Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 6, 2011


"If you want to hang out, you've got to pay her out, Koch's Cain"
(sung to the tune of Eric Clapton's, Cocaine.)
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In a turn of a phrase, this comment posted at a news website pretty much tells you more than most news organizations out there. Of course I am referring to the Herman Cain sexual harassment turmoil from this past week, but, and I think more importantly, the lesser story of just who is financing this man. What details haven't made national news about his funding by the Koch brothers? And what about the campaign laws that he ignored by getting money from sources not disclosed to start his campaign? The MSM has largely given a pass to all this.
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Can a pair of zillionaire brothers essentially pick a candidate, finance him and ignore the traditional campaign strategies, buy their own air time to bolster a campaign, and do whatever the hell they want while the media focuses on decades old picadillos? Uh huh. Because "sex sells." It sells newspapers, it boosts ratings, it heightens the "give a hoot" factor regardless of truth or lie. (And thanks to the Supreme Court-- Corporations Are People, Too! So they can write all the checks they want to, so cue up those negative ads....and really crank 'em in the swing states!) C'mon media you can do better! Dig a little.

Meanwhile, while you, John Q. Public, is out there salivating over the next sex scandal details in the news, take a minute to watch the commercials. Americans for Prosperity. Sounds like a great name. These are the wolves in sheep's clothing. Watch for it. You will see it in tiny print on millions of dollars in campaign ads attacking Democrats and Barack Obama for the next entire year. It's the Koch Bros. Members of the one percent. Guys who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from their old man (a founder of the John Birch Society.) Now they are using it to try to buy the White House. (As an aside, their chump change... goes to funding studies that attempt to disprove Global Warming, and perhaps some Tin Foil Hats.)
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That's why I love the Occupiers. They are the real deal. With all their flaws and warts. Are there people causing trouble here and there? of course. Are some people littering? Yeah, but look at the ones with brooms cleaning up, too. As much as the right wingers want to portray them as dirty smelly jobless people looking for a handout, they are not a group you can easily "label and negate" although Fox News tries so hard... Seriously.This uprising is a melting pot of people who feel they are getting a raw deal. They can't write checks to buy political influence. They are a hodgepodge of old, young, middle class, poor, white, black, hispanic, etc. with the same feeling of just wanting to be heard. And they are doing it by getting media attention with non violent protests springing up all over the place.
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Something is striking a chord in people. All kinds of people. Something is HAPPENING. Here is a great summary, I think, of what people are really upset about. This movement is not about Jealousy or envy or hating the rich. It's about getting a fair shake, playing by the same rules!
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I'm just happy to see people showing up. Apathy is the biggest enemy we have right now. Judge them at your peril. This is Democracy at it's best. It's how it is supposed to work. The people are rising against the powerful who control a huge majority of the wealth of this country, and have destroyed the middle class. Mill workers, teachers, health care workers, etc. These people are the backbone of America. They are hurting. They are not the enemy. Unions are not the enemy. People like the Koch Brothers are the real problem with America. And their "Americans for Prosperity" hit ads, which will go further to divide us as a country than unite us. Remember that when you see these ads and also remember the "monopoly money" that is paying for them. Pun intended.

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