Now, most people will get up early tomorrow and try to take advantage of good deals and shop all day. I think people who get in line at 11 PM the day before stores open are not buying for other people but mostly for themselves. I have never felt the need to battle with the crowds on the day after Thanksgiving so would never buy anything myself. Little did I know what I did informally was being done by social activists for years in protest of our over consumption and called it Buy Nothing Day.

It’s now an international event but was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave in 1992 and subsequently promoted by the Canadian Adbusters magazine. The event is held in North America every year the day after Thanksgiving or Black Friday. The point is not that buying nothing on one day will make a difference but that we think about how our consumption effects everything everyday.

Last year Adbusters created a commercial to make the public aware of the cause and to buy nothing. Oddly in our free society of ideas the big corporations would not take their money to air the ad on any of their TV channels. Apparently the concept of taking a day to buy nothing and think about our consumption habits is controversial. CNN did end up airing the ad at the last minute which you can view in this video…

The media giant even interviewed Kalle Lasn of Adbusters to explain Buy Nothing Day and the social, economic, political, environmental, and even psychological side effects of our over consumption.

This year I don’t know of any commercials that Adbusters has produced but Neil Boorman did a short film for the cause on our role in the system titled the “The Good Consumer” which is a must see…

How about not only on Black Friday but for the whole Christmas shopping season we take a break on our credit cards and the interest we can’t afford to cut back on shit we don’t need for ourselves and only buy reasonable gifts for family and close friends. We need to get back to the real theme of this time of the year which is spending time with family and friends and creating good will toward others. Does buying stuff we don’t need ever really make us happy anyway?

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Jack will not be in the Situation Room Today.

Jack is known for real straight talk that John McCain could learn a lot from and the best example would be his commentary on Sarah Palin from her interview with Katie Couric. He basically called her pathetic and unfit to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. He even turned on Wolf Blitzer when being the tool he is tried to apologize for Ms. Palin. You have to cheer when someone states the truth seldom heard else where on the 24/7 news information wagon.

We hope CNN has not muted Jack because he pulls no punches since he is the voice of common sense on TV News. You can make your feelings known to CNN on Jack being off the air here…

The most likely reason for Jack being off the air is he may be grieving from the unexpected death of his wife Carol last month or just on vacation. Anyone can understand if Jack needs time because of his wife…

Any readers who know more information about why Jack has not been on CNN of late please share it by commenting on this post.

UPDATE 10/23 – All is good…Jack Cafferty is back on CNN and he apparently just needed a undisclosed surgical procedure. I wish him well and may he have many more years on CNN. Maybe his own show?

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Then her first interview with Charlie Gibson of ABC News came and we found out she didn’t know anything about foreign policy. It was crazy for her not to know what the Bush doctrine was but yet agree with it, right? She had the nerve to say Georgia did absolutely nothing to provoke Russia or actually say perhaps we would need to go to war with Russia (Hint – short of a direct attack you avoid war between two nuclear powers at all costs).

I then started to tell friends and comment on blogs that there would be nothing to worry about… Let Sarah Palin have her 15 minutes of fame because as she is exposed more to the people they will get to know her and realize she is totally unqualified and nothing but George Bush in a skirt. In my post - My initial thoughts on Obama picking Joe Biden for VP – I said…

I do have some advice for John McCain on who he should be looking at for his VP if he wants to have any chance of winning. He should not be listening to the social conservative Christian block and just pick someone to appease them

John McCain, of course caved into the far right social conservative Christian block of his party and he ended up with checklist candidate who was the wrong choice and is now dragging down his campaign as shown in the polls. Sarah Palin is not even polling well with woman except with non-college educated woman. The not so bright VP candidate is polling well with the uneducated people in general…shocker! Sarah Palin and George Bush both have been said to appeal to the common person which is just another way to say the uninformed and uneducated.

I said once the hype dies down with Sarah Palin she will be nothing but the punch line for jokes in which I turned out to be a prophet. The SNL skit with Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin was a new classic for the show.

The McCain campaign decided needed to step back and drop down to a even more softball interviewer so they choose Katie Couric of CBS News (ironically she was also not the most qualified woman available for her position either) for a couple of interviews. What a disaster as Sarah Palin seemed to be confused even by the simplest of questions. SNL and Tina Fey did another skit mocking the first interview where they had to make few changes from Sarah’s Palin’s actual real answers for the laughs.

This all leads up to yesterday with Keith Olbermann’s Countdown video of the greatest hits from all the Sarah Palin interviews. This is very enlightening and shows with out doubt she is unqualified to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. The media is now getting the Sarah Palin joke. Enjoy the video before you watch the VP debate tonight where we are sure to get more Sarah Palin (low)highlight moments.

Quick update on the George Bush impeachment process…

Rep. Dennis Kucinich as I posted about last week was able to have a hearing on his articles of impeachment against President Bush before the House Judiciary Committee which lasted almost six hours on last Friday. The Democrat leadership pointed out it was not an official impeachment hearing but it was a small step for the millions of people who want George investigated and held accountable.  Republicans are already spinning the hearings as “an anger management class”.

The mainstream media of course is still barely covering the events in Congress. Britney Spears must have been spotted passed out drunk again…

Please visit the Dennis Kucinich site to keep up of his latest impeachment efforts. The AfterDowningStreet.Org site had a live blogging page covering the hearing from beginning to end.

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Former White House press secretary Tony Snow, twice member of the Bush Administration died at 53 years old from colon cancer he was suffering from for a number of years early this morning. The media spent the morning talking about what a nice guy Tony was and how hard he fought his cancer. I will not disagree with either count and I know it’s not polite to speak ill of the recently deceased for at least a couple of days but here goes anyway.

The media has been concentrating mostly on his time as White House press secretary. I like to talk about Mr. Snow’s first stint in the White House for President George Bush in 1991, as chief speechwriter and later as Deputy Assistant to the President for Media Affairs (1992–1993). Snow’s most important role was after the takeover of Afghanistan and the people did not want to hear about another invasion into Iraq and it showed in the polls at the time. He was very instrumental in running the public relations campaign (propaganda) fueled by the lies feed from Bush and company to make the case for a another war. As we know, public opinion turned and the war in Iraq was on and is still going over four long years later.

When we think about the cost of the Iraq war (over 4,000 American troops dead, 80,000 to million Iraqis dead, and will hit the trillion dollar price tag), George Bush possibly may not have been able to make it happen without the hard work of Tony Snow. Our country has owes a great debt to Mr. Snow and I mean literally.

Tony Snow was only the front man for the criminal gang known as the Bush administration so I hope he passed away peacefully.  Since Congress won’t punish them, hopefully God will have more fittings ends for the rest of the gang — Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush.

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Jerry Sullivan
Updated: 06/24/08 7:06 AM

A few days ago, I was listening to an update on sports radio and heard a reference to Citizens Bank Park. I searched my brain for a few seconds and came to a stunning realization. I had no idea who played there.

The White Sox? No, that’s U. S. Cellular Field. Reds? They play in Great American Ball Park. Pirates? PNC Park. Or is it PETCO? No, that’s the Padres. How about the Diamondbacks? Didn’t they change it from Bank One Ballpark? Yeah, but it’s Chase Field now.

Read the rest of “Corporations play games with names” at the Buffalo News

I always have hated the constant name changes of sports stadiums. I am with Jerry on trying to remember all the new stadium names. When I was a kid could rattle off the stadium names of most of the pro sports teams. Today? Forget it… I was shocked to learn even Wrigley Field has it’s naming rights up for sale now. The Cubs fans need to revolt or the Wrigley Company somehow or someway needs to secure the name again. I am not sure what would do if my beloved Boston Red Sox sold the name of Fenway Park to the highest bidder.

What Jerry Sullivan did not address in his column is what we can do about this? I think the solution is very simple. The only reason naming rights have value is because of the exposure they cause. Why does everyone including you and I, sports reporters like Jerry, or the media seem to be compelled to use the corporate name of any sports venue? Why can’t we all just adopt a common used alternative name for any corporate named stadium for our use?

In Buffalo here, the Sabres play at HSBC Arena but why not just refer to it as the original working name of the Crossroads Arena? The Buffalo Bisons baseball team has played at Pilot Field, North AmeriCare Park, and Dunn Tire Park. Come on now… Why can’t the local media just refer to it as the Downtown Park like most people do already and be done with it? No worries with the Buffalo Bills since the owner, Ralph Wilson just names it after himself.

It’s time we stop being held hostage to the lastest naming rights change of our favorite sports team’s home. If the people and media stopped using the corporate name then the naming rights would have no value anymore. The teams themselves really don’t need the revenue from naming rights or else they would just get players salaries under control. Just a idea…

One of the few Democrats with balls, Congressman Dennis Kucinich read 35 articles of impeachment against President George Bush on the House floor late last Monday. It’s all there – the lies, the use of torture, the ignoring of Congress, and the using of propaganda to start a war. Mr. Kucinich has tried unsuccessfully to start impeachment hearings before on Bush and also VP Dick Cheney in the past. Can he succeed now?

Well it looks like the corporate run media will be of no help. The day after on Tuesday, the news of the impeachment was being discussed across the blogosphere and on progressive talk radio. I did not see the story hit the CNN front page until Wednesday. OK, even if you think all the charges are bogus won’t you think a Congressman bringing criminal charges against the President might be news worthy? It sure was when Bill Clinton was lying about a blow job. This is another reason why we know when right wing blow holes mention the “liberal” media they are full of shit.

Another obstacle to impeachment hearings will be the Democratic leadership itself and why would that be? Progressive radio talk show host Randi Rhodes had a excellent post on this very topic that everyone should read where her belief is that the Democrat leadership would end up implicating themselves in any hearings!

So to get the Judiciary Committee to act on Kucinich’s articles of impeachment it will be up to the people which is ME and YOU. Here is a checklist for what to do for anyone you wants George to pay for his crimes against America.

1. Read (or download the PDF) the 35 articles of impeachment of George Bush by Dennis Kucinich or watch the videos of him reading them on the House floor Monday.

2. Visit the Dennis Kucinich impeachment web site.

3. Sign the petition to get the media to cover the call for impeachment by having Meet the Press interview Dennis Kucinich for a full half hour this Sunday. While not updated on the petition site yet, the host of Meet the Press Tim Russert has passed away and the petition was addressed to him. The original “Ten Reasons to Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney” petition to sign.

4. Get your Representative to be a cosponsor of Kucinich’s articles of impeachment.

5. Follow the road to impeachment on Democrats.com and AfterDowningStreet.org.

6. Use this kit to organize support to have your local government pass a resolution for impeachment.

7. Use your own blog to bring attention to the articles of impeachment before the House.

Why is it so important for Congress to have hearings on these charges against George Bush rather then just let him finish the last couple of months of his term? The articles of impeachment center around the abuse of power by the office of the Presidency. Our founding fathers’ number one fear with Democracy failing was the possible abuse of power by the President and they took that in account when writing the Constitution. George Bush has repeatedly ignored Congress and the Federal Courts while abusing his power so has violated the balance of powers set forth in our Constitution. If Mr. Bush goes unpunished for his crimes then a precedent will be set for future Presidents that will not be in the interest of the people or our Democracy.

What are you going to do about this?

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On the blog a image with the words “Keep Your Religion Out Of My Bedroom” was just above it but I am speaking about this in broader terms here.

Now first off I am not really saying Jesus is a Nazi but that the radical Christian Conservative movement in this country very much is “fascist like” when they try to inject their religious beliefs into our political system. What ever happened to the concept of separation of church and state? I get real worried when I read comments on other blogs were someone states we should make laws based on or follow “a Bible value system”. I guess we would have to pick and choose what values since many in the Bible are part of nobodies value system. I also always found it odd that Jesus lived in a time and place where slavery was a part of life but he never specify condemned it. OK, enough of the Bible nonsense…

Last year I read the excellent book “Kingdom Coming” by Buffalo native Michelle Goldberg which really opened my eyes on the Christian Nationalism movement. She actually traveled across the country meeting the people of this movement and going to their churches. I highly recommend her book. Sure people have the right to believe what they wish but a real concern is when they indoctrinate their children with this garbage. Watch the documentary Jesus Camp and it will make you sick. When your church starts using the words “we are fighting a war” and you are “a army of soldiers” be afraid.

Of course religion has infected the current Presidential race. John McCain, in breaking news finally has rejected the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee (video of this wacko on a previous post of mine) and also now his “spiritual adviser” Pastor Rod Parsley who recently called Islam a “conspiracy of spiritual evil”. The media is acting like these kind of comments from Mr. Parsley are something new. Sigh…

Earlier in the campaign a comment from Mitt Romney really disturbed me in which he said -”Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom…”. While religion does require freedom the opposite certainly is not true. I am no less free because I bow to no man made religion but thanks.

What I am really trying to say here is can religious people keep their faith in their bedroom, please?

I hope the author of the Human Rights of America blog comments here and lets me know where he found the above image or if he designed it himself.

While I encourage discussion from all sides, any Christians who decide they want to comment with less then “Christian words” on this post keep in mind this blog is not a free for all. Please refer to my About page and read the rules of conduct for this blog.

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“click” on image to enlarge

MAY 21–Meet Alex Phillips. The Wisconsin teenager is facing felony child pornography charges for allegedly posting naked photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. When contacted by police about the two images, Phillips, 17, balked at removing the pictures of the girl. Warned that he could face jail for publishing images of the minor, Phillips told an investigator, “Fuck that, I am keeping them up,” according to a criminal complaint filed yesterday in Lacrosse County Circuit Court. Phillips, pictured in the below mug shot, told cops that he posted the photos last week “because he was venting.” The cell phone camera photos had been taken by the girl, who provided them to Phillips. Along with posting the photos, Phillips added explicit captions like, “Yo, U see how big her hole is! Its from me!” While claiming that his goal was not to harm the girl, Phillips acknowledged that, “he probably should not have done this,” according to the May 20 court filing. Along with the child porn count, Phillips was charged with defamation and sexual exploitation of a child.

My first point on this is will teenage girls please think first and stop sending naked photos of themselves to any jerk of a boy they know or are “in love” with. It could be maybe I am just mad not a teenager now in this internet age. OK, that was bad….

I do have to question the charges of defamation and sexual exploitation of a child since both were minors and she sent him the photos. Seems more like simple harassment to me but I will admit not familiar with the law in Wisconsin. The only thing that is certain is we will see more cases like this and more teens being criminally charged like this which is not good. Parents be aware of what your kids are up to please!

I am interested in what my readers think about this case so please leave a comment with your opinion on this…

UPDATED 5/25

Seems this story is now spending around the internet. GAWKER’S Nick Douglas appears to agree with me in questioning if this really is a child porn case. Alex Phillips is now being be dubbed the “MySpace Kid” by some people. I just refer to him as the dumb ass punk kid from MySpace… The mainstream media is of course also now covering this story as seen on this ABC News post.

Buffalo Rising has more information on this presentation.

From the Art Spiegelman Wikipedia entry…

…Spiegelman worked for The New Yorker for ten years but resigned a few months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The cover created by Spiegelman and Mouly for the September 24 issue of The New Yorker received wide acclaim. At first it appears to be totally black, but upon close examination it reveals the silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers in a slightly darker shade of black. Spiegelman states that his resignation from The New Yorker was to protest the “widespread conformism” in the United States media. Spiegelman is a sharp critic of the administration of President George W. Bush and claims that the American media has become “conservative and timid.

Mr. Spiegelman started out as a major figure in the underground comics movement of the 1960s and 1970s and much of his comic art is very political and controversial in nature. I have come across a PowerPoint presentation which features dozens of slides of his unique comic art for those interested. Enjoy…

“Click” to download the comic art of Art Spiegelman presentation…

If you do not have Microsoft Office or PowerPoint installed on your computer to view the presentation then download the free PowerPoint Viewer 2007 program here.

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