Who's Up, Who's Down?

One way in which the corporate media managed to trivialize the public discourse is by reducing politics to a kind of spectator sport. That's the reason why I no longer watch political shows like "This Week" or "McLaughlin" because of that annoying tone of "who's up who's down" like they were talking about the play-off standings. This was especially evident during the discussion of last week's debate between Vice President Biden and Paul Ryan. There's a concensus the Vice-President won the debate by forcing Ryan to get specific about what the Repubs intend. President Obama would be well advised to adopt this strategy at his next debate with Romney.

Another curious thing is how many right-wing pundits like Greta Von Susteren were complaining about how "mean" Biden was. We all know how bullies react when their intended victims fight back.

Romney's Rah-Rahs

The curious thing about how Mitt Romney is now supposed to have "won" last Wednesday's dabate. Supposedly he won simply by not uttering any more boners. What's really going on is that the Corporate Media has always been rooting for Romney. Is that any great surprise? In politics, however, perceptions can become their own "reality," which means that if Pres. Obama really wants to win, this election, he'd better start fighting back.

The thing is though that if the election were held today, Obama would win. He would get at least 281 electoral votes (only 270 are needed to win.) Good news? Except that I remember how in 1988 Michael Dukakis blew a 17 point lead and in 2000 Al Gore lost an election he should have won by all accounts. What is it with the Democrats that they lose even when they should win?

Troubled Skies

The recent labor troubles at American Airlines give a picture of what is wrong, not only with the Airline business, but with much of american business in general. Recently NPR aired a story titled American Airlines Fliers Fed Up As Labor Clash Rages
by Wade Goodwyn that explains the the roots of the labor dispute:

In 2003, with American on the verge of collapse, the pilots, mechanics, ground crew and flight attendants gave back nearly $2 billion in concessions. Later, it emerged that the airline's top managers quietly awarded themselves millions in bonuses, and tens of millions more when they retired. The workers have never really gotten over that betrayal.

Now you'd think that the hot shots who run American would realize that maybe you shouldn't treat pilots like janitors or some other unskilled sector. But the CEO caste doesn't care whether they run the companies into the ground. As long as they get their big salaries and bonuses. So now American is being hit with widespread flight cancellations and many are wondering whether the airline is doomed.

The End of Europe?

A new round of anti-austerity protests have broken out in Greece and Spain. It looks like there's no solution to the debt problems. Pundits of all persuasions are speaking about the collapse of the European Union. Nobody knows obviously how bad it will all be. But the continuing uncertainty is having a depressing effect on the world economy.

Ubermensch Romney

In a recently leaked video Mitt Romney addressed a group of wealthy donors with remarks that show how he really thinks. Romney denounced Obama supporters as "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." Romney further elaborated that I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

The Repubs have been playing this game of "the makers versus the takers," since the times of Nixon. Of course many of the Repubs have been feeding at the government trough for decades; big military contractors, big agribusiness corporations, and lets not forget the banking and financial interestst who seem to be "entitled" to a bailout whenever they get into trouble. This video is so embarrassing that even right wing pundits like David Brooks and William Kristol are denouncing it.

The arrogance of Romney's tone is really astonishing. Not the slightest hint of doubt. Not even the need to for a "social safety net" (like Reagan) or "a thousand points of light" (Bush I) or "compassionate conservatism" (Bush II). Romney really thinks he's better than everybody and he doesn't even try to hide it.

The Mess in Europe Continued

The BBC news website has posted an article "Eurozone Crisis Explained." Despite the belief that the Eurozone crisis was caused by government defecit spending, this was only true of Greece, not the other Eurozone countries. What actually happened is that Europe underwent its own real estate bubble, which burst in 2008. Many European governments then had to bail out their own banks at great cost. The real problem, then, was uncontrolled speculation. The European Central Bank has recently announced measures to ease the situation. Whether this does any good remains to be seen. In any case until Europe recovers the world economy will remain in bad shape.

Rigth Wing Dementia: A Growing Problem

Watching Clint Eastwoods pathetic performance at least week's GOP convention was funny: Eastwood started to harangue a chair with anti-Obama epithets. The entire episode seemed to indicate the mental deficiencies of the right wing. These are the people who aren't bothered by the flagrant lies that their candidates are saying. We've all heard of Stephen Colbert's "truthiness;" thinking that comes from "the gut" rather than the brain. It seems to have gone further than that; the right-wing are withdrawing into a twisted fantasy world shaped by morbid fears and an obssession with "charismatic" leadership. The question is; can a democracy still function when a significant portion of the population loses its grip on reality?