On a serious note, Money runs this place. Where have you all been? This has long been coming, and we can prove that. How? Lobbyists.

Rights?

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Carlin

Now if you think you do have rights, one last assignment for you. Next time you're at the computer, get on the internet, go to Wikipedia. When you get to Wikipedia, in the search field for Wikipedia, I want you to type in "Japanese Americans 1942" and you'll find out all about your precious fucking rights, Okay? All right. You know about it. In 1942, there were 110,000 Japanese American citizens in good standing, law-abiding people who were thrown into internment camps simply because their parents were born in the wrong country. That's all they did wrong. They had no right to a lawyer, no right to a fair trial, no right to a jury of their peers no right to due process of any kind. The only right they had: "Right this way" into the internment camps! Just when these American citizens needed their rights the most, their government took them away! And rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They're privileges. That's all we've ever had in this country, is a bill of temporary privileges. And if you read the news even badly, you know that every year the list gets shorter and shorter. You see all, sooner or later. Sooner or later, the people in this country are gonna realize the government does not give a fuck about them! The government doesn't care about you, or your children, or your rights, or your welfare or your safety. It simply does not give a fuck about you! It's interested in its own power. That's the only thing. Keeping it and expanding it wherever possible

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. The combination of both plutocracy and oligarchy is called plutarchy.

We have had a Plutocracy the whole time.


Corporatocracy or corpocracy is a form of government where corporations, conglomerates or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country. This is sometimes considered to be a form of fascism.

I'll leave this here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunneling_protocol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisling



Remind me to promote this, tomorrow.

Blab.

I love ya, Kieth, but it's just blab.

Is that all we've got? Indignant blab?

Save me, Superman!

We can beat those fuckers. I know we can.

But we must be coordinated.

>> ^rougy:
But we must be coordinated.


Never gonna happen. There's too many differing ideologies as to what constitutes "The Best Wayᵀᴹ", for every person who doesn't want the greed and corruption of corporatism to run the country, there's someone else who firmly believe that corporations are 100% altruistic and the only greed and corruption comes from big government. Even within similar ideologies people can't agree on "The Best Wayᵀᴹ".

Honestly, I'm thinking the best solution is to just find another country, one with public policies best fit your own concepts of "The Best Wayᵀᴹ", move there, and just sit back and watch the fools destroy this country with their greed.

Its quite possible to organize, don't be such a pessimist. We have been in seriously shitty situations before, but we did it, even if only for a moment.

It starts in your communities. It starts in REAL relationships not defined by capital. It starts it making people aware of their own power, that they don't have to take this shit anymore. I'm organizing in ATL. What are YOU doing? People should be in the streets, this is true. But this isn't Latin america. Its the United Statutes of selling caskets. Its the conglomeration of cities where people are their cubicles. Alienation has reached its alltime high from Capitalism.

But we must fight, my comrades. We must be organized. Why? If not for liberty, solidarity, equality, love. Do it because even if you lose, it is the only honorable thing left in this world

Until people start focusing on the REAL problem then this is a straw dog. Obermann's (and most Americans) outrage is utterly misplaced. You're mad at companies, groups, and people who are appealing to Congress. That's called free speech my friends. If you don't like it then you're in the wrong country.

What you should be mad at are your elected officials for being a bunch of greedy, corrupt jackasses. The only money a politician should EVER get is the stipend they are paid for their actual work. And yet, politicians end up as multi millionaires WHILE serving in office. How - exactly? Yup - they get payola. They pass laws to grease the skids, and get their dirty money. They are put on 'panels', or are made 'committee members' for companies and interest groups. They are made 'advisors' for companies. They are given 'blue ribbon panel' gigs. Money is troweled at them by the shipping container full - and they are never held accountable for it.

How about this? Instead of getting mad at companies for offering bribes - how about you get mad at politicians for ACCEPTING them? Politicans look at elected office as their brass ring ticket to financial security when they SHOULD be viewing it as thier chance to serve the people. This affects both sides of the aisle equally.

If I had my druthers? I'd pass a law that makes it illegal for a politician to get one PENNY from any source except thier proper salary from thier political job. The second a politican gets into office they should be monitored to the atomic level and if they get one PENNY from anyone they go to jail and every asset they have is auctioned off to the public. I have far less pity on a politician who betrays his trust and oath than I do for a lobbyist group that is merely exercising its freedom of speech.

Well, it's a rant for sure... but one that frankly echoes the fear so many of us feel today. At least someone's saying it. And I've gotten so used to my own daily institutionalized fear in the past decade. It's nice to hear someone actually shaken enough not to disassociate the whole feeling (yet again) and let themselves boil over.

Solutions? Well Olbermann doesn't propose anything (he asks us to instead) because who the f-ck knows what to do? Not him. Not anyone.

The elephant standing in the china shop is this: those very same corporations are keeping us very, very 'happy.' In addition to the loss of rights/power/voice that Olber bemoans, he neglects to mention that the future will also be filled with amazingly addictive computer gizmos (probably eventually wired into your cortex); video entertainment that will make the holodeck seem like a prediction; and enough flashy distractions and infotainment (soon to be so pervasive in modern life, it will make the early 2000's seem quaint) to completely numb us to the frog getting boiled in the soup pan.

Truth is, if all of us were bored enough, we would never have let this happen.

Trout (also ranting)

i am with Nordi on this.
plutocracy.
many here have made some good points but let me add a few that have not been mentioned.
let me do this by asking a question first?
how?
how was this even able to occur?
the answer is simple as it is insidious and subtle.
propaganda or as the federal government quaintly calls it "council of public relations".
this entity purposely chose this name due to goebbels giving "propaganda" a bad name.
considering that america has over 2000 media outlets which are only owned by 5 people/corporations,
is it any wonder that the average american population is unsure,ill-informed and kept squabbling in a divisive polemic?
they own the largest megaphone on the planet and use it like a bludgeon to keep people arguing over trivialities while the house burns down.they keep people fearful and suspicious of their neighbor.they have people convinced they are powerless and impotent to stop what is transpiring.
instilling apathy or fear. both work for those who seek to empower themselves and keep you quaking with dread in the corner,or so apathetic you do nothing.either end justifies their means.

well...ok.they have a pretty powerful propaganda machine.
how is it able to work so effectively besides the obvious?
indoctrination.
basically..in short.the public school system.
i have already shown my ire and indignation towards this abomination on another thread.
but suffice to say it is the public school systems very own curriculum that prepares young minds to tacitly accept the authority of the state.
NCLB teaches very little but specific information while disregarding the VITAL importance of teaching critical thinking skills.so students may test well but never learned the tools to not only question authority but have the ability to formulate the question in the first place.
go to school.
get good grades (a meaningless,arbitrary measuring system).
go to college or trade school.
get a job.
marry and have children.
then be a good consumer and buy buy buy:
a house,a car every three years,a big screen TV and more superficial crap in order to impress your neighbors how "successful" you are.
you are taught from a very young age that your worth is based on beauty and how big your bank account is.
your worth to american society can be measured by your ability to be a good consumer.
fail at that and america has the largest private prison system just waiting for to fill their cells.
either way... you are disposable.

one last thing.
what if the corporate propaganda machine does not work on you?
what if you were a pretty clever monkey and were able to slip through the indoctrination of public schools.
oh..they have an institution for that and it is BRILLIANT!
religion.
dont want to play by the rules set up for you to be a good consumer slave?
well they have a special place for those who do not obey god.
so..you are not afraid of the government?
you saw through the indoctrination of the public school system?
you think you are so clever but god has a place for those who do not obey.
oh no...not in this lifetime.
but the one AFTER,when you die.
so you dont want to obey the rules.
ok.
but just know that after you die god will judge you and send you to a place to burn and suffer.
for eternity.
it is brilliant in its simplicity.
and it all comes down to the same thing,every single time.
FEAR.
the most influential and divisive emotion ever is FEAR.
they got you as a child,as an adult and even after you die.
WORK-OBEY-CONSUME

once you recognize these tactics it is not very hard to walk away from them and ignore them.
but first to have to recognize the puppet strings in order to do that.

"people should not be afraid of their governments.governments should be afraid of the people" V

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:
You're mad at companies, groups, and people who are appealing to Congress. That's called free speech my friends. If you don't like it then you're in the wrong country.

[snip]

If I had my druthers? I'd pass a law that makes it illegal for a politician to get one PENNY from any source except thier proper salary from thier political job. The second a politican gets into office they should be monitored to the atomic level and if they get one PENNY from anyone they go to jail and every asset they have is auctioned off to the public. I have far less pity on a politician who betrays his trust and oath than I do for a lobbyist group that is merely exercising its freedom of speech.


So you're saying that regulation and government intervention contrary to individual liberty to pursue their own self interest is the answer.

OMFG, liberal! LIBERAL! SOCIALIST! NAZI!

Kidding aside, I am in total agreement.

However, the Supreme Court of the United States not only ruled what you suggest unconstitutional, they basically deemed all of the existing half-measures to limit the scale of bribery unconstitutional as well.

Fucking cock sucking Supreme Court

Hey, I know it's a day late! But here ya go, *promote .

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Friday, January 22nd, 2010 5:30am PST - promote requested by NordlichReiter.

>> ^HollywoodBob:
>> ^rougy:
But we must be coordinated.

Never gonna happen. There's too many differing ideologies as to what constitutes "The Best Wayᵀᴹ", for every person who doesn't want the greed and corruption of corporatism to run the country, there's someone else who firmly believe that corporations are 100% altruistic and the only greed and corruption comes from big government. Even within similar ideologies people can't agree on "The Best Wayᵀᴹ".
Honestly, I'm thinking the best solution is to just find another country, one with public policies best fit your own concepts of "The Best Wayᵀᴹ", move there, and just sit back and watch the fools destroy this country with their greed.


It can happen.

We don't need to agree on a "best way" we just need a way that is alternative to the one we're stuck with now, i.e. corporate wage slavery.

But nobody's even trying, and I think that if they did, the corporations or the government (almost one in the same thing today) would undermine them every step of the way.

But I agree moving away is the quickest step in the right direction.

Amsterdam, save a spot for me.

Corporations already do it through groups funded by soft money and front companies. This changes nothing except the accounting.

The main problem in campaign finance law is that individual people cannot donate anonymously:
* This makes it easy for soft-money givers to verify that their subordinates have donated the amount of money that they were instructed to donate.
* This makes it easy for corporations to look up your donations and discriminate about whether or not to hire you (of course that's illegal, but it's also impossible to catch them doing it).
* This makes it easy for quid-pro-quo transactions to take place, because the politican can verify how much money a lobbyist gave him.

The money should be delivered in a lump sum at the end of each month, without an account of the exact amount or timing of the transactions, so that anonymity cannot be attacked via the exact timing or exact amount of a transaction.

I never thought I'd say this, but Clarence Thomas is right.

Politicians are prostitutes already, but people are still in the loop as voters. The prostitutes only get elected in proportion to the people's lack of the intelligence to resist shallow propaganda. If people are always going to vote according to whoever spends the most on shallow propaganda, no amount of changes to accounting will save us.

Dear Kevin Phillips,

How'd that little experiment work out for you, Dr. Frankenstein?

Sincerely,

The Country You Loved And Fucked.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the
vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions,
though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering
along with him."

>> ^NordlichReiter:
I'll leave this here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunneling_protocol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisling

Remind me to promote this, tomorrow.


oh yeah, crypto-anarchism to the rescue

Good point, jwray, but I'm going to take a few days before admitting that Clarence Thomas could be right about anything.

His suggestion is akin to recommending a bandaid to seal a mortal wound.

I think the whole point regarding donation transparency was to keep Mr. Moneybags from flooding the campaign and then claiming that his millions represented a populist point of view.

Sort of like Fox News is doing as I type....

*backup=