This morning the patient at one of my moonlighting gigs no-showed (by the way, don't ever do that when you have an appointment) so I ended up in the car at the same time one of my favorite radio shows was playing--Democracy Now!. It airs on the station here that is an affiliate of Pacifica radio which is a network of uber-liberal, listener-supported stations. The Houston affiliate can be highly entertaining and Democracy Now! is the crown jewel. Just to put things in perspective, Cindy Sheehan was one of the most frequent guests on this show before she renounced the peace movement. But then she decided she could defeat Nancy Pelosi in a bid for Congress, so she's back. But I digress. Usually I just listen to Democracy Now! (yes, you have to put an exclamation point behind Now! every time--that's the proper name of the show) to see what kind of ridiculous rhetoric is being broadcast on any given day and for a good laugh during the afternoon commute.
Anyway, this morning, my buddy Amy Goodman was interviewing this guy named John Perkins who claims he was an "economic hit man" for the US government in the seventies. Let me explain in a nutshell what an economic hit man is: these are people who work for "consulting" firms that go to foreign countries and convince their governments to accept huge loans from the World Bank and IMF and then funnel the funds to US companies who are in charge of the projects. Then the US government swoops in and used the debt as leverage to force the government of the country to grant access to its natural resources, military cooperation and political support. Sounds feasible and kind of interesting, right? So, since I had some time to kill before my next patient at school, I stopped by Barnes & Noble (or Barnes & Nobles, as we like to call it at our house, along with Chipoltes, Krogers, Williams & Sonoma, Abercrombie & Finch, OK I need to stop) and bought Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I know, I know, if Amy recommends it it's gotta suck, but I couldn't resist. I love a good government conspiracy theory. A couple of years ago, I discovered Loose Change and I guess I've never been quite the same since. As a side note, the next time you're at cruising altitude in an airplane, turn on your cell phone and see if you get a signal. Sorry, I know, once you do you won't be able to sleep at night. Anyway, back to COAEHM. I started reading it while I was taking the bus from the parking lot to the DB and it is horrible. I mean really bad. The way he describes how he was "recruited" is so cheesy, and so far it's mostly him describing how he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he is such a red-blooded heterosexual man that he was seduced by beautiful women to do our government's dirty work. Then when I got home I found this rebuttal by the State Department, and I'm left wondering why they bothered. Maybe there is something to his story . . . So in case your next read was Confessions, of course, after you read this, don't bother. Thanks for nothing, Amy. Now go watch Loose Change.
I wonder if Mitt's seen it . . .
8.08.2007
I might be a liberal
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11 comments:
Oh, my, Gosh...I haven't used my brain in like 5 years. Guess now is a good time to start again.
Humm Grampy has been doing alot of reading -Just read Lone Survivor. A true story aout a navy seal. Then of course there are all of the political books too. Have you read Hugh Hewitt's book, A Mormon in the White House? Good book!!!!
Hugs, Grammy
hmmm ... i'm all for conspiracy theories because i am most definitely a mormon liberal. (which won't please your mitt-loving clan.)
but i find loose change hard to swallow in its entirety. maybe i just need to eat a chipoltes burrito first.
I agree Mrs. Ubadoodoo, they make a lot of outlandish claims (gold under the WTC?), but there are some pretty strange inconsistencies that surround the whole 9/11 thing. By the way, here's the State Dpt.'s rebuttal to Loose Change.
I get a little too worked up when I'm listening to liberal talk radio. Most of the time I just get a good laugh out of it, but Loose Change was just plain hysterical.
I'm only half way through, it certainly is interesting. I'm not sure exactly what I think of it yet. Add me to the tally of closet Mormon liberals though.
wow. talk about stirrin' the pot!
Have you talked about all this with Kevin? Bring it up next time you see him. I'm not actually sure what he thinks about it all, I just know he was reading a lot of stuff.
Liberal? Say it ain't so.
I did watch the movie put out by the former BYU professor and his 9/11 "truth" movement. Its all very intoxicating, untill you step back and think of how many people would have to stay quiet for the conspiracy to work.
http://screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2006/05/top-lies-and-deceptions-of-loose.html
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=1
I can't believe I didn't make the blogroll.
I was about to give up on you, Mike, class started two hours ago. You have to comment to make the blogroll--you don't get special treatment just because you're family, you know.
Yeah, I think the best arguement against a government conspiracy is that so many people would have had to be involved that at least ONE of them would have come forward by now. But so far, none have . . . still, like I said before, there are a lot of things that don't add up. If true, the part in Loose Change that talks about the supposed cell phone conversations from people on flight 93 are pretty freaky. Why would they state their first and last names to their loved ones and keep asking if they believed them? To me, that's one of the most chilling parts of the whole production. Truthfully, I haven't watched it in a really long time, but Confessions made me think of it.
I wonder if Mitt's seen it . . .
I think Mitt has some larger issues to think about. Namely his poor showing in the Iowa straw poll. Even though he won that poll it was still a pretty hollow victory. Mitt spent alot of time in Iowa and he also spent a truck load of money on bus transportation, food, entertainment, and the $35 fee that each voter had to pay. Add that to the fact that McCain and Rudy decided to skip the Iowa Straw Poll and you can see that Mitt has a monumental task ahead of him. Mitt should have gotten close to 60% of that vote and he received about half of that.
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