Censorship partly prevented at debates: Jill Stein, Democracy Now! Present issues

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Thursday October 04, 2012 · 11:24 AM PDT

2012/10/04 · 11:24

Many of the most important issues will have been censored at the debate; and they can be expected to be censored from any other debate controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates. In 1988 the Commission on Presidential Debates negotiated with the two major political parties and the nominees for president at the time to establish new rules for participation in the debates that have been in place since then, more or less. Prior to this League of Women Voters used to sponsor debates but they refused to “help perpetrate a fraud” when the CPD made this decision. Notably absent from the decision making process about who will be allowed to debate or have much if any media coverage from the corporate media that gets preferential access to the airwaves from the government is the vast majority of the American public or any organization that has a reasonable claim to represent them.

The decision making process on who gets to debate or receive coverage is largely in the control of the corporate media and the Commission on Presidential Debates and their corporate sponsors.

As I begin writing this the debates haven’t happened yet; however by the time I post it I will have watched it and may provide an additional comments on whether they meet expectations or lack of them; this will include a major update about the fact that Democracy Now has done an “expand the debate” segment that includes Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson. The traditional corporate media hasn’t covered this but it isn’t being completely suppressed either which is important when it comes to successful propaganda so this could potentially be part of a major game changer. Many commentators have pointed out that both these candidates aren’t inclined to address many of the most important issues and that they hold the same position on a lot of them, especially when it comes to the interests of the corporations that finance the campaigns of both major parties and presidential candidates. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have some things they disagree on, of course; however it does mean that many issues aren’t even up for discussion and by preventing grass roots candidates from having access to the debates the corporations guarantee that this won’t change, at least in the mainstream media.

A small sample of the things that they agree on that aren’t in the best interest of the vast majority of the public include the fact that neither one of them is willing to discuss Single Payer Health Care which would dramatically reduce health care expenses by preventing the insurance companies from spending an enormous amount of the money they collect from premiums on advertising and lobbying and keep even more for profit; stop drone attacks that are killing many innocent people abroad and is increasing opposition to US military actions; stop the “surge” in troops which has had the opposite effect that they expected; protection of the environment that is backed up by actions not just words and many other things. An additional ten issues were reposted by Greg Orr on the Daily KO that initially came from Jill Stein. This; list includes many challenges to corporate power that defend the majority of the public but they don’t get discussed in the corporate media nor are they expected to be discussed at the debate.

This has been cross-posted with images at Open Salon and Blogspot

zacherystaylor

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Thursday September 27, 2012 · 10:26 AM PDT

2012/09/27 · 10:26

Springtown Texas has been in making national headlines because they've been allowing and even encouraging corporal punishment in schools and the debate has focused on whether or not an educator of the opposite sex should be allowed to administer the punishment. The following article has been reported in the Associated Press

Texas district expands corporal punishment policy

SPRINGTOWN, Texas (AP) Like many schools in Texas, "spare the rod and spoil the child" might be considered the motto at Springtown High School.

But when two teenage girls there reportedly suffered bruises after being paddled by male assistant principals, some parents complained. They weren't upset about the punishment itself, but instead that the school violated the policy requiring an educator of the same sex as the student to dole out the paddling.

So the school district has changed its policy to expand, not abolish, corporal punishment. Board members voted Monday night to let administrators paddle students of the opposite sex, after Superintendent Michael Kelley cited a lack of women administrators to carry out spankings.

The new policy says a same-gender school official must witness the paddling, which is just one "swat," and that parents also can request one spanking per semester. In all cases, a parent must give written permission and request it in lieu of another punishment, such as suspension or detention. full article

This has been cross-posted with images on Open Salon and Blogspot

zacherystaylor

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 24, 2012 · 8:31 AM PDT

2012/09/24 · 08:31

The Mormon Church is threatening to excommunicate David Twede, managing editor of Mormon Think, a web page which is run by mostly anonymous Mormons that have researched their own religion and expressed dissenting views from the church. I have read this web site prior to this incident and until now I didn't even know who any of the editors were but the timing of this has led many people to believe that it might be due to several articles that he wrote about the Church and Mitt Romney. The reason that the writers on this web page have been keeping their identities secret is because the Mormon church has a long history of excommunicating their members if they dissent and they shun them as well. Apparently being part of the community is more important for people within this Church that many others. I have written about the Mormon church in several blogs (cited below) and found that Mormon think is one of the more reliable sources for information about this; in fact some of the best sources that I have found about the Mormon church are Mormons that don't blindly follow the teachings of their leaders.

The Mormons have provided contradictory messages to their followers about whether they should scrutinize their own religions from the beginning. George Albert Smith said, "If a faith will not bear to be investigated; if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak." Journal of Discourses, Volume 14, Page 216 Brigham Young said, "Take up the Bible, compare the religion of the Latter-day Saints with it, and see if it will stand the test." Journal of Discourses, Volume 16, p. 46, 1873 However in practice from the beginning they have often intimidated Mormons when they have attempted to do this. For more quotes and other information see Wat is Mormonism.com In many cases they have even excommunicated them including Sonia Johnson who supported the ERA against the will of the leaders of the Mormon Church.

Mitt Romney has recently said that we should speak out in favor of free speech when it comes to Muslims that attempt to suppress criticism of their religion like the recent cartoon that led to protests; the same should go for the Mormons who Mitt Romney is silent about.

zacherystaylor

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Friday September 21, 2012 · 9:30 AM PDT

2012/09/21 · 09:30

Hi just a quick introduction for now.

I have been Blogging at Open Salon for the past few years and am now starting a new Diary here at the Daily KO. This includes many posts about issues that I consider important including preventing Violence before it escalates at early child hood. There is an enormous amount of research to indicate that this starts with an abusive upbringing and escalates to bullying and other violence later in life. I have also been attempting to write about election reform, media reform, education reform, economic issues and many other things. This includes an enormous amount about how the corporations have been using propaganda to manipulate the public and in many cases the government has also done a lot of research into this.

Open Salon has been having technical difficulties at time so I may be re-posting all my old blogs here especially those that aren't time sensitive. If any of you are interested in some of my previous blogs they're still at Open Salon and it has returned to normal for the time being at least. many of the most important ones are listed on the left side below the introduction and latest comments and Blog Posts in the "My Links" section.

Also at a quick glance I get the impression that the Daily KO doesn't accept photos except from paid subscribers so I may be cross-posting my blogs with pictures on Blogger as well. for longer posts I may post introductions here with a link to the full blog for anyone who is interested.

The following is my first opening post which was actually first posted on Tripod on 8/21/09 before I joined Open Salon.

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Censorship partly prevented at debates: Jill Stein, Democracy Now! Present issues

Springtown Texas expands sanctioned child abuse AKA corporal punishment

Mormons threaten Romney critic with excommunication!!

Opening post and brief introduction about preventing violence