Monthly Archives: October 2014
My Preference
I admit it. I love Glenn Beck
I am a liberal, and I love listening to Glenn Beck. His shows are true performance art (with an agenda, of course). They are possibly the most entertaining radio on the air that doesn’t involve music. He starts off leading you down a path of reason, getting you comfortable (even liberals), winds you through fields of gradually increasing paranoia, so gradual that you might not notice at first, and then drops you down into a canyon of complete and utter insanity, all in that mellifluous, hypnotic voice of his. It is no accident that he is the highest paid entertainer in the country.
PLEASE VOTE, EVERYONE!
VOTE! It really does make a difference.
I am frustrated by the extent to which the “BOTH SIDES DO IT, BOTH SIDES ARE OWNED, BOTH SIDES SUCK” meme has taken hold. The fostering of this feeling of hopelessness is possibly the most brilliant move the wealthy and corporate powers that be have ever made. Convince the people that their vote means nothing and that they have no real choice, and they won’t vote, leaving you with a smaller electorate, made up mostly of those loyal to the status quo. Those who promulgate this patently false meme accuse others of not thinking for themselves, when in fact they are the ones abdicating their responsibility to honestly investigate and acknowledge the very real distinctions between parties and candidates.
One party has introduced and tried to pass legislation:
- overturning Citizens United and curbing the influence of money in politics
- raising the minimum wage to a level at which people can survive without government assistance
- providing equal pay for equal work regardless of gender
- expanding health care to millions of Americans who didn’t have it, and limiting insurance industry profits
- introducing common sense gun control laws
- maintaining the separation of church and state
- protecting a woman’s right to choose
- protecting the environment
- protecting workers’ rights
The other party has blocked, tried to block, delayed, or watered down all of the above.
You can choose which approach you prefer at the ballot box. Please do.
The Power Of Life
Found Abstract
Trio
Jon Stewart: Bill Moyers With A Sense Of Humor.
Stewart manages, through humor, to put his guests at ease, and then asks the most insightful, probing questions before they can recover enough to give pat answers. We need more discussions like this, and we need them in prime time, not in a semi-secret extended interview on the internet. The people who are relying on FOX, CNN, ABC, and NBC for their news have no clue what is really going on. Stewart, I believe, manages to cut through a lot of the bullshit with a few sharp jokes, and get Panetta (among others) to truly open up.