Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer Speaks The Truth

"You can't tackle the jobs problem, the budget problem, the tax problem, or America rising without tackling the first problem: Money in politics.

It is institutionally corrupt. They spend their time getting big checks from big special interests. It's the special interests who write the tax code. You can't read it. It doesn't work for America. It hurts jobs; we give them away. They're being stolen by unfair trade, and nobody does anything.

You know why? Corporations have never made more money than they are right now. They wrote the tax code and they really don't give a damn about the rest of America."

--Buddy Roemer, Former Congressman & Former Governor of Louisana

Happy 235th Birthday, America!

Happy 235th Birthday, America!

All the political strife, angst, and drama out there is merely proof that our democracy is working as intended! The Founding Fathers intended for there to be heated debate, discussion, dissent, and disagreement. That is what democracy is!

NEVER close your minds to new ideas or new ways of thinking! NEVER dismiss a different viewpoint without careful consideration! NEVER stop learning! NEVER stop growing! EDUCATE yourselves in the issues of the day and the citizens of your community, state and country! NEVER rely on the dogma and doctrine preached by evangelists, political parties, or pundits!

Realize that your friends and family may be giving you BAD advice or information! It is up to each one of us to educate ourselves and act accordingly.

Remember that while YOU may subscribe to a particular religion, belief, or creed, AMERICA DOES NOT. America is NOT based on Christianity or any other religion.

Diversity of thought is the cornerstone of democracy. Closed-mindedness and uniformity of thought is the path to Fascism.

Remember that freedom, justice and equality are for EVERYONE! Not just people who look like, think like, or act like you! No matter the gender, race, creed, orientation, affiliation, religion, belief, persuasion, or ability, we are ALL Americans!

Educate yourselves and participate in your government. It is our RESPONSIBILITY as Americans! Remember the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Lies, Damned Lies & Israel

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint press conference with President Obama, said today that Israel "cannot go back" to the 1967 borders with its neighbors in its negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. He cited over 300,000 Israeli settlers in disputed territory as the reason.

What he did not say was that this was Israel's plan all along. While pretending to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians, Israel was building settlements in lands claimed by the Palestinian Authority. A LOT of settlements.

Angry Palestinians would send rocket and mortar fire into these settlements as a means of expressing their pent-up rage at Israel. Israel would counter by shutting down the West Bank and Gaza, rolling in tanks and delivering harsh "justice" while shouting to the world that the PA could not be trusted because it could not control its own people. While the world was focused on the plight of the peoples in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel was quietly approving new settlements, seemingly on a daily basis.

Benjamin Netanyahu would smile and shake hands with US Presidents and talk of peace with the Palestinians while expanding Israel's territory by shoving the Palestinians off of their lands. Now, he claims that he "cannot go back" because there are just too many settlers and too much of an investment made.

Someone PLEASE tell me why we continue to support Israel. They've been lying to us for DECADES. It's obvious by their actions that Israel is not interested in peace with the Palestinians or a Palestinian state, despite all of the lip-service they give the ideas.

Here's what President Obama (or ANY US President, for that matter) should do: cut off ALL funding to Israel. Stop ALL trade with Israel. Deliver the message: Make peace with the Palestinians RIGHT NOW, or you're on your own.

Will the President do this? Of course not. It's political suicide. But this kind of tough love is exactly what Israel needs so we can put this Middle East  "problem" to bed once and for all.

A Rebuttal To "The Osama Bin Laden Exception"

AP Photo

In an opinion piece in Salon.com entitled "The Osama Bin Laden Exception," columnist Glenn Greenwald argues that the US was wrong to kill Osama Bin Laden. He says that not only was it wrong, it was illegal.

In Greenwald's piece of May 9th, and in his subsequent appearance on NPR's "Talk Of The Nation," he says that US and international law prohibits the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and that he should have been brought to trial instead. His argument is that under international treaties and precedent, Bin Laden should have been given a trial and the US should have presented evidence of his guilt before passing sentence. As an example, he cites the war crimes trials of World War II, and the fact that we still have Khalid Sheikh Muhammad locked away in Guantanamo Bay - ostensibly awaiting trial.

Greenwald says that we are going against our own principles and our own sense of fairness and justice by executing Bin Laden without a fair trial in order to satisfy a thirst for revenge. He says that we would not feel the same if the situations were reversed; that is - we would not tolerate a foreign military operation on US soil designed to kill the President as a form of revenge for the deaths of thousands of people killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says that President Obama went against his own words by carrying out a military operation without notifying Pakistan first and giving them the opportunity to turn over Bin Laden.

Finally, Greenwald says that by taking this action, the US is setting a precedent: that we say that we are a nation of laws, but we will ignore those laws when it suits us. What's to stop us from assassinating ANYONE we deem a threat?

And technically, legally. . . he's right. But here's why he's wrong:

1. Assassinating a foreign head of state has been illegal since 1976, and the US has not assassinated any foreign heads of state since 1973
2. We did not assassinate a Pakistani citizen on Pakistani soil - we assassinated a known and wanted terrorist and fugitive, officially wanted by both the United States and Pakistan
3. A trial would have given Bin Laden and Al Quaeda the very publicity and notoriety they are looking for - giving them the chance to spread more of their message of hate and terror to more people
4. It would have legitimized Bin Laden and Al Quaeda
5. Executing Bin Laden and burying him at sea prevents believers from visiting his gravesite and enshrining him as a martyr

The war crimes trials in The Hague were prosecuting individuals who were part of a government sponsored war. Those trials were designed to show the world just how evil the Nazi regime was, and to bring to light the war crimes and atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. Additionally, those people on trial were for the most part official representatives of their government.

Anyone on the planet with a radio, television or newspaper could see for themselves the terror, destruction and murder brought forth by Bin Laden and Al Quaeda. Not only in the United States, but around the world. Al Quaeda claimed responsibility for their actions, boasted of the murder of civilians and encouraged others to do the same. They have convicted themselves by their own words and deeds.

Do our actions set a precedent? Do they "send a message?" Yes, they do: We ARE a nation of laws. We will defend your right to believe what you want to believe and say what you want to say - but don't fuck with us or our allies or we'll hunt you down, pop two rounds of ammunition into your head and dump your sorry ass into the sea. It's basically the same message we've been sending out to the world since day 1 - only more up-to-date.

Blu-Ray Will Be Dead In 10 Years

Blu-Ray, king of HD video, winner of the "format wars" versus HD-DVD, is dying a slow, painful death. It, along with its predecessor, DVD, are on their way to the great trash pile of history. Even 3D won't save it. Here's why:

Slow Performance
It sometimes takes well over a minute before I see anything on my screen when I put in a Blu-Ray disc. The player makes all kinds of groaning and buzzing noises, my screen flashes between black and dark grey, and there's a little animated doo-dad in the bottom right corner of the screen that is supposedly telling me that something is going on. Is something going on? From all the groans, whirs and buzzes, I sure hope so. New players advertise faster start-up times. "Under 1 Minute!" they say, like that's progress. My Blu-Ray player also seems to need a LOT of updates from the manufacturer. I have to download and install a new firmware about once a month - a process that can take up to 15 minutes.

Forced Advertising
Movie studios LOVE to advertise their other titles and upcoming movies, so they make you sit through all these trailers before you ever get to the menu. Some studios even DISABLE THE MENU FUNCTION on your player to make sure you sit through all this crap, forcing me to press the "next chapter" button on my remote furiously in an attempt to get to the actual movie. This one "feature" is enough to make me NOT PURCHASE any more movies on disc. I didn't pay for advertising; I paid for a feature film. It's the same reason I almost never go to the movie theater any more. After paying $9.00 to get in and then bending over at the concession stand, I'm forced to watch a fucking VISA commercial in between movie trailers. WTF?

Competition
Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon & iTunes, and PPV services from cable and satellite operators mean I can watch my movies on my big screen TV right away with NO previews and NO forced ads. Don't have to wait for my Blu-Ray player to think about reading a disc, don't have to worry about cleaning it or protecting it from scratches, and I don't have to return it to wherever I rented it from. I can start watching it on my computer and finish watching it on my television. I can watch it on my iPhone, iPad, iPod or Android device, which means I can watch it virtually anywhere.

Of course, there are some movies that I want to keep copies of - movies that I know I'll watch repeatedly, or movies with historical or personal significance. For those few, I'll purchase the Blu-Ray discs and put up with the annoyance. For the rest of the thousands of movies out there, I'll stick to a streaming or PPV service.

A Chance At Redemption
The movie studios have an opportunity to save Blu-Ray, and they already know what they have to do. 3D ain't it. 3D is a nice gimmick, but we don't see 3D players and 3D televisions flying off the shelves because they're too expensive. Add to that the inconvenience of having to wear the stupid glasses, and I conclude that 3D isn't ready for the mass market.

The People Want Control
What the studios need to do is to give the people control of their movie viewing experience. Putting trailers on a disc is stupid. Who wants to be forced to watch a trailer for "Gigli" every time they put in a movie? Now imagine watching that movie 10 years from now and being forced to watch that trailer AGAIN!

Ditch the trailers and forced ads, dump the super high-tech menus that take forever to load, and give the people control. Get the player manufacturers to get off their butts and release players that will get me to the main menu in under 10 seconds. Don't tell me it can't be done, because if you can do it with DVD, you can do it with Blu-Ray. Lots of bright engineers and programmers out there.

Add special features that simply aren't available via streaming services or on PPV. You're actually pretty good at doing this already, but go the extra mile: Give me the option to watch Han Solo shoot first, like he is supposed to. Give me the option to watch the movie with the alternate ending seamlessly integrated into the feature presentation. Give me the option to stream the movie from the player to any television in the house, or directly to my iPad.

There. I just told you how to save Blu-Ray. Will you do it? No. You'll still want control over the viewing experience. You'll still listen to the idiots who tell you that in order to increase sales and profits, you have to put advertising ahead of content. Because you really don't care about the people who purchase your movies, do you? No, you only care about their money, and how to separate them from it. It's been nice knowing you, Blu-Ray. Okay, not really.

Enough, enough, ENOUGH!

Image Credit: Billy Alexander 

America, with her vast technical prowess, her amazing talent, her wondrous creativity, her incredible people and ideas, her fantastic diversity.

America - the land that we love and treasure, where the sky is the limit, where we are encouraged to reach for the stars, go for the gold, be the best we can be!

Surely there must be incredible talent in our popular media, with thousands of writers, producers, directors & editors - and yet. . .

I turn on my big screen television, (made with technology invented in America) pull up my satellite TV program guide (also made with technology invented in America) and what do I see on the majority of the channels?

Crap.

Doctors sleeping with each other, cops sleeping with each other, murder, greed, people airing their dirty laundry and personal business, and the worst of all: elimination "reality" game shows.

What a great idea for a television show! Let's take a group of marginally talented people, give them tasks to perform and eliminate the "losers" each week until we crown a champion!

Dancing With The Stars

American Idol

America's Got Talent

The Bachelor

Millionaire Matchmaker

America's Next Top Model

Top Chef

Top Shot

The Amazing Race

Survivor

Chopped

Cupcake Wars

Food Network Challenge

Last Cake Standing

The Next Food Network Star

HGTV Design Star

The Biggest Loser

Project Runway

Top Design

Hell's Kitchen

The Apprentice

The Contender

Celebrity Fit Club

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila

Flavor of Love

I Love New York

This list is BY NO MEANS complete. It is just a sampling of the unimaginative DRIVEL that passes for quality television nowadays. Compelling plots? Nope. Characters with depth that you can relate to? Nope. Quality writing? Not a chance. Ensemble cast? You wish. Thoughtful, talented actors? Ha! Meaningful, relatable stories? Not here.

This is supposed to pass for entertainment nowadays? Pseudo-reality TV game shows? REALLY?

And what does this say about us? The production companies keep making this crap because WE KEEP WATCHING IT! America -   Home to brilliant screen writers, directors, producers and actors by the thousands! Home to brilliant, intelligent, amazing people!

ENOUGH! Bring back shows with great writing, great plots, great acting, and great directing. Teach us! Inspire us! Amaze us! Throw out the meaningless, mindless nonsense. Please!

There's A Hole In The Bottom of the Sea

Everybody sing along!

♫ There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a hole, there's a hole
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea


There's a well in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a well in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There's a well, there's a well
There's a well in the hole in the bottom of the sea

. . . continues. . .

There's a failed blowout valve in the well in the hole in the bottom of the sea

There's a pipe in the failed blowout valve in the well in the hole in the bottom of the sea

There's oil and gas in the pipe in the failed blowout valve in the well in the hole in the bottom of the sea

There's a mess in the ocean from the oil and gas in the pipe in the failed blowout valve in the well in the hole in the bottom of the sea

There's dead animals from the mess in the ocean from the oil and gas in the pipe in the failed blowout valve in the well in the hole in the bottom of the sea


Add your own! Here are some examples:

Finger pointing
Job losses
Public outrage
Dog-and-pony shows
Name calling
Protests
Stonewalling
Political posturing
Endless news coverage
Failed barriers
Destroyed wetlands
Political outrage (genuine)
Political outrage (fake)