Saturday, September 02, 2006

Country Continues Listing to the Right

Mike Malloy, a passionate, fire-breathing liberal, has been fired from Air America Radio. Even bean counters from a network whose claimed mission is to speak for the rest of us, can't stomach too much truth to power.

DailyKos commenters have mostly shrugged and bashed Malloy for "too many rants." Apparently they think a public that has supported incoherent ravings from right-wing loons, spewing hate and racism and contempt for the middle-class, such a public won't support heartfelt diatribes from liberals.

As if milquetoast wimps like Colmes is what is needed to win friends and influence people.

The American ship is listing to the right, taking on an unending stream of corporate corruption and abuse, while Captain Bush and cronies look the other way.

Republicans own 3 branches of government. In this scenario, democracy depends on a free, independent media to survive. Unfortunately, corporate media long ago submitted to its Republican masters.

We're so far down the facism road that the media no longer writes right-wing puff pieces to stave off the lie of being liberal, they now enjoy being part of the problem.

You want a fat contract, best access, invites to the Washingtonian galas? Praise Bush, love Lott, call McCain "maverick" and "center-right", and never allow anyone to be named left or liberal without derision.

I don't see conspiracies everywhere; I don't wear a tinfoil hat. There's just been too much concentration of wealth, too much growth in chasm between filthy rich and the rest of us, and too much corruption in our churches where preachers are little more than whoring politicians whom preach hate to their followers. Hate the Muslims, hate the blacks, if you're black, hate the gays; if you're gay, hate single mothers.

If you pay attention, everything is good for Republicans according to the media. There is an absolute refusal to present an honest account of events that embarass the President or neo-cons.

Read the story linked below: it covers another victim of globalization, where we have unilaterally disarmed. Where in the name of "free trade", we engage in devastatingly unfair trade. Our workforce is forced to compete against offshore workers who are abused, grossly underpaid, and work in conditions that violate every one of our labor, safety, and environmental laws.

This story is no brainer; it's just another tragedy that's happening every day in this country. Cover some of the human interest, lost jobs and lost lives. If we had a real media, discussion of the terrible policies that lead to this mess would be appropriate, but alas, real media left us years ago.

So how is this story actually covered? Each time a life turned upside down is mentioned, a cute little "boot-strap puller" aside is mentioned. The loss of good-paying jobs, the destruction of the middle-class, is okay; because the cute little peasants will survive on minimum wage.

"Mostly, people who were struggling before the closure, like Harris, continue to struggle; those who had planned well, those with resources, talents and interests outside the factory, seemed to land comfortably."

"He tends the bar, dispenses soda, serves sandwiches and hot dogs, takes money for greens fees and carts. He makes much less money but feels like he has been given back his life."

"For now they live comfortably off the two unemployment checks they receive.

They have talents beyond the assembly line. Both are good bakers. Debbie is an expert cake decorator. They can install siding, butcher meat. Debbie's brothers own a local chain of grocery stores called the Village Market. 'If worst comes to worst,' Debbie said, 'we can work for them. We'll be OK. I'm not too worried.'"

"Like the Ralphs, many of their fellow townspeople are handy with most things, sqeamish about few, able to fix their own cars, grow and hunt some of their own food. One neighbor performed a home autopsy on his dog."


What the fuck is this nonsense? Christ, this journalist tells the story like the audience is a bunch of royal asshats fascinated and inspired by the spirit and vigor of the dirty, struggling unwashed. "Listen to this Elizabeth, not only did the move of our factory to Mexico result in huge boost in our captial gains income, blissfully avoiding those nasty payroll taxes; but we've given the brown people and the rubes a chance to get back to their roots; arts and crafts and sustenance farming. I hear it was absolutely back-breaking work, but those who did it were forever grateful to their lords for the opportunity."

You think I'm joking? It's literally included in this piece of crap:

"Their town began in the mid 1800s with a sawmill. Trees covered the gentle hillsides; once cleared, the land was farmed by Danish immigrants."


And today we rejoice as the town returns to its roots, giving up hedonistic luxuries like electricity and currency to return to the life lived by their ancestors; their stooped-over, short-lived ancestors.

I'd love to say "fuck Electrolux" and rejoice that my own fridge is a GE, but you can probably count on one hand the number of companies in this country who haven't done the exact same thing; enriching beyond belief the board of directors and knifing the rest of the family from behind.

Workers suffer, move on as plant closes: Yahoo! News
"Shutting down the Greenville plant and building a new one from scratch in Juarez, Mexico, made corporate sense. The infrastructure would be state of the art, labor costs slashed tenfold, the room for physical growth nearly unlimited.

So despite generous financial incentives by the county and state to stay in Greenville, Electrolux — like so many other companies retooling themselves in the global economy — looked southwards. The Swedish conglomerate set up a new center of manufacturing for North America, just across the border, minutes from El Paso, Texas.

The Greenville plant made side-by-side and top-mount Frigidaire models, more than a million a year. It was once the biggest refrigerator plant in North America.

Even in a state that has lost 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 1999 — 78,000 last year — the loss of the Electrolux plant was like a nuclear explosion, said Gov. Jennifer Granholm."

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