RossWasHere.com Information is the currency of democracy. –Thomas Jefferson

EVERYONE LOOK AT THE PIGS! (or.. “Rummy”)

I'm sick and tired of all this swine flu nonsense.

The following is the result of my research into the origin of this "pandemic" and why the media is licking their chops.

So, if the swine flu "pandemic" is indeed being inflated by the media, what is our attention being drawn away from? Well... who says it has to be drawing attention away from something? Fear-mongering means attention, and the newsmongers love attention. And ad revenue. Don't forget the ad revenue. When people are afraid, they are glued to their TVs. We know this thanks to 9/11 and Katrina.

There is most certainly fear-mongering taking place in the media right now. I just saw a local news "special report" titled: "SWINE FLU DEATH". People love to hear about scary bad news... and these high ratings lead to more revenue for media outlets that focus on these sorts of things.

I think the issue here is not about "is swine flu dangerous", but about a misuse of language. Remember those nutty creationists who used a different word definition when they said "evolution is just a theory?" Same thing here.

Medically, a pandemic means above normal transmission and/or mortality rate. The 1918 flu pandemic had a 2.5% mortality rate, for instance... but "2.5%" doesn't sell newspapers. "Pandemic" does. What would you do if you were a failing newspaper?

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I'm also surprised no one has mentioned this: Swine flu, like avian flu, just happens to be cured (or at least hindered) by a single medication; Tamiflu. Tamiflu has sold millions of units that would otherwise have rotted on shelves or never been produced, and almost all of them just end up expiring. Whichever pharmaceutical company owns that thing is blatantly taking advantage of media and the idiots who believe it.

Well it turns out that the name of the pharmaceutical company that produces Tamiflu is called Gilead Sciences, Inc.

OK, well, now we know the company that would financially benefit from a pandemic, real or fake, but who individually would stand to benefit? Well, for one...

Donald Rumsfeld.
Donald "I was so retarded that I got fired by George W. Bush" Rumsfeld.

Don't believe it? Here's the SNOPES.COM ARTICLE that completely explains his ties to this company. Here's my favorite part:

"It is true that Donald Rumsfeld does indeed have stock holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. Rumsfeld was a member of Gilead's board of directors between 1988 and 2001... until he joined President George W. Bush's cabinet as Secretary of Defense. According to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld, he has Gilead stock holdings valued at between $5 million and $25 million."

You asshole.

The stimulus package for dummies.

Ok, people. All sorts of words are flying about this stimulus package.

Let me explain it to you using facts only. Here goes nothing...

WHY IS THE STIMULUS NECESSARY?

We're in this crisis because people aren't buying things.  With me so far?  Good.

For every job that is lost, that means someone has less money to buy stuff... which means less stuff gets bought.  Still with me?  Awesome.

Less stuff being bought is bad for businesses, which means MORE layoffs.

It's a vicious cycle we're in.   Just ask anyone who was alive in the 1920's.

This is why timing matters... there is urgency here. There's literally a scientific and economic need to hurry... it's not a matter of perception, it's the truth.

WILL THIS BILL HELP?

The short answer? Maybe.

The long answer?

The bill that passed today was approximately 42% tax cuts and 58% spending.  If you are concerned about the future of this country, you should be furious that it is not 100% spending.

Republicans may not like it, but the way to create jobs fast is by spending... by giving money to people who will spend it in an economy that needs people to be spending in it.

That is the fucking definition of economic stimulus. Look it up.

Oh, and anyone that says 'tax cuts' when talking about a stimulus should be stripped of political office immediately and forced to re-take Economics 101 because they clearly weren't paying attention the first time they took it.

How many of you spent your $600 check last year?  Putting it in savings or paying down debt does not count.  That's why tax cuts are not the best choice.

Every dollar spent on tax rebates generates about $1.02 of economic activity. Infrastructure? $1.59.

Why waste 57 cents on-the-dollar?

Why waste taxpayer money on tax breaks when actual spending works better?!?

This is where I'm really pissed at Obama.  He put those tax cuts in to make the republicans happy... and they still gave him the middle finger.  So why not just take them out?  They're bad for this plan and this country.

The 42% of the bill that is tax cuts, is a WASTE... at a time when we cannot afford waste.

Also, did you notice what the republicans wanted to cut from the stimulus package? Spending on food stamps.

POP QUIZ: What is the single most productive stimulus that we know of?

I'll give you one guess.

$1 spent on food stamps = $1.73 economic activity. Food stamps are something that get spent.  On goods.  Made by companies.

The fact that they want to cut this from the stimulus is proof that the republicans aren't even trying to fix things... or they just don't fucking get it.

CONCLUSION

As civic-minded Americans concerned about our future, now is the time to take the step of favoring correct information over incorrect information. The stakes are too high.
If you are in congress and are favoring political nonsense over facts, you should lose your political potency.   You have every right to believe whatever bullshit you want to, but get out of the way of the people who are actually trying to save this country.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to vote. Long lines are no excuse.

Take Tuesday off and sit back and enjoy the ride. I'll be downtown Chicago at the Obama (hopefully) celebration. No matter who you're voting for, just go do it. There's no room left for apathy in this country... it's simply un-American.

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope

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Repulicans vs. Facts (Round 3 of many)

OK, so, here's a great example of the kind of people McCain has working for him this week.

CNN's Rick Sanchez catches McCain spokesman Mike Goldfarb lying out of his ass.

At the end of the clip, Sanchez somehow THANKS Goldfarb for his time. If it was me doing the interviewing, I would have told this piece of shit to fuck off and die. So much for that "liberal media", eh?

What kind of person allows a spokesperson like this to work for them? A desperate one.

Also, here's a nice roundup of just a few of the McCain advertising lies found so far in his campaign:

I already voted. Fuck the mainstream media.

Yesterday I voted for Obama/Biden, Dick Durbin, a few representatives, and voted to remove all incumbent judges on the Illinois ballot.

I thought that voting early would lift a weight off my shoulders... and it did, but not for long. Leaving the polls I immediately had the feeling of "well, I did my part". Which is remarkable, because I'm in Obama's home state. He'll probably get 60-65% of the vote here... so why did I feel that my vote mattered so much? Maybe it's because for the first time in my life I feel that the choice is clear. Sure, in 2004 I voted for Kerry but that was just a vote against Bush.

So why don't I still feel good? It's clear to me that the mainstream media is in FULL FORCE to set up Obama for an upset by John McCain. They're very sneaky about this... let me help expose them.

Example #1: Colin Powell

There has been major buzz the last few days all over the media that Colin Powell will be endorsing Barack Obama soon. The media sees this as such a huge deal because Powell is a republican and a highly respected one at that... oh yeah and he's a black guy.

So why is the media covering this before it even happens? They want you to start believing that Colin Powell SHOULD endorse Obama. What happens now if Powell comes out and supports McCain? The media will call it a slap in the face Obama. Based on what? Based on their own premature hype.

Also, if Powell does endorse Obama it will be much less of a shock and will be perceived as an expected 'we told you so' event rather than front page news. This is how the republican machine and mainstream media beats down a major headline that does not fit their agenda.

Powell is scheduled to appear on Meet the Press this Sunday morning. He is expected to announce his endorsement for his candidate of choice on this show. I guess we'll see.

Example #2: Joe the Plumber

Am I the only one that is already sick of this fucking guy?

It turns out he isn't named Joe, isn't a Plumber, isn't an undecided voter, and doesn't even pay taxes. Seriously.

The mainstream and right-wing media are all over this story like it was some sort of Britney Spears vagina flash. It is not Joe's character that matters, but what Joe is SUPPOSED to represent. McCain wants us to believe that Joe is an average American that has been successful to the point where he can afford to buy a business and live the good life but Obama just wants to drag him down.

How fucking stupid do they think we are?

Could they not even find ONE example of a person that actually fit their agenda? This is 2008, most of us have the goddamn internet and are capable of fact-checking and/or relying on unbiased non-mainstream media to get real news. Maybe right-wingers should do this too.

MYTH #1: Joe makes $250k+ a year and would highly benefit from McCain's tax plan.

FACT: Joe made $40k last year and would benefit more from Barack Obama's tax plan. Hypothetically, let's say Joe did made $300k instead of 40k. Under Obama's plan he would only see a 3% tax increase (from 36% to 39%) ON ONLY THE AMOUNT OVER $250,000..

Let's do some math. $300,000 minus $250,000 = $50,000. $50,000 times 3% = $1,500. All this goddamn stink over $1,500 more taxes on a person making $300,000 income.

Big. Motherfucking. Deal.

I'm pretty sure he'll still be able to afford everything he already can when he's taking home about $200,000 instead of $201,500.

MYTH #2: Joe is an undecided voter.

FACT: The McCain campaign would LOVE to have an example of an upper-middle class, white, undecided voter to help them frame Obama as a bad guy. The problem is... Joe is none of these things... ok, ok, he is white... I'll give you that. He voted in his first primary on March 4, 2008, registering as a Republican.

So what does this all mean?

A lot.

The reason the story is so popular is almost certainly connected to the national, established media's continuing fetish for socially conservative whites as the dominant demographic for swing voters in America. This obsession has a long history, with an almost uninterrupted lineage dating from the silent majority, through the southern strategy, Reagan Democrats, soccer Moms, and on to "values voters" in our own decade.

It is an obsession that came out frequently in this campaign in the hundreds of stories about Obama's supposed problems with socially conservative white Democrats, and how those problems posed a barrier to winning the Presidency. If you can't win the socially conservative white vote, you supposedly can't win national elections. I call bullshit. Joe the Plumber is just the latest instance of this type of story, which grants an absurd amount of power to socially conservative whites in our national political discourse.

Here's a nice video clip I'll leave you with to ponder. Open up your minds and stop relying on the lies and propaganda of the mainstream media. You'll thank yourself.

This clip shows about 30 seconds of Bill O'Reilly being pretty clear what he wants. He wants us to shut up and bend over. The last part of the clip is from a movie called "Network' from 1976. It is frighteningly accurate.