America to the highest bidder

…while the nooz is busy distracting the American public with “shutting down the government” nonsense….America is quietly being sold to the highest bidder while taxpayers foot the bill.  Warning: probably not the thing to read while you’re eating.

 

Mark Fiore’s Cartoon of the nasty business:

 

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More dark money in government associated with the Kochs.   More here.   Further proof that the rich are not being taxed enough if they have this kind of money to throw around.

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Latest on the Raw Milk Wars.

Again, a person has a right to decide what goes into their body.  Right to Privacy.

A dairy farmer in my area told me that he drank raw milk every morning.  This was before my own education on it, and I was aghast that he would risk his health drinking unpasteurized milk.  Haha.  He was one wise man.

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Details of violent history of George Zimmerman

Center for Media and Democracy has this up on the details of Zimmerman’s history of violence against women and interfering with a friend’s arrest.  I know the legal reasons for not putting Zimmerman’s past history up–the law wants to prosecute for the offense at hand, not for past offenses.  I think it comes from two ideas–one being you can’t be prosecuted for the same crime twice (double jeopardy) and two, the country has the view that everyone should get a second chance to change their ways…and a person should be viewed with a clean slate.

However, if they are going to bring up Trayvon’s past, it would seem the fair thing to do would to allow for Zimmerman’s past to be explored, as well.  There needs to be balance.

Forcing chemo

This is outrageous.  The child does not want it.  The parents do not want it.  But a gov’t bureaucrat has once again decided they know what’s best for someone else better than they do.

I would want to know their genetic background–most Amish came from Dutch/German stock…so it is possible that this family has the dreaded gluten intolerance and her immune system might be unable to fight off the cancer due to an inflamed gut.  Not to mention whatever chemicals she has been exposed to from industry and farming.

But…no…the medical nazi’s will force her to take a highly toxic chemical that may or may not cure her of cancer.  And they will turn their heads if by chance she is cured of this cancer, but later on develops yet another, more aggressive form of cancer due to the toxic chemicals they are putting into her now.

Like I have said many times–if I am stricken, I won’t go the chemo route, but try to fight it naturally and let nature take its course.

No one should be forced to take any medical treatment.  Ever.

 

Another reason to hate F_cebook **edited

Creepy guy “friends” high school and junior high kids while pretending to be someone else.  Oh, and he “just wanted to see how friendly” they were is a load of crap.  Good on the Momma Bear who spotted it and followed her intuition.

Oh, and I recently found out that F_cebook “owns” any images one puts up there.   Not own as in has copyright, but they have it in their agreement that they have liberal use of those photos to do with what they wish.  And you don’t even have to belong to the wretched site–if your family or friends put your picture up there, you’re SOL.

**Edited to add this:  Gov’t data requests

The Moyers Program

Well, I was right about Bill Moyers’ program being eye opening….

African American folks who think Bill Clinton is pro-African American might want to pay close attention to who he associates with:  Haley Barbour was governor of Mississippi when Katrina hit.  I was still in the town I grew up in at the time and the local radio station was collecting donations for the victims of Katrina.  They made sure to note that the donations would be going to a certain town or county in Mississippi.  I asked a blogger that I knew to see what the demographics were–it was repub and white.  Yep.

Tony Rodham, Hillary Clinton’s brother…um-hmmm…Gulf Coast Funds Management...raised money from overseas.

You know, a representative (vice president, I believe) of an fighter jet manufacturer was on CSPAN talking about one of the bombers that costs us millions of dollars to build and maintain, and the VP stated during the conversation that these bombers weren’t only for the U.S. forces…but were also necessary for U.S. allies.  Read that again–we are spending millions of dollars for fighter jets so that other countries can benefit from American technology…as the American taxpayer foots the bill.

In other words, we order the plane to specs…plane is built…..taxpayers pay $$$$$ for the plane….company then sells the plane to other countries….courtesy of the American taxpayer.

At  about 16:00 in, it is noted that the joke is “we’re all Patriots…”   The contempt here being that they are not representing the American public, but the corporations who will pay and pay and pay…they don’t give a shit about the country….it’s all in how much money they can make….

Mark Leibovich’s statement on The White House Correspondents Dinner really causes one to pause–rewarding the media for being on television, basically.  The mix of nooz and glamour is stunning.  Although he mentions Tom Brokaw railing against it, he fails to mention that George Clooney, via his father, thanked Brokaw for speaking out.   And what is really bad is that none of the so-called “serious” news outlets mentioned Clooney or Brokaw’s sentiments….quite telling, isn’t it?

As Leibovich brings up the massive PR campaign of BP after the oil spill, my mind flashes to all the commercials aired nightly on the nooz–BP, Big Pharma, Big Energy…rinse, repeat.  And I think of all the major problems facing the nation right now and how this lack of true coverage of these important issues have left the American public without crucial information.  Our democracy is fragile and the Press is in the thick of it–and they don’t give a shit that they are aiding the demise of that democracy.  Hey, they’re on TV!!  They’re very important people!!  And this is why they attacked Edward Snowdon for doing what they should have been doing.

…and there are still those who blame the American public for not knowing what is going on in their government.  <sigh>

Nick Clegg defends bullying Guardian

Nick Clegg has defended his actions towards the Guardian newspaper.

The fact that the Guardian has copies outside the country has restored my faith…somewhat.  Why should they have to go to such great lengths to exercise Freedom of Speech?

Gah, as I thought about this story last night, images of the King’s soldiers coming in and smashing printing presses went through my head…if nothing else, it sure does hit home that nothing has changed and that Freedom of Speech needs to be fought for and protected for democracy to survive.

The Guardian hard drives destroyed

When I first began reading this, I wondered how the agents got into the basement….shocked doesn’t begin to describe how I felt when I read that the Guardian’s editor allowed them to destroy the hard drives. Wow.  Just wow.

I never thought I’d see the day that the Guardian caved.  They threatened legal action?  Are you serious?  You caved because of threatened legal action?  Or was the threat something more sinister?

Jaysus H.

 

If we lose the media…

…then we basically lose a huge part of the democratic process.  The Fourth Estate has historically shed light on stuff the politicians would rather you not know…it’s kept the checks and balances needed to keep those in power from abusing that power. Edward Snowden is an example of how the media is no longer serving the public interest by investigating claims on abuse of power.

 

Power corrupts.

                                                         Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

 

Links here and here--note the “feel good” town hall meetings to diffuse the growing voices against media consolidation….we’ll make it look like we care, and then totally ignore the wishes of the American people.  We’ll also ignore that the airwaves belong to the American people and their wishes should take precedence over corporate interests.

 

Liberal media, where are you? **edited

Diane Ravitch has a link up to a daily kos piece on the non-coverage of issues Americans care about…

**edited to add this link.