LINO – Libertarian In Name Only

ORLANDO, Florida – Barely twenty-four hours in and already the Libertarian party of two thousand and sixteen is starting to experience dissention in the ranks.

Over Memorial day weekend Libertarians came together from across the country and around the world to nominate their president and vice presidential candidates at their annual national party convention. And for many the top of the ticket for the fall and the general election season is troubling, deeply troubling.

Many Libertarians say that with the assention of former Massachusetts Governor William Weld to the vice presidency that it will just give the North American Union types and Wall Street Big Money Donors a paper tiger in a Gary Johnson administration, should he win the presidency in the fall.

Because from sun-drenched Florida and the grave of the late great Economist Harry Browne, the 1996 and 2000 Libertarian party nominee for President of the United States of America, you can hear the battle cry of LINO – Libertarian In Name Only!

No doubt the Johnson-Weld ticket will tell Libertarians and you fellow voter nothing could be further from the truth. No paper tigers here, no LINO’s allowed! And so it will go, no?

But lets look at it from this perspective for just a minute, shall we? My prediction is that the Johnson-Weld ticket will be Libertarian-lite in that they’ll run under the Libertarian party banner but will, instead, draw from the well of the Never Trump Never Hillary movements in a kind of “A Coalition of the Willing.” Or as Bill Clinton and Dick Morris did so infamously in the 1990’s, “Triangulation.”

Seeking out those disgruntled and disavowed  Democrats and Republicans who just can’t stand the idea, much less stomach it, of another Clinton or that for matter a Donald J. Trump in The White House.

Or, maybe not? Maybe just maybe it’s what they all really want, and it’s just going to be made to look like it’s not? Just so the media, talking-heads, politicos and party bosses can have something to talk about on the nightly news.

In either case I like Bill Weld and have enormous respect for Gary Johnson, ever since 2011 when he first ran for the presidency. Then as now Johnson stands for some of the same things that I do, but with Charles and David Koch, through Bill Weld, pulling on Johnson like he’s a puppet and they’re the masters even I can’t stomach that!

I hate Charles and David Koch with every fiber of my being for what they have done to this great country of ours and this beautiful world in which we all live. They are evil incarnate, in my opinion, and hell itself would be a far worse place with them in it.

I call LINO – Libertarian in Name Only! And for those disgruntled and disaffected Libertarians I offer this as your Battle Cry:

Hold fast, and as Jesse Ventura says, “Stay Vigilant…”

–Rhett.

Comcast Buys DreamWorks Animation for $3.55 Billion — TIME

(NEW YORK) — Comcast is buying DreamWorks Animation for approximately $3.55 billion. DreamWorks stockholders will receive $41 for each share they own. That’s a 24 percent premium to the company’s Wednesday closing price of $32.20. The companies put the deal’s value at about $3.8 billion. DreamWorks will become part of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group,…

via Comcast Buys DreamWorks Animation for $3.55 Billion — TIME

#Blog: “WHY, the @Comcast, @AOL/@TimeWarner MERGER, IS a #BadIdea..” By Rhett E. Column, #AXJ, #SWN

THIS IS the eventual face of an ANGRY Cable Customer…

 

 

 

Ever been so angry, so mad that you started chewing on your clothes, perhaps even tearing them? I have. Unfortunately. And it was not a pretty sight.

IF the Comcast-AOL/Time Warner Cable merger is allowed to go thru by the FCC this picture will be the picture of many a cable subscriber across America, and I dare say around the world.

This is such an emotionally charged issue that my friends and colleagues at Consumer Union have established a means and method for you, the consumer, to express your opinion on this potential merger. To date Consumer Union has processed over 75,000 comments from across America and around the world by consumers just like on this potential merger.

As a Comcast customer and a one time AOL/Time Warner Cable customer, assumed under another name, I am so staunchly against this deal, against this MERGER that at every opportunity, every chance I have been given I have expressed my opinion to FCC Chair Thomas Wheeler & Co.

The picture above is fictitious in nature used merely, here to express a pending sentiment, perhaps even predict a future should the FCC green light this merger I for one hope that they don’t! And you should to. Your cable bill will double while the quality of service and products will go down. Not to mention the down tick in your influence as a ‘valued customer’ of one or perhaps both Comcast and AOL/Time Warner Cable.

PLEASE, JOIN US and stop the merger! Thank you.

Peace.

–Rhett.

“The Perils of Pay-To-Play: Comcast, Verizon and the ‘Internets’…” By Rhett E. Column, #SWN

  Hello Everyone! TODAY is Monday, 12-May-2014, and this is Post #14 in this still new #blog. WELCOME.

TODAY, I want to blog about something called Pay-To-Play. Is anyone here, at all, familiar with it? Long story short it is nothing more than a cornering of what is free to the given world to use. In particular profiting, financially speaking, off something that belongs to no one man, one company or one organization, BUT to you and I and everyone else in the still #freeworld. That is of course the airwaves, a.k.a. the electromagnetic waves.

An at late example of that effort is with Comcast and Verizon Wireless. Both company’s are seeking permission from the F.C.C., to charge their customers and anyone else for that matter to use our airwaves, and in particular the electromagnetic ones. Both Comcast and Verizon want to charge infinitesimal amounts of money for the use of something that should be free.

Anyone with one good eye and half sense can see right through this effort. It is and will remain nothing more and nothing less than a cornering of the market for the sanctity of profit(s). Long story short David Cohen at Comcast and Dan Mead at Verizon think they can take their pay-to-play money with them when they go. Even more fantastical is both Comcast and Verizon feel they have invented the proverbial wheel here when it comes to this issue.

The notion is that Comcast and Verizon feel they are the sole proprietors, and should be, of the World Wide Web, a.k.a. “the Internets”… And that because they and they alone have stood the test of time in the information age that it is they and they alone who should get the reward without the hard work. They’re doing us all a favor, in their estimations.

While I well admire their attitude and charisma in this respect and regard I have to say to David Cohen and Dan Mead, no gentlemen you did not build this…

MOREOVER such was here long before Comcast, Verizon Wireless, and the like ever got here. And it will be here long after those entities and more, have gone the way of the dough, dough bird. The Good Book says that, “pride cometh before a fall.”

The above and titled prides at their own peril.

Comcast and Verizon cannot be allowed or permitted to corner the market. The electromagnetic airwaves belong to us all, not to one man or to one company because such is not a magnet…

The air waves cannot be monopolized…

IT belongs to us all!!!

As it should….

On Thursday the FCC will meet to determine, among other things #NetNeutrality, whether or not Comcast and its buyout and merge with AOL/Time Warner can go through, and then whether or not Comcast and Verizon can monopolize the ‘Internets’.

I for one say, “No!” BUT, that’s not up to me. At least not entirely anyways. And maybe that’s a good thing. HOWEVER, I must admit I do not admire the position that the F.C.C’s new Chairman Tom Wheeler finds himself in…

  …he’s not set long as the chairman for the F.C.C., nor has the five ,in total, member board….

  … This board has a whole lot to decide on this week. Will they decide or rule on all, all at once? Will they spread their decisions out over a period of time? I for one hope for the later and not the former. SEE HERE:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/f-c-c-commissioner-asks-for-delay-on-new-net-neutrality-rules/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Jessica Rosenworcel said in a speech last week, “This is welcomed news because free people, the free world over, have been weighing in on this issue for months on end. Petitions, and public comments run the gamut. The public sentiment on this issue RINGS THROUGH, that no one man or one company should have absolute or total control over something for the sake of profit. That you did not invent the wheel here fellas, as much as you want us all to think that you did, you did not, and slow your role here. What you are asking is troubling and may well open the flood gates to something that cannot be stopped once its started.

I urge all of you who will read this #blog to take a look at this URL: http://www.freepress.net/  from my friends at #FreePress. AND THIS URL AS WELL: http://act.freepress.net/survey/DC_May_15/?source=website_actions  also from #FreePress.

Both these URL’s contain vitally important information on how you can STILL #SaveTheInternet. Their is a petition there for you to sign and send to the F.C.C. to voice your concern about this and other finagling’s of Comcast & Co.

Such is not and will not be easy, but efforts are working. The good pressure is on in regards to the powers that be at the F.C.C., and in so long as we all work together this is battle that can be won….

–Rhett

#EarthDay2014 Wrap Up

“I believe climate change is real. I think it’s devastating. I think we have to act and I agree with most experts that we may at some point reach a tipping point where we cannot save our climate. I don’t think we’re there yet, but the overwhelming evidence is that greenhouse gases are contributing to warming of our earth and we have an obligation to take action to fix it. I believe that America did the right thing by not joining the Kyoto Treaty. But I believe that if we could get China and India into it, then the United States should seriously consider — on our terms — joining with every other nation in the world to try to reduce greenhouse gases. It’s got to be a global effort.”–U.S. Senator and 2008 Candidate for President of the United States John S. McCain, Republican-Arizona, Taken from a 2008 presidential debate HERE: http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/climate.html

 

 

As we wrap up #EarthDay2014 I couldn’t help but lament and wax poetic on all things coverage of here in Post #7 for this still new blog.

I use to be a ‘global warming skeptic’ moreover a ‘climate change skeptic’ PERHAPS better still a ‘climate change denier’. But, and over time as well as simple and steady Research and Development like our planet my opinions on the matter have evolved and continue to do so daily. HOWEVER, I couldn’t help but weigh in on the political, social, and ecumenical coverage there of by the mavens in Washington and New York.

Take for instance my good friends and buddies over at MSNBC. I love them all dearly, and can’t get enough of their early and often demented takes on ‘climate change’. I would note in particular my buddy Christopher L. Hayes. Chris Hayes is a wonks wonk, a nerds nerd, and a good guy all around. I am very happy for he and his wife on their still brand new child and wish them and their growing family well. Last night Chris opened his show on his favorite subject the climate. As he was speaking I couldn’t help but think of the late great comedian George Carlin. He to evolved on ‘climate change’ later on in his life but he use to do this bit in his shows on ‘climate change’ ‘global warming’ and the like. He had a line that went like this, “the planet is fine, we’re all fucked… difference, difference…” Often times George would get heckled and you know the rest of the story when it came to George Carlin and hecklers. R.I.P. Mr. Carlin, thanks for the laughs, jokes, and ‘brain droppings’. When will, I wonder, Jesus bring the pork chops? I digress.

Any who, any how, as such, and so it goes… Chris Hayes, or Christopher as I like to call him, opened his show up with #EarthDay2014 news, views and information. The title of the opening salvo was, “Leave It In The Ground”. It was having to do with fossil fuels and how that in order for the ‘planet to survive, for us to survive now’ from where we set today that the geo-oil company’s of the world MUST LEAVE at least 80% of the crude oil in the ground, walk away. He noted a USGS survey from 2010 which stated that if the company’s did that then they would save us and the rest of the still free world 20 trillion dollars a year, and the planet of course itself. Important and noteworthy facts to be sure. In addition to thinking about George Carlin I also thought about jobs and the economy, and how in my own working life I NEVER EVER got a job from a poor person, and IF YOU were to think about it long enough and hard enough neither have you. In fact neither has Christopher L. Hayes. Or anyone else with MSNBC for that matter.

CONSIDER the source. MSNBC is owned, operated, and paid for by Comcast Corporation. MSNBC’S parent company, NBC/NBC News is itself also owned by Comcast. Hells bells NBC Universal is owned, operated, and the like by Comcast Corporation.

NOW, and this is just an aside here, Comcast Corporation is part and partial of Comcast Cable. Comcast Cable is of course your, my, and our local, national, and in some cases international cable provider. They are also the one and very same cable entity trying to buyout and merge with AOL/Time Warner Cable Company. All concerned here do business with and promote the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council or A.L.E.C. The very same A.L.E.C. that brought you #StandYourGround in places like Florida and Michigan. The very same A.L.E.C. who also brought you the #LawOfParties in places, again, just like Florida and more recently Texas. Both Comcast and AOL/Time Warner use bought and paid for lobbyist of A.L.E.C. to harass and harangue your and my Senators and Congressmen in Washington, D.C. and also our State and Local Representatives in State Houses, City Halls and County Courthouses across the country. The politics of pattern is clear here.

So to do the on-air personalities of MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, and the so called alphabet soup networks. Unfortunately Christopher L. Hayes is just such a type. He laments, lambasts and waxes poetic on the mean ole #bigoil company’s across the country and around the world that dig up crude, light and heavy alike, in places like the Antarctic and the Gulf of Mexico. While collecting a paycheck from #bigcable. Pot meet kettle and call it black.

Which brings me back to my point. I never ever got a job from a poor person and neither has Chris Hayes. Global warming, climate change, whatever you want to refer to it as is real, it is a geo- political, social, and ecumenical threat but so to is hypocrisy.

#HappyEarthDay2014

Pay To Play: #BigTelevision v. Aero #TheSCOTUSDecision

WELCOME to Post #6 in this still new blog…

TODAY is Tuesday, 22-April-2014, and I wanted to weigh in on the pending Supreme Court decision for #BigTelevision v. Aero. Admittedly I don’t know to much about the issue except to say that it is Big Guy verses Little Guy. HOWEVER, what I do know for sure are these two things…

 

1. No matter what the so called Alphabet Soup Networks say or do the airwaves are public and free. Belonging to no one and no thing else except the Peoples of this Earth, BTW, #HappyEarthDay2014! That’s right no matter what Comcast or AOL/Time Warner tell you they don’t own the space where the electromagnetic waves flow, and they never ever will.

 

2. This court decision is nothing more than an attempt by big t.v. to corner the market. Lets look at the pursued verses the pursue. Comcast Corporation and AOL/Time Warner Cable Company are leading the charge on this one. Surely you’ve heard of them? While the pursue is one man with but one vision, moreover one company, designed to bring the airwaves to you and I.  MEET Chet Kanojia and his financial backer Barry Diller. Together both men are bound and determined to keep freedom free and the airwaves still officially unowned by no one and no thing. (URL from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo )

 

PERSONALLY, I think such an endeavor is good but and alas there are those amongst us masses that see such an endeavor as fruitless, futile, and downright foolish. Who is this Mr. Kanojia think he is to bring our content, our programming on our open air broadcast stations to the masses without paying for it?! Damn him, damn him and his to hell! We are the market corners here. We own this process not this guy. Sad sack. Pay the freight or get ta steppin’ boss! As an old hat radio and t.v. man from way back I resent the notion that the likes of David Cohen and David Turner would think it prudent and cost effective to say to Mr. Kanojia via the laws and the courts you don’t own the airwaves we do. Now get off our lawn you damn freeloader! And so I have to ask Mr. Cohen and Mr. Turner, Gentlemen, what are you so afraid of? If one or both men can answer me that question then I think we will be getting somewhere. HOWEVER, I would venture to say, hazard a guess, and whistle past the graveyard of discontent and say that it has something to do with, wait for it, wait for, MONEY!

That’s right, MONEY. M-O-N-E-Y. And you can’t very well make money off something that’s free to all of us now can you? I mean, it would be different if Comcast and AOL/Time Warner had there way, and really did own the airwaves from which television content flows but they don’t they only own or have say so over the television content from which it flows. NOW, to be sure Mr. Kanojia has promised that he will pay for the use, pay for the content displayed via his company’s Internet Antenna but Comcast and AOL/Time Warner want their money up front they don’t want to wait for some college kid named Sallie to pay Mr. Kanojia and then Mr. Kanojia to pay Comcast and AOL/Time Warner. Such a process would take to long. David Turner and David Cohen got merger and acquisitions to make after all. And such waits for no one.  Again Comcast & AOL/Time Warner want their money up front, after all someone somewhere might steal it, just like they stole the airwaves. A vicious lot of patience that can’t be wasted on the likes of waiting for some college kid to pay their $9.95 user fee.

As I write and you read the powers that be for Comcast & AOL Time Warner are ensconced and hold up under the scales and swift sword of Grand Old Lady Justice to see whether or not their highest priced attorneys can finagle a favorable decision. Whether the Monsanto, Big Pharma, Big Corporation, ALEC owned side of the U.S. Supreme Court will hear David Cohen and David Turner’s hues and cries for outraged justice remains to be seen. Pending merger and acquisition not withstanding but I digress.

You can be assured though faithful masses that we will keep a weathered set of rabbit ears up and a decent set of color bars out for this decision. Be well and thanks in advance for reading, commenting, and sharing this posting…