January 28, 2008 11:00 AM
Mike's Blog Roundup
The Reaction: In saying that the television news show entertains but does not inform, I am saying something far more serious than that we are being deprived of authentic information. I am saying we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed.
Cajun Boy in the City: Mitt Romney is Lloyd Braun
Economist's View: Why does the U.S. economy, beneficiary since 9/11 of the largest military spending binge in history, now require $150 billion more in the form of a short-term stimulus package?
Dissident Voice: High-tech snake oil?
The Agonist: Geopolitics and Hegemony
The Mahatma X Files: Good riddance...
A belated Happy Blogiversary to Vidiot Speak
That's a good question, but I would also like to say that, since it is the largest military spending binge in our history, shouldn't growth be as great as it was or greater than during the administration of FDR? I've heard, many times, from conservatives that it was the military spending of World War II, not the New Deal, that brought us out of the Great Depression. Doesn't this prove that theory wrong?
Who would attend this function? I can't imagine a patriot attending such a show. It disgusts me that any opposition candidate, or any one that values truth in the least, would appear so they could be bathed in lies and light.
for the two front runners that showed up to bow to your emperor, go to hell.
Mitt Romney = Lloyd Braun. LOL!
Happy Birthday Thomas Paine!
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine
DHavok @ 2:
We know the answer but we keep asking the questions out loud, hoping someone will hear.
Everyone, start a conversation down at the cafe, down at the bar, down at the gas station over a paper basket of batter fries. This isn't obvious to who we think it should be. Help everyone know how you think and understand how they think. Learn your neighbors and let 'em teach you.
I'm just frustrated enough to talk to someone.
Watching the stock market makes me dizzy. I'm just wondering when the whole house of cards are going to come down. We have no money. Our children will be bankrupt, and I see no relief from our elected idiots. Better start hoarding food right now people. Who knows what the future holds.
"In saying that the television news show entertains but does not inform, I am saying something far more serious than that we are being deprived of authentic information. I am saying we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed."
i will take this one step further. television news--more accurately termed "newsertainment"--not only does not inform, but seeks out to purposefully misinform and distract.
yes, we are loosing our sense of being informed. but, even worse, it seems that the majority of americans SEEK to be misinformed. or, to put it differently, they seek out newsertainment that supports and justifies their point of view. it is taken as gospel for a lot of americans that 'america can do NO wrong', and, thus, they seek newsertainment (such as faux, cnn, msnbc) that patronizes this POV. and any serious expose of american imperialism or dishonesty, or law breaking, or international crimes, etc. is met with derision and scorn, as it doesn't support their pre-formed ideas.
news pundits and commentators (see, shills for the ruling class) substitute their opinions for facts, and data/statistics/history, in of themselves, are discounted if they do not jibe with a certain (reality-divorced) ideology.
and the product of this snake-devouring-itself propaganda? the repetition of lies, such as: intelligent design, "everyone thought saddam had WMDs", bush is a conservative, reagan was a good president, reagan won the cold war, our economy is strong, the "terrorists" hate us because of our "freedom", etc.
...the saddest thing... it works.
Rolling Stone has just posted a good long piece about phony terror,
but it lacks some essential details.
Wanna Get This Picture On The Cover!
The Photo Rolling Stone Should Have Published With "The Fear Factory"
http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2008/01/wanna-get-this-picture-on-cove...
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/1/28/132418/450
"As the climate crisis grows worse, many people question whether we can phase out human greenhouse-gas emissions before an irreversible feedback cycle begins. As a belated New Year's present for 2008, I want to offer for free the full text of my book Cooling It! No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming, to increase optimism.
We not only have the technical capability to phase out fossil fuels over the course of 30 years, we can eliminate 94 percent of emissions within 20. The cost is close to zero: between savings from efficiency and renewable sources that are more expensive than fossil fuels (but not that much more expensive), the market cost will balance out to around what we pay now. That is before we gain benefits from less pollution and less climate chaos.
A lot of people worry (and rightfully so) not about the technical solutions, but about the politics of implementing them. They are right to do so; but the fact that we are missing huge opportunities for efficiency gains -- even at current prices -- shows that there is a political opportunity as well as a political danger. Let the people of the U.S. and the world understand the great opportunities green technology offers for better living and real wealth creation for the vast majority.
The old story that the Chinese character for "crisis" is composed of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity" is false -- but the metaphor is too good to drop."
Great link to Excellent New Energy Revolution (Cooling It! No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming):
http://www.nohairshirts.com/chap0.php
DHavok,
that notion that military build-up and expenditures helps the economy is more defense industry propanda, trotted out by "national security" (whose more apt nickname should be "america-damaging") hawks.
consider the follwoing from noted kick-ass aother, chalmers johnson:
"..we continue to believe that we can compensate for the accelerating erosion of our manufacturing base and our loss of jobs to foreign countries through massive military expenditures -- so-called "military Keynesianism," which I discuss in detail in my book Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. By military Keynesianism, I mean the mistaken belief that public policies focused on frequent wars, huge expenditures on weapons and munitions, and large standing armies can indefinitely sustain a wealthy capitalist economy. The opposite is actually true.
"...in our devotion to militarism (despite our limited resources), we are failing to invest in our social infrastructure and other requirements for the long-term health of our country. These are what economists call "opportunity costs," things not done because we spent our money on something else. Our public education system has deteriorated alarmingly. We have failed to provide health care to all our citizens and neglected our responsibilities as the world's number one polluter. Most important, we have lost our competitiveness as a manufacturer for civilian needs -- an infinitely more efficient use of scarce resources than arms manufacturing."
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174884
Personally I can not watch TV news, except sports and weather, because I will start yelling at my TV. For the first 52 years of my life my blood pressure was very good, even through such administrations as Nixon and Regan. Sense the start of W's administration I take blood pressure medicine every day. Coincidence? I don't think so.
From the article:
"The economist John Maynard Keynes taught us in the 1930s that money spent on guns -- or butter, or even digging ditches and filling them up again -- had the same stimulative effects on a slumping economy."
Now, I am no economists and I may not be the sharpest pencil in the box but I prefer the Austrian School of economics and the way I see it, Keynesian economics benefits only the Central Banks and Government. The Fed simply prints money at no cost to fund whatever program the Government wishes to fund. The newly printed money then further devalues the money already in circulation which then leads to higher prices of all goods and services for everyone.
This is why we see such high yearly defense budgets and war funding as the prices associated with those programs also rise and will continue to rise further. Keynesian economics is always inflationary and, the Fed along with the Government are getting ready to inflate again to continue the cycle with their interest rate cuts and "stimulus package". With Keynesian economics you will always have boom and bust cycles. We are now in the bust portion of the cycle and this video, unfortunately is the end result. This is a sad video regarding the recent real estate crash:
Southern California Shanty Town / Tent City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmeHiFZUWtE
tha $3,000,000,000,000.00 war is working out for a few, and only a few. but we already knew that!
Joe O. @ 13:
I would be interested in the change in the distribution by income range AND by geographical location. I.E., how much money was funneled to 1) the richest and 2) to the Confederate states.
DHavok @ 2:
that theory has always been a lie, myth if you will. war only increases government spending on military apparatus. since we manufacture less here, there is not going to be a distributed benefit. five other countries now manufacture our bullets, which our military uses up at a an astounding rate. and that's just bullets:
Huckabee endorses GODTUBE... http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/christianity-ne.html
Gotta like a post that quotes Neil Postman!
Check out Alec Baldwin's post on Huffington post. Signs of things to come.
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