Politicking: The New Media Century

Lately we’ve heard about the wrestling match going on between the Senate and the White House Administration about when, how and if we should close Guantanamo Bay. Better known as Gitmo. This battle, or war, is being defined by the PR through the public response to the information being passed to us through the Media. You might ask the question, “is there some other way to understand what’s going on?”.

Lets just look at the campaign without the blinders. First we have the campaign promises of Obama on the road to the White House. The next thing we hear is that a one year commitment Obama made to look into the facts about the prisoners being held there so that a plan for dealing with them can be created. The funny part are the things that begin to happen after this.

Next Obama requests 80 million dollars from Congress in order to properly transfer, try and relocate these prisoners according to their threat levels, the evidence surrounding their suspicions, and whether or not they deserve to be released, not to mention everyone’s desire to keep all the secrets secret. Whatever that means.

Now if we look at the dynamics that are occurring in the media we begin to see an array of complexities that are being introduced by the different measures of PR Politicking that is appearing in the press. This is where TV Media gets most of its sources for our prime time viewing. The front page of the NY Times online, for instance, started with not only the articles regarding the events occurring in Congress and the White House, but suddenly there appears this article about a one year investigation that ended in the arrest of several people that, according to the NY Times, have no Terrorist affiliations. Their plan, according to their sources, was to plant an explosive in a car and detonate it at a Jewish Temple.

The investigation, supposedly, lasted for a full year before any arrests were made, and its got me wondering why so long. The fact is that just because someone is accused of something doesn’t make it real until they are convicted fairly, but in America it has become popular to convict people in the media, especially if it runs concurrent to timely events.

Well, someone at the White House must read the papers pretty early, because the next thing that happens is the White House announces that President Obama will appear before the public on the same day to present his case to the American People and to discredit the actions and legal council of the previous administration. And suddenly, this is the new NY Times Headline! That’s when it hit me that this was all a chess game of PR to form an opinion, in the minds of the people, that will allow the course of future events surrounding the prisoners in Guantanamo, to become the path of least resistance. Like parting the Red Sea, so that events can travel through the path created instead of creating one based on facts and truth.

To me this has all become the reasons why we will never, under these conditions, reach any of the goals that were laid down by Obama when he was running for President. People always talk about “how Washington operates”, and from this brief look at the politics of our media, I can see that it is a combination of Lobbyist powers (private and governmental) coupled with the Media Game, and the numbers in their ingenious poles. This is entirely built on the foundation that people, as a mass response, are dictated by their emotional bond with the story behind why we embrace certain points rather than the truth involved.

The second Iraq invasion is a perfect example of how American’s can be blinded into seeing justification within the perfect lie. Their PR work on the ‘War on Terror’ was so effective that Obama must now confront the existing momentum of those past policies in order to change course. He will have to prove to the American People that the things they were doing, speaking of the past Administration, were quote: “unjust, haphazard, ad hoc approach”. The old PR slant was to push people into thinking that Democrats were NOT tough on Security Issues. Then Cheney appears out of nowhere to refute Obama’s claims against the Bush Administration, and this will go on for a week.

This is slightly off topic, but has a similar relationship to the dynamics I’m seeing. Last night I watched a documentary on Frazetta, an artist whose work became so popular on science fiction novels that publishers wanted to buy his art before they had a novel to put it on. People would buy the books just because he had done the art on the cover, regardless of the content. Our Pop Media has become so caught up in this that the momentum alone has become bigger than any one reporter, or team or paper, or network.

This is what the decline of a culture looks like. When truth becomes someones slant and facts are things we say ending in the phrase, “these are the facts”. And, if you don’t believe me just ask someone for there opinion about something recent in the news and you will get quotes from whatever news agency they preach. Then try to point out any real facts you have uncovered and see where the conversation goes. I’d like to say it’s fun, but it’s not. It’s a bit sad if you ask me.

My Name is America, and I’m a Power-aholic…

Since the dawn of Power, Nations have sought to control the world through political and military strength. It is quite rare that countries and there power are ever totally honest about their own repercussions unless they are defeated by the next leader of the “Known World”.

For the last two years (one of the longest campaigns in history) we have heard about the “Change” embraced by the Obama Administration, but what does that mean. Well, according to Alex, change means to fix the pipes that are broken. Bronco says that it is an inherent trait of every administration to build new things in order to leave a mark in history, but the problems are underground, in those pipes.

What really needs to change in America lately seems to be the need to change. We live in a two party political system that swings like a rusty pendulum, where nothing ever really seems to change at all. It’s renamed or ignored and the thing that does seems to change is usually the etiquette defining the behavior surrounding it, rather than the thing itself. If you don’t believe me try ending some pork barrel project in the democratic whip’s state.

Seriously, we all just need to get used to it. Franky nothing short of a total overhaul of Washington will accomplish a thing, because no matter what it’s just going to keep pretending to represent the people and will continue to support the special interests of politicians that benefit from their constituents political payoffs, in the form of campaign funding. It’s all about getting and keeping you position, rather than sacrificing any political future to do what is right for the individuals whom you represent.

America needs to go to Rehab, and get off the politico-Crack it’s high on. And the media, which is supposed to be the public watch dog, has way fallen short of it’s duties, suffering the same addictive behaviors that Washington is suffering from, which is the threat of being cut off by the dealers that are swinging the Blonde, Gold the political system is all cracked out on!

“Half measures availed us nothing.. We stood at a turning point” and guess what happens if nothing changes… you got it, “Nothing Changes”!

Is that Tamiflu in your pocket…?

OMG!! We’re all gonna DIE! Again… It really amazes me how ridicules the Nation’s Media is. Look, I like Drama just as much as the next guy, but Pandemic? The Spanish Influenza kill 50 million people in 30 days. Loosing 200 in a week is not on the same scale. First of all only about 50-75 people in the US have contracted this thing, and according to “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (they) estimate that approximately 1.1 million persons are living with HIV in the United States.”(1)

The funny part about living with the US’ Media is that they are all on the same script. I wonder if viewers could start a group law suit for starting a panic over total misinformation. When Howard Dean was tore apart by the Media after misinterpreting what I would consider to be a pep rally to raise the morale of the thousands of volunteers that were there to support his Campaign. For weeks we had to see this one stupid picture that fraudulently depicted his actions, while the “commentator news core” ripped on him and told us all about his poor behavior, unbecoming of a president.

Now, everyone may not agree with me, but I think he was the only president running at the time who had any real plan, including a balanced budget, health care for America, and alternative energy. We could have really used him in 2004, but that’s not what happened. Instead we got a Republican agenda which was running rampant against all the things most American’s believe in, like Torture and Financial System Bailouts, and 4 dollar a gallon gasoline.

Personally I feel that any format that presents itself as a news program must leave commentary to the commentary segments and should be held accountable for the facts they present as news to America. I wish Howard Dean would have sued AP News and any parrot news agency who repeated the lie. It’s bullshit and we all know the Media is a PR scandel in American life. If you don’t believe me check out your sources and the fact surrounding them and see what’s what. Don’t take my word for it, do a little research on your information.

1). Taken from the CDC website.

A Taxing Tea Party

In response to Congress’ new Stimulus Package A site called taxdayteaparty.com/ has become the highly vocal spirit behind the movement to protest the taxation built into the new Congressional Stimulus Package. Fox News, as well, have begun running commentary ringing the theme “Take Back America”. A big position for a National News Service, to say the least.

It has been my opinion that there is a strong and steady building of sides that has cast a shadow on the Obama Administration. Probably not as potent as the separation of ideals that originally led to the breakaway states that ignited the Civil War in the 1800’s, but America has definitely come to a turning point in its History.

As Fox News has pointed out there is almost no coverage from many of the Major News Services in the US or abroad for that matter. It doesn’t seem PC to discuss it.

Michael Steel, RNC Chairman, had to respond publicly to rumors that he was asking to be counted in as a participant of the Tax Day Demonstrations. According to his response he had never considered himself involved in any way, nor had he suggested that to Tax Day Tea Party or its organizers.

In the past few months since Obama has taken office there have been a cacophony of voices cheering on one side of the isle, while another less casual voice from across the way that has begun chanting descent of the Liberal Pull that has swept through Congress.

But, lets not forget that the Republicans got the ball rolling with the TARP program request to Congress which gave $700 bil to financial institutes, who essentially put the US in dyer straights with reckless decisions, while ignoring the systemic risks involved, not to mention the bailout of Bear Stearns and AIG, Instigated by George Bush’s choice for Fed Chief, Ben Bernanke.

Some of America have become quite upset with the bailout and feel that the economy should have followed the natural course it had created for itself, which could have brought a huge number of major banks to ruin. It’s hard to say what’s really helping, but it is well known in economic circles, that the Government isn’t responsible for the health of the economy, or shouldn’t be. Hence the idea of Free Enterprise.

Its very hard to predict where this movement will take us, as it is equally difficult to predict whether or not the now Trillions of dollars being spent on these broken financials will ultimately do what it has been intended to do.

The good news is that people are talking about topics that were once considered taboos in America. Lets just hope it comes to wholesome and constructive ends!

Congress Averting another Catastophe: But this time a Revolution

Man, talk about a close call. The public uproar on the whole AIG bonus Scandal was quite a fervent scene to observe. Congress was so worried about it that they basically lynched anyone who was supposed to get any kind of bonus, that had anything to do with any financial agency that took Fed or Treasury funds.

The problem is that it reminds me of the day the Treasury announced the take-over of Freddie and Fannie. I really think it was the first wave of panic that started the horrible conditions we see today. The second shock was letting Lehman Bros. fail… but the biggest shock so far was when Congress’ Lame duck Republican leaning vote against the original TARP Funds. That was the shot heard round the World.

Within a few hours of the outcome, the LIBOR jumped more than 200 basis points and essentially shut down all loaning. This was the real Credit Crisis. Everything previously experienced was just a warm up. After that everything became a shock to everyone…

So, here we are. 2 years after the fall of the Real Estate Bubble and things were starting to look as though there might be a shift in the momentum, of what many are hoping would be the bottom of this deflationary period, and Congress sounds the Alarm!

I wonder how many people will show up for work tomorrow. At least the ones that are being held responcible for cleaning up the mess at AIG might not be interested in working for free… The one thing that’s certain is that we will find out whether or not Liddy was telling the truth, in his testimony to Congress. He said that without the people who are receiving the bonuses, it would leave about $1.6 Trillion of risk unmanaged, and that that would lead to the collapse of AIG. And… according to Ben Bernanke, a collapse of AIG would lead to a World Financial Systemic Collapse.

hmm… It should be an interesting week ahead.

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AIG and the Mad Money Method

I am Appalled! Is anybody watching this AIG Scandal as it enfolds. Now the Company we just bailed out of bankruptcy is grooving on business as usual, while we scratch our head confused an angry… WTF!

Today, as I’m sure you’ve seen by now, AIG announced it will be paying 165 Mil, of our money, in bonuses, to the department that was largely responsible for AIG’s collapse. “Look you lost control of the ship and crashed, sorry about your bonuses”, but this isn’t what was said at all!

Lets just take a minute and consider a few things. First of all, what are we paying for when we talk about bailing out AIG. The Fed and the Treasury Dept. said that AIG’s collapse could lead to a systemic break down. The thing you’ve got to keep in mind is that they are talking about the existing financial system and I don’t have a problem with that. This one is so corrupt that it is willing to lie cheat and steal, “business as usual”, right through are hard earned tax money. Expecting it!

Look you CAN NOT give money you didn’t have! Especially not to pay for these Leaders of Anti-Trust’s luxury yachts, while Mr. and Mrs. Jones are getting hurled out on the street, after being unemployed by the same company, just after loosing their entire 401k in the Great Crash of 08. This entire financial crisis was brought to you by greed, arrogance, and manipulation. Weighing in on your future!

The fact is that entire system is build on a solid foundation of people (consumers) buying products and services on a constant basis! It needs to be deflated, but I’ll go one more step and announce that it as well needs to redefine itself on the natural progressions of human evolution, or acclimation depending on how you look at it. Frankly most of us are tired of something and mostly each other.

So, let me get this straight, AIG insured the Subprime Mortgage Securities. The securities went bad, due to poor risk assessment and you want us to bail you out now. Didn’t we cover your clients, for you, already with something like $2 trillion in bailout and stimulus packages, and now you want to give some of the money were providing for your salvation to the driver of the wrecked vehicle. Fuck That, lets just step outside and settle this right now!

We Own You, Citi!

Now that we own a 36%, most likely majority, stake in Citibank I would like to propose a solution to help ease the suffering of its stock holders, the American People. Lets trim down the company and sell off all the divisions of the bank until it is NOT “Too Big to Fail”. All those little subsidiaries and other companies that Citi purchased during its rise to being too big can now go back to being their own little businesses. At least that’s my vote, since I now own it!

Assessing the companies risk, based on the conditions of the present financial climate, I feel that this decision, which may effect the lives of many of the companies stock holders in a positive way should begin commencing now.

One of the things that totally amazes me is that Congress hasn’t begun the Anti-trust hearings for these bailout banks, and the auto makers. Who wants to have a few companies that are too big to fail ever again? Oh, but wait! That’s just how it is…

Yesterday I watched a Documentary on the Labor Movement of the early 20th Century, when the IWW was trying to get an 8 hour work day for ALL workers in America. The government of the US finally got so disgusted with this sense of an empowered workers organization that they arrested all the Union leaders and sentenced them to prison for causing disruption to the American way of life, and it dawned on me! This has always been a war, and as long as socialism was the enemy, the Company of the United States of Wealthy Corporations would use every tool in its arsenal of abuse to discourage anyone from ever joining sides with the enemy…

It amazes me (an yet doesn’t surprise me) that there isn’t the biggest outcry in American History, for the heads of the Corporations and Financial Institutions, that have put our children’s and their children’s future at risk. Remember, when Bush took office in 2001 there was a 6 Trillion Dollar Surplus in the US budget, and that administration along with the previous Republican Congress’ habit of deregulation turned our country completely over to the point that the rating firms are watching to see if the US Credit rating might not be threatened, by the massive debt we’ve accumulated.

There has always been a tenuous thread of difference between the Social and Capitalist leans in America, and it usually takes a time like this to point out the massive division of wealth that the rich enjoy when we forget the lessons of the past. Greed has never made our country prosperous for very long. When Reagan pushed for the trickle down economic measures that brought us out of the 70’s recession, it barely lasted through his term in office, and the same thing happened during the second Bush. It doesn’t work and deregulating the financial institutions, trusting them to monitor and assess their own risk leads to greed, and not longevity of prosperity for everyone, because the flawed part of the Trickle Down part always gets stuck in linings the rich pockets.

I think it’s hilarious that Fox News and some Conservative Politicians are calling Obama a Socialist like its a bad thing, while using the excuse “I Worked Hard for What I Have”. Excuse me, but who worked hard? To me it looks like all those people who are losing their jobs right now were some of the hardest working people out there. Most CEOs don’t even do their own dishes, let alone work. And if you think that’s not the truth, ask them, or better yet let them try to make billions of dollar without our help. See how long that lasts. What a joke…

Aid to the Automaker’s Big Three

Here we go again with another multi-billion dollar bailout meant to shore up an industry that can’t adequately calculate its own risk. The part that frazzles me is that GM, in the late 90’s, came out with a plug-in electric car and pulled them from the roads. The company they had partnered up with Ovonic was bought by Texaco and the soon after the project was shelved. At the same time they were sending millions of lobbying dollar to Washington to keep the MPG standards low claiming that everyone wanted an SUV and now they are choking the docks and back lots of every new auto dealership and factory.

GM 1996 Volt

It’s a bit hard to justify wanting to spend a dime on an industry that’s in bed with the oil companies. It was in their best interest to go Green with all the other auto makers, but chose to stay the course and now we going to pay for it. Of course this is at no risk to the American Taxpayer. (a note of general sarcasm in his voice).

Of course the Government is going to give them the money, with some hokie set of political requirements that won’t actually make them worth keeping, but the brownie points for re-election will be secured, and we’re such a dumb country at this point that the general population will eat it up and talk about over coffee like we’re really informed. It’s a bit salty if you ask me.

The truth is that had the Government NOT allowed them to consolidate to such an extreme that there’s a “Big Three” in the first place, this whole problem might have been limited to a smaller sector of the industry. Congress, for the sake of political Kudo’s, calls them “Brands” and simply says they have too many each, when in reality it is a clear case of monopolization.

GM owns Pontiac, Saab, Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Hummer, Saturn, and there’s more in the UK and in Germany. This didn’t just happen overnight. It’s been going on for years, while the Government spent time breaking up Ma-Bell, the Railroad Trusts of the 1800’s, and Standard Oil. It similar to the banks and right the banks, who are receiving bailout money, are using it to buy up other banks. Anti-trust needs to be re-examined. It is not just about anti-competition. It is about healthy business practices and consumer choices!

GM: An Example of America Autrocity

In a desperate panic GM spent the last week lobbying Congress to pass some kind of bail out to assist the SUV heavy American Auto Industry. It’s not surprising to see GM leading the way in factory closings, as the glut of high mileage SUV’s and Trucks fill the back lots.

In Oct. GM announced the closure of factories in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan that build SUV’s costing America thousands of jobs. Democrats have insisted that any bailout should require these auto companies to build higher efficiency vehicle if it was to consider bailing them out, and that the money should be used for retooling in the wake of $147 a barrel oil.

The problem that most law makers suggest is a recession that cannot be solved by better consumer products even though the price of oil has fallen to half of the price it peaked at. People are still not going to buy new vehicles right away for home economic reasons, unemployment, and or credit tightening. It’s just bad timing for the auto industry in America.

Ironically GM built an electric car and leased something like 6,000 of them to test the market in the late 90’s. A company called Ovonic built a lithium Ion battery which was capable of pushing the car to over 100 miles per hour and had a range of 200 miles. The project, for some reason, was scraped and these perfectly working vehicles were all smashed. Maybe it had something to do with Texaco buying Ovonic, but who really knows.

Now the same company, who had a chance to move into one of the fastest growing markets in automobiles, wants the America it shelved in order to stay the course, to bail it out… without so much as a plan to change the way it addresses the American consumer markets. It’s not surprising that Congress isn’t responding.

One thing, and I consider this a positive in America, is it’s appetite for change. Too long have the Corporations of this country kept us in a perpetual state of outdated technology. It is a historical fact that the Internal Combustion Engine and its proverbial use of gasoline ran concurrent with the invention of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Circa 1839… I sometimes wonder if that was merely because Standard Oil and Nelson D. Rockefeller’s corporate influence.

The fact is that it is an American habit not just to produce a product, but also to destroy any competition. It doesn’t always work though. Thomas Edison led a campaign against Nikola Tesla, after firing him, when Tesla began to expand his Alternating Currency technology, using the argument the AC was dangerous because it was used at the time for capital punishment.

To most Corporations, in this era of Capitalism, the consumer represents an index point on a spread sheet and employees are either assets or liabilities. Competition is like the Archangel of the “In God We Trust” and I think people are past getting tired of it. It makes us look stupid as a society.

We are in the midst of an era of self empowerment. With tools like the internet at our disposal there is no excuse for not investigating our choices, when it comes to purchasing. This power makes up two-thirds of the American Economy and every choice we make either empowers companies like GM or not, and can empower our future and an example we desire for our generations to follow.

The Republican Party

What has happened to the Grand Old Party. It seems to be confused about its own Identity. Conservative has strayed from the path of Fiscal Conservative to Moral Conservative, which has left the Fiscal Hawks feeling left out and betrayed by their own party members. Many have turned to the Libertarian Party as a hope that they will someday overcome the 2 party rules in order to regain their voice. How did this happen.

In 1979 Ronald Reagan ran on a fiscal/moral platform, promising not only to reignite the economy through sound fiscal management, which included rewriting the tax code, lowering taxes to the rich (which he dubbed trickle down economics) and working out an agreement with OPEC to restore cheap energy. He also reignited the Faithful by promising to fill Judicial Positions with Justices that would help to reverse the Liberal trend that brought this country cases like Row vs. Wade. The tactic itself was so successful that it became a new shining foundation of the Republican Party itself and redefined the very word Conservative to mean Moral, leave the Fiscal behind.

Since Eisenhower was president each president, in order, had sought to reduce the Federal Deficit to GDP ratio. Reagan turned that around and found new ways for the government to borrow. One of those ways, borrowing from the Social Security Trust, still hasn’t been replenished. The problem with this kind of shift is that it has left the fiscally responsible without a Conservative Party. That is unless you are anti-abortion. I actually met someone who was voting for Bush in 2004 entirely based on his ability to put justices on the Supreme Court that would support her desire to stop abortion, which by the way never occurred. Row vs. Wade is still the law.

So what drives the Republican Party members and their supporters. It certainly isn’t the promises of trickle down economics, or fiscal responsibility. Is it just good PR that keeps people interested in their promises. This election, in my opinion, doesn’t really give us enough information about how people in this country feel about Republican Trends. McCain, in my opinion doesn’t represent the majority of the Faithful or the Fiscal, so the numbers don’t say much about it specifically, but where does this leave the Republican Party.

Personally I believe, as George Washington believed, that Parties have reduced our political system into a shadow of what it was intended to be, and the Media has been right there helping to reduce our elections into a media event rather than a fact based challenge of those who wish to lead the American People. The American Consumer masses are more interested in how a person presents themselves (easily influenced by the media), rather than what they represent, or David Kucinich and Ron Paul wouldn’t be such ghosts to the middle class, too busy slaving away to pay off the debt that has made them all so comfortable in their life-styles.

That is, until something goes wrong…