For those who think that politics are way too disturbing or that this election decided something important in the United States, when we were returning from our family beach trip, we tried to turn on 620 Portland which has had all the progressive radio stations in our area. It was gone replaced by Fox 620 Sports News.
I thought maybe the liberal voices had gone elsewhere. Nope. They are gone in our state. On our way home as I dialed around trying to find one single progressive speaker, I ran across 4 Rush Limbaugh stations (and had only covered half the numbers).
Thom Hartmann history. Ed Schultz history and any other liberal voices-- gone. Portland has a lot of sports channels but now it has one more as a way to block any opinion but that of the right wing. The right wing money has found a new way to spread their mindless entertainment and keep Americans from hearing anything that isn't.
It hasn't changed my mind about this blog. I will still go to once a week but it has made me hope that Americans who are not of the right wing ilk stay with it on issue after issue. It sounds good to say we need to think positive and all. Well while we are doing that, the powers that be have the money and are willing to spend it. They aren't giving up and their newest dodge will be to try and turn Benghazi into a way to impeach Obama. You just watch. This is NOT over and I hope nobody is naive enough to think it is.
Bain controls Clear channel the largest radio broadcasting in the US who owned KPOJ and probably a lot of other stations that had progressive voices. So instantly they decided how they win next time-- or revenge for those who spoke the truth about them. For you righties who think that's great-- just wait.
There was a rumor out that they were trying to get Ed Schultz off MSNBC as they did Keith Olberman earlier. We'll see but Americans should not take for granted access to truth.
It proves to me how important this election was and even more so the mid terms. Americans voted by 500,000 + votes for Democrats running for the House but didn't get control of the House based on gerrymandering. I know righties like this but someday you will find out, they are not on your side either.
Oh and as for my books, I'm disillusioned on that also but will keep on keeping on for now.
33 comments:
I am so hoping this is not correct. Freedom of speech is what keeps us all sane. Where I live I have to listen to some preacher override NPR on various times.
Unfortunately, for Portland (and who knows where else), it's true. To get a progressive voice, you'd have to go to Sirius or some internet way as it was clear Portland needed yet another sports channel... KPOJ. Bain is a lot more insidious than I think a lot of us have realized. Romney might have lost the presidency but clearly he's got a lot of other tools to use as more and more is owned by that group. I wouldn't say he did this but it's those who backed him without much doubt.
and there was a rumor that MSNBC was getting rid of Ed Schultz. He has been a major voice for the working man. We'll see if that's true. If so, I'm done with MSNBC. The possible replacement is probably a very nice guy but give him the extra hour of Chris Matthews. There is no other Ed Schultz out there and it's partly why the right hates him so much. They want it to look like lefties are all soft and gentle, too weak to compete.
I didnt know who Ed Shultz was so I looked him up. I find it interesting that one of the main voices for liberals is pro life and he and his sons own guns. But he is for controlling other people's guns. So I guess that fits.
You are stereotyping liberals. A lot of us are in favor of limiting assault rifles which are only to kill other humans but we can still own guns and are not trying to take guns away. Another stereotype of liberals to imply that we want to steal all guns. Ed hunts and shoots. He runs a business. He's on the side of the working man. So that's bad? If he gets kicked off MSNBC, it'll be liberals likely who do it as they got rid of Keith.
Yes, some liberals want all guns gone. But certainly not all
You know, the main difference on the talking heads for liberals is we can disagree on many things. It seems righties all defend the same talking points-- although Bill Krystol sounds like he's backing off on no tax increases for the richest Americans. Boy are they whining over a few dollars more when they own 40,000 square foot and bigger homes but taking away the food or health care from some of the working poor, that's quite okay. Amazing.
And a lot of liberals are personally pro life. Politically, this has been about forcing your view onto someone else, not trying to force 'you' to have an abortion. That's the difference between the two parties.
Your last comment is so right on the money...!! The two party's divide right there!
That is very scary Rain...That there is no longer a "Voice" for the opposite point of view their in Portland....Big Money Talks---one way or another. HELP!!!!!!!!
It won't do them any good. They are trying to demoralize us. You still have KBOO, don't you?
But I am glad that you posted this, because otherwise I would not have known about it.
Our local radio station pulled Limbaugh off the air after the Sandra Fluke incident and replaced him with sports broadcasting.
Yes, I can see it's Schultz they would like to target, because he has regular white guy appeal.
In spite of having no liberal radio outlets at all this is a staunchly Democratic town.
And don't forget: no matter how much the Republicans hate it, we won and won big, and they lost a billion dollars!!!
I will find out when I drive to town today. We get no real radio out here but I checked its schedule and it looks still there. It's not the equivalent though of KPOJ which had Ed, Thom, Randi, Ring of Fire, etc etc. Their voices are stilled in our area unless they are picked up by someone else. As sudden as this was, there wasn't time but they might yet be reconnected somewhere.
KPOJ still had the regular advertisers who likely had contracts but they may pull out when that comes up and new advertisers will take over as it seems to me there is a type that like to sponsor sports talk and KPOJ didn't have them.
It just seems to me it's a sign of the power Bain has and will try to use as well as the other billionaires who said they would fire workers if Obama won and now are doing it. This is not over. It makes me aware though of the high cost if Romney had won. We dodged a bullet. Hopefully enough Americans realize they have to hang tough now to keep on keeping on. Freedom doesn't come without cost and frankly the party claiming they believe in freedom-- aren't.
What's funny in an ironic sense now are those who want to secede. Great patriots all.........
KBOO was still there but I have to admit, it's too high brow for me ;). I listened awhile but it's like some NPR stations and didn't hit on topics that interested me but then i remembered that Jeff Net, which is the NPR station we hear when in Medford and south of there, has expanded its range north. We can get it and while it is Public Broadcasting, there is a wide difference in what the different NPR stations broadcast. I like it and heard a good analysis right after the President's press conference. I will miss my progressive voices though as they were the red meat of political discourse which I enjoy sometimes. I listen to none of it at home as I like nothing better in the house than silence.
McCain is sure going after obama. He will end up like Trump if he doesn't watch out-- a proud career turned into a bad joke. When someone hates so much and constantly has to prove the other is beneath them and a mistake, it usually flies back in their face. A good example is the cat fight over Petraeus that screwed him and the women. Hate never usually works for any of us.
Most conservatives have the same viewpoint on abortion that you do. We would like to see as few as possible but do not want it made illegal. The party leaders have made it a hot button issue when it should not be. We should be focused on jobs and the economy and securing the borders. But righties are vilified by the left on abortion just like many lefties views on guns scare those of us that believe in the second amendment.
Mc Cain might get in trouble or he might be a political hero. It took quite a while after the 72 election before Nixon was forced to resign due to the botched cover up. And nobody was killed in Watergate so this could be worse. It seems like more and more details are slowly coming out.
And most real conservatives are more worried about the impact to small business than individual rich people. Between the tax increases and the costs of Obamacare and the possible costs of cap and trade being implemented on top of whatever new stuff they come up with is going to keep the economy from any real growth.
McCain might or might not have been a hero but he's not one now. He's a headstrong and out of control old man who still hates Obama for not losing elections. Benghazi was a dangerous region. What Condoleeza Rice did by lying (or being duped) about the weapons of mass destruction led to thousands of deaths in Iraq. No biggie to right wingers who just want to nail Obama. There are no details coming out that are not supposition by right wing talk blowhards. For weeks the issues have been out there and what is not, McCain wants to blow up while he doesn't even want to attend meetings with information. He validates constantly why he'd have been a disaster as a president. McCain is someone only a Romney supporter who can't give up the election could possibly admire anymore. He and Graham are bad jokes and more like Trump than national heroes.
If they quit calling the wealthy who build themselves 90,000 sqft homes the job creators, I might take more seriously what they say. For now it's all about some bad losers who cannot face scientific reality and want to keep all the money for themselves. they would impeach Obama over anything as they did Clinton only to destroy their ability to function (that little mistake led to the ignoring of bin Laden by Congress why they worried over a blow job). This would be the same and if the right wing doesn't get serious about real issues, they will lose the midterms too. They did this one if it wasn't for gerrymandering. If they keep being so destructive, they'll lose more ground. Some of them know it-- but not the right wing pundits who make their fortune by hot air.
and small business men who make more than $250,000 a year are not that small. This is about protecting their rich donors. Small businesses can use a lot of deductions but when it comes to making a taxable income of quarter of a million dollars, you seriously feel an extra 2% on that above $250,000 is going to hurt them? If you do, you don't know any real small business owners. Some of them actually were already providing health insurance for their employees-- shocking though that might be to righties. They benefit from the health care change. It helps them
I have not heard discussion recently regarding this about Benghazi and the ambassador but in the beginning they said he was told to only spend one night at the Consulate. It was safer that way. This was his second night and it's hard to say why he decided to stay. I still think this might've been a bigger plan than is currently being discussed. One that a McCain would've fallen right into. Nothing anybody did could have saved the ambassador or the first security man to be killed. The other two were killed by rockets the next morning and it's debatable if their lives could've been saved either. I mean it was a war zone. That's what Republicans ignore. Libya was still very unsettled and a violent region. Suddenly four men there matter more than the thousands in Iraq? Pure hypocrisy. Every life is precious but many have been tossed to the right wing neocons agendas and righties don't seem to mind those.
The second two were killed 7 hours after the battle started. We could have sent help from Italy in less than 2 hours. For some reason that help was denied several times. There was a lot going on that we do not know about. It sure seems like the entire deal was botched. If the President or his people would have came out from the beginning and said that it was a botched deal, everybody would have forgot about it by now. But they came out lying for some reason. It just seems like it keeps getting dirtier and dirtier.
On the taxes. I am not saying that rick people or business people cannot afford a modest tax increase. I am saying that it coupled with all the other new taxes are going to keep the economy from any substantial growth. And 4% or better growth is the only thing that is going to save us from the looming debt crisis. At the rate we are going the interest on the debt is going to be close to 50% of our tax revenue by the end of Obama's second term.
Those two were killed by rockets expertly fired. What if the military had been sent, gone in there, at least 50 of them as the experts I've read said even 50 could not have saved the men. So there they are, the rockets still go off since nobody knew they were there, and we lose 50 men, not 2? What then? War in Libya?
And weren't you the one who didn't want our military on the ground there, who accused Obama of opening a war without permission but suddenly it's okay?
I think the original upset in Egypt was the subterfuge and this was the real goal-- to kill a lot more than two men-- sad as that is.
And who paid for that movie to be translated into Arabic? Who paid to make it? You are looking only one direction and from what I read of Petraeus's statement, he said none of the decisions after the attack were political. Obama did not do wrong to not fall into the trap. The men there knew their risks.
The only story today would be going after the ones who did it. It a story trying to nail Obama purely because Fox and whoever is behind them think they can make it into a Watergate (which it doesn't even remotely resemble).
There has been no coverup. It is purely a difference of opinion on what should have been done and what was going to help.
Those making a big deal out of this are poor losers is the truth of this. and those who drink the kool-aid are as easily duped by these things today as during the election.
As for taxes, a little raise in taxes will not hurt businesses. I know small businesses that do provide health care for employees. those who don't ought to be ashamed of themselves especially like that pizza guy who can give away millions of pizzas for fame but not provide coverage for his employees. Disgraceful and even more so that the right wing voters defend him.
And you obviously paid NO attention at all to the charts that show how much of that debt is due to the tax decrease and wars that were not paid for. Do some research as to from where it came. the stimulus which was 1/3 tax cuts for middle, 1/3 to the states for supposed shovel ready projects and 1/3 that the administration put toward companies and research into better energy or whatever he found. I put the charts in here showing how that deficit came to be. Bet you ignored that.
I should add that the CIA rescuers that came in to get everybody out, they did a fantastic job. Losing only four men in such a situation is amazing. The last two with a rocket that came from nowhere, how do you stop that? Only someone unfamiliar with war would think you could. The Libyans were upset over Stevens' death. If it can lead to an impeachment or now it appears McCain really wants that special committee because he won't be heading one as it stands next term (his time ran out). He sure needs a podium to espouse his hatred of Obama. The rest of us not so much.
I was not against troops in Libya. They were already on the ground there before it made the news. All I said was Obama violated the War Powers Act by not reporting to Congress about what he was doing. It was an illegal war that lefties would be furious about if a Republican would have done the same thing. Regardless, why was Rice sent to lie on the Sunday shows when they knew at that time it was a coordinated Al Qaida attack?
As for the debt. I was not assigning blame for it at all. I am just saying where we are headed because of it. There is plenty of blame for both parties that caused it. But who is going to make it better and who is going to make it worse?
She did NOT lie. Do you get any news?? She gave the unclassified results of the CIA beginning investigation. According to Petraeus, you do that when you don't want to give away secrets during an investigation. You really do only listen to the right. I saw what Drudge said. He got his news probably from Rove.
As for taxes, when the cuts happened and nobody paid for it, the deficit rose. The solution is raise taxes on those who have a taxable income of more than $250,000 on that above that amount. $1 trillion +. As Obama said there will be more for here with no more wars (and we didn't go to war in Libya. We had consultants but no troops on the ground). We are not at war there now! I really do wonder where you get your news.
And they still aren't sure about al Qaeda. If you are interested in facts. It might've had an al Qaeda operative involved but it was not planned by them according to the current CIA. What gets me is you want all the info out there for the American public for what reason exactly? I guess you thought it'd cost Obama the election. You are wrong. Romney is an idiot and every day it makes it clearer.
Tomorrow will be about the sexual scandal which does go into Benghazi but only because people like McCain tried to link them. Petraeus said there is no link. Oh, guess he's no longer a hero to the right?
What amazes me is the ones who now want to secede. Hope you pay attention to that too. They're your fellow righties and in all 50 states. It's becoming more and more of a joke who the righties actually are.
Too bad you didn't read my last month of blogs here as i had charts about how little of our current deficit was Obama. He increased it less than any president for a long time... The charts are back there in case you get interested in facts.
We had Marines in Libya among other troops during the civil war. I will read your debt blogs. It is funn that the salacious part of the story is the only reason the news is covering it at all.
As is being reported today. The talking points put out by the CIA were edited after they gave them to the administration. Of course the White House says t wasn't them.
yesterday it said that 7 or 8 agencies saw it. but can you comprehend the difference between classified and unclassified. What Petraeus said is they wanted her to have unclassified talking points. So to give away our secrets before we get the guys is okay if you can blame Obama for it? Give me one thing Obama had to gain by some kind of cover up? Petraeus said the White House was not political about it.
I've heard the bilge being spread by Fox, into the usual blogs and radio talkers. Who is behind it is a little more interesting. A lot of money went into Romney's campaign. Those people don't want to lose even now.
It simply makes no sense to think that Obama did anything but his best. Sending in our military would have led to more deaths from those rockets. The trap was laid. Hotheads would've fallen into it.
I even read one saying that Obama is trying to say he got all the al Qaeda leaders and that's why he'd not want this linked to al Qaeda. Drones got one of them this fall. Obama knows what's going on. He knows they are building in Mali. For god's sake I wish right wingers would get their acts together and follow the example of Barbara Bush-- he won. Get over it. Benghazi was a loss but could have been worse. More may yet die there and elsewhere as the Middle East is still a powder keg. You haven't ever heard obama say otherwise.
incidentally rightie sources are saying it was the white house that edited out the specifics of who it was... that's their title. of course, inside the article you read that it's uncertain right now. Like Obama had so much time at that point to go around looking at all of this kind of stuff. I mean what else did he have to do.......... One thing this is proving is that right wingers are lousy losers, distort anything to suit themselves-- and those who follow them are losing all perspective on what matters.
Earlier reports said that the Seals illuminated the mortar with a laser designator. If they would have received air cover or armed drones the threat would have been eliminated.
So full war is how they'd have gone in? Two men would have been saved and nobody else killed? How come our men get killed all the time in other war zones with this magical ability to avoid deaths? Are you saying SEALs were there that night? I only heard CIA operatives hired for security. Where did you read our SEALs were on the ground? As for the rest, it's easy in hindsight to find fault. I could look at that hero you think is so great, McCain and look at his actual war record and not see an effective warrior. The one thing he did that was heroic was refuse go go home before his men did once he was a POW. But trained effective warrior? Read up on that one.
You want to blame Obama. You voted for a liar and someone totally inept in foreign affairs proven by what he said and what he claimed he'd do. You are still giving ratings to those who want to spend the next four years harassing Obama or impeaching if they can't do anything else. That's who you support. I can't even understand your thinking. What gets me with you is I think you are a nice person and how you supported a nearly pathological liar, who still is saying things to justify his loss that prove he didn't ever care about anybody but the richest, someone who sent jobs overseas while claiming as president he'd end that. You did that and I don't understand how. You voted against women's rights while talking about freedom. It blows me away how those like you can possibly think as you do. It's like two different worlds that we see.
My next blog will be on global warming and we won't agree on that either. You really have totally accepted the right wing spiel on everything so you fear cap and trade (which doesn't solve the problem and benefits the wealthiest) but you don't seem to connect all those tornadoes in 2011 or Hurricane Sandy to what the scientists said all along would happen. It's just so weird how someone could even think as you do and why you would want revenge for Obama winning without realizing that hurts us all if we don't want our government to succeed. It's like putting barriers out there, creating excuses to attack him, you don't see that hurts you. It is a bubble where the thinking is nothing like mine and we can't meet on it and yet you can go to hundreds of rightie blogs where they will all totally agree with you and reinforce what you think. Visiting some of those on my blog list though would go the other way. They say left and right have different kinds of brains and maybe that's it. I just don't know but the nutty fringe right wing now wants to secede. Secede to what? It's so clueless that it leaves me amazed.
I do not want revenge and I did not mean to get you so worked up over this. I am not taking it nearly as seriously as you are. We will see what you have to say about "climate change". It is not called "global warming" anymore, because many areas are not warming.
It's not just you but what i am seeing from the right wing side on this. There are so many really serious problems, some cultural, that it seems once again they are trying to distract us for their own gain at a time when we can least afford it.
I just saw a really good interview video with Jeremy Scahill on Hattie's Web. You might check it out as it's worth the 10 minutes or whatever it takes. I intend to run it in my writing blog because it's a real issue for us politically and it's not one side or the other. It's a moral issue that isn't really about one party. Check it out if you can. If you don't get over there, I will have it linked later in the month on Rain Trueax.
On global warming, they changed the name because people can't understand how the overall temp of the earth rising could lead to an ice age one place or more storms or so many things. I have heard a lot of theories on this but it's hard to come up with one concrete answer. It is something we should think about.
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