Once again, the media chooses your candidates for you...

An excellent article with some astute reader comments (always nice to see!) that appeared in the Las Vegas Sun, discusses the exclusion of Dennis Kucinich from Tuesday night's (1/15) nationally televised Democratic "debate."

Originally invited by MSNBC to appear on the program, Congressman Kucinich's invitation was rescinded, causing him to challenge the case in court and present such a powerful argument that the judge ordered the network to allow Congressman Kucinich to participate, under penalty of an injunction that would cancel the entire event. The judge's ruling was that the appearance would be beneficial to potential voters, believing that Nevada voters would be better served by hearing from more than just the "three front-runners."

Unfortunately, the might of the giant, multi-national weapons manufacturer, General Electric, which just happens to own NBC, was brought to bear upon the Nevada judiciary, claiming First Amendment right to show whatever the hell they pleased, and they certainly weren't going to let some peace advocate distract attention from their bought-and-paid-for war party candidates. And MSNBC is a cable channel, so forget your antiquated (and no longer enforceable) fairness doctrines in the media - those only applied to the regular airwaves when they *were* in force...

So there!!! (writer embellishment... sorry...)

The Nevada Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, sided with the First Amendment Rights of the General Electric Corporation over the the civic responsibilities of the People of the United States to be informed, educated voters and citizens.

Who the hell is General Electric (or NBC, or any media outlet for that matter...) to tell you that these are the only three candidates from which you may choose? Are you going to tell me that Iowa and New Hampshire are truly representative cross-sections of this multicultural melting pot, therefore, the rest of the country would have no reason whatsoever to deviate from the opinions held by these cold, white, predominantly rural, omniscient king-makers?

Hmmm... methinks large groups of Americans have been summarily disenfranchised. I can assure you with the utmost certainty, that the issues of greatest import to the fine folks in Des Moines or Concord are not necessarily identical to those of their fellow citizens in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans or Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The last I knew, all the citizens deserved the opportunity to listen to all the candidates and make their own decisions, thank you very much! (Which reminds me... it looks like the amazingly coincidental correlation between vote fraud and the Electronic Voting Machines from Diebold will have to be discussed in another post...)

Anyway...

YOU CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATE - NOT THE MEDIA!!!!!
YOU CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATE - NOT THE MEDIA!!!!!
YOU CHOOSE YOUR CANDIDATE - NOT THE MEDIA!!!!!

(And please, please, please... don't go with the flock mentality, either, huh? "Oh, but everyone else is voting for so-and-so!" Aaarrgghh... do your own homework, OK? You just might be copying your answers to the exams from over the shoulders of a whole lot of the dumbest people in the class - who didn't do *their* howework, either... Thank you...)

Andy Olmsted

A soldier died in Iraq, a few days ago. I found out because the soldier was a blogger I read fairly regularly on Obsidian Wings. He wrote well, reasonably and with civility. His commentaries were interesting. They were worth reading. He was a good man who cared deeply and communicated that caring.

He also understood the possibilities of being in a theater of war, and what they could mean. He wrote an entry to be published in the event of his death. I quote a bit bit from his posthumous post:

What I don't want this to be is a chance for me, or anyone else, to be maudlin. I'm dead. That sucks, at least for me and my family and friends. But all the tears in the world aren't going to bring me back, so I would prefer that people remember the good things about me rather than mourning my loss. (If it turns out a specific number of tears will, in fact, bring me back to life, then by all means, break out the onions.) I had a pretty good life, as I noted above. Sure, all things being equal I would have preferred to have more time, but I have no business complaining with all the good fortune I've enjoyed in my life. So if you're up for that, put on a little 80s music (preferably vintage 1980-1984), grab a Coke and have a drink with me. If you have it, throw 'Freedom Isn't Free' from the Team America soundtrack in; if you can't laugh at that song, I think you need to lighten up a little. I'm dead, but if you're reading this, you're not, so take a moment to enjoy that happy fact.

I will make no point. No argument. No plea. Someone who moved me with his writings is dead and I am sad, angry and reminded that we get a sorely limited tenure on this rock before we are a long time gone.

Valhalla. The Summerlands. Nirvana. Heaven.

Wherever you are, Andy, thank you and Rest In Peace.

Happy New Year from Jefferson Weeps!

Just a quick note wishing all a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year from us here at Jefferson Weeps... Of course, since 2008 is a presidential election year here in the the States, we would be remiss if we did not remind you to get out and exercise your constitutional right to vote in your state primary elections over the next few weeks, and then again, way down the road, in November. Not only is a right, but it truly is your duty as a responsible citizen... Here is one way to get into the spirit of participatory democracy - a link to an online primary being held at MySpace on Jan. 1st and 2nd:
http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=impact
Remember - do not let others tell you to cast your vote for a candidate who is 'electable,' who 'looks presidential,' that they 'would like to have a beer with,' whose platform is in 'the best interests of any sovereign nation other than the United States,' or any other such nonsense... Cast your vote based upon the candidates' stands on all the issues and listen closely to your conscience for direction...
Meanwhile... Happy New Year!