McDonalds News Network

Would you be well-informed if all your nutritional news & background information were supplied by McDonalds fast-food franchises?

An independent press is essential - but most media outlets in the USA are owned by wealthy corporations. Americans are typically unfamiliar with press independence, and 99% of the media consumed is owned & controlled by the 1% richest people.

Too many people unthinkingly rely on the huge corporate news machines -- which clearly distort, omit & manage information. In the USA, official brutality is deliberately hidden when possible. Democracy is threatened when a large proportion of people are fooled, deluded or deceived.

Pre-digested infosnacks offered by corporatist networks are not "free news" -- docile media endangers the health of the world & the survival of future generations.

Neglecting media's importance is costly, but blame yourself. Civic media is an available alternative in many nations, but people are captivated by corporate-supplied buzz.

The below site offers a different view of the news:
http://commondreams.org

I Feel Different About Obama

I had some envy for Barack Obama. He's younger than I am, and he is The President of the United States. I've a far simpler life.

Yet Barack Obama is a hypocrite, and he surely knows it.

He's dirtied our world in significant, highly important ways. He's clever & must deeply feel his deceit.

His grandmother would be shocked, his parents disgusted. His wife should feel shame.

So happy I ain't Barack Obama.

Let My People Go

Palestine leader Mahmoud Abbas raised havoc this week at the United Nations in seeking statehood for his people. But efforts for Palestine were no surprise. A year ago (25 Sept 2010) Abbas spoke to the UN General Assembly,  seeking to end escalating Zionist settlements in the Israeli military-occupied West Bank. Over this past year ... the world did nothing.

World Crisis: UNSC Reform

Why should a handful of nations enjoy non-elected membership in the United Nations Security Council? It is wrong.

Ten elected members must contend with the five fat noblemen, each with unilateral veto power. This anti-democratic system emasculates decision-making & stifles debate.

2012 Election Day

The new US President-Elect appoints former Pres. Barack Obama as White House Spokesperson for the upcoming administration.

"Over the past four years he's performed admirably. He ain't said much for himself. We want him to keep working."

Self-Image

Exceptionalism !

The US Republican Party rallying cry has become "American Exceptionalism" - a fine & noble sentiment, stirring patriotic passions & grand visions of divine grace and unique heroism. But unilateral assertions of greatness are dangerous, especially when created by PR & advertising professionals. Such self-declared nobility is ridiculous. It's a threatening world we create where "Chinese exceptionalism" and "Jewish exceptionalism" and "German exceptionalism" and the "exceptionalism of inherited wealth" and other bold brash ideologies savagely compete for dominance. We might be convinced of our own true exceptionalism, while others exaggerate; far better to keep such views to oneself. Those trumpeting their own exceptionalism are dangerous narcissists, sadly all too common.

  You're #1 in line for reaming.   Prepare to be volunteered...

Rep. Dennis Kucinich & Obama

Can U.S. President Obama be reelected? He's betrayed the hopes of most who voted for him. Obama has been a bureaucratic tool of Washington politics rather than a progressive voice for change.

But he can still do good. Surely his Supreme Court appointments are far better than the Republicans would have offered. But how about some other enlightened appointments? Why does Big Barry want to be the only leader's voice in his government?

Obama might start with high-profile appointments within his administration for US Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former US Sen. Russ Feingold.

Palestine's Right to Exist

Are we to demonize all non-Jewish people? Most people of Palestine are peaceful & law-abiding. But political leaders of the USA & Israel maliciously oppose recognizing the state of Palestine. Should Palestine have the Right to Exist?

Evil Scum

"If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate."
  --- Goldstein, Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism quoted in Orwell, 1984.

Hot Dog Paul Ryan

U.S. House Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) should return to driving the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile (a task he did after his Social Security survivor's benefits ended ... and the little creep never drove by my house...).

At a 6 Sept. at a Wisconsin Rotary Club fundraising speech, when Rep. Ryan claimed "Most of our debt, in the future, comes from our entitlement programs" - retired plumber Tom Nielsen interrupted him, "I paid into those for 50 years! My Social Security, my unemployment, my Medicare, and now you're gonna..." But Nielsen (71), couldn't complete his dissenting comment -- being pushed from the room, wrestled down & arrested. His elderly constituent was bundled away by police while Rep. Ryan joked & laughed at him...

See it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBhdXfCdaA8

    ----------------------------------
Yet as Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Ryan was silent about huge expenditures for overseas military interventions. Guns before butter! This twerp, from the Ryan Incorporated Central family, a major Big Business, "one of the nation's largest site-work contractors" is a callous hot-dogger.

He'd sell your grandma for meat, label it 'veal' - and snicker at the pain he caused.

Public Private Partnership

America's unprecedented Public Private Partnership is in full glory - from the vaults of mega banking firms to the shores of Tripoli...

The public pays, and rich private interests gather all benefits.

Labor Day USA

We can construct a society
where all enjoy balanced life.

There's no shortage of work to do...

Don't give up worker pride
to entitled brats of the richest 1%.

Wake-Up!     Union Power Made Labor Day

United We Bargain -- Divided We Beg

Cherokee-Memorial in Palestine

Believing that God supports you is empowering... but it's also led to horrible cruelty, theft & murder.

Nothing stopped U.S. settlers from theft & massacre of the Cherokee and other Native Americans. Though victims of systematic genocide, native peoples are still often depicted as savages. Resisting Invasion is condemned as Rebellion.

Israeli settlers now similarly dispossess local people. "Nation Building" is a wonderful goal, but most people of the world (and many in Israel) feel theft and murder unjust.

Propaganda for Breakfast

Reports of atrocities by the (now seemingly former) Libyan government leader are perplexing.

Quadaffi is blamed in most reports for many types of horrible outrages. But wait - what of when the devil is us?

When the Argentinian right-wing tortured, killed and 'disappeared' thousands of supposed troublemakers, capitalist-controlled media was largely silent. When photos emerged from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison of torture by America's military, President Bush evaded blame.

Where's the outrage for genocide of native Americans? Old news? And to free slaves is reasonable, but it doesn't wipe the slate clean, fully pardoning atrocities.

Recognize we're fed predigested half-truths most mornings with breakfast. Food for thought.

Lunch with Hitler

Most people swept up in warfare would avoid brutality & violence. They're pressed to participate, under threat, to support one or another group.

Count your blessings if such choices are not forced on you -- when a bad choice may mean death.

We know ways to defuse rivalries and to minimize sectarian turmoil. But belligerent leaders and assorted parasites make trouble, seeking to scavenge gains.

Rejoice you've not had the misfortune of Hitler & his minions coming through your door, demanding lunch.

Greek Dinner

Greece has overextended itself. As the Greek government is unable to easily repay assorted (mainly private) lenders, pressure has developed for other European governments to bailout the Greeks. As I understand it, such support allows the Greeks further easy borrowing, at lower interest rates.

Finland has demanded collateral to invest in Greece, not simply promises of reform and privatization. Seems reasonable. But too many bailouts are tapping public funds, in often incestuous insider relationships.

The global financial system has become corrupted. One of the worst offenders is the US Federal Reserve, which has quietly been lending private banks huge amounts of funds with little oversight.

Libya as Stolen Property

Interfering foreigners are creating a new regime in Libya. We should hope it will be an improvement on the last government, but positive signs are few.

In declaring the right to wage war on Libya, the foreigners claimed to be protecting civilian lives. Just now, many civilians and low-level officials are suffering & being killed. The outside forces are not protecting civilians properly. Instead, the foreigners, their underlings, and Libyan patriots fight among themselves to divide Libya's wealth.

Trickle-Down Looting

Violence & looting are wrong. The looting now overtaking the UK is a black eye for every community.

But serious looting of far larger sums was imposed on the people of Britain by crony capitalism. The government spent £850bn of public funds to "bailout" private banks (link). The government shovels money to military armaments merchants and for overseas adventurism in distant lands. Past wrongs don't excuse present crimes. But don't be deceived - larger scale looting is now the norm for government & select businesses. We've been completely fleeced: Grand Theft by our rulers.

And pilferage is worse in the USA. All Common Wealth is appropriated by super wealthy opportunists; the rest of the people fight over crumbs.

No Reckoning

The United States of America suffered a sovereign credit downgrade last Friday by rating agency Standard & Poor's. Media's now full of dust & smoke, squawking, the sound of gnashing teeth, etc. etc. What's going on?

The basic affront is the United States of America has grown contemptuous of accountability. Having enjoyed unilateral freedoms for so long, the US government is accustomed to doing whatever it wishes. Public relations and the press are too often interchangeable, rewriting history, ignoring it, or diverting attention & outrage to new stories and memes.

US policymakers see the key lesson of the Vietnam War as marking a point to where one can stray but still reap the Nobel Prize (Kissinger), avoid trials for war crimes, and simply apologize with 'oops'...

The present economic meltdown owes much to the financial crisis of 2007, when the US housing bubble showed major banks and financial firms were insolvent. The US government rescued selected private companies with bailout funds, allowing the executive managers to remain at work. The crisis was blamed in part on regulatory failure and poor government oversight, but top public officials also kept their jobs. These corporations along with Bush, Obama and their cronies, fundamentally undermined our market system by gifting huge public assistance to a few private firms. Importantly, although such shenanigans resulted in global recession, the sovereign credit rating of the USA was not adjusted downward. In other words, this correction is very little, very late.