What is the difference between 'information' and 'propaganda'? There is no doubt propaganda everywhere.. hints of truth mixed with outright lies. Yet the 'truth' remains constant, indifferent to those who muddy the waters with lies. Propaganda distorts the truth to smear an opponent & promote ones own agenda. Truth, most of the time, must be sifted out from the lies, exaggerations & overstatements. My view of obama is admittedly very biased, & comes from a conservative perspective. My conclusions about him are based on fact, & my judgments about him are also based on his record. When he won the election, i hoped for the best, tried very hard to 'believe' in the changes he promised, and actually thought we needed a charismatic leader like him to cheerlead us into the next economic boom.. ala reagan. But our last month's unemployment is up to 9.2%, Obama promised his big stimulus package a couple of years ago would keep the unemployment under 8%. Then he pushed through obamacare.. secret deals, no straight up voting (pass the bill, then we'll read it), & it was questionable policy, anyway.. probably not even constitutional. The point is something of the magnitude of universal health care needed a lot more examination & debate & input from the people, rather than what we got: A huge fiscal nightmare, where only lawyers & the big corporations stand to make money. Is this 'right wing propaganda?' Does any thinking american really believe the fed govt can manage something this big without massive fraud, corruption, waste, & inefficiency? The pentagon, medicare, & hosts of other govt offices are poster children for the govts ability to be fiscally responsible. Fortunately, the majority of the american people have seen the light & now want obamacare repealed, & many states have it before the supreme court as unconstitutional. My point is that the left are masters of propaganda.. & the left wing media promote their agenda with religious fervor. All we heard was glowing reports on how great obamacare was. Now they don't even want to talk about it. So once we sifted through all the crap, & there was some time to examine what it really was, the american people realized that we do not want this. It is my contention that if you listen to a broad range of sources, stay skeptical, sift through the obvious agendas.. it is possible to arrive at a more truthful conclusion than if we just buy whatever our favorite talking head is selling.
Religion in politics.
There was a time when Lenin was in power that many atrocities were done in the name of atheism... the state religion. Yes, power mad oppressors use religion to manipulate people. Most of the early pilgrims & pioneers came to america for religious freedom.. to escape from those power mad religious oppressors.. It was a novel idea in govts.
I get a little tired of 'religion' being used as a slur. Everyone is religious. An atheist has beliefs that affect their views & actions. Even an agnostic is only confessing ignorance. Many secularists are just as dogmatic & intolerant of other's views as any fundamentalist. If you have a problem with a specific doctrine in a specific religion, fine. Make your criticisms. But to make a wholesale dismissal of all 'religious' people seems intolerant & discriminatory. Where is your liberal open mindedness? Perhaps you had a bad experience with an obnoxious religious person. Who hasn't? I've been discriminated against because i wasn't hispanic. I don't think all hispanics are racists, though. I've had obnoxious mormons, jehovah's witnesses, evangelicals, & scores of other weird cults hit on me from time to time. I thought everyone has had that to some extent.. at least in most free countries.
Everyone is religious.. they have a world view or belief system that guides their life. Try to be a little more tolerant.
Political leaders have lobbyists, friends, counselors, lawyers, educators, former leaders, other world leaders, & handicapped kids come to their homes & offices. Obama can go to church wherever he wants, & take whatever he wants from any preacher or community activist, or revolutionary.
I know some countries have state mandated religions in the govt. Only certain priests or imams or whatever can speak or pray before the assembly. Some even forbid leaving the state religion or changing to an unapproved one. If this is what the people want, who am i to criticize it? But i don't want to live there (or probably even visit). No, i'm spoiled. I live in a country where religious views are varied & diverse, & where the majority of the population is very tolerant to those views. I realize most of the world is not this way, & i am a bit saddened by that, but not much i can do about it. It is up to the people who live in the country to decide how they want their govt to be... might be some sacrifices for this.. liberty is not cheap.
But c'mon, people! Lay off the constant whining about 'religion' or the 'religious'. That covers too many people, is unspecific, & is bigoted. If someone says or does something stupid, point it out. If it is a christian or a hindu or an atheist, call them on it & have fun at their expense. But isn't calling all muslims 'terrorists' an unfair & discriminatory statement? So is saying all christians want to change the govt to a theocracy. Who came up with that? I've never heard of any christian politician advocate that, publicly or privately.
Someone told me they thought Obama was 'intellectual'.
Intellectual? Obama? Yes, he tries very hard to *sound* elite & intellectual, & many of the pseudo elite seem attracted to that. But i think most Americans are getting it. He's a talking head who makes a good show. He is not that bright, & makes way too many mistakes, both in leadership & policy. His elitism is very clear, for those who need a messiah figure to look up to, but that is not the kind of leader i want in the us. He is not a principled person, but pushes his agenda through in secret late night meetings with secret sweet deals for those who go along. He is dividing the country more, fanning the flames of class warfare, & basically spends more time campaigning & raising money for his next election attempt than he does governing. He masqueraded as a moderate to get elected, but the masquerade is over & we see him for what he is: A socialist, tax & spend liberal with a socialist agenda.
I've got to give this quote.. from the first part of the american declaration of independence, published ~ 1776..
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
This is such a cool quote.. i've not read anything that is so to the point, & boils down govt to such a nutshell. Don't be put off by the 'Creator' reference.. you can substitute 'evolved' if you want. The point is in what the govt is for. It is to secure our right to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness. This is America in a sentence. This is the grand experiment. This is the definition of America. Our govt does not tell us what to do, we tell it. We are not afraid of our govt, they are (and should be) afraid of us. We do not answer to them, they answer to us. We do not look to them to take care of us, give us rights, or make us happy. They are to protect & secure our rights that we already own.. our liberty.. & our pursuit of happiness. This is what millions of immigrants have come for over the years.. the promise of freedom.
Many Americans, myself included, have come to the conclusion that the current direction of America is away from this basic tenet of our political belief. The govt is trying to take our rights, & redistribute them as privileges they can control. Beware! We did not take oppression well then, & we won't now. It is our basic right to 'alter & abolish' any form of govt that becomes destructive of these basic govt. responsibilities. This is not treasonous talk.. this is American talk. We value our freedom & do not take it lightly. Our ancestors fought & died to preserve it, & we will do the same for our children.
ok.. rant over. did you hear 'oh beautiful for spacious skies' playing softly in the background? Or see the translucent flag waving in the breeze behind all the text?
Who caused the housing crash?
I do believe the american economic situation was caused by 'big govt-ism'. Too much govt spending, programs started under Carter, then clinton, continued under bush.. these things escalated the housing market to artificial levels.. govt forced banks to make housing loans to the poor with no job or down payments or means to repay. Prices inflated artificially with the increased demand. Mortgage lenders popped up like mushrooms after a summer rain, & were glad to jump on the gravy train. Barny Frank guaranteed all the loans with a straight face.
Then the defaults began. It started slowly, then increased as the jobs began to fail. The poor walked away. They didn't risk anything, so nothing lost. The banks were bailed out by the govt.. 'you guys don't have to eat these loans.. especially since we made you take them. We'll make all the taxpayers pay for our stupid mistakes!' The only losers were those who had some money invested in their properties. I know many people who lost their life's savings because they took out a 2nd mortgage & bought an invesment house. Then both houses lost 50% of their value (here in Az), & they lose both of them. If you had a 100% loan, you just walk away & take the hit on your credit. But if you've got everything you have invested in your house, & the value drops below what you owe, you're in trouble.
The stock market went down.. but within a short time, it recovered. I do not think the us housing market will be back to those 2007 values, except by inflation. It is a buyer beware market.. you make your investments, calculate the risks, & live with the result. But the us housing crash was a man made disaster, not a natural market cycle. That is why i do not like the govt practicing their social engineering programs with out lives. They should secure our rights to life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness. But they have been overstepping their bounds for years, as new ideas & new experiments can be made *by* those who have risked nothing, *for* those who have risked everything. What the govt decides affects us more than we realize.
The economy is more global now than ever. In order to compete, we have to do so at all levels.. labor can become more efficient, but we are going to have to keep labor costs under control if we are going to compete globally. Unions & manufacturing plants will have to watch all their costs & be competitive. This should be obvious. If you pay $100 labor to make something, it will sell cheaper than the same thing that cost $1000 in labor. So what to do? Open up manufacturing with minimal regulations.. keep safety, child labor laws, etc, but some things will have to give. Don't tax the job making businesses so much they move to another more tax friendly country. It is to the nations advantage to have paying jobs. Businesses have to price their products to be competitive, & they look at all their costs. Efficiently run companies can do this, if we let them. The US was the major manufacturer of goods post WW2. Japan & Germany (the other major manufacturers of the time) were bombed out & rebuilding. We do not have the near slave labor costs that are in China now, but we have to do what we can to keep manufacturing jobs here. Lower corporate taxes, less federal red tape would be a good start. States (like Texas) that have a good labor pool without the exorbitant labor costs can give us a shot.
Either that or we concentrate on just building a war machine.. then we can bomb the other countries if they start to pass us economically. You do know this is a joke, right?
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