OpEdNews » It's Distractions That Are Destroying Us And We're Allowing It!

When I woke this morning, as every other morning, it was to the local news on NBC as my wife wants to hear the weather and traffic report before she gets dressed and heads off to work. It's one of the very few times that I look at a network station for much of anything since I've gotten this idea in my head that if we all boycott the establishments and businesses who we believe are contributing to the deterioration and ultimate demise of our middle class, or I should say , working class, we will eventually put a financial hurting on them, weakening their position of power and establishing an opportunity for a coup, or overthrow of the military-corporate administration who now controls our government.

Pretty naive, Huh? Maybe, but aside from writing editorials and running my mouth it seems that there's not much more that I can do on an individual basis, and I truly believe that if even all of the people who feel as I do would stop shopping Wal-Mart, watching the major networks, driving any more than is absolutely necessary, etc., we could actually succeed in imposing our will on the greedy establishment of power, and even impeach and prosecute this dictator and his administration, which in fact would be the first major step in a government coup d'état. Yea, that's what I believe needs to happen, a coup. Would you rather hear a revolution? C'mon, I'm already a prime candidate for an "accident" or a "heart attack." As you can see, I have a speech problem, I can't shut up.

But I did digress, sorry.

Fact is, when the local news was over, it went into the Morning Show, with their babbling band of gossips and clowns amusing the sheep and preparing them for their dose of daily propaganda. This morning, buddy Matt was in China, one of the worst, most oppressive communist powers in history, kissing their asses and telling us everything that the Chinese officials would allow him to. In other words, doing what he does when he's here in America.

Then the crap hit the fan in my bedroom. They broke into the story of John Edwards' recent disclosure of his marital transgression, as though the destiny of all Americans hung in the balance of the 'outcome' of this soap opera. Then it happened. This bimbo, whom I did not recognize although she was a bit older and should have know better, made the closing statement, "There are a lot more questions that need to be answered here." My poor wife, who was in the bathroom fixing her hair, almost put her eye out with a curling iron as I exploded into a nonsensical tirade, shouting, "ARE YOU PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR F***ING MINDS? WHAT QUESTIONS, WHO NEEDS ANSWERS? And ON and ON and................"

Was this what I've been missing out on by ignoring the networks? Is this what's really important to Nancy Pelosi and all of the other Democrats in Congress and the Senate, who should be doing their jobs, impeaching and prosecuting the murdering, treasonous, criminals who are screwing our country to death? The future of our country is riding on an extramarital affair of a private citizen? It was one thing when they threw our country off course while they investigated the most famous blow-job in history. That was ridiculous enough in itself, but John Edwards is no one. He is no longer seeking election or anything else. He had an affair, he copped to it, fulfilling his obligation to, who?, the media, US?, to humiliate himself and his family on prime time TV. He did his duty, he shocked the sheep. Why are there any more questions? Whose business is it? And when did the media become the National Enquirer? Who appointed them the Morality Police? When did all of this happen? It must have been long after Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, JFK, LBJ, Ronny Reagan and Daddy Bush. Oh, they didn't have affairs? No, they did, the media just had scruples back then, they had a sense of priority. It would have served no one's purpose, no one of any importance to the future of our country, anyway, to disrupt our nation, notify the rest of the world, who, by the way had the common sense to keep their own affairs private, and reduce our media standard to that of a third rate gossip rag by disclosing what was, and still should be, considered private matters which have nothing to do with anyone except the spouse of the guilty party.

This is just a distraction, developed by the neo-conservatives and their talk show hosts during the Clinton administration. This is when they discovered just how juvenile and easily distracted the people of this great nation truly are. So much so that we would ignore the overthrow of our government while we applied all of our attentions to mindless, meaningless drivel such as sexual scandal, O.J. Simpson, Terry Schiavo, Elian Gonzalez, (just the fact that you recognize these names is testament to the success of the American propaganda machine) not to mention the "issues"; gays, abortion, immigration, all which, individually, are important to some, but as a whole are just more distractions from the things that truly matter. Like the fact that we have been taken over by a dictator who represents the richest of the rich, the military-industrial complex whose aim it is to destroy the middle class, replace their overpaid labor with third world immigrants from Mexico and China, who will work for dollars a day. Or the fact that we went to war in a country based on lies and forged documents from the CIA, under the direction of the Bush administration for no other reason than to manipulate the oil market in the favor of Bush and his bosses. Or that the most devastating act of terrorism in history took place on our shores, one year into Bush's presidency, which shows every indication of inside assistance and complicity in the way the buildings were destroyed and which buildings were destroyed. All of this and people eating live bugs and smearing themselves with hyena excrement or prostituting their ex-marital partners, or their parents for money on "Reality Television," anything which makes us say, forget the president's speech, "Who Wants To Ball My Trans-Sexual Sister" is coming on in five minutes.

Why aren't we ashamed, why not embarrassed? What's wrong with us, what's happened that we pull down our pants and light our farts in front of the rest of the world and we see no real problems in our leaders or refuse to do anything about it?

We can do something and it won't take much sacrifice. Not compared to the sacrifice we're facing or already making because of high prices.

The way to start: try, as much as possible, to buy only necessities. Only for a while. When you do buy, stay away from the largest conglomerates, the ones who contribute the most toward poor employee compensations, highest prices, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, GM, Sony. It's difficult to make a list, it's generally common sense. Try not to buy anything that you don't need right now. It doesn't seem like much but every little bit affects some CEO or stock holder who's making millions of dollars a year because their company exports jobs, pays their employees poorly or has little or no benefits, uses inferior quality materials or whose prices are too high. I've gotten into the habit of turning the product over and if it says "Made in China" I set it right back down.

Check out who your voting for. You may not realize it but their perceptions mean a lot about how they will affect you. For instance, did you know that Hillary Clinton's idea of a person in the middle class is someone who makes $250,000 a year or less? Barack Obama believes that middle class is $75,000 or less. How many of you make a quarter of a million dollars a year? If that's truly the norm then I can understand why no one wants to impeach Bush and Co., but I find it difficult to believe this to be true. If you can't live well on that much money then you are a dredge on society.

If we all use some common sense we can hurt the Establishment, the military-corporate greed machine who seeks our demise. And if we don't hurt them, and soon, they will hurt us. More, I'm afraid than we can imagine. "I'm nuts." I hear some of you. "There's no boogie man out to get us." Would you dare consider the concept, the possibilities of what all evidence points to? First, the facts, as most Americans now recognize them. The administration in power now, "took" the office. That, in fact, is a coup. They lied and created false evidence and documents to enter us into a war which was not in anyone's best interest except their own. That, in fact, is Treason. There is every indication that there was some degree of complicity in the 9-11 attacks on our country. That, in fact, is Murder, among other things. They have prevented or interfered with any investigations into any of these affairs. That, in fact, is Conspiracy. Now, in light of the facts that this administration is guilty of Conspiracy, Treason and Murder, in the very least. Is it unreasonable to believe that they have designs to eliminate a portion of the population, who are costing them the most in profits, and replacing them with the third world immigrants who they have been allowing access to our country with open arms? Do you want to take that chance, based on the evidence at hand? Do you not believe that they could give this nation a dose of super-flu and would? Sounds like a B-movie? That's what they count on. I believe that they are capable of the most heinous of acts as they have already committed. If you still think I'm nuts then there's no point of reading on. If not, then go on. Maybe we can do something after all.

Boycott the major networks, don't purchase from their sponsors, shop for lowest prices and don't buy new unless it's necessary. Shop locally owned business and restaurants, avoid the fast food giants. Don't drive except to work, as much as possible. Anything else you can think of. It's going to cost us for a while but it will cost us much, much more in the future if we don't take back the power.

And let's hope that Barack Obama is the savior he claims to be. I know that it's not in his best interest politically to call out for impeachment but let's hope, for all of our sakes, that he's reading OpEd and liking what he sees.

We have to vote right, I believe we dodged a bullet with Hillary but that's not the end of it. The Republicans have a funny way of winning elections without votes so we must be vigilant in this matter, but we must also assume some responsibility for affecting the income of the enemy, and our "enemy" they are and their income is their power.
And forget about John Edwards, the citizen. He has his own demons to fight without our noses up his ass.

And if you want the news, you're better off with the satire of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. His comedy is closer to the truth than the media's truth is.

I was born in 1951. I had the benefit of experiencing the naïveté of the 50', The Ozzie and Harriet years, when Dad went to work in a suit and tie and Mom stayed home in high heals and an apron. Yea, that was life for me. I lived in a predominantly Irish neighborhood in South Boston. My Grandmother and Grandfather came to America from Sicily in the early 1900's and finally settled in "Southie", opening one of the many corner markets, a grocery and butcher shop. They learned English and made sure that it was the first language of their 7 children, 3 sons, my father the oldest of all of the children and 4 daughters. My Grandfather died with throat cancer in 1943, which brought my Father home from Panama, where he was stationed with the Army, to run the family business, as the others were still children. My Dad basically took on the role of Father to his brothers and sisters and along with my Grandmother, kept the family going. When my Father met my Mother he was 29 and she,20.They married in 1950 and when I was born in 51 they moved into the 3rd floor flat above the store where my Grandmother occupied the 2nd floor. I had one great advantage while growing up in the 50s. My cousin Janet, who was several years my elder, kept me attuned to the music and the lifestyle of teens of the era.I was also very sensitive to politics at a very young age. When Kennedy ran for president in 60 I actually helped campaign by passing out flyers and buttons at rallies. When he was murdered in 63, even at my young age, I felt a twinge of distrust of the government, as though something wasn't being said.That feeling stayed and amplified throughout every other assassination and demonstration and by the late 60s I was a full blown radical.Not in the sense that I was for peace and love but that I was against war and propaganda.In 1970 I moved to Florida. I met a "hippie" girl, got married and had a beautiful daughter. I now had to support a family so I put aside (as much as I could) my nonconformist ways and worked hard to advance myself into a career position with a New York based car rental co. As time went on my "hippie" wife came to love the material world which for me was just a means of survival. When the firm filed chapter 11 and sold all assets to another company (which turned out to be the largest car rental co. in the country)I lost my job. My no longer hippie wife divorced me, I filed bankruptcy, my house foreclosed and what was left went to her.I learned a great lesson in corporate loyalty and would never give myself over to a conglomerate again. Losing my daughter was devastating and I turned back to my old ways of drinking and drugs. Although I was responsible and worked and paid bills I sank deeper into a dangerous lifestyle.This continued until the late 80s when I met my current wife,Cindy. She helped me change my ways and things were great until the late 90s when I began developing symptoms which dr.s had a difficult time diagnosing. Through several years of excruciating pain,tests,scans and surgeries finally left me out of work and disabled with a multitude of problems.Now, I keep busy reading,writing, playing my guitar, taking care of my Lhasa Apso, Dusty, Cocker Spaniel named Lady, 19 yr old kitten,Chloe and my Green Cheek Conure named Sarge who is my constant companion. My wife, Cindy, saved my life in many ways and I'll never figure out why she keeps me around. Most times I even annoy myself. I love her dearly. She's my life. We share interests in collecting US coins and stamps, an occasional game of pool(she always destroys me)and when we can afford it,which isn't often,travel. After all we've been through I feel fortunate for what we have and though we don't have much what infuriates me is that we are better off than 70% of the people in this country. Any person who is willing to work should be able to live a comfortable life in this country. Me? As long as I have her I don't need much else, except maybe, to change the world.