Deus ex Pianoforte said:
How many nationally syndicated anchors/columnists can you name that are of the far-right? Far-left? Exactly.
Well, for starters, there's:
http://www.clearchannel.com/Television/Stations.aspx
As you can see, the conservatives have a considerable resource. We are talking about a media company that owns one in ten of all radio stations, countless TV programs and yes, even rock stars are on payroll. Coldplay, the Dave Matthews Band, Eminem, 50 Cent, Tina Turner, and Pearl Jam to name a few.. their contracts strictly
forbid them from making anti-war comments.
Yes indeedy, Clear Channel is an avid supporter of political censorship. There have been several instances of this but most memorable was in October 2001, when Oakland's KMEL radio broadcast an interview with Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the only member of US Congress to vote against going to war in Afghanistan. Interviewer Davey D was promptly fired from the station which had recently been acquired by the media giant Clear Channel.
Interestingly enough, they haven't been opposed to all forms of political organizing. In 2003 the company
paid for pro-war rallies around the country. They are also counted among the
biggest campaign contributors to Bush and Co. Do these people sound impartial to you? Do you still think it's the Left holding the big guns?
Deus ex Pianoforte said:
There is something about liberalism in general that breeds ignorance and unbridled anarchy.
I agree 50%. The left often takes things too far in the realm of personal freedoms. I disagree with a lot of their stances on affirmative action, criminal rights and a host of other issues. I can see what you mean with your comment on anarchy. If we take any mentality to the extreme it ends in chaos.
Ignorance however, is a tool used by both parties to get what they want... and if the left breeds anarchy, the right runs the other way and pushes for totalitarian control.
For example, our current administration sees no problem in using the world's volatile situation (which they helped create) to change our Constitution and take away some of our basic rights with the so-called
Patriot Act and it's very 1984 sequel. I don't understand this.. aren't they supposed to be
conservatives? Isn't it their job to uphold the values and tenets of our country's free heritage?
In this respect, the Right topples the Left in their expertise of social conditioning. They have successfully convinced most of the population that it's better to be "secure" than "free".
Excuse Me?
I thought we were the home of the
free and the
brave. Why are they taking away the very things that make me proud to be American? Why are there not more people in the streets fighting for their rights? My guess is they are too busy watching Fox News and friends to give a damn
Deus ex Pianoforte said:
Time and time again, it is the liberal extremists who are at fault for the nation's problems.
*shakes head*
Spoken like a true extremist.
You don't see that the above statement ties exactly into the kind of control I'm talking about. The Right has you convinced that the Left is responsible for the country's problems. While that is half true....it is also pretty damned ballsy of them, considering that they helped stir up a great deal of the sh!t storm we are currently enjoying.
For example:
Are we really supposed to believe that the best way to end terrorism is to piss off the Arab world even more by invading their lands and killing thousands of innocent civilians? Wasn't it the Right who funded and created monsters like Osama and Saddam for years to begin with, only to use them as strawmen to raise billions of dollars in military spending?
Deus ex Pianoforte said:
liberals retain the right to dream up bizaare reasons why the President should be impeached.
I don't think Bush should be impeached. I think he never should have made it to office to begin with. From the start he stands so much to gain from war, that it seriously compromises his ability to function as a leader who
acts in the interests of the American people, instead of the interest of his enterprise.
Right now we are the No. 1 military power in the world, and our military spending continues to surge upwards. Our fiscal 2005 defense budget hit a historical high of
422 billion US dollars, an increase of
21 billion dollars over fiscal 2004. As the biggest arms dealer in the world, the United States has made a fortune out of war. Its transactions of conventional weapons account for 56.7 percent of the total sales worldwide.
Of course the Right argues that the military provides semi-decent jobs, but let’s look at what $1 billion can do when spent on the military compared to more socially beneficial purposes. $1 billion to the military created 25,000 jobs. If that same figure were spent on social programs it could create 30,000 jobs in mass transit, 36,000 jobs in housing, 41,000 jobs in education or 47,000 jobs in health care. It seems to me that the only winners of this war are the bank accounts of the folks that finance it.
In the meantime, your blameless Righties have done very little to solve epidemics like unemployment and astronomical rates for medical insurance, both are at an all time high. Right now conservatives hold the most political power, yet they refuse to ratify the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights... as a result poverty, hunger and homelessness have haunted the world's richest country.
As the government has grown more corrupt, the quality of life in this country has rapidly deteriorated, and you can see plenty of conservatives and liberals alike enjoying the spoils. All the cash they should have put into education and healthcare has to go somewhere, why not in their own fat, overstuffed pockets?
Is this what America has become? Are we just a massive commercial enterprise bent on total control?
We defy international laws and put a military base in each corner of the globe, then play the victim when half these countries end up pissed off at us. Could it be more ironic? How would we react if there were Iraqi bases set up here?
Now I've noticed that you, like most conservatives, have failed to address my statements on war and the disturbing ties that our gov't has to some of the world's biggest terrorists. That's okay... I am used to you guys saying "Carlyle what? It's got to be the democrats fault!"
All I ask is that you put down your own bias for just one moment. and seriously consider what we are doing as a nation on the world stage.
Think of the women and children killed in our name every day. Kids with no arms. Young, beautiful women with their brains blown out. And not just that, think of OUR casualties, some of the nation's strongest and brightest are sacrificed.. all to disarm a weapon that does not exist ... what a tragic waste! Now Iraq has turned into a "liberation project". That is some marketing bullsh!t right there if I ever seen it..
If the Iraqi people really wanted our help, there would be more of them fighting on our side and this war would be over by now. But I suppose we aren't exactly the best allies after killing so many of their loved ones.... in their shoes you would scream jihad too.
Of course, these are all questions and issues you won't hear raised on Fox, MSNBC, CNN or any other program, thanks to companies like Clear Channel. Until you actually live outside the the US for a good amount of time, you don't even see the bubble America lives in... but it's there and its very real. My friends from Europe often visit and they always comment on how brainwashed this country is. I used to argue with them, but after traveling the world and seeing different perspectives, I am saddened to admit that they are right.
Like I said before, any mentality taken to extremes will result in chaos. You can spot the extremist on either side very easily... usually the strongest muscle in his whole body is in the finger he uses to point at the Other Side. What this nation really needs are less finger-pointers and more problem-solvers. We also need fair and impartial leaders who are not financially linked to the oil or weapons trade. Just like we once established a separation of church and state we must also separate the interests of government and business..
Anything less America becomes a total farce... with liberty, and justice for the privileged.
