Communism! Beware!!

There have been a number of lame-brained attacks from the wingnuts about President Obama being socialist, communist, fascist, tyrant, and a number of other mutually exclusive terms. But I can't help but notice that as the country has careened further into unbridled capitalism, we have entered a much more communist lifestyle--not because of our government, far from it--because of the expansion of corporate power.

Just take a look at any suburban commercial center in America. What businesses do you see? A big-box store or two with corporate grocery stores, surrounded by a selection of franchised eating establishments, gas stations and other franchised small-box stores. If you go shopping in any of the stores, say, for pants, you will have a selection of one or two styles, and if you don't like them you can go to the other big-box and look at virtually the same garments with a different tag. This is consistent for goods from socks to cars.

When you've purchased your pants you can grab a venti latte that looks exactly the same as the last one. And when you want to get something to eat, you can get the same selection of entrees (faux-Australian, faux-Mexican, faux-Italian or faux-Texan) that were available at the other suburban commercial center. And after you eat the over-sized portion, you can go to the exact same movie that was available at the last multiple cineplex. And you pay for it with the same debit or credit card from the same mega-bank, with funds from the same corporate job as everyone else. The corporate goal has been realized: limit selection to control the market.

Now, what is more communist than a society in which all people look the same, all commercial centers are identical, and everyone drives home to the same pastel over sized boxes at the end of impersonal cul de sacs to watch the same shows and get their misinformation from the same cable network? Your $250 per month goes to the home owner's association so that all of the lawns and shrubs will look the same. Your SUV is cozy along side your sedan in your garage just like everyone else's. And we all go to hospitals owned by the same managed health care corporation, and pay for it by feeding the same enormous health insurance provider.

Looks like communism to me.

Just an observation.

health care reality

What is really shocking in the health care debate is how detached from reality the wingnuts and many dems are, and how they are blatantly in bed with the health care profiteers.

The mantra is that no one wants a single-payer system. Really? Which poll numbers are they going by? And, in reality we do have a single-payer, though it's more like a single-reaper. In Nebraska, there is one option for a business or school: Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS)of Nebraska. That's it. And when this thing boils down, look for the state Senators to defend them to the bitter end. Why? Well, let's look at what BC/BS represents.

In 2007 BC/BS raked in nearly $935 million, and sold coverage to 700,000 residents (about half the population). Nearly a billion dollareenees. That's $1,335 per insured. I don't have the figures on how much of that went to lobbyists and political campaigns. They also employed 985 people in Omaha alone, and their network includes 94% of the doctors in the state.

This is our system. You don't hear about them, and it's not on the 6:00 news that there is only one choice for health care, and they can do as they please. But you do hear from the corporate media what the pundit class thinks, and how bad our government is.

So, who is going to try and change the system? No one outside of the White House, that's who. When it comes down to it, BC/BS et al. will win. The status quo will remain, and the band will play on.

Today's Cheney

Still looking for a foothold in American (as opposed to Alaskan) politics, Ms. Sarah Palin has lurched from the Great White North. She has recently admonished the Obama Administration for proposing cuts to Alaska's missile defense system, calling it a "sign of weakness". First of all, a sign of weakness is running for vice president with the intellect of a adolescent mall rat. Second of all, did anyone know that Alaska had a missile defense system? Why? To protect caribou from ICBMs? WTF? OK, Palin, and your snowmobile driving, big gun toting, oil pumping, stoners, how much exactly do you think the rest of the country should fork over for this missile defense system? Does the damn thing even work? And if you tough wild frontier folk are so damn libertarian, why are you asking for millions and millions of our tax payer dollars to protect your fur underwear covered asses?

Sarah, honey, take your anti-American rhetoric, your rimless glasses, your Beverly Hillbilly look-alike Gucci and Armani outfit, and "go f@#k yourself"!