The FCC's Redder Than Red Flag

I've often commented on how many different periodicals I need to skim and news outlets I listen to to get a handle on the news.  They all come from different places depending on managements' points of view.  Somewhere among it all is the actuality of the news.

Now the FCC wants to send teams into broadcast and  newspaper newsrooms to determine just this and to see if what they deem important is being covered enough along with the sources they use. They can even pursue reporters and other staff off the clock to get the information they want. It's called the Critical Information Needs study.

This sounds an awful lot like what organizations seeking a 501c4 have gone through with the IRS where the questions have become personal, intrusive and impertinent to the subject at hand. Broadcasters may cave to this because of licensing requirements but the FCC has absolutely no jurisdiction over print journalism and they should give an emphatic and ground trembling no to such a request.  The last thing we need is this government inside our news sources.

I don't mind having to dig through information to find out what I want to know.  So far we still have a right to our opinion. If the government, however, gets a foothold next will come censorship.  You aren't covering enough of this or too much of that.  You aren't covering enough stories about racial injustice or political philosophies.  You don't have enough reporters of color to match the racial demographic of your listening or reading audience or you don't have enough stories relating to the liberal point of view or the far right point of view.

Next come fines or worse.  Criminal accusations. Remember when Justice went so far as to claim James Rosen of FOX news was a flight risk? In time it would trickle down to the local level.  How would they react to Huckleberries Online blog in the Spokesman Review, for example, where the political commentary on the local level is anything but neutral. If I don't like it I don't have to participate but I'll fight to the death the paper's right and the blog administrator's right to speak their minds.  It's called freedom of speech.  Freedom of the press.

Yesterday I was in the doldrums because everything was a fuzzy gray.  Not so today.  Everything is suddenly covered with the bright red flags of government over reach.  We should all be writing our Congresspeople and clamoring for a cease and desist order.  Now!  Don't let them get a foothold, even with their so called test case.

If the government wants to know what an outlets philosophy is and how it covers news all they need do is turn on their TV sets.  As for the reporters, if they're doing their job, their personal opinions would not be evident.  The commentators and pundits are preachers of opinion. We all know that. We accept it, digest it and form our own opinions.  We never, ever try to manipulate it and neither should the government! Just say NO!

Biding My Time

As a blogger there are times I feel like I'm just wishing away my life.  That's not the best idea at my age but I'll give myself a pass because the weather hasn't been conducive to get out and go.  But I am wishing away time until the elections become viable with real candidates running.

What has me stymied, since it's what I write about, is the political stalemate we're in.  No matter how much railing is done and it doesn't matter who's doing it, nothing seems to change.  Nor is it going to until after the congressional elections in November I fear.

One thing I'm sure about is the President isn't going to change his ways. He'll continue posturing, do his own thing when and as often as he can, and threaten the bad guys with "consequences".

We know how that goes.  So do the bad guys. So it's a push.  Ho hum, they say and go right on about their business.  Vlad looks like he may luck out with the Olympics.  So far the terrorists have been non-existent which isn't a surprise.  They delight in watching the world run around in little tight circles because of their chatter.  They really don't need to sacrifice their suicide bombers unless they really want to destroy people and property.  Chatter does just fine if all they want for the moment is to keep everyone a nervous wreck.

Congress is still the same.  Neither side is doing anything constructive.  Their attitudes toward each other remains belligerent much as mine has been toward them. If the Republicans would only say something.  Someone has to take the lead sometime before October!

The media, except for FOX, still protects the administration by the questions they don't ask.  The pundits on FOX, for the most part, still embarrass themselves by making it evident as to how little they know about how government works.  The likes of Hannity have all the answers they seem to think and try to force an agreement out of guests by shouting down opposing opinions. It scares me that he's threatening to run for office.  If enough of his fans beg hard enough.

I actually wished I had my camera last night as I watched a split screen discussion with the sound off.  Both men's mouths never stopped.  Maybe you had to be there but it went on for so long it was really funny.  And you know if anything was actually said you'd not know what even with the sound on!  So much for trying to stay informed by watching anything on the tube.

So here I sit.  I've lambasted just about everything I can think of.  Without anything new to latch on to I'm really stuck.

So what am I to do?  My accomplishments so far this year are meager at best.  I've had three shots in my back and a forth upcoming next week.  I've so many steroids in me I'm thinking of going to spring training and seeing if a team might pick me up.  Oh, yeah,  I've got another dandy scar from another basal cell removal.  The self absorbing stitches are coming out through my cheek instead of dissolving.  Makes for curious mirror time.

Gosh, when my physical ailments interest me more than the world at present, I know I've got an attitude problem. Okay, another senseless synopsis for a lack of content here.  Maybe I'll go get some tweezers and have at those stitches!

What Happens When The U.S. Abdicates

It's not a pretty picture out there.  Our Secretary of State, while emitting 10s of thousands of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, is flitting around the world lecturing nations about the state of climate change, saying that doubters are akin to flat worlders.  Nothing like insulting them

Then I wonder how long it's going to take him to realize, forget the idealism, diplomacy isn't working anywhere.  The Palestinians have told him to go pound sand.  Aid to Syrian civilians suffering in Homs has been cut off once again.

Polio is still ravaging Pakistan due to aid workers being killed. Couples are still being stoned to death when accused of adultery. The Ayatollah in Iran says out of one side of his mouth he has no objections to the negotiations regarding his nuclear program and out the other says they aren't going to go anywhere anyway.

Worst of all perhaps is the North Koreans eradicating it's own people by bringing back those who have fled to China and if pregnant inducing an abortion and finishing the job by the child by drowning or merely suffocating the infant. And our best connection to the country is Dennis Rodman.

Meanwhile back on the home front the President is using the privilage of Presidential fiat to an alarming degree for the most dubious of reasons.  Health care, immigration, gay marriage, pot to name a few.

Congress has structured itself into a non-functioning body.  The leader of the Senate keeps legislation at bay by not bringing anything to the floor for a vote.  The House Republicans remains divided and the Democrats aren't far behind.  You hear nary a word from the Republican leaders in either branch.

It's a pretty sorry scenario. I would really like to see both parties vote out their current leadership.  And as Brian Schweitzer, former governor of Montana, has suggested, it would be nice to have a Presidential cycle without a Clinton or a Bush in the mix.

With the number of states discussing the possibility of seceding, this is what I could envision.  All the states who want to be allowed to do so.  Among those who did so because they still believe in our Constitution and a government of, by and for the people, go out and form a new nation.  One that would the the antithesis of the more perfect union Barack Obama claimed to espouse but has failed dismally to deliver.

That just might lift my spirits.  As is I find myself tending to lift the wrong kind!

Cruzin' For A Bruisin'

I'm beginning to wonder just what the Tea Party stalwarts represent.  Pig headedness for sure.

Take their in house figurehead Ted Cruz and his attempt to filibuster the procedure to move ahead a vote on raising the debt ceiling. The last thing anyone needed was another fight to the wire on shutting down the government or in this case defaulting on the debt. It isn't even really the debt but rather the interest on it.

Because of his ill advised stunt he forced a handful of wiser Republicans to vote with the Democrats to move the measure forward.  The clean bill went on to pass without the vote of a single one of those Republicans.  Now Cruz and his ilk are threatening to use those votes against the incumbent Republicans in the primaries.  Do it my way or I'll punish you by golly!

To what end does he do this? So they can possibly lose to more like Cruz who doesn't seem to understand that in order to win you have to have the votes.  Maybe they should start by not passing the spending bills that require a rise in the debt limit in the first place.  As it is it indicates that the Republicans are as guilty as the Democrats when it comes to excessive spending.

I understand standing on principle. There is a time and place for it but not in a working house of Congress where governance is a shared proposition and in order to share one must be willing to compromise.  It is not a dirty word. Granted the Democrats, having the power for the moment, have no interest in sharing.  But they stand together as a party.

The Republicans don't.  Those who stand on principle alone are negating what power they do have as a whole. Some of these legislators have Presidential ambitions, Mr. Cruz included. What I see in him is blind ambition and ideology over reason.  I've blamed the Democrats for the same and this is one area I'd rather the two parties didn't share!

If his unwillingness to listen to what Republican leadership has to say and close ranks with them for the good of the party and more importantly, the nation, it indicates to me what type of President he is likely to be. Inflexible.  My way or the highway. Does any of this sound familiar?

The behind the scenes maneuvering is no easy task to be sure, in either the House or Senate, but unless you hold total power like Harry Reid does,  joining with leadership is pragmatic if nothing else.

I'm looking way past charisma on potential candidates.  I'm looking for those who understand what is necessary to move forward rather than perpetuate a stalemate.  Mr. Cruz fails on both counts.

Disincentive to Work? Not In My World

In my world the receipt or lack there of a subsidy to make health care more affordable would never make me leave a job nor can I believe it would for a great number of people. The administration, however, apparently doesn't believe the American people have any work ethic left.

The administration would have us believe 2 million or so jobs are going to go begging because the subsidy is more attractive than earning a decent wage.  The jobs, of course, will still be there.  It's just that people won't take them because they may lose that subsidy.  There was a time when this would have been laughable.

Of course had the health care law done what it was supposed to, it wouldn't even be an issue, but it has gotten so confusing no one is sure just what it will or won't do.  Now it's up to what the people will or won't do.

Claiming that it's a good thing, this disincentive to work, because it will allow one to pursue dreams otherwise unavailable to them because health care is out of reach. It still is for those this law was meant to help.  For most of us everything was pretty good until the government and the insurance companies decided to meddle.  How it will all shake out remains to be seen.

One thing the argument hasn't addressed, however, is how are these people who are so inclined to take a workers holiday going to live?  How will they put food on their tables, pay their rent or mortgages,  or put gas their cars? We tax payers have only so much and even the Fed may decide free money is no longer in our best interest. One can dream. It's about all I have left.

Of course the government will take care of all that in due time. They'll come back and make unemployment benefits permanent and depending on your salary level, that will be all you need.  If you want more they'll no doubt come up with a subsidy to make up the difference between the salary you could have earned and your unemployment.  Or welfare.  Instead of a work exchange program they'll subsidize a non-work exchange program.  You'll no longer have to buy groceries.  Food stamps, or whatever the politically correct term for them is, will cover your every need including alcohol as medicinal and pot because we'll need something to forget what a sorry state of dependency we've allowed ourselves to fall into.

Neither the administration nor the media is explaining this latest challenge to cultural stability accurately.  We're left to figure it out for ourselves.  Out of one side of their mouths comes the cry for jobs so the economy along with our standard of living can get back on track.  Out of the other comes the cry to not take them even if they're created or lose that subsidy for health care which you used to have and which used to be affordable.  No wonder people are confused.

We're living through the transition from exceptionalism and world leadership to dependency and burying our heads in the sand.  We're not even leading from behind any more.  We're just behind.  There is no leadership involved.

Please assure me only those who actually follow the news are falling prey to the propaganda of the vultures that would devour us and that the rest of the country is too busy trying to be enterprising to take notice.  Please let them succeed and turn their backs on handouts.

There is still a lot to be said for the self-made.  Some things like the pride of accomplishment and a job well done. If we lose that we've lost it all.  Not a hand out in the world will get it back.