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Reuters: Everything Good is Bad Again

by ThePete 1:13 pm 2008-11-19

Spotted this article on Reuters.com this morning called "October consumer prices and home starts plummet" and found it really fascinating.  If you read it, it talks about things like housing prices dropping and deflation as bad things.  Think about that for a moment.

Houses dropping in price means more people can afford houses and fewer new loans will be defaulted on.

Isn't that good for the economy?

It's certainly good for people who want to buy homes.

But the Reuters article insists that the economy is weakening even further than it has.

The article also mentions deflation as another example of an ever-sinking economy.  The thing is, what do we mostly bitch about when it comes to money? 

Inflation.

So, shouldn't deflation be a good thing to us?

I say yes.

While the article also reports on consumer prices dropping and a few other things that generally the economy is weakening, I say prices dropping are part of the system working.  Yep, that's right–this is ThePete saying capitalism and free market economics both work just fine when not abused.  Leaving them be, letting losses and crashes occur means that things were getting to big for the system to support.  Now we can rebuild on more stable footing. 

Prices dropping is a natural function of the law of supply and demand.  We American consumers have stopped spending as much as we used to–THIS IS A GOOD THING.

This fills my heart with hope for humanity that we're not just a bunch of dumb sheep doing what we're told.  This is proof we can react to what is really happening and do the right, logical thing.

So, we stop spending, prices drop to entice us to buy, to a certain degree we do, and slowly but surely, the economy builds back up again.

Color me malfunctioning, but my memory circuits tell me this is how things are supposed to work.

Bailouts now would just delay our economy's recovery.

Tell me I'm wrong–please–and tell me how so I can learn.  Thanks.

One last thing about this article.  Since it puts everything in terms of its level of badness for the economy, despite those things being good for consumers and really the stability of the whole system, doesn't this article end up coming off like an advertisement for the corporate greed mindset?  That we all need to be buying and borrowing at all times to keep the economy moving and growing and dominating (despite it's complete crashing and bleeding out recently)?  It reminds me of how the media isn't liberally biased, it's biased toward money–and the furthering of the belief that "greed is good."

Gordon Gecco is dead.  Let's leave him buried, shall we?

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by ThePete 1:13 pm 2008-11-19 In TheNews, TheMoney, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , | $ |

Daily Democracy in Danger: MSNBC.com’s “10 Choke Points” Disected

by ThePete 8:20 pm 2008-11-01

In yesterday’s DID post, one of the articles I linked to was called “10 Choke Points for Election Day” and it was written by Alan Boyle. Now, color me a bit biased, but I feel like he’s MUCH too trusting of technology–especially for being the “Science editor” of MSNBC.com. So trusting that I decided to take his article apart, piece by piece, and point out how he and others in the media downplay the dangers of election irregularities in subtle, but effective ways. As always, the original article is italicized and my comments are smart-assy.

Here we go:

10 choke points for Election Day
What could go wrong? E-voting glitches, legal challenges and more
By Alan Boyle
Science editor
updated 10:32 a.m. ET, Fri., Oct. 31, 2008

So far, so good…

In the year 2000, we suffered through Florida’s hanging chads and lingering lawsuits.

Ain’t democracy a bitch?

So, we “suffered” through “hanging chads and lingering lawsuits,” did we Mr. Boyle? What we quite literally suffered through was a misapplication of the Constitution that ended with the American people not having definite numbers from the 2000 election. Not having definite numbers means not being sure that the guy in the White House is even supposed to be there.

Just think about all the things Bush has screwed the pooch on and now think about the odds of someone else screwing up as badly. Yeah, Boyle, you MIGHT have left a few things out there in your lovely attempt at alliteration there.

In 2004, we agonized over the long lines at polling places, plus Ohio’s provisional ballots.

Once again, was that all we agonized over? It wasn’t the mysterious terrorism-related evacuation order claiming to be from the DHS that eventually denied having been given? It wasn’t the exit polls that literally inverted the results of the election?

What about when a handful of people in Congress tried to get the election investigated but everyone else shrugged them off?

That was agonizing to me–and not just because I voted for Kerry but because I want to know for sure who ever gets into the Oval Office deserves to be there! Isn’t that the whole point of democracy?

On Election Day this year, what problems will emerge as the choke points for the voting process?

Oh, Election Day! How many ways can you screw up? Let me count the ways! 1, 2, 3…

Damn, Boyle only came up with 10?

The bad news is that glitches have been popping up for weeks, during an early-voting period that has almost overwhelmed some election officials. The good news? Election officials have now had weeks to see exactly what kinds of problems are popping up, and to take care of them before the big day on Tuesday.

The badder news? Election officials have had YEARS to research, test, implement and FIX these election systems and they’re such morons they STILL haven’t pulled it off.

I’m just SURE in the remaining THREE DAYS before the election they’ll be able to suss out all the problems and make sure every American’s vote is counted!

O_O

“If there are problems on Election Day, it will be because of something unexpected, not because of a lack of preparation,” said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org at the Pew Center on the States.

Well, let’s hope the Pew-man is right. Though, logic would dictate that he’s not. Scores of experts and regular joes like me have been pointing out the problems with these machines for years–if any of them pop up on Election Day we will not consider them “unexpected.”

One problem that’s totally expected will be long lines at polling places. “We knew that by midsummer,” said Douglas Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa who serves as a researcher and consultant on voting technologies.

Voter registration levels have risen to what appear to be historic proportions. If it weren’t for the expanded use of early voting and vote-by-mail schemes, polling places might well have experienced the logistical meltdown that some observers feared.

Give them a chance! Why do you assume that early voting has completely averted the meltdown, sir?

I fully expect that the meltdown has been lessened by the early voting, but not every state has done early voting as far as I know.
More…

by ThePete 8:20 pm 2008-11-01 In TheNews, Politricks, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , , , , , | $ |

Democracy In Danger: Election Irregularity News

by ThePete 7:23 pm 2008-10-30

utterli-imageThis crap is NOT going away. The good thing is that the MSM is sort of hobbling along, trying to at least pay lip-service to the incredibly serious issue of election irregularities.

I mean, it’s only our democracy, right?

ANYway, so, amazingly enough, CNN.com actually did report on voting problems–kinda. If you have a look at that screengrab there, you’ll see the headline as being worthy of the "Duh Award". Come on, guys–you think something might go wrong when half-the-country votes for president next week?

GOSH YOU’RE SMART, CNN.COM! Geh…

All that said, here are some links and headlines for election irregularity coverage around the web today:

Voting machines could bring Election Day glitches
http://www.cnn.com/…index.html

More than 3,000 registered Coloradans barred from voting
Thousands of Coloradans have been denied the right to vote because of a policy that may violate federal law.

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has authorized county clerks to purge newly registered voters under the so-called 20-day rule. Here, county clerks must send non-forwardable letters to newly registered voters. If the mail bounces back to the clerks, then they must remove the voter applicants’ names from the rolls.
http://coloradoindependent.com/…coloradans
This is some scary stuff–it’s been going on for years–even back in 2004. It’s called "voter caging" and whether it’s illegal or not, it’s a form of voter suppression and because we humans are imperfect and make mistakes, so does this system and plenty who should be able to vote end up not being able to. (Though voter caging really is an absurd and unfair way to judge whether a person has registered legally or not.)

Listen Up Karen Handel!
http://www.ireport.com/…DOC-129137
This is a video of a voter in Atlanta waiting in line for hours to vote. Isn’t that great? HOURS. I’ve missed one presidential election in my entire adult life and have never spent more then 40 minutes in line.

Lawsuits, Machine Malfunctions and Missing Absentee Ballots Among Voting Rights Issues Facing Jittery Election
Early voters across the country are reporting long lines and problems with electronic voting machines. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to file lawsuits that could stop thousands from voting. We speak to Harvey Wasserman of Free Press and Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog.
http://www.democracynow.org/…g_absentee
Good stuff from yesterday’s Democracy Now broadcast. They interview two guys who know a LOT about election irregularities–both having appeared in a documentary I helped with called "Stealing America". Check it out (in full!) at StealingAmericaTheMovie.org.

Court Backs Penn. Voter Rights Suit on Electronic Machines
A federal judge has ordered state election officials to provide emergency paper ballots if half or more electronic voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state.
http://www.democracynow.org/…/headlines
Personally, I don’t get why we shouldn’t all have the right to vote on paper over a machine if we so choose. It seems like it would be unconstitutional to force us to use voting equipment we don’t trust. Still this is good news–just a shame that Penn voters need to wait until half of the machines fail to get to vote with something more trustworthy.

Speaking of which, here’s another story on this from BradBlog.com:

Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Plaintiff Demand for Emergency Paper Ballots in PA
http://www.bradblog.com/
According to this post, PA law says county clerks can give out paper ballots if just one machine fails. Though this ruling seems to supersede that law. Still, this ruling is better than nothing. Though if it inspires voters to "discover" their machines "break"ing down violently, we know which judge to blame for not going far enough. ;)

Not that I’m endorsing any violent acts, of course.

Election Protection by Amy Goodman
http://www.truthdig.com/…rotection/
This is a blog post from Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman and it focuses on all of the issues facing us regarding our ability to vote. Whether you agree with her or not, it’s just good people are having this discussion.

Tool Developed to Detect Possible Fraud in Election Tabulating Software
Pima County, AZ Election Integrity Group Creates Software to Analyze Diebold GEMS Databases, Wants to Share Capability With Others…
http://www.bradblog.com/
This is more good news–software has been developed that can scan databases from Diebold-brand voting machines and find errors. For now it’s only used in Arizona–why this software hasn’t been developed sooner is anyone’s guess. However, I’m going to guess that it’s because Diebold always claimed their technology was proprietary (aka they could tell us, but then they’d have to charge us a lot of money).

Vote-Flipping Diebold Machine Removed, Quarantined in CO
Karen Long, Adams County Clerk Takes Action After Voter Sees Vote Flip Repeatedly to Republican Candidate in State With Long History of E-Voting Failures
http://www.bradblog.com/
Won’t our leaders ever learn? Or maybe they have and like this kind of confusion? While this is good news, it points out serious issues with our leaders’ ability to decide what is right for us. If Colorado has had a history of e-voting problems, why are they failing to learn from that history? OH yeah, it’s all part of the "All History Left Behind" program spear-headed by the White House. Bush ignored his own father’s history in a war with Iraq, so I suppose it’s contagious to other government types, too.

In closing this post, I’d like to point out a couple new sites I’ve come across that are concerned with election irregularities:

http://www.projectvotecount.com/
http://voteraction.org/

Check out both sites if you had trouble voting or if you want to get involved.

WHEW. This stuff is tiring! I hope all of these problems magically go away on November 4th!

:P

For more links to coverage of election irregularities and commentary on the situation, please check out ThePete.Com. I’ve been working my ass off :)
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by ThePete 7:23 pm 2008-10-30 In TheNews, Politricks, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , , | $ |

Democracy in Danger: USMSM Ignoring, Other Sources Not

by ThePete 6:47 pm 2008-10-29

The US Mainstream Media (USMSM) is sadly blowing off stories of voting irregularities. I just trolled CNN.com a few minutes ago and saw almost nothing regarding reports of vote-problems. Luckily, loads of online sources seem to be covering this story. Let’s hope it continues and let’s also hope CNN.com decides to do more than just offer their “voter problem” page (here: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/voter-problems/ ). Talk about treating a problem improperly. What they do by putting all the stories about voting problems on one page and nowhere else is, essentially, ghetto-izing news about our democracy failing us.

If you think a few votes here and a few votes there are no big deal, you clearly don’t recall how tight the Bush wins were in 2000 and 2004. Also, a handful of reports can often be the tip of the iceberg. Not everyone is going to notice or be sure that they just had a problem voting. This is why it’s so important that election irregularities stay on the front page of EVERY news source on the planet (yes, the planet, since the guy running the USA tends to bomb a lot). If you know of election stories that aren’t being covered, why not start your own blog and post about it? Or email your favorite news sources and ask them why they aren’t covering these stories? It’s just our democracy in the balance.

All this said, plenty of stories are reaching the ‘net on non-USMSM sites. Here’s a nice round up for you:

Phony Flier Gives Va. Dems Wrong Election Date
In Virginia, a phony flier purporting to come from the state election board has circulated to prevent Democrats from voting on Election Day. The flier tells Democrats and independents to vote on November 5th, the day after the election.
www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/headlines#4
How are we not supposed to blame the Republicans for something like this? (Mind you, I’m a registered independent.)

Report: Sequoia Voting Machine Prone to Hacking
a new Princeton University report… …says a machine made by the California-based Sequoia Voting Systems can be hacked in about seven minutes.
www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/headlines#5
NICE! Sequoia were the blokes said to be behind the “hanging-chads” from 2000.

Your Last Chance to Pull That Big Red Lever
This Tuesday is supposed to be New Yorkers’ last chance to use the old-fashioned voting machines! That is, if everything goes as planned. New York state is already behind in the attempt to switch to newer voting technology in accordance with the Help America Vote Act. According to City Limits, “Using New York state’s old-fashioned lever machines is difficult for people who aren’t able to see the choices or flip the levers.”
idealistnyc.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/your-last-chance-to-pull-that-big-red-lever/
I was unaware of this–and I’m a New Yorker now. Sheesh. I should say that I think the argument using disabled voters as the excuse to switch entirely to electronic “ballot marking devices” (or BMDs) is a weak one since disabled voters are a fraction of the people who vote. Also, forcing them to use BMDs isn’t fair to them, either. Can’t we just create a job where someone is in charge of helping disabled folks vote?

ELECTION DAY TEST LOOMS FOR NEW VOTING DEVICES
Nov. 4 should be the beginning of the end for the city’s lever voting machines, as New York continues its belated effort to comply with the Help America Vote Act.
www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3643
This is a decidedly positive view of the same story from IdealistNYC. These guys seem to really only care about these complying with federal law and not with the possibility that these devices work or are at all trustworthy. It’s funny, I’m a total tech-head and I’d never trust technology with my democracy.

More Vote-Flipping in TX by Machines Other Than Those Made by ES&S
Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems Made by Hart InterCivic and Diebold Also Reportedly Now Flipping Votes From Democratic to Republican in TX…
www.bradblog.com/?p=6584
Previously, I’ve blogged about reports that all the vote switching has occurred on just one kind of machine from just one company–the iVotronic from ES&S (blogged here and here). However, according to BradBlog.com the problems are popping up in voting machines from a number of different companies, so no voter using an electronic/computerized voting machine is safe from this kind of “glitch.”

National groups laud W.Va.’s response to vote switching
A pair of national voting rights groups say other states should follow West Virginia’s lead when it comes to touch-screen voting machines.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and Verified Voting are touting Secretary of State Betty Ireland’s decision to urge counties to recalibrate their machines each morning.
wvgazette.com/News/200810290417
While this sounds like good news, it really isn’t. These machines shouldn’t need to be recalibrated EVER. As I blogged last night, my iPhone has a touchscreen, too and I never have to recalibrate it–why is it that American Democracy seems to have a crappier touchscreen than my iPhone?

The Vote Grab: Voting machines are unreliable and inaccurate
As early voting in the US presidential elections gets underway, ES&S iVotronics touch-screen electronic voting machines have been observed in four separate states flipping the votes – mostly from Barack Obama to John McCain but sometimes to third party candidates too. This has already occurred during early voting in the states of West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas.
blogs.independent.co.uk/openhouse/2008/10/the-vote-grab-1.html
This is somewhat old news, but at least they’re covering it. Also, just because it’s old news doesn’t make it untrue. What’s nice about this piece (written by Peter Tatchell) is that it goes into some nice detail into the background of these kinds of problems. This makes it a good primer for anyone who hasn’t been following this stuff for years.

So, while it’s nice to see some print and foreign news sources covering this stuff, it’s still not reaching as many people (or as many Americans) as it needs to. Back in 2004 a bunch of us screamed about it, but were ignored. We all need to scream about this stuff. Regardless of who “wins” on November 4, the win won’t mean a thing to anyone who respects the truth and the will of the American People.

I’m one of those people.

For the latest news on vote switching your best bet is to do a Google news search here:
news.google.com/news?q=vote%20switching

If you see any weirdness at your polling place please one or all of the following (especially the first two items):

Call 877-GOCNN-08 That’s CNN’s voter problem hotline

Call 866-MYVOTE1 That’s an independent hotline run by the guys behind www.infovoter.net/

Go here: www.votersunite.org/electionproblems_submit.asp and describe what you experienced.

Comment here at ThePete.Com or at any other blog covering election irregularities

Blog about it yourself

If you brought a camera with you to vote, take pictures or video and upload it to the VideoTheVote.org.

In the end, it’s up to every American citizen to not just vote, but to do their part in making sure that vote means something.

by ThePete 6:47 pm 2008-10-29 In TheNews, Politricks, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , , | $ |

CNN.com Asks: Will Obama’s Lead Last?

by ThePete 2:25 am 2008-10-29
utterli-image
This is kind of disgusting. CNN’s own numbers (here: http://thepete.com/…n-cnn-poll ) have Obama with a projected lead so far ahead of McCain that even if Senator John got all of the up-fer-grabs electorals left he wouldn’t be able to catch up, let alone pass his opponent.

So, why are they trying to be all alarmist in asking if this quite substantial lead last? Well, they’ve got to pull drama from somewhere (even if it’s out of their asses) but it still bugs me.

I mean, wondering if a lead this big will last another 6 days is almost as absurd as the lead Obama seems to have at this point. Yet, here’s CNN.com being lame still.

Ah well, it could be worse–they could be trying to make this race seem close, somehow…

I’m actually a little shocked they’re not doing this.

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by ThePete 2:25 am 2008-10-29 In TheNews, Politricks, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , | $ |

CNN, Chevron & McCain, OH MY!

by ThePete 3:05 am 2008-10-16

utterli-imageSaw this on my iPhone tonight and couldn’t help but think "Wow, CNN brings us a pro-McCain headline sponsored by Chevron. Taste that irony!"

Seriously, even Fox News is admitting that Obama won this final debate and CNN.com says "McCain puts Obama on the spot."

Was Chevron that specfic when they bought the ad space?

Drill, baby, drill, indeed.
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by ThePete 3:05 am 2008-10-16 In TheNews, Politricks, TheBig Business, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , | $ |

CNN.com Thinks "They All Look Alike"?

by ThePete 5:12 pm 2008-10-08
utterli-image
I saw this last Friday and meant to post it sooner. Just found it amusing (in a sad way) that one of the few high profile black women in the media gets misfiled as somehow being connected to the second OJ Simpson trial.

I know people make mistakes, but this is an easy one to catch. All it requires is that you be capable of recognizing the faces of media figures.

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by ThePete 5:12 pm 2008-10-08 In TheNews, TheCultureJam, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , | $ |

Sarah Palin Game Changer or Scandal Bringer? UPDATED

by ThePete 12:36 am 2008-08-30

I’m a little confused about this blurb CNN put on their main page tonight about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s choice for his VP running mate. CNN makes it sound like this woman is pristine and amazing–the only thing the Obama camp can say that is bad about her is that she’s got no foreign policy experience–which is kind of a useless criticism since Obama doesn’t have much more and McCain has scads more than either of them.

This might put the idea in people’s heads that she really is, as the blurb suggests, a “game changer.”

The truth seems to be that she’s just like a lot of politicians–in trouble for ethics violations. I know–someone in politics under investigation? Incredible!

Well, it’s true, and she is. Simply News-Googling for “Sarah Palin ethics investigation” led me to a bunch of articles about Palin’s recent problems. The following tidbits about Sarah Palin’s ethics investigation were reported at NYTimes.com:

A state ethics probe that was launched just a few weeks ago is already drawing attention in the opening moments of her debut as the Republican vice presidential pick is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

An independent investigator appointed by a panel of state legislators earlier this month is looking into whether Ms. Palin dismissed a top law enforcement official in her administration because he failed to fire a state trooper, Mike Wooten, who went through a messy divorce with Ms. Palin’s sister

Whoopsie.

Now, granted, to a campaign like McCain’s, lying and firing for political or personal reasons is no big thing, but for those of us who still have morals, an investigation is an investigation. Sarah Palin may be adorable, but if she’s being investigated she’s probably not a good bet for a VP candidate right now. However, she’s young–just 44 there’s always 2012 if she’s innocent of these charges.

Personally, I don’t think this is a huge deal and while I do admit we don’t live in an ideal world, surely, we can expect our potential leaders to not be under ethics investigations while running for one of the highest offices in the land.

Given McCain’s habit of looking like he’s copying the Bush Administration’s behavior, he might try a little harder to find a running mate that has a spotless record, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Then again, this is the world of politics so maybe I am asking too much.

Still, I don’t think it’s right for CNN to completely ignore this investigation on it’s home page–after all, most people probably aren’t going to bother reading past the main page, so they’ll never know the truth.

Hell, to me, McCain picking a woman is such an obvious stunt, anyway. It’s like the Obama/Biden ticket has an old white guy and a minority, and now, so does the McCain/Palin ticket. By mirroring the demographics of his opponent, McCain is forcing people to make a gut decision based on race and/or gender. Now, the entire country will have to make the decision the Democrats just finished making:

Do I want a black guy or a woman in the White House?

I mean, come on, you don’t really expect the majority of the American people to look past the surface issues, do you? If they did that, they’d realize how incredibly similar the two tickets are to each other. Then they might demand actual candidates that could deliver actual change.

Nobody wants that! Come on, John! What are you thinking?? You’re going to ruin it for everyone!

Well, “everyone” except for the American People. We might have a chance to elect leaders who want to solve the actual problems we’re facing.

UPDATE 8/30/08 1:50am: Seems someone feels the same way as me about Palin not being as pristine as she should be to run for VP–only this someone is on her side. According to an NPR report, it looks like the day before Palin was announced as McCain’s VP pick, Palin’s Wikipedia entry got whitewashed, making her look better than the previous article. Specifically, references to a beauty pageant and the above mentioned scandal were edited to be less prominent. Check out the story for more at NPR’s website here: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94118849

Hell, I didn’t even know about the beauty pageant–I guess that’s what that this picture was about.

Praise be to RichPav who Twittered about this the NPR story.

by ThePete 12:36 am 2008-08-30 In TheNews, Politricks, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , , | $ |

CNN.com Covers McCain with Obama Pic

by ThePete 2:01 pm 2008-08-11
utterz-image
So, I see the headline to this story on CNN’s mobile site but when I click on it I see a picture of Obama! I *wanted* to learn who McCain was considering for VP but instead I think that this damn iPhone touchscreen has made me hit the wrong link again. After I double check I discover it wasn’t the iPhone’s fault for once and that CNN.com intentionally put a pic of Obama in their article about McCain. Good one, CNN.

I’m guessing this is a sign that the news media is still in love with TheObama.

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by ThePete 2:01 pm 2008-08-11 In TheNews, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , | $ |

George Clooney On Sudan

by ThePete 11:30 am 2008-01-31

The above is a screencap of a video of George Clooney reporting to the UN on things he saw and experienced on a recent official visit to Africa (see it yourself here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…220735.stm# ).

This isn’t some jaunt he took so he could pick out a new child to adopt. Clooney went in as a representative of the UN–cornily called a "UN Peace Ambassador," he’s actually doing some great work. He spoke with people in the Darfur region who had been displaced by violence brought upon them by the Sudanese-government-sponsored militia that rape and murder locals to get them off the land. If memory serves this is happening because the land has oil underneath it.

I couldn’t find a transcript of what Clooney said, so I’ll paraphrase:

"One-hundred-percent of these people blame the government for displacement. It’s not disease, not disaster, not an act of God, not famine–the government of Sudan. I spoke with a woman who had been raped and set on fire two days before and she asked me to please send the UN. Not the US, not the UK, not the Russians, but the United Nations. They are believing what you are telling them. Don’t let them down."

In case you couldn’t tell he’s guilting the shit out of the UN to actually bother to help Africa.

He’s got a tiny bit of history with Africa, you see. A couple years ago, he and his father, himself a veteran newsman, literally sneaked into Darfur to witness some of the atrocities that have been committed there. They weren’t with the UN then, but they did it anyway.

George Clooney is *finally* someone we can look up to. Sure, he’s one of those "phony Hollywood-types" with a villa in Italy. But he’s actually doing something good with the gobs of money he’s made off of us.

How many "Hollywood-types" do that? How many rich people do that? Not only is Clooney a good actor and filmmaker, but he’s a good person and I’m tempted to call him a hero.

He seems to understand that every thing each one of us does is a message to the future and has said on more than one occasion that he doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of history.

The people of Sudan need money, supplies, weapons, stability. On two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has spent about $1 trillion. Just *think* how much good that money could have done in Africa.

I’ve long ago given up on the mainstream news for any information other than breaking news of disasters, so I don’t know if they’ve covered Clooney and what he’s done. But I’d much rather be hearing about Clooney and what he’s witnessed than whether or not Hillary faked her cry-fest a couple weeks back.

As far as I’m concerned, George Clooney should get a medal.
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by ThePete 11:30 am 2008-01-31 In TheNews, TheCultureJam, TheDistractainment, ThePete.Com | Tags , , , , , , | $ |