Mainstream Media = Propaganda Machines

Once upon a time, “the news” reported precisely that – the news.  There were reports on local events, international happenings, financial markets, and then something light and fluffy and human-interest related.  No bias, no agenda, just “the news”. And then large corporations acquired the mainstream media.  Newspapers, radio and television stations suddenly fell under large corporate entities, far more interested in making money than actually reporting on “the news”. Over the next two or three decades (I am estimating when

An open letter to the House of Representatives

Dear House of Representatives, How dare you?  How dare you mess with our national economy this way?  How can you possibly justify this politicking?  The economy is fragile enough as it is – how can you possibly dare to risk our recovery further? Yes, we all know you Republicans want to win the White House in 2012, and anything that might cause the President to be perceived badly seems good to you.  But this nation was NOT founded on the

A form letter to your representative

Feel free to cut and paste this, and send it to the appropriate people: Joe/Jane Average American 123 Any Street Somewhere, USA 00000   Senator/Congress(wo)man *insert name here* http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ (to get the necessary address for your rep(s))  July 14, 2011 Dear (Congress(wo)man, Senator) *insert name here* I am a concerned, average American citizen, and I continue to feel that my voice is not heard. “We the people” begins the preamble to our constitution.  And in theory, “We the people” elect

An open letter to the Democrats and Republicans

Dear Democrats and Republicans, Hi, remember us?  You know, the people who make up the VAST MAJORITY of the nation?  The people you are now continuously screwing over for your political infights and your corporate overlords? See, the problem is, YOU DON’T.  This impasse over a debt ceiling because you are holding your ludicrous party lines and working against one another in an insane attempt to jockey for position before the next election is completely and totally UNACCEPTABLE. Remember the

Where government doesn’t belong

Dear United States Politicians, I would like to take a moment to address a topic that YOU spend all-too-much time addressing: Civil liberties.  Or, more importantly, ways to curtail civil liberties. We have reached an unfortunate point in our history where in the name of freedom, patriotism, and God we allow our civil liberties to be beaten back.  We allow for debate about topics that, frankly, have NO PLACE in politics.  They are civil topics.  They belong in our communities,

Happiness

What do we really want? What drives us?  What gets us up in the morning, what motivates us to do what we do day in, day out?  What is our ultimate goal? Happiness. I think, when all is said and done, we want to be happy. Dictionary.com defines HAPPY as: –adjective, -pi·er, -pi·est. 1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to be happy to see a person. 2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy:

Accountability

Accountability. This is the key.  This is link that connects pretty much every woe we face today.  The one factor that I am totally convinced is most responsible for the state of this society – Accountability.  And in truth – the utter, complete, and contemptuous LACK of accountability on the part of pretty much EVERYONE. From Dictionary.com: Accountability –noun 1. the state of being accountable,  liable, or answerable. 2. Education . a policy of holding schools and teachers accountable  for

Fear – revisited

I originally wrote this a year ago.  But based on much of what I have been posting lately, I think it is time to revisit, edit, and readdress this. Dear fellow Americans: Stop letting everyone dictate our nation’s direction and agenda with FEAR! Fear is a greater weapon than any bullet, blade or bomb.  And fear is being used as a weapon to control our actions DAILY. When did we start to let Fear rule our lives so completely? The

Big oil gets all the breaks

Today, reading news online, I stumbled, literally, across this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110510/ap_on_re_us/us_oil_company_subsidies It was buried beneath all kinds of thoroughly unimportant stuff – but nevertheless, it is an attempt on the part of some senators to actually DO SOMETHING USEFUL. To sum up: A trio of Senators have proposed legislation to end the subsidies that the big oil companies currently receive. Big oil makes BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, I repeat, BILLIONS in profit – and yet they get SUBSIDIES.  Subsidies are for entities

An open letter to my fellow American citizens re: terrorism

Dear United States of America, It is my sad duty to inform you that on 9/11/01 the terrorists won. I know this is going to be an unpopular point-of-view – but it is something I think we need to acknowledge, because it ultimately effects the lives we lead now, nearly ten years later. After that day, we fundamentally changed the way we do things.  We changed how we view our security, we changed how we attempt to protect ourselves, and

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