It's not as if I've completely given up on TV watching altogether. I do like to watch some HBO shows, documentaries, and when it comes to news, I'm finding that Moyers & Company, Democracy Now!, and a little bit of Al Jazeera, and (less and less of) NPR/PBS keep me informed about important issues.
But having pointed that out doesn't negate the fact that I do consider the overall effect of passive consumption of the hideous U.S. corporate media conglomerate programming to be extremely harmful. The propagandist effects are truly mind-blowing.
On September 23rd I wrote a diary about this subject: "On The Media: Watching TV in The U.S." In it I basically marvel at how utterly absurd the whole TV-watching experience is. I called it "stranger than fiction."
Well, today I was at the gym on the treadmill again, and as I glanced at the screens once in a while, the word "manic" came to mind... I'm just looking at the screen (no audio), and notice all the commercials, all the truly absurd and inane programming, the almost maniacal fake smiles everywhere, and people jumping, running back and forth (in commercials and morning shows)...
As I work out on the treadmill I usually try to avoid glancing at the screens, but today I did a little more than usual, and aside from noticing the absurdities, another thought came to mind: There are millions and millions of people right now watching this garbage, while at the same time they are being robbed blind.
Of course, it goes without saying that that is one of the main purposes of this mind-numbing propaganda: to distract, control, and manipulate people so they don't realized they are being robbed; robbed of their freedom, their economic security, their rights.
Every day in cities and towns all across this country, while most people go about their daily routines, most of them are unaware about how many of those who hold positions of power are colluding to loot and pillage taxpayers' money.
The scam is pretty straightforward... Powerful business interests and wealthy individuals, taking advantage of what is essentially a legalized bribery scheme, deploy armies of lobbyists and influence-peddlers tasked with showering public officials with campaign contributions, special favors (for them, their families and associates), and promises of lucrative job/career opportunities (revolving door), among many other goodies, including all expenses-paid "training" sessions, etc.
Here's the insidious side of all this... The more TV you watch, including the "news," the less informed you will be about these scams. Also, as this propaganda system generates a nonstop barrage of sensationalist content, many people "run" from headline to headline, their attention and focus kept on any given issue for as long as the headline remains in the public discourse... Sometimes that's 24 hours, or a couple of days, and then is onto the next headline.
In the meantime, there is a systematic (well-organized) looting of the public coffers (and the undermining of your rights) happening right in the open, but it somehow manages to stay below the radar.
Here's a perfect summary of what's happening:
Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.
In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU?
I'm going to list some examples of the rampant corruption that has engulfed the country (a process that has taken decades and affects both major political parties), but before I do, I'll once again state the reason I keep bringing these issues up: Until and unless a large-enough segment of the population coalesces into a cohesive social justice and anti-corruption movement capable of mounting a very well organized and strategic campaign against the ruling elite in a sustained manner, the abuses will not only continue unabated, but the degree of corruption and oppression will get worst with every passing day.
San Francisco Chronicle: School bonds are a Wall Street scam
According to a recent San Mateo County grand jury report, the bonds have been issued in California to raise more than $500 billion - but the estimated future repayment of that debt will total more than $2 trillion.
School and community college districts issued 98 percent of all capital appreciation bonds. For example, San Mateo Union High School District raised $190 million, which will result in approximately $1 billion in debt. In San Diego County, Poway Unified School District raised $105 million which will result in approximately $1 billion in debt.
The Los Angeles Times reported that more that 200 California school and community college districts issuing these bonds will end up paying 10 to 20 times more than they borrowed.
The emphasis is mine
RollingStone: "Looting the Pension Funds - All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers," by Matt Taibbi
This is the third act in an improbable triple-fucking of ordinary people that Wall Street is seeking to pull off as a shocker epilogue to the crisis era. Five years ago this fall, an epidemic of fraud and thievery in the financial-services industry triggered the collapse of our economy. The resultant loss of tax revenue plunged states everywhere into spiraling fiscal crises, and local governments suffered huge losses in their retirement portfolios – remember, these public pension funds were some of the most frequently targeted suckers upon whom Wall Street dumped its fraud-riddled mortgage-backed securities in the pre-crash years.
Today, the same Wall Street crowd that caused the crash is not merely rolling in money again but aggressively counterattacking on the public-relations front. The battle increasingly centers around public funds like state and municipal pensions. This war isn't just about money. Crucially, in ways invisible to most Americans, it's also about blame. In state after state, politicians are following the Rhode Island playbook, using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities.
The emphasis is mine
New York Daily News: "Witness testifies that top city official gave CityTime consultants free rein," by Juan Gonzalez
Two private consultants accused of siphoning tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from the scandal-ridden CityTime payroll project were given free rein for years by a top city official, a key witness testified Thursday.
That official, Joel Bondy, director of the city’s office of payroll, was supposed to be in charge of overseeing CityTime. Bondy resigned in disgrace in December 2010, only days after federal prosecutors began a series of arrests in what they have called massive fraud connected to the $700 million project.
At least in New York this massive fraud is being investigated... In California, on the other hand, what appears to be a half a billion dollar scam involving the Judicial Council and private contractors goes unnoticed by much of the state:
Judicial Council Watcher: CCMS- California’s Continuing National Embarrassment
“A project for California’s massive court system shows how bad it can get. Officials hired Deloitte and another firm in 2003 to create a statewide case management system, connecting 58 county courts, as well as appellate courts. By 2010, Deloitte was running the entire job, and the contract had been amended 102 times, ballooning in cost to $310 million from $33 million, according to a state audit.
Worse, the cost to install the software had been wildly underestimated. The total price tag soared to a projected $1.9 billion, so expensive that the courts could not afford to put the system into operation...
~Snip~
We also attach this link which details the current membership of the Judicial Council’s Technology Committee and the Court Technology Advisory Committee Liaisons. Stunningly, our branch leaders have decided that some of the chief architects and public advocates of CCMS deserve to chair these committees. We offer no further commentary on this point as we trust you will appropriately analyze the wisdom behind these appointments.
Los Angeles Times: Gov. Jerry Brown moves ahead with second private-prison deal
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed another private prison deal to take inmates out of California's crowded prisons.
The arrangement, announced Tuesday morning by Corrections Corp. of America, requires the state to pay $28.5 million a year for what is now a federal detention facility in California City. That prison can hold 2,304 inmates.
~Snip~
In September, California signed a $30-million, three-year contract with Geo Group for 1,400 prison beds at two facilities within the state.
THINKPROGRESS: California Governor Vetoes Bill To Reduce Drug Sentences, Signs New Private Prison Deal Instead
At of the end of 2012, 4,144 people were locked up in state prisons for minor drug possession — costing taxpayers $207 million for just one year of incarceration. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, the vetoed sentencing reform would have resulted in shorter sentences for about 15 to 30 percent of cases, saving hundreds of millions of dollars and possibly helping to reduce the prison crowding deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. State Sen. Mark Leno (D), who introduced the bill, said the savings would have been funneled to treatment and rehabilitation programs.
~Snip~
Turning to private prisons is unlikely to fix California’s swollen prisons, which must be reduced by 9,600 inmates by the end of the year. Private prison companies often extract long-term quota agreements from states requiring full occupancy, keeping prison populations and profits high. Several states have dropped private prison contracts due to widespread corruption, human rights abuses, and mismanagement. Nevertheless, Brown has thus far committed California taxpayers to a bill of $1.14 billion over three years to hand over prisoners to private contractors.
ACLU: "Should It Cost Less to Get Out of Jail if You're Rich?"
The average bail amount is nearly $90,000. If you don't happen to have this amount sitting in your bank account, odds are you'll need to borrow it from a bail bondsman, like Eric Amparan. Here's the catch: Eric will keep 10% of this amount as his non-refundable fee, even if you're found innocent. So you pay almost $9,000 to get out of jail if you're poor or middle class, but you pay nothing if you're rich.
~Snip~
But judges often ignore these laws, and instead make people pay bail – which feeds right into the bail profiteers' business model. When judges set higher bail amounts, bail bond companies pull in higher profits. The American Bail Coalition – a lobbying group that represents the bail bondsmen, powerful insurance companies and wealthy investors – is working hard to make sure these profits keep coming in. They spent $3.1 million dollars lobbying state lawmakers between 2002 and 2011 and drafted twelve bail bills that encourage judges to set high bail amounts and give the bail industry more leeway to profit off incarceration.
I'll stop here and will point out that thousands of pages could be filled with example upon example of the systemic corruption and increased oppression that has engulfed the country (a process that has taken decades).
Again, what's been happening is a cultural phenomenon; an ethos based on extreme greed, on privilege, on Neoliberalism (the undermining of the public sector in favor of profiteering). There are anti-democratic organized forces behind this...
The New York Times: "A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning"
To many Americans, the shutdown came out of nowhere. But interviews with a wide array of conservatives show that the confrontation that precipitated the crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort to undo the law, the Affordable Care Act, since its passage in 2010 — waged by a galaxy of conservative groups with more money, organized tactics and interconnections than is commonly known.
~Snip~
The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.
The groups have also sought to pressure vulnerable Republican members of Congress with scorecards keeping track of their health care votes; have burned faux “Obamacare cards” on college campuses; and have distributed scripts for phone calls to Congressional offices, sample letters to editors and Twitter and Facebook offerings for followers to present as their own.
The emphasis is mine
And there is an extreme-right religious component as well, as masterfully chronicle by Frederick Clarkson in this diary: "Dominionism Deniers Must Be Getting the Vapors"
If one looks at these patterns, ALEC and its funders (Koch brothers and others), the tearing down of the regulatory infrastructure opening the door for looting, the for-profit corporate-controlled NSA revelations, the militarization of police forces around the country, the Tea Party, Ted Cruz and his involvement with the dominionist movement, the mind-numbing (propagandist) effect of corporate media conglomeration, the brutal suppression of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and an increasingly uninformed (distracted, and disinterested) populace, what you have is a recipe for the eventual rise of a totalitarian police state acting at the behest of corporatist (Neoliberal) cartels.
Seeing all this happening in real time answers a question I've had for many years now: What are the conditions that lead to the rise of oppressive regimes, like the Nazis?
I argue that we are seeing those conditions developed right before our eyes, and yet failing to fully understand the true danger we are facing. Again, it's a cultural phenomenon...
Here's a perspective about how seemingly unrelated small changes can lead to fascism:
They Thought They Were Free - But Then It Was Too Late
The Germans, 1933-45 - by Milton Mayer
"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.
"How is this to be avoided, among ordinary men, even highly educated ordinary men? Frankly, I do not know. I do not see, even now. Many, many times since it all happened I have pondered that pair of great maxims, Principiis obsta and Finem respice—‘Resist the beginnings’ and ‘Consider the end.’ But one must foresee the end in order to resist, or even see, the beginnings. One must foresee the end clearly and certainly and how is this to be done, by ordinary men or even by extraordinary men? Things might have. And everyone counts on that might.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Market For The People |Ray Pensador | Email List | Twitter | Facebook