President Barack Obama spoke recently about preventing a corporate takeover of our democracy. But the truth is, we’ve been under a corporate take over for a long time. Whether they’ve been doing it openly or indirectly, funneling it through PAC’s etc., corporations have been buying policy in this country for over a century.

By the system’s very nature, to become president in this country you must accumulate such vast quantities of money that you are not exempt from the obligation to some special interest; this includes President Obama.

Democracy in this country is an illusion. Our candidates and policy are chosen for us and we are pacified by voting between two evils every couple years to feel like we are involved. Then, comfortably patronized, we are ignored, dealt with as white noise until the next election.

We must end corporate rule, close the wealth disparity, and reform our system to resemble a real democracy.

A video has surfaced recently that shows a belligerent crowd of protesters harassing, screaming, and physically confronting an African American man for nothing more that walking though the angry mob and looking Muslim.

This is true ugliness in our country, and it certainly doesn’t reflect the Constitutional values we hold so dear.

The fact is, the issue of allowing the Park 51 Community Center to be built is a manufactured issue by the right in an attempt to unite people under hate, racial and religious profiling, and persecution of what we don’t understand.

Contrary to their justifications, this isn’t about the 9/11 families or Ground Zero; it’s about racism and bigotry. Overlooking the fact that the religion we are prescribing conditional freedoms to, did not attack this country as I explained in an earlier post: ” On The NY Islamic Community Center a Few Blocks Away From “Ground Zero” “; the controversy surrounding  Park 51 is the result of the ramblings of a viciously anti-Muslim, extreme right wing, conspiracy-theorist blogger named Pamela Geller. Geller’s hate filled rhetoric first found it’s way into the main stream media by way of Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, and has taken off ever since, inspiring bigots and misleading those with zero knowledge of who to blame .

The emergence of Geller should have been a warning. That we were taking things too far. That we might need to take a step back and reexamine the issue and not let our emotions take us to a place from which there is no return.  Instead, a chunk of this country took her behavior as an example, and have revealed a side of this country that still clings to old habits of fear, hate, and persecution of what we don’t understand.

The mountain of hypocrisy surrounding the debate should be enough to quell nay-sayers, but despite overwhelming evidence, the right refuses to quit with the anti-Muslim rhetoric and propaganda. Glenn Beck and FOX “News” have both praised and condoned the efforts of the Park 51 community center and it’s founders long before this became an issue, but in lock-step with recent party politics, they have had a sudden change of heart. The complete absence of any criticisms of the project before the center’s approval has also not been a concern. From inception to approval,  the center has been drawing praise (as I have shown above) from prominent right-wing sources, but this evidence is categorically ignored. Disconnected conspiracy theorists are going on about the project being funded by terrorists or some sort of Jihad group, the truth is that it actually isn’t funded at all. They haven’t started raising money yet. These points have been made in various ways in the Times, Politico and the Post, but this is also ignored in favor of fear and hate mongering television hosts that rely on unhinged propaganda and delusional claims to keep their brain washed masses tuning in, and their ratings up.

The fact that there is another, decades-old mosque two blocks away from the site that has never run into problems has also gone ignored by the would-be oppressors of religious freedom. And Muslims have been using the Park 51 site for Ramadan and Friday prayers for almost two years now without incident. Muslims have also been praying at the Pentagon, the other building hit on Sept. 11, for many years as well. So why is this an issue at all?

Hint. Election season!

The right has all but run out of their same tired attacks against Obama and the democrats, (not to mention the absence of any real substance of their own to offer the public) and they desperately need an issue to distract from their agenda of Obstruction , so they are using a decade old attack on our soil by a political group to rally their supporters under one banner of denying a different group their constitutional freedoms. You know, what they’re good at. They’re goal is to circumvent facts and logic, and to rely on emotions to get them through November. (Again, what they’re good at) Until then it’s business as usual.

As for the man in the tape (according to the guy who uploaded the video to YouTube, the gentleman’s name is Kenny and he’s “a Union carpenter who works at Ground Zero.”);  I comend him and point out that the mob was lucky that he was the only sane individual there. I don’t know if I would have been able to keep my composure as well as he did; undoubtedly preventing a major event from occurring. But the right will still do everything they can to distroy this man’s reputaion, undeservedly, in an attempt to justify unjustifiable behavior. Beck might claim he is George  Soros in disguise, Limbaugh will say he’s a plant, and they will all ignore that no matter who he is, nothing justifies the behavior of their mob that day. A mob absolutly created by them, their rhetoric, and with every intent of having something like this happening.

For those of you who don’t know This bill was only meant to give Health Care to those those hurt by the attacks. The real reason some lawmakers, particularly Republicans, disliked the bill, was because it would pay for the more than $10 billion program by ending a tax loophole for foreign corporations, and it was a voting strategy that would eliminate cheap amendment tactics, in an attempt to keep it a strict vote on the issue of Health Care for those affected by the attacks.

The fact is if given the chance, Republicans were going to add amendments on immigration and health care that would force the majority to cast tough votes on those issues just two months before the election. Pretty cheap move.

Democratic leadership opted for the two-thirds vote specifically to avoid amendments to bar payment for Ground Zero-related health treatment for illegal immigrants, or any measures that would dismantle parts of the major health-care overhaul passed earlier this year.

Thank you Rep. Weiner for wanting to give Health Care to the heroes of 9/11,  and staring down partisan politics, calling out those who would rather play games than pass a policy that should be automatic.

To my fellow citizens, we have now hit the biggest disparity of wealth the U.S. has ever seen according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,  a study that fails to include capital gains, so, double that, at least. This is not simply the Bush’s tax cuts (which are set to come back into discussion, with Obama proposing to keep the tax cuts for 98%) but also this country’s limitless historically wealth-friendly policies are to blame.

Most major corporations (about 57%) pay zero federal income taxes according to a 2008 Government Accountability Office study (Reuters, 8/12/08), and the wealthiest 1%, on average, pay a much lower percentage – between 17 and 19% for the top 1% of households and 8% for the top .01 according to the CBO - than majority of the U.S. despite whatever bracket they might be in. But these are the same people that are extinguishing unemployment benefits while ignoring the absence of job opportunities, and attempting to cut social programs because they “don’t want to give their tax money to people who don’t work for it”? What tax money could they be referring to? Have they started paying their fair share?

In 1970 the top 100 CEOs earned approximately $45 for every dollar earned by the average worker. By last year, it was $1,081 to one. There is no justifiable economic theory that can explain this gap.

We are told the rich “create the jobs”, maybe, but then they are shipped out of the country for cheaper labor. We give them tax break after tax break, even during these troubled times, they still make a profit. Why aren’t we holding them responsible? The CEO’s took most of the money; they didn’t expand, nor did they hire. That’s what it was intended for, was it not?

Corporations could just as easily provide jobs and not ship them over seas at slightly less profit, is this really that much more of a sacrifice than you would ask any sovereign individual for their country? If the courts are going to give corporate interests the same (in some cases more) rights than actual citizens, shouldn’t they accept the responsibilities? If they can buy and sell policy more openly than ever, should they not have to pay into the system that supports them? Or are we to continue to hold them up as false idols that are above any sort of moral code or obligation? This is a much greater “job killer” than immigration, but for obvious reasons doesn’t receive the attention it deserves.

We, are also to blame, as we have given up our power, in the name of cheap goods and services, in apathy, and in partisan politics, loyal to career politicians and talking point pundits whose allegiance (and votes) lie with the highest bidder. We forget, or ignore, that it is the majority that must unite if the owners of this country are to be held accountable. Refusal of the people to support a plutocracy, like refusal to support any system of oppression, will cause its downfall…. But that would take effort, action from principle that too few in this country possess.

- Michael A. Burger

The criminals that committed the bombing are as much a representative of Islam as Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were a representative for all white Christians. Or James von Brunn, Scott Roeder, Ted Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph, Richard Poplawski, and don’t forget what the Christians did to the Native Americans….- All terrorists, all white Christians.

Should we hold them as the standard for those demographics? Should deny all the people (whites, Christians) who have any of those things in common with them their basic Liberties? Should we deny churches to be built anywhere near where these atrocities took place?

Should we not allow people to fallow teachings that teach love, respect, and self control because a fringe few ostensibly used the dubious cause of religion to carry out acts of violence (which by the way is against the teachings in all major religions)?

Muslims DID NOT attack this country. Fringe extremist groups that use religion as a recruiting tool did. To try and condemn an ENTIRE religion because of actions by isolated fanatics reveals one’s own intolerance and a prejudiced double standard stacked onto the freedoms put fourth by our Bill of Rights.

Update:

Study: Contemporary Mosques Are A Deterrent To The Spread Of Terrorism

From the NYT:

A two-year study by a group of academics on American Muslims and terrorism concluded that contemporary mosques are actually a deterrent to the spread of militant Islam and terrorism. The study was conducted by professors with Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and the University of North Carolina. It disclosed that many mosque leaders had put significant effort into countering extremism by building youth programs, sponsoring anti-violence forums and scrutinizing teachers and texts.

“Shortly after Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for what he called a White House “shakedown” of the oil company, the Texas congressman apologized for apologizing. “I apologize for using the term ’shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House this morning, and I retract my apology to BP,” he said in a statement.

But today on his official Twitter page, Barton appeared to take back that apology, linking to an article on the conservative American Spectator website saying “Joe Barton Was Right”:

-From Think Progress

Joe Barton (the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee)  who apologized to BP today for being “shaken down” for $20billion, has a good reason to do so: continued massive campaign contributions from Big Oil

Barton’s campaign donations – Oil & Gas $1,448,380

Barton’s top campaign contributor since 1989, Anadarko Petroleum, BP’s other partner in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 holding a 25% stake. Anadarko is the most exposed of the independent producers in the Gulf. It is a partner in 23 producing fields and the area’s largest independent deep-water operator, and just happens to be one of the four parties held responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Anadarko is refusing to testify on Capitol Hill about how it’s helping the shrimpers and other folks put out of work by the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Log on to the Anadarko website and you will struggle to find any reference to the Deepwater-Horizon disaster or the fact that Anadarko is directly involved.

Analysis of others involved in Gulf disaster and sourced for this post:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287226/GULF-OIL-SPILL-Whys-BP-taking-blame.html

Top Reps in the pocket of Big Oil: (This Year)

Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) Senate $286,400
Vitter, David (R-LA) Senate $242,600
Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK) Senate $209,826
White, Bill (D-TX) $184,303
Jones, Elizabeth Ames (R-TX) $168,750

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E01

It is relevant here to reference Jacques Ellul from his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. And his observations on media consolidation even as it existed in the 60′s:

-Jacques Ellul (1965)

The question is then, do we really have “freedom of speech”, or “freedom of the press” if all the outlets for it are continually more consolidated and controlled by an oligarchical, unregulated, private media structure?

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- SavetheInternet.com

This is a free speech issue, and like the Citizens United case, the courts have recently sold more of your rights and given unprecedented power to companies like AT&T and Comcast. Don’t allow the further monopolization of our information by mega corporations controlling everything we watch, read, and hear. As one of our last outlets to make our voices heard and to spread reliable information, we MUST protect this medium from total control by corporations who have already been caught editing and restricting our information (see previous post). Please call/write your representatives and sign this petition to voice your opinion and protect your right to free speech and information!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/glenn-beck-earned-32-mill_n_529903.html