Another hole in McCain's maverick myth

Again, kudos to Crooks & Liars for digging up this gem - it's John McCain criticizing then-President Clinton in the late 1990s during an appearance on Nightline about his fund raising tactics. The media has mercilessly painted McCain as a maverick and as someone not influenced by money and fund raising. I never believed it in the first place, but many continue to use the "M word" whenever referring to the Arizona senator.

I believe there have been times where I have probably been influenced because the big donor had - buys access to my office, and we know that access is influence. And honestly, that taints us all. It taints me.

If I were on Obama's campaign team, I would definitely be running this clip in political advertisements.

Hmm, McCain pressuring the FCC on behalf of a major contributor? Some Maverick, that McCain.

Latest Fox News "Mistake"

It's no longer a surprise when Fox News pulls stunts like this - identifying Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter on screen during a broadcast as a Democrat. It's now a surprise when the network doesn't do it. This is anything but a mistake. C&L has a short list of other instances of Fox's, ahem, "mistakes."

I wonder, if Specter would have made supportive statements today AG Alberto Gonzales during the latter's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, would he "earn" an "R" from Fox News? What, is Fox News now the athletic department of Congress? I guess so - Republicans now have to prove their conservative mettle to earn the much coveted "R" during Fox's asinine and absurd "news broadcasts."

And Rupert Murdoch wants to buy more media outlets in the United States? This is precisely the reason why we must demand strictly enforced, reasonable limits on any person, corporation or entity of any political persuasion from owning too many media outlets in the United States.

I have over 20 letters I've been meaning to write to my Congressional representatives, and this is near the top of the list - the FCC needs to roll back media ownership limits. NOW.

During vacation next week, my fingers are going to be sore from pounding away at my laptop keys. Of course, I will share these letters with you and encourage you to write your leaders about a host of issues as well.

Net Neutrality: We should all be worried

The Internet is the last frontier Americans have to get real, unfiltered news. So, of course, the mega-media companies want to take this away, and to make money off of it even more than they already are though selling us access as Internet Service Providers.

Everyone should be worried about Net Neutrality, and the consequences for its potential and likely demise. I urge all of you to write your members of Congress and also the Federal Communications Commission and demand that Net Neutrality be put into law. If you are unaware of who your members of Congress are, you're in the right place. On the left-hand column, about 1/3 of the way down, is a tool that will help you quickly locate contact information for your Congressional Representative and Senators.

Your members of Congress must hear from you to so that Congress is forced to put this ultra-important practice into law. Please spread the word to others as well. Later on this evening, I will be writing all of my Congressional members about this vitally important issue, so feel free to take my verbiage and use it as your own when writing Congress.

If you're unfamiliar with what Net Neutrality is, this is a pretty good video that breaks it down into an easily understandable explanation.

For more information about Net Neutrality, visit Save the Internet, a very informative Website.

AT&T & Cingular merge; users screwed, again

I've been meaning to rant about this one for quite a while, but whatever happened to corporate regulation in the United States?

It's amazing in the last 10 years how corporate America has seemingly been deregulated when it comes to monopolies, and cellular companies are a great example of this. Think back to 2000, how many more cell companies there were, and fast forward to now.

Basically, we are down to the choice of three major companies:

AT&T Wireless
Verizon Wireless
Sprint Nextell

There are also some other bit players, most notably T-Mobile, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that company absorbed by one of the top three.

In the end, the consumer loses, because less companies means less competition, which translates into higher prices.

Bottom line...

+

=

There are many, many other examples that are equally as instructive as the cell phone industry. Ever since the cable television was deregulated, our bills have gone down, not up; our choices have not increased; and cable company consolidation (and alliteration) have dramatically increased.

Radio and television stations are yet another example - the Republican-controlled Congress and President Bush approved relaxing FCC limits on ownership of both. And this is good for America? No, it's good for corporate America, and the politicians that benefit from the corporate largess during their reelection campaigns.

I certainly hope the DemocratIC-controlled Congress addresses this important issue.

Dixie Chic

This is the latest cover of Time, which sports the Dixie Chicks. To be honest, the title of the cover story pissed me off and will prompt me to write a letter to the editors. These three women are radical because they dared stand up to a president who rushed us to war on faulty, cooked intelligence? Yea, right.

Anyway, I heard the Dixie Chicks on Howard Stern this morning (another shameless plug for Sirus Satellite Radio - I LOVE it) and they had some very interesting things to say. Among them, how they received death threats because they told an audience during a concert in London that they were ashamed to be from Texas because President Bush is from Texas. Christ, get the nooses ready! I'll say right now that sometimes (and with increasing frequency, lately) that I'm ashamed to be an American when I hear some of the sewage that comes out of the president's mouth. What do I mean by that? Not that I don't love my country. Far from it. I feel this shame because I love my country. I can't believe we've had to endure him for eight years. He's a disgrace.

Following their comments, the Dixie Chicks were forced to apologize and had to endure all sorts of negative publicity along with Clear Channel banning them from its radio stations. First off, Clear Channel can go screw themselves; terrestrial radio is so last century, anyway. This is a company that has completely buckled to the FCC; this administration is pretty much out to ban any language it finds the least bit offensive, as well as in opposition to its policies. Look no further than Howard for evidence of that. Bush and the Republicans didn't touch Howard until he turned on Bush for the war in Iraq. All of a sudden, the FCC was on the attack, and Clear Channel fired him.

The big problem I have with what happened to the Dixies is not people disagreeing with them; people who came out against the group have as much of a right to their opinions as the group does. But death threats? Banning them from radio stations? What's next? Book burnings, Nazi Germany style?

Bottom line - on Howard today, someone from the group (I'm not sure who - couldn't tell) said it best in explaining the group's negative statements about the president:

"I don't want people to die for a reason that has not been proven to us." It doesn't get much more sage than that.

Anyway, I think this group has a lot of moxie, and some of their tunes aren't bad, either. Their remake of Fleetwood's timeless classic Landslide is one of the best remakes I've heard in years.

The group has since retracted their apology to the president, and they are as feisty as ever. Bravo. Their new album, Taking the Long Way, has a great tune on it entitled Not Ready to Make Nice, and it alludes to the whole controversy. Take a read of these lyrics:

Not Ready to Make Nice

Forgive, sounds good

Forget, I’m not sure I could

They say time heals everything

But I’m still waiting

^

I’m through with doubt

There’s nothing left for me to figure out

I’ve paid a price

And I’ll keep paying

^

I’m not ready to make nice

I’m not ready to back down

I’m still mad as hell and

I don’t have time to go round and round and round

It’s too late to make it right

I probably wouldn’t if I could

‘Cause I’m mad as hell

Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

^

I know you said

Can’t you just get over it

It turned my whole world around

And I kind of like it

^

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby

With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’

It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her

Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger

And how in the world can the words that I said

Send somebody so over the edge

That they’d write me a letter

Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing

Or my life will be over

^

I’m not ready to make nice

I’m not ready to back down

I’m still mad as hell and

I don’t have time to go round and round and round

It’s too late to make it right

I probably wouldn’t if I could

‘Cause I’m mad as hell

Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

^

I’m not ready to make nice

I’m not ready to back down

I’m still mad as hell and

I don’t have time to go round and round and round

It’s too late to make it rightI probably wouldn’t if I could

‘Cause I’m mad as hell

Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

^

Forgive, sounds good

Forget, I’m not sure I could

They say time heals everything

But I’m still waiting

**

Damn right! America needs a much bigger fix of what the Chicks are offering though their inspirational, and, dare I say it, patriotic, lyrics.