Two Americas
04-30-2007, 10:54 PM
I heard a guy in alternative radio tonight, former talking head who had worked on all three cable networks as one of those "and now from the Left" pundits. A quote: "Six corporations have their boot on the windpipe of the first amendment." He talked about being on the inside and says that there is absolutely no question that the management overtly and unambiguously demands a right wing line on all subjects, and that Americans are living in a fantasy world if they think they aren't being force fed propaganda that makes Pravda look tame. He talks about all of the executives and pundits laughing their ass off about Fox being "fair and balanced" - the joke is on the American people.
I posted about the New Hampshire 2004 official results versus the exit polls everywhere I could. Little or no reaction from the "radicals" of the Left, but every Republican voting redneck I showed that chart to around here is ready for a revolution and instantly grasped the significance of the chart. Everyone I showed it to now believes that the Republicans stole the 2004 election, and furthermore believes that it warrants consideration of radical citizen action. Yet the "Left" at DU and other places can't seem to come to any consensus about that issue.
I read an article over the weekend that presented a case that the right to a trial by jury is all but dead, and that less than 1% of cases now go to jury. The author cited judges quoted saying that they do everything they can to intimidate the accused and say that if anyone should try to "waste the court's time" by demanding a jury trial, they will do everything they can to punish the person for that affront to authority. If the cops arrest you. you must be guilty, and you best not argue back if you know what is good for you. Cop a plea, make a bargain, and get what you can, punk.
I heard another author on the radio the other day, talking about the sickening slide of American Labor - the average American works 9 weeks longer than the average European each year. While 4 weeks paid vacation as national policy is a prerequisite for membership in the EU, 47% of women in the American work face get no vacation, and only 25% of the work force gets a block of time off more than a week. Real wages are in a precipitous decline, and workers have virtually no rights in the workplace.
We are in a crisis. The everyday people know this. We can say they are asleep, they are stupid, they are ignorant. But we are in a crisis, and we ourselves have no passion, no sense of urgency. We are asleep, not the people.
The people are shocked about what is happening - stunned and reeling. They are looking for leadership. Why can't we "hear" them? Why can't we connect?
The AARP board is farther to the Left than any of the radical Left boards are. The Catholic Church has taken far more radical Leftist positions than the political Left has. The notoriously right wing Farm Bureau is running editorials calling for a reassessment of previous stances - for strongly progressive taxation and re-regulation of industry and canceling of the free trade agreements. Strong, clear, unambiguous, and in keeping with the FDR New Deal tradition. In each case, plain talk that everyone can understand, pragmatic and realistic. Yet from the Democratic party and the radical or "progressive" political Left? Nothing of the kind.
I posted about the New Hampshire 2004 official results versus the exit polls everywhere I could. Little or no reaction from the "radicals" of the Left, but every Republican voting redneck I showed that chart to around here is ready for a revolution and instantly grasped the significance of the chart. Everyone I showed it to now believes that the Republicans stole the 2004 election, and furthermore believes that it warrants consideration of radical citizen action. Yet the "Left" at DU and other places can't seem to come to any consensus about that issue.
I read an article over the weekend that presented a case that the right to a trial by jury is all but dead, and that less than 1% of cases now go to jury. The author cited judges quoted saying that they do everything they can to intimidate the accused and say that if anyone should try to "waste the court's time" by demanding a jury trial, they will do everything they can to punish the person for that affront to authority. If the cops arrest you. you must be guilty, and you best not argue back if you know what is good for you. Cop a plea, make a bargain, and get what you can, punk.
I heard another author on the radio the other day, talking about the sickening slide of American Labor - the average American works 9 weeks longer than the average European each year. While 4 weeks paid vacation as national policy is a prerequisite for membership in the EU, 47% of women in the American work face get no vacation, and only 25% of the work force gets a block of time off more than a week. Real wages are in a precipitous decline, and workers have virtually no rights in the workplace.
We are in a crisis. The everyday people know this. We can say they are asleep, they are stupid, they are ignorant. But we are in a crisis, and we ourselves have no passion, no sense of urgency. We are asleep, not the people.
The people are shocked about what is happening - stunned and reeling. They are looking for leadership. Why can't we "hear" them? Why can't we connect?
The AARP board is farther to the Left than any of the radical Left boards are. The Catholic Church has taken far more radical Leftist positions than the political Left has. The notoriously right wing Farm Bureau is running editorials calling for a reassessment of previous stances - for strongly progressive taxation and re-regulation of industry and canceling of the free trade agreements. Strong, clear, unambiguous, and in keeping with the FDR New Deal tradition. In each case, plain talk that everyone can understand, pragmatic and realistic. Yet from the Democratic party and the radical or "progressive" political Left? Nothing of the kind.