I've lived long enough that I fear nothing and yet around me I see people who surround me who shiver in their boots about everything, whether it is real or not. Remember that nobody is getting out of this place alive. When you cower in the face of death, you empower those who create the fear of death. I'm not saying that I am suicidal. I'd love to live to be an old man, but not with the boot of authority stomping me in the face as in George Orwell's book "1984."
I am not here to provide sunshine and lollipops. I am one person that has been constantly stomped on by the system my entire life. I would be lying if I said that it didn't make me angry, but I use that anger as a constructive force. My grandmother always said to me that this is a mean world and at 44 years old I know what she means.
I have been working on this stuff going into the fifth year pretty soon and it is causing me anxiety. I have suffered from panic attacks in the past to the point where they were nearly debilitating. For physical reasons, I probably need to slow down on the output of this blog because sometimes I dream about where we are headed and it isn't good folks.
The people who read this blog care. I truly believe that. But lets get down to it. There are so many losers out here that the tide of idiots and lackies can be overwhelming. I am being consumed, because there are people that are so closed minded that they think that the message that I am preaching is way out there only because they are ill-informed. And I wonder if the people who understand the message and what I express, even have the guts to support me and inform people they know and create the chain that needs to be created.
I'm reading some of the Hickory Daily Record's latest articles and I am sorry, but I am truly ashamed of what they purport to be news. I'll be frank. I don't like some of Congressman Patrick McHenry's ties to the Megabanks and the donations they have given him. I am not even going to qualify that statement or give him excuses, because as I told the Congressman, we can't fix our economy until we stop Financial Institutions such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan-Chase from doing what they are doing. I want these banks to be reined in, but the Hickory Daily Record doesn't have a freaking clue about any of the paramount issues that we face related to banking.
They have made it an issue to go after the Congressman over two issues of so little merit, that it is an embarrassment to even bring them up. First, there was the issue of Congressman McHenry stating in Politico that in the upcoming redistricting that there would be another minority ward and that there would be more Republican districts because of the census and the way that the state is politically proportioned.
Here is the Link to the article - Race politics hit North Carolina redistricting. The HDR's stand on this issue is nonsensical. What Patrick McHenry states in that article is straight forward, which I honestly find to be refreshing. To claim that he is somehow being racially insensitive is beyond ridiculous. You look at the numbers and look at the statistics and tell me where he is wrong.
Then this weekend they put out an editorial in which they went after Congressman McHenry for having an "argument" with Elizabeth Warren who serves as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She is basically another Czar that was created last year and her position is to snoop into your personal bank records and guess what folks, she works for the Treasury Department under Tax-in-Thief Tim Geithner whose Treasury Department has been usurped by the Federal Reserve and the New York banking cartel (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citi, BofA, Wells Fargo). A position that "had" to be created, because the banks have borrowed (stolen) trillions of taxpayer dollars from the public treasury, which caused this economic debacle we are presently in.
Mrs. Warren was up to her eyeballs in the administration of TARP. What he is trying to question her about is the unfettered power she has been given in this newly created position. Like other Obama administration officials, she believes she is above congressional inquiry. She is trying to run out the clock and leave. She doesn't want to answer the questions.
The Record construes this to be a squabble. I believe that it was a disagreement and it may have been caused by a misunderstanding, but who thinks that Bureaucratic Officials aren't late to meetings all the time and don't have to rearrange schedules all the time.
And The HDR, then goes on to point to Facebook and Twitter accounts that have been inundated by supporters of Mrs. Warren. Well whoopty-do. There are organizations that look to pounce on situations like this all the time. It happens with organizations that associate with groups from all sectors of the political spectrum. George Soros has several groups that are dedicated to these e-mail/message board bombs and Newt Gingrich's American Solutions organization does this same thing.
Then, they go into a diatribe about Congressman McHenry being rude. Watch the video below of the incident. Is he really being what anyone would term rude? Then they question McHenry's statesmanship, by stating that "public discourse has degenerated into vitriolic he-said, she-said. This episode added more fuel to that fire." And thus inferring that our Congressional Representative was in some way over the top in requesting that Mrs. Warren finish out her Congressional testimony, which would have only taken ten more minutes. I guess he can be faulted for not addressing her as "You imminence" or "Your Highness."
The Hound thinks that what we need to do in this nation is lose all of this subservient patronage of elected officials and bureaucrats. These people aren't smarter than us or better than us. The problem in this country is that we don't have too much debate. It is that we have too little. The problem is that in the end all we are seeing is political games and very little substance, very little passion, very little principle, and basically no leadership.
The problem that we have is that our local newspaper doesn't even give issues that are happening in our own community more than a gloss over and most of the people of the community don't seem to care about important issues any way. The HDR website is (by far, no comparison)the worst news website I have ever come across. They have destroyed the ability to obtain their news under a fair electronic marketplace, because they want to pigeon-hole people into buying the paper edition and are scared of the electronic business model. That is a very bad move for the future of their viability.
As far as content (or lack thereof), I know of a Conflict of Interest story that would directly show how local elected officials throw kinks into regulatory governance that directly effects their personal interests. The Hickory Daily Record had this story laid in their lap several months ago and it has done nothing but collect dust. And the people behind this story want our local paper to step up to the plate this time, but it seems the HDR would rather run a story (the McHenry stories)that they obviously haven't really researched. I don't even think they have seen the video of the incident and they just pieced together the story from the New York Times and Washington Post's website.
I have no problem with Congressman McHenry on any of these issues. I also have seen him ask some very tough questions related to TARP and the other bailouts that have happened over the last two years. Can we say the same about the Hickory Daily Record? Can we ask why they only go after Congressman McHenry and we barely hear a peep about our other local and State officials?
Where is their editorial about the Ridgeview and George Ivey Pools? Where is their editorial about the overzealousness of local officials going after Drinking Establishments and their permits and licenses? What about the mismanagement of our local airport? Where is their editorial related to conflicts of interest happening related to zoning and code enforcement issues?
There is plenty to talk about with the local Hickory Metro scene, but little time or space is ever devoted to the local issues that truly impact our lives. Does Congressman McHenry's disagreement about scheduling with Mrs. Warren really have an impact on our lives here in Hickory? I think not. Does the Record's abandonment of the current local issues of the day have an impact on our lives? I most certainly think so.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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6 comments:
First of all, I'm neither advocate nor foe to Patrick McHenry nor the Hickory Daily Record; my disclaimer. Having said that, I read both counts and think they are both valid concerning our venerable Congressman. No, Patrick isn't being racial; he's being Republican. He is going to insure that with a 'surround and drown' strategy concerning redistricting. He will make certain the veins of minority voters are represented and then point to the creation of a new majority/minority district as proof, then go on the insure that Republicans gain seats in the rest of the state. So 9 trumps 4 in any vote, thereby negating any effect, except on paper. Pretty slick. Insofar as the hearings are concerned, he's trying to plead an agreement made, based on the actions of his staff, and then deny the existence of any agreement, and purport that it was his staff that made the accommodation. I have no clue. But based on the other statement from the other Congressman, the hearing had been scheduled and cancelled numerous times for one reason or another. Concerning the information being sought, seems to me he had the wrong person in the witness chair to begin with. He should have had Warren's boss to ask questions of, if all he wanted to know was why she had the power she had. All the rest is superfluous and inconsequential. Yes, we need to debate...as civilized human beings. It means that rules are followed and yes, even in Congress, there is a certain regimenting of order and procedure. If you want to brow beat, jurymander, and bullyboy, then you exhibit the conduct of our good Patrick McHenry. But the object of the exercise was not to question Warren, but to show he has the juice to run for Senate, so he's got to make a bigger name for himself and this is his means to an end. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it has little to do with anything of relevance...except to show the rest of the nation and world how people from the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina act...since obviously they sent one of their own to Washington. It's all posturing, it's all rigged, and there is no frank discussion of any issue in a public context, nor has there been for some time. It's all smoke and mirrors and time wasted. We don't even get the benefit of being entertained with the trailer park theatrics of Congressional hearings, but the producers of COPS get new locales for future shows, based on Congressional districts. "Hey Irv, there must be more of them kinds of people...where is that again...yeah, 10th District of North Carolina!!!" It'll be a hoot. Sadly, it changes nothing of the conditions in this area. So in that regard, McHenry needs to act like he has some upbringing and quit doing one act plays as Prospero the Clown. The HDR needs to step up to the plate with regard to those other issues.
I* agree with some of what you state, but he never expresses that Mrs. Warren is a liar and he isn't acting like a rube. He is stating that he needs 10 more minutes.
Elijah Cummings is the Representative throwing out the term liar.
I pointed this out, because it is really not an issue and the HDR has much bigger issues to discuss, but yes they do have the right to run what they want in their paper, but they are creating their own irrelevance and we need a relvant paper that represents the interests of the people.
All Media General and the HDR seem to want to do is focus on subscriptions. I guarantee they are losing their base, because no one cares about buying an adult version of a High School paper.
People want to know what is going on in our community and what our community represents. OK, then our community is a bunch of lecherous pedophile freak murderers and nothing else much is going on. We definitely have nothing economic going on. And High School sports is where it is at (Yee haw Thumbs Up). That is what our community represents according to our newspaper.
I honestloy have nothing against the newspaper. They will be angry and look at me witb hostility for what I have written here. What they need to do is take a long look at what they themselves represent to our community. Are they the community's newspaper? What is their mission? Whose interest do they serve? What are their trends showing them? Where are they headed? And why don't they join forces with the people of this community to get the flavor of what is happening in our community out to the public? Because I think there are stories to tell. There are in-depth serial articles that could be written. The HDR can be relevant, but it is up to them to step up to the plate!!!
True, he doesn't call her a liar, using that word. He just told her she made the entire thing up. In my book, making stuff up and telling it makes you either delusional or a liar. So it was certainly implied, but he knew better than to state it verbatim. Yes, Elijah Cummings knew exactly what he was saying. 10 minutes? That is what he asked for but would that have been the reality or 2 hours? No one knows. No, not a rube, but a spoiled little boy not getting his way. The only thing missing was him holding his breath or stomping his foot. The superior thing, intelligently and procedurally, is to have said to Warren, "I'm not arguing with you. Take care of your appointment madam. I'll have a subpoena sent to your office specifying the date and time here for you to testify and you will remain here until that examination is complete. Have a Nice Day." That's what he should have done. Plain, simple, to the point. And he demonstrates all his power and the maturity to wield it. It removes staff, negotiations, and scheduling conflicts from the equation. As it is, he displayed a complete ignorance of the world by doing something anybody with any common sense knows not to do; argue with a woman.
You're completely correct about the HDR. I believe they are losing their means to make money via advertisement. I think that drive is the basis which sparks the impetus of the final product. I believe that the emphasis is catered too much to appeasement of the reader. They fear that if they get too controversial or probing, advertisers will not patronize and that is how they make money, not circulation. Advertising wants to reach as many people as possible so the two are interrelated. I think too that a lot of what is printed is almost done on the basis of like/dislike. Was it fair to Patrick? Perhaps not. But then again, the pieces on Mark Hilton and his facebook page weren't exactly earth shattering revelations either. And show me the first piece critical of the District Attorney and some of the decisions made in that office. So that sort of bias needs to be removed. Yes, I know the political pursuasion of most of the readers in the Catawba Valley. Is that a valid reason not to tell all sides of an issue? Is that a valid excuse to skew reporting to one side or the other? If the editor wants to write an opinion, write it. But keep the tint out of the stories and report all the issues. Do you need sources for stories? Sure. Do those sources need to be exposed? Not necessarily. Cultivate the source, protect it, and confirm what is being said through interview and questions. Isnt' that what reporters do? Apparently not. All they do is regurgitate what is given them. Makes work easy. I caught the subtlety of the 'thumbs up/thumbs down'. Yes, it's moronic to use that in a mainstream newspaper.
I have nothing against the paper either. But it likewise fails to encourage people to think. And that is the problem with readers and publishers. The reader wants to be entertained and the publisher is trying to provide a product that someone will buy; pander to the audience. If it expresses an opinion or story contrary to the popular, well, people might not buy it. If you have a business that is a big advertiser, but perhaps, in fact, be doing business illegally, do you expose them? What we have left is the popular whipping boy government and the mindless pursuit of prep sports overreporting. So we get what we got, to coin a phrase. Lots of sports. Some national news (if you can find it). News pieces that comport to the local notion of what is right and tell nothing of what is really going on with the world and the Catawba Valley. And antithesis pieces to showcase the us/them paradigm to showcase the 'us' is right prevailing ideology of the area, so that news becomes propaganda to sway opinion to maintain the status quo. Wrong is wrong and Right is right. No matter who you are, who you are related to, who advertises, or who complains. Be fair and objective and cover as many perspectives as necessary to tell the entire story.
I think that sums up much of my thoughts on the subject. The one thing that I do believe is that the HDR has placed themselves in this comfortable rut. It is a metaphor for the area. Just hang on and eventually things will get better. They don't think or understand that they have/are a problem.
Maybe if they stepped out of their daytight compartment and checked out the storm, instead of waiting for vested interest to come into the shelter and tell them all is well, then they could report on the storm in a more factual manner. And after the storm is over, then they would be there to report on the wreckage, but they could also tell describe the rainbow in a manner that would have some credibility and they could help contribute to rebuilding the community back towards prosperity.
This hunkered down mentality is why I am getting sick of this area, because I was born here and truly care about it. Many others just look at it as a tool to use and then discard when they have worn it out beyond repair.
And that is a good answer about the McHenry issue. I do think that would be a better way to handle the situation. I am not saying that Patrick McHenry is perfect by any means. he has thrown some stupid tantrums in the past that I do not condone or support. I also am not into theatrics.
In being fair to him, I do think he gets tired of the procedural runarounds by the Obama administration. I doubt they bothered him when the Pubs were in the minority and the Bush administration did it.
I think it is time that this nation finds away to get past all of this. Does the HDR or any other newspaper or periodical help us to do that -- Mostly no. The way to do that is to get a viable third party into the system and defang the corporations and lobbyist. This won't even begin to happen until the economic scene gets a lot worse and that is very unfortunate, because people should not have to endure the kind of economic hardship that is coming, because of all around malfeasance of government and governance.
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