Town Hall Meeting

I think that our representatives in Washington campaign 100% of the time now. They don’t represent we the people, they represent anyone who can come up with the most dough. And we all know the ones with the dough are about 1% of us. I think that’s why we have seen Obama move to the right since he won the Democratic nomination. The ones with the money don’t want anything to change substantially, they are fat and happy. I don’t mean to rag on Obama specifically, but I’m worried people will stop fighting for their cause, believing he will solve it for us. I think that is a huge mistake, and a very common one. The news media’s constant election coverage is a huge reason why this is. Remember that most of the campaign contributions go straight into the pockets of these giant media companies via those campaign advertisements, so they have all the reason to keep you watching. One would think that with all the coverage we would get more informed, but they focus on trivialities and the horse race…how many points is Obama up this week?!!…how could Obama throw one gutter ball on camera?!! Who gives a crap!

Here’s a cartoon that shows just how looney this campaign is.

More on Obama and where he gets his money…

“Who Owns Obama?”:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pham150708.html

Obama Reality Check:
http://counterpunch.org/whitney07212008.html

Bush’s 3rd Term, even WSJ gushing over Obama:
http://www.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121495450490321133.html

There may be one presidential candidate that actually will fight for you, even after an electoral victory, and that’s Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.

Thanks Laura and G for the links!

PS: Did you notice 2 more banks quietly failed again late last Friday? I see a pattern here.

On the west coast Friday afternoon, when most people just want to get home from work and relax, something major happened – a major US bank failed. This means that anyone with more than $100,000 in their account will not see their money since it is not covered by the FDIC. Thanks G for the links below:

“The takeover of IndyMac came amid rampant speculation that the federal government would also have to take over lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together stand behind almost half of the nation’s mortgage debt.”:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/12/indymac-seized-by-regulators-marking-second-largest-bank-failure-in-us-history/

….
“The federal government took control of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bank on Friday in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Citing a massive run on deposits, regulators shut its main branch three hours early, leaving customers stunned and upset.”:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-indymac12-2008jul12,1,7375643.story

….
“No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.”:
http://indymac.com/
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/IndyMac.html

I think it’s also informative to see who is on IndyMac’s board which the LA Times article did a good job of at least mentioning.

“IndyMac’s board boasts a number of California luminaries. Among the directors, according to a proxy statement the company filed in March, is Pat Haden, 55, a former star quarterback for USC and the Los Angeles Rams, who has been a partner of Riordan, Lewis & Haden, the investment firm founded by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, since 1987.

Other directors include Lyle E. Gramley, 81, a former governor of the Federal Reserve; Bruce G. Willison, 59, former dean of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA; and Lydia H. Kennard, 53, former executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which operates Los Angeles International.”

And I’ll bet a dollar to a dime that all of them will never have any problems finding another swanky board job even with this disaster under their watch

Even though these things don’t technically exist, artist Trevor Paglen has taken photos of 189 spy satellites and has put them on display at UC Berkeley. Below is one of the photos. Check out the Wired article about it here. The exhibition is August 6th through September 14th. Funny quote from Paglen: “The National Reconnaissance Office cannot classify Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.”