Jimmy Kimmel Live and his show came up with a Ken Burns version of the recent late night wars. Great stuff.
The government can’t protect us from asteroids.
Frogs show up on Christmas trees.
Students spell C-L-A-S-S in photominus C & L.
In a ruling today, the Supreme Court has relaxed restrictions on campaign finance laws. Specifically, the court overturned part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law.
“The ruling removes limits on corporations from spending their money on federal races, meaning that companies — and probably labor unions — will be free, for instance, to buy up advertising time days and weeks before an election to support or attack a potential candidate, perhaps creating slick spots with high production values similar to drug or car ads, or purchasing large blocks of network time.”
What the SCOTUS has done is open up the floodgates for a barrage of presumably negative ads with messages that are either flat out lies, statements taken out of context, or misleading facts. It is safe to presume this because very few corporations follow the rules when their interests are at stake. With the corporate mentality, places are not going to regulate and police themselves when big money (possibly) at stake.
While corporations and unions will still not be able to give money directly to candidates, this does nothing to stop them from forming all kinds of different political action committees. While some corporations may want to be directly involved in campaigns with their name and such, most will still set up front groups. Some people wrongly believe that this will create more accountability.
"People will be directly responsible for their message; they’ll be more responsible," said Rex Elsass, a Republican media strategist in Ohio. "Should I choose to run an ad myself as a company. I’m going to be involved in that message."
Using Rex Elsass’s theory completely takes away what companies want most when advertising for political campaigns: plausible deniability. Why be connected to some particular campaign of interest and face blowback when you can just funnel money through PACs?
"The Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics," Obama said in a statement. "It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."
The POTUS could not be more correct. Big oil, big banks, health insurance companies, and large multinational companies stand to gain from this ruling. If I am running for an office, and I support tighter restrictions on big banks, big banks will now be able to spend an unlimited amount of money in an attempt to defeat me. While those big banks cannot directly support my opponent(s), that is what the companies would basically be doing. Say I could raise a million dollars for my race, and I outraised my opponent by $500,000 dollars, I would seem to be in a good position. But, the big banks that oppose me could spend $500,000, a million, heck, even a billion to attempt to defeat me. Now, in a democracy ideas and principles and the like and not big money should elect people. But, as we all know money is usually the largest factor.
Just as appalling to me as the actual ruling itself was the language Justice Anthony Kennedy used in writing the opinion for the majority. Justice Kennedy said, “the censorship we now confront is vast in its reach.” What censorship is he talking about? Is it the censorship we have in all forms of daily life? Obviously not, because then the SCOTUS should overturn all obscenity laws and let anybody view any images and videos that they want. This ruling, plain and simple, is terrible attempt to promote one type of ideology and in effect, one party. While unions and Democrats will be helped by this ruling, Republicans stand to gain the most by being more business and corporation friendly. The worst part of Kennedy’s language is the fact that he blasts vast “censorship” yet the Chinese government censors its citizens ability to social network, buy products online, and view any type of news. Why is Kennedy, in effect, allowing companies that exploit workers in China (and in effect support the Chinese government) to have more power to exploit the political process here? Justice John Paul Stevens said, “The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation.” Justice Stevens is exactly correct. Why undermine what little integrity elected officials and institutions already have? I do not know, but what I do know is that the gates of Troy are now open for business, and legislatures around the nation might as well put for sale signs on their front lawns.
Five editors of the Stevenson High School newspaper resigned on Tuesday according to WGN Radio and the Chicago Tribune. Last school year, after school administrators instituted a prior review policy, the papers faculty advisor resigned. Earlier this school year, there was a spat between writers, editors, and school administration over articles about teen pregnancy and drug use by honors students.
This raises a lot of questions about the students and the school administrators. First off, the Stevenson High paper is (apparently) very esteemed in terms of high school newspapers. So, it is natural to assume that some real journalism actually goes on at this high school paper. Of course when this journalism became a problem to school administrators, they censored the newspaper. While I do believe that schools have a right to control what goes on in their newspaper and that school administrators need adequate protections and all that jazz, a very important questions is raised here. If school administrations do not like articles in their newspaper, do they have a right to stamp out the articles. My belief is no, since my understanding of this entire saga is that the school basically attempted to stamp out (possible) negative publicity.
Sure, no school wants to be known for drug use and teen pregnancy, but this censorship called more attention to problems the school may have than if the administration had let the story run. Would I have even heard of the possible problems at this school? Probably not since the school’s problems are not any different than those of the average high school. Plus, if I were a parent now would I want my child attending Stevenson? Hell no. What I see is a school administration that stamps out things it does not like, pressures its students to conform to things someone else wants them to be, and does not give a damn about the problems it really has. Maybe it is just me, but I for one am not shocked that an honors student might be regularly experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Heck, I am not surprised that honors students are regularly using drugs and alcohol. Why? Because that is simply the culture we live in America. Alcohol is not hard to get and neither are drugs. Is that my fault as a teen? No. If anything I can turn around and blame it on my parents and grandparents generations. Did anyone from my generation create the show Teen Mom or invent drugs? No. Years ago, adults all did these things. Now, I am not trying to play a blame game on adults, but seriously look at how we treat drugs in this country. The War on Drugs has only led to skyrocketed drug use among all levels of age and only in the last decade is that trend being turned around. This does not even touch the fact that prescription and over the counter drug abuse has skyrocketed. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, 7 of the top 10 drugs abused by high school seniors were purchased over the counter or prescribed. This same news was announced as marijuana use among high school students remained flat.
Why then are Stevenson High administrators upset? Probably because they know that the failure of a generation of lawmakers and activists might make them look bad. Instead of printing the articles along with information on how students could get help for drug abuse, school administrators rejected and removed the articles. Now, the conversation is not on helping and assisting any student with a teen pregnancy, alcohol, or drug problem, the conversation is about why Stevenson High School does not like the first amendment. Once again, in a haste to prevent possible bad publicity, Americas leaders have missed the ball. The situations presented in the Stevenson articles should have and could have been a rallying cry for students to get help, but now the articles are a rallying cry for the erosion of freedom in America. I can say one thing for sure, I do not mind not being able to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater as long as I know that there is one less drug addict on the street. I do not mind one better person using their changed life to positively change the lives of others.
Well, it is official. Well, not technically official, but Democrats have failed on health care reform. Republican Scott Brown beat Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. Paul Kirk, a top Ted Kennedy aide, had been the “interim Senator” to quote Brown. While not technically interim, Kirk was just space filler until the special election took place.
Republicans will now claim this is a repudiation of the Obama agenda, the Democrat agenda, and such. While anger against Washington certainly was a part of this race, the largest factor was Martha Coakley’s campaign of blunders, stupidity, and arrogance. From calling Curt Schilling a Yankees fan to refusing to shake hands with voters, Coakley ran a terrible campaign. Her cold approach to campaigning made her seem aloof and entitled. In a time when people are angry over many things, she acted like many of the people Democrats are trying to demonize. Her utter disregard to meet with citizens and prospective voters set her campaign back in an innumerable amount of ways. In addition, her campaign made a couple of big gaffes: one television ad misspelled Massachusetts and another ad showed footage of the World Trade Center to represent Wall Street (Brown was being portrayed as a Wall Street hotshot).
Despite Coakley’s disaster of a campaign, this has major implications for Democrats. Republicans are receiving the votes of angry citizens and Democrats can only win with energetic and exciting candidates. Democrats need campaigners like Rod Blagojevich in order to win. Even though he is a crackpot, Blagojevich was a tireless campaigner and never steered far from the campaign line. The souring economy, the dysfunction of Washington, and the ever growing polarization of politics are all going against the Democrats, and if they do not get their act together fast, expect more Rush, Palin, and fake patriots to take the stage.
Today, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley met privately with Chicago 2016 volunteers for the final meeting of the group. Daley lashed out at both the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee. Daley blasted the USOC and the federal government for not helping financially back Chicago’s bid. The winner, Rio de Janeiro, had government support from city, state, and federal levels of government in Brazil. Rio’s bid included 2.8 billion (US Dollars) in spending from their Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games with over 1.8 billion dollars of that money coming from the levels of government. On top of that, ROCOG expected a perfectly balanced budget (say out loud: C-R-A-Z-Y). The 2.8 billion figure also included 0 dollars (that is right zero dollars) in capital investment for sports facilities and the Olympic Village. Instead, all 11 billion dollars of capital costs were to be paid by the Brazilian levels of government. This included over 400 million dollars for the Olympic Village and over 500 million dollars for sport and competition venues. Now, I may be biased but Chicago did have the best bid for the 2016 Games. As one attendee of Daley’s speech said, “It was all politics and all money. All politics and all money. [The International Olympic Committee] didn’t care about the athletes, and they didn’t care about the quality of the bid.” The politics side being once gain rejecting a South American city. With a burgeoning Latino population in the US and around the globe, the IOC clearly pandered to South American Latinos. Even though South America rightfully deserved to get the Games, choosing the best of the best should have been the IOC’s priority. Instead, they chose the politically advantageous city and this may bite the IOC in the long run if Brazil cannot meet all of its financial guarantees. Also, Rio helped pay for its the majority of its application costs with government funds. Chicago 2016 paid for its application costs with all private funds. While the city of Chicago was heavily involved and undertook many costly studies for the Chicago 2016 committee, these costs were not factored into the bid. However, the cost of Rio’s bid also did not include such government spending on studies, models, evaluations, etc.
Daley also announced plans for Chicago to provide loans to small businesses.
While this may be a good idea on the surface, it can (check that, will) be used to support politically connected business owners who may or may not be suffering through hard times. Considering the city still feels the effects of the Hired Truck Scandal, this deal might end up being no more than Cash for Campaigners.
New York State’s oldest sex offender, who is 100, will be released.
More info here, here, and here.
Mesa, Arizona’s Cubs facilities will get a major upgrade. Mesa is in competition with Naples, Florida to house Cubs spring training. The Cubs have an opt out clause for 2012 in their contract with Mesa. Arizona is lobbying hard to keep the Cubs since they are number one far and away in Cactus League attendance and Cubs spring training brings in over 50 million dollars per year to the Arizona economy.
Today is the anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. The attacks occurred in the morning hours of December 7th, 1941.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) compared Republicans slowing down and attempting to block health care legislation to the opponents of civil rights. While the actual parliamentary and legislative tactics being used are exactly the same ones used previously to block civil rights legislation, the motives here are not the same. There is not a racist or sexists ideology being used an excuse to block legislation. While Reid’s comparison was grossly inaccurate and unfair, it is hard for Republicans to cry foul considering their lack of outrage at instances such as these. Instead of acting like mature adults and good representatives of the people, both parties offer token posturing. As of this post, Reid has not offered any formal apology or retraction.
Tiger Woods doing it with a porn star.
A Secret Service report details 91 security lapses in the past 30 years.
Iranian students launch protests and get beat with batons.
Maybe some of these problems would not exist today had we not been the puppeteer of Shah many moons ago. I recommend the book All the Shah’s Men by Stephan Kinzer if you want to learn about the roots of terrorism and hatred (against the US) in the modern Middle East. I have recently begun to read the book myself and it provides deep insight into the first coup launched by the CIA.
The Cubs have named Ryne Sandberg manager of the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and the Bulls continue to be a freaking joke.
Welcome to The Lowe Down. For short you can refer to it as TLD, much as one refers to the New York Times as NYT or the Wall Street Journal as WSJ. Am I full of myself? Some might say yes, but I also say yes. If I was not full of myself, what else would I be full of? You? Certainly not. Anyway let’s get down to brass tax (whatever the heck that means). The Lowe Down will a place for my articles, commentaries, columns, musings, rants, thoughts and more. The Lowe Down will include the happenings affecting the world today (narcissist alert) and how they affect you (maybe not). Basically with all the mumbo jumbo and hullabaloo out of the way, this is basically a place for me to put up my thoughts and stuff I find interesting.
I just got done reading an article from the Chicago Tribune talking about how the British royal family warned newspapers in Britain not to publish intrusive photos of the family during the holiday season. First off, these old bags need to learn newspapers aren’t driving the agenda anymore, websites are (see TMZ). Well, the National Enquirer drove the Tiger Woods story off the ground and ended up getting him into a fight with his wife. Nonetheless, many (check that: most, check that: nearly all) newspapers are largely irrelevant to people from my generation. Anyway, back to the Brit royals. I agree with the family that intrusive photos shouldn’t be published and frankly, I am tired of hearing about celebrities personal lives and all their transgressions.
After reading the story, I flipped through my tv and saw Kill Bill, Volume 2 was on. That is what prompted me to write this post. I have no desire to know what type of sex acts David Carradine likes. This made watching Kill Bill so weird I had to turn it off after a couple of minutes because who knows what sword fighting Uma and David might have been doing. Ack! I don’t want to think of that!
The larger point is that the paparazzi needs to be out of the lives of people. I don’t want to see every nipple slip, scandal, and all that bull. I could care less because I have my own life to live. I don’t want to be chased around 24/7 (see Princess Diana) and photographed left and right. Some of these celebrities do want their whole lives out there. However, that is because those people have no talent, no ability, and no desire to do anything with their lives but party (see Paris Hilton). That is why I am happy that this prick will hopefully be locked up for a long time. Then the world won’t have to deal with the Paris Hilton prima donnas every day.
On the Bears beat, the not so monstrous team beat the not so horny St. Louis Rams. David Schuster, a reporter for WSCR 670 The Score put it best in an update on his Facebook page “This game hasn’t been worthy of a freshman highschool contest played at 9:00 on a Saturday morning.” Final Score Bears 17, Rams 9.
On the moron beat, someone updated their Facebook status and tweeted their marriage. Morons! Video from the stupidity can be seen here (from the tools themselves). Also, check out the twitter page of Mr. and Mrs. Load of Crap. What has this world come to?!?
