I was watching CNN and Morning Joe this morning. HILARIOUS. Well, more disturbing than hilarious. I used to like to watch Fox and Friends just to get angry or to have a laugh but my vacation allowed me to realize watching something just to have a laugh at people who believe it was not furthering my path to inner peace.
Over the years, since lets say 1986 (?) the complaint of a liberal media has forced people to believe it . Forget that advertisers have a far greater say on what is reported than any political agenda . Take for example Chevron ; they allowed the murders in Burma and the imprisonment of a woman to go unreported in the main stream media to fund a junta that literally terrorizes its citizenry . All for natural gas.
I became fed up this morning. There is no debate, no exchange of information, no simple statement of fact - just advertiser based questions to form a debate that causes fear- regardless of the concern, be it healthcare, Afghanistan or unemployment or even all 3 rolled into 1, advertisers, not facts are the basis for every report, every insight and every discussion.
Hopefully my diary can give voice to those of us who can't buy commercials or give you the understanding of insanity. Please, enjoy.
The debate has now shifted for every single progressive issue - in part we did it to ourselves with language and smugness, but that was helped by millions and millions backing our opponents .
Might I suggest, humbly , to any human being concerned about the rights of the individual to be protected not adjective our beliefs to death. They are not Gay Rights, they are HUMAN Rights. Sure, gay people creep you out-but that makes them no less human. As long as we continue to subdivide human beings into adjectives , we are doomed to fail. I do not understand gay people, but shit works out - I am straight, I do not have to understand the way they were born. I just have to recognize that they are human and they are as human as I and thusly they deserve the same rights as myself or any other human.
I got side tracked. CNN is asking the question "Will new Congressional Bill destroy the greatest healthcare system in the world ?" How does this legislation effect France or Germany ? No credible agency ranks our healthcare system as #1 , in fact we are not in the top 20, or even the top 30. If our healthcare system was a storied College Football Program, like USC, and was ranked as low as it is, the team would not be invited to a Christmas Day Bowl Game ! My work schedule allows for me to see plenty of television at odd hours. The advertiser based concerns have been as follows
1- 2000 pages
2-Government run healthcare
3- Unemployment
4-New Taxes
The bill is being touted as unread, mostly by those touting it as unread. The Dead Milkmen once said "You gotta blow up those things you can't understand" and the brilliance is if you never attempt to read the bill, you never understand it !
The fear based opposition seems to be winning . If Blue Cross or Union loses even 1 dollar the bill it is considered horrible . Of course, the reasoning is if they lose money they advertise less and the 'news' may lose profitability .
I feel public healthcare will point out even larger problems in our economic problems. 401K's are often fortified in healthcare. We could debate how pensions guaranteed by companies being taken away is a HUGE root problem. Think about that - it used to be nearly every company offered a pension, and Ronald Reagan convinced us that was stupid. Now, changing healthcare could prove the true evil of Ronnie and how tied we are all to corporate success.
Healthcare is a HUMAN RIGHT ! Just like drinkable water, just like a fair trial, just like the ability to not be murdered in a genocidal rage.
Can we as progressives or whatever you would like to be labeled explain the bill as opposed to sweeping words. I understand the American Public has no attention span, but the more we toss around Public Option the more it is combatted with Government Takeover of healthcare.
Can some LEADER explain to the American people in PLAIN language what is in the 2000 pages ? There is not 1 news cast that agrees on what the bill says - and if somneone in a suit and tie or a business dress doesn't explain the bill and the language of the bill we are doomed to be vicitms of morons like Glenn Beck.
The economy and jobs are being used as excuses to fight this healthcare reform - lets fight that. Sure, I can explain it person to person, but who am I ? I am not a recognizeable figure, I am a moron. Why not put out a strong well spoken democrat to explain the bill. Someone exciting and not 100 years old would be nice. Hey, people still love and hate Bill Clinton enough they would tune into him explaining it - and he is an awesome public speaker. Shit, I am at least as believable as Glenn Beck, give me the script and I will entertain the country for 45 minutes. I will even go off script and fart on a picture of Glenn Beck if I have the time.
The economy has to be fixed, no doubt - FROM THE BOTTOM UP, no more can it be the Republican System of Top Down. The valve has been closed and the trickle has been cut off.
It was not that long ago Ford made the V1, an electric car. The company that made the bateries was bought by Chevron . Tax the shit out of Chevron until they give the technology back and demand Ford start making their sucessful electric car again for their bailout money.
There is so much that needs to be fixed that is so easy to fix I can't understand why a democrat can't explain it to the populous at large clearly.
Obama is our president, is there just one more leader who won't put the entire country to sleep ? As long as bigotry rules the opposition, we have to combat their ignorance with something familier - a white guy they can trust, or at the very least listen to.
We are either set for the wildest change the country has ever seen or the largest disappointment progressives have ever known- and we let the SUpreme Court appoint George W. Bush president.