Left or Right, Opinion is NOT News

Haven’t written in a while, so here is my next post, which I thought of in the car while listening to Rush Limbaugh on KTLK. Yes, I know, I just wrote a post about how Barack Obama said people should stop listening to Rush, but its just too much fun to listen to him rant and meltdown on a daily basis. Also, I don’t buy into Rush’s dogma, so Obama’s comments weren’t aimed at people like me!

Anyways, back to the point. While listening to Rush, I heard a commercial for a different program, the Jason Lewis show, for which I have much more respect. The gist of the message was “Listen to Jason Lewis – He knows the news so you don’t have to.” Sounds innocuous enough, right? “Listen to Jason Lewis and you’ll hear everything you need to know about what is going on in the state and the nation.” Except that exactly is what Barack Obama was railing against.

I’m an independent voter (little i here, I am not affiliated with the Independent Party), so I listen to and read from nearly every source I can. I listen to MPR and KTLK and some of the lesser known AM stations that add just a little too much religion into their politics. I am just as likely to turn on Fox News as I am to turn on MSNBC, though my favorites really are Headline News and CNN. I feel that once I’ve dug around and heard or read as many aspects of the story as I can, I will have somewhat of an understanding of what is really going on and I can then make a decision for myself.

The problem with just listening to Rush or Jason or Bill O’Reilly or just listening to lefties like Bill Press or Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow is that you only get their perspectives. You’re relying on them to do their homework to give you all of the information, when in so many instances they are leaving out part of the story.

What really burns me is when Rush and Jason rail on the media for not reporting all of the facts – and they themselves leave out a huge chunk of the story because it doesn’t suit their viewpoint. Then they’re just as bad as the “drive-by” or “Left-wing” media for which they have such disdain.

Worse yet, neither left wing nor right wing pundits ever make it a point to tell their listeners when they’ve stopped reporting on the news and started editorializing. This can mislead people into believing that what they say is fact and not opinion.

Example: I can't find a transcript yet, but Rush Limbaugh yesterday railed against the idea of putting limits on executive pay, saying that it meddles too much in the private sector. He said that he would be particularly critical of any CEO willing to take a pay cut because they would be bending to Obama’s will instead of exerting their freedom. What he did not make clear was that only organizations that were accepting financial assistance would need to limit their incomes, meaning that companies that do not require assistance can still set the CEO pay to whatever they want to. He neglected to mention organizations which already received bailout money, and later paid their executives millions as their companies were failing, a misuse of taxpayer money. He outright failed to say that the companies accepting federal assistance can jack their salaries and bonuses back up after they’ve done their duty to pay back the taxpayers.

So the question is, is Rush Limbaugh cutting out elements of the truth to suit his needs, not doing his research, or taking an adversarial stance simply for the sake of arguing / entertaining? Here are some Rush Limbaugh quotes which may lead you to an opinion.

Conclusion: Left wing, right wing, if the source leans heavily in one way or the other, odds are the information being conveyed is missing important elements. If you want to know what is really going on with a particular political subject, you have to consult multiple respected news sources and pundit viewpoints. Only then will you likely have a good understanding of the issue.

I’ve always tried to write my political pieces in a way that leads the reader to reach their own conclusions. In the cases where my articles took an obvious tone, I would make sure to label it “editorial” or “opinion”. But in all cases, I made sure to gain information from a wide variety of news and other resources before I formed that opinion. For the sake of steering this country back towards common sense and away from the divisive politics that have plagued it in recent years, I ask that other citizens do the same. Left, right: We’re all in this mess together and we’ll have to work as a team to dig out.

It's About Time

What about the balls on our New President?

Who the hell else would have told Republicans to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh if they really expect change to happen?

The UK's telegraph said that it was a move that would risk a new culture war with conservative voters, but I don't think that is particularly true. Mr. Limbaugh has been getting a lot of heat from his own rabid listeners about saying he hoped Barack Obama fails.

Not only did he say he hoped it, but he basically said "You can quote me on that". And then tried to say his words were taken out of context when the media took him up on that offer, saying he "supports the President, but not his policies." Yeah, right.

Rush Limbaugh, why do you hate America?

Political Junkie: Confessions of a Previously Undecided Voter

Wow… I have a very good reason for not having written in a long time. This post that I’m writing right now has been in the works since the end of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, in September, which happened just 30 miles away from my adopted home town of Rockford. Ever since that time, however, I have been too glued to the TV, talk radio, and the Internet, sucking in every ounce of information that I possibly could about the state of our nation. Not just the political election, but our economy, foreign affairs, the national deficit, etc.

And I have to say that the overall tone of what I was going to write in this post has completely changed. “Political Junkie” was its original name, and I was going to talk about how much of an undecided voter I was. I was going to talk about how even though I’ve hated how the Republican party has ground our nation into the ground over the past 8 to 10 years, I wasn’t particularly happy with how the Democratic party was handling itself either. It was going to be about how once again, we’re voting for the lesser of two evils and not one current candidate is worthy of running a country. It was going to be about how regardless of who won the presidential election, I was going to be disappointed and apprehensive about the future of the U.S., its citizens at home, and its reputation abroad. I no longer have that attitude, and as you can see by the title, I am no longer an undecided voter.

I proudly say that I feel I am one of the most informed “average Jane” citizens you could find outside of the political sector or other related fields. I’m not a journalist, I’m not a pundit, I’m not a lobbyist, nothing. Because I’m a freelance copywriter working out of my home, I have complete control over my working environment, and it has been filled with CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, even FOX News. When I’m in the car, I’m listening to either local conservative radio station KTLK or the more liberal-leaning Minnesota Public Radio / NPR. I read news from local, regional, national, and international sources with reputations for reporting the truth. I also read those underground “left wing” and “right wing” conspiracy theory web sources, just to cover all of my bases (conspiracy theories are sometimes found to be reality). I’ve seen nearly every televised speech Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Sarah Palin has given in the past two months. I watched the debates and the analysis. In my search for knowledge, I have used every resource available at my disposal.

With every spin of a story, negative attack ad, and campaign strength or blunder, my decision has incrementally moved more in the same direction consistently. That would be towards Barack Obama. When my conservative friends have found out this independent was voting democrat and why, they said it’s because of media bias. I’m not sure how that could be, considering half of my resources have intimate ties to Republicans. I was no less disgusted with Republicans and their conservative dogma regardless of the spin accompanying it or the source reporting it.

Additionally, most of my decisions were based on real-time statements and actions. Like I said, I watched nearly every speech and saw all of the debates for the last two months. I saw what they said, in the context it was meant, before the media re-cap, before their words were picked apart until what the candidates said was no longer recognizable. At a basic level, Obama has shown himself to me to be worthy of the presidency, “inadequate experience” and all. I have more faith in Obama’s ability to follow-through with his promises.

Half of my decision has been based on Obama’s behaviour, and so likewise, the other half of my decision was based on McCain’s behaviour. I feel more that McCain is saying anything and doing anything he possibly can to try and gain the presidency, with little chance for follow-through on issues that I deem to be important. Additionally, not once have I seen Obama fear monger in the way that McCain has. Ask a democrat how they feel about McCain winning the presidency and they say something along the lines of “4 more years of this non-sense we’ve already had for 8 years.” When you ask a Republican how they feel about Obama winning the presidency, you hear “I’m scared, I’m afraid, this country will fall into ruin if he wins.” Have they not been paying attention for nearly a decade? Our position as a world power has been severely compromised by policies enacted by (or eroded by) a Republican president, Republican senators, and Republican congressmen.

All of this is forgotten by conservative loyalists when you use the Republican Party’s #1 weapon of choice: FEAR. A few months ago, the fear weapon wasn’t out, conservatives were so sure they were going to win. Then when Obama started pulling ahead, labels like “socialist” and “communist” and “terrorist” were being passed around like candy from the Right. Now you have a whole section of people terrified of someone they will have to give their trust to if he wins the presidency. Tell me, is fear of our leaders good for our country? Not in the least.

I hope against hope that this section of people who make their decisions on fear like this is small. I truly hope that when people cast their ballots this year it is based on what the candidates stand for, not what their opponent or the media says about them. With the media, it is all about ratings.

We’ve been fear mongered for 8 years already. It is time for real change.

Political Scandals Weigh Down Progress

I got real sick of the Gov. Elliot Spitzer controversy. But at least the good news with that, is once the scandal hit, it was like a week before the guy stepped down. Coverage has tapered off considerably since then. Now the conversation in New York seems to be more about new Gov. David Paterson's infidelities and indiscretions, though in a far less feverish manner since he was up front about it.

I wish Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would just step down already. The Motor City has enough problems, the fact that this story blocks out all other news in Michigan isn't really helping. I think that everyday I hear 2-3 stories about him, and I live in Minnesota. People in Michigan must just be bombarded with this stuff.

Sticking around isn't going to help him and it certainly isn't going to help the city. Simply having a new mayor in office, without legal problems, could help Detroit move forward instead of wallowing in a leadership scandal that has already been dragging on for months. Of course, it seems that finding a government figure, state or federal, that actually puts their constituents first is rare indeed.

Fear and Loathing in America II

I've expanded my Fear and Loathing in America article because a local magazine would like to use it as an editorial! I've cleaned up some of the wording and lengthened it to 1,000+ words to fill a predetermined space. I'm not getting paid for it, but I don't really care. The fact that an unbiased someone likes my writing and is willing to publish it is all I need right now.


Fear and Loathing in America (Revised)

The culture of fear in America is pushed on its citizens under the guise that we are creating a united front by spying on our neighbors and reporting every action that we don’t understand to the authorities. In fact, the opposite is true. For all our subterfuge and constant vigilance, our cities and towns are no safer than they were before 9/11. Implications by the Bush administration that we are under constant threat of imminent attack and that anyone could be a terrorist has turned neighbor against neighbor. Anyone who may act or look different can and could very well be considered a suspected extremist and be reported to the authorities immediately.

Yes, it is true that anyone can be a terrorist. We should be vigilant and look out for our neighbor. But when one hears stories like some that have surfaced in recent times, it seems more and more people are instead scared of our neighbors and for no other reason than perhaps their skin is a darker color, they hold particular beliefs, or they appear “different.”

Take for instance Kazim Ali, a poetry professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. He had a lot of explaining to do when a “concerned citizen” reported to authorities that a man of Middle Eastern descent had just placed a suspicious package next to a trash can on campus. The bomb squad and the state police were called to the scene, classes at the campus were cancelled, buildings were evacuated, and the university was effectively shut down. Colleagues of Ali’s, who had over-heard a description of the “suspect” and his car, were briefly considered to be accomplices when they tried to explain to police that Ali was a member of the faculty. In reality, the only true crime committed was by the citizen for assuming that the only package a darker skinned person could be leaving on a university campus would contain a bomb. And what of the suspicious parcel by the trash? It ended up being a box of old poetry that he had left to be recycled. Who would have ever thought that trash would have been left next to a trash bin?

Last year, six Muslim imams were removed from a U.S. Airways flight departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They were forced off the plane, searched, handcuffed, and held for several hours without the offer of an explanation. These events happened after several passengers reported them to authorities, as they viewed the imams’ appearance and prayers to be suspicious. If their skin had been any other color and they were reciting a Hail Mary before their flight, there would have been no report.

In another example, there is Andrew Feldmar, a well-known psychotherapist who is highly respected in his field. He previously traveled to the United States several times a year for work and to visit his family. Last summer, he was permanently denied entrance into the country after a Homeland Security officer Googled his name and discovered an article he had written about his experimentation with, and the possible psychotherapeutic uses of, LSD. Never mind that his experimentation and experiences with the drug had happened nearly 40 years ago, before the substance had been outlawed in 1970. This man is a holocaust survivor and scholar, an intelligent and thoughtful person who has worked closely with the U.N. in Sarajevo and in Minsk with Chernobyl victims. He has much to offer this country, but because the war on drugs married the war on terror and he has at one point in his life consumed an illegal drug, he has been branded a threat to national security and is barred from the country.

He isn’t the only one branded a terrorist over an idea or experience. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit that challenges an “ideological exclusion provision” that is part of the Patriot Act. It basically means that the government is allowed to deny a visa to anyone whom it believes "endorse[s] or espouse[s] terrorist activity" or "persuade[s] others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity." However, the administration is using the provision to deny entry to people with political views that are simply unpopular. It’s been used to prevent countless scholars and activists from entering the country, simply based on their spiritual beliefs or personal convictions. When did our society become afraid of free speech, religious freedom, and knowledge?

The product of this culture of fear in which we live glaringly made its presence known earlier this year in one of the most expensive terror-scares-over-nothing in the U.S. to date. It happened when over $1 million was spent in Boston after “suspicious-looking devices” at various locations throughout the city were reported. Major highways, parts of the subway, a bus station, and various other areas were entirely shut down as police investigated the blinking boxes, at least one of which was detonated by the bomb squad. What the “suspicious devices” amounted to were basically over-glorified Lite Brites with pictures of cartoons on them, meant to be a creative advertising campaign for the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. In fact, the signs had been placed in 10 cities throughout the U.S. without incident and had been on display for weeks by this time, seemingly unnoticed. The police force of Bean Town made themselves appear as fools nationally, since coverage of the events were broadcast all over the country.

However, even after the true origin and purpose of the curious objects were discovered, the farce continued. The two men who had been paid by Turner Broadcasting System to install the devices were arrested, charged with placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct, and now face up to five years in prison. The company itself was forced to pay the city $1 million in compensation and the CEO resigned over what has been dubbed “The 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare.” Authorities in the city known as The Cradle of Liberty have never taken any responsibility for its part in escalating the situation to the heightened frenzy it reached.

The effect of the Bush administration’s fear-mongering has caused troubles that are two-fold. First, it has set us on such high alert that we are afraid of our own shadows, causing us to suspect and report everyone and everything that is unfamiliar. Secondly, it creates a situation that is very much like the old story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” When something really happens, will we be prepared after so many false alarms? Will we be able to find the true enemy through the fog of mistaken accusations?

As far as our society is concerned, the terrorists are winning. They have us precisely in the position they want. We are allowing ourselves to be terrorized and held hostage by fear. We are so busy pointing our fingers for the smallest differences between ourselves and our neighbors that we have become a nation divided beyond any damage political lines have caused. In order to bring us back to a truly United States, we must stop being afraid, start taking action, and for pity’s sake we have to stop being so paranoid. When fear turns ordinary people and objects into suspects and explosive devices, we have truly ascended to a new height of hysteria.

Your Health & Personal Freedoms At Stake

Are you one of millions of Americans who take a multi-vitamin every day? Do you enjoy a V8 with your afternoon lunch? How about take a fish-oil supplement to keep your arteries in good working order? Believe it or not, you may not be able to do these things for you health in the future if proposed legislation is passed.

Docket No. 2006D-0480, which seeks to have all vitamins, supplements, natural remedies, garden herbs, even water in some cases, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, would take all of the natural options you have regarding your health and put it all in the hands of the government. Chemical based, synthesized and lab-produced medicines will still be available to you over the counter. But naturally grown ginseng, gingko biloba, ginger root, and all other natural medicines will have to be purchased through your doctor.

Think this doesn’t apply to you? Don’t know what is likely to follow? Developments that could take place after this legislation is passed may make growing common garden herbs an arrestable offense, raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods may be regulated as drugs, even bottled waters and teas, which could “treat” dehydration, could become a thing of the past. Suddenly herbal remedies and food flavorings, used for hundreds, maybe thousands of years by humans to season food and treat common ailments, will be regarded as illegal and may bring you jail time.

Not ridiculous enough? What about the fact that such innocuous items as dumbbells and weight machines, mainstays of fitness for decades, will need to pass individual inspection and receive a stamp of approval? Or perhaps FDA regulation of massage oils and handheld massagers? Even the heated stones massage therapists use to help relieve muscular tension will be regulated under this legislation.

Yes, this means they will actually look at a pile of rocks and determine whether or not they are medical devices.

Certainly the FDA has more important issues to be addressing than rosemary and thyme. Perhaps the Vioxx scandal isn’t keeping it busy enough? As of March 31, Merck knew of 27,250 lawsuits alleging 45,700 incidences of personal injury or loss due to Vioxx. How about the new scandal regarding Avandia and its 43% increase in heart attacks and possible 64% increase in cardiovascular death?

The FDA has a problem with herbal remedies, from which very, very, very few people have ever died, and yet approves chemical and synthetic drugs that categorically resulted in the deaths of thousands? The disconnect here is vast.

Please, contact your representatives and senators and let them know that Big Government is big enough, and certainly the FDA has more important issues with which to wrangle.

This article can also be viewed at the Bloggernews Network.

Fear and Loathing in America

The culture of fear in America is pushed on its citizens under the guise that we are creating a united front by spying on our neighbors. In fact, the opposite is true. For all our subterfuge and constant vigilance, our cities and towns are no safer than they were before 9/11. Implications by the Bush administration that we are under constant threat of imminent attack and that anyone could be a terrorist has turned neighbor against neighbor. Anyone who may act or look different can and could very well be considered a suspected extremist and be reported to the authorities immediately.

Yes, it is true that anyone can be a terrorist. And we should be vigilant and look out for our neighbor. But when one hears stories like some that have surfaced as of late, it seems more and more people are scared of our neighbors and for no other reason than perhaps their skin is a darker color, they hold particular beliefs, or they appear “different”.

Take Kazim Ali, a poetry professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, for instance. He had a lot of explaining to do when a “concerned citizen” reported to authorities that a man of Middle Eastern descent had just placed a suspicious package next to a trash can on campus. In reality, the only true crime committed was by the citizen for assuming that the only package a darker skinned person could be leaving would contain a bomb. The suspicious parcel by the trash? A box of old poetry that Ali had left to be recycled.

In another example from British Columbia, there is Andrew Feldmar, a well-known psychotherapist who is highly respected in his field. He traveled to the United States several times a year for work and to visit his family. Last summer, he was permanently denied entrance into the country after a Homeland Security officer Googled his name and discovered an article he had written about his experimentation with and the possible psychotherapeutic uses of LSD. When did his experience happen? Nearly 40 years ago, before it had even been outlawed in 1970. This man is a holocaust survivor and scholar, an intelligent and thoughtful person who has worked closely with the U.N. in Sarajevo and in Minsk with Chernobyl victims. He has much to offer this country, but because the war on drugs married the war on terror and he has at one point in his life consumed an illegal drug, he has been branded a threat to security and is barred from the country.

He isn’t the only one branded a terrorist over an idea or experience. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit that challenges an “ideological exclusion provision” that is part of the Patriot Act. It’s been used to prevent countless scholars and activists from entering the country, simply based on their religious beliefs or personal convictions. When did knowledge, ideas, and the exchange there-of become the enemy?

And finally, six Muslims were removed from a U.S. Airways flight after another passenger viewed their appearance and prayers to be suspicious and panicked. If it had been any other color of person saying a Hail Mary, there would have been no report.

As far as our society is are concerned, the terrorists are winning. They have us in precisely the position they want us to be in. We are allowing ourselves to be terrorized and held hostage by fear. We are so busy pointing our fingers for the smallest differences between ourselves and our neighbors that we have become a country divided beyond any damage political lines have caused. In order to bring us back to a united front, we must stop being afraid, start taking action, and for pity’s sake we have to stop being so paranoid. When an advertisement of a cartoon character that looks like a child’s light-bright toy can be mistaken for an improvised explosive device, we have truly ascended to a new height of hysteria.

This article can also be found at Bloggernews.net

The Thought Police

Terrible feelings of Outrage. Embarrassment. Fear. This Tyee article incites these emotions about our Government. Since when is Google considered to be reliable enough of a tool for Homeland Security to use as a device to determine entrance eligibility into a country? Is all of the information it provides truly that dependable?

Oh wait. Its easy forget that the U.S. has been descending a spiral into madness. No, scratch that: Mind-boggling idiocy. The article says basically that we have gone beyond a state of surveillance, beyond a state of paranoia, we have actual thought police. “These are your ideas? These are your thoughts? No U.S.A. for you.” The words weren’t even threatening in any manner, this was simply a recollection of a memory, not guns, bombs, and blood.

Forget the fact that the specific Google article it brought up (and the one for which he was barred from the U.S.) was about this psychotherapist’s acid trip in the 60’s and his beliefs that hallucinogenic drugs could have therapeutic uses. Who is to say illegal drugs have no medicinal uses? After all, our fair President recently stated that Politicians shouldn’t be trying to make the decisions of Generals. Therefore it should follow that Politicians and Presidents shouldn’t be trying to make medical decisions that Doctors and Patients should be making.

There are far more intellectuals besides Andre Feldmar barred from ever entering our country simply because of the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs they hold. If our Government is so concerned with education, peace, and living as one big happy global family, why are we stopping professors and human rights leaders from coming here?


This article can also be viewed at Bloggernews.net.