January 1, 2010 - Hard to believe the "Naughties" are past. What a decade it has been - from the hopefulness of 2000, having avoided annihilation during space aliens, acts of God, and also cyber-annihilation by Y2K, the abominable acts of terrorism by al Qeda against the World Trade Center Towers - or was it terrorism allowed by the Bush administration wanting to galvanize the American Public for the convoluted, changing reasons / changing stories push into Iraq (see here: http://www.ae911truth.org/downloads.php) - to the dreadful human and economic cost of the war, the economic meltdown (tied to the Republican Congress elimination of Glass-Steagall act) recession, the election of Barak Obama . . . so many things have happened in the past ten years.

So, as every New Year, we stand on the cusp of the future. What, if anything, have we learned from the past ten years and how can we use that to leverage us forward - as a people, as a nation, as a species?

The first thing we have learned - or should have learned - those we elect to represent "us" really don't care about us. They only care about themselves and staying in office. They have no courage to lead, no character to accept responsibility for their actions. True leaders have a moral compass, take action, and take responsibility. Unfortunately, we are now a corpocracy, our elected representatives working diligently to pander and support corporations - at the expense of individuals. How much did each U.S. taxpayer contribute to "saving" Wall Street? To saving Capitalism? But wait, if you are "saving" capitalism - if you erase the responsibility of taking bad risks - then in essence haven't we supported a form of socialism? A form of socialism based on government support of corporations rather than the traditional socialist view of government support of citizens. So, it is okay for the government to give "healthcare" or "life support" to the bankers, just not to the citizens. By the way, the amount spent in a couple of months to "save" the profligate corporations is about as much as even the most anti-healthcare representatives estimate the cost to be for the next decade of healthcare. As a recap, the past decade has been painful, hateful, expensive, and not a good experience.

People seem so . . . angry now. But the real question here should be, how much of this anger is due to manipulation by the media? Rather than working to explain positions and complex issues, the "news" has completely sold out and chosen to be entertainment rather than "serious" media. That's what happens when news becomes a profit center rather than a public service. The news outlets become simply another mechanism for cross-selling of product - American Idol, the Jay Leno Show, professional sports, you name it. And nothing against those other "products" - they simply aren't news. And the media watering down, dumbing down and replacing with entertainment the analysis of challenging events, they have chosen to pander - with full support of both parties - creating the false sense of urgency and crisis. Media has chosen NOT to cover real issues, not to form legitimate platforms of analysis ensuring an enlightened electorate - working for a better country and world but instead are pandering and in the process stratifying the American people and the world - all in support of a revenue stream for their corporate masters.

It is unfortunate the media - who could work to be a force bringing people together - and the FCC who could create and enforce public policies that lead to more cohesiveness and a more enlightened populace have instead chosen to be weak, cowardly, and nothing more than lapdogs.

Perhaps I have not effectively articulated my arguments, if that is the case then please forgive me. But the point of this missive is simply to explain why I have chosen to "dial out" of the messaging corporations, political parties and government are sending. Are there crisis? Of course. But they are not the crises that corporations and government send out emails about each day.

Each side - Democrats and Republicans - would have you believe that members of the opposing side "eat their young" - demonizing them to such an extent that bi-partisanship is simply not an option . . . and this is absurd. Both sides have people worthy of respect and people worthy of disdain. Both sides SHOULD exhibit common sense, but currently politics is so polarized there is no middle ground.

And both sides are currently so filled with lazy politicians more interested in re-election than public policy, more interested in self-service than public service that the whole scenario is simply disgusting. What we have today is a leadership vacuum and law to serve lobbyists. The American Congress is open for business . . . for sale to the highest bidder.

At least, that is one man's opinion.