Post-Cowboy - Andrew Anderson - Blog

People don't Matter and Neither do you

Wed, 11 May 2011 22:25:19 -0700

Too many of us are aware but in denial of what Citizens United actually meant. Too many of us are aware but in denial of what the Comcast-NBC merger actually meant. We hear these stories about our rights as individuals being given away to corporations but we lie to ourselves because we don’t want to believe the effect it will have on our lives... Guess what? It affects us all, you aren’t special. Neither am I.

We know that these things are problems but we rarely do anything notable. And even in Wisconsin where hundreds of thousands have mobilized to fight the bullshit Scott Walker and his buddies threw at them, it is not reported or not reported well because the men with the money who own the news stations only want you to know so much.

The President is aware of this. Congress is aware of this. Their paychecks however are too good to do anything about it. Corporations matter, people don’t

So where does that leave us? In the shitter unless we wake up. Run for office in your town. Even if it seems like you are running for a bullshit office that doesn’t matter, do it. Run, even if you lose, make the point. fuck the rules. fuck the games. We can’t live like this. Do something. Do anything. March naked down Pennsylvania Ave. till they put you on the news then scream about the Koch brothers and fascism while the police drag you away.

Buy billboard space. Advertise against not only conservative candidates (who are merely puppets of the corporations) but advertise against the Koch brothers, and Karl Rove and Americans for Prosperity, and the Chamber of Commerce, because I promise you these greedy sons-of-bitches are trying to eat your lunch, my lunch and your hospitalized mother’s lunch and they will stop at nothing until they succeed. America needs to wake up and stop at nothing to fight back and win.

Compromise only gets you so far when you continue to concede and concede and concede... Eventually you have no more bargaining chips and you end up with nothing gained from whomever you are bargaining with... That leaves you as a fucking moron.

I’m ranting, I’m drunk, but I am pissed and you should be too because we don't matter. Our 'rights' have been given to the corporations which means they have more say because they have more money. The consequence of this is Fascism, by Mussolini's definition, not the definition you find on wikipedia. Fascism as in the merge of corporate and state... This leads to third world America and I want no part of it and neither do you.

Ain't No Ticks Like Poly-Ticks #8 - An Email to a Friend about God

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:05:28 -0800

I would like to believe in the stories that I grew up listening to. But more and more I can't. It may be that there is a God and if there is then I would agree with you that he left us the instructions and set the game and then went and did his thing.

The problem with that is twofold to me.

1. If he loves us as much as the Bible claims he does then he would not just leave the instructions and then fuck off to somewhere else in the Universe.

2. This then leads me to question the authority of the Bible. Not that the 'basic' idea isn't there, but that to many specifics aren't which leaves me questioning the men who penned it and translated it and passed it on to be translated further.

I know it is a cliche argument, but when you play telephone the wires very often times get crossed.

The wires getting crossed meeting with the fact that man is imperfect (though I don't believe in God, I still believe man to be sinful, which admittedly may render my whole point moot) I can't help but wonder if somewhere out of greed and power lust some less than honorable man in a position of undeserved power changed some words around to fit the message he wanted the body of Christ to hear.

The same way Politicians bend their words and change their stories depending on whether they are talking to FOX News or the Huffington Post.

One could argue that the ramifications of such actions weren't to be seen, and that a person who would do that kind of thing might not have known better. But if that person had any hand in the words that are revered as the Word of God then how am I to trust the Word if I know that some of it was written by a fraud and then how do we separate the truth from the lies in what we are told on Sundays to take on blind faith as truth.

It may sound like I am talking bull shit but when you look at the history of the Catholic Church and them covering up their sex scandals, well that on its own makes me distrust men claiming to speak/know the will of God.

People will say anything to get what THEY want. So how are we to know what is true?

Earlier tonight I was chatting with an old friend on Facebook. We didn't quite get to the end of our Theological discussion before he had to split so I sent him my response and felt like sharing it.

I realize that at first glance this may not seem to have anything to do with Politics, but the fact that regardless of whether or not there is a God, we the people still do shitty things to one another has everything to do with Politics in our country right now and is in a way at the root of the problem.

Here is part of what I wrote to my friend:

1. If he loves us as much as the Bible claims he does then he would not just leave the instructions and then fuck off to somewhere else in the Universe.

I know it is a cliche argument, but when you play telephone the wires very often times get crossed.
The wires getting crossed meeting with the fact that man is imperfect (though I don't believe in God, I still believe man to be sinful, which admittedly may render my whole point moot) I can't help but wonder if somewhere out of greed and power lust some less than honorable man in a position of undeserved power changed some words around to fit the message he wanted the body of Christ to hear. The same way Politicians bend their words and change their stories depending on whether they are talking to FOX News or the Huffington Post.

One could argue that the consequences of such actions weren't to be seen, and that a person who would do that kind of thing might not have known better. But if that person had any hand in the words that are revered as the 'Word of God' then how am I to trust the 'Word' if I know that some of it was written by a fraud and then how do we separate the truth from the lies in what we are told on Sundays to take on blind faith as truth.

It may sound like I am talking bullshit but when you look at the history of the Catholic Church and how they covered up their sex scandals, well that on its own makes me distrust men claiming to speak/know the will of God.

People will say anything to get what THEY want. So how are we to know what is true?

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #7 Assassination:

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:03:43 -0800

Sorry, I have been left speechless lately. Though there were several key 'victories' at the end of the last session of congress, they were over shadowed to me by the tax cut deal Obama made with Republicans and the FCC not protecting Net-Neutrality.

Then yesterday when I believed I would write a new entry we were all shaken by the tragic shooting in Arizona. I felt sick all afternoon. This is where we are and what we have become. There has already been a lot of talk on both sides left and right, meanwhile the Congresswoman is fighting for her life in a hospital, a Federal Judge was killed and so was a 9 year old girl.

This is awful and the bottom line here is simple: We must do better than this.

Communication is everything. But our Freedom of Speech has been reduced to nothing by the FCC and all we have available to listen to for FREE is Glenn Beck on the radio or Fox news on the TV and the messages and rhetoric of those avenues spin further and further to the Radical Right and the Center is relocated to where the Right used to be and, the old Center is now the Left and what used to be the Left is now considered Social-Extremism.

Glenn Beck has a 'class' through Beck 'University' titled, 'Presidents you should Hate'.

Fuck the content, we all know it is bound to be screwy coming from Beck but look at the title and tell me that Right Wing Media is not indoctrinating hatred into the hearts and minds of Americans who genuinely love their country but don't know any better because they can't afford cable news or don't have access to the internet.

Did Sarah Palin, or Glenn Beck or Sharon Angle call Jared Loughner on the phone and tell him to shoot Gabby Giffords? Probably not. But who knows, maybe Jared was listening to Beck last spring when he recommended shooting members of the ACLU and Tides Foundation in San Francisco. Maybe he heard Palin say that 'these folks need to be taken out' in regards to those who voted for healthcare reform. Maybe he heard Sharon Angle talking about 2nd amendment remedies and thought, 'you know? she might be on to something there'.

The facts are clear that we know that Loughner knew who Giffords was, he made comments about the 8th district in which she served and he had notes in his room with her name and the words 'my assassination'. Loguhner was charged with murder and Attempted Assassination.

Assassination:"the act of deliberately killing someone especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."

So to the people on the Right whining about those on the Left making this into a 'Political' issue: It is political. A Politician was damn near murdered and a federal Judge was killed! Even if the shooter is crazy, that doesn't mean that it is not political. I sincerely doubt that people were standing around grumbling and wondering if John Wilkes Booth didn't like Lincoln's politics or was just crazy, had a gun and happened into the theater that night.

The message from the Left is not that it is Palin's fault or Beck's, or any one person. Simply that we need to do away with the violent rhetoric in our political conversations. Why? Because, if each conversation ends with somebody on the Right threatening to kill, or implying that someone should kill, someone on the Left then eventually somebody with similar ideals and some mental instability will snap and pull a trigger. Like what happened yesterday.

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #6 Anonymous

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 12:54:44 -0800

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 access to the Internet. Then there is the issue of paid prioritization. For example, Comcast could make hulu.com easily accessible if Hulu pays a fee to Comcast, but Comcast could in turn block Netflix all together or simply make that website load slower to your computer, making it a chore to watch a movie online or worse make it harder to know what is happening in the world. Obviously the effects this could have on people getting the news have dangerous potential. Comcast could create a roadblock for what news is and is not accessible. Thus creating fast and slow lanes on the internet. Here is how it would look. Fast lane, FOX news. Slow lane, the Huffington Post. Fast lane, Facebook. Slow lane, Wikileaks.

The FCC said that "We don't think pay for priority is a good idea," but they did not make a rule against it. They did however, make it so that they could “challenge” Comcast or anyone else for creating roadblocks and limiting access. The problem is that the FCC does not have a good track record for going after companies that violate real guidelines. The FCC still has not gone after Clear Channel for an incident in Minot, North Dakota on January 18th 2002, where a train carrying toxic gas was derailed and the 6 Clear Channel Radio stations in the area reported nothing. Many people were hurt and one was killed. Clear Channel should have faced charges and did not. You can read about that incident here: http://www.rbr.com/features/ideas-working-now/21446.html

So, if the FCC did nothing against Clear Channel then, why would they do something to “challenge” Comcast now? They more than likely won’t. The FCC frankly has not fought for our Freedom of Speech and Information in a long, long time, which is tragic because that is what the FCC was created to do. If the FCC is not going to stand up for these freedoms who will? Anonymous.

Who is Anonymous? Anonymous is not an organization, but simply people making their voices heard however they can. Some have spread fliers through various cities, some have hacked websites like Paypal, Bank of America and Mastercard due to those companies blocking donations to Wikileaks.

There are multiple websites containing information regarding Anonymous. Here are a few. http://twitter.com/#!/anonops and here http://anonops.blogspot.com.

A few days ago Twitter removed the trending topic #iPhoneapp after it had been pushed to the top trending topics by Anonymous. The App that the trending topic was referring to was a Wikileaks app that had been removed from the iTunes app store by Apple “because it violated developer guidelines.” “Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or group in harm’s way”.

So Apple and Twitter, what the fuck? Apple has now restricted the accessibility of information and Twitter censored its users, both acts violate our Freedom of Speech and Information. There has been a fair amount of speculation as to what Apple’s reasoning behind the removal of the app was. Regardless of the speculation the truth is that it is likely that Apple removed the app due to the controversy behind Wikileaks and Julian Assange. God forbid that Uncle Sam see a couple of major corporations stand up for our inalienable rights.

So will Apple be Anonymous’ next target? Or will it be Twitter? Facebook has had some problems today that have been described as an “attack”, is this the work of Anonymous?
I hope so. I hope they take it further. If the FCC will not stand up for us, if the President and Congress will not stand up for us, then we the people need to start standing up to the powers that be.

Here are a few related articles to the FCC decisions and the removal of the iPhone App from iTunes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-brodsky/fcc-coulda-been-a-contend_b_800445.html

http://www.examiner.com/iphone-games-in-long-island/apple-explains-removal-of-wikileaks-app

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/12/developer-of-wikileaks-app-pulled-by-apple-donated-to-wikileaks/

http://www.benzinga.com/news/10/12/730311/google-keeps-wikileaks-app-apple-says-goodbye-goog-aapl

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #5 We must for the sake of the future of our children.

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:32:51 -0800

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 hard to convince people in this mindset that they are simply acting like a little kids holding their heads under the covers hoping that if they wait long enough the monster will go away. Being passive will not, in the end fix anything. It will only cause you to become a doormat.

Pick a topic: World hunger, Rape, Drugs, Religion, Abortion, World Peace, Music, Art, Media, Housing, War, Education, Economics, you name it. All of these things come down to or are affected by politics and law.

Why do we have politics and law? In a Democracy the political system allows the People to decide who to put in charge of writing the law of the land. In America this means electing the Congress and Senate who propose laws, then our President who must approve those laws and also is in charge of appointing Judges to enforce those laws in court. The laws are to keep people from doing things that are deemed inappropriate by lawmakers, everything from murder to jaywalking. If the law is in fact there to serve the people then if a law is broken then the criminals ought to be punished in accordance with their crimes. The politics and law have the power to create the freedom of things such as Religion and Artistic expression but when the lawmakers are left unchecked these freedoms can be taken away just as easily. Unfortunately history shows us that by the time freedoms are taken away it is often too late.

I mentioned in my last blog that Capitalism has the potential to turn into just as evil a system as Communism did under Stalin. Communism only works if nobody is greedy. We will never be rid of greedy people. There are those who might argue that we have never had a true laissez faire system and so we have no idea whether Capitalism is as viable a solution as some claim. I don’t believe that Capitalism works because, as I said, in the end we will never be rid of greedy people. Take a look at Wall Street, find out what a derivative is (good luck). This is Capitalism and as Michael Moore pointed out in his latest movie, it does not say in our Constitution that we must have a Capitalistic economy in America, where the dollar rules and everything else, including the American people, be damned.

So if Communism and Capitalism don’t work then we will never have utopia. People will always break the rules because Cain killed Abel. But that is why we have the law. Our system with some changes regarding health care and Social Security could go back to working for the people. It could only do so if our Government would enforce the rules on everyone instead of deregulating and passing tax cuts for the rich and giving them get out of jail free cards while throwing kids in jail for small amounts of marijuana. Too many of our elected officials and Judges however, are in bed with big money and Corporations. This is why we must hold our lawmakers accountable as well as our citizens. If we are going to lock up a punk teenager for stealing an iPod then we need to lock up Dick Cheney. We have more people in prison in our country than anywhere in the world. We have the most unequal distribution of wealth we have seen in a hundred years. We have people in all branches of our government on both sides of the aisle playing political games and not doing anything about the real issues facing the people.

When the brave Senator Sanders (I) from Vermont got up one week ago today and spoke for over eight and a half hours about these issues and many more, the media coverage he received was remarkably low. The President of the United States even tried to cockblock the guy by bringing in former President Bill Clinton, in an obvious publicity stunt, to talk in support of the same bill that Senator Sanders was speaking against.

Meanwhile, many frustrated Americans were ignoring it all, hoping the problems would just go away and just living day to day the best they could without the time to research what is going on. While those who aren’t ignoring it all are walking on thin ice around those family members and friends with whom they do not want to discuss these issues often times for no other reason than to avoid a fight. But the conversations must be had. If you are paying attention then you should be spreading the news like a wildfire. If not, start paying attention and get informed. Just because it may start an argument or get people stirred up at Christmas dinner, just because you don’t like it and only want to go on living your life the best you can, just because our society has grown lazy and just because we are impoverished, imprisoned and unemployed does not mean we cannot do something to change the way politics work in our country. We must for the sake of the future of our children.

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #4 TAXES!

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:00:43 -0800

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 *1

Earlier 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 for those making over $250,000 a year. Let me make this clear, EVERYBODY would have received a tax cut on the first $250,000. Anything more than that would have had a higher income tax rate on it, but EVERYBODY would have received a break on the first $250,000.

At the same time, Unemployment benefits were about to run out for many Americans in the middle class. The Democrats were calling to extend the unemployment benefits for some of those Americans and help get us through the holidays.

The Republicans refused to extend those unemployment benefits for middle class Americans who are without jobs due in large part to Republican/Free Trade/Corporatist policies, unless tax cuts were given to millionaires and billionaires (in Republican rhetoric “all Americans”). You can bet that come time for the 2012 elections that these millionaires and billionaires who make up 2% of our country will be contributing quite a bit to Republican/Corporatist campaigns.

Obama caved in and didn’t even really begin to fight for the American people. Then, seeming frustrated that he didn’t receive an applause for doing so, he tried to defend the decision to play nice with the Republicans with an impromptu new conference this afternoon. Meanwhile, we spin further and further into debt and the American people are really only going to get a band-aid for this instead of a real job-creating, debt reducing solution.

Take another look at the example from Denmark. 52% income tax rate that provides, FREE health care, FREE college education, 4 weeks paid vacation. Not having to worry about how to pay for college for your kids. Not having to worry about what happens if you or your family gets sick. Not working for under $8.00 an hour, but making at least $18.00. Yes, I know that a 52% income tax is high, but we used to charge a 90% income tax on married couple filing jointly in 1960 if they made over $400,000 a year.

You can view top tax rates here. http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php

Capitalism, if left unhindered, can turn into just as evil a thing as Communism (and in the case of America I believe we are getting there). People get greedy and do things to others that and just plain wrong. We currently have the most uneven distribution of wealth that we have ever seen and is only comparable to the 1890’s-1920s right before the market crashed and sent us into the Great Depression.

The top 2% of Americans should be taxed more than the rest of us who really have to work for a living. But if that is not going to happen then Mr. Obama, please TAX us all. Then create good, free health care and education for all of us.

*1You can read the whole thing at http://www.truth-out.org/thom-hartmann-rebooting-american-dream65183
They are posting a new chapter each week. This guy is brilliant and you can check out his radio show at thomhartmann.com

Ain't No Ticks like Poly-Ticks #3 My Vote Doesn't Count

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 09:55:32 -0800

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 want to talk about politics” while failing to realize that we were already having a political discussion, it was simply those two words “Republicans and Democrats” that set him off.

I inquired further trying to see what it was exactly that was bothering him about simply talking about the issue verses shutting down. He informed me that he didn’t care. He is just out there doing his job, but he hasn’t voted and won’t vote because there are no good politicians and you can’t get reliable information from anybody so he won’t vote.

I asked him how he could reconcile fighting a war for those politicians and whether or not he believed in Democracy and whether or not he believed in the “American Dream”. His answer was no, that he was simply fighting because he is good at what he does and the rest can be damned. My brother’s philosophy can be boiled down to this: Politicians are no good, but there is nothing that can be done to stop them and people working together for change will never be able to actually change a thing.

Fast forward a few nights later and after a good Thanksgiving dinner my wife, a few friends and I all went out to see the new Harry Potter movie. Right before the previews started there was an ad for Glenn Beck’s new movie “Broke”. I said a little louder than I normally would in a theater “That guy is a fucking idiot!”. My buddy Phil criticized me for saying it loud near a few kids, who I am sure didn’t hear what I had said. I tried to tell Phil that Glenn Beck is a moron and Phil said “I don’t really know anything about the guy... but I don’t care.”

We bantered back and forth for the remaining moments before the movie and it seemed to come out that his philosophy was that People shouldn’t care as much as they do, because then they will just fight about it.

Democracy and Freedom are worth fighting for.

But is that what my brother is fighting for? Not according to him. According to him he is fighting because he is a soldier and that is all that he is and knows how to do. There are a lot of people just like him. But what are they fighting for really? It sure as hell isn’t democracy. Oil. Money. Greed. Maybe also Jesus, they might be fighting for Jesus, because George W. Bush was such a GREAT Christian. (War crimes are a forgivable sin when committed against people of color.)

My buddy Phil and my brother both seemed irritated by how much I care about politics and how much I talk about it. I believe that we have to talk about it more. As two people from completely different walks of life Phil and my Charles both made it clear that they don’t give a fuck and would rather just go on living their lives.

Both seemed ignorant or indifferent (I don’t know which is worse) to the fact that we are currently morphing into a disgusting Facist nation where Wal-Mart and Wall Street rule and can buy seats in our congress. The poor will get poorer and more ignorant and the rich will gloat over the sheep that are being led “bright eyed into the slaughter.” **

We are a nation of consumers who don’t make anything anymore so all we can do is spend and spend and spend without any money pouring back into the US. Yesterday my wife and I went shopping a bit for Christmas, it was amazing how many of the clothes we looked at were made in China or Indonesia. That is where our jobs are Mr. Boehner. Thank you Target. Thank you Wal-Mart. Thank you Hewlett Packard. And last but not least thank you Barack Obama for continuing to allow those jobs to be outsourced without taxing the hell out of those companies sending them away leaving millions without a source of income and thank you for taking your trip to India a few weeks ago to ensure that those jobs don’t come back here.

Money rules. Corporations rule. My vote doesn’t count.

**Two Cow Garage, “What Dying is For” Sweet Saint Me

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #2 - With Liberty and Justice for who?

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:33:01 -0800

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 the facts and get the CIA to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Karl Rove should be indicted for treason against the United States. In my opinion he is a Terrorist only he uses money and paper trails instead of firearms and roadside bombs and planes flying into buildings. His actions however have cost people their lives and helped lead us into the financial crisis. Rove is the one who apparently told Chris Matthews “Wilson’s wife is Fair Game”.

Scooter Libby was also involved in the ousting of CIA operative Valerie Plame and was made ultimately to take the fall. Libby was sentenced but let off the hook by that great American hero George W. Bush.

Bush may have been a dummy and just surrounded by evil men or he may have been pulling the wool over the world’s eyes the whole time and still is (personally I think it is the former). Regardless, has justice been served? Will justice be served? Why didn’t these men face trial? Why hasn’t the Obama Administration done anything?

Obama made it clear during his campaign that he wanted us to move forward and focus on the future. The problem is that America does not simply need healthcare and Social Security and a stronger middle class with good jobs and fair incomes. We need JUSTICE to be served. If Justice is not served then Liberty is kind of a moot point. Do the words “with Liberty and Justice for all” have any meaning if we don’t punish those who commit crimes against humanity and our country and send our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters off to fight and die fighting an enemy that didn’t have the Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Karl Rove and those like him got away with it once and will try to play the games again if given the opportunity. As power hungry as they are and with the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court you can bet that they will get the opportunity again.

Obama never said that he would make sure these people saw a day in court but he did pledge to clean up Washington and work to fix our currently broken system. He hasn’t done that and now the Republicans control the House and were put into their seats by people with money only now because of decisions made by our so called “Justice Department” disclosing who sponsors certain political ads is no longer required and Corporations have the same rights as individuals. (That's right, Wal-Mart has the same rights you have).

So not only was Justice not served by not indicting George W. Bush and all his homies for war crimes but now our own Supreme Court has given power to the Corporations and not to the People where it belongs. We should change our pledge of Allegiance to say “with Liberty and Justice for the Corporate Interests”

Mr. Obama, I would have been happy to let all of the shit with GW slide if you had come in and started kicking ass and taking names like the People expected, but now justice is working against us and it still hasn’t been served to the sons of bitches that got us in this mess in the first place.

You cannot have Liberty without Justice because sometimes people do bad things. The basic Liberty of the People can be threatened by those people doing bad things. The People's Liberty is even more threatened when those people doing bad things do so without consequence. Therefore, Justice must be served, former Presidents and their Cabinets and Advisors not withstanding.

Ain't no Ticks like Poly-ticks! #1

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:13:32 -0800

I had a conversation with a friend the other night after a show. The fact is we were both drunk, and tired so I am not entirely sure how intelligent our conversation was, but he brought up the politics that inspire many of my songs and wanted to confront my left leaning ideals.

Here are a few things I want to make extremely clear to my listeners, fans, friends and anyone else who may care. My father is a republican and served for over 25 years in the Army, my grandfather is more of a bluedog and served in the Air Force, my mother leans more to the Left but when I talk shit about Reagan she does not seem to understand my distaste for the man (even though he ruined our country). My younger brother is a soldier in the Army now and has served two tours of duty in Iraq in the infantry and has been hit by 7 IEDs. I believe that those 7 IEDs are the fault of George W. Bush. I believe that he was either an evil man with the worst of intentions or that he was simply an idiot who surrounded himself with evil men who wanted to profit off of our young men and women going off to war to die. I believe that it is unforgivable either way and I believe that GW along with all his homies ought to be tried in a court of law for their crimes against humanity.

I am a patriot and I want nothing more than for us to return to our original values and to return to the things that made this country great. I am not talking about a return to our values the way that the Tea Party “understands” it. I am talking about going back to the values and policies that were inspired by both Roosevelts as well as Thomas Jefferson. Trade policies that keep jobs in our country and don’t send them away to other countries so major corporations make more profit each year.

I believe that we live in the remnants of what was the greatest country in the world and I believe that we fell off the path 30 years ago when we elected Reagan. We are now on the quick road to being a fascist nation if we are not already there and it is only going to get worse if we do not do something.

Many people say things like “I don’t consider myself a Democrat or Republican” which is a nice thing to say that makes you sound like a middle of the road, average, level headed American. Here is the problem though. The GOP and Right wing media are out of control and have been for more than a decade now. What used to be considered more ‘middle of the road American’ is now framed by the GOP backed media (FOX/Clear Channel) as liberal extremism and the ‘middle’ is being pushed further and further to the Right. The public buys into the message that the GOP try to sell, and the GOP is backed, funded and publicized by the Corporations to push this message to the public (the message currently is that everything is Obama’s fault and that he is a socialist who is going to ruin our country. They want to distract you from THEIR wrong doings by screaming about the black guy). The Corporations want to send more of our jobs to China and India because it will save them money so as long as our nations leaders are in bed with Corporations we will not have job creation in America because all the jobs are being sent overseas by the Corporations to save money while you and I and our kids are left to spiral into a Third World America if we have not already. (Obama took reps from Wal-Mart to India with him this week so I don’t believe he is innocent here and it seems more and more each day that he is under the thumb of the Corporations or is just trying too hard to be bipartisan).

I don’t believe that there are clear cut and dry answers to fix these problems, but there are some things that our nation could do if we put the pressure on the President, Congress and our Judicial system.

I don’t want to argue with any of the people who support my music and buy my CDs and keep me fed, housed and showered on the road but I do want to do everything I can to make people aware of the issues. So I write songs about it and hope that I don’t get jumped by tea baggers after my shows but I have been feeling like maybe I need to take it a step further than that.

For now I will make it simple and ask you to read my blog on my website andrewandersonmusic.com. I won’t post everyday, but I will commit at least once a week to write about an issue that we are facing as nation and what I and others believe we can do to fix it. I will also point you to where I am getting the ideas and information (most of these ideas are not original I just want to make you aware of them). I totally welcome being fact checked on anything and want there to be dialogue because it is important that we have the conversation and debate.

Some people believe that musicians should not get involved in politics and that I should just shut up and play. Maybe those people are right. This could be the end of my career. I play country music and many of my listeners and fans lean more to the Right, but I believe that it is important and frankly MORE important than a song or my music career. So I’ll keep writing. Not everything will be political but some will. Either way, I just feel that if i am going to write songs that put my political views out there for you to judge or criticize then I can give a bit more of an explanation.

That is all for now.

November/December Tour

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:29:15 -0800

Hey everyone,

So I got back from the December tour a few days early due to Brian Martin and I both getting very sick on our midwest tour.

The shows that we did get to play were great, and thanks so much to Erin in Kansas City for putting us up for a few days.

The time on the road with Brian was a blast and I hope we can try to hit the road again and not get sick next time. He is an amazing songwriter.

The tour in November went really well, I had the chance to see some old friends in the Boise and Washington shows and make some new friends at the shows in Oregon. That said, check out Old Canes new album off of Saddle Creek Records. They were amazing live.

My next show is in Austin on January 9th and I am working on booking more.

There is also a possibility that I will be touring again in March so lookout!