Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

Consider the fact that
Maybe you've been brainwashed too
Many will tell you otherwise
I bet you trust your bank
Just wait until it tanks
Your parents had it planned
We're almost like them?
Fun, racist professional sports
Management gets the real rewards
Multi-national owned evening news
If we believe we're fools
You watch 4.5 hours of t.v a day
And we should listen to what you say?
Opinions on life and the world
You eat at the Hard Rock abroad and disrespect your girl
Sexism is so ingrained
that women get the blame
Is it smug middle-class satisfaction you peddle?
Better hope your car don't break down in the Ghetto
Rich companies lobby best
Use their products, prepare to lose a breast
Why your sick mother's health insurance got
"Accidentally" cancelled is no mystery
Somebody's paying the government a lot
To have access to everybody's medical history
Greedy banks bought all the farms
Chemical food, aren't our lives charmed
Teenagers baited, their money spent
With credit cards at twenty percent
Too broke to worry about the loan
Their funkin turning off your phone
And politics, a f***ing joke
Right and left; they're both a hoax
Just hope the "international" markets don't crash!
Rock 'n' Roll! Some truth? Alas!
Careerist cowards sucking ass
Is real investigative reporting dead?
Of course, but keep watching your CNN
The glitz, the glamor, all jokes aside
If a sponsor pays enough, they'd turn a blind eye
On third world genocide
"Bro, don't get heavy, the bills are paid!"
Twice a week (missionary style) we all get laid
Middle management goes first, you're out on your ass
Most ignorance is bred at home
Good Christian families? then why condone
Petty hatred of anythng different or new
The fat girl hung herself in June
No love at home, they thought she was strong
Her classmates made her up her own song
"Piggy Peggy ate everyone's pie"
"The kids moved on," one teacher cried
The kids switched targets
The week after she died
Well? human nature won't change much
Unless we make a shameful bunch
Of those we see so glaringly
Who show hate, ignorance, and hypocracy
Don't be a coward - make a stand!
Get in their face - act like a ham
Let people know it's not PC
To be greedy and judgemental under the guise of religion and democracy
Get loud and stand up every time
If you even give a f*** about mankind
Cuz if human nature don't evolve soon
Don't kid yourself, you're f***ing doomed!
Don't run away from change and growth
Let's start right now, "I take the oath!"
But first accept one simple truth
That maybe you've been brainwashed too

3:40- 5:40


Maybe, just maybe you’ve been brainwashed too.
Charisma- a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which s/he is "set apart" from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These as such are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as divine in origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader

Generally, personality cults are most common in regimes with totalitarian systems of government, that seek to radically alter or transform society according to revolutionary new ideas. Often, a single leader becomes associated with this revolutionary transformation, and he becomes treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation, without whom the transformation to a better future cannot occur.

The Charisma Mandate

“What is troubling about the campaign is that it’s gone beyond hope and change to redemption,” said Sean Wilentz
“It’s posing as a figure who is the one person who will redeem our politics. And what I fear is, that ends up promising more from politics than politics can deliver.”

From the day Mr. Obama announced his candidacy, he has billed it as a movement, and himself as the agent of generational change

Accounts of the campaign’s “Camp Obama” sessions, to train volunteers, have a revivalist flavor. Volunteers are urged to avoid talking about policy to potential voters, and instead tell of how they “came” to Mr. Obama.

“To confuse this with Teddy Roosevelt or J.F.K. or F.D.R. is to make a fundamental historical error,” he said. “It’s confusing the offer of leadership with the offer of redemption. One offers specific programs, the other is hope and change. Certainly F.D.R. gave hope, but he was going to do it through these various programs.

“If you don’t talk about issues in great detail, if you do it in a way that is not the centerpiece of your campaign, of your rhetoric, then you become a blank screen,” Mr. Wilentz said. “Everybody thinks you are the vehicle of their hopes.”

New Radicals- Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too [download]



Barack Obama lives for our sins and would die for them as well

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Whither the White Man?

After all this talk and hype about history being made in this election, what with the first female candidate, first half black candidate and the oldest candidate something has been lost in the shuffle.
Oh yes, the white man, who seem for the first time in the history of Western Civilization to be losing their power. But if you think that you're perhaps a tad naive- power keeps power and the white man still controls the show from behind the scenes, and no we're not talking about the Masons or Illuminati or Tri-Lateral Commission or some other organization that conspiracy theorist rail against but rather in that newest cabal "super delegates!"

from Politico

In an ironic twist to the historic Democratic nominating contest between an African-American and a woman, the balance of power may be held by a more familiar face: the white male.

According to a Politico analysis, close to half of the 700-plus Democratic superdelegates who could end up determining the party nominee are white men.

One Obama superdelegate, a House member, had sharp criticism for the superdelegate racial and gender makeup, a reaction that reflects the sensitivities surrounding the issue.

“It’s still the old guard, the white men. They always want to control the outcome,” the superdelegate said. “But this time, they won’t be able to do it.”

That strong response could portend a messy intraparty fight in the event that superdelegates cast the decisive votes for the nominee.

The exact percentage of white males varies slightly depending on whether the penalized Michigan and Florida delegation superdelegates are counted, but the overall percentage is at least 46 percent. Overall, men of all races represent 64 percent of the party’s superdelegates.

Unlike traditional pledged delegates, superdelegates are unbound by the outcome of any primary vote or caucus. They are allowed to make their own choice for the nomination, and this year, the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are aggressively courting their support in the event that superdelegate votes are needed to determine which candidate wins the nomination.

Representing about 20 percent of all delegates to the Democratic National Convention, the superdelegate roster is composed of members of Congress, other elected officeholders and party officials.

The percentage of white male superdelegates is disproportionate to the share of white males who make up the overall Democratic electorate. According to a January 2008 national poll by Zogby International, 28 percent of Democratic voters are white men. Women account for 55 percent of Democratic voters.

But superdelegates have never reflected the diversity of the Democratic party as a whole, nor were they designed to. They represent the party insiders, a group that white men still dominate.

Among the superdelegates, including Michigan's and Florida's, there are 28 governors (21 white men), 49 senators (33 white men) and 228 representatives (137 white men). Members of the Democratic National Committee are also superdelegates, and among this group, there is more diversity.

Many superdelegates were not surprised that there were so many white males in their ranks.

“Obviously it’s an imperfect system. It smacks a lot of the old state legislatures electing senators,” said Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.), an Obama supporter. “I do think you’ll see some kind of reform after this to make it binding with the majority of votes.”

It seems on the Democratic side "whitey" will have to choose someone not like them (unless Mike Gravel pulls out the greatest miracle since that one guy but this Fox News personality Bob Beckel (former Democrat) lays it all out on the line when discussing the general election and the ever important cracker vote and the two kinds of people "crackers" will never vote for and...you guessed it! blacks and women

Yup. Shed no tears for whitey, at least not today

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Mike For America

from the Yale Daily News (emboldening is my own)

Mike Gravel admits the Democratic nomination for president is out of his reach. But he has his eyes on a different prize.

“I’m in this all the way to the end,” Gravel said in an interview with the News on Tuesday night. “The end is Nov. 3.”

The former Alaska senator says he plans to stay in the race until Election Day — although he does not yet know how, he admits. Gravel did not say whether continuing his campaign after the Democratic convention in August would mean running as an independent.

But he said he is committed.

“That’s not idle talk,” he said. “If you know anything about my background, when I say something, I really mean it.”

What keeps Gravel going, he said, is his vision of direct democracy, the topic of a Yale Political Union debate that he headlined Tuesday night. Speaking on the resolution, “Resolved: Power to the People,” Gravel said America can solve the grave problems it faces — among them the war in Iraq, health care, education, taxes and the environment — only by enlisting citizens as lawmakers through ballot initiatives and other reforms that would expand direct involvement in government.

“Change cannot come from representative government,” Gravel said during his remarks, which lasted about 15 minutes and were followed by 40 minutes of questions. “Representative government is broken, broken, broken.”

And on a night when Gravel’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, wrapped up key victories in the mid-Atlantic primaries, Gravel took aim at Obama’s campaign mantra.

“From the other candidates you hear a lot of fluff, a lot of tiddlywinks. They don’t take names and kick butt,” Gravel said in his speech, which was delivered without notes. “Here comes a politician running a campaign for president saying he is going to heal the country — we’re going to have blue skies and everyone is going to hold hands. That is unadulterated bullshit.” [Ed. Note: Yes!Yes!Yes!]

But Gravel, who is currently polling at 0 percent in national surveys, said it “would take almost an act of God” for him to beat Obama. The comment elicited thunderous laughter and applause — one of several uproarious outbursts during his speech. Another came when he admitted to having tried marijuana and cocaine.

After acknowledging his remote chances of capturing the White House, Gravel went on to describe what kind of president he would be.

“If I’m president, I’ll only serve four years and I’ll spend them going around the country bullying people to become lawmakers,” he said, fighting back a cough. “And if they don’t, I will resign, because if they don’t care enough to become lawmakers and don’t vote to empower themselves, then I don’t care enough to be their leader.”

While Gravel said he thinks his message is appealing to voters, he said the press has blocked it from reaching them. Because his message threatens them, the mainstream media have ignored his campaign, he alleged.

“They’d lose their power and influence when people get power,” he said. “The five corporations who control what you hear would have their power diluted if the people were in power.”

Wearing a “No War” lapel pin and a red tie inscribed with the cursive of the Declaration of Independence, Gravel said the media is “manipulating” this presidential election the same way they manipulated the run-up to the Iraq War.

One honest angry man is all this country needs. I believe in Gravel
Power to the People, Give Mike a chance

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The Dog Lover’s Guide to the Presidential Election

Aka “What Dogs Look Like Each Candidate”

I’m afraid of what this says about the direction of the newspaper industry but it’s still bizarre enough to be entertaining, and because I know you racked your brain thinking of this very same topic.

From the Baltimore Sun (the same newspaper currently getting shredded on The Wire”)

Today the Mutts blog brings you Part One of "The Dog Lovers' Guide to the Presidential Election," a special report that asks, and answers, the question, "If the presidential candidates were dogs, what breed would they be?"

Today, we bring you the Democratic front runners. Tomorrow, in addition to wishing you a Super Tuesday, we'll unveil the Republicans. And on Wednesday, in the belief that every candidate should get his doggie due, we'll show you the lesser-knowns and also-rans.

The decisions on which breed the individual candidates most closely resemble were based both on physical appearance and personality, and the breed descriptions and behavioral characteristics that follow all come directly and without alteration from reputable sources including the American Kennel Club, the Kennel Club in London and Petplanet.co.uk.

This may even tell you who Mike Vick would support, if he actually voted
You can click on the link to learn more about the characteristics of each breed, and perhaps what the Mutts editors perceive in each respective candidate

On with the Dog Show:

Hillary Clinton – Labradoodle



Barack Obama - Great Dane



John McCain - Pug




Mitt Romney - Smooth Fox Terrier (this dog’s breed really sounds like the name of a pimp)




Mike Huckabee – Beagle (that description makes me think that my dog’s part beagle…who knew?)





Duncan Hunter - Standard Schnauzer





Alan Keyes - Standard Poodle




Fred Thompson - English Bulldog (I’ve always wanted a bulldog. I’d name him Winston)




Mike Gravel - Samoyed





Rudolph Giuliani - French Bulldog




John Edwards - Golden Retriever





Ron Paul - Welsh Corgi




Dennis Kucinich - Jack Russell Terrier




via Radar

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Jezebel Interviews Mike Gravel

The Candidate You Didn't Know You Wanted (And Probably Didn't Vote For)

Did you vote yet? Are you a Democrat bemoaning the departure of Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, et. al. or are you conflicted about Obama vs. Hillary? Take heart: Mike Gravel is still in the race! (In states where it isn't hugely expensive to get on the primary ballot, that is). Gravel is experienced: he has been a state legislator and a Senator, run a business and spent a few years working, without a salary, for a non-profit dedicated to getting Americans the right to ballot initiatives on the federal level. He's angry about the war too! (He thinks WWII was the only armed conflict that was absolutely necessary). And he's supportive of women's rights. In fact, speaking of women, when many of you took a candidate-matching survey a few months back, he ranked at the top of many lists, but I'll bet most of you didn't take a closer look. Why is that? Well, Mike's got some answers...

Megan: So, the reason I wanted to interview you is that a couple months back, Jezebel invited its readers to take a candidate match survey and an absurd proportion of readers found you at the top of their lists when going on issues alone. Mike: Actually, I get that a lot. It's really interesting to me because it just shows that when people know where I stand they end up finding out we have a lot in common. The problem is that the corporate owned media has gone out of its way to stop me from being visible.

Megan: So, it's not just Jezebel readers? Interesting. I did notice that you were kept out of the (many) recent debates, and then they did it to Kucinich too.
Mike: Kucinich didn't lift a finger when they did it to me, actually.

Megan: Sort of like, when they came for the labor unionists, I didn't say anything, huh? But, why do you think that is that they decided to keep people out? It's not like you got an equal amount of time to talk, or that the most recent debates were more interesting because they were smaller.
Mike: In my case, I'm well know to the Powers That Be, and they know that I'm not politics and usual and that I'm not afraid to go out and do stuff even if people disagree with it. Those that are informed, particular those companies [like GE, parent company of NBC] that are part of the military industrial complex, they know me very well and they know that I'm the last person in the world they want to see in power. Unless they're looking for good government, they know there's no way to influence me.

As for the body politic, the elected officials in Washington, they don't understand that the most important change we can make is to empower the American people with the same power they have: to make laws. They're opposed to that. They don't even understand it. What I want to do is give the power of lawmaking back to the people, by allowing ballot initiatives and referenda at the federal level.

Megan: Well, by those metrics, how do you think your campaign is going so far? It's obviously been difficult attracting attention despite a relatively simple series of policy messages.
Mike: Well, I've spent $300,000 so far, half of which came from me and the other half from small, individual donations. It makes it hard to compete with candidates that can and will spend $300 million and more. But, we're getting along. I'm getting some earned media, like this interview, based on my positions which is really helpful.

Megan: Well, that's kind of cool. But, if you wouldn't mind a terrible segue, can we talk about some of your positions? One of the issues of utmost importance to Democratic voters is the War in Iraq. You've been a strong anti-war advocate for your entire political career. Has there been a war you were keen on?
Mike: I am strongly against war- all of them. Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and soon Iran. While I think that World War II was necessary, it only became necessary because Woodrow Wilson got us involved in World War I and the aftermath of that.

For me, that's the crux of the matter. Wars do not solve problems, they merely beget other wars. That's the tragedy of history... Iraq is not a problem. The problem is that we will go into another war, in part because the military-industrial complex needs conflict to justify production. The underlying structure that permits this to go forward is this attitude of American imperialism. We have a military presence in 130 countries and 700 military bases around the world. If Americans understood this, they wouldn't be for it. They don't want to to be the world's policemen- not when we have an educational system that is shameful, a health system that is shameful and a crumbling infrastructure. What we're doing is following the pattern of prior empires, particularly the Spanish empire who became the sword-makers to the world and were lost in the fog of history.

The people that are running for President, that are left on the scene today, are all supporting this imperialist trend, particularly McCain and Hillary Clinton and even Obama, who doesn't even know that he's supporting it.

Megan: But, let's draw a distinction between you and another candidate who's against American imperialism -- Ron Paul. He's for isolationism. That's not your position, I'm given to understand.
Mike: Oh, goodness, no, I'm not an isolationist. Ron would retreat to Fortress America. What I want us to do is to take our place as an equal in the world and commit to the United Nations and work for world governance and world peace. We now have globalization of the economy; of science; of the ability to destroy the planet; and of the environment. You can't just turn back time. He's steeped in that redneck philosophy that we can't give up sovereignty. I'm suggesting that we move some of that sovereignty away from the nation-state structure and into a world governance structure. We will never have peace on earth until we have global governance. The United Nations is a good charter but it's not functioning on its charter, it's become paralyzed and non-functional as states seek to use it to protect sovereignty at all costs. That's not how to get to world peace.

Megan: That's an interesting perspective. Not too many candidates are advocating world government, so to speak. How does this tie into your position on immigration? Do you feel that your experience as a first generation American informed your position on immigration?
Mike:: Although my parents were both French-Canadians who immigrated here in the twenties, I wouldn't say that their experience motivated my position on immigration, except to realize that you come to love your country through choice. They were really proud to become Americans. My attitude toward immigration comes from living various parts of the country, knowing a lot of various minorities in the community I grew up in and where I studied ... I was never exposed to Latinos until I lived in California when I developed a great deal of respect for their willingness to work hard in this country, which is a value that I got from my father.

But, the immigration issue is nothing more than scapegoating. We have an immigration problem in the minds of our leaders, not in the economy. Because our economy is failing, though, they're looking for someone to blame. There's an interesting parallel: the EU, which is surging ahead of us in many facets of development, they just had 6 countries which lowered all their barriers to the movement of people and capital. But we're erecting a fence on the Southern border. If I were President, I would lower barriers, and I would like to see some of further unity in North American, some sort of central economic entity, to try to match the EU and China on the global stage

Megan: Ok, I apologize, I'm really awful at interview segues, but I do want to take a minute to talk about women's issues for our readers. You are a really progressive candidate on the issues of importance to Jezebel readers, and I just wanted you to talk about them for a minute.
Mike: It's not just women's issues. It's gay rights. It's the drug war, too. It's about individual rights. Let's start with the drug war. Everyone knows marijuana isn't addictive or a gateway drug or anything. But, we arrested 800,000 people last year for marijuana crimes. This is appalling, especially when you consider that we could have spent this money on things like health care. Women are in more danger at childbirth than in any other major industrialized country in the world. It's appalling, and yet we're spending the money that could change that on jailing people who smoke marijuana.

When it comes to abortion, we have a government that, whether it's run by Republicans or even Democrats, has failed to make education about sex, sensuality or love the preeminent education of our children. What is more important in life than that? We make out that something's dirty about sex, and let religion get a hold of what we can do in the bedroom. It's appalling, and there's no reason for this. We're free people, and the definition of freedom is the participation in power. When you as a woman lose power over your body by virtue of people determining when you can procreate, then you're not free. Whether you want to talk about LGBT rights or sex education or anything to do with procreation, the dispensing of condoms, needles... health should be the preeminent concern and the government should get out of the equation after that.

We need more women getting elected to public office, definitely. But I have not seen in my career that women who get into power act that much differently than men. For instance, since I'm in California, Barbara Boxer is very liberal and very good, but Diane Feinstein is more politics as usual. Nancy Pelosi is a liberal politician by virtue of her district, but as Speaker she has governed the same way as any man did before her, and it's disappointing. I would love nothing more than to see a minority or a woman as President. But I want the right woman, or the right minority person: one who believes in civil rights, and who believes in peace and not in defense spending. Otherwise, what's the use? It's just voting for the same policies in different clothing.

Megan: That's a really harsh indictment of some pretty seniors Democratic politicians, and I'm not brave enough to delve any deeper than that. So, let's talk a little about you. On a more personal note, what would you say is your biggest regret?
Mike: My biggest regret was when I was in the Senate, I was very controversial. I was a maverick. I used to get a lot of pressure from my staff, and peer pressure, to be more like everyone else. And I regret not being hard enough, not being more partisan, because that's when I got things accomplished. Today there is this whole attitude that we have to reach across the barriers of parties to accomplish anything. But, by reaching across barriers, they don't actually end up accomplishing anything. Whether it was ending the draft or building the Alaskan pipeline, reading the Pentagon papers or stopping nuclear testing in the North Pacific, all of that was done in my first four years, and none of it was done by reaching across the aisle. By reaching across, what it means is that you put the lobbyists in charge, by giving them more control.

Megan: One thing I hear a lot from some readers is that it's supposedly really important to band together and vote for the candidate most likely to win against the "other" guy rather than voting one's conscience. It's something that really frosts my ass [Yes, I really said this] because it seems to me that it flies completely in the face of the whole point of voting. I thought you might have something to say about that.
Mike: You have it absolutely right. If you vote for power over substance, then you won't ever get either. You've got to vote for substance regardless of who you think will win, because you'll see that substance will win out in the end.

Megan: Any last thoughts?
Mike: The key to everything I stand for is: the definition of freedom is participation in power. The American people at the federal level do not participate in power. They give it away on election day, because they vote for people to make laws rather than the laws themselves. So, we don't have the freedom we think we have, and it shows.

I really think there's something incredibly noble and inherently American about all these "long shot" presidential candidates who travel around the country scrapping by talking to only a few people at a time with no realistic chance of winning. I think it would be an amazingly fascinating documentary to follow around a "Mike Gravel" candidate.
It's all just tilting at windmills but it's just like Sam said about the Republican running in his district in New York on Process Stories

God Bless American Dreamers

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