And don't forget Anna Nicole Smith. We obviously needed extended coverage of ex-Playboy bunny gold diggers.

Face it. The US media is only about two things: Distracting us from our real problems, and making us afraid of whatever it is we're supposed to be afraid of that particular week.

(Usually some country that Exxon-Mobil wants us to invade so they can grab it's oil.)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...and most of the rest of us, apparently, would rather sniff Anna Nicole Smith's corpse or watch Britney Spears hump a fire hydrant than find out what our tax dollars are actually paying for.

I disagree. Why do you think so many of us are out here on the Internet looking for real news, or out on the BBC website, or reading IPS or blogging? I believe most people do want to know the truth; they just don't know where to find it. If they didn't before Katrina... they do now. I believe Katrina was a major turning point. It was a massive demonstration of broken government and broken media. Actually, Anderson Cooper did a pretty decent job as a first responder. He just needed more water bottles.

I was trained as a journalist, and this whole corporate 'give the advertisers what they want' BS was already in full swing in the 80s -- which is why I never went into the business. I couldn't put aside my own ethics and drink the corporate Kool-aid, not where news reporting was concerned. But I do believe that people want and do deserve the truth.

Ours 'new' Congress was elected because somehow, some way, people found the truth - in spite of the corporate media. Most people probably had to really work to find it, as I do... they had to go out and search the Internet. Or enough people found the truth online and then went out and told their friends and family. Truth has a funny way of spreading.

Our corporate media has totally abandoned us. But what can you expect from a business now consolidated into the hands of only 6 owners? Fox is now the equivalent of the Pravda, and the rest aren't much better. The NYT shows flashes of rebellion. CNN, occasionally... but then immediately goes nuts over Anna Nicole Smith. I can't watch that garbage. Hardly anyone with an education can stomach it these days. But the truth will out, as demonstrated by the many alternative news sources available online. The truth is out here, and people are finding it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Corporate Tax Subsidies should go as should excessive medicaid payments. Some lid has to be put on entilements and on defense spending and on corporate tax subsidies.

States have taxing power and should have the authority, without federal court interference to extend medicaid or other health benefits to poor and unemployed citizens of their states. That means having the power to establish residence requirements, a common sense incentive to helping one's true neighbors that the Burger and Rehnquist courts have cast aside as part of the judicial tyranny we endure in this decaying Republic.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Just local money funneled through the federal bureaucracy which takes its cut and recycles it back to states that the Administration of the time favors. Why not keep the money in the communities to begin with.That "block" grant should be eliminated. Why should it stay? Because the word "community" is in it. Those block grants go to convention centers, Hyatt Hotels and other boondoggles designed to line the pockets and inflate the power of local politicians.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this piece with us. Loved reading it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Frighten a Politician

First, let me say welcome back to the actual Matt Taibbi, the one who's not afraid to call a shitweasel a dirty ole egg-suckin' dawg. Matt, we missed you and only hope you can come out of the closet and admit you're a socialist before your bio-pic is revised and the gray hair is revealed.

Anyway. Politicians of all parties (the two corporatist parties and the others) hate it when they (publicly) don't know the answers, especially when answers could only come from very low level staffers (there is a point coming, trust me).

Every time your elected official comes out of the bunker and confronts citizens, ask:

How much does a gallon of milk cost?

Should I go to the dentist, or pay my rent?

If the dollar is replaced with the Euro as the reserve currency, will my State's National Guard help me or herd me?

I know, I was writing about these embarrassing questions four years ago, but I think they were good questions then and, at least in my life, they're no less important now.

Since we can't recall federal officials and probably shouldn't shoot them; since they have more guns and money than we have, we need to turn them into the kind of media event that Matt, correctly, says Ms. Golddigger and Ms. Suddenly Bald Twatflash shouldn't be.

Even Fox would have to cover members of Congress flailing about for kitchen table data, hoping some poor-enough staffer might flip up a flashcard and save the day.

Our elected surrogates are rich or soon-to-be rich people. Their wardrobes and haircuts, their staff budgets, lunches, and perks are greater than millions of our household budgets. They (maybe) comprehend trillions, e.g., debts and deficits, billions, e.g., "earmarks," corporate entitlements, and tax revenue transfers, hundreds of millions, tens of millions, and (sigh) simple millions (their current and future earnings), but they DON'T comprehend thousands (the crumbs that can make, save, enrich the lives of actual citizens).

I dunno, but I think that, in order to get our lives on the evening news, "thousands" needs to become a sexy topic. Since, for tens of millions of us, $3000, as an example, is sexy.... how about a real REALITY show?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Damn Matt you are an ass hole but you're so right and you say it so well. Thanks homie.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Matt, broadcasting the President's 2008 budget as news would force people to think and to get involved. Who wants to do that? Only a few of us actually enjoy using our brains to work through problems. The vast majority just want to gossip--it's easy and entertaining. Who could ask for anything more?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The choice be informed or entertained?

I don't think there needs to be any surveys or analysis to see what most Americans choose. If enough citizens in this country where informed the 2994 Presidential farce would have never happened.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Sam Walton gave most of his Wal-Mart stock to his kids when Wal-Mart was tiny. He then successfully worked like hell for his family and made them rich. When he died no one paid death tax. You're just angy that no one did that for you.

By the way Bernie just wants what Marx wanted--the destruction of capitalism. You both scapegoat capitalists to gain converts. The trouble with capitalism is capitalists. The trouble with socialism is socialsim.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

If anyone had any remaining doubts or reservations about how evil and greedy this bunch is, there should no longer be any doubt. As to the newz media, anchors and publishers in the top bracket that wine and dine with the robber barons know where their money comes from. Reporting the truth might require a change in career, social standing and income bracket

I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

You weren't born yesterday, you know the rules. You're most likely closer to the Mars family side of the scale financially then you'd like to say so stop whining! That goes for all you other whiners. If you don't like the financial situation your in don't blame anyone but your ancestors and/or yourselves. Like anything else you want to change, you have to change yourself first. Do something for yourself!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

this is the soma that keeps the average amerikan wanting more. how can any of us be surprised how the media portrays what they consider news(worthy). they're all paid big bucks to keep amerikans DUMB and DUMBER!!!!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I could have been blissfully ignorant of the latest spears bullshit. BUT NO! You had to make me aware. Damn! I learned another thing about her and j. simpleton recently. They were both mousekateers (sp?). I had never knew we had disney to thank for these annoying idiots but we do. Fuck disney!

Otherwise Matt an excellent article. You have reported on something that is very important and disturbing. You showed me once again why I should avoid the so called "news". I am still a little surprised how lousy our appointed leaders are. How can people be so callous and cruel. I guess the pen is still mightier than the sword. Who knows how many people the bush administration will maim, kill, torture, and destroy with the stroke of their budget pen. If this is amerika, AMERIKA SUCKS!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I don't think I deserved to ripped off. But you have a point. The people who inebriate with this incessant bullshit possibly do deserve to be swindled but if they only knew even the simple stuff you mention, they might even wake from their stupor.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Fantastic article, Matt, as usual, but let's face it--no one, repeat NO ONE, in our culture deserves more blame than Rolling Stone for creating the despicable, escapist cult of celebrity crap--and Alternet and the left-wing "culture warriors" are hardly blameless. I write on youth issues, and Rolling Stone and Alternet have been relentlessly destructive on crucial issues such as ignoring teenage poverty and generational attrition while hyping sensational, idiotic demonizations of young people as supposed robots of pop culture corruption and excess. What are you doing to demand that your own magazine be more responsible?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

If you have the healthy degree of scepticism and critical thinking skills of Matt Taibbi. So should going a tad more in debt and helping out the Waltons be any different? Not if silly geese can even ask questions about big building falling in their faces in one of the world's most important cities.

By the way, I wonder if Matt asks what's in the dust?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

If you have the healthy degree of scepticism and critical thinking skills of Matt Taibbi. So should going a tad more in debt and helping out the Waltons be any different? Not if silly geese can't even ask questions about big building falling in their faces in one of the world's most important cities.

By the way, I wonder if Matt asks what's in the dust?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Principle I agree with the article, what bothers me about this article is that it is written like a shrill rant. I have nothing at all against a good quality high powered rant, but it really cheapens the whole article by using the word asshole and other choice words. If you want good news go loooking for it. Dont get your panties all in a bunch when the big media outlets start distributing the usual rubbish they distribute. I have read a few of Matts artciles here on this website and I find him to be infected with a good case of hyperbole. I am surprised that alternet even lets this kind of "journalism" on here. I am certainly no liberal, but I read alternet for the perspective and I am genuinely entertained by the hyperbole I read in the comments section. Thus what alternet is or has become is progressive pop media.... I will still continue to read alternet, butI would suggest that if you want to really have intelligent journalism at this website that you get rid of Matt....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Thanks for writing this article, and thanks for the well directed and articulated anger as expressed with your many four-letter expletives. these words serve an important communicative function. Keeping it "clearn" is just another softening of the American mentality. nick

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

From a semi-retired 'senior' in Missouri. I saw a lot of it coming too. IMO people in general are not so much distracted as they are numb. Take the battery out of the remote and watch what happens. I feel as if many are just afraid to face the fact that their elected officials are corrupt, reality is the world around them (not on TV), and shit doesn't just 'happen', it's made to happen.
The big challenge is how to wake them up. I think that when (not if) the time comes that they can't afford or find a loaf of bread, when the power goes out and doesn't come back on, when Dominos doesn't deliver anymore, at least a few of them will poke their heads out of their collective asses and ask what's going on.
In the words of Buffalo Springfield "There's something happenin' here, what it is ain't exactly clear..."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

FROM DOWD TO HANNITY

From the elite of the quill profession to the sometimes cartoonish talking heads of T.V., as in from Dowd to Hannity, the media of America do scant little to educate the public.

Collectively they behave as if they were youth taking alternating peeps through a hole in the wall of the boys and/or girls gym locker room. Espying a calf or a buttock they clamor and jostle to press their eye to the peephole and set off en masse to repeat gossipy chatter as news. This game, which is passed off as a profession, is today so ingrained that there is little reasoned analysis and the public neither wants nor expects any.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Fat man makes a good point just above me. It is something I notice in almost all bloggs or Alternative News sites, or indeed most places in the Web; bad language makes me cringe when it is used in an article that actually wants to make a great point. How can I ask my 12 year old daughter to read these sites? I want her to learn that there is more to the world than she gets to see on the telly, but would I let her read an article with such language? No. As for her younger brother, where can he read what is really important. Sites like this, that really "appear" to want to make a difference, should ensure their site is suitable for all, and maybe even especially for the generation that is being failed so miserably in Education.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The have's under Bush, Cheney, DeLay, etc have looted the treasury. Executives basically embezzle billions from "public" shareholders. Debt buildup of three trillion under these gangsters costs $150 billion a year in interest and the plan is to further cut US tax receipts by giving the Walton family $32 billion in tax relief.
As the haves stand with their boot on the throat of the average Joe, you quibble about the choice of language.
Cheny knows what the discourse entails. Says he, "Go F..k yourself" Mr. Patrick Leahy and all your high minded arguments for equal protection under the law.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

a vast majority of my fellow citizens are dumber than a bag of rocks and deserve the shitty life they're going to end up with as a direct result of putting moronic, evil foxes in charge of the henhouse.
Many folks a lot smarter than I have argued that Democracies, by their very nature, are doomed to fail. After watching the political and social events of the last 40 years, I am beginning to agree. You cannot expect ignorant, easily manipulated dupes to make proper decisions about their lives, their country and their planet when they're not given the appropriate tools to do so. It is up to the democratic government to provide those tools and when it does not, it sounds the death knell for that democracy.
The clanging is now so loud it is deafening and yet, the majority of my fellow countrymen are so busy trying to figure out why some dumb drug addict shaved her head that they cannot hear the end of their own existence roaring towards them like a runaway freight train.
I would weep for them if I knew their stupidity hadn't also dragged me straight to hell with them.....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have been harping on this for the last five years. America is more obsessed with NASCAR, American Idol, Paris Hilton and "BULLSHIT" than it is with what is really going on. And, it is the medias fault. The media's corporate cronies won't let the real news be reported. It is all a ploy to distract America from the dismantling of the American infrastructure and our way of life. If you want to know what is really happening, you have to research obscure sources and most Americans can not be bothered. I get more news from AlterNet and MediaMatters.com than from the Mainstream Media. But, that is because I choose to be informed rather than be a drone.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

You are absolutely correct about the despicable budgetary priorities of the Bushies, but it wasn't necessary to fling spittle all over innocent bystanders as you bemoaned their iniquity.

So Tom and Katie's baby is an "imbecile demon-spawn"? How would you feel if someone described your child that way? How old are you -- twelve?

And Britney Spears is a troubled youg woman and a maybe a spoiled brat as well, but she's not an idiot. Your excessive rhetoric merely weakens your otherwise sound arguments.

Keep up the good work in exposing the Bushies, but try to avoid inflicting too much collateral damage.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Look closely at what your country has become. The Republicans and their neo-con splinter cell have finally brought it to a head, rather like a pus-filled boil. We aren't the "benevolent" human rights giant we've been gray-washed into thinking we are. Infact, this monstrous icon to corporate and individual rapaciousness is responsible for more deaths globally, ( either through duping the drones or covert operations by the corporate controlled government agencies) than ANY OF THE AXIS OF EVIL nations our latest ruling coward spouts off about. So, rather than hoping the latest batch of Republicrates are going to slap down Israel or the other powers that use our size and tax-payer dollars to fill their coffers to overflow with innocent blood, Tell your state officials to allow a vote to leave this evil union. Break it down,..dismantle it while you can.
Then war criminals like Kissinger, Bush et al will be alot closer to answering for their lies and crimes against humanity. Collectively, we're obviously too stupid to see the easy way out, ( nationalize communications and energy), so this is the last resort. Kill the beast that wanders about attacking and looking for more to devour.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

People are more interested in Brittany's head or Anna Nicole's body because of the nonstop breathless coverage they get, not the other way around. The wholly owned news media are force feeding us this crap. Since it is the only thing people see, it becomes the topic of conversation.

I think the "news" conglomerates know that any bit of nonsense can be milked for about a week before the subject is saturated and people's eyes begin to roll back in their heads, so they move on to the next piece of made-up-crap-news.

Their goal is to keep legitimate news off the airwaves. The solution is to break up the news conglomerates, who use their monopoly to obscure the real truth from the public in the interest of their corporate owners.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...your first step should be to stop calling it a tax cut, because almost everyone who pays taxes likes their taxes being reduced.

Even if you're a traditional, Barry Goldwater conservative, the kinds of budgets that Bush has sent to the hill not only this year but this whole century are the worst-case scenario; they increase spending generally while cutting taxes and social programming.

That's a tax cut: when the government decreases taxes and decreases spending. When you increase spending and decrease taxes, that's not, not, not a tax cut.

It is a tax deferment.

It is a drunk with a credit card.

It is a lonely old fogey gambling their house away under the bright lights and garish sounds.

Whatever else it is, it is not a tax cut, by any basic definition of the word as it applies to government fiscal policy, and you've lost your argument from the moment you construe it as such with many of the remaining folks who still foot the federal bill via our taxes. You remember those folks? The ones who are most likely to vote?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's the same old scam. Distract us with the flashing lights of easy to digest scandals while the real dirt is done in darkness behind the scenes. As the cartoonist Hatlo used to say, "They'll do it every time."

Till the populace chooses to ignore such pap and dig critically beneath the surface for the important issues, I'm not sure much can be done. Till that time, professionals from pick-pockets to politicians will continue to use such tactics because they work.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ive raised 4 or 5 children in the last 50 years. Ive found that they learn to curse from their peers or their Parents, not from what they read. And they also straighten out their act when they start trying to impress the opisit sex. Four letter words can be a little crude but are sometimes quite a good way to emphisize a statement with real feeling, thats why you often hear these words when someone hits their thumb with a hammer.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The only reason I looked at the pictures was to see if the hole in her head was finally visible. No such luck. Now, I really can't figure out how she got so effed up.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Matt, excellent piece. You forgot to add one more thing about the M&M/Mars "fly-infested" candy company. In June 2006, it was reported that the Chicago Mars candy factory had multi infractions against the state healthcode - flies, roaches, ants, mice feces,etc. The factory was shutdown and still did nothing after two visits. I thought that it was bad PR, frankly, but people do love their Dove and Mars crappy candy. Read about it: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_180175555.html

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Hear Here!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

All of the above confirms that we need political cout for the masses to counter the power elite, special-interest lobbys and PACS, the media, and wealthy individuals. We need to organize a new American Association of Working People, dedicated to working for the best balanced interests of all Americans.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

All this high falutin' condemnation coming from a writer for that rag called Rolling Stone.

Can't see the forest because all those darned trees are in the way?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Move over Britney...

The saturation of "candidates", and "infighting", and now, "Romney running first ad..." This BS is taking center-stage on newspaper front-pages across the nation, as if any election isn't settled by the electorate in the last two months before election, as if THIS PRESIDENT is going to survive his entire term in office.

The SUPER-DUPER-OBFUSCATION of the corporate-press is the '08 election which completely side-steps ALL THE REAL NEWS "stolen-elections", false-flag domestic terrorism, billions, lives, on and on and on and on and on... If Americans get our act together, (there currently are 20 or 30 different GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT ALREADY ON THE BOOKS, still NOT followed up or acted on!) we will be navigating PRESIDENT PELOSI before any election-cycle arrives, and frankly, we don't have much time or choice in the matter! WE ARE LOSING OUR COUNTRY FOLKS!

Thanks to Matt for the dig

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

In the book "Infinity's Rainbow: The Politics of Energy, Climate and Globalization," author Michael P. Byron discusses how corporate personhood was the beginning point of the loss of our democracy.

Corporations have been granted the same rights as humans, but they are super-human in that they don't die, and they have far more mental and financial resources to fight their causes than any one normal human can muster against them. Even worse, they are able to buy entire governments of countries to further their selfish interests in America and abroad. They don't give a damn about people, the environment, or our futures. They don't even give a damn about their own investors, and will rip them off with total impunity, and with only a wrist-slap as a semi-consequence. If you doubt this, just look at the California energy rip-off and that the courts refused to make the corporations give back the billions of dollars that they had stolen from an entire state. The bottom line is all that matters, and they will trample roughshod over anyone that gets in their way.

It is because of corporate personhood that political corruption is rampant, that fascism is on the rise everywhere, that America's entire financial network has been twisted into a war economy, that our only significant domestic product anymore is WMD, that all our good jobs are migrating overseas, that those jobs that remain are being staffed by legal and illegal aliens that will work for a pittance.

Byron proves that this is an all-out war on the middle class. No amount of election reform will work until we get the corporations OUT OF OUR POLITICS by repealing corporate personhood and removing human rights from non-humans. Corporations don't vote, and they should not be allowed to meddle in our politics either.

We need to get off our complacent asses, stop shopping, and do something about this -- starting with reading Byron's book, and then with getting the abomination of corporate personhood repealed.

You can see Byron's blog at: http://www.michaelpbyron.com/

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

One of the problem of talking budget with people is that a billion dollars is just too big of a number. I propose that the budget be stated as a gas tax-- we use about a 100 billion gallons of gas a year so the tax cut for the Waltons would be about $0.03 a gallon for the next ten years -- the special request for this year's Iraq war budget is about $1 a gallon. The next time you fill up on $2.50 a gallon gas -- think of it as half the Pentagon budget of almost $5 per gallon.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I can see that you're a true campaigner for justice and peace, motivated by a deep sense of empathy and a non-discriminating concern for humanity. a summary of your article: "bullshit fucking dumb imbecile assholes scumbags jackasses idiots," and, to top it off, the suggestion that brittney spears should actually kill herself.

it sort of reminds me of how the celebs attract attention to themselves: through sensational immaturity and vulgarity.

for a truly outrageous grown-up story about the iraq military funding, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0215-30.htm

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm sick and tired of these "wake-up" calls that tell us that we deserve what we get. This is just another "blame the victim" ploy. We don't deserve this.

The system is the problem. We have two parties that do not work for the people. Isn't this obvious? We have arguably the worst preident in history in office and an "opposition" party thst refuses to try to impeach him. We have some honest, patrioric congressmen who cannot work effectively in this system.

So the news media doesn't report news. Do we need to have all the gory details to know that our system isn't working? We already know enough.

Let's be rational for a minute. Our presidential elections are decided by about two percent of the eligible voters who vote. I'm sure that there are at least three percent of the electorate who are awake and know that the system isn't working. This is the tail that can wag the dog. This is the faction that must take control of both parties or watch our great experiment go down in flames.

We can't wait for the 98% to wake up. It's time for those who are awake to take control. It's not time for another self-serving organization. It's time for a true grassroots movement dedicated to one principle - "government of the people, by the people, and for the people" If you've read this far, I urge you to join.
Bob Reichenbach,
Director, The Lincooln Initiative

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Matt's niche is calling media weasels "media weasels" - when they regularly miss the Great Spectacular Rip-off of modern US government finance, when they obsess on the modern US presidential race / circus, when they worry more about their careers than their duty, etc.

Somehow, a lot of the recent Low Posts at Rolling Stone have focused on issues like Iraq, Hilary, and Obama, but haven't hit as hard at the media clowns that cover those issues. And they've been pale reflections without the anger and venom of this week's piece.

Whether Matt has farmed some of his recent work out to ghost reporters or not, this article is more on-message. Perhaps medication has been successfully adjusted? In any event, welcome back.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Does anyone have a link to the Washington Times article the author talked about?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We are not, necessarily, dumb (OK – some of us are, but most people are pretty smart when armed with decent information). What we are, are Pavlovian dogs. We have been programmed for decades, practically from birth, by wall-to-wall advertising every three minutes in the broadcast media, and on nearly every surface everywhere else we look. One cannot discount the corrosive influence of this level of operant conditioning – or the rapid-fire, short-attention-span chaos of second-by-second-changing subject matter that has turned us into a nation of schizoids.

McDonalds ad tripe? We push the food bar like Pavlov's dogs. Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Golddigger? We push the nah! nah! bar. Fancy cars, mansions, the lifestyle of the rich? We push the envy bar. Our need to know has been co-opted, reprogrammed, and controlled for decades – and the result is the distracted, ignorant electorate we see today. We have been had by the same corporations that regularly rip us off through their ad agencies, who – make no mistake about it – use the latest behavorial science to convince us to buy cheap plastic shit we don't need. And now, the Forces of Darkness in politics are employing the same tricks to a degree heretofore unheard of.

It takes a lot of work to overcome such programming, and even more so in the overextended, overworked existence we laughingly call "modern life." But, we must.

The answer? I'm not sure. Alternative news sources like this one on the ever-more-utilized internet will help, as will reading more, watching TV less, and ignoring pop culture. But as I write this, three words, once uttered by Henry David Thoreau, keep coming to mind: "simplify, simplify, simplify." Maybe, doing that will leave room for some of the important stuff to sink in.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

That last sentence is right on the money.

If no one is going to pay attention to the thieves, why shouldn't they steal whatever they please?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

And hats off to the excellent Matt but like a lot of the stuff I read here, isn't it all preaching to the converted. The other 95% are stoned on the BritBradNic drivel trying to distance themselves from the horror around them, take their remotes away and a revolution would loom. A constant drone of Foxfix for the sodden masses who wouldn't know a budget if it ran over them.
You see, one look at poor Brit (and this girl should get some help, real help, where's your compassion, folks?) and the drones think: jeez, my life is better than hers. On with the munch and the latest reality show, it's just so good to see the mighty fall. More. More.
meanwhile out in Alterland, we read the news and moan about the other 95%. Maybe we need to go out at night and bang the pots like they do in Argentina and scream demented curses on the protelariat.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

wALL TO WALL COVERAGE OF WHAT TO DO WITH aNNA nICHOLE sMITH'S ROTTING CORPSE AGAIN TODAY. I know it's an important issue...it must be...our news networks find it to be so. Meanwhile, since the day Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table, I knew for a fact that the search for truth and justice in America was dead in the water, so to speak. Frightening dontcha think?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We have about as much right to be disappointed in the Bush administration as a sheep has at being sheared. Here is a man who during his presidential campaign ridiculed critics of his Medicare proposal with the taunt, what do they think it is, some kind of government program? Al Gore ignored it as a slip of the tongue. Dick Cheney opposed Mandela’s release from prison for his own good. In his debate with Lieberman he denied that his wealth came government largess, and Lieberman did not dispute it. Bush claimed credit for progressive programs in Texas that were passed over his veto. We saw all this as skilful campaigning rather a reflection of character. Then when the Supreme Court muscled these two losers into office without a whimper of outrage from us we took it stoically while celebrating our civility for doing so. Bush did not become a half-wit after he took over. Cheney did not become a prevaricator after he came to power. They flaunted their true selves long before they were put in the Whitehouse. So we have only ourselves to blame. Sheep are born to be sheared.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why is anyone even surprised that this is happening? The MSM did not cover the budget or its gifts to friends of BushCo because there was nothing in it that was truly newsworthy, because it was nothing new. What is was, was just more blatant than before. Now the question you have to ask yourself is if your elected Representatives are actually going to let this stand. I would hazard to say that unless any of these programs have large voting blocks which the Reps. are concerned with, they will probably get away with it. After all, The American People do not care, so why should they?

Well, I, for one, care.

I care enough that I have gone back to school to learn the knowledge that I needed to understand how the system works, and as someone who has suffered through some of the programs that will be cut, how to fix it. I have come to the conclusion that the best thing that could happen to America is that citizens rise up and take back their nation through the schools by teaching their children; their economy by demanding that their jobs come back home; their environment by demanding social responsibility before profits; and their givernments, at all levels, by demanding accountability and public good before special interests and corporate personhood. And if the demand is not met, then action is expected by the citizenry not concession! It is time to turn off the TV's and start thinking for ourselves and acting in our own best interests as a nation.

America is getting very angry and when roused, this nation has the ability to rock the world.

It is time to choose, America - corporate slavery and inequality or liberty and justice for all?

I know what I will choose.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Thanks. As always, you call "bullshit" when the media are packaging it as almond roca.

Don't stop. We are listening. Some of us are even fighting back.

Peace.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

To remind us that feudalism and serfdom are the expected norm, and that we should be happy little slaves, and that our masters are our masters for a reason!

Here's an idea, why don't you talk about how it got this way? Tell us about the enormous amount of societal engineering involved in the art of dumbing us down.

Consider this mental exercise. Imagine traveling back in time 100 years. Begin talking to random people on the street. Tell them things like:

"A hundred years from now:"

at night when you walk down the street you're going to see a faint blue light coming from almost every house, and inside each one you will see a box. The box emits flashing lights. And people stare into at the lights for hours! As if they were zombies!


Who the hell would believe that?! Sounds like a damn science fiction novel... one where aliens have taken over the world and are using us for... something. Whatever it is it can't be good. lol. That's what the me of 100 years ago would think. But today? naa. Nothing to see here, just move along! Do you realize that, in a relative sense, the idea of The Matrix is less extreme, and less surreal to us, than the idea of television brainwashing would be to a person from 100 years ago?!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Of course Walmart needs a tax break, after all they spend so much money bribing politicians (local, state and federal). In America, corporations and gov't are merely quid-pro-quo whorehouses sold to the highest bidder. When the gov't needs illegal wire-taps, Verizon and Sprint allow them secret rooms to listen in on calls. When Haliburton (and KBR) need more revenue, the gov't hands out no-bid contracts. When the gov't dislikes literature, Wikipedia bans the book "America Deceived" America Deceived (book). We The People had our gov't (and our tax system) sold out from beneath us.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

When news is owned by multi-nationals, it is no wonder that we only get the news that's fit to print. It fits the corporations just fine to keep the audience ignorant and distracted. It doesn't help that most of the audience is a quite-willing partner to the charade of "being informed."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Taibbi is right again. These tax cuts and this draconian budget are simply indefensible. Anyone that can defend them is an amoral scum-sucking pig.

And although some here may protest that they are not to be included with the rest of stoopid America, all of us should by now realize that as a country we are pathetically — and worst of all, willfully — ignorant.

I also defend Taibbi's use of "bad" language. It's about time we got righteously pissed off. We've been getting fucked up the ass by our government long enough. Let's stop calling it a rectal exam.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

A kick-ass article that should be required reading for every citizen with half a brain (that leaves about 13 people).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why isn't the Media addressing this simple issue?

According to Bush’s recent budget….

How can a Social Security system have an anticipated $248 billion surpluses the year 2012 and still be in trouble. --- Shouldn't we all be tired of the "red herrings" in regard to the system's dangers of not having enough money and finally start using that surplus to fund what it is intended to fund.--- Social Security! --- We have become a stupid nation allowing lawmakers, and the media, to make us even more stupid.

If all the monies paid into Social Security had remained in the system it would not be in trouble. Instead, our lawmakers are robbing it to pay for other budget items. All these years --- why is no one outraged by this?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Unfortunately, Matt, none of this is really news to anyone. And the people who should be reading your take on trash headlines vs. the devasting consequences of budget prepared by greedy murderers are too busy watching Britney escape from rehab. So where are we now? Back to square 1.

I got out of journalism about 6 years ago and became a lawyer, hoping to wage a legal war against the evil news monopolies who decide what is actually news. Unfortunately, however, the same problems which plague our media - corruption, greed, etc. - plague our judiciary system, from the coffers of powerful lawfirms to the chambers of small town judges. In otherwords, back to square 1.

So here's my new take on all of this - we need to let this country fall apart at the hands of those who currently run it. Give the republicans and religious fanatics everything they want. Take away SSI. Give corporations the best subsidies and tax breaks bribery can buy. Create wars based on lies to fill our chums' pockets with profits from government contracts. And while we're at it, let's have everyone pray in school and let's strip away the remaining constitutional rights of gays, lesbians, and minorities. Only then will people want to turn off the E channel and put down their copy of Rolling Stone to say, "Gee, this place and the people who run it fucking suck. I think I'll vote next election." That is, if we still have elections. Maybe then we won't be back to square 1.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Mr' John Galt, you may be a 'self-made' man (ah-hah-hah-hah), but you know, exploiting 8 year-olds in africa and china for cheap imports prevents them from doing their 'will' and becoming productive citizens ala Ms Rand. It is not their choice to do such work (certainly not at age 8), it is a necessity of life. Capitalism should not be based on the degradation of people for profit. Just ask some schmuck working in diapers so that they don't have to ask their wal-mart supervisor for a bathroom break because Sam Walton decreed that his employees should be observed and timed in the can. It's real and documented. And don't say 'they can choose to work somewhere else"...there are vast stretches of the midwest that offer nothing but fast-food and wal-mart as far as the eye can see...you know it really isn't all that different from the lack of choice in Soviet society....but we do have Bald Britney, The Dead Blow-up Doll Anna Nicole, and lots of reality TV to keep us happy, so shovel it in american worker, starving builds character and makes it easier to shaft someone else on the way up, the rich REALLY need that money(ain't that all about that Ayn Rand virile capitalist masturbatory fantasy world you livin' in, boy...) In other words, I want these bastards to pay their full share of the social costs to which they have often contributed with their policies and practices, I mean if you are going to have the power, you also have to accept the responsibility that comes with it. Anything else is just another example of the childish culture of 'entitlement' that all of our obscenely rich yet extremely useless eaters seem to be indulging in at this moment. ...BTW, thanks for the heads up on Mars...never buying that shit again.....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

While I think this is an excellent article and agree wholeheartedly, I must take the author to task over suggesting we would all be better off if Ms. Spears pulled a trigger. It is a terribly cruel thing to say about a woman who is obviously facing a personal crisis.
To suggest suicide as answer to rid ourselves of news about her trials and tribulations, goes beyond a journalist's right to express himself. It was heartless and cruel and insulting to those of us who have lost a relative or friend to suicide.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Not only is the following news story a distraction, it is also horribly depressing and speaks to the culture of non-community and pointless TV-culture so prevalent in The West. I'm not a very emotional person, but I tell you what this story forced half a tear to come to my eyes.

Story: "Mummified Body Found in Front of Blaring TV"

Horrifying, truly horrifying.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Good article, Matt, but I must point out that "the heirs to the Mars candy corporation" include the owners and majority investors of Seeds of Change, a company devoted to organic agriculture, organic food, and preserving biodiversity. The Mars corporation may deserve your vilification, but the heirs are not all "the world's evilest scumbags." And we don't need them to be scumbags to be outraged at the economic injustice you're describing.

It doesn't really matter whether the companies receiving these enormous tax cuts are good or bad; they're not paying their fair share. You point out that Gallo makes "shitty wines;" would the tax cuts be okay if they were fabulous wines? Of course not.

Taxes aren't about punishing the wicked. This is about asking them to do their part according to their means. Their ethical transgressions are a matter for criminal and civil law, not tax policy.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I got mine, and then some.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Now it is Iran’s turn as the US propaganda machine starts to crank out it’s false message. The overall pattern at work here is exactly the same one utilized for Iraq: phony diplomacy, then U.N. action which will similarly make compliance by Iran impossible, then a few speeches accusing Iran of defying the will of the "civilized world" and of being too great a threat to be tolerated -- and then the bombing. And almost no one will be heard to say that the "crisis" was created out of thin air, and that in fact no crisis exists at all. And like Iraq all of it will be based on lies from beginning to end.

Let us state the final conclusion boldly and unmistakably, so we may appreciate its full horror: the Bush administration has already decided, and probably decided some time ago, that it will attack Iran. They want a wider war. Everything that is now going on is simply the cover for the moment when the bombing begins, intended to provide what the American public and the world will accept as “justification” for the attack.

The Bush administration is making public statements that the US intelligence agencies regard as an increasing body of evidence pointing to an Iranian link, including information gleaned from Iranians and Iraqis captured in recent American raids on an Iranian diplomatic office in Erbil and another sites in Baghdad. (Confessions no doubt gained by contravening the Geneva Convention against torture. It does not baud well for the rest of the civilized world when we see how far this nation who used to be the Free World’s leading beckon of light for freedom & human decency has under Bush's leadership fallen to the level of a Banana Republic.)

Most intelligent people find it unbelievable that Bush believes the rest of the world is so unknowledgeable about the Middle East and as such can be duped by crude and inaccurate propaganda.

First lets put some facts in context regarding Iraq and Iran:
Iraq is made up of three distinct peoples:
1. Shiite: (Who are the Iraqi majority and who now lead the Iraq government.)

2. Kurds: (Who are a minority in Iraq and the Kurdish people are not popular in Turkey or Iran because of their own local Kurds desire for some sort of local autonomy like they now have in Iraq.)

3. Sunnis: (Who are a minority in Iraq and who had supported Saddam Hussein and his brutal suppression of all Iraqi people.) The now disenfranchised Sunni minority constitutes the main body of the Iraq insurgency.

Iran is mainly made up of Shiites who had traditionally supported the anti Saddam Shiite suppressed majority.
So right away we see a flaw in the US Administrations assertion that Iran is arming and supporting the Iraqi insurgency when it’s Iran’s historic enemy the Sunni’s who are the insurgents. These insurgents want to bring down the Shiite lead government that was created by and is supported by the US.

For all the care taken by the US to bolster its case - the weeks of delay in presenting it, the minute detail, the show of weapons parts - the presentation at the weekend was disturbingly reminiscent of the claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist.

There was a similar lack of proof that the Iranian authorities were the direct suppliers and a similarly worrying insistence on anonymity for the briefers. If the "evidence" turns out to have been misleading, there will be no one identifiable to blame.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

On Sunday, unidentifiable US officials presented what they said was proof that Iran was directly involved in supplying weapons to Shia militias in Iraq. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appeared to allude to this intelligence when he told reporters in Seville, Spain, that weapon fragments found in Iraq point to Iran as a source.

US officials have gone a step further. They produced parts of explosive devices with serial numbers and other markings on they said originated in Iran, and they linked them to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and then to the top Iranian leadership. They also implicated the five diplomatic Iranians recently arrested in Arbil.

Look, I admit, I don't know much about bomb making. And I don't know much about how factories label bombs. But I do know that in Iran virtually all numbers were in the Farsi-Arabic script. They were not and do not resemble our numbers. Now, I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that the implication that this round captured in the photo is bogus. Color me very skeptical. Any thoughts?

To further emphasize that this is a trumped up propaganda ploy we saw how Tony Snow danced and couldn't give a straight answer today at the White House press conference regarding Gen. Pace not following the company line. Where Gen. Pace publicly disagrees with the White House on Iranian weapons… Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that he has no information indicating Iran's government is directing the supply of lethal weapons to Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq.

Even if the devices seem to be Iranian in design and manufacture, there are other plausible explanations, not least the close association between the Iranian and Iraqi Shias at grassroots level and the fact that many Shia militants were formerly exiled in Iran.

It is also pertinent to ask why the US is pointing the finger at Iran and Iraq's Shias, when the insurgents doing most damage to US troops and the US-backed Iraqi government are not Shia, but the Sunnis who lost power with Saddam Hussein.

Is the US administration using Iran as a scapegoat for its own failings in Iraq? Is it softening up international opinion for another show of military force?

Given the complaisance with which almost every part of the US establishment accepted the official line on Saddam's non-existent weapons, it is gratifying to observe that this time around senior Democrats in Congress have declined to take the administration at its word. They are treating the case against Iran with due skepticism, warning that resort to a military solution would be a grave mistake.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

First, why the hateful vitriol? It's one thing to say "I wish Joe would drop off the face of the Earth." Hoping for someone's suicide, though, is just sick. It detracts from the force of the argument as well.

More criticism: the comparisons are not effective. The only one that was convincing was the comparison of one man's tax cut to groceries for half a million people. The others simply showed that certain tax cuts were greater than other spending cuts. That says two things: the tax cuts were large, and the spending cuts were comparatively small. I would rather see the tax cuts compared to costs of entire programs, like the one I mentioned above.

Now I sound like an English teacher. The budget disgusts me, and it's patently hypocritical for Bush to swathe himself in the cloak of Christianity while swelling the coffers of the rich -- at the expense of the needy. I'm a right-wing liberal: I believe a capitalist economy is the best option for the country as a whole, and I feel that a civilized society must ensure that the disadvantaged are supported. When I say "ensure", I mean that it's not enough to just hope that voluntary charity will suffice; there must be some safety net.

I can't believe the amount of money we spend on "defense." What ever happened to the peace dividend? Why do we need billion dollar bombers and three hundred million dollar fighters? We're bleeding our budget to fluff puerile warmongers like sad porn stagehands.

Obviously, I could go on. This rape of the American people is infuriating. I wish I could say we don't deserve it, but it's what the majority of voters have chosen. I hope the time comes when Americans would prefer to be informed than titillated.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

What moral imperative states the government has the right to take a greater percentage from someone due to his achievement than from slackers and moochers? How about equal rights??

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The media is more the problem than a sad girl who's unable to handle fame. Why waste space attacking helpless Britney when you could use the space to further rip the useless "news" networks who kick around celebrity minutae just to keep us from learning any "real" news (ie. news that might affect more than ten people who happen to be famous). If it weren't Britney and Anna Nicole it would just be someone else, ANYONE else, to keep us too occupied to demand answers from our corrupt leaders and corporate bosses.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

What are they watching and why? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems as if a lot of people are consumers of what they suggest shouldn't be consummed.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We seem to be enamoured of stories of errant, miserable celebrities as a salve to our own short-changed state. We can check this silly story out, turn from it and shrug and say, Well, money can't buy you everything.

In the glory days of Dallas, we used to flip off the set and ask each other, Why the hell can't these f-ing millionaires get counseling?!?

Now I think that the whole system is designed to distract us from the changes that need to be made in the system.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Life is not fair nor will it ever be fair while a handful of the population own and control most of the resources neccessary for life.

You can argue back and forth about economic systems until the cows come home, but that won´t change the system.

The current system peddles the myth that everyone can have the good life if they work hard enough and most people are happy to believe in that myth. It is only after years of hard work and struggling to get by that most people wake up and realise that they were chasing rainbows.

At this realisation do people get mad? you bet, do they do anything about it? no.

We are all too scared, too protective of the little bit that we do have to rise up and make a noise.

Until millions get angry enough, capatalism is here to stay.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I find it sad that Matt Taibbi’s pejorative attitude will prevent individuals who desperately need to understand the significance of this issue from listening to the message. The elitism of which he accuses others saturates his tirade and makes his meaning easy to dismiss. It is no wonder that the “elite” he refers to enjoy power while we “others” flail about in obscurity. Such personal attacks demonstrate our powerlessness and exacerbate our impotency.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I was watching the news a few days ago, the story was about a local soldier that was killed in Iraq, the "breaking-news" was that Spears shaved her head. I often wonder where our priorities are set, and I do agree, that we are deserving of the problems that we bring on ourselves by not getting involved. I try to do my part by getting more news from the Internet, and sharing news with family/friends and people that I meet. Something that I have noticed over the last few months it the amount of people asking me for more information on specific topics, I show them the links that I get my info from, and it is showing me that people are listening, and are getting more frustrated with the MSM on a daily basis.
The winds of change are blowing, and I hope that they continue to blow in our favor.
This is a very good informative article that you posted, and I hope you continue your fine work, as for the language, I was told as a child that people swear to be heard, if that is true, there is going to be a lot of swearing going on in the near future and hope that our government "gets it".
The winds of change are blowing!!
And the title? Well that would have been more newsworthy, "YOUNG TWIT, HAS BEEN POP STAR SETS HER HEAD ON FIRE" (in front of a camera of course)!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

... and take his place for ten minutes or something? People need to SEE this stuff!

I've been following and writing about this kind of thing since Dubya was first elected; I know the bastard from what he did to my home state, Texas (and HE ISN'T A TEXAN, DAMMIT!). No takers but left-wing blogs, period. Not even the local station, which never even answers my suggestions for stories. Now Faux and Rupert M. have bought out a local station, and you can see where the BS from HQ is spliced in. I don't watch TV news for anything but the weather anymore.

I'm a Vietnam Era vet, disabled, now my wife is disabled and I am her only caretaker. We can get to a local food bank once a month ( If I CAN get there), and we get $10 a month in foodstamps. I haven't had a full physical at the VA in over five years; if I ask, they ask if anything's different that I think there's a problem, do some lab tests and that's it... Due to other funding cuts, the VA no longer carries about $300 of the meds I need, so I have to pay them out of Social Security Disability. My wife pays $400 a month to keep her work medical insurance, and still pays another $350 in out-of-pocket medicine expenses - stuff she'd die without. That runs out soon, and she has time yet to wait on the 2 years before she can get Medicare, which some docs won't even take. The state medical got cut and while she qualifies, they can't afford to take on new patients. And on and on and on.

Cuts are getting worse, amd it's a race to see what falls apart first: us, the computer, the house or the car. We can't afford to fix any of them.

A brainless - and now hairless - bimbo who can't even sing worth a damn is about my last concern. Problem is, an uninformed electorate is a big group of victims, and government propaganda has labeled blogs as "conspiracy theorist fruitcakes" so Joe Average pays no attention. How do we take the media back when it's all privatized? We have to act, one way or another.

Ian

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

They say if you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention.

Thanks for making me angry again. I haven't been alert enough lately.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

As someone who still admires Barry Goldwater, I could not agree with the writer more. Goldwater would have been dismayed by most of the things Bush has done, including the redistribution of wealth to the rich, the suppression of uncomfortable truths (whether scientific, political, or whatever), and the use of foreign misadventures as a substitute for a foreign policy.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This situation has occurred with the consent and assistance of the two corrupt, corporate parties. Voting for either one only makes things worse. We need a party that's not financed by the corporations!

That party is the Green Party. The Green Party doesn't accept ANY corporate money. It's the third-largest party in the US, and the fastest-growing.

Getting just 3% of the vote will be enough to force the Democrats to start representing citizens' interests more, to stem the loss of votes. Getting just 5% of the vote will entitle the Green Party to Federal funding for elections, and will make ballot access easier. It would also make it harder for the corporate media to ignore them.

If you're not voting Green, you're part of the problem.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Dude, it's not cool:
"because she'll have shot herself for the good of the planet. " She's a real person, two babies' mama, and your statement is rude.

I say shaving your head because you're "tired of being touched" and exploited for your white-girl scraggly blond locks is a sign of progress. Imagine how nice the world would be if all the lady-pawns got under the clippers! Headline news? No. Interesting for the lifestyle section? Maybe.

Some of us can handle entertainment and budget horror stories too.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"photos of the imbecile demon-spawn of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes"

I'm sorry, but this disgusts me. It's vile to call a little girl who's what, a year old? these kind of names. This marks you
as not only an *ss, but an *sshole and a *rick.

And this is on top of your writing something mind-bogglingly unoriginal.

SR

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

As I read the article written by Matt, and the plethora of responses, I could not help but think about how many Americans have thrown in the towel. They focus entirely on things that they themselves cannot control. If the same amount of energy is placed into things they can control, Americans may not find so many things to complain about. After all, this is STILL the land of the free where opportunities are up for grabs.

In the comment titled “The Land was made a common treasury for everyone to share”, Kap25 writes “The current system peddles the myth that everyone can have the good life if they work hard enough... It is only after years of hard work and struggling to get by that most people wake up and realize that they were chasing rainbows…We are all too scared, too protective of the little bit that we do have to rise up and make noise.”

I happen to agree. Most Americans (remember that only 3% of the American public makes over 6 figures) are simply too scared and too protective of what little they have to do anything about anything. And perhaps it is a myth that “everyone can have the good life if they work hard enough”, but most don’t stop to think about how to work smarter, not harder. Perhaps that is the lesson we should learn from corporate America. The rich don’t work hard, they work smart. Sure, their work may not be glorious to the masses, it may not be ethical, nor moral at best, but rest assured that the top of the top do what they do best because they are smart… they don’t multiply their millions by working hard they do so by working smart. So why should the rest of us, the other 97% of us, do exactly that? 97% of the work by working hard? Maybe we are “too scared and protective of the little bit that we have to rise up and make noise.”

But that leads into feduphoosiers comment. In the comment titled “Yes and No”, fedup writes in response to Americans preferring to watch Anna Nicole over real news. “Why do you think so many of us are out here on the Internet looking for real news, or out on the BBC website, or reading IPS or blogging? I believe most people do want to know the truth;...”

So there IS a hint of desire and knowing you can seek it out on the internet.

In the comment titled “Embarrasing the Pols”, phantastikon writes “I dunno, but I think that, in order to get our lives on the evening news, "thousands" needs to become a sexy topic. Since, for tens of millions of us, $3000, as an example, is sexy....”

Is it REALLY? $3000 these days really is not that much money. Not when we’re presented with the lives of the rich and famous every other second on TV.

As monkeywrench writes under the comment “Simplify and Kill Your TV”, “Fancy cars, mansions, and the lifestyle of the rich? We push the envy bar… We have been had by the same corporations that regularly rip us off through their ad agencies, who... use the latest behavioral science to convince us to buy cheap plastic shit we don't need…. But as I write this, three words, once uttered by Henry David Thoreau, keep coming to mind: "simplify, simplify, simplify."

Yes, that is true. We push the envy bar, but too many of us (97%) are too scared to think that the same reality can be in our lives…

If by now you have not once sought the internet for some money making possibilities, you have not sought out the truth, nor do you care to. You would rather contemplate on how things should be and relish in how you’ll never be able to topple the corporations of America. You’ve missed the boat. You’ve missed Thoreau’s point of keeping it simple.

The Secret - Watch This Movie
Secret Biz Opportunity - Tell A Friend!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I haven't enjoyed such an article for a long time. While some might declare the language vulgar, every word and sentence hits the nail on its head. King George can lie to Congress, abolish the constitution, do war crimes for which people were hanged after the Nuernberg trials not even one member of Congress supported Senator Feingold when he called for Bush's censure (slap on the wrist). I appeal to all unselfish, free thinking women in America to volunteer to pull Bush's zipper down so that we can finally can impeach him.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]