CITIZEN ALERT v5.04THE BECK RALLY

Here are some classic quotes I'm reading from MSNBC on the Beck rally that's going on in Washington today.

Military veteran Ken Fogg says he's here mainly to protest government spending by "this ridiculous administration." The president, he said, is "a communist."

Ken says he voted Republican in 2008 but is no fan of McCain, who failed to question Obama hard enough on issues like his legal birth certificate.

"We've got to turn back to God": Butch and Sylvia Wilson took a tour bus to D.C. with 50 other attendees from Harwood, Ga. this morning.

"He's just a puppy," Sylvia adds about Obama, "there's all kinds of people pulling his strings. Unions, George Soros, all the people in the administration."

CITIZEN ALERT v5.03THE POLICE CAN SECRETLY TRACK YOU

From CNN:

Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person's car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling in California.

This would fall under the category of WTF?!!!! See link for story.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/27/oregon.gps.surveillance/index.html?hpt=T1

CITIZEN ALERT v5.02CONTRADICTIONS CONTINUE IN GOP

Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay, The Atlantic magazine's politics editor reported Wednesday.

See full story on MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38857056/ns/politics-more_politics/

CITIZEN ALERT v5.01B CORPS

Interesting article on B Corps that a friend pointed the way to in Esquire by John H. Richardson this week. Check it out. It's a quick read on Americas move from Shareholder Capitalism toward Stakeholder Capitalism.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/b-corp-082310?src=rss

CITIZEN ALERT v4.07BP DOES BUSINESS RIGHT

CITIZEN ALERT v4.06THE GRAY VIEW

I've often told people not to look at the world in such a black and white, wrong and right point of view. The world is a huge place, full of an enormous amount of people, all trying to survive, each with a bag full of issues that overlap into other peoples issues. One issue affecting directly or indirectly the outcome of another issue immediately or in some lagging fashion.

The world is gray. This makes it a terribly difficult place to make one's voice heard over the static so to cut through all the white noise, issues can be distilled down to a more concise presentation and displayed in a more black and white manner. This is how politicians have been communicating to you since, well, forever. One can not go on TV and hope to convey the fullness that is the drug industry/drug economics and have most people understand it or want to even pay attention. It's much easier to just declare "war" on it, and leave it at that. THAT you can put on a poster. THAT you can get a sound bite off of. THAT might get you votes.

Abortion - you're either for it or against it. Those are your only two choices. There is no thinking to be done outside the box. That would involve time and another check box on the ballot.

I thought I had this in my head safe and sound, but I was reminded how tricky it is sometimes and how stupid I can be and let something slip past me as I was watching a debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza on the questions Is Religion a Force for Good or Evil? and Can you be Good without God? Both of them pointed out that these battles between religions while seemingly in the name of religion are in fact not. Usually, it's simply about land.

In my head, I instantly jumped to some friendly debates I had been having on the internet where I was arguing that terrible things had been done in the name of Christianity as much as they had with Islam. This is wrong. This is me falling for the black and white presentations and then spitting it back out again. Now I just felt like an idiot.

I remember when the US went into Afghanistan and we had Bin Laden on the run. I thought this guy was a terrible man, a lunatic, but a lunatic that had beliefs he was willing to back up. Then I heard the reports of him and Omar fleeing through Tora Bora radioing to their followers to martyr themselves against the American forces. I remember thinking, well why isn't HE martyring himself? It's because he's a fake. A complete fake. He didn't really believe in what he was doing because he had other issues he was actually fighting for. Land, Saudi Arabia, politics, power. These were too complex to convey to the masses and far too greedy to find followers, so they were presented in Black and White - Islam vs. Christianity, Muslims vs. Americans.

Back at home our then "president", a couple of years later would tell this enemy to "bring it on". Easy for him to say standing on the other side of the world in an air conditioned Oval Office surrounding by luxury while some 18 yr old is dodging gun fire for him. He was a fake too. What his administration wanted could not be explained in a manner that would facilitate the funds needed to carry out their issues. Black and White.

When you hear of a suicide bomber, it is another radical Muslim battling America. Is it? Or is it more complicated than that? Is it a person so poor, believing that they're going to heaven anyway that they'll provide their family with some money because someone else willing to put up the money has yet another issue of their own that they are trying to resolve but didn't feel that blowing themselves up would get it done for them. Maybe they want the Americans or NATO off their property but it's more important that they still be around when they leave. Anything could be happening, but what's NOT happening is no one is running into the battlefield screaming Muhammad is better than Jesus or Jesus is better than Muhammad.

I will not fall for it anymore. I slipped up. I thought I had my lenses set to filter out the black and the white but apparently there are some good salesmen out there and they got even me pitching their line for them. No more.

CITIZEN ALERT v4.05RUSH LIMBAUGH SUPPORTS OBAMACARE

I love this story out of the SEIU blog. Awesome!

January 4, 2010
Hell Freezes Over: Rush Limbaugh Loves Union Hospitals and Socialized Medicine
By Jessica Kutch

Over the past year of Obama's presidency, conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh has routinely mocked, distorted and even invented various health insurance reform proposals before Congress. Given Limbaugh's blanket opposition to the new administration (recall Limbaugh's public confession, "I want [Obama] to fail"), it's hard to take Limbaugh's incessant fear-mongering seriously - or even tune in it at all. That was the case, however, until Limbaugh used his recent emergency hospital visit to show that the U.S. health care system is "working just fine."

On December 30th, Rush Limbaugh underwent an angiogram at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu after complaining of sharp chest pains. When Limbaugh exited the hospital on New Year's Day, he told reporters, "They found absolutely nothing wrong. It was a blessing. No arterial disease, no coronary disease whatsoever."

Limbaugh then turned to health care reform, citing his Honolulu experience as evidence that the health care system doesn't need fixing:

"Based on what happened to me here, I don't think there is one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine, just dandy."

We're thrilled to hear that Limbaugh appreciates Hawaii's exemplary health care system.

Here's why:

1. Hawaii is a shining example of progressive health care reform. In fact, Hawaii is so forward-thinking that the Senate bill excludes Hawaii from some of its provisions, because Hawaii's requirements on employers go farther than the federal legislation.

* Since 1974, Hawaii has required all employers to provide quality health care benefits to any employee who works 20 hours a week or more. Because of Hawaii's increased coverage, reports the New York Times, "hospital and insurance executives in Hawaii say they have been able to innovate efficiencies. For instance, the state's top three medical providers are adopting electronic medical records -- years ahead of most mainland counterparts."
* One reporter noted "the medical system in Hawaii is as close to socialized medicine as there is in the United States, and, much of the Democrats reform bill is based in the Hawaii system."

2. Limbaugh stayed at Queen's Medical Center, where nursing staff are represented by the Hawaii Nurses' Association (read: a labor union). The nurses at Queen's are protected by their contract, which adheres to the ANA's safe-staffing principles guaranteeing appropriate staffing levels for any patient care unit.

In fact, Hawaii has one of the greatest percentages of organized workers of any state and also had the highest percentage of organized RNs. All private-sector acute care hospital RNs are organized, with just two known exceptions. We're guessing this might have something to do with why Limbaugh found the Hawaii hospital staff's work so "confidence-inspiring."

When Limbaugh was released from Queen's Medical Center, he cheerily noted, "The treatment I received here was the best that the world has to offer."

Whether he realized it or not, Limbaugh was praising the care he received from union nurses in one of the country's most progressive health care systems. On behalf of the labor movement and health reform advocates everywhere, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, Rush!