Category Archives: Culture

Another Fox Feargasm.

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Heard about the new “Black Panthers?” Have you heard that three members of the Black Panther Party allegedly tried to intimidate voters in one Philadelphia precinct in 2008; one with a police-style baton? Have you heard that the Department of Justice refused to press charges against the individuals involved and, instead, banned the individual with the baton from Philadelphia polling places until 2012?

Of course, the “fair and balanced” nitwits have gone ballistic. They claim that it demonstrates racism by President Obama and his administration. And they have the “news” story on a loop, repeating it hourly.

Nevermind that there are no accusations that these members committed acts of violence or kept anyone from voting. And nevermind that, for decades, white supremacists have intimidated African-Americans to keep them from voting. Indeed, in 2000, there were many reported instances of voter intimidation in Florida to keep African-Americans from voting for Al Gore. And as many as 10,000 registered voters were denied their right to vote in several Florida counties. Where was the outrage by Fox Noise then? Where were the indictments by the Bush administration? Where was the outrage by Fox when their viewers appeared at Congressional forums with threatening signs and assault rifles? And what if the Obama administration had indicted teabaggers for trying to intimidate Congressional representatives?

It appears that the Faux News treatment of the Black Panthers story is merely intended to create more fear toward President Obama amongst the uninformed, the misinformed and the unintelligent.

While the actions of a few people in Philadelphia are deplorable, they are nothing new. And they certainly don’t warrant 24/7 media coverage. But then, neither did the Fox Feargasm that led to the closing of ACORN.

Fox led its viewers to believe that ACORN had helped “steal” the 2008 elections and that employees of ACORN provided advice to a “pimp” and a “prostitute.” After several investigations, it’s now clear that the only prostitution was by the producers of the videos and the idiots on Fox who sold their integrity in order to attack an organization they viewed as a political opponent.

Based on Fox’s version of the news, one can only wonder when, or if, its audience will ever realize that the network that claims to be “fair and balanced” is neither.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

What’s The Real Reason There Are More Women In The Workplace?

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For the past several years, there has been much publicity over the increase of women in the workplace. The hiring of women has greatly outpaced the hiring of men in certain jobs. Advertising, marketing, healthcare, and many other industries are becoming dominated by women. The statistics would lead you to believe that the U.S. has finally become gender equal.

But before you begin applauding American corporations for their enlightment, you may want to consider another, not quite so flattering, reason for the change. In their never-ending quest to increase profits and pump up stock prices, corporations may simply be hiring more women because they can pay them less.

That’s right. American corporations have cut employee-related costs by increasing productivity, automating production lines, and shipping high-paying jobs overseas where workers are paid less and receive virtually no benefits. Many have hired illegal immigrants to replace workers at the lowest end of the pay scale. They’ve utilized independent contractors to replace full-time office workers in order to avoid paying Social Security, health care benefits, disability insurance and unemployment insurance. They’ve even come up with ways to use the Internet to pare the cost of marketing, advertising and design. So what’s left?

Women have always been able to do most jobs as well as men (and many better). But their salaries have long been suppressed. (A recent study found that female attorneys in elite law firms were paid an average of $66,000/year less than their male counterparts.) So why not take advantage of them once again?

Hiring more women is a sign of progress toward gender equality. But the reason for it is not necessarily one that corporations should be proud of.

America, Right or Wrong?

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When I was in college at the height of the Vietnam “War”, I was considered an unpatriotic “Commie” for simply questioning U.S. military involvement in a land on the other side of the globe that had not attacked or threatened our nation. I was told, even by my parents, that it shouldn’t matter to me; that I should be proud to fight for our flag no matter how I personally felt about our nation’s actions. Ironically, the only family members who seemed to understand my point of view were those who had served heroically in WWII.

Remembering that ugly period in our nation’s history (and in my life) recently caused me to look at today’s political debate in a new way. I realized that there are many issues that separate liberals from conservatives – education, taxes, greed, religion and the circumstances of our childhoods, to name a few. But the notion of so-called American “Exceptionalism” may be the most divisive of all of the issues that separate us.

Most often, those on the political right believe that patriotism can only be demonstrated by supporting our nation’s every action (of course, the exception is whenever a Democratic President is in office). They could care less about how our nation is viewed globally. They despise the United Nations. They take offense at criticism from other nations. And they’re even more angered by criticism from within. They believe America’s Founding Fathers were Christian saints, and that the Constitution was obviously created through divine providence.

On the other hand, those on the political left are more likely to think globally. We find it difficult to accept bullying, dishonesty and greed – from our nation or any other. We despise poverty. We cherish education. We care about human rights. We’re willing to admit when our nation and its corporations are wrong. Instead of being angered by criticism, we try to understand the opposing viewpoint and change our own if necessary. We believe that it’s the duty of a patriot to call attention to our nation’s errors; to speak truth to power. We understand that the Constitution is a living, breathing document that was flawed (given its denial of voting rights to women and African-Americans) and can be improved. And we believe the Founding Fathers were generous, caring, insightful and prophetic men. But we accept the fact that they were mortals nonetheless.

These contradictions, I believe, are at the very heart of most of our political disagreements. Unfortunately, these beliefs are so firmly entrenched, there’s little we can do to change them. All we can do is to try to understand them and, as progressives, try to frame our arguments keeping these differences in mind.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Mis-Informed, Armed and Dangerous.

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I spent part of the day searching through right-wing Web sites – the on-line homes of the American Patriot Party, the teabaggers, even the Republican National Party – and I feel like I need to bathe myself in soap and turpentine to get rid of the slime and stench.

These are people who hate.

They hate President Obama. They hated President Clinton. They hate the government. They hate Democrats. They hate the Left. They hate the Centrists. They hate immigrants. They hate gays.

They hate damn near everyone and everything.

They call themselves patriots, but true patriots don’t hate our government. After all, the government was democratically elected by the majority of voters. (And if you don’t vote, you have willingly conceded your say in the matter.) True patriots don’t hate the court system, the FBI, the ATF, Census takers and even the US Postal Service.

True patriots don’t try to make their point at the end of a gun. They don’t threaten elected officials. They don’t encourage the murder of doctors performing legal abortions. They don’t refuse to pay taxes. They don’t threaten to “take back our country, with force if necessary.” They don’t use hate speech. They don’t talk about “reloading.” They don’t talk about “2nd Amendment remedies.” They don’t talk about “taking out” their political opponents. They don’t hate minorities. And they don’t blame our problems on immigrants.

Uh-oh.  Now I’ve done it.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

What’s wrong with politics?

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Depending on your political affiliation (or should I say affliction?) you might quickly answer with Fox News Channel or MoveOn.org. But if we ignore partisanship for a moment, I think we can all agree that the real answer is Congressional representatives who spend more time trying to be re-elected than actually representing.

We have now reached a point in American politics where the election cycle lasts all year, every year. As a result, those who are elected are generally afraid to take a position or a stance for fear of alienating part of the electorate. They also must find and kowtow to donors – usually large corporations, corporate officers, political action groups and the wealthy. As a result, the powerful and wealthy are over-represented.

And the rest of us are under-represented.

Unfortunately, running for state or national office has become so expensive that few can raise enough money to run an effective campaign. And, perhaps due to that fact, politicians who are successful in getting elected don’t want to risk losing their offices in the next election. So they don’t always vote their conscience. Instead, they vote according to the polls. Or according to the party bosses. There can be no better examples (and warnings) than Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida and Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. They are viewed as too moderate by activists in their respective parties, so they faced difficult primaries. So difficult, in fact, that Crist was forced to bow out of the Republican primary and run unaffiliated.

This backlash from the parties has a chilling effect on our political debate. For example, many Democrats wanted universal (single-payer) health care, but they voted for a watered-down, protect-the-insurance-companies health care reform bill, instead. Why? Because their political opponents and the media would have labeled them Socialists, Communists or worse.

During the George W. Bush administration, the White House introduced a plan for immigration reform. The bill attempted to address the complexity of the problem. But Congress refused to pass it because many Republicans and the conservative media were angered by what they considered “amnesty” for undocumented workers. And representatives of both parties were afraid to alienate potential Latino voters. So, instead of trying to fix the problem, they collectively kicked it down the road.

Of course, there are exceptions. If you visit www.PolitiFact.com you’ll discover that President Obama has lived up to the vast majority of his campaign promises. Indeed, he has repeatedly stated that he’d rather be “a good one-term President, than a bad two-term President.” I hope he’s rewarded for that stance. And I think he will be. You see, I sincerely believe the majority of voters on both sides of the political spectrum are sick and tired of politics as usual. Unfortunately, the political parties are more concerned with winning elections than principle.

It’s up to all of us to make the two parties care more about the well-being of the nation than their scorecards of political wins and losses. We can do that by pushing for campaign finance reform – especially now that the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spill their coffers into any candidate’s pocket or purse.

Just In Case You Think Arizona Isn’t Completely Racist!

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The new immigration law in Arizona is bad enough. If implemented, it actually requires racial profiling in search of illegal Latinos. And that’s not the worst of it. It’s so simple-minded that it ignores the fact that illegal immigration has taken place since before the territory became a state. It treats a recent immigrant the same as someone who has lived and worked in the state for decades. And it treats a family member who is a legal citizen the same as a coyote (human smuggler).

If that weren’t bad enough, the simpletons in the legislature have passed a law banning ethnic studies classes in public schools. And they intend to pass a law that directly conflicts with the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which states that anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S citizen. Of course, the teabaggers behind these new laws deny that race plays any part in their decision-making. However, they never mention the thousands of illegals who cross the border who come from Asia and Eastern Europe.

Now these very same numbskulls have taken their anger out on an elementary school mural in Prescott. The recently-revealed mural features kids using green forms of transportation.

Of course, in the teabaggers’ tiny minds, that’s bad enough, because only pointy-headed liberals would encourage real Americans to give up their gas-guzzling and polluting vehicles. But what really has the teabaggers in a tizzy is the fact that the mural depicts children of Latino and African-American heritage. In other words, their faces are too dark.

Yet these are faces of kids who actually attend the Prescott school!

Nevertheless, teabaggers have made a habit of screaming racist slurs at the mural as they drive by. They have also hurled eggs and other objects at the dark faces. In addition, a city councilman who hosts a radio talk show has orchestrated a campaign to remove the dark faces from the mural. And the school’s response to that campaign?

In a classless move rivaled only by the Texas school book board, the school principal has ordered the faces of the Latino and Black students to be changed to appear Caucasian.

What kind of lesson is that for our children?

Seriously, folks, it’s time to give Arizona back to Mexico. That would be the only fitting punishment for these so-called Tea Party “patriots”.

UPDATE: The Prescott school has bowed to pressure from media and sensible citizens (not to mention a refusal by the artists to alter their work).  The faces on the mural will not be changed.

Would you like your oceans premium or regular?

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Personally, I prefer the low octane grade. You know, sea water without the petrochemical additives.

The man-made geyser in the Gulf hasn’t even been stopped yet and already conservatives are demanding that President Obama drop the moratorium on off-shore drilling.  Seriously. 

Of course, it’s not surprising that the half-witted half-governor, Sarah Palin, is all in for more drilling.  She of “Drill, baby, drill” fame no doubt sees an opportunity to make more money from big oil and to fill her campaign coffers for a presidential campaign should enough wingnuts encourage her to run.  Senators Murkowski and Coburn have blocked Senate resolutions for eliminating the cap on damages for oil companies like BP.  But somewhat surprisingly, Louisiana conservatives Vitter and Jindal have called for an end to the moratorium because it could cost jobs.  Are you kidding me?  It was off-shore drilling that shut down fishing and tourism in the state and they want to resume drilling without knowing the actual cause of this current catastrophe?

That seems a classic case of Republican logic – “The hell with the environment, we must protect big business!”

Of course, if you listen to Alaska Congressman Don Young, the BP gusher is just nature taking its course.  “After all, oil seeps through the ocean floor all the time.  It’s natural.”  But he fails to recognize the difference between natural seepage and the man-made gusher that, by even the most conservative estimates, has pumped millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf.

But as revolting as these Republicans are, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this catastrophe is that it didn’t have to happen. It’s not only a product of lax government oversight and corporate greed. It’s a product of individual choices.

Most people chose to ignore Jimmy Carter’s warnings in the late 70s and continued to increase their oil consumption.  So our cities continued to sprawl and large SUVs and Hummers replaced econoboxes. More and more people moved to the suburbs far away from jobs and commuted 10, 20, 30 miles or more each day.

Corporations began “outsourcing” manufacturing jobs overseas and started shipping products halfway around the world to cut costs by a few dollars or even pennies. More and more people built showy McMansions thousands of square feet larger than they need. The list goes on and on.

The fact is, we’re addicted to fossil fuels. And now that addiction is turning much of our world’s oceans into dead zones where nothing can survive.

The good news is that there are many viable alternatives to oil. We can do as President Obama proposes and redirect the oil subsidies to the wind and solar industries. We can subsidize and encourage other sources of renewable energy such as native grasses that can be used for ethanol. We can replace long-haul trucks with an efficient rail system. We can convert short-haul trucks to natural gas which doesn’t require off-shore drilling. We can replace many domestic flights with high-speed rail. We can replace freeway traffic with light rail systems. 

And we can shout down the dimwits who continue to chant “Drill, baby, drill.”

A Proposal For Real Immigration Reform.

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Since the Kansas-based group known as F.A.I.R. (there’s some irony for you) convinced the simpletons in the Arizona legislature to pass its immigration law, it has begun peddling it to other states. As of this writing, 12 more states are now considering it.

It’s as if our state legislatures have been taken over by Forrest Gump and Gomer Pyle.

The only good to come out of this mess is that it may force Congress into passing real immigration reform. But it’s not enough for people like me to complain about the Arizona law. We should contribute ideas to real, long-term reform. Here are mine:

Let’s start by recognizing that we can’t (nor should we want to) round up all 12-15 million undocumented immigrants and send them back to their countries of origin. Many of these people have been in the U.S. for decades. They have families here who are legal citizens and they’ve spent more time here than in their countries of origin. Let’s also recognize that, for someone to endure days in the desert or to resort to working with human smugglers, they must be in desperate straits and may need some help. And let’s not lump together hard-working individuals who seek a better life for their families with those involved with drug cartels and other criminal activity.

Let us also admit that, in some ways, illegal immigration has financial consequences for U.S. taxpayers. Undocumented workers not only take jobs from American citizens. Since they are willing to work for less, and without benefits, they force the salary scale downward. In addition, they mostly have no health care insurance. So when they need care, they visit our Emergency Rooms (the most expensive access point to health professionals) and the rest of us pick up the tab.

On the other hand, many illegals work for corporations thereby contributing to lower costs of goods and services.  They pay sales taxes and property taxes.  They also pay income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes under someone else’s name.  The government is aware of this, but looks the other way because the unclaimed funds help prop up the trust funds that have been repeatedly raided by Congress over many years.

With agreement on most of these issues, we can begin to look for solutions that just may benefit everyone.

First, let’s encourage illegal aliens who have been in the U.S. for longer than 5 years with no criminal history to come forward for residency permits. Let’s provide them with U.S. identification and give them a short period of time (let’s say 2 years) to apply for U.S. citizenship. If they can’t meet that deadline, they should either provide a good reason why they have failed to become citizens or be deported.

For those who wish to come to the U.S., let’s institute a foreign worker program. Our infrastructure is crumbling and these people need jobs. See the connection? Instead of spending billions on more border guards and a fence that is destined to fail, let’s provide these people with foreign worker permits and use the money to put them to work in a way that will benefit our nation. At the same time, let’s institute meaningful punishments for businesses and their owners who hire undocumented workers. If the businesses can prove (and let’s be tough with this) that they can’t operate without foreign workers, they can apply for foreign worker permits that must be renewed annually. Next, let’s create free or low-cost health clinics and other low-cost services. It’s a lot less expensive than paying for ER visits.

Let’s also work with the illegals’ nations of origin and incentify them to engage in helping curtail the problem. It’s not enough to have a border patrol on only one side of the border.

Finally, let’s recognize that the ultimate solution to the problem is to equalize the economies and opportunities in the U.S. and the nations of origin. And, no, I don’t mean bringing our economy down to their level, but to lift all nations and people. But that’s just me. I’d rather pay to help people than pay to punish them.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Let’s Stop Flattering Teabaggers.

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They’ve been called the Tea Party and the Tea Party movement.  (I admit I’ve been guilty of falling for this fraud myself.)  But the more you investigate this group, the more it becomes apparent that they’re really just a figment of Republican imaginations.  Republican strategists, Fox News Channel and Dick Armey created this band of way-far-right lunatics to criticize President Obama without making the Republican candidates answer for the racist signs and epithets, and to distract the public from the horrendous failures of the Bush administration.

So far, it appears to be working.

Most of the media bought it hook, line and sinker.  They credited them for winning the Massachusetts Senate election, instead of rightfully pointing out the incompetence of the Democratic candidate.  The media has also credited them for purging moderate Republican incumbents.  But that phenomenon has been going on for decades.  And the teabaggers are anything but an independent, legitimate political party.  They have no platform.  No policies.  No organization.  Instead, the teabaggers are directed by Republican strategists, composed almost entirely of Republican voters, sponsored by American FreedomWorks (Dick Armey’s Republican organization) and Fox News, and led by the failed Republican Vice-Presidential candidate (and half-governor) Sarah Palin.  Their candidates even share voter registration booths with Republican candidates.

What about that sounds or looks like anything other than a front for the GOP?

So let’s stop over-reacting to them.  Let’s stop covering their racist, anti-everything demonstrations.  Let’s stop giving them the attention they crave.  And let’s start referring to them as what they really are.  A pathetic group of angry, racist and aging white people who are being manipulated by the Republican Party. 

Who are we afraid of?

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Following the end of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, we have no military foes.  (At least not in a traditional sense.)  The Soviet Union is gone, replaced by Russia and a host of independent states.  China has gone from being a perceived enemy to our out-sourced manufacturing state holding billions in U.S. bonds.  And Germany and Japan have not been allowed to rebuild significant forces since the end of WWII. 

The only perceived threats are the failing state of North Korea, which has a large infantry and a few nuclear-tipped missles that are incapable of reaching our shores, and Iran, which has a smaller infantry and a nuclear bomb in the making.  In addition, there is nuclear-armed Pakistan with a government under seige by fundamentalist Muslims. 

True, it’s possible that our relationship with Russia could deteriorate enough that we might eventually have to worry about its nuclear aresenal.  But that would seem to be unlikely, and we have far superior technology along with our own enormous nuclear arsenal.

So, I repeat, who are we afraid of? 

What could possibly justify our continuing expenditures on military weaponry?  We spend more on our navy than the next 13 nations combined.   And, in total, our military expenditures exceed the next 11 nations combined! 

We could trim tens of billions of dollars from our weapons procurement budget and still be more than adequately prepared for any potential threat.  Indeed, one could argue that we could use that money more effectively to prevent poverty and other conditions that lead to war.  What if there were good schools for poor Muslim children and respectable jobs waiting for them after they graduate.  What if that helped them achieve the self-respect they are looking for?  Would they still consider blowing themselves up in a suicide attack? 

What if we relegated the neo-cons’ misguided “Plan for A New American Century” to the garbage bin of history where it belongs?  What if, instead, we quit trying to dominate the world?  What if we quit using our lone superpower status to support the imperialist designs of our large corporations?  What if we quit using our political clout and collective wealth to exploit the natural resources of less developed nations?

Or what if we used a portion of our enormous military budget to pay down our national debt?  Yeah, I know.  Why on Earth would we want to do that?

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.