Andrew Anderson: Blog

 
You probably don’t know the extent of it. The issue has been downplayed in mainstream media all week. Regardless, measures have been taken this week making it quite apparent that our Freedom of Speech and Information are under attack. I mentioned in my last blog that Bernie Sanders received very little media attention during the course of his ‘filibuster’ a few Fridays ago. Now here we are on Christmas Eve and as the New Year approaches, certain steps have been taken to censor individuals further as well as giving more power to corporations when it comes to Free Speech and control of the media.There are three particular incidents that happened in the last few days regarding the FCC, Twitter and Apple.The FCC decided on Tuesday in a 3-2 vote for allowing companies like AT&T to create roadblocks on the Internet, particularly in regards to what can and can’t be accessed on mobile devices. Mobile devices are the only way for many lower income citizens to have [...]

 


It affects everyone. It doesn’t really matter whether or not you believe you can live your life without feeling the effects and power of the hand that feeds you. You can ignore it, sure. Like going for a bike ride when there are thunderclouds overhead and pretending that it is sunny, hoping the rain never comes and that you are not struck down by lightning. The difference is that if enough people rise up against the lightning they are in the end powerless, but if enough people rise up against the hand that feeds them they are not powerless they are in fact quite powerful.The problem, in part, is that people today are lazy. We are more worried about the NFL and American Idol than politics. Even the people who care about the world and our future may feel as though political solutions are not possible due to the corruptness of the system. It is unfortunately easy to feel that way and doing so may even make one feel as though he/she is taking the higher road. It can be very [...]

 
I have just begun reading Thom Hartmann’s book Rebooting the American Dream. This is so far a great read, and incredibly informative. I read this passage earlier today and felt that it fit with the news of the day.“Denmark has an average 52 percent income-tax rate... ...the average Dane is very well paid, with a minimum wage that equals roughly $18 per hour. Moreover, what Danes get for their taxes (that we don’t) is a free college education and free health care, not to mention four weeks of paid vacation each year and notoriety as the happiest nation on earth, according to a major study done by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.” -Thom Hartmann - Rebooting the American Dream *1Earlier today I heard the President have a press conference where he defended his decision to play softball with the Republicans over the Bush Tax Cuts which were set to expire on January 1st 2011. People all over the country have been calling for the Tax Cuts to expire [...]

 
Last week my brother was in town for a few days. He just returned from his second tour in Iraq. We got into a conversation that initially began with Gun laws/Gun control, me criticizing states like Arizona for allowing people to carry firearms into places that serve alcohol etc. I attempted to bring up the point that I would frankly be fine with laws that would require more education about firearms before people can say buy a handgun. A similar setup to rules about driving cars. We don’t let people drive a car without a license. But if you simply turn 18 and haven’t committed any serious crimes you can buy a rifle, and when you are 21 you can buy a handgun.I attempted to make the point that, both Republicans and Democrats would have to make compromises for something like this to happen. The problem was as soon as I said “Republicans and Democrats would both have to make compromises” I had lost the attention of my brother. He said that he “didn’t [...]

My father and I had an argument a few months ago, it was very short. I mentioned that the “Ground Zero Mosque” was merely a distraction and that it is a shame that people have forgotten that it was good ol’ George W. Bush that drove this country into the ground. My father then made some statement about racial profiling being okay and then said ‘it goes way deeper than Bush and if you think HE was the problem then you have no idea how deep it goes...’ He then left the room in a hurry and went to have a smoke.
The funny part was that he found an area where I wouldn’t argue with him. It did go further than GWB... Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Libby etc... Bush didn’t pick the best people to surround himself with and take advice from.

Cheney was the only VP in history to have an office setup at the CIA to gather intelligence regarding Iraq and their “plans” to make Weapons of Mass Destruction. He did this so he could try to distort and twist [...]