a nerve thinking you're gonna ram this thing through our country, defiling our forests, imposing eminent domain on American citizens while you use this land as your toxic dump. Think we're stupid? If you're the ones so hell-bent on that pipeline, and you're the ones who stand to profit from it, then you can stick that piece of crap on your own goddam turf! Because what we have to gain from it is minus zero. What we'll get is an intrusion, an eyesore, a safety hazard, health risks, environmental damage... need I go on? As for this "news" you heard the other day, I'd bet my house and piano the source of that news was your standard corporate drivel, with all its self-serving little lies, half-truths, omissions ad nauseam! Is there anything else about "NO" you don't understand? I thought Canadians spoke English. In case the above leaves any doubt, I repeat: WE DON'T WANT YOUR PHUCKIN' PIPELINE! GOT IT? - Aliceinwonderland
sandlewould and Aliceinwonderland ~ Both your letters put a smile on my face! They were both great. Please keep up the good work!
Wow! I used to think Bill Mahr (?) was pretty decent for a rich celeb. Oh well… the moral of the story? Never trust a rich celeb! - AIW
DAnneMarc: Oh, I see, yes I just read your post #36...well said! And let's not forget how since fossil fuels have been used big time during the industrial age..how polluting they were. Tractors and factories belching out thick plumes of smoke into our atmosphere. Many people suffered big time from respiratory diseases who lived in such areas.
It has only been the reigns put on industry to find ways to minimize pollution that has helped save many millions of people from a horrible lung disease.
Of course cigarettes helped fill the graves since. "Four out of five doctors recommend Camels cigarettes!" Yeah, right!
And it's funny because I just saw the new movie "The Monuments Men" and it had a short scene of a man being examined with a stethoscope for a breathing problem by a doctor and they were both smoking cigarettes at the time. Funny! But really, not so funny. It's a shame, really.
But that's what marketing and capitalist greed can do to us. The psychological manipulation to spend your money on things that will kill you.
It was a pretty good movie, though. But, if you compare this movie they made on recovering Nazi stolen loot (gold, jewels, art) to the Japanese Golden Lily operation of stolen loot (gold, jewels, art)...they try to stay away from even mentioning the latter. All that loot, some of which is still buried in the Philippines, has never been returned to the victims of South East Asia...the Chinese, largely.
After all, while the movie depicted a handful of brave old men whose task it was to recover the Nazi loot to "return to their rightful owners" (largely wealthy Jews)...they would never show a movie of the US keeping all the Japanese loot they found buried in the Philippines. Some of it the US even returned to the villains who stole it in the first place...to the Japanese (Nixon's deal for support for being reelected).
The US kept all that loot to fund the cold war. Marcos and Imelda got a lot of it too.
Sandlewood, I've no monopoly on eloquence. Your letter was fantastic.
Thank you, DAnneMarc! It's insensitive rich people that have made a pact with the dark forces, based on greed, that will destroy the earth.
Kend: It's so nice that you are so concerned about wind turbines killing birds but what about all those poor migrating birds that land in those tar-sands toxic waste ponds in Alberta? They are just great big death traps for those, and other, wildlife. Watch the documentary White Water Black Gold.
And when they start pumping all that toxic sludge through the XL pipeline, through the middle of the US, starts to leak big time as it has in Canada it will poison our major underground aquifers. There goes the bread basket... there goes the cattle raising industry. Talk about wasteland... and dust bowls... just wait till this happens... and there will be no way to clean it up. They still haven't been able to clean up the other oil spills sufficiently to keep from killing off wildlife. the Gulf spill was "cleaned up" by spraying toxic chemicals that are now not only killing off the marine life in the gulf but are mutating them. And all that toxic sludge settles to the bottom where shellfish and other lifeforms live.
Palindromedary ~ Once again you've beaten me to the punch. Bravo!
Wow, Alice...
When I read such eloquence, I feel as if I should put down my pen, shut my mouth and let someone else do all the talking...but then again...tag I’m it and we all must make noise. The FCC holds monthly meetings open to the public. This months is on the 20th ( https://www.fcc.gov/open-meetings ) . I plan to attend. I’m going to educate myself, figure this out, and start making noise when I have my ducks in a row. Since the BP oil spill, when I realized Obama was either on the take or being threatened...or both and the media started taking a serious nose dive, I have felt trapped and frustrated. Now I finally feel that there might be a way to squeeze, at least a pinky toe in a very big, very scary door that is fast closing. Lets keep in touch..as well as anyone else on this blog who wants to tame and reform the multi-headed monster that our commercial media has become. Feel free to e-mail me; liber8ion61@aol.com
Kend ~ I suppose you are referring to the great Dust Bowl disaster? I suppose you are implying that it was a natural disaster? No, it wasn't; at least, not entirely. It was mostly a man made disaster coupled with nature--much like climate change is. Don't take my word for it, read for yourself:
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-dust-bowl
It's not unusual that we have to learn everything the hard way. When the almighty dollar beckons, even the best of us become really stupid. The first thing we do is to ignore the advice of scientists and experts who know what they are talking about. Behold, as history repeats itself.
SHFabian... I realize how simplistic that sounded...that being said, I get along quite well with many who think VERY differently than me...chiefly because I was tought to respect others, regardless of our differences. I choose to believe that this is possible. Of course understanding, that disagreements and even arguments will arise, but hoping that in the world of the future, mutual respect and diplomacy will win out...that is, if any of us survive what appears to be the next mass extinction...
Yes, there have always been cycles in the weather with flooding and droughts, high temperatures and low temperatures. But you need to look at the data collected over time and the evidence collected in sample cores of the ice fields in the Arctic or Antarctic that tells a story of the very long term history. Global warming is a fact and it is a fact that man has been responsible for the dramatic increase in global warming due to fossil fuels.
You can say you have read reports from studies that indicate otherwise but you are most likely reading studies that are being payed for, and influenced by, the fossil fuel industry.
I'd highly recommend that you watch a documentary that has been playing on either FSTV or Link TV called White Water Black Gold. It sure doesn't make Alberta Canada look very clean and pristine with all the tar-sands leaks they've had that have poisoned their water.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/dust-bowl-c...
Our government, back in the 30s, were unmoved by the plight of the central states when the dust storms kicked up. But one day...even Washington, DC finally suffered the wrath of their stubbornness when a big dust storm blew into DC. It was only then when they realized that they needed to do something.