Monday, September 29, 2008

On the Money. Enough Bull!

Copyright 2008 Scott Stantis

Unlike McCain and Obama during the first highly anticipated but truthfully lackluster presidential debate (I did not learn anything new from either of them), these three actually hold solid opinions on the state of our collapsing economy, aren't afraid to tell the chaos and corporate socialism like it is, and voice passionate calls to action. Where's our plan b? Is there even a plan b (not a "tweaked" Paulson version)?



Senator Bernie Sanders spelled out the origins of our Wall Street meltdown early on, vehemently opposing the bailout and remarking, "any company that is too big to fail is too big to exist!"



Congressman Ron Paul's words:

“Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike. The events of the past week are no exception. The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress’ throat is not just economically foolish. It is downright sinister. It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect. It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder.

The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it. But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook. The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess!

The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?

When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?

Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.”





Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks out:

“The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received? Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?

Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy? Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls."

This mess made me think of EBN (Emergency Broadcast Network) today (introduced to me by Seth a few years ago!); disbanded visionary culture-jammers from the 90s, that reminded us to always question authority (a favorite spoken word poet, Taylor Mali also implored us to speak with it too) and see through the airwaves of bull in so many brilliant visual and auditory ways. Sadly, the multimedia performance group split sometime in 97-98. Seriously, just imagine what they would have be able to make with the shitshow and media engine we've created today! Let's end on an old schooling from EBN:



And in the words of Chuck D, don't believe the hype!
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Friday, September 26, 2008

Videos of the week

There's an uncanny resemblance between Palin and Ms. South Carolina. Laughable, yet seriously frightening, all of Palin's interviews make me cringe and smile at the same time (especially Couric's)...

Let's revisit:


Palin vs. Ms. South Carolina:


"Did she win a contest or something?" -- Jon Stewart on the Palin pick, during last Wednesday's The Daily Show.

Straight shooting Jack Cafferty of CNN concurs, and on The Situation Room calls Palin's Couric interview the "most pathetic pieces of tape [he] ha[s] ever seen from someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country." I couldn't agree more.
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Cartoons of the week

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate
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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Words are never enough...

In the midst of American chaos and the largest U.S. bank failure in history, there's nothing like delightful animated videos to both enlighten and lighten the mood:

With rhetoric flying and words holding so much weight in our world, here's a clever animation that speaks to us in a different language, appropriately titled "Typolution". "Nostrand" by Ratatat perfectly accompanies the typography storm.



Home Videos - a Cartoon Network oldie but goodie! This episode is classic.



Oktapodi - a creative and impressive clip from a French animation studio.
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

No surprises here today, people

McCain wants to call off the first debate this Friday and suspend his campaign to put "country first" -- apparently, doing a couple things at once is all too much. Flaking out on his peeps is typical though, as "McCain has skipped more votes during this session than any member of the Senate except for Tim Johnson, who had major brain surgery." OBAMA is ON for debate, responding:
"This is the exact time when the American people need to hear from the person who in 40 days will be responsible for this mess," he said. "It is more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people."
Truth! Looking forward to Friday.

David Letterman couldn't have put McCain's excuses for calling time-out, even for his show yesterday, any better:


"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves."..."I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

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During tonight's CBS Evening News, Katie Couric stumped Palin when asking for examples of McCain's regulations in his 26 years of Senate experience. The hokey Palin ever-so-eloquently responded she'll "try to find somethin' and bring 'em to ya" since she could not name a single instance where McCain was for a firmer government role in the economy. Oops, biffed again. Pure class:



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TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has the name for a reason...or maybe King Paulson subconsciously meant t - r - a - p. This $700 billion bailout may very well be covering-up the fine print for American tax payers. The issue of socializing debt and privitizing profits is hugely problematic and complex, but it's a powerpunch we simply can't afford to take. It will be interesting to see how quickly and clearly this proposal unfolds.

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And clearly, Clay Aiken is gay. But really, it's no one's business but his own and the media blitz surrounding his 'outing' like a major news flash is appalling. What are we all still so fascinated about and why are people in the limelight pressured to formally acknowledge and announce their sexuality to the world?

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