Since I Mentioned The Media...

Since I just recently mentioned "the media" in a blog, this article (see link below) caught my eye, and I thought I'd share it. The guy makes good points, but actually, they are more or less things we all "should" realize, I suppose. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out that, for example, the more conservative you are, the more likely you are to watch Fox News, or listen to conservative talk radio. The more liberal you are, you're probably more inclined toward maybe MSNBC and National Public Radio. To be quite honest, most Americans watch or listen to a variety of stations, and that's GREAT, in my opinion.

Go look in the mirror. Are you too close to one side? Too close that you can't see any of their flaws, or even some of their out-and-out nonsense? All political philosophies have flaws and nonsense, at least at times. If you read my blog regularly, you probably think I'm a "fire breathing liberal." Actually, I don't smoke. (Get it..."fire breathing"...I don't smoke.) I hit hard, and I intend it that way, because for quite a while now, the political Right has basically had the prevailing philosophy of the land, so they get hit! They have been against health care for millions of their fellow citizens, preferring to let them die or suffer without proper medical care, than part with some of their money to take care of them. I wonder... how many of these folks attend some religious service on a regular basis (or on an irregular basis, for that matter)? Any sense of religiosity in them has had to be overcome by their sheer greed, and their greed is just a symptom of their egomania. Of course too, they may just "pretend" to be religious, because it looks good to others. Health care is just one issue I have with the Right.

Behind the political Right stands the wealthiest people in the country. To me, they have "sold" many average Americans a bill of goods, just like they do in advertising soap, dish detergent, or floor wax. That's why I've begun to preach their basic philosophy of self interest, a philosophy they are VERY good at. They NEVER stop thinking of themselves. When more average Americans wake up and realize what's been going on, and practice self interest, we'll see the country change for the better. It is more than a little ironic to me that John McCain chose to use "Joe the plumber" as his poster child. Now I'm sure all of you have heard of "Joe." McCain raises the name at every campaign stop. What he DOESN'T tell you is, Joe has no plumber's license, owes back taxes, doesn't own a plumbing business, and may not even be properly registered to vote! Further, McCain and his campaign have tried to front Sarah Palin as just an average person, not telling us that they put $150,000 clothes on her back. Now, do I think either of these cases is really all that important? Not actually, compared to the real issues, but they show how the Right has tried to "market" everything to us, just like the products they sell to us in every day life. There needs to be a "truth in advertising" department for all of this stuff (and for BOTH sides, but I'll argue that the Right has just gone way overboard!)

Now that I'm at it, McCain has slammed Obama for taxes and income redistribution. It is all fair game, and I'm not whining about it***, we need vigorous discussion and debate, but what he DOESN'T say is, that his tax policy, essentially the Bush policy, is to give MORE MONEY TO THE RICH AND BUSINESS INTERESTS! His speeches are carefully worded to use use code words and catch phrases, so that YOU don't hear the actual meaning from his lips: "I want to give tax breaks to the people who create jobs!" "I want to give money to people who create wealth and give opportunity to you." "I want you to get rich!" Folks, these are statements designed to appeal to you without telling you what the hell they really mean!!! What he isn't really telling us is, John McCain voted AGAINST Bush's tax plan several years ago (when he WAS a maverick), saying that it favored the RICH!!! Now, having to cater to those very same rich folks, he's in favor of the same policy (now that he's the "un-maverick"). These are many of the same rich and business people who just got $700 billion from taxpayers (If you listen to CNBC@@@ analysts, most being pro-business, they say when all the bailouts are totaled from several months ago to the present, the actual total is at least one and a half TRILLION bucks!)And yes, Obama favors redistribution of income, but at least he says so!!!! He doesn't use catch phrases to hide it. If you favor continuing this "take from the average and poor and give to rich" philosophy, then you definitely should vote for McCain. (A word history is below)

*** See: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/10/rules-should-apply-to-all.html

@@@ CNBC is a cable business channel, owned by NBC.

Link to "media" article:


http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=MediaBashing&GT1=27004

Word History:
Read-This word traces back to Indo European root word "rei," meaning "to reason, or to count." The Germanic branch of Indo European had "raedanan," and this passed into Old English as "raedan," and "redan," the first being in Saxon dialect and the second in the Anglian dialect, both from the Germanic tribes that invaded Britain and whose dialects evolved into modern English, and these words meant "advise, consider, explain/interpret, read." The "read" meaning comes from the notion to look at a text and "interpret" it. ("Raed/red" (long "e," not like the color) meant "advice," and later is was spelled "rede," but is now obsolete, although the word "unready," is derived from it, initially meaning "ill advised." The "interpret a text" meaning that we have today developed only in English, as the other Germanic languages retained the original meaning of "advise, counsel, consider:" German has "raten," Dutch and Low Germnan Saxon have "raden," West Frisian "riede," and Danish and Norwegian "råde," Swedish "råda," and Icelandic "ráða" (the 'ð' equals "dh" or "th"),  all with the meanings "advise, consider, guess (when you "guess," you consider a number of things), decide."