Is This Really the End?

The stalemate over the national debt ceiling continues. What happens if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling by August 2? Will the dollar collapse? What about the world economy? There is a growing sense among economists that steep spending cuts, which Congressional Repubs want, would send the economy into recession.

Recently it has been suggested that the 14th amendment to the Constitution allows the President to raise the national debt limit on his own. Will Obama take it? I would if I were in his place.

For some reason I'm reminded of a stupid old movie called Endless Love.
It's about a guy who tried to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend by burning down her house. The thing about the Repubs, especially the Teabaggers, is that they say they want to cut the national debt, but their course of action might very well wreck the world economy. The Teabaggers are obssessed maniacs who have no idea what they are doing.

The End of Murdoch?

The phone hacking scandal in the UK which forced the Murdochs to shut down the tabloid The News of the World is a blow to the Murdochs, though much of the rest of their media empire appears safe for now. Their appears to be much public revulsion in the UK into how some Murdock staffers engaged in phone hacking; celebrities, politicians, members of the royal family, and even crime victims. These activities certainly are hard to justify.

The deeper problem is that of media monopolies, like that which Rupert Murdoch has created in the UK and US, and how he has used it to push a right-wing agenda. Even worse would be a situation like that in Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi bought up all the country's tv networks, and then took over the country. In order to preven this kind of thing from happening, we need to allow greater public access to media, and prevent big concentrations of ownership.

Straight Talk on Casey Anthony

At first the Casey Anthony matter seem to be nothing more than one of those sordid "incidents" that gain the attention of the media for a while and then are quickly forgotten. However, Anthony's recent acquittal for allegedly killing her two year old daughter seems to have sparked a great deal of public outrage. Apparently, many people were convinced that Anthony was guilty.

The central problem with the prosecution's case is that they could not prove how Caylee Anthony really died. And if you can't prove how soembody died, how can you be sure that in fact they were murdered? In the end, all the prosecution had was a story, a screenplay really, backed up by nothing more than dubious speculation. In the end, you can't assign guilt on anything other than the facts. The media however, seems to think that the mere possibility of guilt constitutes proof, and have brainwashed much of the public into thinking so.

As to what constitutes justice is a difficult matter. However, we should not condemn a person unless we can be really certain that they committed a crime. If on the other hand all you want is to find a scapegoat, then you lose the right to speak about "justice."

Who Are These People?

Over the past 20 years or so the political discourse has come to be dominated by "pundits." Now the term pundit which is of Hindi origin, is supposed to be an expert. The thing is though that many of the so-called pundits put forth by the media hardly fit the bill. We have washed up disc jockeys-- Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck -- or empty headed nitwits like Christine O'Donnell. Then there are media hacks like Mark Halperin.

MSNBC recently suspended Halperin after he called the President a "dick." What interesting choice of language! What a display of wit and wisdom! These are the people who have come to dominate the political discourse, the ones who get to decide not only what is discussed but also what people think. These people shouldn't be called pundits but more like sock puppets.