"Fear. It is eating the world alive, and we are leading the way once again."

By GottaLaff

If you're already experience nausea from SCROTUS's United Corporations of America decision, grab some Compazine, because I'm about to induce more:

Yes, Fear. It is eating the world alive, and we are leading the way once again.

This week the Supreme Court of the United States, the last hope for the people, shocked us, no stunned us, writing that not only are corporations “people” but also that they have a right to “free speech” as guaranteed under the Constitution. It appears that the majority of Justices – all placed in their high-backed leather chairs by men of greed – forgot that corporations are “fictitious” persons giving them rights in civil law, not some constitutional protection to engage in wholesale deceit and propaganda.

Remember the right to free speech carries with it the potential to lie. [...]

This decision will spread its ugliness throughout the land, perhaps enveloping the earth like a disease, and deny freedom of information to the people of the world. This may be more terrifying than the loss of free speech itself, for the loss of free information here is defined as the loss the truth.

That is a message that dovetails with one I've posted about often: Loss of truth, the spread of misinformation and lies, the dumbing down and "brainwashing" of America, all contribute to the increasing erosion of a real democracy.

The fewer people who understand the issues, the more uneducated voters will prevail at the ballot box.

H/t: 1Kecko

Poll-itics: Majority Approves Of “Angry Attacks,” But Disapproves Of “Shouting Down”

By GottaLaff

From the Dep't. of WTF:

This new USA Today/Gallup poll is the first reputable polling I’ve seen on how the town halls are playing. [...]

It finds that more view the protesters at town halls sympathetically than not:

34% say the sometimes heated protests at sessions held by members of Congress have made them more sympathetic to the protesters’ views; 21% say they are less sympathetic.

[...] [I]t’s unclear from this write up whether the town hall rowdies have changed minds either way. [...]

By 51%-41%, those surveyed say individuals making “angry attacks” on a health care bill reflected “democracy in action” rather than “abuse of democracy.”

…but then there’s also this, which suggests the opposite:

However, by 59%-33% they say “shouting down supporters” of a health care bill was an abuse of democracy.

Conflicted much? But that aside...

There should be some serious control measures taken at these town hall meetings. In addition to that, the Dems better get their act/message together immediately. The news cycles are all about the drama, not the substance of health care reform.

However, both topics affect our lives deeply. Health care reform for all the obvious reasons, and eliminating this mob mentality, because human lives and the fiber of our democracy are at stake.

Both need to be addressed, but not as reality shows.

It's long past due for the news media [sic] to grow up and do some real reporting.

GOP: You Either Believe in Democracy for Both Iran and U.S. or You Don't Believe in Democracy

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash:

GOP: You Either Believe in Democracy for Both Iran and U.S. or You Don't Believe in Democracy

So who are these lefty, pinko, crazed politicians? Why, they are House Minority Leader John Boehner, former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. [...]

Where was this Republican outcry in 2000 or 2004? The Iranian government has called for a partial recount, just like the Bush team wanted in 2000.

And this doesn't even dive into irregularities over preventing and deterring people from getting to vote in all of the above cases.

Republicans are fond of being more concerned about those in other countries rather than focus on those at home. Democrats haven't been completely blameless, either, often going along with their misguided policies.

There's your nibble. Now go for the whole enchilada here.

Freedom of the press declines in every region in 2008

By GottaLaff

Will someone please loosen my muzzle? I'm trying to communicate here:

Journalists around the globe should have little reason to think that freedom of the press is safe, according to a survey report released on Friday by Freedom House, a human rights advocacy group. Freedom House’ annual ‘freedom of the press report’ analyzed the state of the news media in 195 countries; advocates found that the freedom of the press declined in every region for the first time since the annual report was published.

The report, which can be found at the Freedom House website, recorded the seventh straight year in overall declines in freedom of the press worldwide.

Seventh year... think. Think. What does that coincide with...? Nah.

“Improvements in a small number of countries — including bright spots in parts of South Asia and Africa — were overshadowed by a continued, relentless assault on independent news media by a wide range of actions, in both authoritarian states and countries with very open media environments.” [...]

“The journalism profession today is up against the ropes and fighting to stay alive, as pressures from governments, other powerful actors and the global economic crisis take an enormous toll,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “The press is democracy’s first defense and its vulnerability has enormous implications for democracy if journalists are not able to carry out their traditional watchdog role.”

It's really hard to type when I'm wringing my hands.

More here.

Some Iraqis already skeptical of democracy

By GottaLaff

Wasn't "democracy" the reason one of the kazillion reasons that Bush illegally invaded a sovereign country that hadn't attacked us first? Why yes. Yes it was:

Some are so soured on the government's ability to get things done, they've already turned apathetic in Iraq's early days of democracy.

"I won't participate in the upcoming elections," said Nahar Fakhri Sadoon, 58, of the southern city of Basra. [...]

But Iraqis said it is difficult for them to have faith in government when they don't see it working for them. In the nearly six years since the U.S. invaded Iraq, the government has been unable to fix major infrastructure problems, leaving the majority of Iraqis without reliable running water and continuous electricity. [...]

And unemployment remains high, with Iraqis seeing little or no improvement in their personal economic situations, the report states.

In a nationwide survey, only 16% of Iraqis reported being "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with the amount of electricity they were receiving.

On the bright side, 16% is higher than Cheney's final approval rating.

Abu Abdullah, 52, a mechanical engineer:

"These are things in touch with your everyday life. . . . At least what I want to see in the future is that we return to the same level of infrastructure as before 2003." [...]

Many Iraqis also cited corruption as an ongoing problem in Iraq. Leaders rise to positions they don't deserve and relatives are awarded lucrative contracts, several said.

Khazraji Ali, 35, who runs a clinic in the southern city of Diwaniya and teaches at a medical school said...

...most of the people he knows plan on voting for a friend or relative who can benefit them once in office.

Just like BushCo and their Bestest Big Biz Buds! See what a swell model Bush's America is for Iraq? Democracy in action.