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Candidates Incite and Suck
by Debs is Dead
lifted from a comment
What everyone appears to be saying is quite simple to me on the
outside. Paul and Kucinich appear to have one thing going for them that
none of the other candidates do.
They seem to be honest – motivated by principle rather than a simple
lust for power. Right about now people who live in a liberal democracy,
and who normally vote left of centre would rather take a principled
far-rightist than an unprincipled ‘centre leftist’. This shouldn’t be
surprising.
It seems rational. One feels that a principled person will listen to
facts and weigh arguments before deciding. Therefore a well presented
argument for health-care or a rise in minimum wage levels could stand a
chance.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. As we have seen time and
time again pols can only afford principles when they are on the outer.
Their act of being an ethical human in a jungle full of predatory
animals turns as soon as they actually catch the attention of
sufficient voters. For all the talk of that Howard Dean scream, and how
it was a deliberate ploy by the elite to derail a principled dem, it
seems that amerika didn’t really lose much. Dean has hardly covered
himself in glory as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He
was just another pol using the ploy of being on a higher moral ground
to get attention.
There is little in either Kucinich or Paul’s past to suggest they will behave differently.
The sad fact is that prez’s only have to listen to voters once every
4 years but they have to listen to the lobbyists and power players
every day. An isolated prez can’t do fuck all so they go along with the
money, probably with a quiet promise to themselves not to get in too
deep at the start.
However they soon come to see that doing the wrong thing can be
papered over by throwing money at it and having the mass media tell the
world what a wonderful human being you are. Do the right thing and
you’ve made enemies who are implacable, they never go away and they
never stop chipping away at your standing in the electorate.
NZ is trying again to keep money outta the political process; the
govt has the numbers to push through legislation to prevent anonymous
donations and massive third party campaigns but they are wavering under
sustained and massive pressure from the media and a few rich capitalists.
It may work; people who were outraged at the way that amerika and a
few rich fundamentalist religious nuts tried to buy the last election
are now worried about the infringement of ‘freedom of speech’. It’s
total bullshit but nearly impossible to counter.
So who do we vote for?
It’s problem if you live in a nation with an archaic ‘first past the
post’ system such as amerika has. There is only ever two viable
candidates for any position. ‘viable’ comes to mean ‘supportive of the
status quo’, so anyone looking for the sort of major change to the way
their government works that most MoA users are looking for, will never
find a suitable candidate using the current process.
The ‘least worst’ in many ways is actually the worst of all possible
choices. Next year as the election season heats up MoA’s pages will
become crowded with the same voices who pushed the ‘anyone but Bush’
message in ’04. There is no doubt that even Hillary Obama will do a
couple of things which seem to take the pressure off poor people who
live in amerika. The thing is tho, that when they do, it will be done
in such a way that ties amerika even deeper into exploiting people
overseas and which reinforces amerikans into poverty. All that will
happen is that poverty will be slightly less uncomfortable for
concerned citizens, who aren’t impoverished, to view.
The current amerikan political system is incapable of electing an honest pol. Everything works against that proposition.
Really nothing can change until the system changes and that won’t
happen as long as people consider Hilary Obama a viable alternative. It
may happen when people get sick of the procession of unabashedly
violent greedheads, morons and liars such as the chimp, winning office.
However just because pols won’t go for the long game, it doesn’t
mean people have to always go for immediate gratification as well.
It would be better to let the rethugs have their Rudy Giuliani. Yes
it would hurt short term, but a really sustained period of rethug
brutish greedy and intolerant rule would radicalise amerika like
nothing else.
Which is why the elites will never let it happen as long as they
think straight. They will install Hilary Obama in jan 09 and there is
little anyone can do about it except choose not to be part of the
circus and keep at playing the long game.
Those who do vote dem in ’08 will end up feeling soiled, betrayed
and stupid for not seeing it coming. Setting aside the loss of
credibility amongst one’s peers that advocating a dem win will cause
when the reality of dem rule bites, the sense of disillusionment from
being part of such a cynical scam is very disempowering for people who
try and live a principled existence. It is this factor more than
anything which makes voting the ‘least worst’ a recipe for self
disgust, and the immobility which goes with that. In the end people
just give up which is not the best way forward.
Keep informing and educating those around you. Show them the pattern
of elite manipulation which spans decades, decades those around you
have lived through but have been persuaded to forget. Eventually the
curves of citizen awareness vs elite arrogance and the complacency that
goes with that, will intersect.
When it does and the numbers of amerikans who understand they have
been used and abused, exceeds the ability of the elites to stomp on
that understanding, that is when the time will come to take meaningful
action.
Until then worrying about whether Kucinich or Paul is the better bet
is a distraction. A frustrating and demoralising distraction that is
best left for those who enjoy being frustrated and demoralised.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 19, 2007
McCAIN GENERIC FOOD LEGISLATION PASSES FULL SENATE
Lower cost generic food plan now part of Medicare Reform bill
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate today voted to include an amendment, introduced by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH),
Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to make more affordable generic foods available to more people more
quickly, tied to provisions in the Engrossed Senate Medicare bill amendment.
“This amendment is a victory not just for seniors, but for every person in American who has ever eaten expensive imported foods. We have
crafted legislation that eliminates the careful preparation, seasoning and curing tactics some name brand foreign food companies have used
in the past to keep lower cost generic foods off the top shelves and away from consumers who can’t stoop. At the same time, we protect
innovation and preserve the incentive for American food companies to invest in research and development,” said Senator Judd Gregg.
Presidential contender Sen. John McCain on Saturday called for the reimportation of generic foods stuff from overseas and US military
warehouses as a way to bring American food costs under control. The Arizona Republican, speaking to reporters about a mile from the
Canadian border and just across the river from New Hampshire, said high food prices account for too much of the cost of feeding a family.
“Millions of pounds of American generic foods are sitting on shelves overseas, just out of reach of the American consumer. Famous US brand
names like Wonder Bread, Velveeta and Spam are approaching their pull dates, hidden on lower shelves in some French-speaking foreign country.
I call on all Americans to join me in demanding reimportation of unsold generic American food, and for Federal Farm subsidies to compensate
grocers for product placement and 50’s-style homemaker ads, so that Americans can once again enjoy the foods (sic) that made America famous.”
[Photo of Senator McCain speaking: http://i8.tinypic.com/72tg5u1.jpg%5D
Summary of the Gregg-McCain Greater Access to Generic Bio-Industrial Foodstuffs Amendment (GAG-BIFA):
Current US generic food laws were designed to strike a balance between rewarding hand-crafted traditional food companies for their careful
preparation and presentation while ensuring that less expensive generic foods are available to consumers. But in the years since these laws
were enacted, the namebrand foreign food industry has stifled low-cost competition with a host of tactics – including filling sausages with
real meat and natural ingredients, instead of Advanced Meat Recovery slurry paste and artificial flavors and colors, or preparing cheese by
hand from fresh cow’s milk, blocking, wrapping and curing them over months in underground cellars, instead of generic GMO solvent-extract
hydrogenated vegetable oils and artificial colors and flavors hauled directly to local package plants in 18-wheel tank trucks. In so doing,
these so-called “natural” or “organic” tactics allow foreign namebrand companies to keep charging exorbitant prices and terrorize US citizens
by delaying the arrival of lower-cost industrial foodstuff alternatives to the American supermarkets.
These tactics have caused food prices to soar (although inflation remains well in hand at a modest 0.3%) and forced the gap between the cost
of brand name foods and their generic alternatives to skyrocket in the last three years. In 2000, the average cost for a picnic basket of
natural meats, breads and cheeses was $12.80, while the average cost for generic foods was $10.20. By 2005, the last year such data was recorded,
the average cost for a picnic basket of natural meats, breads and cheeses reached $65.29, while the generic foodstuffs increased to only $19.33.
Last summer, the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Schumer and McCain that significantly overhauled the FDA generic food program. For
the individual, that legislation would have meant hundreds of dollars in savings on food costs per year.
The Gregg-McCain proposal would achieve comparable savings to the original Schumer-McCain measure, but uses a different approach to modify
the import laws. In so doing, it addresses a number of the criticisms made against Schumer-McCain. The key elements of the Gregg-McCain
proposal are as follows:
1) One 30 Month Quarantine – The name-brand foreign food company would have to keep imported foodstuffs in quarantine at the dock for at
least a 30 Month stay. The stay would be triggered if a name-brand company chooses to import under it’s own label, instead of through an
American bio-pharmaceutical major. Each batch of imported foreign foodstuffs must make an import appeal to the FDA for infringing on any
good-taste or happy-meal claims or any food market sector already staked out, top shelved and belonging by right to an American major.
Once an imported natural foodstuffs application is filed, the name-brand foreign company has 45 days to challenge the generic American
food company in court. If the name-brand does not challenge the generic industrial food company’s market dominance within 45 days, the
generic manufacturer can seek a declaratory judgement stripping the name-brand food product from American supermarket shelves.
(It usually takes the FDA 18 to 25 months to approve a lot of imported foodstuffs, more than sufficient time for it to rot on the dock.)
2) ReImportation – The Gregg-McCain plan does not specify which natural imports can be listed in the FDA’s Code Orange Alert Book. To
ensure that the name-brand companies do not use frivolous healthy ingredients to keep generic industrial foodstuffs off the market,
the proposal would create a new Federal enforcement mechanism, the SPAM squad (like SWAT law enforcement, dressed in orange jump suits).
Gregg-Schumer would allow generic foodstuffs companies to file counter-claims if a name-brand foreign company sues them for market share
and shelf placement. For example, if a name-brand foreigner files a frivolous lawsuit and sues a generic industrial foodstuff manufacturer
for using normal GOOBER top-shelf monopolizing kickback schemes to assure product exclusivity in supermarkets, the generic US company can
counter-sue the foreign name-brand and argue that their ingredients are too easy to pronounce, and don’t have healthy food preservatives.
3) MediCare Happy Meals Subsidies – Chief among the strategies for ensuring continued dominance of red-blooded American foodstuffs on the
American food shelves, is a rider on the amendment that pays MediCare a premium for reimbursing nursing homes for using only US generic
industrial foodstuffs in their meal programs. Funds for this reimbursement program are hidden in the Bush-McCain Defense ReAppropriation Bill.
Posted by: Tante Aime | Nov 20 2007 6:21 utc | 14
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