The Maverick Now Wears Lots of Brands

I know I've been extremely quiet for a long time, and it's not for wont of things to say but due to not enough time. When I would find time, I would have said things so out of date to that it seemed pointless. Thanks to John McCain, that isn't the case today.

McCain has introduced a bill that would prevent the federal government from ensuring "net neutrality." For those who don't know, net neutrality is the idea that "all bits are created equal." (My thanks to Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing for such a great line.) The telecoms want to be able to limit your access to commercially disadvantageous content. They want to decide for you what content you should be interested in and what should matter. They want to take away your ability to publish your own content. Net neutrality means they can't do that. They provide service packages and then the speed you purchased applies to any site or point of interest you decide upon, not them.

Some of you may recall the days of AOL, CompuServe, and other content providers that provided the content and you didn't really get to decide what was available. This was back in the mid-1990s, so it wasn't all that long ago. Service was terrible and customers didn't have a choice in content or expression. This is what we'd get if the telecoms get their way, this is what we'd return to.

Think about it in terms of radio or television. With very few exceptions, where is the viewer / listener created content? It isn't there. The networks decide what is available and you just get to tune in. This is what would happen if the telecoms get their way, and that is what McCain is working to do.

I urge you to read Ms. Jardin's article at Boing Boing. She has a great summation of the issue there.

What I find so interesting is that back in 2008, when Sen. McCain was Presidential Candidate McCain, he admitted that he was completely computer illiterate. He admits to knowing nothing about computers. And now? Now he's completely bought and paid for by the telecoms. The Sunlight Foundation has identified McCain as the largest recipient of telecom lobbying money for the last two years. So, the man who knows nothing about computers and who has received an obscene amount of money from the telecoms, is now opposing net neutrality. He's selling us out on this as he has sold us out on so many other issues, including health insurance reform and Medicare for Everyone. After all, what is information and easy access to it, if not a threat to the elitist establishment? All in the name of profit, right?

Snowe Job

Olympia Snowe believes that a public option for health care is divisive. You know what, she's right. It is divisive. It divides those who want to make things better for everyone from those who want to make a buck on your back at any cost. It divides the wealthy corporate elite from the common people they abuse. It divides those with a couple of brain cells to rub together from screaming idiots who act like feces flinging monkeys at the zoo. It divides the people from their enemies, and this is a good thing.

While it has been incredibly frustrating and even infuriating watching Town Hall thugs and Tea-bagger idiots scream nonsense at elected officials, it has also proven that elitists really do want to keep us in servitude. It has shown us that they lack any other method than to scream at the top of their lungs for as long as they can. They have no substance, and now we know it from empirical evidence.

So, why does it bother Olympia Snowe that 60% of the people of Maine want a public option and serious reform? Why does it drive Joe Wilson to expulsions of idiocy during a Presidential Address? Why does it compel John Shimkus walk out of the President's speech due to frustration? Why was John Boehner so dour while Eric Cantor played away on his BlackBerry?

The answer is really as simple as it seems. They have nothing left. They've spent it all and they've been humiliated by the President for doing it. They have lied through their teeth and the people know it. Karl Rove tried like hell to revise the history of "Death Panels" because people are seeing through it. Sean Hannity immediately goes into "Lie Like a Cheap Rug" mode at the conclusion of the speech, claiming that President Obama called insurance execs "bad people," even though we just watched him do exactly the opposite.

They have been driven mad because they have lost everything. The ultra right-wing neo-fascist Christian theocratic government that they have been working for was soundly repudiated in the last election. They no longer have control of Congress or the White House. They have no active roll in legislation and they don't understand why. Fanatics never understand why people don't agree with them.

Make no mistake, they are fanatics just like Al Qaeda, Hamas, or the Taliban. They represent a great threat to American democracy. They are the domestic enemy that we refuse to see. Freedom is not something they want us to share in. They want a religious state run by corporate masters that keep us shackled their their machines of industry. They want our blood, sweat, and tears to grease their cogs. They fight us on employee fair treatment, environmental responsibility, and health care in order to grind us down. To "break" Obama is their stated goal. To return to power and continue what they started under Reagan and W. is their ultimate desire. We are expendable to them and our lives are the currency of choice.

So, why does Olympia Snowe believe it is divisive? Because it would force those who want to keep us enslaved to do something they can't abide, lessen profits in order to provide more for the people. This is the woman that has been so openly courted by the Dems that some now refer to her as Queen Olympia. It's just sad that the Democrats don't see the problem in trying to recruit this so-called moderate Republican. The problem is she has bought into her own Snowe Job.

Obama Meets With Congress

In less than two hours, President Obama will convene a joint session of Congress to address health care reform. I don't believe this will be good for the American people. I want to hold out hope that Obama isn't an 8 month lame duck. I want to hold out that the public option will become a reality. This is the minimum level of reform I can tolerate. I want to believe that the Progressive Caucus has made its point that a public option is a mandatory thing. I want to believe that Candidate Obama, who attended the AFL-CIO event will show up tonight and actually lead. I want to believe that Republicans will be made to sit down and shut up. I want to believe that real reform is coming.

I don't believe it will happen. I believe that tonight will be a dog and pony show where rhetoric will be spouted and warm fuzzies for Progressives will be sold. Then, a few weeks from now, the public option will fall by the wayside. Obama will become a failed president to be opposed by his own party.

This is what I expect. Obama was caught with his pants down by the Republicans in August. Obama was all over the map on the public option. He sold out single payer reform from the very beginning. Progressives have threatened serious rebellion. Blue Dogs have proven to be DINOs. Max Baucus has proven to be in the pocket of the For Profit Health Insurance Industry and not a friend of the American people.

Mr. President, please surprise me. Please, do the right thing and tell the Republicans to go to Hell. Do the moral thing and make real reform a reality.

An interesting editorial

I was emailed this editorial piece from the Commonweal Institute's Progressive Op-Ed Program

Maybe We Really Do Want Government to Make the Decisions
By: Dave Johnson, Fellow
Aug. 31, 2009

Do we really want government making decisions? I hear the same question repeated a number of different ways: “Do we really want government making decisions about our health care?” “Do we really want government deciding how banks should be run?” “Do we want government making decisions on whether drug companies can release new products?” “Do we want government telling businesses what they can and can’t do?”

The immediate, emotional reaction is, “Of course not!” But what happens when these questions are examined more closely?

read more...

Mr. Johnson has written an eloquent article on why we need national health care and I strongly urge you to read it and give his argument some very serious thought.

"A Lost Decade"

The AFL-CIO has released the results of a new survey that shows that one third of workers under 35 live with their parents and are less likely to have health insurance provided by their employers. They are also less like to have more job insecurity than they were ten years ago. One quarter of these workers don't earn enough money to even pay their bills.

Richard Trumka said in a press conference:

"We're calling the report "A Lost Decade" because we're seeing 10 years of opportunity lost as young workers across the board are struggling to keep their heads above water and often not succeeding. They've put off adulthood - - put off having kids, put off education - and a full 34 percent of workers under 35 live with their parents for financial reasons. Thirty-five percent are significantly less likely to have health care than older workers, only 31 percent make enough money to pay their bills while putting anything aside in savings, and almost half are more worried than hopeful about their economic future."