THE MOST HATED MAN IN AMERICA

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He'll be just like Zell Miller was in 2004: A former Democrat who crosses party lines to actively support and publicly endorse the Republican candidate for President at the Republican National Convention. That's right: On the evening of Monday, September 1, 2008, LABOR DAY evening, he will abandon labor altogether and take active part in the convention of the political party that is opposed to labor and labor unions, has fervently supported union busting, and has even favored shipping American jobs overseas. By doing this, he will be compromising long held political principles on a large scale. And, just like Zell Miller, he will be doing so out of cowardice and fear.

It obviously doesn't matter that the candidate he'll endorse supports a continuation and expansion of Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. It doesn't matter that his candidate favors continuing tax subsidies for big business and an oil industry that has been binging on record high profits for years at our expense. It doesn't matter that his candidate favors the adoption of more unrestricted "free trade" policies, the likes of which have exported millions of good paying American jobs to foreign slave labor markets overseas. It doesn't matter that his candidate will appoint more "strict constructionist" justices to the Supreme Court, a move that will cement the Executive Branch of our government into an all-powerful entity no longer subject to oversight by the Legislative or Judicial Branches, effectively turning us into a monarchy or mild dictatorship. It doesn't matter that the First and Fourth Amendments to our Constitution will, in essence, become null and void. It doesn't matter that the current corruptly executed practice of privatizing the military, begun by President Bush, will continue unabated and will likely grow in scope and influence, moving us from democracy to oligarchy. It doesn't matter that his candidate has joked that we should "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" and supports continuing the Bush aggressor policy of employing pre-emptive military strikes against countries with whom we differ in opinion or view as a threat.

It defies logic that this former Democrat would support John McCain for President as he does, flying all over the country and world with him and even propping him up when necessary. McCain's new ultra-conservative stances do not represent his economic or philosophical views. So why then is he supporting McCain as he is? He claims close friendship, but evidence strongly suggests a different REAL reason.

This former Democrat is Jewish and has been Israel's staunchest supporter in the Senate during his tenure there. Not to suggest that our important Middle East ally is not deserving of our support, but this man has carried it to an extreme. Even as Israelis abuse native-born Palestinians and further fan the flames of that geographical tinderbox, he proclaims that Israel can do no wrong. He is convinced Bush was right to invade Iraq no matter what, and he, like McCain, has bought into every Bush aggressor military move. He has supported all of Bush's domestic security measures, constitutional or otherwise. He, like McCain and all the other neoconservative Republicans, has been deluded into believing these excessive Bush security measures have prevented us from receiving another 9/11 style attack on our soil. He and McCain steadfastly believe this, even though Bush has left our ports and borders wide open and leaky as sieves EVER SINCE 9/11! His irrational fear of the Jewish homeland being imminently destroyed by surrounding hostile Arab or Muslim states is what has led him to support the Bush administration in all of its illegal and unconstitutional domestic spying, detention, and foreign policy initiatives. Last election, his own state party dumped him for this collusion with Bush.However, with big Republican fundraising money behind him and 70% of the Republican vote, he won re-election with 50% of the total. He declared himself an Independent but stated he would caucus with the Democrats, a calculated move which would give him the Chairmanship of the powerful Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. That was self-serving and aggravating enough, but now has come the final straw. He has decided to officially turn Benedict Arnold and support a man for President who compromises nearly all of his other principles. He will proudly speak on the same night from the same stage as the most arrogant, corrupt, and destructive to our Constitution Vice President ever, Dick Cheney. All under the guise of "friendship" for John McCain and concern for the "lack of experience" of Barack Obama, even though Obama's superb choice of an advisory running mate, Joe Biden, has foreign policy experience even dwarfing that of McCain. Irrational fear does such things to small, weak, deluded and petrified people of this nature.

So watch Senator Joe Lieberman abandon all of his long held principles as he caves in to fear and publicly endorses militaristic, pro-wealthy John McCain at the Republican National Convention on Monday night, September 1. Watch this pathetically timid and wimpy old man cower before the military-industrial complex to spinelessly support their man McCain. Watch him abandon and stab his old colleagues like Joe Biden in the back by endorsing the McCain ticket over his former party's own. Yes, that night you will see Joe Lieberman's turncoat behavior cause him to briefly, and instantly, replace George W. Bush as the most hated man in America!

AN END TO BUSHONOMICS!!!

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Huge multinational corporations and wealthy individuals have profited very nicely as a result of Bush administration economic policy between 2001-2008. Under these "Bushonomics" the uppermost 1% of American households saw their annual AFTER TAX earnings rise from $722,000 to $868.000 (an astonishing 20%!) in 2006, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The same cannot be said for the remaining 99% of the country, comprised of the poor, working, middle, and upper middle classes.

Noted economists Emmanuel Saez, a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies at Stanford University, and Thomas Piketty, a professor at London's Centre for Economic Policy Research, have reviewed income taxes for all economic groups dating back to 1917. They found that, in 2005, the richest 1% of Americans received their largest share of net income since 1928! The gap in income between America's wealthiest and poorest has tremendously widened since 2001, and this trend has no end in sight under current conditions. Economist John Wells has stated that this increased income inequity is largely due to a less progressive tax structure and a severe weakening of labor unions, which has given more bargaining clout to concentrated capital and less to ordinary workers.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2001, the Federal Government had a $128 billion budget surplus, according to U.S. Treasury and Bureau of Economic Analysis figures. A combination of massive tax cuts pushed for by the Bush administration and passed by the neoconservative Republican-controlled Congress in succeeding years, coupled with giant increases in expenditures for the Iraq War, turned that comfortable budget surplus into a $168 billion DEFICIT by 2007. And that is just the FEDERAL deficit. Many states and local governments are operating in the red now, too. George W. Bush was the first President in the nation's entire history to run an expensive overseas war and simultaneously push for and pass tax cuts. The most alarming thing of all is that, as a result of these misguided Bushonomics, our national debt has been increased by a staggering $1.7 TRILLION! That's right, folks: Our government is in debt to its people, and to foreign countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and others, an unbelievable and unsustainable $9.6 TRILLION AND RISING!!! In numbers easier to relate to, that is roughly $11,500 FOR EVERY CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY! As you can see, our apparent and seeming prosperity is resting on a VERY WEAK foundation! In fact, we're in debt way over our heads! It is long past time to do some thinking here. The time has come to REVERSE these disastrous economic policies! But there's even more...

Bush and his pro-business, anti-labor neoconservative Republican allies (and even some Democrats) have also long promoted "free trade" economic policies. "Free Trade" means business between countries should be conducted with no government control or regulation, no tariffs and no quotas (or greatly, greatly reduced ones), and basically no interference at all. It is policies like these (NAFTA, CAFTA, and many others passed during Bill Clinton's and George W. Bush's terms in office), which have led to thousands and thousands of good paying American jobs being shipped overseas to cheap foreign slave labor markets in China, India, Mexico, and elsewhere. It has also led to the establishment of giant new plants and factories in foreign countries, and gigantic increases in pollution in China and Mexico. China has now become a major producer, exporter, and economic giant. In 2006, for every dollar China spent on one pf OUR products, we spent $6 on THEIRS. This trend has been going on for many years and is continuing. According to long time Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, we shelled out $700 BILLION to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, and other countries last year for foreign oil. This oil went into our cars, trucks, buses, and planes, and was burned up. The money is gone forever, out of OUR pockets and now in THEIR pocketbokks! It is no wonder the Chinese economy is growing at a very healthy rate of 8% while ours struggles to grow between 1 and 2%. WE are fueling THEIR, and the oil producing nations', economies OURSELVES through short-sighted stupidity!

Bush's tax cuts DID stimulate our economy. Gross Domestic Product posted gains, and American workers' productivity rose by a whopping 19% during the Bush years. But American workers did not reap the benefits of this increased productivity. Instead, their wage rates stagnated or even fell, and their buying power shrunk tremendously, even with the influx of cheaper imports which the free traders assurred us would increase our standard of living. THINK ABOUT IT: In the past 8 years, has YOUR income and YOUR buying power gone up to the point where you can say you're better off today than you were 8 years ago? I seriously doubt it. I fyou can honestly answer "yes" to that question, you are most definitely in the minority of the population!

At a time where wage rates are staying the same or falling, where large numbers of high paying new jobs are NOT being created in this country, where high paying jobs and even entire plants are STILL being shipped overseas, where uneven tax and wage policies have realistically transferred wealth to the rich from the poor and middle class, and where one-sided trade policies are transferring wealth from our country overseas at a record rate, there are still large numbers of Bushonomics proponents in today's Republican Party. John McCain himself has stated repeatedly he will extend and expand Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy if he is elected. He is also dedicated to pursuing more free trade deals. In fact, one of his major economic advisors is former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, a huge proponent of deregulation, free trade, and tax cuts. Gramm was the one responsible for the "Enron loophole" which ended regulation on energy speculators and enabled them to drive the price of gasoline up to all-time highs well over $3 and $4 per gallon. Gramm was also responsible for bank deregulation which caused the subprime mortgage crisis and brought about the bankruptcies and forecllosures of millions of Americans. This would strongly suggest that, unless John McCain does a massive revision of his proposed economic policies, a defacto continuation of Bushonomics, he is a DANGEROUS and UNSUITABLE man to elect as President!

It is abundantly clear to this writer that Bushonomics must come to a screeching halt and be replaced by something FAR more fair and beneficial to the vast majority of this country! We cannot afford any more reckless one-sided trade deals or uneven tax breaks for the wealthy! Bushonomics must END JANUARY 20, 2009!!!

JOHN EDWARDS

Like everybody else, I was flabbergasted beyond belief to learn of John Edwards' extramarital affair in 2006. It was as shocking and stunning as JFK's, RFK's, and John Lennon's assassinations. It boggles the mind to think someone could carry on like that after his wife had recently fought breast cancer and was then in remission, and who still has relatively young children. For a man who had come from very humble beginnings and had successfully amassed great wealth by dilligently and benevolently working on behalf of countless victims and the less fortunate people, it is unfathomable that he could show such short-sighted selfishness and thoughtlessness.

John and Elizabeth Edwards have both worked very hard all their professional careers to aid the needy. They have both been very selfless in this regard and have poured a lot of their just reward and compensation into help for the poor. Now all of their work, or at least John Edwards' effectiveness and credibility in pursuing it, has been shattered. It is a terrible tragedy, for the entire Edwards family, for the people they strive to help, and even for the country as a whole. The last thing Elizabeth needs at this time, as she battles courageously for her causes AND her life after being diagnosed with a recurrence of her now-incurable cancer, is this added stress and public humiliation. We can only hope the media will extend a rare cortesy to her and allow the Edwards family the privacy they seek and truly need at this time.

We can only wonder what goes through the minds of people like Bill Clinton, Idaho Senator Larry Craig, and John Edwards when, as successful public figures, they engage in such indiscretions which result in shame and public outrage. Is it ego-deficiency, or a hormonal imbalance which leads them to such destructive behavior? Are these people otwardly wise but inwardly stupid? We can only wonder, as behavior like theirs seems to defy logic.

One can only hope that John Edwards will fully and truly realize the devastation his silly and unnecessary tryst has wrought, and that he will rededicate himself with increased vigor and reckless abandon to the causes he has worked for and championed. His political effectiveness may be over for good, but there is still much beneficial work he can accomplish. Let us hope that he does just that!

REMEMBER TO GO TO www.factcheck.org/ FOR TRUE FACTS IN POLITICAL ADVERTISING!

DISGUSTING POLITICAL ADS: AN ANTIDOTE

Already getting sick of disgusting and negative political ads? Today's post will provide you with an antidote for this wicked poison!

As of today's writing, neither major Presidential candidate has been officially endorsed by his political party. Even so, both have already spent millions of dollars on TV and radio ads. These ads often misrepresent their own or their opponent's record or position. There are lots of disgustingly negative insinuations and lies being presented and not much solid fact. How, then, can one make an intelligent choice and voting decision based on honest FACT? It may interest you to know there is in existence a truly fact-driven, fully non-partisan site you can use as a reliable reference: http://www.factcheck.org/. This is a consumer advocacy site dedicated to truth in political advertising and is funded by the Annenberg Foundation. The Annenbergs were the founders of TV Guide, and they have traditionally been California Republicans. But you will not find an iota of Republican or Democratic bias or spin at this fabulous site. Instead, it dispels rumors, distortions, misstatements, and insinuations, and does so with solid factual background information. If we seek truth and clarity in our political information, as each of us SHOULD, this site will prove to be an invaluable tool for us all!

It is interesting and perhaps revealing to note that, in this past month of July, the McCain Campaign Committee, 527 Political Action Committees (PACs) supporting McCain, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) were cited for false, distorted, exaggerated, or misleading anti-Obama ads a whopping 11 times! However, the Obama camp haven't been pure angels, either. The Obama Campaign and 527 PACs supporting Obama were cited 4 times. Of these, only 3 misrepresented McCain (2 by the AFL-CIO and 1 by Planned Parenthood), and not by the Obama Campaign itself. We saw what the 2004 Bush Campaign, shady 527 PACs like the "Swift Boat Veterans" (aka LIARS), and the RNC did to Bush's opponent last time around. It would appear the same types of forces are active again in this election, in varying degrees in both political parties. This strongly suggests we should all ignore blatant political ads altogether and should, instead, visit www.factcheck.org/ at least once each week from now through the November elections. Doing so will prevent us from being misled or from becoming low information voters. History has proven that when it comes to political decision-making, garbage in = garbage out, the net result being garbage elected. With 76% of the country correctly believing that we are on the wrong track, we cannot afford another inept, overly-political administration like we have suffered with the last time around. That is why we MUST base our voting decisions this election on FACT rather than partisan spin or slick, misleading Hollywood production. That is why I strongly urge you to visit www.factcheck.org/ VERY frequently, and to PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

FAR-RIGHT LUNACY

You know, it never fails. Just when you think ignorant political ideologues have finally started to see the light, along comes this week's batch of idiots: Presidential candidate John McCain, Oklahoma City 2nd District County Commissioner Brent Rinehart, and U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN, 6th District). WHAT PLANET DO THESE PEOPLE COME FROM, AND HOW IS IT THEY COME TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY HERE?

Take John McCain. All week long he's been behaving like a spoiled little crybaby brat, competing with a sibling (Obama) for mommy's (the media's) attention. He has been trying his best to steal the focus away from Obama's very successful Middle East and European trip. He has lambasted Obama at every cheap opportunity and has confused or deliberately misstated the facts regarding the military surge in Iraq to make himself appear more knowledgeable and experienced in foreign affairs than Obama. He has had to backtrack to cover up numerous mistakess. Criticizing Obama for not supporting the surge, he first claimed the surge caused the Iraqi Sunni "awakening" in al Anbar province whereby they began to turn on alQaeda. When it was pointed out to him that the surge occurred 2 months AFTER the Sunni awakening, he spun a yarn about how Gen. McFarlane had told him about a "surge strategy" where we would first make overtures to Sunni sheiks and then phase two would involve an increase in our troops to root out alQaeda and protect the Sunni sheiks from terrorist reprisals. Of course, this was pure cover-your-ass spin, because the military buildup took place almost exclusively in BAGHDAD, NOT al Anbar, and, at the height of the military surge, a very prominent Sunni sheik was assassinated anyway. Uh huh, John. Right. YOU'RE on top of all the facts. YOU'RE the foreign policy and military expert! YOUR brains and "experience" are what we need to win the war on terror. NOT! McCain is weak on the region's social and political history. He confuses Sunni, Shia, alQaeda, and Iranians. Four times recently he has made reference to "Czechoslovakia", a country which went out of existence 15 years ago! McCain is just another paranoid, militaristic, desperate right-wing wack job who is TOO CONFUSED TO BE PRESIDENT! And then he had the balls to say "I would rather win a war and lose an election", inferring that his opponent would choose the opposite course. Sorry, McCain: A guy as rash and power-hungry as you doesn't DESERVE to be President! The more immature crybaby behavior I see in you, the more you look like a bitter, angry, and unstable old man. That's the LAST thing we need in the White House!

Next, there's good ol' upstanding, professed Christian, southern Baptist Oklahoman Brent Rinehart. Just Google this guy and read up on him. He's pretty unbeluevable. Rinehart has a vendetta against homosexuals and political and legal opponents. Like most of his extreme persuasion, he is ill-informed, ignorant, vindictive, and just doesn't care, because HE is always right. There's no arguing with these people. They're nuts. Now running for re-election, Rinehart has written, drawn, published, and is distributing a 16 page COMIC BOOK slamming homosexuals that he is using for his campaign literature! In it, he makes reference to gays being pedophiles, even though there is no basis in fact for this claim. Amusingly, he even misspells the word two different ways: "pedifile" and "pedaphile." I guess spelling, like fact, is a purely subjective or relative matter to Rinehart, as his book contains other falsities as well. Currently under indictment with trial set for September on campaign finance and ethics violations chargws, Rinehart in his comic accuses the man who has brought charges against him of being "a pedifile's (sic) dream come true." The book also depicts a gay in a toga holding a sign reading "I want to be a Boy Scout leader" and another whose sign reads "we're here, we're queer, get used to it." He even features Satan with pitchfork in hand saying, "If I can get the kids to believe homosexuality is normal", and an angel answering "Hey, Satan, not with Brent around you won't!" Satan is also portrayed endorsing his opponebts in the July 29 Republican primary, and an angel endorsing HIM. Rinehart professes to be Christian, but I don't know what Jesus HE follows. For the REAL Jesus NEVER lashed out at, persecuted, or ridiculed homosexuals or others in word OR deed. Don't be mistaken: My blog today is not an endorsement of homosexuality or a call for specific gay rights. Rather, it is just a reaction to the needless and over the top picking on of a particular controversial segment of society by paranoid bigots like Rinehart. He is just another deluded fanatic who has apparently decided to create God in HIS own image and likeness, instead of the other way around.

Then we've got dear, dear Michele Bachmann. She, you may recall, embarrassed her constituents and her entire state during President Bush's exit from his 2007 State of the Union Address. She grabbed and held onto his shoulder for a full 30 seconds and then planted a looonnnggg, slobbery kiss smack on his lips. (I wonder how she and Laura are getting along). In a Feb. 10, 2007 interview with St. Cloud Times reporter Lawrence Schumacher, she claimed knowledge of a plan to partition Iraq, whereby Iran would control fully half of the country and would set up a "terrorist safe haven zone" to launch attacks against the Middle East and the United States. This safe haven zone would be called "the Iraq state of Islam, something like that," she claimed. When grilled about this by the Associated Press in a subsequent interview, she retracted her ridiculously non-factual claim. Then, just this week, she returned all full of piss and vinegar from a Congressional energy study in Colorado and Alaska. She issued her claim (parroting the Bush White House) that domestic offshore oil deposits were plentiful and that we could get back down to $2.00 per gallon gasoline if only we could begin drilling in federally protected offshore and Alaska wilderness regions. This motor-mouth statement is preposterous and was immediately debunked. But Bachmann didn't stop there. She went on to compare these oil deposits to a fully stocked locked pantry, and likened the American consumer to starving children being unjustly deprived (in her view) of plentiful oil. Of course, energy experts like longtime oilman T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore have already pointed out that we cannot drill our way out of our current high oil price problem and that the real problem is our excessive CONSUMPTION. We, as only 4% of the world's population, wastefully consume 25% of global oil production, and it is bankrupting us. Ms. Bachmann, much like John McCain and George W. Bush, apparently just doesn't get it and has great difficulty comprehending and dealing with complex issues. But you can always count on her to be recklessly impulsive, a thoroughly partisan and doctrinaire reactionary, and most often wrong. This Congresswoman is definitely out to lunch.

It is truly unbelievable that, in this day and age, people like these three can get elected to public office. My, how low the bar has fallen. God help us!

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

At the time of Columbus, Europeans were beginning to outstrip their land and so thus began to find a way to do things more efficiently by pooling their resources for the common good. Even in the early days of the American colonies, entire settlements would band together to build churches, barns, and family homes. It was the correct, civilized, and neighborly thing to do, and our ancestors did it. This banding together, this community spirit, was a good and healthy thing. It added to the community as a whole, and the country grew and prospered. As time progressed, individuality and anonymity seeped into our culture. Individual fortunes were made through individual effort and entrepreneurial endeavors. That, too, was a good thing, and still is. But the rise of individualism has made a victim of that once-prevalent community spirit, and that has not been necessarily good.

Some time ago I came upon an old grade school classmate. He was scalping event tickets, as I knew he had been doing and prospering handsomely with for many years on the side. We chatted for a bit and he soon began to complain about freeloaders on welfare and his hatred for do-gooder liberals ("f___ing socialists", as he so venomously put it). He even called the chief of staff for a former Minnesota moderate Republican governor a "f___ing socialist" on another occasion, and then it dawned on me. My ex-classmate had obviously forgotten and/or rejected all of what had been covered in religion class, especially concern and aid for the poor as Jesus Himself had advised. Regrettably, he had today become an extreme product of our current individualistic mindset. My acquaintance despises paying taxes (he's told me so), so I'm relatively certain he pockets all of his scalping money for himself, substantial income though it is, and only pays taxes on income derived from the various "legitimate" jobs he has held over the years. I admire him for his entrepreneurial drive and work ethic, but his current outlook saddened me. This mindset of individuality I have described may best be illustrated by the slogan "I've got mine, now you go get yours and to hell with you." It was abundantly clear to me that his concerns were only for HIS wants, HIS family, HIS city, HIS country---basically, all extensions of HIM. This wasn't the same guy I knew years ago.

I just came back from a visit to see an old friend who is now in a nursing home. Years and years ago, he had been a well-known successful media personality. He moved away from our area long ago and became involved in sales, but a few years back he returned here. Then began his downhill slide. He developed some very expensive and crippling health issues which left him unable to work, no longer able to walk, and nearly destitute. This once proud, vibrant, and vigorous man, who in previous times made good money and routinely did charity events, was now nearly penniless and a charity recipient. He was now miserable, gaunt, and forced to reside in a county-assisted nursing home. I felt terrible seeing him in his present condition, yet he was far better off than many sick and elderly living in poverty. Much as he'd love to, he can no longer "go get his." Were it not for government aid, he would surely die, unnecessarily early.

As I left him, I began thinking of the millionaires and billionaires who have become even wealthier through reduced income and corporate taxes under Bush and his conservative allies. The past 7 years have been VERY kind to these people, yet few have done much with this new, increased wealth to build up our infrastructure, or improve our inner cities, or ease the plight of the poor, elderly, and afflicted. Many of them used their new, enhanced wealth to ship American jobs overseas or buy up other companies and lay people off. These filthy rich are obviously believers in the "I've got mine, now you go get yours and to hell with you" philosophy. But they, like my ex-classmate, are dead wrong with that self-centered and morally bankrupt mindset.

I recently came across a fabulous website I would encourage you to check out. It is found at http://www.pickensplan.com. It is a site set up by a wealthy Texas oilman named T. Boone Pickens, who, unlike many of his peers, has a benevolent eye on the future and who apparently shares the vision and clarity of Ross Perot when it comes to economic issues. Mr. Pickens is urging us to band together again as a nation for the common good to solve our energy problems and stop sending so much of our wealth overseas.

The times DEMAND that we Americans get off our overly-individualistic high horses and start adopting anew the community spirit we once had. With our standard of living dropping, 1 in 7 of us not covered by health insurance (or unable to afford it), and our self-centered and wasteful habits of consumption, it is abundantly clear we cannot continue with our current mindset! A visit to Mr. Pickens' website might be a good start on the return to a more healthy community spirit. And for all of you narrow-minded, hardcore neo-conservatives out there, please notice I advocate a return to COMMUNITY spirit, NOT a "Communist" or "Socialist" one. Some of you ideologues just don't get the difference, and that difference is HUGE.

CABLE TV MEDIA: A PATHETIC STATE OF AFFAIRS

The overwhelming majority of news networks on U.S. cable and satellite YV are corporate-owned. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, and even offshoots like CNBC and MSNBC are ALL owned directly or indirectly by corporate giants like Viacom, Disney, Time Warner, GE, and others. They each claim to be unbiased and objective in their reporting, but we, the intelligent viewers, know otherwise. For example, not only do you get your news with a slant, but much of it is withheld, partially told, or even omitted altogether. We also get an overload of coverage concerning Hollywood figures, which, in this humble writer's opinion, isn't news at all and should be covered instead by some kind of entertainment network.

In the world of politics, the cable networks fail us miserably. FOX, for example, is little more than the current White House's propaganda bureau. Every right wing or Bush administration talking point is presented verbatim, and liberal or Democratic news or stands on issues are often either omitted completely, given scant or only partial mention, or outright distorted or ridiculed. Pundits like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and many others twist and distort news stories to fit their narrow ideological beliefs. O'Reilly has even turned off the microphones of guests on his show who have openly challenged his stands. So much for free speech - so much for "fair and balanced reporting" - so much for journalistic integrity! He also spends far too much time attacking network rivals like NBC, MSNBC, and CNN. What a total waste of time and an insult to our intelligence! CNN's Lou Dobbs also presents a slant on his show: Center-right with a streak of economic populism thrown in for good measure. Unlike O'Reilly, he allows those with opposing viewpoints to freely disagree with him and express themselves. But he never allows enough time for each topic or story he covers. Everything is always cut short by the ever-present need to go to a commercial break or move onto the next story. To his credit, though, Mr. Dobbs DOES feature a wide variety of authors, historians, public figures, and topics not oven seen or covered on other networks. MSNBC's Chris Matthews is a most irritating personality. He has a grating, high-pitched voice that always carries a sneer in its tone. His presentation is center-left, and he usually has several trios of pundits on his show "Hardball With Chris Matthews" to help him slice and dice a myriad of politicians and issues down to the subatomic level. But the most irritating thing of all about him is the way he steps on all of his guests. He cuts everybody off all the time, seldom letting them finish a sentence without his interjecting another question or his own opinion over them. Often his guests will get into heated arguments among themselves and the show breaks down into chaos until ol' Chris butts in again. He's like a snide, mouthy little kid in need of a damn good spanking!! If I were in the studio for his show and he cut me off or tried to talk over me the way he does with virtually everybody else, I'd punch him squarely in the mouth. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show also draws on a number if pundits, authors, and legal and constitutional experts. His left bias is transparently obvious but what he presents is usually buttressed with solid factual information. But segments of his show are often devoted to persons in the entertainment industry and silly satire. Unlike O'Reilly and Matthews, though, he doesn't step on his guests, treats them with a good deal of respect, and is a polite listener. We would all be far better served if his producers would cut the silly segments of his show and let him spend more time on the issues of the day.

In the world of entertainment, cable TV's penchant for covering the excesses of Hollywood personalities is ridiculous. Nonstop coverage of the goings-on of morons like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson, and all the rest is not newsworthy in the least. It distracts the public and time spent on these idiots is NOT time spent on important facts or issues worldwide. It does little to enlighten the public or raise the bar in terms of intelligent discussion of actual newsworthy issues or events of the day. This is a travesty.

Cable TV networks also have a disturbing knack for not fully covering the relevant, and instead saturating us with trivial, relatively unimportant things. Whether or not Cindy McCain is more likeable or popular than Michelle Obama is NOT newsworthy! Whether or not John McCain or Bill Clinton blow up angrily at a provocative reporter is NOT newsworthy! Whether or not Barack Obama wears a flag pin is NOT newsworthy! What Obama's minister said in church, or what an evangelical backing McCain said on a podium is NOT newsworthy! Unfortunately, this is the kind of nonsense we are subjected to daily on cable network TV. It's utterly pathetic. What IS important, of course, is the detailed presentation and in-depth analysis of each aspect of a political candidate's platform, as well as that of current issues and occurences around the globe. We get surprisingly narrow coverage of important things like that, however.

Can anybody tell me: Who is the President of Paraguay? Who is being held under house arrest in Myanmar (formerly Burma), and why? What are the hot political issues in The Netherlands right now? Or even in Canada? Shouldn't cable and satel;lite news be giving us insight on these types of things? Aren't these questions more relevant than Britney Spears' latest bad behavioral incident? See my point, everybody?