The Hermanator telling it like it is!

[Michael Tee]

<<Right thinking voters simply need to remain focused on the economy and economic issues. >>

Yeah, that'll happen.  Right-thinking voters were warned about the military-industrial complex in Ike's farewell address in 1960, and in the intervening half-century did absolutely jack-shit to shake it off.  But now, with media ownership concentrated in fewer hands than ever before in American history, the sheeple are going to suddenly spring to life, find incorruptible politicians to represent them and "throw the bums out," ushering in a new era of honesty and devotion to the public weal in American governance.

It's a straight-line declining graph, BT - - we're already at a point where the President can start wars without even a fig-leaf of Congressional authorization and order the assassination of American citizens based on anonymous "designations" by nameless bureaucrats - - with barely a peep of protest in the MSM  - - and you STILL can't figure out where all this is heading?  You really are an optimist, aren't you?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Cain (get the name: he is Cain, not Abel) has a 999 tax plan.

999 of 666 upside down, This dude may well be the AntiChrist,

[Michael Tee]

<<You read his story. Explain how corporations are responsible for his plight?>>

The corporations which always lobbied against health-care reform (primarily the insurance industry) are responsible for his plight.  If he lived in Canada, he wouldn't be in any "plight."  Corporations and the politicians they kept in their pocket are responsible for this guy's plight.

<<BTW when you talk about special interests corrupting the the governments of this nation are you also referring to unions?>>

Oh God no!  Unions represent the working men and working women of the nation.  The only "special interests" they lobbied for are those which affect millions of Americans even today - - the 40-hour work week, the abolition of child labour, workplace safety, fair minimum wage . . . if that's the "corruption" of "special interests," you'd better pray for more corruption and more special interests.

[sirs]

<<Right thinking voters simply need to remain focused on the economy and economic issues. >>

we're already at a point where the President can start wars without even a fig-leaf of Congressional authorization and order the assassination of American citizens based on anonymous "designations" by nameless bureaucrats - - with barely a peep of protest in the MSM

Thanks for helping to reinforce my point about the MSM bias, Tee.  And good to see you and Brass.  Let's hope we can all be civil with each others' disagreements.  I'll do what I can, and attempt reciprocate appropriately

[BT]

But now, with media ownership concentrated in fewer hands than ever before in American history, the sheeple are going to suddenly spring to life, find incorruptible politicians to represent them and "throw the bums out," ushering in a new era of honesty and devotion to the public weal in American governance.

That's last years paradigm. Anthony Wiener wasn't brought down by the MSM. He was brought down by the internet.

[Michael Tee]

I was in NYC when the whole Wiener thing went down.  He was front-page headline news in the NY Post every fucking day for at least seven, probably 10 or 11 days.  He was ridiculed unmercifully, which led to the backroom boys in the Party telling him he had to go.  He became radioactive, in large part due to the non-stop media ridicule.

But pack attacks on the odd politician who suddenly becomes vulnerable due to a sex scandal is not the way the MSM exercises its power.  If they had to wait for a sex scandal to occur before falling on a politician and tearing the guy apart, their influence would be very limited.

The power of the MSM in choosing the legislators lies in who gets access and how they're treated.  Rick Perry, Bachmann, etc. got star treatment in the MSM even as Ron Paul whipped their asses in polls.  The MSM treated Dr. Paul as a nonentity, the others were built up as real contenders on the basis of -- next to nothing, not even their numbers against Paul's numbers.

I see the power of the MSM as more or less determining the field of candidates, then the voters can choose between the Tweedle Dums and Tweedle Dees of the two parties, and guys who really could make a difference, like Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinic, are sidelined into obscurity.  Guys like Herman Cain - - ridiculous morons, actually, clowns who spout absurdities and childish simplifications - - they get a lot of attention in the media, treated as if they were serious and intelligent persons with real solutions to real problems, and anyone who doesn't see it Wall Street's way is marginalized and sidelined as "extreme," "radical," etc., if not worse.

[BT]

I was in NYC when the whole Wiener thing went down.  He was front-page headline news in the NY Post every fucking day for at least seven, probably 10 or 11 days.  He was ridiculed unmercifully, which led to the backroom boys in the Party telling him he had to go.  He became radioactive, in large part due to the non-stop media ridicule.

The NY Post was just repeating what the bloggers and tweeters were digging up. The MSM was busy buying Wieners story that he had been hacked and or set up.

As far as the unions go, their devils deal with politicians will likely be responsible for the bankruptcy of California and Illinois.

[BT]

The corporations which always lobbied against health-care reform (primarily the insurance industry) are responsible for his plight.  If he lived in Canada, he wouldn't be in any "plight."  Corporations and the politicians they kept in their pocket are responsible for this guy's plight.

I am retired on Social Security and my wife, who is 63, suffers from MS and four other incurable diseases.  She can’t get Medicare or health insurance.  She was in and out of the hospital five times during April-June of this year, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills.  She is now in a nursing home, confined to bed.  We certainly can’t afford this care, but we were able to apply for Medicaid by liquidating all of our savings, investments, and life insurance policies.

Looks to me like his problem is with the government.

[Michael Tee]

<<The NY Post was just repeating what the bloggers and tweeters were digging up. The MSM was busy buying Wieners story that he had been hacked and or set up. >>

1.  A lot of stuff that's dug up by hackers and tweeters never makes it into the MSM or if it does get in, it lives and dies for a day.  It's printed once, for form's sake, and allowed to "blow over."  It was the Post's decision to keep this thing front-page day after day after day. 

2.  Bloggers and tweeters may have dug out the "penis photo" posts, but Post reporters and others kept the story front-page with junk stories that ought to have been squibs deep inside the paper, if not just non-stories - - stuff about Huda, the Wiener's wife, Huda's pregnancy, Huda's job, Wiener's apartment going on and off the market, getting sold, Wiener's new home, Wiener pleading with supporters for his job - - an avalanche of inconsequential bullshit, all front-page.

3.  The MSM didn't "buy" Wiener's story about a set-up, they reported it.  It sold papers and kept the story alive till the shit hit the fan, at which point they didn't need it any more and even Wiener gave it up.

4.  Sex scandals are a sub-genre of political stories for the MSM.  At the point where the scandal breaks or is too wide-spread to be ignored, exploitation sells papers like hotcakes and political objectives become pushed to the background in the rush to pump up the bottom line.  At that point the politician, even a pro-Zionist hack like Wiener, becomes damaged goods, of no use to anyone any more and kind of gets thrown to the wolves without regard to all his past services to his paymasters.  It's not personal, it's business.  Again, if you want a real indication of the media's power in "electing" a pro-corporate, pro-war-machine legislature, you need to look at media access in the first instance, and the kind of fawning coverage they give to their picks, for example how an idiot like Cain is treated respectfully as if he really had something important to say.


<<As far as the unions go, their devils deal with politicians will likely be responsible for the bankruptcy of California and Illinois. >>

Yeah, right, and Proposition 13 has absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Christians4LessGvt]

[Xavier_Onassis]

Sticking a stupid addendum to their sign  does not change the fact that people who are willing to work cannot find jobs, while bogus mortgage peddlers are still raking in the big bucks on Wall Street.

Wall Street supports the Republican'ts that have prevented President Obama from doing anything. It is entirely appropriate that the demonstrations be held in Wall Street.

And I agree, Cain is just a loudmouthed simpleton who is currently demonstrating just how incompetent he is.

Imagine some guy with ZERO experience in any elected office trying to get rid of the home mortgage interest deduction and hundreds of loopholes in Congress to enact his simpleton 999 tax plan.

According to Cain, only NEW goods are taxed at 9%. So you buy a NEW car, you pay $1800, PLUS state sales tax on a $20,000 car. But there is no tax on a used car. Now imagine that you are a creative dealer wanting to make a sale. What is a "used" car. All you would have to do is declared it "used". Just like they do with demos and such.

How about a 9% tax on a new house? That is sure to really get the construction industry booming, isn't it?

Cain is a  simpleton, and not one with a full deck. His plan would never get passed, and instead of the rather measured tones of Obama, we would be hearing the blowhard blather of this old fool on a daily basis.

[Michael Tee]

BT, looks like Prof. Jeffrey Sachs is an optimist, just like you:

http://www.truth-out.org/jeffrey-sachs-occupy-wall-street/1318196532

Well, I don't agree, but I still hope you guys are right.

CU4, the sign totally misrepresents the demonstrators' demands, which have nothing to do with the teabaggers and everything to do with the rich.  Also, they aren't just demanding that the rich pay more, they're also demanding that the rich stop buying off the law-makers and give the government back to the people.

[Xavier_Onassis]

CU4, the sign totally misrepresents the demonstrators' demands, which have nothing to do with the teabaggers and everything to do with the rich.  Also, they aren't just demanding that the rich pay more, they're also demanding that the rich stop buying off the law-makers and give the government back to the people.

=============================
An excellent point!

[Christians4LessGvt]

An excellent point!

yeah sure Mikey makes an "excellent point".
Ha...I've seen interviews with these half-wits camped on Wall Street
and many of them cant even answer what they are protesting for
tell me XO if Mikey's point is "excellent"
how does Mikey know the sign "misrepresents their demands"
if many of the protesters don't even know what their demands are themselves?
this protest is a sham....i am sure to coordinate as the election year nears
the American People may not be thrilled about everything that is going on
but they sure don't wanna buy the nonsense these losers are selling
capitalism may not be perfect
crony capitalism is what we have arrived at due to large government
most all the bribes, donations, corruption centers around BT's point
government is too powerful
government has way too much power
so corrupt people wanna "buy" that power
the solution is to take power away from the govt
then the crony capitalist wont have power to buy from govt

[Michael Tee]

Obviously the sign misrepresents the protestors' demands because nowhere in the original sign does it mention the teabaggers, either as filthy or squeaky-clean, nor does it demand that the teabaggers pay for their needs.  The sign itself was a mere statement of their unfulfilled needs, needs that in any decent country (Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Norway) would never have gone unmet in the first place.

The last part of the post is hilarious - - of course, if you took away all the powers of the government, the legislators would have nothing to sell.  The corporations would have free rein to continue polluting the shit out of the environment, make phony loans to people who don't have a hope in hell of repaying them, package the phony loans and sell them to bigger banks and financial institutions for a healthy profit, bribe the rating agencies to look the other way, con the insurance companies into insuring the bondholders against defaults that were sure to arise, and loot the Treasury of all it holds to make up for all their losses when the whole teppel schmaltz comes down on their heads in the end, as they always knew it would.  Capitalism!  Free markets!!  No government!!!  No wonder you support Uncle Tom, err, I mean Herman Cain.  He's nailed it!!!