Oh, Dollar Tree, how I love you so! Who would have thought that I would score all of these phenomenal books for just ONE BUCK? If you are unaware, Dollar Tree often carries a line of books (and apparently books on CD) that, for some reason, did not sell on a retail (much more expensive) level. This evening, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of books that I would love to read but am far too lazy and distracted to actually sit down and dedicate time. But the best part is - I FOUND THEM ON CD! My finds include, "Broken Government" by John Dean, "Between Worlds" by Bill Richardson, "America Back on Track" by Sanator Edward Kennedy and "Assault on Reason" by President Al Gore.
I started listening to Senator Kennedy's book in the car as I dropped off some winter clothes to the brave women and men at the Occupy Des Moines encampment - but now that I am home, I have moved on to listening to President Gore's book about the Assault on Reason. I mention this because he speaks a great deal on the first CD about the importance of a Free Press in our Democracy and how we just don't have it since the Television took over the Printing Press. The fact that all media is owned by a tiny group of super-rich men who are profit driven, even when delivering the news, has put our Democracy on the brink. He threw out a great statistic that cited a study about the freedom of press. An independent study showed that THE UNITED STATES HAS THE 53RD FREEST PRESS IN THE WORLD. This reminded me of another study I read about last night which stated that those who watch FOX news are actually LESS INFORMED THAN THOSE WHO WATCH NO NEWS AT ALL.
Fox News' comedy show, "O'Reilly Factor" put out an interesting spin today about the pepper-spraying of students at UC Davis. A guest reminded us that Pepper Spray is actually a product of Pepper. So I guess she meant pepper spraying peaceful college protesters is a GOOD THING? WTF? Another correspondent was insistent that they cease even talking about the Occupy Wall Street protests because in his opinion, they had already devoted enough time to the movement. Indeed, Fox "News" is far more interested in telling us about how much time Lindsay Lohan will not spend in jail for her transgressions. HELP! Our media has been hijacked by stupid, mindless bullshit stories - and Fox is leading the way!
So here is the question of the day - where the hell is Al Gore while we wage this battle against the machine? As we yell, as we scream, as we cry about the insane injustice of income disparity where is the person the American People voted as president in 2000? As we FINALLY find a voice through social networking and the internet, where is President Gore to support us - the ones he wrote about in his book just a few short years ago? Since he helped invent the internet, I think President Gore owes it to the people now using this medium to bring about change and give an accurate report about social unrest ...
Great point. I, too, have been puzzled by the unwillingness of some progressive leaders (or "leaders," if you prefer) to support the movement. Either they have a classic case of finger-in-the-wind-itis, or they truly believe that they can do more good focusing on other things. I think in most cases it is the former, but for Gore I tend to give the benefit of the doubt. We shall see.
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