Anti-Big Bird

The Republicans' anti-abortion stance has now wrapped this party even further around the axel ... and this should cause them to lose the 2016 presidential election. Their denouncing of Planned Parenthood's selling of baby body parts has clearly inspired Robert L. Dear to shoot up the Planned Parenthood's clinic in Colorado Springs ... killing three, wounding nine and casting a pall on this altruistic national provider of women's health care ... and forcing this fine organization to have to justify these widely-needed services ... see: Daily Kos Story.

Clearly every Republican candidate for president has jumped on the anti-Planned Parenthood bandwagon as a result of those doctored interview tapes besmirching these fine clinic people. This places all of these Republican turkeys on the wrong side of this history and shows that they are soldiers in the war on women. They thus deserve to be denounced and voted against.

And Republicans are also obviously anti-blacks, anti-gays, anti-transgender, anti-marijuana, anti-unions, anti-immigrants, anti-disabled people, anti-infrastructure, anti-poor people, anti-gun control, anti-socialism, anti-Hispanics, anti-middle class, anti-global warming, anti-Native Americans, anti-senior citizens, anti-Muslims, anti-women, anti-media, and anti-Big Bird. (Did I forget any?) Are these not enough reasons to pull the lever for Hillary?

Beggin'

The PBS (Public Broadcasting System) stations in Boston are beggin' again ... all four of them at the same time. It seems that at least once a month we have to suffer through a week of self-help lectures by some nutritionists or financial gurus telling a mesmerized audience how to improve their lives. (Where do they get these people? They remind me of the bots in Apple's 1984 commercial.) It's either that or a Big Band or Sock Hop music CD offerings that ring the cash register for these "free" television stations.

These PBS stations also now run commercials just like the other greedy-capitalist ones. They also get close to a half a billion dollars of taxpayer monies and foundation sponsorships that must also run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, And those annual auctions! Yet still they prey on the naivete of the American public by asking for even more money. Like most everything else in our society, they have an angle and and angel in big government.

This wouldn't bug me so much if they were operating lean and mean. But this is clearly not the case. Bill Moyers was pulling down $6 million a year for his propaganda-rich shows ... see: More for Moyers. And the president of PBS received an annual salary of over $600,000 back in 2011 (see: Newsbusters Story). I'm sure it is considerably higher now. And there are many other executives at PBS and NPR (National Public Radio) earning  six and seven figure salaries. Even Big Bird makes well over $300,000 per year ... see: International Business Times Story.

So we see, its is not just corporate America that has a lock on greed ...

Hanging Threads

I believe that the national media (including Fox) is too often derelict in their duties when it comes to following-up on significant news stories. Too too often the American public is left hanging to discover the real story behind the story … or what occurred as a consequence of what was once front-page headlines. Let me offer a few glaring examples:

- What has happened to the implementation details of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill? This law was passed over two years ago to remedy the excesses that caused the financial meltdown of 2008 … and left many important details to be determined by this Administration. Most of these details are still hanging … why?.

- Exactly who made the decision that there would be no rescue mission sent to Benghazi during the six-hour siege of our Consulate there … where four Americans were killed including our Ambassador to Libya. It is crystal clear that our administration at all levels was aware (in real time, including pictures) of what was occurring there, but no rescue reaction was tripped. In addition to the who, why was such malfeasance displayed in this matter?

- What rationale did President Obama have in totally ignoring the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission to reduce our annual federal deficits?

- Who was responsible for leaking the details of the Osama ben Laden raid in Pakistan and his killing? The President has “launched an internal investigation” into this matter … exactly who is leading this probe and what progress has been made to date?

- Shortly after Obama was inaugurated, he formed the Middle-Class Task Force with VP Joe Biden as its Chairman. This task force was purposed with the duty of “raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America.” How many times did this commission meet and what were its recommendations … and have any of these recommendations been implemented?

- What were the exact terms of the Chicago teachers’s strike settlement? Did Chicago or the teachers’s union benefit most?

- Why was Anthony Wiener never charged with any crime as a result of his exhibitionist peccadilloes?

- How many entities (businesses, unions, etc.) are still receiving wavers to the implementation requirements of Obamacare?

- What are the minute details behind what the Public Broadcasting System receives and spends every year? It is a public entity after all and, one would think, that these financial details (including Big Bird's take-home) would be readily available and aired by the media on a regular basis.  Afterward: I just discovered that Big Bird makes over $341,000 per year (see: IB Times Story ).  Yipes!!

- Exactly how much voter fraud is known to take place? (This is a tricky one since it is so bound up in the agendas of each political party.)

- How many times have President Obama and Bibi Netanyahu actually talk in the last six months?

There are tons more of these media lapses, but I think this is enough for now … and easily makes my point.

TKO

Pat Buchanan said late last night that Mitt Romney won the first Presidential debate in a walk, “If it were a 16 round boxing match, Romney won 13 rounds.” I agree and I would even expand on his metaphor … it was at least a Technical Knock Out (TKO) for Mitt. In particular Romney said three things that caught my attention … and often went against his own self-interests:

1) Reluctant as he was to provide details about his proposals to broaden the income tax base, Romney did suggest one possibility … cap total itemized deductions at something like $25,000 or $50,000. This is a brilliant solution that primarily would impact the very wealthy and does not target any specific itemized deductions (which would create a political firestorm). For instance, Romney’s million$ of charitable deductions would no longer help reduce his income tax burden as in times past. To me this shows the level of true statesmanship from Romney … showing his rabid commitment toward reducing our nation’s deficits (and mimics my previous tax proposals ... see: Taxing Ideas).

2) When discussing what was wrong with the Dodd/Frank bill, Romney said that it did not get rid of “too big to fail.” This he said was a gigantic “kiss” to the five biggest Wall-Street banks (see: Huffington Post). What?!? Romney is conspiring against the gang that couldn’t shoot straight and that did a lot to cause the financial meltdown in 2008. He, of course, was right and I think it showed great courage to dis what is some of his financial support.

3) Even though Romney said he loved Big Bird and Jim Lehrer, he said he would nevertheless stop federal funding of PBS in order to help reduce government spending. I concur. Our government now gives this network close to a half billion dollars a year and this is supplemented by private donations; annual week-long auctions of donated goods; foundation and corporate largess; and now even actual ads of increasing length. Basically PBS is now a fully commercial network and Romney (and I) think that it is now time for our government to back away. Perhaps this would mean that some of the producers and personalities on this network would take a hit to their high six-figure take-homes (see: Big Bird Dollars), but I believe that they will easily survive.

I now look forward to the remainder of these debates with greater optimism.