July 30, 2012

A few thoughts on the Olympics and our corporate sponsor overlords

I was listening to today’s Citizen Radio episode “(2012/07/30) What the Olympics and the Springfield monorail have in common, Georgia prison hunger strike” where Allison and Jamie were slamming the corporate sponsorship at the Olympics, specifically McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. These companies are so greedy that they have exclusive rights arrangements with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which means that your local pub can’t advertise the simple fact that they have a TV, and it can be tuned to the Olympics coverage on NBC. All of these things are facts about this hypothetical pub, but if they put a sign outside stating these facts, they will get their asses sued by their corporate overlords

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July 7, 2012

AP – Is Libertarianism Gaining Ground In American Politics?

As a liberal I can agree with libertarians on some social issues. Libertarians, at least true libertarians, would not want government telling women what to do with their bodies. Libertarians also tend to see the nonsense that is the war on drugs, particularly when it comes to marijuana. And as a liberal I feel strongly about person freedom and civil liberties, but I also recognize the role that government can play as an extension of the community. If institutions like government aren’t working it’s our job to make them work, not rebel against them. I believe a fundamentalist libertarian worldview is untenable on a hot and crowded planet of 7 billion people.

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