On Republican Party Vote Suppression

--"The Republicans' new voter suppression bills are truly un-American. There's no real voter fraud. It's their naked effort to try and suppress Black, brown and Indigenous votes, to suppress any kind of votes from people who they think will not go for their far-right, 'promote the interests of the wealthy' program." --Al Gore

Big money in our government

It's why we have to fight to end campaign contributions, folks, I say again.

We have to get the big, ugly, corrupting money out of our election system so the corporations and wealthy don't keep buying our legislators, their legislation and so, our laws and finally, our government.

And it has to come from us.

We have to demand it.

Related link:  Government Hands More Than $1 Trillion to Wealthy While Deficit Is $642 Billion

We must end campaign contributions

We have to get the big, ugly, corrupting influence of money from the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government.

We must.

It's the only way we'll get our government and so, our country, back for the people and good of the nation.

Quote of the day

"It looks as though, for the second time in three presidential cycles, one of the major parties is about to bestow its nomination on a rich, patrician, out-of-touch, socially awkward, politically tone-deaf hair model from Massachusetts." --Michelle Cottle, The Daily Beast. All I can say is, I certainly hope so. Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/14/mitt-romney-the-gop-s-own-john-kerry-or-is-he-more-an-al-gore.html

Notes on Keith Olbermann and his new gig

First, yeah, he has a new gig.

Keith Olbermann just signed a deal, apparently, with "Current TV" (ever heard of them?  I hadn't) so he'll be back on the air.

Second, it seems Keith had to get a dig in on MSNBC, right out of the chute, so to speak: 

"Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media," Olbermann told reporters Tuesday. "And nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news that is produced independent of corporate interference."

That is surely a dig on his old place of residence--MSNBC.  It may mean because they were owned by GE or, more likely I think, because they were just bought by Comcast.

Third,  that whole thing about a "free media" and being "produced independent of corporate interference" is a bit of a hoot since Current TV is the " public affairs network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt."

Don't look for the Conservative and/or Republican sides to be espoused on this channel or show, ala' "Point/Counterpoint" like we used to see on the old "60 Minutes" program.  I'm not saying it should be, given the Fox "News" channel and all but it isn't that this station will try to show a balance on issues, either.

Next, there's this point:

Olbermann called the move to Current his "most exciting venture" in a decades-long television career that's included stops at CNN, ESPN, Fox Sports, and MSNBC (twice!). He described Current as "one of the fastest-growing television networks in history."


Yeah, right, fastest-growin television networks in history.

If you ignore the Spanish television channel, Telemundo it might be.  Maybe.  I guess.

More from the article:  Current is available in 60 million households. Gore, on the conference call, suggested that Current has a larger potential audience than MSNBC had when Olbermann launched "Countdown" in 2003. (MSNBC, however, was available in over 78 million homes then and 95 million now). Current is also available in 15 million households outside the United States.


Yeah. 
Finally, there's this:

Olbermann didn't hold back his political views on "Countdown," but he got into trouble in November after donating to three Democratic candidates in without alerting MSNBC's management. Those contributions led to a brief, November suspension that set the stage for his departure a couple months later.
Gore said that Olbermann, along with other Current employees, is free to contribute to political campaigns as long as the donations are disclosed.
As I recall, that was the rule at MSNBC, too, wasn't it, Mr. O?

Enough to make you at least smile, if not laugh.

Anyway, I'm all for him and Mr. Gore and the station.  Good luck to them.  I hope it works.

Unlike "Air America" on radio.

Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110208/ts_yblog_thecutline/olbermann-launching-primetime-current-tv-show-this-spring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telemundo

I want my country back

If you didn't see HBO's movie, "Reount", you need to make sure you do. After having seen it, it's easy to come to a few important conclusions:

1) It shows on film what we've read about for years and already knew and that is that George W. Bush, the Republican Party and W's brother, colleagues and associates literally stole the 2000 Presidential election and its results;

2) The United States and its 150,000 soldiers would not be in Iraq today;

3) 4,083 American Soldiers who have since died, to this date, in Iraq would not have died;

4) The 30,000 plus American Soldiers by official count, up to 100,000 by unofficial count, would not have been maimed and/or wounded;

5) the half-million Iraqis who have since died in their own country would not be dead

6) the United States would not be in the debt we are in today and

7) finally, as my friend Bryce first and once told me--and I quote him here--"Republicans are evil, Democrats are retarded."


We don't any longer have a democracy folks, if we ever did.

President Al Gore

Simply, honestly, realistically put, following are things that would be different if George W. Bush had never been placed as President:

1) The United States would not be in an open war in Iraq, of any kind

2) The United States wouldn't have broken international law against attacking another, foreign, sovereign nation without provocation

3) 4073 American Soldiers--at current, latest count--would not have died

4) 30,004 American Soldiers, by official count (up to 100,000 by unofficial count) would not have been wounded in any way

5) A documented 83,469 to 91,040 Iraqi civilians would not be dead

6) The United States wouldn't have blown up Iraq, only to... (see no. 8)

7) The United States would not have spent more than $518 Billion dollars on this war, to date (actually, to this minute) on rebuilding Iraq

8) The United States wouldn't have taken out the iron-fisted leader in Iraq, only to create a powerless vacuum, in which chaos and anarchy would be created--and thrive in the most geopolitically sensitive, volatile area in the world

9) Pat Tillman wouldn't be dead (If he were your son, brother, friend or neighbor, that would matter a great deal to you)

There are lots more things that would be different but just imagine if only these 9 weren't true. Just those 9. The world would, admittedly, be a vastly different--and much improved--place to be.

Note: I'll be adding more, unfortunately easy but important items to this list this weekend, as they occur to me.