Come On Sense

I recently posted a link to an article that focused on the disinformation that was being disseminated surrounding the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The basic thesis of the piece was that special interests, through their purchased representatives, were managing the news. The financial benefits to those special interests were being hidden behind a smoke screen of news focused on job creation and the lack of environment risks. Continue reading “Political Hackery Ascendant” »

I don’t know how many of these screw ups it’s going to take before American citizens come to the realization that the culture and leadership of investment banking firms like Goldman Sachs is a cancer within the Republic. The latest golden moment came before Congress when Jon Corzine was politely grilled by lawmakers after his stupidity, arrogance and blatantly criminal behavior lost well over $1 billion of MF Global Holdings clients money. Continue reading “Another Goldman Moment” »

These are truly the times that try men’s souls. At least those who have even a modicum of common sense. The political elite – and I use the term elite disparagingly – clearly operate under the assumption that American citizens are morons who will uncritically accept whatever garbage is being served. But it’s far worse than that. They have decided that it really doesn’t matter if citizens can see through the veil of stupidity and simplemindedness that is being deployed. Continue reading “Adolescent Behavior” »

In a recent entry, I outlined the risks of engaging in idolatry. That piece was focused primarily on political candidates and how they’re manufactured reality was often at significant odds with who they were as a person. In this piece I want to extend that argument. In the December 7 issue of the Washington Post there is an article titled”despite law against it, stealth commercials frequently masqueraded as TV news”. The article by Paul Farhi describes how an individual posing as a news source was actually paid by the company that made the products she was raving about. Continue reading “Who Do You Trust?” »

December 4th, 2011

One of the principal themes of this blog is that Americans are increasingly expected to treat manufactured realities as actual. The past week has provided an over abundance of examples of precisely that formulation. Most of them have come out of the Republican Party’s efforts to select a candidate for the 2012 election. Continue reading “Living In De Nile” »

One of the major changes in the last several decades has been the relationship between the companies that produce goods and the individuals who purchase them. In the early part of the 20th century these individuals were called customers. the relationship between them and the companies which produce the goods and services was dominated by the demands of the customer.in those days the mantra was “the customer is king”. Continue reading “Consumer or customer?” »

Anyone who has been paying attention to the Republicans attempt to find the “ideal candidate” has felt as if standing on a curb watching a parade pass by. Or maybe it is that the parade is standing on the curb and we as observers have been passing by.

If there is a lesson to be garnered out of the Republican experience I would suggest that it relates to the unreliability of images presented by politicians. At least some part of the Republican electorate seems to have approached the process as some sort of ‘reality show’. They have begun with the premise that what is presented to them is reality and have routinely accepted it as such uncritically. Of course, in each case they have ended up realizing that what they were sold was misrepresentation and misdirection. One idol after another proved to have feet of clay. It is easy to see what that says about the candidates but more importantly I suggest a need to focus on what that says about the voters. Continue reading “The trouble with idolatry” »

1. No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. Continue reading “*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*” »

I just read in this morning’s paper that the approval rating for Congress is now down to 9%.  Here’s an idea that just might bring the whole country together again. Warren Buffett, in a recent  interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: Continue reading “Warren Buffet’s Way to Fix the Deficit” »