Forgive Me For Not Jumping Around Like An Idiot

While about 70 million Americans are feeling elated today, slightly less than 60 million are fairly disappointed (bear in mind that there are over 300 million of us). This is the nature of our two-party dictatorship. While a significant minority of us are walking around with election hangover, a HUGE majority of Americans (about 170 million) are simply left wondering why all these people are so concerned about which Sales Rep will head the corporation known as USA, Inc for the next four fiscal years.

In my lifetime, these "CEO's" have proven themselves to be a slippery lot who do nothing for the working class and who pander to their corporate donor base and the shrinking middle class, handing out pork like after dinner mints at a Greek diner. Why would the majority of us care which puppet you've selected to mislead us this time? It really doesn't matter. The small percentage of us who are awake, who do vote and who are politically active know that our candidates (Nader, Barr, McKinney, Paul, Kucinich, LaRiva, Calero) are not going to win. We just feel like showing our fellow citizens that you don't HAVE to do what the machine wants you to is quintessentially American. You CAN vote independent or third party. You don't have to play the game by their rules.

The other 90% of this majority are inactive and don't vote at all. They are not stupid. In many cases they are street smart. They are workers. They know the system is rigged. They think we are all crazy to bother. They know that the empire is crumbling. They know their jobs are in serious danger. They know there is no health care. They know wages are too low. They know what the mortgage crisis means first hand. They are not apathetic. They are seething.

Will an Obama or McCain presidency be markedly different for any of these people. Obviously they don't think so.

Will Obama get us out of Iraq? Will he "unbuild" the corporate and military entrenchment we have undertaken there? Will he reverse our course to occupy Syria or Pakistan or Korea? Of course not. We're all toast. Obama will put a nicer face on our fascism but its pretty hard to dress up this pig we call American foreign policy (never mind the lipstick).

Will Obama put forward articles of impeachment to ensure that the war criminal Bush and his cronies go to prison for torture, war profiteering, mass murder and the suspension of our Constitution? Of course not. Honor among thieves. Future presidents can feel safe bringing the jackboot down because Obama is here to show them there will be no repercussions.

Will we get health care? While those who read know that Single Payer Health Care is the only proven answer to universal health care worldwide, Obama has been supporting an unfundable, Hillary-style, corporate plan that will allow the HMO's and Big Pharma to continue profiteering from human misery, making 25% net incomes, while denying care to sick people. 18,000 Americans will die in Obama's first year in office alone because they lack access to health care. He will not change this even with the clear mandate the people have given him.

Will Obama end our racist prison industrial complex and decriminalize marijuana and hemp? Will Obama open the gates and release the millions of black prisoners imprisoned for non-violent crime and fill the prisons with the white collar criminals who have fleeced the Amercian worker repeatedly? Of course not. Prisons are great economic development. They are loved by Dems and Reps alike and Wall Street is the source of many huge campaign contributions. Don't bite the hand that feeds you!

Will we see NAFTA or GATT renegotiated to include labor laws and environmental restrictions to protect our air and water and our jobs and our standard of living? Of course not.

So many "progressives" have said to me over the course of this day, "Well, at least McCain didn't win! Lets give Obama a chance!"

In truth, although the man, John McCain, didn't win, the class he represents and the agenda they put forward DID win yesterday. It seems that, once again, we the people, have learned nothing.

Corporate media told you that McCain and Obama were your only choice. They told it you from every angle and at every location and with amazing frequency (about 6,000,000 times a day). You believed 'em and you voted for McBama. Why does it never occur to you that you shouldn't EVER do what the machine tells you to? Have you not read your Orwell?

It would be great if you thought for a minute about what I am saying. I am admittedly not happy about what just happened. In my world, fewer than 1.5% of those who bothered to vote had the good sense to vote for a human being. About 98.5% of those voting are "happy" to have voted for one major corporation or the other. I am not "happy" about that. Its truly a terrifying thing to contemplate.

Over the next four years, as your values are betrayed and the media makes up all kinds of lies to excuse these betrayals and you start to fall for this fake, two-party, liberal vs. conservative, polarization all over again, try to remember what I have said here and use that awareness to propel you to try something different next time around. Vote for a human being. Ignore what the machine is telling you. How many times will you do the machine's bidding before you get it?

Michael Moore - Hardly a Progressive Thinker

Michael Moore's most recent piece is "How the Democrats Can Blow It" (see it at "alternet.org" or at Moore's webiste). In it, he says that Dems should not demean McCain if they wish Obama to win. Moore calls Republican tactics like "swiftboating" a "cesspool" that "they swim in". At the end of this diatribe, he casually refers to Nader-supporters as "crazy".

How does Moore expect anyone to take him seriously? The attacks on Obama have been no better and no worse than what has been done to Nader by Moore's own precious party, the Demoncrats. Scurrilous attacks are scurrilous attacks regardless of where they come from.

Calling people who HAVE spines and who work for democracy, peace, single-payer health care and sustainable energy "crazy" people is not a particularly effective way to win them over.

Every time this porcine "progressive" speaks of his ex-patron in such disrespectful terms, I am saddened to see so many absorb his bilious effluent.

Moore's worst crime against the truth is his own "swift-boating" of Nader insofar as the 2000 election is concerned. He does it subtly at the end of this piece. This propaganda is every bit as bad as anything the right has thrown at Obama. In a way, its worse because Obama has access to corporate media to respond whereas Nader has no reasonable access.

Here are some facts about 2000 that people may use to better judge Moore's own "cesspool tactics":

1) There were TEN candidates on the ballot in Florida in 2000 (six other candidates beside Bush, Gore, Nader and Buchanan). They ALL exceeded the magic vote total of 537. Using Demologic, this makes them ALL "spoilers"! Can you name even one of these "bastards who gave us Bush"? Do you know one of these "egomaniacs who handed it to the neo-cons"? Have you thanked any of these candidates (besides Ralph) for "destroying our country"? Why was Ralph the ONLY one singled out by the corporate media and unprincipled Demoncrat operatives like Moore? Anyone who frightens the little sissies in the corporate media that much must be having quite an impact.

2) Gore refused to fight for 57,000 black voters who were illegally disenfranchised by the Bush machine in Florida. Thats roughly 106 times more votes than he would have needed to reverse the results of the election! In "Fahrenheit 9/11" we actually see Al Gore banging his little gavel, refusing to hear the pleas of black congressional reps fighting for their constituents. Is Al Gore a) a racist; b) a scumbag: or c) just a dumb f*ck?

3) Nationally, in 2000, EIGHT MILLION Democrats voted for GEORGE W BUSH! Only about 700,000 Dems pulled the lever for Ralph. Why don't these idiots clean up their own pro-war yard before yelling at us about ours?

4) I have a spine so I vote on principle. I understand those who SAY they vote for Democrats "strategically" (thats French for "without spine"). But, those who say this seem painfully unaware that there are 39 safe states, places where even sheep farmers from "Shane" would be voting independent or third party. A vote for either corporate puppet in these states is the poster child for "throwing your vote away".

Moore backed Nader without reservation in 2000, He has NEVER explained why he betrayed us and joined the fake left. He continues to suggest that Bush is Nader's fault. Bush is AMERICA'S fault. Michael, and it is high time you stop trying to pin it on a guy who has spent his entire life fighting battles on our behalf.

The 2006 "transition" shows us exactly what to expect when voters are dumb enough to trust the Democrats! Nothing. Nader supporters are not the crazy ones. We want democracy and we are willing to work at it for as long as it takes. We don't support candidates who accept corporate money. It may take several decades for the mainstream to grok this, but as long as we're out here fighting a TRULY principled battle, we will eventually win. Democrats lose ... even when their candidates win.

Fake Election 2008: MTBC - 1 Pundits - 0

On June 4th of 2007, I wrote a column opining about the corporate candidates for the 2008 presidential race. In that post, I predicted that John McCain would be the Republican nominee , that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee and that Barack Obama would end up as her VP.

I made the McCain prediction based on media coverage and that one was easy. When the mainstream media gives potential candidates almost weekly free national coverage of one kind or another, you know they are the chosen corporate candidates.

I made the Hillary prediction based on some of the same media reasons but also because she is very much like McCain on issues of war and peace and terrorism. The centrists in the Democratic Party always take over in every election cycle and choose a nominee who seems most like a Republican. I may not have predicted Barack Obama's current lead but thats largely irrelevant. I am absolutely certain that the "terror-fied" middle in the Democratic Party will not choose him and the two (supposedly opposing) camps will cut a deal (personally, I think they worked out a Pres/VP deal a LONG time ago). Interestingly, I just heard Hillary saying in one of her victory speeches that Obama might do well as her VP.

Many people had trouble believing my certainty about the candidates. Few believed that my predictions would come true (about McCain, particularly). Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson seemed like shoe-ins at the time. Many people were interested to hear my opinion but took it with a grain of salt as the so-called "experts" were all saying that McCain was out.

Yesterday, John McCain secured easily the Republican nomination. This would be a huge upset if those media pundits were ever called to the carpet. They almost universally predicted that he was all washed up, of no interest and that he had no shot. I knew that it was pre-ordained but prior to the New Hampshire primary, McCain was a loser who had run out of money and his campaign manager and many top aides had left his campaign.

I also predicted in that same column that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic Party's candidate. That may have seemed logical at the time but since then my prescience has been severely tested as Barack Obama has won primary after primary and has gained a small lead in the delegate race. Many who follow the "Faux Progressive Pied Piper" have watched as his "Hope Machine" has rolled across the country and they think he is unstoppable. I told them all to just wait. As soon as the centrists in the party see that an unknown may actually be their candidate after 8 years of Gee Dubya, they will stream to the polling stations by the millions to ensure that their party choose "experience and security" over "hope and change".

Last night, Hillary narrowed Obama's lead and cemented her underdog status within the party by winning the bellweather states of Texas and Ohio. It is widely thought that her ads questioning Obama's lack of experience had a lot to do with this. Again, this is true because Obama is an unknown commodity and the party's centrists will always demand a vetted, seasoned corporate puppet so that there will be NO surprises. I am absolutely POSITIVE that Hillary will "win" as I predicted (I put quotation marks around the word "win" because you can't really "win" anything that is totally rigged from the get go).

If big mainstream media ever want a source that can give them a clue about what is actually going on around them, all they need do is check out MTBC occasionally. ;-)

No Surprises Here

Looks like McCain and Hillary in 2008 - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, again? There really are no surprises in national politics! Have we really learned absolutely nothing over the last four decades about how we are all manipulated?

The two major political parties will once again nominate Presidential candidates from the corporate wings of their parties and that will leave us ... corporate control as usual.

When this happens, we all have two choices - throw in the towel .... Or fight back.

If you choose to fight back, here's a good option: Join with a person whose life is one of dedicated service to the public interest.

To help him organize a political campaign in every state against corporate control over our lives.
Luckily, that person - Ralph Nader - is considering such a campaign. But he will need active and informed citizens in every Congressional district in the country.

He will need volunteers.

He will need funds.

He will need dedication.

That's why I've already signed on at Nader's exploratory web site: http://www.naderexplore08.org

Check it out. Donate money if you can. And spread the word.

In 2008, it's either sit back and watch the drift .... Or get off the couch and fight back.
I hope you will join with us in actually fighting back this time.

The Fix Is In (And It Has Been For Over Six Years)

I've been saying for many years that people have to stop pretending that two party primaries aren't fixed. We are nothing more than a country of sleepy consuming dullards being manipulated and marketed to by McDonald's/Federal Government/Military Industrial Complex (insert evil mechanism of choice). Who the two parties "select" to represent us is no different. They offer us choices; "Would you prefer a Whopper or a Big Mac - Hillary Clinton or John McCain" The "sameness" is VERY important. The candidates MUST be the same or, at least, very similar. Only hamburgers are allowed! Those who may want soup or salad or a fruit plate can just piss off. This is America, damn it!

I'm pretty sure that, regardless of all the buzzing bees, Hillary and McCain will ultimately be the candidates and the reason I know this is quite simple. For about six years, the corporate press has been giving both of them tons of free advertising and none of the other candidates have received this kind of constant free national attention because ... the fix is in, as it always is.

When "the dullards" (the kind of people who only follow politics once every four years and who often do so by watching TV) start to decide who they will support in the primaries, they usually resort to voting for whomever they are most FAMILIAR with (with the caveat that this person also be wearing their team's "colors").

For better or worse, Hillary and McCain are those candidates. It is the frightened dullard CENTER who ultimately decide who the two parties will put up and McCain and Hillary have very similar ideals and agendas. After 8 years of impending fascism, the dullards will once again accept one of these well-known Dems or Reps as their champion as if either of them are principled human beings instead of just lobbyist donation receptacles! Stop pretending the two party primaries are real! It just encourages them.

Am I Really The Only One Who Sees It?

I have spent some time thinking since Ralph Nader's visit a few weeks back. I had ample time to talk with him about many things as we traveled from place to place but the subject we kept coming back to was the 2008 presidential race (which, according to the mainstream media, has already begun).

I have been fairly convinced since John Kerry's (seemingly purposeful) loss in 2004 that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic contender this coming year. I have been equally certain that John McCain will be the Republican standard bearer. Ralph listened to what I had to say about them and then asked what I thought of Barack Obama. I told him that he was a faux progressive whose candidacy was likely designed to funnel real progressive support away from truly progressive candidates like Kucinich or Gravel. I said I thought it quite likely that Obama would join forces with Hillary before the whole thing was over. "Its a twofer. A woman president and a black vice president. They're shoe-ins."

I asked Ralph what he thought would happen. He said that most people inside the beltway understood the selection process fairly well and that the insiders were betting with me on all fronts - McCain and Hillary (likely with Obama as VP).

Now, I don't believe that we have real democracy here in the U.S. We are most often given a narrow difference between two corporate candidates both of whom are corporate. The one we actually "choose" has very little effect on how well corporate America does after the election because they are both guaranteed to have been corporate America's choice to begin with.

I see McCain and Hillary as obvious and pre-destined because the lapdog media has given them four years of extensive free advertising at the national level. I don;t even need to think about pundits and their blathering. I also don't need to worry about the "polls". I know they will be the candidates because corporate media doesn't give anyone a multi-million dollar advertising deal for nothing.

They are much, much wiser investors than that.