In the Telegram and Gazette this week came an op-ed piece about net neutrality that was one of the worst pieces of journalism ever written in the history of mankind. The author, one Andrew Criscione, attacks net neutrality as legislation that will rewrite the internet with unneeded regulations. Actually, net neutrality is the exact opposite in that it does not impose ANY regulations on the internet, treating all the same regardless of size. He goes on to rally against "socialistic" policies, proving he has no idea what those words actually mean, and says the post office is failing due to private companies like Fed-Ex and UPS showing a profit, conveniently ignoring the fact that the USPO is failing due to front loading of health care and pension benefits that Republicans passed in 2005 and no other company on the planet has to do. And by the way, which is cheaper to use the post office or Fed-Ex? Just saying.
He ignores the fact that without net neutrality, corporations will be able to charge whatever they want to the already highest paid internet service on Earth. Plus, we will get less for that amount of money, otherwise known as privatization where whenever it has been used, prices go up and services go down. Can anyone name a service that has been deregulated or privatized and have the price drop? Me neither. Government bloats their services to the hilt and red tape galore happens, but for the most part, they work. The DMV may be a hassle, but once you're done with it, you're finished. Corporations on the other hand hire the fewest amount of people to do a job, do it half-assed and it takes twice as long to fix anything if ever. I recently took eight months to get my girlfriend's student loan erased, as she is on disability and has a fixed income. Every time I thought I was done, some other problem arose and almost a year passed, along with talking to some of the dumbest humans I have seen, before the problem finally rectified itself with a solution that could have been handled eight months previously. These were all private service, subcontracted out by the government with less than successful returns.
Then we have the President whose advisers must be Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum because no other sane human would have recommended the path that he took this week. Not only did he break a law he signed himself last year (it says the President must tell Congress 30 days prior to any prisoner transfers from Gitmo), he held a press conference to pat himself on the back with the parents of now free POW, Bowe Bergdahl. First, I understand the father learning Pashto and looking Talabanish to maybe get his son back, but he's free now and that beard probably should have been gone before meeting with the President. Republicans howled about this, forgetting that if he had a bandanna and a duck whistle, he'd be invited to the next Correspondent's dinner. Second, if you are going to hold a press conference about high fiving everyone on a job well done, maybe you should have read about who you were freeing first. His own platoon seemed to despise the guy and rightfully so as six people died looking for his sorry ass. So we let five dangerous people go to free a POW who now may be facing prison here for desertion charges? Why God why? Couldn't we just let him rot where he was. The Pentagon wanted no part of this, why did the government? Is our President this dumb? And how come with the GOP demanding answers to the VA issues they helped create is Obama not deflecting blame back onto them? I am wondering if Obama is now some double agent for the GOP, secretly working with them to get them into power in 2014 because he is certainly aiding their campaign efforts.
We also saw two 12 year old girls try to sacrifice their friend to a mythical creature, Slender Man, which had the same exact plot line as several Supernatural episodes. One of the girls said Slender Man was talking to her in her dreams and could telepathically link with him. Were the parents this unaware that their daughter had serious problems? If they are as overworked and underpaid as the rest of us, probably not. But this is yet another case where serious mental illness has gone overlooked with deadly consequences. How long before another situation happens? When are we going to actually do something about it before blaming guns, video games or the Internet again?
Lastly, we have the GOP doing everything they can to kill this country with the support of millions out there too stupid to know better. Maureen Dowd wrote an article recently saying that after eating a pot laced candy bar "she nearly died." According to her article she began to hallucinate and barely made it back to her bed before she spent the next eight hours curled up in a ball. First off, you cannot die from weed. It's is physically impossible. Second, eating weed is much more powerful that smoking it. Back in college I once ate a pot brownie that messed me up good. But I was never in any danger, less I tried to drive which would have been bad news. Smoking it provides a much more mellow feeling as well. So maybe Dowd should have stated there before jumping right into mainlining. Conservatives have jumped all over the pot bandwagon calling it a "failed experiment" because one guy ate a pot candy bar and killed his wife and another idiot ate six pot cookies and jumped to his death. However, at the same time, tens of thousands of jobs have been created. ten of millions added to tax coffers, and crime has decreased by 10%. Just because one moron can't handle weed, should we all suffer because if it? Doesn't alcohol and tobacco kill lots more and no one seems to care about that?
The House recently passed a bill that would force the government to stop raiding medical marijuana shops, with even 49 Republicans joining in to pass it. Could common sense finally be found somewhere in government? Probably not as God knows what the Senate will do, but here's hoping for a glimmer of hope in a society fresh out.
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