WHAT DOES BBC'S MARKI MARDELL KNOW THAT WE HAVEN'T HEARD?

It seems that foreign reporters are permitted more objectivity and freedom of speech than those owned by their papers or stations here in the US.  I'm always surprised at the paucity of full coverage as to what is actually happening to us, American citizens..  As a citizen I would like to know where the money is behind some of the strange directions our politicians seem to take.  For example, what could possibly have frightened the politician who apologized the the CEO of BP because our president demanded some restitution to the people whose jobs and incomes were devastated by the spill.

Another mystery is how the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court could possibly change a legal decision that stood for a hundred years to allow corporations to be viewed as a single person and permitted to donate to American political campaigns from outside this country.  Non-Americans are now finally able to influence American elections.  How could Justice Alito be allowed to be main speaker at an RNC fund raising dinner where plates went from $250 to $25,000?  This, by Alito,  was ignored while Keith Olbermann, availed himself of his privilege as a citizen to donate to the party of his choice and was suspended.  Double standard once referred to what was acceptable for men and not for women.  Like a pregnant woman's derriere, the definition .has expanded to far greater proportion.  Read more here.

Mark Wardell of BBC warns of imminent likelihood of an American Civil War.  This is fascinating as I try to think of the clear difference between the North and the South in the last Civil War.  Would this be between Democrats and Republicans?  How would the enemy be recognized?  During the Revolutionary war (everyone had a chimney) the black stripe painted on one's chimney identified their political leanings.  How would we do it now?  What will happen to Independents?  I can't quite visualize the Civil War, though a Revolutionary war attacks directly against the government and military, would seem more what the rumbles have suggested.  What a lovely tactic to keep American people on the defensive and terrified.

Withe Representatives to the House and Senators spending disproportionately between the task of working for the voters who sent them there or assuring themselves of re=election, I fear it suggests the job is too good for them to give up and they can act like the no-show relatives and friends in Massachusetts, appointed by the nepotism of those who finally made it to the State House.

WE VOTE OUR OWN TERRORISTS INTO OFFICE

Making a blog about Palin is my idea of 'uselessly redundant' but I feel like a moth to a flame. It boggles my mind that there are ANY people who still believe she could/should become President of the United States. Not only does she spurn the modern digital Palm Pilot, but works with the original Palm surrounded by five of her fingers at the end of her wrist! In my 'You might be a Redneck if...." calendar, that was one of the jokes of the day...you might be a redneck if your Palm Pilot is your hand!

While she is, for whatever reason, the darling of the news media at the moment, there are others who are equally unfit for their jobs. Michelle Bachmann has been called the Joe McCarthy of 2010, by many. It seems we have to have a Chicken Little with us all the time. Being frightened is bad enough when you're hysterical, but it is frightening to the rest of us when our world is being ruled by paranoia. It seems that campaign managers use that paranoid card quite adeptly. For a lovely example of it, just pay attention to that which the Republicans are lying about regarding HealthCare.

We also have the Republican Congresswoman, Virginia Foxx, who believes that Matthew Shepard's death was a hoax. Appropriately, she made it on Keith Olbermann's "worst person in the world' list. 4/29/09 - Countdown's Worst Person : Keith covers Bachmann's continual factual gaffes, but more incendiary are Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx's comments that a well known brutal hate crime was a hoax. Unbelievable!

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.

REPRISE

Yesterday I wrote about how much I will miss George Carlin. So many others feel as I do. That Op-ed piece was written by Jerry Seinfeld, another man who has made us laugh but never quite as irreverently as George Carlin managed to make us do. Here is a man who contributed more reality perspective to his country as a service, made us laugh at ourselves, and forced us to think out of the box with him.

While Tim Russert was eulogized (and no one ever says a negative thing in a
eulogy) there were many who saw what was less visible to the world. Not every one thought he was a smiling, benign journalist. However, his death makes us face yet another reality. Even when you are doing everything to take care of yourself, it still might not work.

Since I do not believe in a malevolent Higher Power, I do not believe there was retribution in either death. Both were just two more deaths in the life cycle of humans. They just happened to influence and affect more lives than most of us ever achieve.

IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE CARLIN

George Carlin was too young to die by our current actuarial standards. While Tim Russert was eulogized for days and days, I will miss George Carlin most. Tim Russert left a hole in the media water and it will be immediately filled. Carlin leaves so much original material, it will take much longer for him to be replaced on the humor and humane circuit.

George Carlin was a thinker 'outside the box'. He shocked some people and was very clear that the profanity was his spice in his 'stew'. Always frank and addressing truth as he saw it, he gave opinion on religion and many other topics. He could see things as no one else seemed to define them. His monologue on Stuff was hysterically funny and hit so truthfully.

The applause he got should never be forgotten. His Pro-life in Anti-woman monologue is what many people believe but few can say so well. He could add much to any discussion, far more than most of the journalists on TV. For that reason, even Keith Olbermann had him on Countdown and it was a far more interesting show than some of the self-appointed 'pundits' he occasionally has speaking.

I, for one of many, will feel the loss of this man's brilliant mind and his ability to make us hear messages when he wrapped them in humor. Thank you for leaving us your recorded wit. You will never be forgotten.