Smoke Screens

Somtimes important news is ignored or drowned out by more “popular” news.  I say “popular” because the public is more receptive to it. 

For example, is the public going to take more interest in the runners-up of American Idol or a boring Congressional bill?  How about an actor’s sex scandal versus corporate tax evasion?  The proof is apparent when you consider that more people vote on American Idol than for a presidential election.

Sometimes more important news seems to be ignored or drowned out on purpose.  Take the “Runaway Bride” case of 2005.  While the media went cuckoo over this story, another story was being ignored that was more important.  See if you can find it online…

Other stories get placed on a ticker tape at the bottom of a news channel or printed on page A6 of a major newspaper – under the fold, towards the bottom.

Other stories don’t get ignored or drowned out.  They get censored altogether.  It took the British media to print Greg Palast’s report on the George W. Bush campaign’s voter-purge in Florida in 2000.  That should have been front-page headlines of a major newspaper here in America – above the fold, right smack in your face.

Or how about the case of Jane Akre and Fox News?  She wanted to report on hormones in our milk – something we would all want to know about.  Fox News canned the story because of a threatened lawsuit.

The only way to find out about these kinds of stories is to search the internet for blogs or other trusted websites.  Also, keep an eye on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show or Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report – they are funny and entertaining, but they do have a knack for keeping up with what’s important in a world full of distractions.

Finally, there is Project Censored, a website and annual publication of news you just aren’t hearing about.  As a concerned citizen, it is up to you to find sources for news that you can count on and consistently question everything you read.  Pay attention to the smoke that issues out of the popular media channels and dig for the stories that you deem most important, not what they think you need to hear.

Pssst…watch for the day before Thanksgiving every year.  Congress loves to pass unpopular bills through while no one is watching. 

The People vs Wall Street

It’s been a couple years since I have written anything here, so I figured it’s time to get back in the saddle again. What a great place to start with what’s going on over in New York and 60 major cities around the country.

If you’ve been under a rock for the past month, or you’re getting your news from the wrong places, a huge protest started over a month ago along Wall Street. Why are they there and what are they upset about? After a decade of bailouts and corporate greed run amok, the “people” of “We the People” are making their arguments known in very public places.

The movement started on Wall Street to symbolize the heart of American corporate greed and has spread to 60 major cities across the country and even some cities around the world. Occupy Wall Street, as it’s being officially called, is representing the 99% that feels at a disadvantage to the 1% who own much of America’s wealth. They are calling for a change from ‘business as usual’ in Congress and the patronization of corporations.

Even some of the 1% have come out to support the protestors. These have included Tim Robbins, Kanye West, Michael Moore, Cornel West, Rev. Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, and Naomi Wolf.

One issue in particular is the notion from some politicians and media pundits is that these people are causing problems and creating chaos. Unfortunately for them, the Constitution backs up their right to assemble, which the police apparently forget whenever a protest forms. Naomi Wolf, an activist and author of The End of America: Letter to a Patriot, was arrested yesterday after reminding the police of this very thing.

Republicans have predictably taken the side of “The Man.” Republican presidential candidate and Mormon spokesperson Mitt Romney expressed his disapproval of the protestors recently at a press conference, although taking the side of the protestors in an about-face the following week. Ruh, roh, Raggy! Maybe he forgot that technology catches political lies so much easier these days.

Many in our nation repeatedly forget this right of the American people; this right to assemble. Other nations do it. And we need to, as well. It helps the powers that be gauge the temperature of society in general. Without it, opinions are silenced and democracy ceases to exist in its pure form. We cannot accept the excuses “The Man” gives us for not assembling. We cannot allow police to interfere in peaceful demonstrations. We cannot let the media label protestors as radicals, idealists, bored and spoiled college kids. We cannot forget the rights created by the Founding Fathers of our nation, inspired by the teachings of centuries of worldly thought.

Extremism, or, Yelling ‘Fire’ in a Crowded Theatre

So, there have been these college kids who have been hanging outside of my local post office with a table of anti-Obama posters and handouts.  The poster is a close-up of Obama’s face – Orwell style – with a Hitler mustache.

Oh, the things I wanted to say.  The temptation was too great to yell out the window and say what was really on my mind.  But they’d probably expect that.  So, I chose to keep my mouth shut, which is rare for me.

I am getting impatient with the type of language that is coming out of people these days.  After eight years of a presidential administration that made a mockery of our country and our Constitution, now people are speaking up.  Speaking up over imagined threats to our ways of life.  

If you don’t like Obama, that’s fine.  Not every leader is going to be liked by everyone all of the time.  What bothers me is the language and tone that is being used.  There are always extremists out there, but they are getting more positive press as of late. 

Whatever you may want to say about our President, he is not a socialist, far from it.  He enjoys all of the same conflicts of interestand industrial complexes in capitalism that any other president has had.

Hitler?  Seriously?  These people are comparing him to a fascist dictator who was responsible for the death of six million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and political opponents.  Seriously?  He’s that bad of a leader?

What these people are doing is taking away from the national debate by creating ridiculous accusations.  And the media just eats it right up.  There was a time when we called these people kooks, crazies, nutbags, and idiots.  Why should it be any different now?

Finding LOST – No Spoilers

“In this world of change, nothing which comes stays, and nothing which goes is lost.”

I have to say that the best television show of the past decade has definitely been LOST.

As the show winds up its sixth and final season on ABC, it is one of those rare treats that makes you wish it would never end.  Methodically created and designed by gifted writers and producers, it has inspired and awed many viewers, despite the repeated hiccups of writers’ strikes and television politics.

What makes it so great?  Although some have been confused by the piecemeal plot lines and time changes, it is this design that has made the show such a pleasure to watch.  Every character has their own back story that helps explain behaviors and motives throughout the show.  Each one is flawed and remarkable in their own right.

There is James Sawyer, who is an ex-con-artist with a viciously sarcastic sense of humor who happens to be into literature.  There are the characters of Jack Shepard and John  Locke, who represent science and faith respectively in their leadership roles.  There is also Benjamin Linus, who is a manipulative, murderous, envious man who you can almost like at times.  How about Richard Alpert, who never seems to age and seems to exist permanently on the island?

The plot is ingenious in its own right.  By the sixth season, you should have realized that every character is connected somehow to another character, whether they even realize it.  Subplots come and go, while some remain unanswered still.  The references to literature, science, philosophy, and religion are so numerous that fans have created their own wiki pages to help decipher all of the little details that the casual viewer may have missed.  But that’s what great about the show, every detail is pretty much there for a reason.

It will be sad to see such a great show finish its final season in May, but as the British know, sometimes a show needs to end before it has the chance to “jump the shark.”  We can only hope for more quality in television in the future, but that is usually few and far between, unfortunately.

Scott Dee

Sarah Palin’s Pity Party

Sarah Palin needs to go away.

She adds nothing to the national conversation except drama worthy of a reality television show.

Her latest tirade has been over Seth McFarlane’s hilariously unpolitically-correct show, Family Guy.  The show, which lampoons just about anything and everything in pop culture, recently aired an episode where the son, Chris, dates a girl with Down Syndrome.  At dinner, she tells Chris that she is the daughter of an ex-governor of Alaska.  Who could that be?

Palin went nuts.  A week after Rahm Emmanuel used the word ‘retards’ (referring to Democrats) in a meeting at the White House, Palin had more fodder for her me-machine.  Every month it seems she has something to say about something that makes Fox News giddy with enjoyment.

It’s nice that she picks and chooses the things she gripes about, though.  She has the time to criticize Emmanuel (probably because he works for the Democrats) and McFarlane (who is a liberal), but she won’t criticize Rush Limbaugh for using the word ‘retard’ or herself for her daughter’s underage, unwedded pregnancy.  Not that I care, but she clearly has double standards that are reminiscent of Bill O’ Reilly and Ann Coulter.

When asked about Limbaugh, she said it’s okay because he’s a satirist.  Excuse me, Limbaugh is far from a satirist.  As far as I know, he is considered a radio talk show host.  He does lie and make stuff up a lot, but that is not satirizing.  It’s called lying!  His loud Oxycontin-laden mouth speaks whatever he feels like spouting.  If anything, McFarlane is a satirist that would have amused past satirists, like Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, or Voltaire.

Despite the fact that the actress who portrayed the girl, who really has Down Syndrome, said that Palin needs to get a sense of humor, Palin will continue to whine about whatever issue makes her look good and gives her attention.  After all, she needs to remain relevant to the public until 2012, when she obviously thinks she has a bat’s chance in hell of getting nominated by Republicans for president.  Her resume won’t do it – she couldn’t even finish one term as governor.  Her lack of intelligence won’t do it – she still believes in burning witches and thinks Africa is a country.  Even the Republicans view her as a liability.

So let’s all weep for Sarah Palin.  Her poor family needs it after she used them as political meat.  And she needs the attention for at least two more years.

Scott Dee

Supreme Court Ruling Compromises Our Democracy

Recently, the Supreme Court made a decision that will eventually affect our political structure in a negative way.  Not that they haven’t done this before, but too often in the past thirty years our glorious Judges have let down the nation by allowing decisions to pass that compromise the integrity of our nation.

In Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the Court ruled (5-4) that corporations can finance campaigns much like an individual can.  What this means to the average voter in our country is that Big Business interests can influence elections directly without any limit and that they have the same First Amendment rights as an American citizen.  They can throw as much money at a candidate as they want – and in our modern elections we can see the influence of money in an election.  Much has been said about the extreme amount of money that President Obama spent to get his word out.  Even though McCain also contributed to the most expensive presidential election in history, Obama still spent over twice as much on his campaign, including a thirty-minute television ad.  According to a USA Today poll in 2008, voters already believed too much was being spent on campaigns by 3 to 1.

A New Declaration?

But who cares about the voters?  The politicians only seem to care about them at election time.  And the Supreme Court doesn’t need them at all.

Although there is some argument to the importance of voter-funded elections over public financing, the campaign process is quickly becoming a contest between who’s wealthier.  So much for the average voter having a say, now that corporations can have their say.  We might as well not bother.   We will be at the mercy of corporations to bend their campaign benefactors in a direction that will benefit us.  But with Big Business driving the bus, I doubt this will happen.  Our nation will become a futuristic version of the company town, combined with the corruptions of Tammany Hall.  What’s worse is the probability that foreign multinationals can get in the game, as well.  How do the American voters feel about foreign companies influencing our elections?

The sad thing is that most Americans have not even heard of Citizens United vs. FEC.  Years from  now, when voters are asking how Halliburton, Exxon, and Monsanto could have influenced the election campaign so much, they will only then learn about this Supreme Court decision.

To learn more about how much was spent between the two candidates and the parties, check out the campaign finance tracker from USA Today.

Scott Dee

The State of Our Union

A couple weeks ago, President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union Address.  It’s been a little over a year since he took office and there has been a lot of criticism over his effectiveness.  It has been a lose/lose situation for him during this first year as citizens and politicians from both sides of the aisle have attacked him incessantly.  There comes a time when too much criticism can become a burden on democracy, especially when it is pointed in what I see as the wrong direction.

It was easy to criticize George W. Bush while he was in office.  Every time he spoke it was too easy to point out any grammatical goofs he made.  We made fun of him for these errors in speech because he is an Ivy League graduate who made it to the highest office in the land, and we expect more from our leaders.  We criticized him for the un-American decisions he made concerning Iraq, Guantanamo, and the Patriot Act.

The problem with Obama is that he has not made any of these grievous errors.  Although he hasn’t been as uber-effective as I would like him to be, he speaks eloquently and he has not made any decisions detrimental to the safety of our nation.  So why the harsh attacks?  It’s too easy to say Americans are racist.  That they just can’t subconsciously handle a black president, especially one who speaks so well.  I’m reminded of Iago’s criticisms of the Moor in William Shakespeare’s Othello – as if Obama was an ‘erring barbarian’ acting false among the white population.

I’m not saying I agree with everything he has said, but there have been cries of socialism, lynched effigies, and accusations of un-Americanism among Obama’s nastiest critics.  I don’t

think he deserves the extreme negativity.  It’s true that he hasn’t ram-rodded all of his campaign promises through, primarily because he has had his hands full putting the nation back together after the previous eight years.  Despite everyone’s confidence in him at election time, he is not the be-all and end-all of our government.  Those who attended even the most routine of secondary education should have learned that we have what’s called a federal system that separates the powers so no single governmental entity has too much power.

Let’s give him credit for the few things he has accomplished and hope for more success in the coming years.  Let’s criticize him when he’s worthy of it.  He can’t magically solve the disagreements in both Houses.  That’s where the real problems lie.

The political parties are in a transitional state where they no longer have independent members that think for themselves.  Each party is now obsessed with the idea of partisanship while pretending to be bipartisan.  Rather than uniting and operating under the mandate that the people gave the Democratic Party in 2008, they have squandered their advantage away.  Meanwhile, the Republicans only gossip like teenagers and yell out insults from the sidelines rather than make any viable options available.

Let’s make a call to make our politicians more effective, rather than blaming one man for the ills of our political structure.  I’m not saying Obama is infallible.  He should be responsible for shepherding our politicians into the right decisions and bringing the two sides together.  And that’s what I saw him do during the State of the Union address.

Instead of constantly working against the political system, let’s nurture our growth by being more active and holding these politicians, at every level, more accountable to the whims of the people, not to the domination of the party.

This is the state of our union.

Scott Dee

Howard Zinn

This past week saw the passing of one of America’s greatest historians: Howard Zinn.

The author of more than twenty books and contributor to at least a dozen more was most known for authoring The People’s History of the United States, which is required reading for anyone who wants a good, realistic grip on American history.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Zinn analyzed primary sources and told the story of history from the people’s perspective  of American history, rather than from the winners’.  From the first chapter of People’s History on Christopher Columbus, he was able to turn what you learned in middle and high school on its head and tell each story from an angle that you most likely hadn’t heard before.  It’s no wonder many college professors began using his works in their classrooms.

Although he has passed, his writings will live on as a testimony of the power of the people of America.

Scott Dee

Race Matters

Cornel West, author of "Race Matters"

It is hard to believe that we have entered the Twenty-first Century and we still have the ignorant ghosts of racism still haunting us.  The attitude towards blacks by some white people around our country is amazing to me, sometimes.

Our country was founded on the belief that we are to be open-minded about all creeds from around the world, but yet our biggest flaw in our history has been the black issue.  Even our Founding Fathers owned slaves, which is hard to understand, coming from men who professed such open-minded beliefs about the citizens of a nation.  As a teacher, it is a question that is often asked – how could the creators of this great nation have been so short-sighted?  I can only answer that as progressive and intelligent as they were, they weren’t perfect.

Slavery has got to be America’s most immense skeleton in the proverbial closet.  Over a hundred and fifty years after Abraham Lincoln ‘freed’ the slaves, there is still this mentality in many parts of our country that the black race is inferior to the white one.  How can so many people feel this way?  Didn’t we just elect a black president?  Hell, there were enough open-minded people who overlooked the coincidental fact that Obama’s middle name was Hussein.

There is an air of paranoia and an addictive embrace to very primitive thinking processes in America now and I feel that it has not been well addressed.  As more and more people recognize the power of the internet, these ridiculous views are able to be shared to everyone who wants to hear them.  This has created an upsurge of conspiracy theories that include ridiculous Zionist plots to overthrow the government and the fictitious connections of black musicians to the Illuminati, of all things.  All one has to do is look these topics up on YouTube to see these idiotic beliefs posted to the world.

Although things have gotten better for blacks in America since the civil rights movements of the 1960s, there is still much work to do.  Cornel West mentions in his book Race Matters that one problem facing blacks today is the lack of community among themselves.  But West published these ideas in the 1990s and it’s another world now.  A world where more people claim to be open-minded, while those who still live in their racially-bias existence have become more intolerant as African Americans celebrate more success.

This lack of community that West discusses should not be for blacks to bear alone.  It should be a community of people regardless of race, creed, religion, sex, sexual preference, etc; all helping each other overcome the ignorance that exists in some circles today.  These issues need to be continually addressed and squashed down whenever possible, for whatever battle one minority faces today, another will face tomorrow.

“A fully functional multiracial society cannot be achieved without a sense of history and open, honest dialogue.” ~ Cornel West

Scott Dee

The Death of the Hero

Ever since the dawn of time, people have had heroes or someone to look up to, whether it was a mere mortal who dared to steal fire from the gods, or a demi-god that fought off beasts with nine heads, or just someone who helped you with a flat tire.

People need someone to look up to, to be inspired by, the hero with a thousand faces that is omnipresent to every walk of life.  Unfortunately, not even Joseph Campbell could predict the state of the hero made in our present time.  The hero will be a thing of the past soon enough.

Prometheus's Punishment

Cynical?  Not really.  Our presidents let us down.  Our athletes let us down.  Our mentors let us down.  There’s not a single person we can look up to that won’t eventually let us down by our contemporary standards.  Look at all the celebrities who have overdosed on prescription cocktails over the past few years.  Look at Tiger Woods and his harem of mistresses.  Even spiritual leaders have let their flocks down.

Who can we look up to?  Maybe we just need to reevaluate our definitions of hero.  As our world becomes more connected than Orwell could have ever imagined, we are going to be bombarded by every possible negative action public figures can manage.

We shouldn’t be surprised when our heroes make mistakes.  Too often we forget that the people we look up to are only human, just like we are.  We all have out own dirty little secrets

that we need to tend to.  I think the only reason people become obsessed with the errs of celebrities is to remind themselves that others can be torn down instead of themselves.

Maybe that’s what celebrities are for nowadays, but it will be increasingly difficult as time goes on to hold these heroes of ours up on these pedestals we have created.  As we learn through Twitter updates and the TMZ paparazzi what Brad Pitt has for breakfast and what bathroom habits the latest moron from Jersey Shore may have, we have closed the gap that separates them from ourselves.

That may not be a bad thing for some so-called heroes, but we will need to reevaluate what it means to be inspired and how to look up to people as this continues.

Scott Dee