Democratic Capitalism?
Another first for me courtesy of Russia Today (sorry, I’m not promoting the network, but it has been quite interesting for me to watch). FOX News boasts its fair and balanced coverage. RT? Their motto is Question More.
I had never heard of Democratic Capitalism until last week. RT has been running little quasi PSA bits between news coverage. One features Gerald Celente. Celente says that Democratic Capitalism as Fascism. I’ve heard of Democratic Socialism but Democratic Capitalism is a new one.
I’m surprised RT would interview him. Maybe my reaction to RT was a knee-jerk one since Putin funds it. No matter, watching RT makes more sense to me than anything I’ve heard on FOX or CNN. No offense to FOX or CNN lovers but the hosts and guests come across more like guys having a bar room brawl. There’s no arguing on RT and the interviewers and journalists really stay focused on the issues.
So far my favorite host is Thom Hartman (he spells his first name that way). He had a segment the other day about the controversy in Michigan. Well, I can certainly relate to that. Buffalo government was/is so corrupt that we needed a Financial Stability Authority better known as the Control Board. They caused havoc with the city unions, not to mention how the six figure Control Board members only added to our financial troubles. Thankfully we went from a “hard” Control Board to a “soft” Control Board to none. Only a handful of people objected to unelected civilian officials dictating how our government was run.
Then some moron on the Common Council came up with the idea of a business manager to supplement the duties of the mayor. Again, a non-elected appointed official dictating the how the city runs, where the money goes. The elected mayor would basically be a figure head doing administrative duties. Thankfully we were spared a city manager. Now we’ve got deputy mayor (non-elected but appointed).
You know you’re city is in rough shape when it needs a receivership. Apparently that’s what is going on with Snyder in Michigan. I imagine this is Gerald Celente means about Democratic Capitalism leading to Fascism.
But to get somewhat more on topic--I may have judged Russia Today prematurely. It certainly is making me question more minus the yelling and bickering on CNN and FOX.
And not to beat a dead horse but all of this makes me question why RT focuses so much attention on the Occupy Wall Street movement and its national and global offshoots. Occupy Buffalo in particular is curious. Pro and con keep saying they need to focus. I have to agree. On the one hand they’re supporting the mayor who is supporting them, permitting the occupiers to occupy Niagara Square directly across from City Hall. They can stay indefinitely courtesy of the mayor and anonymous donors who are helping to fund this movement. Now I wonder if the anonymous donor of the Geodesic Dome could be…I don’t know…Michael Moore who gave Buffalo a shout out? Who can say, but our weakling, unfocused Occupy group, very much under the radar seems a little too under the radar.
Say what you will about Russia Today America…I’m glad I’ve got digital cable and can now watch it. In fact, I record all four hours on my DVR. At least RT is helping me to think about politics. Listening to the Soviet National anthem has helped, too. I do a lot of thinking when I listen to music. Actually, I was listening to it on my Ipod (yep, downloaded it) when it finally occurred to me that the Occupy Buffalo crowd is conflicted between supporting a corrupt government partially run by non-elected officials that is screwing unions workers over and marching down Main Street to offer Buffalo cops their support. Cops are workers and part of the 99-percent.
They hate the mayor and hated the Control Board with a passion. So did Buffalo Fire.
And there you have it. Russia Today America is engaging me politically. No, I am not turning Communist, but it certainly is making me think about American politics more. Yep. That’s it--engaged--something the majority of journalists in the mainstream US media have failed to do.
One final note--I decided to write this post on Microsoft Word Works. It’s not ideal but the only word processing program Windows 7 has. But the reason I am writing here rather than directly on my blog is because I am in my off-line writing mode this way, less likely go off off off topic. I can stay a little more focused.
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Re the Soviet National anthem…as one guy posted on You Tube…I’m here for the music. But how ironic that listening to the anthem is increasing my awareness and interest in American politics. I have to give props where props are due lol.
Re Democratic Capitalism…plan to look into what that meansJ
"RT is the radio free Commie station. All propaganda all the time."