Brave New Foundation and the Koch Machine

Brave New Foundation and the Koch Machine

In the 1940’s and 50’s, and somewhat on into the ‘60’s, in this country we felt sorry for the Russian people because their only source of news was Pravda, the state run newspaper.  We, of course, had a newspaper industry that was free and unfettered and by and large we could rely on what we what we read if the paper had a good reputation.  This continued on to a certain degree in the early days of television when we had such news people as Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid, Edward R. Murrow, Huntley and Brinkley, and some others.  We could applaud Murrow’s investigations of Joseph McCarthy in the 50’s.  In fact, this writer put the first bumper sticker around while at UC Davis that read, “Joe Must Go”, much to the horror of my dear father-in-law, who at the time was an attorney in Los Angeles.  The poor Russians, however, only had Pravda.  We understood that what they did was read the paper and would figure out the opposite as being what was really true.   

I hadn’t thought of any of this for some time until in Reader Supported News (readersupportednews.org) there was an article: Koch Brothers’ Campaign to Kill Social Security, Matt Taibi, 6/23/11.  The article featured a short video featuring Bernie Sanders and The Brave New Foundation.  (www.bravenewfoundation.org)

For some time I have noticed that there would be the big right-wing push of the month.   Not in any particular order, there was abortion, homophobia, public employees bankrupting cities, counties, states or federal government, ACORN, Planned Parenthood, ‘Obamacare’, Social Security and on and on.  The thing that I noticed in these onslaughts was that the announcers were all saying the same thing.  Again, it seemed that someone had popped a flash drive into the back of their heads and all of the same words would emerge, over and over on the topic of the month.

Apparently I was right.  Bernie Sanders, bless his little old Independent heart, has done some investigating into this phenomenon and traced the origin of these diatribes back to the Koch Brothers.  Simply put, the Koch Brothers fund several think tanks such as The Cato Institute and The Heritage Foundation.  These organizations then publish issues papers pushing the Koch Brothers’ agenda of the month.  The media picks up on these issues papers and begins presenting them as though they were news.  Ultra-conservative politicians begin pressing these as real issues that must be immediately addressed or else all sorts of fearful things will happen.  Since these issues all emerge from the same source, they do sound all the same.  And often, the same words will be used over and over.  It is the ultimate in the old saying, “A lie can go around the world while the truth is pulling up its pants.”  Or the infamous, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Our job is to pick out these repetitions, which really is pretty easy because over just one or two weeks, they will start popping up.  Usually on the Fox shows first, since Fox is the outlet for this kind of stuff.  By the way, if you watch Fox, try another channel for news.  If and when we are in a position to mention that we have noticed a new rash of lies, we should mention them.  After all, we all know that a steady diet from the Koch Machine is bad for your health.

Telling The Truth On The Internet

Telling The Truth On The Internet

When I was a small child the following was pounded into my head by hearing it repeated too many times, although it is a maxim I still follow.  “Believe only half of what you read and nothing of what you hear.”  Of course this was back when it was considered very bad form to type a letter.  After all, this modern device was for convenience, not polite correspondence.

In this day it seems to me the maxim is still applicable, however, when it comes to the Internet.  Videos can be edited, as observed following the Jon Stewart/Chris Wallace Fox incident Sunday. It is vital to always check one’s sources with others, and preferably those that are known for their accuracy.  Wikipedia is not a good source for information, for instance, because anyone can post information, correct or not, on it.  This is a subject that is pretty current in our family since one of our daughters was maligned in an article on the Internet twisting a quote made by her and reported in The New York Times immediately after the Gabby Gifford’s horror in Tucson.  She has been receiving e-mails from people who want to know why she doesn’t support Obama and wants to impeach him.  She doesn’t want to do anything of the kind.

Her blog correction can be found at: http://jan-ruthmillssupportsobama.blogspot.com. 

I have no intention of adding the blog where the misinformation is contained since I do not want to perpetuate a lie, but it is a fairly well known right-wing blog.  In fact, I got suckered into being on a radio interview sometime back with a Tea Partier type who kept quoting it. 

It is my opinion, correct or not, that this total lack of integrity on the part of some in our society really surfaced as an acceptable form of communication, for them, after Ronald Reagan’s infamous comment: “Facts are stupid things”. 

Perhaps we should go back to the old, “Liar, liar, pants on fire” when we catch someone on the Internet intentionally lying.

The Throat

The Throat

Peter Straub, Pg. 210-11

Signet, 3/94

“They were all absolutely full of hot air.  They gab in their morning meetings, then they gab on the phone, then they gab to the institutional customers during lunch, then they gab some more on the phone – that’s it, that’s the job.  It’s all talking.  They love rumors, God, do they love rumors.  And the second-worst thing about these people is that they all believe every word every one of them says!  So unless you are absolutely up-to-the-minute on all of this stupid, worthless gossip and innuendo they trade back and forth all day long, unless you already know what everybody is whispering into those telephones they’re on day and night, you’re out, boy, you are about to get flushed.  People say that academics are unworldly, you know, people, especially these bullshit artists who do the kind of thing April did, they scorn us because we’re not supposed to be in the real world?  Well, at least we have real subjects, there’s some intellectual and ethical content to our lives, it isn’t just this big gassy bubble of spreading half-truths and peddling rumors and making money.” 

The above quote was actually about stock brokers, and the April mentioned was the wife of the English professor doing the speaking.  She had been murdered.  A fascinating novel – a tad bloody in the beginning, but spellbinding otherwise.

Although the quote is about stock brokers, it could as easily in this day be about Republican politicians in Washington.  They only talk to themselves; they believe anything anyone on their side of the aisle tells them; they all have the same talking points, which they have obviously been given, otherwise how would they all be saying exactly the same thing.  They all sound as though someone had popped a flash drive in the backs of their heads, and here come all of the exact words.  Where is the creativity needed to pull ourselves out of this economic hole we are in?  Not with those who refuse to believe that someone outside of their narrow field of interest, which is making money either for themselves or their corporate buddies, can actually have good ideas.  And they deride anyone who has ideas that are different from their own truncated views. 

So where to find the creative ideas?  Try googling “The People’s Budget – Raul Grijalva”.  For those who don’t know, Raul Grijalva is a Congressman from Arizona, and is co-Chair with Keith Ellison of the Progressive Caucus.  From there, one can find the link to the details in their budget proposal.  With the cover page, and about 4-5 pages of graphs and charts, it is still only 36 pages long, and is a very clear and easy read.  Of course, apparently some news analyst dismissed the whole plan because Grijalva’s tie was too short for the analyst’s sartorial tastes.  The following synopsis was lifted directly from the opening paper.  The details are in the original full copy.

The People’s Budget

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The People’s Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The People’s Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.

Our Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus In Ten Years
Our budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.

Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness
• Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them
• Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs

Our Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System
• Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012
• Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students
• Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more
• Implements a progressive estate tax
• Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations
• Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange

Our Budget Protects Health
• Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies
• Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade

Our Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years
• Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share
• Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side

Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home
• Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad
• Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs

Our Budget’s Bottom Line
• Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
• Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
• Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
• Public investment $1.7 trillion

© 2011 All rights reserved.

Unpacking the Real Meaning

Unpacking the Real Meaning

One of the very best ways of putting someone on the defensive is to accuse them of what it is that you yourself are planning on doing. 

It works this way.  John Boehner comes up to the microphone and starts talking about how the Democrats are not paying any attention to what “the American people” want.  The Democrats are so silly they immediately fall for this, time after time.  Then the Republicans state that the Democrats don’t want to work in a bi-partisan manner, and the silly Democrats fall for that, as well.

For the first one, not paying attention to what the American people want, how do the Republicans know what all of the American people want?  There are more than just a few of us out here.  That attitude of “…we know, and you don’t…” is the beginning of a totalitarian mind-set that believes that only we have the inside track here – you all are on the outside and are not to be paid any attention to.  This is the same line Republicans in California were taking in regard to the tax extension that Gov. Brown put on the ballot.  The Republicans were saying that they didn’t want to support it because no one would vote for it.  Well, no one they were talking to would, but plenty of people I know would. 

And then the Republicans stating that the Democrats won’t work in a bi-partisan manner is a real hoot!  From the Republican perspective working in a bi-partisan manner is doing precisely and exactly what they want.  It is sort of like some children in the playground saying, “If you won’t play the game our way, we’ll take our ball and go home.” 

We really have to start analyzing what the Republicans are saying and, as the expression goes, unpack their comments.  Usually their comments mean something entirely different from what they appear to mean, and it usually isn’t for the benefit of the majority of us, but it will certainly be to the benefit of those in the upper 2% of the economic spectrum.

Anthony Weiner's Crotch

Anthony Weiner’s Crotch

What is all of this media frenzy about Anthony Weiner’s crotch??  The only thing he is guilty of is juvenile and asinine behavior, and making Andrew Breitbart look like a responsible journalist.  He didn’t solicit sex from prostitutes or use campaign funds (if proven) to cover up an affair.  His wife should take care of this, and the media should leave it alone.

The Republicans are hell-bent on causing a world-wide economic depression (not just a big recession), and short of that, they want to turn Medicare into Vouchercare.  They want to get rid of Medicaid which provides medical care for children, they are determined to deny medical care to women through the means of Planned Parenthood, claiming they are preventing abortions.  Well, for another blog, there are many, many ways of preventing abortions without making abortion illegal.

And when the TV goes on, there is Anthony Weiner’s crotch again.  Enough already!!  We want to know what is happening in the Middle East; we want to know what is happening in Wisconsin and the other states that are trying to get rid of union rights; we want to know how Joe Biden is getting on with his negotiations with the Republicans; we want to know why the media doesn’t report on the speculation that is causing energy costs to go out of sight.  We want to know a lot of things. 

What I don’t want to know is anything more about Anthony Weiner’s crotch.

Box Thinking

Box Thinking

One of the truly sad phenomena in our current society is the prevalence of box thinking.  We hear the cliche, “Think outside the box” so often that it has lost its meaning.  Maybe it’s because of the commercial, “Think outside the bun” that the term “box” has taken on a really constricted meaning.

In our political thinking we tend to think of only one thing at a time.  Thus, people in California have forgotten that the reason California is in such a fiscal mess is that when Gray Davis was Governor, the Republican right wing realized that he was vulnerable if they could come up with a crisis.  So they did.  The energy companies manipulated the market, causing energy prices to go through the roof.  Since Davis wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier he waited way too long to act, and as a result was recalled by the right wing, and we got Arnold Schwartzenegger who promptly drove the economy of California into the abyss.  But people have forgotten this because the current box we’re thinking in doesn’t contain the wisdom we should have learned and of equal importance, remembered.

With that being said, there are some really frustrating politics going on in our local community and state.  Some ten to eleven years ago the largest city in our county could not come to an agreement with the police and fire unions over contract negotiations.  After three years of no contract, the unions went to the people with a ballot proposal that if there were an impasse, the negotiations would go to binding arbitration. The people passed this measure.  Several years ago, the city once again did not negotiate in good faith, there was an impasse and the negotiations went to binding arbitration.  The arbitrator found that the police and fire personnel were drastically underpaid, with the dispatch personnel being the worst.  The pay for these city employees was brought up to parity, which in this financial crunch really put the city in a financial bind, which they had brought on themselves by not negotiating in good faith.  The unions are willing to sit down with the city and come to an agreement not to request further pay increases, and other concessions to assist the city in its crisis, but the city has voted to put binding arbitration back to a vote of the people anyway in lieu of negotiations.  It is the city Chamber of Commerce that is firmly behind this effort to take away a right of the unions, given to them by the very people who voted for binding arbitration in the first place.  There is much pounding of the political drums about the unions bankrupting the city, etc., etc., and the people have the right to vote.

On the other hand, Governor Jerry Brown wants to have a ballot measure this year giving the people of the state the right to vote on whether to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy.  So far, the state legislature has not allowed this to happen.  Now whether Brown can have a ballot measure without the legislature is still, as far as I know, up in the air.  Of course, the very people who in this city are demanding that the people have the right to vote on taking away a union right, are against the people of the state voting to raise taxes, which, of course, would provide enough revenue to repay the cities and counties the funding the state under Arnie had taken away from them to balance its budget.  And which would end the argument in the city over binding arbitration.  Talk about idiocy, this one should be relabeled “profoundly developmentally disabled”.

A lot of the people have forgotten that this whole mess started with the Republicans and the energy companies working together to get rid of Gray Davis.  Who although not a fireball of a governor, at least did not run the state economy into the tank. 

If anyone out there wants to research this, the city is San Luis Obispo, CA.