Sunday, March 22, 2009

A few more things to read

Here are a few more things to read that were published recently.

First, more confusing news about the future of newspapers: ["If news is free, who can afford to gather it?"]. One of the good things about physically getting the print newspaper is that you actually force yourself to sit down and read it. With news online, it can be an arbitrary thing. Don't have time to catch up today? You don't go to the news site. I have found that happening to me more and more as I wean myself from print products in an effort to save money. I try to make the time to visit the sites online each day but it doesn't always work out that way.

Following that up is this, something I meant to post last week: ["Many Would Shrug if Their Local Newspaper Closed"]. How bad have things gotten? Many people would care less if their local newspapers shut down. Yikes! Well, I guess that they can't really say anything when something outrageous happens then can they? If you don't keep up with the news, you're bound to be victimized by the result.

And a good decision here from the state Supreme Court: ["E-mails fall short for fault-based divorce"]. As I was reading this story this morning I didn't realize until the end that I knew the guy involved in the case! I was working at a local radio station and he was doing a lot of work for the station. Over a couple of years, I got to know him very well and I recall when his wife first filed for divorce and how devastated he was. I mean, down to your soul devastated. He since has custody of his children and is doing fine without her. But the damage that she inflicted on the family based on absolutely nothing more than a flirty email to a former girlfriend and accusations he consistently and thoroughly denied is so very sad. I'm glad to read that the end result was even more good news for him and his family.

These next two stories should send a chill up your spine.

First, this overview of HR645 ["Preparing for Civil Unrest in America"], a bill "to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations," which should really prompt some discussion amongst the public but will be ignored by the mainstream press. These plans have been proposed before but didn't really gain much strength. With the way the economy is going though, just look at the numbers of people protesting at the homes of AIG employees, never mind outside the company's headquarters, I sense that some of the powerful people might be ready to prepare for the rounding up of Americans who feel dissent is the most powerful form of patriotism.
Of course, nothing will really happen so long as most Americans can afford cable television and the Internet. So long as there is the couch potato distraction, the government can get away with just about anything. I mean, they already have! And the other half just continues to fall in line. The hope-dope pusher Obama has been an unmitigated disaster and no one says boo except those crazy Republicans. What did one commenter say recently, that they never thought in a million years that the Obama people would come in and feloniously allow corporations to rob the country blind? Yeah, that just about sums it up. Corporate socialism on hyper-steroids. Yeah, we told you so!

And here's Danny Schecter, hardly a conspiracy theorist, who also connects the dots between HR645 and how the American people are really ticked off about the current financial crisis: ["Pitchforks and Protests: The Fury Down Below"]. What's most egregious about this is that the Obama Administration knew about these raises. They knew it was tucked into the bill and in a mad rush to pass these massive bills, no one in Congress read the documents! Of course, as others have stated, the raises at AIG and Freddy and Fannie are just distractions. The real issue comes back to not letting these companies fail in the first place. Too big to fail? Sorry, nothing is too big to fail. For once, can we let all the rich people lose everything instead of it always being the rest of us little people?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has found out more outrage here: ["Kucinich: Bailout Money Going Overseas"].

And, let's close on a lighter note: Funny man Jimmy Tingle will be at the Tupelo in June: ["Jimmy Tingle Upcoming Events"]. If you've never seen the guy before, he's hilarious. Well worth the $25! His string of shows in Massachusetts are being billed as "Jimmy Tingle's Laughter Stimulus Plan" ... yuck, yuck.

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