Okay, one last rant before tasting the turkey!

"Picking bones......."

Now, I’ve got a bone to pick with what is undoubtedly my favorite cable news outlet. MSNBC has held itself as close as possible to the true meaning of Journalism as any of the popular cable news outlets (yes, including CNN). It hurts the eyes and ears to witness a gradual drift away from Journalism into the the realm of tabloid style reporting. Spread the blame evenly from the producers, the editors and down to the delivery units; aka, Chris Mathews, Rachel Maddow, Dylan Ratigan, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnel, et. al.

At a time when our National house of cards is tumble down around us, there seems to be an awful amount of air time devoted to truly secondary and tertiary issues. Not that Women’s rights and the proper categorization of pizza vise-a-vie school lunches are not real and important issues, I simply feel very strongly that there are a few more pressing issues to deal with and to report on. And, I don’t mind these outlets for self promoting their content and celebrity presenters. But, when Chris Mathews has the gall to say that, of course, reporters don’t want to be regulated, they just want everything and every body else to be regulated, I have to shake my head and say to myself, “What the f#*k?”

I tell you what, Mr. Mathews, how about we regulate news casters, news presenters, talking heads, etc. by separating the true Journalists from from the likes of you and a handful of your cronies there at MSNBC, and elsewhere. In the true sense of adherence to Journalistic credo, let’s regulate the categories by which your “news” is produced, edited, and delivered. A quick trip to the dictionary will solve this argument without doubt. And, while I’m on the subject, let me remind everyone that Journalist are only supposed to report the news, not actually BE the news. Secondly, a true Journalist will allow those being questioned to actually answer the question without being interrupted by a self-promoting talking head. You simply cannot have this issue be a one-way street. Plus, its damn rude to interrupt and/or shout over someone trying give a cogent answer to a question from a “reporter”/ “journalist”. Didn’t your Mother tell you its not nice to interrupt? I’m most certain she did, as did mine.

And, where is it written that your questions have to include a complete encyclopedic preface? Please, God, keep it simple and you’ll be surprised at wealth of information you get in return. I know you love to hear hear yourself pontificate, but please confine it to privacy of your own environment, and don’t waste our time having to hear it ‘ad nauseum’.

At a time when we all need to get back to the basics, you have a bully pulpit from which you can make a positive difference. Please use it toward that end.

Call me old fashioned, but what the Hell has happened to the GOP of old? The GOP that always seemed to have a firm grip on foreign affairs and foreign policy has totally disintegrated; vanished into thin air. I have seen no evidence of anyone related to the Republican Party who has a clue to what’s going on in the rest of the world. I’ve got to say that the Democratic Party has “eaten your Lunch”. And, what is with this three ring circus being offered up as the best of in show now running for the Presidency? You have got to be kidding me. There simply has to be some deep, dark reason for all this buffoonery! There must be a “snake in the Grass” just waiting until the very last moment to come riding in on a great white steed to save the the day ( and the Party). For the life of me I can’t come up with just who that might be. Does the Republican Party really think they can rally popular support for any of these clowns? I can only guess that these so called candidates didn’t get the memo on “no kid left behind”. Maybe they thought that pizza really was a vegetable in the school lunch program. That deep, dark, bottomless abyss I have been referring to is looking more like our new reality every day now.

<a little drum roll, Maestro?>

My street “cred” has peaked! I foresaw this popular uprising we now know as “OWS” a year and and a half ago. The fact that it has remained relatively peaceful is a great testament to the true meaning of the movement. Whether you agree with it, or not, you cannot deny it is starting to have the desired effect. Sure, its going to take some more time, but I get a very strong feeling that the 1% have felt a disturbance in the force. The walls of their universe have been breeched, and some very arrogant, powerful folks are starting to feel the heat coming off the street. ‘Viva la revolution!’ Its been a long time, but we finally know who the enemy is and we have engaged them. Its going to be fun watching them fall.   

TRULY GREAT GOVERNMENT IN ACTION!

I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO CONGRATULATE OUR WONDERFUL “GANG OF 12”, “SUPER COMMITTEE”, “DEFICIT REDUCTION SUB COUNCIL TO THE VICE ADJUDICATION CAUCUS OF THE ENTIRE CONGRESS OF US” IN WISHING THEMSELVES THE HAPPIEST OF ALL THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS. IT IS MY SINCERE HOPE THAT THEIR GREAT WORKS IN RECENT DAYS AND WEEKS DOES NOT GO UNNOTICED, OR UNREWARDED. TO THIS END, I IMPLORE THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT TO ISSUE,  FORTHWITH,  TWELVE CHEQUES, NOT LESS THAN $1,699,000.00  (DOLLARS, U.S.),TO EACH VOTING MEMBER OF THE AFOREMENTIONED GROUP AS A BONUS STIPEND FOR THEIR EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES.

HAVE A NICE DAY!     

P.S.: IF ANYONE OF THESE TURKEYS GETS RE-ELECTED, I WILL PERSONALLY OPEN A CAN OF WHOOP-ASS ON ANYONE WHO VOTED FOR THEM!

In Response to All Those Bent On Grading Our President.

“Grading Obama”: I have had the opportunity to live my past sixty-two years under thirteen Presidents. The first three Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, I really have to discount due to my age. That leaves ten men who felt very strongly they could and would make a difference in our American way of life. I have had the benefit of hearing what they needed to say to get elected, and what they ended up saying once they assumed the Office. In each, and every, case the campaign rhetoric was vastly different from the actual day-to-day words and direction.

The truth of the matter is that politicians, at any level, will say what he/she feels necessary to win their election. Our Current President is no different, and for any of us to expect differently is a mistake in judgment on our part. Perhaps, instead of destructive, negative criticism, we owe it to ourselves and our President to make certain that people in this Country, and around the World, know the incredibly difficult tasks President Obama has had to undertake, and how successful he has been.

Obama’s first three years have been frought with obstacles; all of them legislative in nature. He has been able to overcome a Legislative Branch full of “nattering nabobs of negativism” (S. Agnew), and pass into law items that his predecessors never could. If he is defeated next November, he will be be remembered as a President who actually got things done.

Has he accomplished all that he promised on his campaign trial? No! Has he tackled agenda that does now and will affect most of what he promised on his campaign trial? “You betcha”(S. Palin). This is 2011. I can’t believe that we are having anything close to a conversation regarding the color of anyone’s skin; let alone that of our President! Unfortunately, we do still have to endure the curse of racism in this Country. I don’t think we have the luxury of dwelling on that right now. Our Ship of State is taking on water, and our Captain needs all of us to get with him and bail it out.

Posted  @ The Root.org, 11/22/2011, in response to an article by By: Alexander Heffner|Posted: November 20, 2011 at 12:18 AM, an interview with Princeton Proffessor,Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

This week’s fireside chat with your Uncle Hutch

As I will be stuffing someone’s turkey, cooking someone’s goose, or generally creating a nuisance of myself on Wednesday, I will offer my “fireside chat with your Uncle Hutch” a little early this week………..

 This week’s  subject:   General Strikes

NATIONAL STRIKES:   TIME DURATION, APPROXIMATE DATES, PRODUCTS AND/OR MARKETS, SPECIFIC ITEMS BOYCOTTS, ITEMS BY REGION, STRIKES IN COINCIDENCE WITH POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Why even entertain the thought of a general strike? Because, they tend to work. Most general strikes bring about political changes, and as is their intended mission. To add targeted, or rolling, general strikes to the ongoing “OWS” (Occupy Wall Street) movement would bring beneficial results to both. The general strike can broaden the reach and consequences intended by “Occupy Wall Street”, and conversely, “Occupy Wall Street” allows for a ready platform from which any general strike may be launched.  As intended for use in this context, a general strike is inherently non-violent. The “Authorities” ( i.e. Law Enforcement ) have no dog in this fight, and thus need not react either positively, or negatively. By taking Law Enforcement out of the loop, the 1%, Owners of the Country, have no public means of combating the effects of the general strike.

The common thread that would bind “General Striking” with “Occupy Wall Street” is that this Nation needs to redraw the lines between politics and the big money that makes our economy work. With that line of demarcation drawn boldly and clearly, once again, we will see to it that our blend of democracy and a strong economy is reinstated as our “way of life”

MISSION STATEMENT:

THESE STRIKES ARE TO ACT AGAINST THE BLATANT MISUSE OF OUR TAX DOLLARS TO FUND FOREIGN, IMPORTED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. THE ITEMS AND AREAS TARGETED WILL BE OF THE NATURE OF ONCE HAVING BEEN PRODUCED AND/OR OFFERED BY UNITED STATES MANUFACTURERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS INSIDE THE BORDERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.; BUILT BY AMERICANS, FOR AMERICANS. IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THE DURATION OF SAID STRIKES TO BE OF SUFFICIENT LENGTH AS TO Influence THE NET PROFITS OF THE TARGETS.

General strikes have been a tried and true course of action in other Nations, and has led to both minor and major reforms.

examples:

Great Britain: Biggest strike for 100 years – union chief - Pensions revolt won't be like the miners – because we'll win, says Unison general secretary Dave Prentis The leader of the largest public sector union promises to mount the most sustained campaign of industrial action the country has seen since the general strike of 1926, vowing not to back down until the government has dropped its controversial pension changes.

          {Polly Curtis, Whitehall correspondent

          The Guardian, Friday 17 June 2011

          http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/18/

          biggest-strike-100-years-union}

Japan: At any given moment, there may be general strikes in numerous nations around the world. Government leaders may seek to ban general strikes, and in some cases, they are successful. In February, 1947, General Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, banned a planned general strike of 2,400,000 government workers, stating that "so deadly a social weapon" as the general strike should not be used in the impoverished and emaciated condition of Japan so soon after World War II. Japan's labor leaders complied with his ban.

           {http://www.facebook.com/pages/General-strike/110663942295810}

India:  by Ravi Velloor, The Straits Times - Singapore, Tuesday 6 July 2010

Large parts of India shut down Monday during an opposition-called general strike to protest against inflation and a rolling back of subsidies on oil and cooking gas. With the leftist groups holding their own protests independently of the mainstream opposition, commuters and office workers across the country had a hard day as air; rail and road transport was disrupted across several states. Opposition-ruled states such as Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal reported massive work stoppages as the administration made little effort to force people to work. Television footage from the technology hub of Bangalore, which is in opposition-ruled Karnataka state, also showed unusually thin traffic at midday, with many shops and offices shuttered.

             {http://www.mysinchew.com/node/41293}

And, yes, even here!

U.S. In 1927 the IWW called for a three-day nationwide walkout — in essence, a demonstration general strike — to protest the execution of anarchists Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.  The most notable response to the call was in the Walsenburg coal district of Colorado, where 1,132 miners stayed off the job, and only 35 went to work a participation rate which led directly to the Colorado coal strike of 1927.

On March 18, 2011, the Industrial Workers of the World website (www.iww.org) supported an endorsement of a general strike as a follow-up to protests against Governor Scott Walker's proposed labor legislation in Wisconsin, following a motion passed by the South Central Federation of Labor (SCFL) of Wisconsin endorsing a statewide general strike as a response to those legislative proposals.

                {http://www.mysinchew.com/node/41293}

The alternative to product and service boycotts would this form of “general” strike, which could follow a regional, or National, blueprint. Unlike specific item boycotting, a general strike targets every aspect of daily living. This, by its very nature, takes less organization, but a lot more motivation. The increased motivation is needed, because the general strike will, to some extent, hit everyone’s pocket book. It will also require a higher level of motivation for the populace to take to the streets in lawful assembly and make the message heard.

The highest priority should be granted against those companies that are simply taking the same items made here, duplicating them off shore, and selling back here at lower prices. One obvious example is the consumer entertainment market. If the potential consumer can defer a current purchase, this would be one instance of a longer-term type of boycott. If the potential consumer had to make a purchase now, the choice of “Buy American”, instead of buying that import, would have the same desired effect; as long as you do the research as to what percentage of your “American” electronic gadget actually comes from America.

These actions may have greater impact by closely coinciding in time and space  with the political primary dates and physical locations of the political primary calendars in the upcoming General Election year.

          example: During the New Hampshire primary voting week,

          or month, products that were normally manufactured in and

          services that normally originated from New Hampshire, before

          being “off shored”, will be targeted as boycott Items of Interest.

          A day, or two, of general striking in specific locations may offer

          a message harder to ignore.

In keeping with our love of choices, a participant can simply choose to not do something for a specific time period. “Made in America” does not apply in this instance. However, this, in conjunction with the “in your face” public display of an “OWS” type movement over a decent period of time will make a difference.

As dictated by weather conditions, a movement that would aim to start sometime in January, to coincide with political agenda, might need to kick off in the southern most States and work its way to the north, as the weather becomes more conducive to the act of public assembly and protest. This does not rule out the opportunity to act in the northern sections of the Country, but would most probably cut way down on the visibility of any action.

These actions may be better served they were to occur after the December Holidays, as to lessen any negative effect they would have on the little amount of manufacturing and retail business that still employs some of our bottom 99%.

Of course, the ultimate general strike would be if someone threw a Presidential Election and nobody came!


What if.......?