Orwellian State

Sam Reed, Washington's Secretary of State, is about to leave office in a few weeks: good riddance.  Despite his reputation as a mild-mannered nice guy, this guy is really a totalitarian-minded hack who did everything in his power to dilute the political leverage of anybody who wasn't part of the Political Establishment, or who didn't have money or financial backing from the Corporate Behemoth.  In other words, if you were a poor, independent or third party candidate, Sam Reed didn't think you had any business being involved with electoral politics in any practical sense (like having a real chance to win), although he never came right out and said it, of course, because that would look too overtly anti-democratic.  Not to mention that he wasn't too impressed with non-incumbents, either, unless you were backed by the Corporate Behemoth (for instance, why is it formatted in the state voters' guides to look as an omission if a candidate doesn't have electoral experience)?  Sam Reed didn't have to state these things in some treatise, memorandum or press conference, because his actions did all the talking for him.  Everything from trying to raise the minimum vote total, required to go from Primary to General Election, from 1% to 2%, to even, believe it or not, trying to twist elections so that, hypothetically, deceased candidates could be transferred from Primary to General Election.  Is this bizarre or what?  It just goes to show that politicians like Reed are not above having a sham election every now and then to make sure that their brethren (namely, Establishment politicians who didn't file for a particular election, initially) are not left out.  Fortunately, the Legislature, in its wisdom on some matters, did not let Sam get his way on everything, including the aforementioned things. 

After the U.S. Supreme Court let the "Top 2" Primary stand, "Nice Guy" Sam tried to change it radically after all his talk about how he supported it.  Naturally, with his plan, third parties would've had to gone back to petitioning to get on the ballot. Also, sometimes -- or  was it just about every time -- Sam managed to beg off printing a Primary edition of the Candidate Voters' Pamphlet, ostensibly, because of the budget.  Guess which candidates desperately needed a Primary pamphlet to get the name recognition and statements to the People that had no chance of registering with the biased and corrupt Corporate Mainstream Media?  That's right, independents, third parties, poor candidates and low-budgeted major party candidates.  Are you beginning to get the trend of who gets the brunt of Sam's policies?  You got it, commoners who are principled enough not to be part and parcel of the Establishment that Sam worships and that is sending our nation (and perhaps the world) to Hell in a handbasket for the sake of their own individualistic greed.

Originally published on "Commoner" on 12/13/12; revised on 4/21/12.

Copyright 2009 - 2012, Party of Commons TM

Declare Nuclear Experiment Over

With the crisis in Japan with the natural disasters and the nuclear power plants ongoing, it's time for humanity to come to our senses and declare the nuclear experiment over, and that includes nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. It's time to close down existing power plants, get rid of all nuclear weapons, and to develop an internationally cooperative and comprehensive plan to contain the existing nuclear waste. Of course, the Obama administration that looks more and more like a governmental albatross, not that the Republicans are any better, wants to keep building nuclear power plants even in the wake of the Japanese disaster. Keep in mind that this is the same administration that allowed monumental amounts of dispersants of unknown effects to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. This administration is poor regarding peace and the economy, and terrible on the environment. Unfortunately, that means it may take another generation to bring common sense environmental rules into practice.

Copyright 2009 - 2011, Party of Commons TM

The Corporate Environmental Catastrophe

On March 1, when we last wrote on this blog about the corporate polluting of the waterways, little did we know that the corporate nemesis would turn real bad policy on their part into an outright catastrophe. The BP oil company, virtually unregulated by Uncle Sam, and acting as the practical government of the Gulf of Mexico, ignored problems and took huge environmental risks in order to save a relative small amount of money, and have now ruined the entire Gulf through a massive and ongoing offshore oil runoff. The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) made matters worst by allowing BP to use some of the most toxic chemical dispersant available in huge quantums. Instead of allowing the runoff oil to naturally coagulate so it stays on the water surface, thereby making it easier to skim off and clean up, the dispersant makes the oil sink to the bottom where it is more likely to harm the Gulf aquatic species, along with the dispersant itself. Moreover, the dangerous dispersant may eventually spread to other channels of water by way of the Gulf stream. Both the E.P.A. and BP have made a mess of the Gulf. It is time for the Obama administration to seize BP's assets, kick them out of the Gulf of Mexico and out of the nation, and start stringently regulating the corporate nemeses that are causing havoc to our environment and our economy.

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Copyright 2009 - 2010, Party of Commons TM