On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 10:52 PM, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > Where is this free press Don? Secrecy is all around and yet almost > none of it is exposed to scrutiny by mainstream media.
Ya'll must not get Glenn Beck over there. Seriously though, I'm just talking about the freedom, without government regulation, to print or say or broadcast what you've observed and give your opinion in a public manner. The left has as much opportunity to bash fiscally conservative 'tea-baggers' as the right does to bash free spending 'liberals.' Both sides can and do provide the evidence to support their conclusions and then the consumer decides. "We report, you decide." has a nice ring to it. I get your point on fighting for air time. NPR and channel 8 work well as public forums. The other channels show the best democracy has to offer. Folks vote with their remotes. If your opinions are silly or stupid nobody believes you and nobody wants to watch/listen to you. Sooo, Ipso Facto, you go out of business a la Air America. There has been > almost no reporting of any of our wars since Vietnam, other than from > embedded stooges. What kind of press can be free if all it does is > pander to those only interested in celebrity stories, or reports from > a lobby system or the bent statistics it is fed? What about the BBC? What about Al Jazeera? Both readily available on the Net anytime anybody living in Western Culture wants to hear their countries degraded and pissed on. If you really want some America hating propaganda there is always Democracy Now. Orn will tell you all about it and give you a hundred links if you ask nicely. I have to agree with you though, that since Obama became president, coverage of the wars has practically become non-existent. And that's ok with me. I can find it if I need it. What pissed me off is when censorship is applied. Like what is going on in China and Iran. We don't do that here. What have you been > seeing that tells you there has been a swing from business to social > interests? If people actually want a global socialist system, why > not, who is convincing you the current system is free and that would > not be and why? Surely not the "free press" owned by the current rich > who want no change? We have been steadily increasing entitlements for years. Combine that with private charities fat with tax deducted funds from a booming economy(till the end of 2007) and you have an increased global interest in social problems. Most recently we've been raising taxes on businesses to fund ever increasing entitlements. The media coverage of things like Katrina and the recent Haitian disaster galvanize action and compassion. I'm all for helping those that need it but giving my money to the middle man, especially if that middle man is somebody from a world body that hates my country hardly seems the way to go. Let me, personally, decide where my relief money goes. That is fair. Otherwise it's just confiscation and enriching politicians who use my money to bribe people to make themselves more powerful. I hate that. A 'free' system that confiscates from the haves and distributes to those that lobby the most votes starts to not look free to me. I'd rather dole out my own charity. I'd be more circumspect then somebody dealing with huge sums of OPM. The current rich? What about these guys? (1. John F. Kerry (D-Mass) worth over $1 Billion (2. Jon Corzine (D-NJ) worth approx $400 million (3. Herb Kohl (D-) worth approx $300 million (4. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) worth approx $420 million family net worth approx net worth 7.5 billion (5. Lincoln Chafee LIBERAL INDEPENDENT worth approx $50 million (6. Sen Joseph Biden- (D) millionaire (7. Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) LIBERAL REPUBLICAN worth approx $40 million (8. Ted Kennedy Sen. (D-Mass) worth approx $44 million (9. Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) worth approx $26 million (10. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) worth approx $22 million THis is just the first 10 on the list. Here a link to the whole list. http://boards.history.com/topic/Should-The-Us/The-Liberal-Rich/300019077 The rich will always be taken care of by those in power. I prefer legislation that allows for more folks to be able to join these rich folks then legislation that guarantees the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor and the middle class dwindles away. Obama says one thing and his policies do the other. World socialism will give us a few oligarchs and the rest of us will be scrounging for bread crumbs. Someone linked to a pretty good article last year describing what is likely to come. > Hugo 'the boss' Chavez sounds even more like a chav aftershave on > reflection Ian and if I'm not sure he is a great guy, some decent > reporting on South American street politics by FOX (that bastion of > the free press), might at least allow people to decide why his people > vote for him. Your great free press free enough to give an hour of > peak time to John Pilger Don? Early 20th century capitalism gave us > two world wars. The first started with a British invasion of Iraq in > 1913, though our great free history says otherwise, blaming the > losers. The balance of capital fled to the US after that, along with > the war mongering. Vote for him? Democracy is a joke in Venezuela. He is president for life now. A dictator plain and simple. Saddam got 99% of the popular vote during every election but I hardly believe that's a representation of good works. I just checked out John Pilger on wiki. Yes, I could see him with an hour on Fox easy. Very easy. Have his people call Murdoch and make it happen. Anything said with an English accent is automatically more credible then anything we Americans say anyway. Don't know why but I'm thinking Frost/Nixon. Pretty good movie, btw. We(I mean Western Culture, not just the U.S.) are more globally responsible and less paranoid then ever before. Capitalism in the 21st century could be based on mutual benefits of trade and opportunity. Partnerships like we have with China and Japan. Quran thumpers are the biggest stumbling block in my opinion. They are so interested in protecting their backward culture they are blind to the benefits of opportunity. It's their leaders attempting to maintain control. Just what is capital Don and why is it so > important for so few people to have control over it? Cash and resources. China is quickly outpacing us in these assets. My point is that we should provide the opportunity for people to advance themselves. Not pay them to exist. I'm not adverse to free education for those that have the capability and ambition to learn. Support to small businesses, preventing monopolies, NOT ALLOWING BANKS OR CAR COMPANIES TO BECOME TOO BIG TO FAIL. This is the responsibility of government. Or at least I think it should be. -Don > > On 25 Jan, 22:58, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: >> How much better off would S. America be without the ruinous influence >> of the new dictator for life and Castro clone Chavez? How bad must it >> get before you see the dangers inherent in a system that rewards >> incompetence and punishes accomplishment? I know capitalism isn't >> perfect but it's the best and fairest way towards progress. Vam makes >> his point very well and I agree in principle with what he says in >> regards to the U.S. political swinging system. But not on the world >> stage. Even the swinging from business interests to social interests >> has been heavily favored towards a socialist agenda since the Great >> Society. Maybe since the New Deal. I'm thinking a return to early >> 20th century capitalism may be our only way to pull us out of the >> economic doldrums we now face. Surrendering to a global socialist >> system would be a disaster for the U.S. and probably the world. >> Absolute disaster. As bad as we are doing for ourselves at the moment >> imagine how bad it would get with some world body like the UN in >> charge. *shudder* >> >> Looks like I've gone off the reservation again. Sorry. I can't help >> but think with a prominent and free press we can make capitalism work >> much better then it did 100 years ago. Better and more humane. One >> need only look to the massive puplic support towards the people of >> Haiti to see this is so. >> >> All I am saaaaaying, >> Is give Capitalism a chaaaance...... >> >> ;-) >> >> -Don >> >> >> >> On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 10:31 AM, Ian Pollard <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > 2010/1/24 Don Johnson <[email protected]> >> >> >> It saddens me that many of you probably support this kind of fascist >> >> leadership just so long as that leadership is in favor of wealth >> >> redistribution. How can anyone like ANYTHING about this shameful thug >> >> Chavez? I just don't get it. He's running his country into the >> >> ground and blaming America and getting totally away with it. Tell me, >> >> which is better. Unrestricted free speech(barring the obligatory >> >> "Fire" in the theatre) or blatant suppression/forced control over the >> >> content of that speech? I'll take the first one. Every time. >> >> > Of course he's blaming America, Don, after all the U.S. did support a coup >> > d'état to remove him from power in 2002. :) >> >> > Chavez is a hero and beacon of hope for South America and 3rd world >> > counties >> > more generally. >> >> > Ian >> >> > -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> > ""Minds Eye"" group. >> > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > [email protected]. >> > For more options, visit this group at >> >http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > ""Minds Eye"" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. 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