Freeze Frame

*** TOPICAL TWEETS *** by @mediagonebad Cable News When I see military aficionado Wolf Blitzer on CNN, I turn to MSNBC. When I see military aficionado Chris Matthews on MSNBC, I turn to Democracy Now! O’Reilly and Limbaugh are toads. Ignore them. Let them be toads, hopping & eating bugs. Don’t pick them up and let them pee on your hand. Dear Fox News: You think big national media ask the right questions? Really? They sure didn’t in lead-up to Iraq occupation. Dear Fox News: Why do you hate anything that resembles democracy? Repeat after me: “Media diversity is a good thing.” Dear Fox News: Big corporate media have failed us time and again. It is refreshing to see smaller, less self-serving media asking questions. C’mon President Obama, stand up to the cronyism, to the good ‘ol boys (including Coultergeist) on Fox News. This is the change we need. Ethics Biggest problem is separating news from advertising and entertainment, for example ads with fake news anchors. Note to Journalists...

Support the National Health Insurance Act (HR 676)! By Jamie York When Bill Clinton was in his first term as president in 1992, he vowed to revamp the health care system in the United States. He held up a single insurance card and said that under his plan every American would have one of those cards. It was to be the only insurance card a person would need because Clinton was advocating a single payer health care system and every American was to be covered. In addition, that card was to be imbedded with a memory chip that would hold all of one's medical records, including medical history, test results, digital XRAYs, Pet Scans, MRIs, dental and optometrist records -- anything that pertains to one's well being. Present your card to a health care provider and you will be taken care of. No other insurance needed. Clinton's plan immediately drew intense fire from the multi-billion-dollar insurance industry, so, rather than stick up for single payer as rational and viable, he b...

By mediagonebad Suppose you have a health insurance plan such as Mail Handlers and your employer, the Veterans Administration, required you to opt-out of Medicare if you took it. You pay your premiums, your co-pays and your prescription costs. You visit your doctor regularly and you have lab work. Then maybe you have an X-Ray and visit the emergency room. You may even have surgery which requires a hospital stay and your plan pays 80/20 after you meet a certain deductible. Things are basically going O.K. and you have managed to keep up with the costs and pay your bills. You may go on like this for years and your premiums keep going up. You are retired, stay active, and don’t think too much about your insurance. After all, it has been there for you when you needed it. Then BAM! You have a stroke or another illness that requires a hospital stay and extensive aftercare and physical therapy. It may even require time in a nursing home. THEN you discover that you have to fight with ...

By mediagonebad Before 9/11, George W. Bush was not a popular president and he received much criticism early in his presidency. After 9/11, when the nation was trying to rebound emotionally from this tragedy, Bush’s approval rating went up. Why? After 9/11, the mass media did not challenge him on his facts and allowed him free range to pursue his agenda -- a permanent “war on terrorism,” the occupation of Iraq, approving torture, secret CIA prisons, an end to habeas corpus, and widespread spying on Americans. Criticism of Bush was viewed by the media brass as being unpatriotic and dissenting opinions thus received little air time. Red, white and blue banners decorated the screens of the 24-hour cable news networks and the news anchors wore their new American flag lapel pins. The only “debate” on the news was between the right and the far-right. Today, with the Obama presidency less than a week old, the President has issued executive orders to close the Guantanamo gulag, ban tort...

By mediagonebad Although I support Ralph Nader's independent campaign for president, I am concerned at the vicious lies being issued against Barack Obama by the McCain campaign. Most disturbing of all is the ridiculous notion that Obama is linked to some vague Islamic plot to rule the world and that he is somehow linked to terrorism. McCain advisers know this is false, but they hope that the media will assist them in making this a campaign issue and, by repeating the accusation over and over, will scare just enough people to swing the election in McCain's favor. The McCain campaign is also using a guilt-by-association smear concerning Obama's "link" to 1960s domestic terrorist William Ayers. Although Ayers, who is now a university professor in Chicago, committed terrorism 40 years ago when Obama was just eight years old, he and Obama both served on the board of directors of an education reform group in the 1990s. This is the angle the McCain campaign is using ...

By Mediagonebad The United States is in one hell of a mess. And the mess is so big that our politicians and their corporate sponsors cannot get us out. That just leaves us, the citizens, to pursue this awesome responsibility, this all-important duty. The people of the United States need a new declaration of independence from our government. We need a new constitutional convention to put forward ideas and platforms that reaffirm our commitment to a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And we need the people power of direct democracy to give every citizen a chance to participate and vote on proposals. Our democracy has been hijacked by a band of right-wing ideologues and zealots who believe -- just like Adolph Hitler -- in worldwide corporate hegemony rather than democracy. The Executive Branch of our government has -- without the consent of the governed -- strayed from its separate but equal position and has taken on the role of an imperial kingdom. A...

By Mediagonebad History will one day portray George W. Bush as a criminal and a warmonger who desired the power of a king to decide law, declare war, curtail civil liberties, and erode the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Bush, Cheney, and their corporate constituency -- the "neocons" -- are presently protected by a timid Congress, a sympathetic Supreme Court, and by a mass media busy distracting the public with sports and entertainment rather than engaging the public with diverse viewpoints on policy issues. We are the citizens.We are the ones who should be deciding policy. We are the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Yet we are routinely left out of policy decisions. When Bush is finally exposed for the criminal he is and his role in fabricating evidence for the Iraq war is finally exposed, what punishment should he receive? Impeachment? Prison? And what of the thousands who died or were injured by guns, bombs and IEDs? What of those w...