The Linear Canvas

This week has been quite a week for change. I guess I never realized that the political landscape could change so quickly. My first thought is that it is some sort of neo-con trick to throw me off.

Several months ago Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from Tennessee, threatened to invoke a so-called “nuclear option” in response to threats by Democrats that they would filibuster legislation proposed by Republicans. There were many Republicans that warned that the consequences of not allowing filibusters’ by the minority party would someday come back to haunt them. Conservative talk show hosts and some conservative politicians made it clear that they endorsed use of this technique. With the loss of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the short sighted nuclear option would have been a complete disaster for the Republican Party.

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I have never known a time when so many high-ranking government officials hated me for my freedom of speech and thought. Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush are actually currently on their “I Hate Most Americans and Want Them to Shut Up” concert tour. They are hitting all of their usual stops, the American Legions, Army bases, etc. I know some of the Americans they are playing to, for some reason, agree with them. That is odd because some of these people fought for my right to disagree with the government. Many real patriots have died throughout our history for me to think freely and act according to my beliefs. It is also strange because these officials control government and the mass corporate media and there is no reason for them to do anything I want, other than out of shame.

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As a fifth grade student during the 1968 presidential campaign, I was thrilled to see my favorite for the coming election, Richard Nixon, make a speech from the caboose of a train that passed through my town. Five years later, I was disgusted by the deeds of this man and his entourage. The American press, “The Fifth Estate”, had its greatest moment then. They did not bring down this disgraced leader, as some would say, they held a single man up to the rule of law and that man paid a price, though I would argue not high enough of one.

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I understand what Hillary Clinton was saying recently about illegal immigration reform legislation ("This bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."). Some Republicans are so heartless they would approve of almost anything. They are the Romans that would martyr Jesus if he were alive today. Maybe they already have. That would also include killing and torturing people in Afghanistan, Cuba and Iraq.

The real question is whether illegal immigrants that seemingly have no love for America except our money, deserve a free ride to citizenship and does big business have the right to exploit them because of their citizenship status? We have laws that require several steps to gain US citizenship. Other countries have some sort of immigration guidelines, including Mexico and Canada. If I tried to enter those countries, I would be breaking the law unless I followed their rules. Citizens of those countries entering my country are doing the same.

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The seaport deal giving control of them to the United Arab Emirates was a stupid idea. But was it a conscious stupid idea? What if the Republicans needed, for some reason, to make the congress seem like they have minds of their own? If the election was held today (and was fair), opinion polls are showing that many Republicans would be beaten by Democrats. There is a need to make the congress seem a little more independent from the White House. This was their opportunity.

This flexing of the congressional muscle might also allow Dick Cheney’s employer, Halliburton to take over the ports from the Arabs. Convenient the way these things work out “by accident”. They certainly claim they can handle these big jobs. Unfortunately, they waste so many resources in so many ways. They are an expert at waste, for sure.

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The Fairness Doctrine, was eliminated in 1988 by the hired guns of the broadcast industry with the help of the Industrial War Complex(aka The Reagan/Bush administration). It was known as the Equal Time rule in broadcasting.

I heard someone mention the fairness doctrine on the radio recently, implying that the loss of the doctrine was directly responsible for the creation of the FOX (Propaganda) News Network on cable. I have been in cable television and broadcasting, building and operating wireless, copper and fiber networks for almost thirty years. I know a little about the Fairness Doctrine.

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I wrote this in October 1999. It was published in the USA Today newspaper. I just found it in a box the other day and I thought I’d share it. It was a comment on an article that had been published in the USA Today about how the East Germans were resentful that their lives had changed so dramatically since the fall of communism. The text was heavily edited by the editors at USA Today, but it is mostly as originally written

I wasn’t shocked to read in USA TODAY that some Germans in the eastern part of Germany aren’t liking capitalism as well they did communism ("Glow is wearing off in the east," News, Oct. 11). A certain level of corruption is not unique to either communism or capitalism. Under communism, everyone suspected the government was corrupt, but could do nothing about it. With capitalism, people know the government is corrupt, but unfortunately, they still cannot do anything about it. But of the two alternatives, I prefer at least knowing.

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"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."

-Martin Niemoeller

The Workers Compensation investment loss in Ohio has been a story that was very slow at being fully exposed. At first, the reported cost was just in the twelve million dollar range. Then a few days later, it was over two-hundred million dollars. I guess they were just softening the blow for us a bit.

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When George Bush was told the second plane had hit the World Trade Center, he sat down and read a story with some children for seven minutes.

When a small plane landed in Washington causing panic and the evacuation of the capitol buildings and Mrs. Bush from the White House, George was not told for an hour after it happened.

George was sent out on a Social Security bashing speaking tour and flew all over the country for weeks.

George has taken more official vacation time than any president in American history other than Ronald Reagan and his own father George Bush Sr.

Why?

Because they don’t need him to make any decisions. The real President handles that.