Friday, December 23, 2016

Voter Fraud

Trump (NC, NRQ) supporters seem fixated on voter fraud and requiring voter ID to prevent it.  What if they are missing the bigger picture, which is fraud perpetrated by the people running the elections?

This is a Facebook post from Greg Palast, investigative journalist.  (You may have to sign in to Facebook to read it.)  Personally, I've always found him to be a reliable source, so perhaps we should all take a closer look at what he is saying here.  

Here is the link to his website.   It opens to a page requesting donations, but you can click on the navigation headers to move past that or, of course, you could donate to his cause.


Saturday, November 26, 2016

Friday, November 25, 2016

Here's another one

Tell governors: Stand up to Donald Trump and stop the Keystone XL pipeline!

http://action.foe.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=20694&track=ads_facebook_kxl_dla&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ocpm&utm_campaign=2016Acq




I've been signing petitions like a mad man these last few weeks.  I figure that's one of the best ways to get my name on a list to be taken to a concentration camp when the time comes.

Here's a good one

Indigenous people at Sacred Stone Camp

DEMILITARIZE STANDING ROCK





https://action.aclu.org/secure/Standing-Rock?ms=fb_161121_freespeech_policemilitarization_FBad



Saturday, October 22, 2016

No, great music did not stop after the 70s

A few more thoughts about the "70s".

First, what most people think of as the 60s didn't really start until about 65 and ended around '74 or '75.

The "70s" was NOT all just great music - remember disco started around '75 and ruled the airwaves for way too long. Also, Bobby Sherman, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Barry Manilow, Cliff Richard abd Neal Sedaka were popular, just to name a few.

You have to look at the industry - up until the mid-60s, AM radio was the only game in town. AM was personality DJs who talked over the beginning and end of songs, non-stop promotions of the station, events and contests, lots of commercials, very TIGHT CORPORATE control over the play list and, you know, occasionally some actual music got played.

In the mid-60s this new thing came along FM. Since no one knew what to do with it, they let the hippies take over and made it free-form - very little promo activity, no contests or events, the DJ played whatever he/she wanted to play (the more obscure the better) and they never, ever, EVER talked over the beginning or ends of the songs.(A Pet peeve of mine). Of course, these stations became popular but they never made any money so the corporations started stepping in.

By about 1975, the Album Oriented Rock (AOR) station became a popular model - you played hits off the LP instead of off the 45s and there was still some flexibility for the DJs, but the promos started creeping in along with contests and events and giveaways.

Finally in the early 80s the morning zoo arrived and radio was almost completely ruined. The final nail in the coffin being national syndication of Howard Stern in the mid-80s (Here in Philadelphia the final nail also included the great local college station becoming a corporate controlled Adult Album Alternative format).

My conclusion is that "the 70s" allowed for a great flourishing of many types of music in large part because Corporate wasn't paying attention. To the extent that nothing really new or innovative gets air time anymore, it's tight corporate control of the playlist.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Donald Trump - No class, no redeeming qualities - still

Apparently, there are some Trump (NC, NRQ) supporters who do not understand the difference between counting all the votes and refusing to accept the results of the election.  It really seems like it shouldn't be that hard.

I'm fairly certain that all parties to the 2000 election accepted the Supreme Court decision and allowed the peaceful transition of power.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Sarah Palin and leading from behind

Sarah has endorsed Trump for President.

I haven't read the entire speech, but I found this part curious (quote copied from above linked article):

"because a weak-kneed, capitulator-in-chief has decided America will lead from behind"

 I say curious because it has always been my understanding that Christ was a shepherd and shepherds basically, lead from behind.  How did that become a bad thing?

Questions about Hillary Rodham Clinton

Charles Pierce discusses the NYT obsession with Bill Clinton's penis.

While I appreciate that there was, indeed, a half-vast right wing conspiracy against Clinton and that the whole impeachment thing was BS, I'm not sure Hillary Rodham Clinton should be let off the hook quite as completely and easily as Pierce seems to do.

It's the old saying "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean people aren't out to get you".  Just because it is possible to dismiss a lot of what the NYT columnists might say, it doesn't mean there isn't some justification for it.  The Clintons apparently did attempt to disparage Bill's accusers in a way that would be completely unacceptable if it were done to an not famous woman accusing an not famous man of rape.  You can dismiss the NYT columnists, but HRC had some role in that and it is likely to be an issue come the real election.

If I get the chance, I will vote for Bernie in the primaries.  If HRC wins, I will gladly vote for her.  She has lots of positives and just a few negatives for me.  All of the candidates on the Republican side have lots of negatives and almost no positives so its no contest.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

And we didn't have to send any missles this time

Charles Pierce covers the Iran giving us back our sailors crisis.

The title of this post is from his story.  And then of course the usual muscle flexing from the Republican candidates.  It's sad really.