Conflicts Of Interest: Secret Qi Gong Self-massage
Techniques, Babysitting And Blogging
24 August 2010By Jane Stillwater
By the time I get done trying to entertain my
two-year-old granddaughter all day, I don't have much
energy left for blogging. Sure, I write a lot of stuff
down -- but when I read back what I just wrote, it all
seems like dookie. But even if I could somehow manage
to write meaningful prose of Shakespearean quality, so
what? Most Americans are too busy getting fleeced by
the Republican noise machine to even have time to read
any of my humble stuff anyway.
Screw it. At least two-year-olds give you an
occasional smile.
However, today I really would like to write about some
secret Qi Gong massage techniques that I learned 32
years ago, from a wandering Tibetan Buddhist monk. "I
learned these in a secret cave in China," he told me
back then, "and if I teach them to you, you can't tell
ANYONE about them. Not anyone. Okay?" Sure.
But 32 years later, with the world going to hell in a
hand-basket and 1% of the rich owning 83% of the stock
market and almost all of our taxpayer money being
vacuumed off to kill orphans in Afghanistan, why
bother even trying to keep secrets any more? So here's
the story on secret Qi Gong self-massage techniques
from hidden caves in China: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYrpsXXKPQo.
Please watch it now, while we still have Net
neutrality and you still have access to the internet.
Oops. Gotta go. Sesame Street is on and Mena and I
gotta go watch it.
PS: Here's a video segment of Senator Al Franken's
speech on Net neutrality, FYI: http://www.alfranken.com/index.php/splash/netneutrality_vid/.
I also took notes on this speech at the Netroots
Nation convention in July, so here are my fairly-raw
notes on that speech -- wherein Sen. Franken actually
encourages us blogger types to hang in there. "We
march forward because the future belongs to those who
are passionate and work hard. And that has to be us.
We can't give up. And we have to take pride when we
make progress. This country is a better place because
of us."
Hey, tell that to Mena next time she gets all chatty
at 2 am!
Sen. Franken in Vegas: Lies, lies & access to truth
Five years ago, GWB and the right wing echo chamber
and the wealthy had built what seemed like an
unstoppable machine. But all over the country,
progressives were incubating a movement to raise money
and back progressive candidates. And they became
senators. Five years ago was a pretty exciting time
after all. In 2006, we felt a little giddy, like we
had pulled off the upset of the century.
In 2008, the energy of the netroots and people-powered
activism developed a grassroots movement that was
inspiring. More than 200,000 people made an online
contribution to my campaign. Thanks. My campaign was
based on the help of the conversation online. When the
MSM was announcing that my candidacy was dead, it was
the citizen bloggers that were showing the world that
Minnesota was not Florida.
Now everyone believes that the internet is important.
But it is not the whole story. It is only a tool. It
depends on what you have to say, not how big a
megaphone you have. Our story can and has changed the
country.
Paul Wellstone says the future belongs to those who
are passionate and work hard. And now we can't afford
to stand around and admire what we have done.
Conservatives are now motivated too, and they want to
prove that our wins are just a fluke of history. They
are just as motivated to stop our movement. You can
tell they are motivated because they have boatloads of
money. One oilman gave Karl Rove one million dollars
for attack ads. Citizens United allows them to spend
unlimited funds.
Congress would be a very different place without
Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi. VERY different.
We need to prove that 2008 was not a fluke. We have to
support great candidates like Joe Sustak and Tarryl
Clark [she's running against Michelle Bachmann --
donate here: http://tarrylclark.com/.]
I know that some of you who have elected Democrats
haven't gotten your money's worth. Immigration reform,
the public option. But don't think for a second that
you are not being heard. I go to a lunch every Tuesday
with all the Senate Democrats and, believe me, they
hear you.
We didn't get everything we wanted but we did get a
lot. These bills were better because you made us make
them better. We have a lot of democratic votes but we
need more progressive votes. We need to send us more
senators like Bernie Sanders. You can't back out now!
I can't tell you to be patient because that would be
hypocritical. Because I'm not patient. But the
Republicans want to take back even what we did get. We
have seen what Republicans do when they take control
of congress and it ain't pretty. Plus they are talking
like the deficit took place on the day Obama was
inaugurated.
They want to cut things that are not government
handouts. They want to go back to the dark days of the
Bush administration. And this time it may not be so
easy for us to regroup. And the corporations have even
darker plans -- an America where no individual's
rights are so important as to take precedence over
America's corporations.
There are great corporations that aren't inherently
evil, but they are powerful and can be evil if they
want ot -- or feel that they have to. And our rights
are disappearing one right at a time. Your right to a
jury trial, to clean water, to privacy. Used to be
only the government could threaten you rights -- but
now corporations can threaten them too. And Net
neutrality threats are the biggest danger to your
rights.
They want to sell premium access to internet access.
When the same company owns both the pipes and the
programs we may be in trouble. And as the only senator
who has been in show business, I know how
communications networks work. Mergers and
consolidations mean that they can both control the
programs and the means of delivering them. If Citizens
United is allowed to stand, how long do you think it
will take before four or five mega-corporations
control all access to media? How long do you think it
will take before the Fox News network loads five times
faster than the Daily Kos.
It's not just about politics. The internet is an
incredible source of innovation. Its value comes from
it being open to everyone. YouTube and Twitter started
small. How many people are Tweeting right now. The
internet has changed our lives. Imagine how an
independent producer couldn't get a show on a
network-controlled television. The internet will
become like that -- major corporation controlled.
I can't imagine what life in America will be like if
this kind of innovation can't take place. The
government can pass rules to protect Net neutrality.
And congress is hearing more than enough from the
corporations on the other side of this issue and not
enough from you. You have to help us fight this.
We are at the worst moment in our history. More
unemployment than ever. Climate change. We have to
resist and rise to this challenge. If we don't, no one
else will. Even if you only started blogging because
you can't stand President [sic] Bush or wanted
single-payer healthcare, you still have to keep at it.
We have to fight these battles because we are right
and our country is worth it.
We march forward because the future belongs to those
who are passionate and work hard. And that has to be
us. We can't give up. And we have to take pride when
we make progress. This country is a better place
because of us.
In the Obama administration, we have seen progress.
These are things that are worth celebrating. And I am
confident that we will have even more to celebrate at
next year's Netroots Nation convention.
The Netroots Nation gang has given me the honor of
announcing the official location of next years
Netroots Nation convention. It's not as glitzy but
it's a great place for fishing. And if it gets a
little to crowded at Marcos's party you can always
come over and hang out at my house. The next Netroots
Nation convention will be in Minneapolis!
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