Today is Election Day in the U.S. and most likely over 95% of us voters will yank our levers for either Obama or McCain, while 3rd party candidates are ignored by corporate media and consequently, also by voters. As you prepare to vote, please keep a few important things in mind:
Vote based on the issues, not the candidate. The candidates have (intentionally) become caricatures: short, old, funny-named, black, white, confident, emotional, panicky, smooth with words or prone to malapropisms. None of that matters. Vote for those representatives that will support the issues important to you. Do you want to stop wars, or poverty and famine? Then please vote for the candidate you feel will help most in that regard, not the one who seems more confident and handsome.
Your vote for President may be the LEAST important vote you make today. Take the time to know each candidate that will appear on your ballot for local elections, and their positions (try Google search). Also, find out the truth about each proposition or public question up for vote. Again, use the search engine to research.
Lastly, please remember that your responsibility does NOT end when you cast your vote. These people work for us, the citizens, and we need to continually remind them to work for our interests. Write letters to them, make phone calls to them – be a good boss and let them know exactly what we expect from them. Let them know when they are doing a good job, and when and how they are screwing up. Large corporations hire people to do this on a daily basis, so please do not let them be the only voice heard.
Good luck out there. It is time to take back America!
Which companies will benefit most from a John McCain presidency?
In America, we have a Presidential election system that currently allows only for large corporate sponsored candidates to be eligible for office. This system is a disaster for the 95% plus of people and businesses that make up the ‘rest’ of America. When you vote for one of these candidates, you are voting for the companies he/she sponsors.
To challenge such a system, and allow a candidate of the people’s rights and freedoms, takes time, effort, and patience. If more people supported Ralph Nader, instead of Gore in 2000 or Kerry in 2004 – we would be much further along today. Instead, people (understandably) chose the attempted quick fix (and downgraded those with more of a vision), and we still had 8 years of Bush.
Here in 2008, we are faced with similar issues to prior elections. Both Democratic and Republican parties have, or will, nominate a corporate sponsored candidate, while Nader runs with no fanfare. Of course, there is a slight difference among corporate support and policies among candidates. Nobody should have been surprised when Exxon and Haliburton received record profits after Bush was appointed President.
Like Bush, McCain is heavily corporate supported. That point is obvious, even though he is hiding the sources of perhaps most of the money supporting his campaign (filtered through his wife). But how well can we predict which companies will do best by a McCain presidency? Pretty well, I think – considering we now know which companies support McCain lobbyists. McCain Source published a list of 118 lobbyists running McCain’s campaign and raising money for his presidency. This invaluable list includes sources, positions, and companies supported. McCain is deep into these companies’ pockets – he basically works for them.
Based on the list of corporate sponsors, it appears McCain will continue Bush’s tradition of sacrificing small and mid-size business and social programs for a handful of large corporations. Below is a list of the types of companies that McCain has specific close relationships with.
So many of the top American industry leaders are supported/represented by McCain lobbyists:
Gas/oil industry: Exxon, Shell, Chevron Texaco are all well represented. Expect the gross profits to continue for these companies, should McCain become next president.
Military/pentagon: no surprise, this industry is very well represented. Lockheed Martin and many others. Expect more war throughout the next term, with McCain.
Insurance companies are heavily represented, of course. Do not expect better or cheaper health care under McCain.
Telecommunications companies are all over this list. If McCain is President, expect massive spying into American’s lives and complete control of the internet turned over to these companies.
Energy: PSE&G and others. Right now, energy prices – like food and gas prices, are extremely high in America, becoming a horrible burden on people. This is part of the new tax, money that has to be paid to the governing class to survive.
Mainstream media: CBS, NBC, etc. No surprise.
Tobacco companies. Yep, they are still here, and have McCain as a spokesman.
Many large Pharmaceutical Companies are here.
Guns, weapons, and NRA is also here.
Large bank entities are here, as well. JP Morgan, CitiGroup, Fannie Mae, Charles Schwab,
Yes, expect more of the same from McCain, as we saw under Bush. Higher taxes by way of food, gas, medical, insurance, and other soaring costs. Lots of war and prisoners. And more support for Mainstream Media and Telecom companies. Bad news for the economy, health, science, internet users, and non-filthy rich people.
Yes, I want Ralph Nader to be president, but I can understand the feeling of urgency to avoid the continuation of horrible Bush policies under McCain.
Photos: top, McCain hugs Bush. Bottom, Bush and McCain enjoy birthday cake together while New Orleans recovers from Hurricaine Katrina with no government support.
Both photos have numerous sources and I cannot determine original.
CBS reported that a prisoner in Texas, Keith Russell Judd, “conned” his way into the Idaho Democratic Primary Ballot by following the applicable law and legally applying for the ballot. Judd used the same method as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama but I can find no citation of their filings being a ‘con’. Apparently CBS and the other news organizations consider this legal filing a con based on who did the filing, and not the action itself.
This article was repeated almost verbatim in other newspapers like the New York Times, providing a hint of the way current mainstream news is created.
Idaho state Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said, “We did some checking,” Ysursa said. “There was nothing legally to keep him off.” Ysursa does not say if they then tried illegal means to try and keep him off. Ysursa continued, “We may rethink how we get on our presidential ballot next time,” Ysursa said. “We’ll take a look at it. We’ve got four years to think about it.” I am glad they are working hard to get those pesky non-corporate backed candidates off the ballot. Why they consider Judd an issue when he has no chance to win, and they do not fix the well known problems in the voting system that got Bush to President, is a mystery.
The article states, as if mocking Orwell, “No matter how many votes he gets this time, he won’t get any national convention delegates. Idaho’s delegates are chosen at party caucuses. “The good thing is the Democratic presidential primary has absolutely no legal significance,” Ysursa said. Oh thank God for the reassurance that we don’t have to worry that any of our votes for a legally qualified candidate will be counted.
Summarizing the article: a person desiring to enter the presidential primary ballot in multiple states, conforms to all legal requirements, and is rejected by most states. A state that does accidentally accept his ballot now regrets it and will do more in the future to find ways to keep ordinary citizens off the ballot. But do not worry, your vote won’t count anyway, so no cause for alarm. I commend CBS and other news organizations, and representatives for the Democratic Party and Idaho government for being so honest about how they are trying to subvert the Amercian democratic voting system. Meanwhile, the public is more concerned with how Geore Bush stole the last 2 elections.
Who is Keith Russell Judd? The articles’ only background is “Keith Russell Judd is serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999. He’s scheduled for release in 2013″ Fourteen years in federal prison for making a threat? I started digging (news reporter word that means typing into Google and calling friends).
Most court records involving Judd have been sealed or unpublished, other than rejected appeals that do not mention details of the original case or cause of imprisonment. The courts specifically reject Judd’s lawsuits due to multiple defective filings. Could Judd be imprisoned for making multiple court filings against the University and other large organizations? Through Google I found the earliest reference to Judd and University of New Mexico is from 1995, “Judd v. University of N.M., No. 94-2236, 1995 WL 228234″. This rejection of appeal mentions “the United States Secret Service was voluntarily dismissed from this case on May 16, 1994″.
I did find, in the text of a book ‘The American Dictionary of Criminal Justice’ that Judd was barred by judicial order in Texas to not file any non-criminal complaints, due to his many ‘frivolous’ filings. Probably, it appears, his imprisonment deals with a threat of lawsuit, also based on this text from a court proceeding:
“On September 27, 1999, the petitioner was convicted by a jury of two
counts of mailing a threatening communication with intent to extort money or
something of value in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 876. See United States v. Judd,
252 F.3d 435 (5th Cir. 2001) (per curiam) (not published) (affirming conviction
and sentence). Because of various aggravating factors that increased the
offense level by a total of eighteen and the criminal history category from one
to four, the petitioner was sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment. “
Multiple frivilous court filings is the status quo for large corporate entities like the RIAA and the Democratic party (when trying to keep third party candidates off the ballot). The surprising success of Judd in getting his name on the Idaho ballot could provide us with insight on how the United States surpresses political speech in individual non-corporate sponsors and treats the mentally ill. If enough people in Idaho that vote for Judd it will do more to shine light on the issues in our voting system that need to be addressed for American democracy.
For more information on this candidate, see the informative site Project Vote Smart. Among their information on Judd is his coloful nicknames (Mr. President, Dark Priest, W.D., Rusty), religion (Rastafarian-Christian), and his general background helping homeless people vote or producing music.
“Don’t hate the media, become the media” -Jello Biafra-
Those of you old enough may recognize the title quote from the TV show, “What’s Happening.” This post contains brief tidbits of interesting things happening around the world.
1. In this video, a romantic man proposes to a woman in front of abut 20,000 NBA fans. She shatters his heart in 3….2….1…
I feel bad for him too, but he did embarrass her in front of 20,000 people (plus many more on the internet). Why would she want to spend 1 more minute with him, let alone the 3 years until she files for divorce.
2. The lowest Presidential approval rating since the poll started in 1938 was Harry Truman at 23%. Until now. Bush the Younger’s latest poll reflects 19% approval, making him the least liked president of the last 70 years. Well deserved.
3. Commerce Bank accidentally transfers millions of dollars to wrong account, then has the man who owns the account arrested after he withdraws the money. Hilarious hijinks ensue.
4. I am a fan of reading about law, particularly Supreme Court decisions. Some guy put a tremendous amount of United States Supreme Court decisions online here. Now I know why some Judges give wacky draconian sentences like 4 life terms. It is the only way someone will have time to read all this great material. If you want to read all Clarence Thomas’ opinions, a few minutes is all you need.
5. Enhance your emails with adorable kittie, doing adorable things. Cute kitties can soften any harsh message. Consider this, and tell me which is a more pleasant: email A or B.
A. I am sorry I gave you Gonorrhea.
B. I am sorry I gave you Gonorrhea.
To me it is obvious. There are many cat pictures with captions at I can has cheezburger.
6. In America, horrible drug laws enforced by the DEA have brought large prison sentences for citizens accused of nothing more than possessing marijuana. Property (cars, boats, etc) of those arrested can be seized and sold by the government, even if the suspect is never charged. In Denmark, the policies are decided by the public and enforced by the medical community – so the laws support, protect, and enhance public health, in direct contrast to current American drug laws.
The Copenhagen Post is reporting today that heroin will be available to the public through prescription to addicts to ease the horrible withdrawal effects, based on the success of the type of program in other countries.
“Final resistance to the idea of prescription heroin eroded after a National Board of Health report concluded recently that similar programmes in other countries had been successful. ” Quoted from the article.
When I started this blog, my purpose was to communicate my feelings on whatever topics held my interest, which is usually sports and comedy.This is very different from 20 years ago, when I was 19, when my interests were sports, comedy, and tits.Of course, tits were most important to me during my first year of life, whenever I got hungry.After 1, I reached the age where the unelected FCC kindly protected me against such damaging images as tits, without them having to be asked.I was fortunately too old (over 18) to have been ruined by Janet Jackson’s tit briefly shown at the Superbowl, although I guess under age 2 would have been ok, as they see breasts everyday.I hope none of the kids between 2 and 18 saw that, so they could enjoy their wholesome images of broken bones sticking through football padding in 3 separate slo-motion angles.Now I have much less interest in tits, even naked ones.Oh yes lady, those are very nice – you still aren’t getting ahead of me in line.
But lately, I cannot see how I, or any American, can avoid being deeply involved in politics.As a bachelor, I can readily equate this situation to taking out the trash.Sure Mothers always tell you to take out the trash, but it only really needs to be attended to when the garbage builds so high that the stench and weight of it makes it difficult to comfortably live.That is where we are in America now.Everybody needs to get involved in cleaning up this mess.
Many of the major issues in this country have slowly and subtly worsened since Reagan took over in 1980 and then exploded with Bush 2.
One of these worsening issues is the establishment of an unconstitutional state religion, a fundamentalist sect of Christianity.To be fair, it was Carter that allowed fundamentalism into the White House, but the Christian Coalition began with Reagan.As a side note, the other thing that bothers me from Carter’s presidency is the absolute political failure of the attempt to sacrifice now for the betterment of the long term.This Tactic will be needed, if we are to deal with large issues such as Global Warming, but has been considered political suicide since Carter.
Another issue is corporate control over every aspect of American life, including: how we get our information, how we are educated as kids; how laws are made, how laws are implemented, and almost everything else.Another issue is today’s topic, and the 2nd on my list of issues to be addressed by any presidential candidate, the military.
War culture.Leaving aside the contributions made to other countries’ war efforts, the United States spends approximately half of the world’s war budget, and much more than half if you include other budgetary items that are used for war purposes and ‘emergency’ funds.Oh, and let’s make this clear, when I say the United States, I mean you and I pay, and large companies receive, the money -like GE (owns NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, etc).Who we are fighting is irrelevant to these companies, only that we keep the gigantic payments up.What makes it more disgraceful is the way this money is used.
1)This money is not for the soldiers, or ‘troops’ as is the new term.The Bush administration has slashed funding for health care and all other benefits for the soldiers.Corporate Democrats have been complicit in this, as usual.The term ‘support our troops’ means give money to war profiteers, like Haliburton, Titan, or Kelloggs.When news employees hide behind, ‘you hate our troops’, they mean ‘Don’t infringe on my employer’s profits, I want to keep my job’.Sometimes these news employees get out of line with their employers and get fired (Dan Rather is one)
2)The ‘enemy’ doesn’t matter, but the fear does.When I was a kid the cold war was the provided reason for the high military budget.Reagan scared us with descriptions of nuclear rockets just off the coast of Florida, aimed at us.The prior generation had to hide under desks as kids, to practice survival of a nuclear attack.When the Soviet Union was too weak to use as an enemy, naturally the military budget should be decreased.Nope, not according to this pdf U.S. budget over time.Clinton increased the budget, so did both Bushes.After the Soviet Union, the enemy became small countries in South America, mainly.Today, the enemy is ‘Terrorists”, which could belong to any country, I guess, and can never be eliminated, – constant threat and war.
3)Destroys human life in horrible ways.Although corporate McNews never reports it, the most conservative estimate is that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in this recent war, mostly women, children, and elderly.This is a third world country that has never attacked or threatened the United States, whose people died because Bush’s (Oil) and Cheney’s (Haliburton) employers needed to increase profit.That is sick.
4)The United States military is ineffective in every way but making money for certain big companies.Iraq is a third world country, who had been devastated by 10 years of UN sanctions, resulting in many deaths – and the United States multi trillion dollar military couldn’t defeat it?What will happen if we need to fight a real war against a real enemy?We are fucked!But who provided biological and other weapons to Saddam?That’s right, U.S. military.And who trained Osama bin Laden to kill and gave him lots of money to start his own army?Yep, U.S. military.Whomever is running the military, they need to be tried for treason, while we get someone who cares about the American people in charge.
For a presidential candidate to get my vote or to be seen by me as a serious candidate, he/she must have a plan to dramatically reduce the military budget, while increasing the quality of their services. The plan would need to deal with war profiteers like Haliburton, both in the future with oversight and fair bidding, and backward with criminal proceedings. Many polls show that this what the people want, and simply ignore it, as the candidates have done, is anti-democracy.
