CHRIS CHRISTIE DEMONSTRATES WHY HE SHOULD EVER BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE US

Chris Christie is a good governor for his people but to be elected would be to follow the 'Peter Principle'.  The Peter Principle is a belief that, in an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit, that organization's members will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability. The principle is commonly phrased, "Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." For more explanation, click here.

Christie has declared that the situation of the Sequester is due to President Obama's 'lack of leadership'. His speaking without knowing facts will be his downfall.  It is good to have a politician who speaks his mind honestly but it should be only with fore-thoughts as to its appropriateness, tact, and accuracy.  While he seems fairly bright, he does not seem to be a negotiator or systems thinker.  This might protect him from being the puppet G W Bush was, but it will not be good for the country as he will alienate people who don't play by his rules.

Cal Thomas, a contributor to Fox News has written an excellent article describing why he would not be backed by the Republican Orthodoxy.   To read this, click here   If he would not get the backing of the Republicans and he would certainly not be a choice for Democrats who have many better candidates to run, I would suggest that his political future lies with a second term as governor followed, possibly, by a run for the Senate./

PART 2 AGENDAS: HIDDEN AND OTHERWISE

Even Dr. Seuss had a hidden political agenda.  See here   Grover Norquist comes to mind with his agenda of maintaining a tax free environment for the very rich and for large corporations. .To read about his Americans for Tax Reform, click here.

When G W Bush was president, the world wondered what his real agenda might be.  Was it to get revenge for his father?  Was it Bush getting talked into it for Cheney's hidden agenda for Haliburton.  Six billion dollars is still not accounted for out of Iraq.  While American lives were being lost, others were shamelessly raking in huge amounts of money, over-charging for services rendered to keep the war functioning.

What is the real agenda of Roger Ayles and Fox News?.  It certainly cannot be seen by intelligent persons as being fair and balanced news presentation.. What is Mitch McConnell's agenda?  Does he truly believe that saying 'no' to everything Obama tries to do for the country will make Obama fail and the Republicans get re-elected?

In order to keep agendas hidden, one must learn to keep the focus on other than themselves.  Obfuscation then is practiced by the media who falls prey to being led away from the real focus.
There is strength in numbers only when those numbers have the same agenda.  That is some of why unions were started.  Today, unions are vulnerable targets because many became too powerful and stopped serving their members as much as they served their corrupt leaders.

There will always be corruption and corrupt leaders.  Despite this, it is imperative that we look towards our leaders for their agendas and vote out those who clearly do not have the betterment for our people, especially in the middle and poor classes, as their agenda.  Anyone who has pledged to Grover Norquist must fall in that category.

REAL JOURNALISM

Jeremy Scahill is this year's Izzy Award winner.  The Izzy, which is named after the legendary muckraker I.F. Stone, celebrates outstanding achievement in independent media..  He commented on the need to save 'real journalism'.  We, as American citizens can comment, "Next to losing our minds, we miss good journalists, honest, truthful, fact finding  to read.  It will take some time before the public as a whole can trust journalists, political talk show hosts, and politicians.  In addition to those who are more interested in personal gain, re-election, and greed, who have ruined our country, we must not only try to keep the country afloat in many dimensions, but we must find people to trust.  It is clear that our current voting practices are not sufficient to allow the public to choose enough competent people in elections. elected

It took a long time for a voice, with sufficient substance to be heard,  to say what many of us have known for a long time....that the Republicans work for Fox News. (quote:  David Frum) It speaks to the motivation within those with power and money which seduces people to follow that power blindly when brainwashed and preached to many hours daily the those who lie so blatantly and powerfully that people  who watch or read little else are quickly brought into the fold of the Pied Pipers of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Karl Rove, and  so many others.. Glenn Beck and Sarah Pail are playing a very dangerous game, inciting the gun bearers to a revolution,

A recent interview went as follows:  "Byard Duncan: What does it mean to be an "independent journalist?"

Jeremy Scahill: I would define an independent journalist as someone that's totally un-embedded when it comes to their relationship with the powerful. In other words, you don't get into bed with any political party. I'm not a Democrat; I'm not a Republican. I'm a journalist. It means that you don't get in bed with the military, with the CIA, or wealthy corporations, and you don't compromise your journalistic or your personal integrity in the pursuit of anything, including a story.

I believe that the way independent journalists are most effectively able to conduct their work is by maintaining their independence from the powerful. I don't hob-nob with the powerful. I don't count among my friends executives or other powerful people. I think it's important for independent journalists to not be beholden to any special interests whatsoever."

We need more of these men and women who have some principles and integrity.  Where are they hiding.  Come out, come out, wherever you are.  We know you have been hiding!"

TROUBLE: STUPID CAN'T BE CURED

Joshua Holland wrote another provocative article. This time he writes:
You Can’t Have Bipartisanship if the GOP Base is Psychotic After defining psychosis, he justifies his diagnosis by the following statistics:

• “Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?” Yes 42%, No 36%, Not Sure 22%.

• “Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?” Yes 24%, No 43%, Not Sure 33%.

• “Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?” Yes 21%, No 24%, Not Sure 55%.

• “Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?” Yes 31%, No 36%, Not Sure 33%.

• “Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?” The answer here is Yes 23%, No 58%, Not Sure 19%. On this basis, Kos declares: “42 percent of Republicans aren’t really patriotic.” Among Republicans in the South, secessionism is stronger at Yes 33%, No 52% Not Sure 15%.

He qualifies his observations by saying, "But only on its face. They’re not actually psychotic, because the reality they hold was carefully crafted for them not only by extremists on the wingnut blogs, but by the mainstream leaders of their party and by Fox News, a major cable outlet." For the entire article, click here. If only the Republicans could have a magic mirror that shows them things as they really are!
Rather than assuming these people are psychotic, they seem to resemble sheep who will follow a wolf in sheep's clothing, misleading them all the way to their own losses for which they take no self-responsibility.

IS FOX NEWS OR ISN'T IT?

For those of us who have long felt that media outlets ought to be limited to one owner and have felt that Rupert Murdoch's empire has become to overpowering, it is uplifting to see some people actually standing up to the megalomaniacs who think they are running the country, not the executive branch, the judicial and legislative branches.

Recently Adele Stan, AlterNet. Posted October 24, 2009. 8 Reasons Fox Is Not a News Organization. She made some excellent points and you may wish to read the article. If so, click here. This is part of what was said: "Now the fearmongers at Fox are crying foul since the president and his aides declared Fox not to be a news organization. Earlier this month, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn called Fox an "arm" of the Republican Party. Obama went even further, suggesting this week that Fox "is operating basically as a talk-radio format," and we know what that means: A format in which the most provocative opinions dominate the discourse and facts are optional." The eight reasons should be clear to any intelligent person who watched Fox News, but should some intelligent person have missed them, here they are: 1. Glenn Beck, the community organizer -- No other news operation in memory has ever hired its own community organizer, at least not one tasked with the mission of organizing paranoid people to march through the streets of the nation's capital with signs depicting the president of the United States as a mass murderer.

2. Fox's alliance with the corporate-funded astroturf group Americans for Prosperity - 3. On-air fundraising for Republican PACs 4. Bill O'Reilly, stalker of those whose opinions he doesn't like 5. Sunday talk-show host who promotes Republican falsehoods "Once upon a time, Chris Wallace, son of the aforementioned Mike, was a real journalist, just like his dad. Then he joined the Fox team, as host of Fox News Sunday, which airs on the Fox's broadcast network." 6. Fox News anchors, show hosts and pundits parrot GOP press releases, or just make up stuff 7. Fox News hosts urge viewers to join a particular political group "During the run-up to the big right-wing 9-12/Tea Party march on Washington, Fox News entities and personalities repeatedly flogged viewers to join the Tea Party Express, a bus tour of anti-Obama activists." 8. Glenn Beck, deranged inventor of paranoid conspiracies

The White House Cites Opinion Shows as Basis for Fox News Complaints
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refers to "Beck" and "Hannity" as the reasons why the Obama administration is criticizing Fox News.

White House Makes Security Changes to Web Site Following Complaints Over E-Mails
The e-mail address set up for people to report "fishy" information about health care reform has become inactive. The White House also has added two new filter devices to its "Contact Us" section on its Web site, following complaints from people who said they were receiving unsolicited e-mails from the administration. Read more....

Perhaps the public should get the FCC to revert back to the days when it was sane, fair, followed the law to prevent the kind of monopoly-like situation we have today. Despite Murdoch's attempts to control the news that reaches Americans' ears, he forgets about the Internet and the access we all have to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, too many people still do not know how to do that. I'm amazed at how many people still don't have or use computers! Sadly, it points to the state of our voters...misinformed. too lazy to decide for whom to vote, believe their vote doesn't count (forgetting that if others felt the same, we definitely would get the wrong people in office as we have in the past).

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

Writing on the blog AS TIME GOES BY, Saul Friedman quotes: "In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt called these reporters “muckrakers,” but while he criticized them he also said, “I hail as a benefactor...every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform or in book, magazine or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in turn remembers that that attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.”"


In 1906 the world was not full of people in your face on a TV screen who were known to be untruthful yet permitted to go on daily to spew their falsehoods and vicious attacks as though their opinions and lies deserve merit.
The Society of Professional Journalists has a Code of Ethics. To read it in entirety, click here.

Surprising only to some of the professional journalists who seem not to know it exists or choose not to follow it. Ignoring it seems to have few, if any, negative consequences though it has existed since 1909. Some of the major points (and you will recognize those that have been forgotten by those who run the TV news media today, especially) are: 1. Seek truth and report it. 2. Minimize harm. 3. Act independently. 4. Be accountable.

Since Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. seem to be the major network news channels, it is no wonder that most of us who watch them wonder where Hannity, Beck, O'Reilly, and so many others occasionally less flagrant in their abuse of the the code, can face the camera and say the things they say. Understanding that Beck, Limbaugh (though he insists that he is only an entertainer though he is not entertaining but self-propelled in his vitriol spewing) were admires of and mentored by Bob Grant.

Perhaps viewers will weigh some of the faces on news TV against those four points in the code of ethics. If you convince yourself that the person you are watching does not adhere to the code, will you continue support by watching? Glenn Beck took it a bit over the top with his inaccurate and insensitive remarks so that as viewership began to fall and sponsors began to leave, his future on the network began to weaken.
After all, the power is in the viewer ratings and what advertising they can pull in. However, as long as viewers like (or don't realize they are) being lied to, brainwashed, and consciously fed misinformation...those personalities will continue to shine.

SO MUCH FOR THE DREAM OF UNITY, WINNERS AND LOSERS

It seems that the Media is now in a contest which will ultimately prove which is the most powerful by proving they can make the biggest distortions and mangle the truth while sustaining their viewership. Rush Limbaugh has been proven in lies for so many years it amazes me that so many people still believe him. It doesn't really matter that people believe him because he is Rush, but they believe him when all logic flies away in front of their face.

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 2:31 PM on March 23, 2009. Fox News' Senior Vice President for Programming admitted that the network is consciously aiming to be "the voice of opposition" to the Obama. Fox News has wasted no time in opposing the Obama administration's agenda. For example, the network has unleashed a steady drum beat of misinformation and propaganda against the Employee Free Choice Act. In fact, when it comes to challenging the Obama administration, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has compared the network to "the Alamo."

Major media ought to go to some kids' sports games to learn about team play. We are in a mess. Emotions are volatile and the ambience in most places feels and sounds dangerous to our normal way of 'live and let live' life. Meanwhile we have another loose cannon in Michelle Bachman. Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 10:50 AM on March 23, 2009. "Crazy Rep. Michele Bachmann Calls for Armed Revolution" Bachmann appeared over the weekend on the First Team radio show with John Hinderaker and Brian Ward, speaking about the horrible stuff that the Democrats are doing: "I'm a foreign correspondent on enemy lines and I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington." "Steve Benen, Matt Corley,

A SUGGESTION TO THE HOUSE AND SENATE

The Obama administration is already receiving criticism for not prosecuting the bad guys, GWB, Cheney and all the rest who violated the Constitution and broke all sorts of laws to make themselves felons. However, I strongly believe it would behoove our government to allow the investigators to get all the information to build a case but not bother our own legislative branch with the work of dealing with it. They have far more important business to pull the country out of the toilet into which Bush and company dropped it, before it gets flushed down by the rest of the world.

It is an American disgrace and we need to make amends to the world so that it will be clearly understood that not all Americans approved of the behaviors of our self-appointed leaders. The question of whether we should prosecute those who ordered torture has been raised. For some reason people seem to think that following orders is an excuse though we prosecuted others after WWII without regard to whether they were following orders. More importantly is whether the perpetrators should be prosecuted. While ignoring our Constitution certainly deserves more than a raised eyebrow by Justice, it would be more expedient to let the World Courts deal with all the violations made during the war.

While our 'news entertainers' spout off all their venom and criticism they are failing to see their own responsibility for ratings going down. Fox 'Noise', as Olbermann refers to the unfair and unbalanced channel, has apparently lost 1/3 of its viewers. It didn't even rate on the list a week or more ago. It is sad that the ignorance on some of those channels by the 'entertainers' (who no longer know they should be reporting what is happening rather than trying to force things to happen as Rush Limbaugh has always done with his lies)is allowing them to follow Bush right to oblivion. Those who think they are so good are talking themselves out of a job.

SOMETIMES A CIGAR IS JUST A CIGAR

While the pundits are trying to analyze every movement, sigh, tear, loss of patience, word, look, clothing, hairdos, and anything else they might spot, it might serve them well to remember that even Freud, famous for analyzing all sorts of things and drawing sexual conclusions, said (perhaps with reference to his own penchant for smoking cigars), "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." It means that sometimes you don't have to search deeply for hidden or unconscious meanings, and you should just take things at face value.

However, face value doesn't sell ads on TV. Since adversarial politics make it more interesting for the endless hours TV journalist/entertainers must probe and comment on what they are dissecting about some insignificant comment, or any other benign sign, they must manufacturer something to debate amongst themselves since the politicians failed their task of playing their 'adversarial' positions by the rules of current journalism. For some reason the producers think it makes for better show to pair opposing views. Hannity and Coombes were supposed to represent this, for a fair and balanced Fox News. It failed because they paired a tiger with a mouse, hardly fair and balanced.

It would seem that MSNBC has a somewhat different view of things. They let their powerhouses work alone. Not only does Keith Olbermann carry his own show but actually analyzes what is going in in the country. Something that he is doing must be reaching a lot of people favorably because his open letters to Bush are a real hit on YouTube. He seems to be the only one with views which he dares to express while others pander to their own Gods and biases.