I've resisted it for too long. I've fought it with every fiber of my being for months now and I can take it no longer. So many around me with the same political views as myself have said it and I told them to choose their words carefully. I thought I was being the voice of reason against the howling mob.
Turns out I was wrong.
I've always known Obama was a radical even before the election. I looked into his background, his associations and friends with the interest we should all put into a candidate before we decide to give him our most precious gift, our vote. Too often, we give that gift to someone and they inevitably repay us with deceit and deception. I'm one of those people who believes you can tell a great deal about a man by those he calls his friends. I've gotten more politically active in recent years by virtue of having been a flaming, save the whales, corporate America is evil, where's the nearest tree--I need a hug, liberal you can imagine.
I felt betrayed by Clinton to such a degree that it soured me to liberalism forever. Even as a conservative I still see the evil in the Republican party. There's precious little difference left between the two established parties now. The upper echelon of both sides are now indistinguishable from each other. Both sides seek to gain and hold power for themselves alone. Not as a hedge against the other side, more as a way to stay in the star chamber at all costs. I recently began thinking that to vote for either would be a vote for mediocrity.
That is, until I began to see just how radical Obama really was.
I've read article after article online about the people he surrounds himself with and I began to notice a very distinct pattern. Now only are the people he surrounds himself with radical, many are either Marxists (by either their own admission or their writings) or avowed communists. I started to see the political chessboard as it was being laid out. All the pieces neatly in place now-- the game almost ready to begin.
I still feel that oh so familiar twinge of paranoia that I always do when I think like this. I guard against it constantly to retain some semblance of objectivity. I struggle mightily at times to retain a sense of cautious hope for the basic decency in our elected officials but that has been stripped away. I feel a sense of dread that goes deeper than mistrusting some greedy, political fat cat out to get his slice of the special interest pie. I actually fear for the future of the republic now.
Two recent articles left me in stunned amazement after I read them. The first was the appointment of a new Czar, Mark Lloyd, as the Chief of Diversity for the FCC. Just those two words together should start the alarm bells ringing--"diversity" and "FCC" about the prospect of a covert attempt at silencing speech. Since the "Fairness Doctrine" had been shot down by the congress, I naturally assumed that the market would rule supreme in the business of television and radio.
It's a simple free market concept really, if there are voices on either side with an audience, the market will adopt them if for no other reason than to make money. It's the most basic premise of the free market economy. If there is a way to make money from someone's viewpoint, the market will find it and it will succeed if the audience is there. Howard Stern is a perfect example. Personally, I find Howard Stern crass and vulgar but he has an audience that the market can make money from. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity have an audience that the market can make money from. The problem is that most Liberal talk hosts can't find a market due to the obvious fact that the vast majority of talk radio listeners are conservative. It doesn't mean the market doesn't exist for them to speak their minds, it means the audience doesn't exist in great enough numbers for the market to make any money from it.
It's not some dark conspiracy, it's just the facts.
The second article was about a bill before the congress that would allow the President "emergency control of the internet during a cyber crisis". The bill is so vague in spots as to be almost a blank check to shut off internet access to anyone who has a connection in the interest of "national security".
Either of these alone would be bad but when coupled together they take on a sinister quality that sends a shiver up my spine. The odds that either could actually be enacted are slim but possible. What really goes to the heart of my fear is that either would ever actually be considered at all. Does no one in Washington hearing about either of these have any hesitation that these two ideas might be infringing on free speech?
The facts are these:
We've seen the government leap in to control and regulate the banking and housing industry to include the appointment of a "Pay Czar" to determine how much money certain individuals can make, the restructuring of the automobile industry that started with President Obama demanding former G.M. CEO Rick Wagoner step down. The President decided that both restructuring plans for GM and Chrysler were insufficient and he refused to grant them any more money until they adopted plans that he agreed with. The trouble is that the President does not possess the constitutional authority to do any of this.
From Wikipedia,
"While the strict state intervention into the economy, and the massive rearmament policy, almost led to full employment during the 1930s (statistics didn't include non-citizens or women), real wages in Germany dropped by roughly 25% between 1933 and 1938. Trade unions were abolished, as well as collective bargaining and the right to strike. The right to quit also disappeared: Labour books were introduced in 1935, and required the consent of the previous employer in order to be hired for another job. In place of ordinary profit incentive to guide investment, investment was guided through regulation to accord with needs of the State. Government financing eventually came to dominate the investment process, which the proportion of private securities issued falling from over half of the total in 1933 and 1934 to approximately 10 percent in 1935-1938. Heavy taxes on profits limited self-financing of firms. The largest firms were mostly exempt from taxes on profits, however government control of these were extensive enough to leave "only the shell of private ownership."
Bearing in mind the two examples of media control I just mentioned, let's go back to Wikipedia,
"When the Nazis took power the Propaganda Ministry was established almost immediately. It was charged with enforcing Nazi doctrine on the people and controlling public opinion. However, the Ministry became even more important after the outbreak of war.
World War II was conducted with a much greater level of propaganda than World War I, especially in the new media of film and radio. Because of practical experience and scientific occupation with propaganda in Europe and USA, propaganda was organized in a planned fashion. A new psychological warfare was born.
"I consider radio to be the most modern and the most crucial instrument for influencing the masses.." was a famous and important quote from Goebbels. Radio was undoubtedly exploited to its full potential by the Nazis. Radio manufacturers received grants from the government to build cheaper receivers; these sets were manufactured so that they could not pick up foreign, non-Nazi broadcasts. In addition, criminal penalties were set in place for listening to non-German radio stations; by the height of World War II, persons in Nazi Germany or in lands under Nazi occupation could be executed for this act.
One could replace the word "radio" with "internet" and have the new policy right before their eyes.
How much more do I need to think that a totalitarian, fascist inspired state is being built, brick by brick around our Republic? The only difference seems to be that Obama is allowing the memory and adoration of that Republic to be used as a shell to prop up what's coming. Like any new wall being built around an old one, once the new structure is strong enough to stand on it's own...you tear the old one down.
But I'm just a crazy, right wing, hate monger...what do I know?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Week In Review
Well, it has been a week of news hasn't it? We learned a lot about how our government works but precious little as to why it does the things it does.
We've got the head of Justice, Eric Holder, pressing forward with investigations into the actions of the CIA and it's contractors about interrogation techniques. As of this date, head of the CIA Leon Panetta will have his agency provide funds for attorneys from his own budget. So we've got one arm of government investigating another arm of government and taxpayers paying for the attorneys to defend CIA employees. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I never cease to be amazed at the ways gov't bureaucrats find to spend my money. This is like what the government would be like if the Marx Brothers ran the show. All this after President Obama promised that he would stop thinking about the past and start thinking about the future. Another pie in the sky promise down the tubes.
On the free speech front, we learned news of the most serious assault on free speech since the Patriot Act. It would appear that the FCC now has a diversity Czar, Mark Lloyd, and he intends to ratchet up his hatred of conservative talk radio to a new level. CNSNews' Matt Cover writes,
"Government, Lloyd said in his book, is the “only” institution that can manage the communications of the public, arguing that Washington must “ensure” that everyone has an equal ability to communicate."
“The American republic requires the active deliberation of a diverse citizenry, and this, I argue, can be ensured only by our government,” he says. “Put another way, providing for the equal capability of citizens to participate effectively in democratic deliberation is our collective responsibility.” (emphasis added)
He uses the word "ensure" with such ease it frightens me. Put another way, he intends to use the might of the Federal Government to force media outlets to say what he thinks they should be saying. Does anyone remember Pravda? (emphasis needed)
In a related story, "Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.", writes Declan McCullagh with CNET News. This would allow the president to have control over the internet of every American that is connected.
I keep joking that I wouldn't be so paranoid if they didn't keep giving me reasons. I'm not laughing anymore now. Now, I'm beginning to get scared. Left to it's own devices, the Government would have control over Television news, print media AND the internet. In New York...they call that the trifecta. Hugo Chavez, communist extraordinaire, is attempting the same thing in Venezuela. He calls it "returning the airwaves to the people" but what he's really doing is shutting down the outlets that speak ill of him and trumpeting his message of a workers paradise on all the rest.
For those of you who bristle when I even so much as hint about Obama's latent fascist tendencies, I implore you to tell me why this isn't the encroachment of fascism in our own country.
On a happier note...Ted Kennedy is dead. I spent one day not saying anything nasty about Ted. He got his 24 hours from me. Which is consequently about how long it took him to admit that he had been in the car with Mary Jo Kopechne the night she drowned. I actually read an article titled, "The Footnote Speaks: What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought Of Ted's Career?"
An interesting premise except...we can't ask her.....she's DEAD! Liberals ability to play the moral relevance game used to just amuse me, then they infuriated me. This story disgusts me to no end. Referring to her as a "foot note" is to minimize her as a person who had parents, siblings and a future...that is, until she met Teddy. I love people who say, Mary Jo would have forgiven him. Too bad the one person who can forgive him is dead. Chris Matthews must have felt his leg tingling again when he uttered the words, "Obama is the last Kennedy brother. Ted passed the torch to him."
Anyone wanna see what a slightly used hamburger looks like? Low mileage...one owner.
I've been watching Glenn Beck on TV this week because I was curious what he must be saying to inspire such hatred in the rest of the cable news networks who incidentally can't muster a tenth of his ratings. All week long he's been profiling our new Czars. Outside the reach of the congress, they answer to no one. They can't be compelled to testify, they don't have to answer to the people, they exist as a sort of shadow government. Above and outside the laws they presume to make the rest of us adhere to.
I used to love Glenn Beck before he became the "Grim Weeper". When he used to have fun on the radio. For a while, he was on the edge...then he went over. This week, he's been more coherent than usual and much to my surprise, and dismay honestly, he's beginning to make sense finally. He has a slightly schizophrenic approach to his show. Bouncing around from topic to topic, wildly gesticulating and having the camera zoom in to uncomfortable closeness. This week, he's been making the case for the radical background of the people the President insists on calling his advisers and Czars. He makes sense. Oddly enough...he makes a scary kind of sense that I am uncomfortable admitting to myself. I have obviously not been doing my homework well enough.
This week has revealed a lot to me and I, in turn, have passed much of it on through Facebook. Partly to hopefully enlighten those who would read it and partly to bolster my own sense of incredulity. I know I've annoyed some, amused others and been ignored by most. That's ok, I'm fine with that.
Consider this my journal of what it was like...
just before the end of our republic.
We've got the head of Justice, Eric Holder, pressing forward with investigations into the actions of the CIA and it's contractors about interrogation techniques. As of this date, head of the CIA Leon Panetta will have his agency provide funds for attorneys from his own budget. So we've got one arm of government investigating another arm of government and taxpayers paying for the attorneys to defend CIA employees. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I never cease to be amazed at the ways gov't bureaucrats find to spend my money. This is like what the government would be like if the Marx Brothers ran the show. All this after President Obama promised that he would stop thinking about the past and start thinking about the future. Another pie in the sky promise down the tubes.
On the free speech front, we learned news of the most serious assault on free speech since the Patriot Act. It would appear that the FCC now has a diversity Czar, Mark Lloyd, and he intends to ratchet up his hatred of conservative talk radio to a new level. CNSNews' Matt Cover writes,
"Government, Lloyd said in his book, is the “only” institution that can manage the communications of the public, arguing that Washington must “ensure” that everyone has an equal ability to communicate."
“The American republic requires the active deliberation of a diverse citizenry, and this, I argue, can be ensured only by our government,” he says. “Put another way, providing for the equal capability of citizens to participate effectively in democratic deliberation is our collective responsibility.” (emphasis added)
He uses the word "ensure" with such ease it frightens me. Put another way, he intends to use the might of the Federal Government to force media outlets to say what he thinks they should be saying. Does anyone remember Pravda? (emphasis needed)
In a related story, "Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.", writes Declan McCullagh with CNET News. This would allow the president to have control over the internet of every American that is connected.
I keep joking that I wouldn't be so paranoid if they didn't keep giving me reasons. I'm not laughing anymore now. Now, I'm beginning to get scared. Left to it's own devices, the Government would have control over Television news, print media AND the internet. In New York...they call that the trifecta. Hugo Chavez, communist extraordinaire, is attempting the same thing in Venezuela. He calls it "returning the airwaves to the people" but what he's really doing is shutting down the outlets that speak ill of him and trumpeting his message of a workers paradise on all the rest.
For those of you who bristle when I even so much as hint about Obama's latent fascist tendencies, I implore you to tell me why this isn't the encroachment of fascism in our own country.
On a happier note...Ted Kennedy is dead. I spent one day not saying anything nasty about Ted. He got his 24 hours from me. Which is consequently about how long it took him to admit that he had been in the car with Mary Jo Kopechne the night she drowned. I actually read an article titled, "The Footnote Speaks: What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought Of Ted's Career?"
An interesting premise except...we can't ask her.....she's DEAD! Liberals ability to play the moral relevance game used to just amuse me, then they infuriated me. This story disgusts me to no end. Referring to her as a "foot note" is to minimize her as a person who had parents, siblings and a future...that is, until she met Teddy. I love people who say, Mary Jo would have forgiven him. Too bad the one person who can forgive him is dead. Chris Matthews must have felt his leg tingling again when he uttered the words, "Obama is the last Kennedy brother. Ted passed the torch to him."
Anyone wanna see what a slightly used hamburger looks like? Low mileage...one owner.
I've been watching Glenn Beck on TV this week because I was curious what he must be saying to inspire such hatred in the rest of the cable news networks who incidentally can't muster a tenth of his ratings. All week long he's been profiling our new Czars. Outside the reach of the congress, they answer to no one. They can't be compelled to testify, they don't have to answer to the people, they exist as a sort of shadow government. Above and outside the laws they presume to make the rest of us adhere to.
I used to love Glenn Beck before he became the "Grim Weeper". When he used to have fun on the radio. For a while, he was on the edge...then he went over. This week, he's been more coherent than usual and much to my surprise, and dismay honestly, he's beginning to make sense finally. He has a slightly schizophrenic approach to his show. Bouncing around from topic to topic, wildly gesticulating and having the camera zoom in to uncomfortable closeness. This week, he's been making the case for the radical background of the people the President insists on calling his advisers and Czars. He makes sense. Oddly enough...he makes a scary kind of sense that I am uncomfortable admitting to myself. I have obviously not been doing my homework well enough.
This week has revealed a lot to me and I, in turn, have passed much of it on through Facebook. Partly to hopefully enlighten those who would read it and partly to bolster my own sense of incredulity. I know I've annoyed some, amused others and been ignored by most. That's ok, I'm fine with that.
Consider this my journal of what it was like...
just before the end of our republic.
fin
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Health Care "Pep Rally"
An ominous, overcast sky cast a gloom over Mundy's Mill High School, site of Rep. David Scott's (D) GA District 13, "Health Fair" as it was billed on the school's website. This was his fifth annual event and the first held here at this newly built school. The school is modern and in immaculate condition. Just the place to hold this type of event.
Upon arriving at the entrance to the school's massive parking lot, the first thing one notices is the rather large and very obvious police presence. There were uniformed officers in plain view at every possible location in and around the school. Dozens of cruisers line the drives and are placed strategically at the front and sides of the school as well. There were several TV remote trucks and a dozen camera crews mingling and setting up for live shots and taped footage to be played later on the local broadcasts. There were even a few radio trucks sent there by local stations to do their own reporting. One Station, KISS FM, was blaring James Brown at levels reminiscent of concerts I'd attended in the past. Papa's got a brand new bag indeed! My initial sense of the event was that of a carnival any school would hold to raise money or awareness on the importance of staying away from drugs or some such cause. I half expected to see face painting displays and a dunking booth.
As I parked, I noticed two women getting out of there car just down the row from me. They were obviously senior citizens and both were carrying small signs showing their opposition to reform. One wore a red, white and blue hat with a placard in the front with Obama's name in a circle with a line through it.
Who ya gonna call? Obama Busters!
I walked across the parking lot and spied to my left a row of seven school buses. Ordinarily this wouldn't raise an eye on a school campus but these buses were from another school district. Besides, Clayton County, where the event is held, parks their buses at a central lot to prevent theft or damage. These had obviously been used to bring in large groups of people. "Which groups did they carry?", immediately sprung to mind. I approached the school from the left side and as I came around the corner, I was met by a young woman wearing a Moveon.org shirt. She immediately asked me to sign a petition supporting the president's reform initiative. I made an excuse that I was here to watch and evaluate and not to choose sides. This was true actually. I had made the choice not to prejudge the event in any way. I wanted only to listen and watch to know what I had seen.
It was a rather large crowd and the parking lot was full after all with cars parked on the grounds surrounding the school as well. I'm not sure what I expected to see as I walked around the corner of the school. I'd seen the raucous videos and heard the loud, angry sound bites on the news for weeks. As I walked across the front of the school, what was obvious first was the diversity in the crowd--blue collar, white collar, white, black, asian etc. At first blush, it looked like a good cross section of the residents of Congressman Scott's district. I live in his district and I'm well aware of the demographics relating to race, income and the like.
I strode past the line waiting to gain entry to the school and was again asked to sign a petition. This time, by a young man in a Moveon.org shirt. I shook my head and walked past two men who were talking, they were within earshot so I shot my ears their way.
"I'm going back to the bus. I ran out of stickers. You need anything?" said the first man, probably in his mid 30's to an older gentleman.
"No, I'm ok right now. I'm gonna need more signs though before he gets started."
"I'll just get another box and you can pass them out."
This entire event was beginning to take on a very slick, very organized feel and I had only been there ten minutes so far. I saw a few signs being carried by the attendees in line. They were overwhelmingly in support and most were the kind of signs I had just heard mentioned. Most of the hand painted or made signs I saw were in opposition. The few that seemed in favor made no mention of health care. One read "Racism is UnAmerican" and another read "Stupidity is a pre-existing condition" I suspect these two individuals arrived with an agenda beyond that of health care reform. I walked casually, taking pictures randomly of the scene and the crowd. I walked further down the line, taking in the conversations as best I could from the distance I had chosen to stay from the crowd.
One gentleman, wearing a t-shirt with the words;
I approached him and asked if he minded answering a few questions. I explained I was writing a blog and just wanted to ask him a few basic questions. I had already picked three basic questions beforehand to maintain a semblance of impartiality. The questions I wanted to ask, I thought, would give me and anyone who might read this, a sense of who was really attending and where they stood on the issue.
His name was Eric Smith and he was from Decatur, as were the three friends he was standing with. It's important to note here that Decatur, where these four men were from, is not in the 13th district. At last, I had stumbled upon the "astro-turf" I had heard so much about. He explained that his sign was in response to the swastika that had been spray painted on Congressman Scott's Smyrna office sign. When asked if he expected that kind of sentiment at this event he replied,
"When don't you see it? It's everywhere now man." He turned to one of his friends just then and said, "Look at Bubba Gump over there with the sign."
I turned to see what he was talking about and saw a young black man carrying a sign that read, "Obama = Socialism". He turned back to me and I asked him if he'd read the bill to which he replied, "I don't need to read the bill, that's what them people in Washington are supposed to do." A woman in front of him, who had been listening to us, spoke up as well, "Who can understand that gobbledy-gook anyway? It's not like they're speaking a language any of us can understand is it?" I joked with her that she was right and that Congress had stopped speaking English a long time ago. Thanking them for their time I sauntered further down the line and caught these words as I passed a man in line talking to someone holding a clipboard,
"Now why would I sign that if I don't even know what it stands for?"
Intrigued, I wandered over and waited for the clipboard carrier to move off. I asked the gentleman his name and if he'd mind a few questions.
"My name is Tim and that kool-aid drinker was wasting my time. He wants me to sign a petition but won't tell me what it's a petition for. Stupid Moveon people think everyone thinks like they do." He explained that he lived in Clayton county and was here to ask questions and maybe learn something new. His tone suggested he doubted that but he had come anyway.
"I just want someone to tell me why we have to do it right now and how the hell we're gonna pay for it. I've got health insurance and I don't need Obama messing with it."
Curious about the petition he was asked to sign, I walked over to the young man carrying the clipboard and asked him for a few moments of his time. He was more than courteous and smiled broadly saying, "Anything for the press!"
I explained that I was just writing a blog and the term "press" might not apply in this instance. He simply smiled and told me to ask away.
Miguel Santiago was a member of Moveon.org and had been bused here today from Decatur along with about 25 fellow members to get petitions signed and to pass out signs and stickers in support of the president's reform initiative. He'd been with Moveon for about two years and explained that his resistance to the Iraq war had drawn him in to better organize his protestations of it. When asked if the Congressman had had any involvement in having his people out here today he said,
"Not directly but we can't let this opportunity pass by. We have to get out and stop the lies that the right is telling about health care reform. There are people out there dying because they have no insurance and it's time to stop it. Time to make it better."
He said that someone from his local chapter had contacted the Congressman's office and asked how they could help.
"And here we are!" he said cheerfully.
It was at this moment that my objectivity began to slip as I realized that the organization, the astro-turfing was all one sided indeed and it was the left that was doing it. I met one supporter of health care reform that actually lived in the district. That's not to say that there weren't more but in the unscientific sampling I took, it shook out this way;
For reform - out of 8 people I talked to, only one lived in the district.
Against reform - out of 7 people I talked to all but one lived in the district. (The one from outside the district had grown up in Clayton county and was here with family members who still did.
The only coordination I saw was from Moveon.org and they brought a myriad of people to sway opinion. I stayed for the panel discussion and the town hall but watched the first 15 questions come from people who had been preselected and placed in the front row. Questions were taken for the first 45 minutes by a lottery system and not asked of the audience. The Congressman answered most of these questions with the same talking points that the President had been using.
"If you like your health care, you keep your health care."
"This is not a government take over of health care."
"No one wants to come between you and your doctor."
The one interesting thing he said that drew boos from the crowd was that he intended to pay for reform but taxing the top 1% of earners who can," Afford to give us a helping hand in this."
I turned and walked away knowing that I wasn't going to hear anything of any substance here today. If the Congressman truly thinks punishing the wealthy by excessive taxation is really "giving a helping hand" then there was no further reason to stay.
No, I'm not a journalist. My ability to spot bullshit from a mile away makes being objective in the face of that kind of stupidity impossible.
Upon arriving at the entrance to the school's massive parking lot, the first thing one notices is the rather large and very obvious police presence. There were uniformed officers in plain view at every possible location in and around the school. Dozens of cruisers line the drives and are placed strategically at the front and sides of the school as well. There were several TV remote trucks and a dozen camera crews mingling and setting up for live shots and taped footage to be played later on the local broadcasts. There were even a few radio trucks sent there by local stations to do their own reporting. One Station, KISS FM, was blaring James Brown at levels reminiscent of concerts I'd attended in the past. Papa's got a brand new bag indeed! My initial sense of the event was that of a carnival any school would hold to raise money or awareness on the importance of staying away from drugs or some such cause. I half expected to see face painting displays and a dunking booth.
As I parked, I noticed two women getting out of there car just down the row from me. They were obviously senior citizens and both were carrying small signs showing their opposition to reform. One wore a red, white and blue hat with a placard in the front with Obama's name in a circle with a line through it.
Who ya gonna call? Obama Busters!
I walked across the parking lot and spied to my left a row of seven school buses. Ordinarily this wouldn't raise an eye on a school campus but these buses were from another school district. Besides, Clayton County, where the event is held, parks their buses at a central lot to prevent theft or damage. These had obviously been used to bring in large groups of people. "Which groups did they carry?", immediately sprung to mind. I approached the school from the left side and as I came around the corner, I was met by a young woman wearing a Moveon.org shirt. She immediately asked me to sign a petition supporting the president's reform initiative. I made an excuse that I was here to watch and evaluate and not to choose sides. This was true actually. I had made the choice not to prejudge the event in any way. I wanted only to listen and watch to know what I had seen.
It was a rather large crowd and the parking lot was full after all with cars parked on the grounds surrounding the school as well. I'm not sure what I expected to see as I walked around the corner of the school. I'd seen the raucous videos and heard the loud, angry sound bites on the news for weeks. As I walked across the front of the school, what was obvious first was the diversity in the crowd--blue collar, white collar, white, black, asian etc. At first blush, it looked like a good cross section of the residents of Congressman Scott's district. I live in his district and I'm well aware of the demographics relating to race, income and the like.
I strode past the line waiting to gain entry to the school and was again asked to sign a petition. This time, by a young man in a Moveon.org shirt. I shook my head and walked past two men who were talking, they were within earshot so I shot my ears their way.
"I'm going back to the bus. I ran out of stickers. You need anything?" said the first man, probably in his mid 30's to an older gentleman.
"No, I'm ok right now. I'm gonna need more signs though before he gets started."
"I'll just get another box and you can pass them out."
This entire event was beginning to take on a very slick, very organized feel and I had only been there ten minutes so far. I saw a few signs being carried by the attendees in line. They were overwhelmingly in support and most were the kind of signs I had just heard mentioned. Most of the hand painted or made signs I saw were in opposition. The few that seemed in favor made no mention of health care. One read "Racism is UnAmerican" and another read "Stupidity is a pre-existing condition" I suspect these two individuals arrived with an agenda beyond that of health care reform. I walked casually, taking pictures randomly of the scene and the crowd. I walked further down the line, taking in the conversations as best I could from the distance I had chosen to stay from the crowd.
One gentleman, wearing a t-shirt with the words;
"Masters of
Observing
Bullxxxx"
an obvious reference to the "angry mobs" we've all been hearing about in the news, was having a rather spirited debate with the woman behind him about reform. It was passionate but respectful on both sides. They both felt strongly about their positions and neither seemed moved by the other's argument. My curiosity finally got the better of me and I had to go inquire of the man carrying the sign about racism why he chose that particular sign.Observing
Bullxxxx"
I approached him and asked if he minded answering a few questions. I explained I was writing a blog and just wanted to ask him a few basic questions. I had already picked three basic questions beforehand to maintain a semblance of impartiality. The questions I wanted to ask, I thought, would give me and anyone who might read this, a sense of who was really attending and where they stood on the issue.
His name was Eric Smith and he was from Decatur, as were the three friends he was standing with. It's important to note here that Decatur, where these four men were from, is not in the 13th district. At last, I had stumbled upon the "astro-turf" I had heard so much about. He explained that his sign was in response to the swastika that had been spray painted on Congressman Scott's Smyrna office sign. When asked if he expected that kind of sentiment at this event he replied,
"When don't you see it? It's everywhere now man." He turned to one of his friends just then and said, "Look at Bubba Gump over there with the sign."
I turned to see what he was talking about and saw a young black man carrying a sign that read, "Obama = Socialism". He turned back to me and I asked him if he'd read the bill to which he replied, "I don't need to read the bill, that's what them people in Washington are supposed to do." A woman in front of him, who had been listening to us, spoke up as well, "Who can understand that gobbledy-gook anyway? It's not like they're speaking a language any of us can understand is it?" I joked with her that she was right and that Congress had stopped speaking English a long time ago. Thanking them for their time I sauntered further down the line and caught these words as I passed a man in line talking to someone holding a clipboard,
"Now why would I sign that if I don't even know what it stands for?"
Intrigued, I wandered over and waited for the clipboard carrier to move off. I asked the gentleman his name and if he'd mind a few questions.
"My name is Tim and that kool-aid drinker was wasting my time. He wants me to sign a petition but won't tell me what it's a petition for. Stupid Moveon people think everyone thinks like they do." He explained that he lived in Clayton county and was here to ask questions and maybe learn something new. His tone suggested he doubted that but he had come anyway.
"I just want someone to tell me why we have to do it right now and how the hell we're gonna pay for it. I've got health insurance and I don't need Obama messing with it."
Curious about the petition he was asked to sign, I walked over to the young man carrying the clipboard and asked him for a few moments of his time. He was more than courteous and smiled broadly saying, "Anything for the press!"
I explained that I was just writing a blog and the term "press" might not apply in this instance. He simply smiled and told me to ask away.
Miguel Santiago was a member of Moveon.org and had been bused here today from Decatur along with about 25 fellow members to get petitions signed and to pass out signs and stickers in support of the president's reform initiative. He'd been with Moveon for about two years and explained that his resistance to the Iraq war had drawn him in to better organize his protestations of it. When asked if the Congressman had had any involvement in having his people out here today he said,
"Not directly but we can't let this opportunity pass by. We have to get out and stop the lies that the right is telling about health care reform. There are people out there dying because they have no insurance and it's time to stop it. Time to make it better."
He said that someone from his local chapter had contacted the Congressman's office and asked how they could help.
"And here we are!" he said cheerfully.
It was at this moment that my objectivity began to slip as I realized that the organization, the astro-turfing was all one sided indeed and it was the left that was doing it. I met one supporter of health care reform that actually lived in the district. That's not to say that there weren't more but in the unscientific sampling I took, it shook out this way;
For reform - out of 8 people I talked to, only one lived in the district.
Against reform - out of 7 people I talked to all but one lived in the district. (The one from outside the district had grown up in Clayton county and was here with family members who still did.
The only coordination I saw was from Moveon.org and they brought a myriad of people to sway opinion. I stayed for the panel discussion and the town hall but watched the first 15 questions come from people who had been preselected and placed in the front row. Questions were taken for the first 45 minutes by a lottery system and not asked of the audience. The Congressman answered most of these questions with the same talking points that the President had been using.
"If you like your health care, you keep your health care."
"This is not a government take over of health care."
"No one wants to come between you and your doctor."
The one interesting thing he said that drew boos from the crowd was that he intended to pay for reform but taxing the top 1% of earners who can," Afford to give us a helping hand in this."
I turned and walked away knowing that I wasn't going to hear anything of any substance here today. If the Congressman truly thinks punishing the wealthy by excessive taxation is really "giving a helping hand" then there was no further reason to stay.
No, I'm not a journalist. My ability to spot bullshit from a mile away makes being objective in the face of that kind of stupidity impossible.
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