Anti-intellectualism and Anti-Poverty in the Press

I was listening to Which Way L.A. and the "Democratic" Moderate (I call him a wishy-washy Republican with guilt) slammed Al Gore for quoting too many authorities about a subject. I guess it was just SO boring, or, it seemed, too smart for that guy (I guess he can't do that, I can't either, unless you're talking about baby sleep patterns or new wave nutrition!).

So it's not just on the right that we find anti-intellectualism, and obviously, this is how we got and keep George Bush--and an insane war. We deny reality (facts) and ignore rationality (logic). Who needs critical thinking when we've got spin and Fox News!

I've yet to see a positive article about John Edwards in the L.A. Press. The link above's comments hint at why this is so--no corporation likes a populist. The last article ended with this quote from some Clinton polster, "If Edwards doesn't win Iowa he's dead." Such arrogance, isn't there?

More disturbing to me was how the article pitted the interests of the poor against the middle class. They wanted to establish that the poor has no consituency (voting block) which is disgusting even if the numbers "show" that.

They failed to point out the truth...that many of us ARE poor, we just don't fill out the questionaire to reflect that truthfully.

In 2004 I never thought Edward's "two Americas" was useful because even the folks in the poor America think they are in the Middle Class America. He's figured that out, among other things.

Peace.

"Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy?...Probably [Possibly (radio version)]

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice"

Gnarls Barkley, Crazy

Yet another reminder that we can't eat beef without concern

Weird

I've received two e-mails from the Clinton campaign asking for help picking a campaign song.

One before Memorial Day, one after Memorial Day.

I voted for Celin Dion (I'm not a fan) but it was the only one with the lyrics that I could stomach for her personal story.

I grew up with this kind of dissonant bull-shit:
Pretending that everything is fine on the outside but a mess on the inside. She did that with her marriage while Bill Clinton was in a personal mess. I don't blame her for that.

But asking for public support to vote on songs that bring up romantic relationships just doesn't seem like a good idea on her part.

And that's AFTER it just seems superficial and crass when we have a REAL MESS on our hands and she's a sitting SENATOR who isn't getting us out of IRAQ, NOW. THIS is the kind of participation she wants from us, NOW? How f-ing fun.

Memorial Day

The link above will lead you to finding contact information for your senators.

Here is the House:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

I am so angry. I called all my reps and left an angry message telling them to start getting our troops home tomorrow. Come to think of it, I'll write to the White House.

The people are against this occupation.

The President, Congress and the military are playing a game with our soldiers.

The President will not compromise (as Edwards has stated) so WE must stop this war. We must tell our representatives how angry we are and that we want our soldiers home ASAP.

This war was based on lies.
It's been continued with lies.
It is and has been a big mistake.

Any new plan, Mr. Obama, must mean going after the REAL terrorists; with diligence and foresight.

No more GUT operations.

Peace.

THEY WON'T FOLLOW US HOME!!!

I can't stand to hear President Bush justify this OCCUPATION by threatening us that we'll get hit IN THE U.S. if we stop occupying Iraq.

IT'S A LIE!!!!!

We could get hit anytime unless we vigilently prevent it.

It's been only 6 years since 9-11, Bin Laden waited 8 years between World Trade Center attacks.

I hope to God our CIA and FBI is focused on that little pattern, otherwise we might get another attack right before our country elects another president.

What did we have to lose?

If we had not funded the war, we would have been here:

1. A military that would have run out of money next week (according to Murtha).

2. A REAL Republican Senate, since Lieberman would have switched parties (granted we have the effect of one now in votes, but control/agenda is important).

3. A Memorial Day Weekend with Democrats being blamed for not funding the troops, literally, and for ending the war before Bush had finished his new surge.

The Democrats tried to get past No. 1 by floating a 2-month funding bill, but the Military Industrial Complex freaked out and they couldn't get any Republicans and a lot of the pro-Military Democrats to vote for it.

So what were their options?

They couldn't pass any bill in Congress with an end date.
So there was NO WAY they could pass a bill giving the President an end date, or funding with any condition of withdrawal (although I think they should have tried to pass a WITHDRAWAL mandate without an end date--but they could do that NOW!).
They could, and did, pass a bill with a funding end date.

And that's what we have.

This time, we can't let the President and the Republicans LIE AND CHEAT AND GET AWAY WITH THEIR PROPAGANDA! THE PRESS NEEDS TO HEAR US, OUR REPS NEED TO HEAR US!

THE CONGRESS MUST PASS A BILL DEMANDING THAT WITHDRAWAL BEGINS ASAP!!!!!

C-Span

Someone just called into say this whole thing would be a lot easier if we just dropped the bomb, like Hiroshima, on Iraq and got it over with, so they'd know they can't mess with us, so we won't lose like we lost Vietnam.

He feels comfortable saying that on C-Span, yet I don't feel comfortable putting a peace sticker on my car (because of what people like him might choose to do to my car while I'm not in it).

Another caller just threatened Democrats that "they will pay" if they cut off funding. This caller appreciated the bombing comment.

God help us.

Okay, so these lunies are probably calling their representatives, are WE?