The Closed Media

In order to have anything printed anywhere – papers, magazines, websites, blogs etc. – you have to get your piece through the media filter – This comment is pending approval and won't be displayed until it is approved. The institutions that are doing this are using it to shape public opinion by shutting out contradictory opinions.
For example, I submitted a comment to the Cafferty File on CNN (or should I say Fox News Jr.). The question was “Who would you most like to meet”. I wrote “Ralph Nader because he is the only one who is not bought and sold by big corporations”. My submission was deleted. There was no profanity or threat of violence in my submission. So, why was it deleted? I submitted an opinion to the Huffington Post’s off-the-bus about Obama’s capitulation on telecom immunity and how I would support Ralph Nader and it was never displayed. There was nothing scurrilous in the piece, but it was rejected. The same story happens with letters to the editor and comments on the web. The media filter has an agenda and they will use their power to promote it.
Everyone thinks of the right wing media as being biased. Now the left wing media has followed suit. We want to shut out Nader because he might take away votes from our candidate. We want to hide his candidacy from the reader’s consciousness. They seem to think their cause is just and demands censorship.
What they do not see is that they are feeding into a society of censorship and corporate media control. They are becoming the very thing they oppose. A free society needs an open media to all points of view, no matter how different from the views of the people assigned to filter out abusive submissions.

The Lesser of Two Evils

So it’s election time again and you are going to vote for the lesser of two evils. You are going to vote for a Democrat because you figure anything is better than what we have been through for the last 8 years under a Republican administration. The Democrats will be better – won’t they?
Didn’t the Democrats just win control of Congress by running on a platform of stopping the Iraq war? Funny, the Iraq war has been fully funded. They could have cut off funding and stopped the madness, but they didn’t.
Didn’t the Democrats say they would stop this administration’s lawless violations of human rights? Strange, the Democrats just agreed to give Bush and the telecoms immunity from their illegal activities.
Didn’t the Democrats say they would hold this administration accountable? Odd, administration officials have thumbed their nose at Congress and invoked executive privilege.
Guantanamo? Still open. Torture? Still happening. Tax cuts for the wealthy? Still there. Electronic voting machines with no paper trail? Still around. Outing a CIA agent? Nobody is held accountable. Using the Justice Department for political advantage? Have at it. Katrina? Good job Brownie. Bin Laden? Still free. Huge budget deficit? Who cares.
Executive signing statements changing laws? Okay.
The list goes on and on.
The Democrats gain control of Congress with the most lawless, rogue President in history and what do they do? They take impeachment off the table.
The point is that if you are thinking that a Democratic President is going to really change things in Washington, you haven’t been paying attention. Your choices are Republican or Republican Lite. Both parties are the step-children of corporate power. They tell you what you want to hear to get elected – the old bait and switch.
Listening to the rhetoric of Barack Obama makes one hopeful for the future. But, we have seen that he is just another politician who is willing to trade ethics for power. I was so hopeful when he was elected and what does he do? He starts out by voting to confirm Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State. After all the lies she told to get us into this illegal, immoral war and he votes to give her a promotion? His recent cave in on telecom immunity also shows his true colors.
Obama has run on a platform of unifying this country and being able to bring people together. I do not want to be brought together with the forces of lawlessness and greed. I want a Presidential candidate who will fight for what is right - not to kowtow to corporate power and greed.
I am supporting Ralph Nader for President.
But, you say a vote for Nader will help McCain become President.
The real question is will a vote for Obama really change anything.