Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality

AT&T is pulling out all the stops to try and defeat Net Neutrality. With a a new FCC seemingly dedicated to keeping the Internet the great, unfettered forum for all voices with equal access, the telecom giant is 1) encouraging its employees to lobby against Net Neutrality and 2) sending its K Street droids up to Capital Hill with plenty greenbacks to grease their corporate shills in Congress.

So, the concept is to paint Net Neutrality as "Government Control of the Internet," the great tea bagger bugaboo.

Thankfully, John Stewart puts it all into perspective in about 4 minutes. Sit back and watch. AT & T, you is gonna lose this one!

"He passed the test."

Endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan, collapse
of the economy created by bank fraud, gutting
of the Bill of Rights...

Bush Sr. thinks Jr. "passed the test."

And what's up with the creepy smile when he says "this [sic] 9/11?"



I agree: WTF?

Soupy Sales 1926-2009

Why I Love Michael Moore

I went to see "Capitalism: A Love Story" last weekend, and left the theater (which erupted into applause as the credits rolled) with a certain degree of awe.

Why awe? Well, for much the same reason that I am in awe of Greg Palast. Both Palast and Moore can always finds the smoking gun, the hidden memo, the little bit of evidence that renders the emperor with no clothes. In "capitalism" it was two things: 1) "Dead Peasant" insurance: secret insurance policies that corporations take out on low level employees (like the moniker that the insurance industry has given this little vehicle?), and from which the company can still collect after Joe or Sadie leaves the firm; and 2) that lovely leaked memo from Citibank, one of the great beneficiaries of involuntary taxpayer largess last year, celebrating the fact that the U.S. system is a “plutocracy” for the benefit of the super-rich — that 1 percent of the population that makes more than all of the bottom 95 percent combined. And, no, they didn't view this as a problem.

I also love the fact that Michael Moore sends the right into paroxysms of loathing beyond measure. Google "Michael Moore" and "hypocrite" for pages of Michael Moore assassination blogs. Do I care if Michael Moore owns stock or once owned stock? No. Do I care that he lives in a nice apartment in NYC? No.

What I care about is that he keeps making movies that mirror light into dark corners, and makes me laugh a few times, too. Laughter is good for the soul.

But most of all, Moore gives us hope. Hope that the 95% of Americans who do not share the wealth, are capable of taking their country back from the plutocrats who consider us little more than peasants.

American Hero V

The Honorable Rep. Alan Grayson D-FL (yes, Florida).

Why?

Watch below.

First aid

Need any further evidence that the Senate Health Reform bill is largely a sham and just a slightly reworked corporate welfare plan?

Think Progress' Igor Volsky reports that, "Following Baucus' announcement, HealthNet shares increased by 3%, United Health Group Inc shares rose by 2.7%, Humana Inc. grew by 2.6%, Wellpoint stock gained 1.7% and Aetna Inc rose 1.6%."

From Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post: "Max Baucus was paid handsomely (in campaign contributions) by the health care industry to deliver a health care reform bill that only the health care industry could possibly love. Well, mission accomplished! As Julie Hirschfield Davis reports for the Associated Press today, the Baucus plan 'gives health insurers, drug makers and large employers reasons to heave sighs of relief, sparing them the higher costs and more burdensome rules included in other Democratic-written alternatives.'"

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/health-care-stocks-soar-w_n_290125.html

Jason

Socialize the risk, privatize the profits.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/health-care-stocks-soar-w_n_290125.html

More culture

I couldn't resist.

We're Number 37!

From Paul Hipp: "Here is a song celebrating our proud ranking in the World Health Organization's list of world health systems for all the obstructionist hecklers to sing as they continue down the road to total irrelevance."

It's only rock n roll but I like it.

For Paul Hipp info and downloads please click on the links....

www.cdbaby.com/paulhipp

Paul on Twitter

Paul on Facebook

Paul on MySpace

www.paulhipp.com

E-mail Paul and join the mailing list at: hipptunes@gmail.com

War Is a Racket

In 1934 there was an attempted coup in the United States that was thwarted largely due to the efforts of U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler (ret., now deceased).

Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two different actions.

After it dawned on him how his heroism and the heroism of the troops under his command had been misused, he wrote a pamphlet called "War is a Racket" which has pretty much been expunged from our historical reading lists in school.

In the following video, an actor recreates the speech that Butler gave to many different audiences during the 1930s.

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

Republican Asshole of the Month

And the winner is ...

Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina.

(Normally these awards are annual, but there's just so many deserving candidates!)