THE A LA CARTE CABLE BILL

So I read online about John McCain's proposed a la carte cable service bill. I think that this proposed bill is a fantastic way to protect the consumer and also a great way to show media conglomerates that bullshit will not be tolerated. The cable industry is up in arms because they feel that they are being absolutely fair in charging close to two hundred dollars a month for their services. Cable providers are working under the impression that more is better but that's actually a lot of crap.

This bill is a clear example of someone with a position really trying to do something for the people. Republican or Democrat you have to commend the effort to step outside the scope of special interests and over the top capitalism. I think that McCains' bill will allow for a new weapon in terms of channels deciding they will charge a specific rate that will still make monthly cable bills astronomical.

I remember when I was a child growing up in the 80's, the regular subscription usually had  something close to thirty five channels and that was more than enough. Let's apply common sense for a minute here, do we really need over three or four hundred channels? Their are channels devoted to just playing music, they don't really even have programming. When I was a kid there was a device know as a radio that we used in order to listen to music.

I like McCain's approach to this bill, he is saying that not everyone wants a million channels that they do not watch. McCain is putting giants like Disney in their place by saying that if someone does not want ESPN, or The Disney Channel, they should not have to pay in order to be able watch ABC family. I think this bill is going to face stiff opposition only because there are a lot of people that are likely married or in debt to money from media conglomerates. I still hope that this is passed and that consumers are able to chose what they want. It's time we got a better deal than the one we have been getting.

Give them hell Senator, give them serious hell.

WHEN DID FREE PRESS BECOME FRANKENSTEIN?

It's funny how the face of G. Gordon Liddy reminds me of everything that seemed to ruin the US at a specific point in time. Liddy's bald head and his SUPER MARIO BROTHERS mustache makes me think that he in a way was part of the reason why the press went from being selective to being almost completely merciless and destructive. 

If you think back to the old days you learned about in the history classes you hated there is a distinctive difference between press from the 30's to "modern times press" from the late 60's forward. Politics was limited to whatever the press was allowed to publish and expose whatever the the White House allowed. 

So now we come back to Gordon our resident plumber. How exactly did everything go from being black and white to a kaleidoscope of color?  Watergate is really the best answer and with good reason. The White House really did have the power to repress information and to keep people in the dark about everything from our involvement in Vietnam to sanction covert operations aimed at destroying what we considered enemies. 

Watergate in many ways gave new power to "Freedom of the Press." I think that during that period freedom of the press was necessary in order to expose a serious issue with the US and its leader and show the people that everyone was liable when breaking the law. Now by contrast the press has become rapacious and is constantly looking for the next big stumble.  

Today the media has the real power and it's the media that controls who becomes our next leader. Every election no matter the position usually ends up in some bitter smear campaign that exposes every personal difficulty of aspiring leaders. Look at a 50's add stating "We Like Ike" and one now stating "Obama No Bama." The rhetoric has changed and the press and media no longer have a noble agenda but rather a selfish one based on special interest. Thank you Watergate for creating a special kind of monster that William Randolph Hearst would be proud of.