With the Republican Primaries heating up and the Super PACs running attack campaigns at full throttle, it’s no surprise that accusations of inaccuracies and even out right lies are being pronounced at campaign stops and even during the live, televised debates.

Last night, during the Fox news hosted Republican primary debates, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich accused each other’s Super PACs of blatant lies in their attack ads. While campaign finance laws make it illegal for a candidate to have any influence over the Super PACs and where they spend their money, each candidate did agree that it should be known that BOTH of the attack campaigns by each of their supporting Super PACs are stating wholly inaccurate falsehoods (a.k.a. LIES) about the other candidates.

My question is, now that each side admits that these campaigns are stating out right lies about their Republican competitors, do you think that these candidates and their supporters would also exaggerate and even lie about their accusations across party lines? Do you think they also lie about Obama? Democratic party policies?

Or will we claim that the lying stops at party lines, and when it comes to the Democrats, the claims are 100% fact-checked truths? I’m simply saying, if they actually admit they’re lying about each other, don’t you think the lies are even worse when referring to the other side?

The biggest Internet names are talking about joining forces in an effort to raise awareness for SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. This is a measure your lawmakers are contemplating passing into law while you’re reading this. Supported primarily by large record labels, movie studios and conservatives in Washington, SOPA would essentially allow judges to arbitrarily order any website to block any content it chooses.

Sound scary? It is. In a coordinated effort to raise awareness and convince the confused crew in D.C. to drop the dictatorship-like law from passing some of the Internet’s most influential powerhouses are joining forces. Among those are Google, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay and others. They’re calling it the “nuclear” option.

This “nuclear” option may be a temporary inconvenience for many of us, but if it works, it’s worth it.

GoDaddy, on the other hand, originally supported SOPA. This caused an uproar and an attempt at a mass boycott of their domain registration services. There was a significant effort to convince and support GoDaddy customers in moving their domains to other domain registrars. Other services were even giving discounts for doing just that. As a result, GoDaddy has since renounced its public support of SOPA, but we here at ErixClix don’t believe the driving force behind GoDaddy’s politics actually changed their minds on the subject.

Regardless, it’s time to raise awareness of the oppressive, free-speech clobbering, law they are considering and fight it until it’s dropped.

UPDATE 12/22/2011 – It was announced that John Boehner, House GOP leader and stubborn bonehead, has finally relented his weak and desperate position on the the payroll tax cut. It looks like, at least for a couple months, 160 million Americans will get to keep the 4.2% payroll tax rate. Score 1 for Obama and the 99%.

ORIGINAL STORY – John Boehner and the rest of the GOP left to take their holiday vacation time, but not before denying the rest of America the payroll tax cut extension. Which means, if action isn’t taken, their “no new tax” pledge officially only applies to the rich as the middle class gets an average of a $1000 annual tax increase as a result.

It’s obvious now that the GOP wants Obama to fail and doesn’t care if their policy of failure affects the rest of us. Their politics are killing us…literally in some cases.

Their pledge for no new taxes on the rich has become a pledge of poverty to the rest of us.

The good news is, it looks like their campaign to endlessly barrage the media with anti-Obama slogans and fact-less finger pointing isn’t working, Obama’s approval rating has jumped a sharp 5% to near 50%, while the GOP controlled Congress’ approval rating is down to 11% and falling.

Not that the Republican hard-heads will change, but it looks like their policy of imposing failure is backfiring.

How can 53% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats support Obama’s Jobs Bill, yet the Republican controlled Congress refuses to support it? There are even a couple of Democrats that refuse to tax the rich their fair share.

I believe this is the beginning of the end of the American Middle Class. With taxes on the wealthy the lowest they’ve been in 50 years, and Bush’s tax breaks in place for 10 of those years, the result is the economy we see today. Majority leader John Boehner has had his way 100% of his time in office and he hasn’t created a single job.

American voters, during mid-term elections, put these idiots in office. At this point these people are more interested in seeing Obama fail, than seeing America succeed. None of these ignorant, stubborn morons represent the people who put them in office, the polls clearly show this.

While I believe it’s almost too late, maybe the sleeping American Middle Class will wake up now that their homes are foreclosed, their jobs are gone and their wallets are empty and elect the right representation next time. Obama’s not ruining your economy, your elected representatives are.

Another huge “down day” on Wall Street. Today’s excuse? The S&P credit rating drop. Everyone keeps saying S&P made a huge miscalculation and that America’s credit rating is still AAA. How can this be? We have a deadlocked government, two wars, a faltering global economy, and a hopeless unemployment situation.

But there is one thing that everyone, besides S&P, seems to agree on; that America is still a AAA credit bet. I believe in staying positive and moving forward and holding strong and all that, but at some point, when will we face reality?

The reality is things are not good. And nobody is able to do anything about it. Now, why should a credit rating agency ‘pretend’ along with the rest of us, that everything is fine. I think it’s time to stop pretending, hoping, and praying, and start doing something about it.

Michelle Bachmann has been caught praying for jobs recently. Now, do we think jobs will fall from the sky? Or do we actively have to create them? Will the expenses of the government, war, healthcare, public programs, general costs, just pay for itself? Is there a magic slot machine somewhere? Or, do we have to raise taxes ever so slightly on the most fortunate of us, who, by the way, made their money because of this great country? Shouldn’t they have to pay their fair share for taking advantage of the opportunities they’ve enjoyed here?

Brief history ‘reminder:’ Remember that great ancient Roman civilization? Even that eventually fell, but only when they ignored their problems and believed (or maybe hoped) that they were indestructible.

God Bless America

Unfortunately, the American people are only just now realizing the mess their short-sightedness has made. Losing patience last year with President Obama then electing the loud-mouth, broken record, pseudo-Tea Party Republican Congress we have in place now, in hindsight, seems to have been a huge mistake.

Now what do we do?

The Republican majority Congress has dug their heels in pretty deep on keeping the ultra rich and multi-billion dollar corporations their Bush-era tax breaks and loopholes.

Where’s my “tax loophole” for being poor? As a small business owner why do I pay tax just for being self-employed? (that’s compounded with regular income tax?) Shouldn’t large corporations pay more taxes instead of breaking the backs of the self-employed, small business owner? We goofed. We voted as if we were rich, because we wanted to be. Protect the rich because I might be one someday…right?

So, what to do? Contact your Congressman. Pressure your Congressman. Here’s a link to get you started…and yes…it matters.  Click this link to Contact your Congressman.

CNN, again, is showing they are no different from the rest of the media, while our country’s concerns should be focused on health care, the debt ceiling, wars the next presidential contenders, they’re spending their air time not reporting news but discussing the alleged lewd tweet from Rep. Weiner.

I do believe this “news network” has finally spun completely off course. I used to watch it every day, really. But for the last couple days I can’t find any real news there, I’ve changed the channel for good.

CNN you lost an educated, intelligent viewer who was just looking for real news. CNN IS NOT A NEWS NETWORK anymore.

Goodbye CNN.

Something is seriously wrong with the media when it is trying to make an issue out of the fact that Bin Laden was unarmed when American Navy Seals shot him in the head on Sunday. The headline for this article is what they should be reporting. What about the 3,000 unarmed Americans he killed?

They’re also wanting to see video evidence of his “burial at sea” to be sure that he was given a proper Muslim burial. Supposedly over 1,100 victims remains were never found at the site of ground zero, what about their “proper burials?” Some of them were also Muslim.

This kind of reporting makes me sick and can be attributed to only one thing, this is not journalism it’s sensationalism. Some may even go so far to say that this kind of reporting is inciting violence and reprisals. These are not reporters, they’re opportunistic “Donald Trumps” with a microphone and camera. Let’s stop asking the stupid questions and start asking the ones that matter.

After nearly 10 years, thousands murdered…minutes ago, President Obama announced that finally Osama Bin Laden is dead.

A page in history has finally turned for America.

The Associated Press reported earlier that Newt Gingrich, responding to President Obama’s plan to balance the budget, called it a “job-killer.” While balancing the budget, Obama not only sees the need to cut spending in many areas, but to also address the other half of the problem…revenue. Generating revenue can mean only one thing, raising taxes, and the Tea-party led Republican Party will have you believe that tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs and tax increases on the wealthy “kills” jobs.

First of all, what Obama wants to do is not to raise taxes but simply to not renew the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy that have been in place for a number of years now. The problem is, since the rich have been getting this ‘tax break’ for all of these years, how many new jobs have been created? How many will be lost if Obama has his way? In truth, not a single one. Not only have no new jobs been created, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 4 years, you’ll know that we’ve been suffering through what many know as “The Great Recession.” A shedding of millions of jobs, unlike anything the nation or the world has seen before.

The tea-bagging Republicans would have you believe that rich people should continue getting tax breaks as they are the “job creators” meanwhile your schools, roads and infrastructure, that supports the rest of us, are falling apart. One of the first things Bush, Jr. did when he took office was to give corporations about $36 billion in tax breaks. Did this create jobs? It seems just after this, we lost millions. The age-old pattern of the rich get richer continues while ultra-right-wing conservatives continue to brain-wash the unsuspecting masses.

So the alleged “job creators” have had their tax break for years now, and it is specifically during those years that we have lost jobs. The good news is, the right wing has been singing the same tune for so long, it looks like most of us can read between the slime and, regardless of political orientation, we’re all ready to change the music.

The incoming Republicans have announced today that they will “block all bills unless tax cuts are extended.” Referring to the tax cuts Bush put in place a few years ago that are due to expire at the end of the year. By the way, if you are “rich” don’t read any further.

So, where’s the argument? Don’t we all want to keep our tax cuts? What’s Obama’s problem?!? The problem is that your president also wants to extend the tax cuts…just not for everyone, only for those of us making under $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals. So he wants to keep the tax cuts for everyone but the people who don’t need it.

Do you get it now? Your new, incoming Republican lawmakers are stopping all progress on all issues for the American people simply to keep tax cuts for the rich. This is outrageous. Did you even do any research on the issues before putting these fat, white, ignorant, spoiled politicians back in office? Of course you did.

Meg Whitman is currently running for office of Governor of the State of California. Unfortunately, she’s not only exaggerating to gain favor-ability but she’s now been found, on numerous counts, of outright lying. See this site for a handful of examples.

One of her other commercials is about her tenure at eBay. One of the many re-framed “achievements” was being a hero to small businesses because eBay allows small businesses to operate a “store” through eBay. Unfortunately, she fails to mention that she raised eBay’s fees on those small businesses SIX times…during a bad economy!

Meg Whitman is yet another ultra-conservative that sacrifices the middle class for her own gain. Meg Whitman is dangerous. Meg Whitman is a guaranteed failure. Meg Whitman’s own Republican party questions her viability. See this link.

Please don’t pass on your opinions, pass on FACTS to your friends, families and co-workers. Meg Whitman commercials plaster the media simply because once she was ousted from eBay she was able to walk away with $125 million dollars that she now uses to advertise her lies to the unsuspecting population of California.

Don’t take my word for it. Or hers. I ask you simply to check the facts, then pass on what you learn to everyone who needs to know.

Big headline! “Tropical Depression Races Toward BP’s Leaky Well.” How does the reporter that wrote that article know this? Are they a meteorologist? Do they have some weather prediction skills the rest of us don’t know about? No and no. Actually, after I read that one and researched a couple other sources meteorologists don’t quite know yet if it’s headed in that direction. The author wasn’t predicting the weather, they were attracting eyeballs to their article. Why? I think a couple of reasons, not the least of which is because they value their job. The more people that read or click on that article the more money their news reporting agency makes, therefore meaning more job security. So where’s the harm in that?

Well, in America, these news reporting agencies (and you know which ones to which I am referring) are the most visible, reprinted and republished. The vast majority of Americans get their news from these kinds of sources, not just on TV but online as well. So the harm is rather significant since the information is misrepresented, you’ve now misinformed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of readers. When the true objective of News Media is actually to inform…not entertain.

Another example that’s made headlines lately is the Apple “Antennagate” issue with the new iPhone 4. After about 3 weeks Apple held a press conference (which you can view on Apple’s web site here) explaining to detail the cause of the signal problem with the iPhone. Then they proceeded to demonstrate the exact same issue with other popular phones from the RIM Blackberry to Samsung to an Android phone. Steve Jobs, who led the conference, after showing how common a problem this is, continued to make a strong point of how the media has blown this issue out of proportion. Now, this accusation is not flattering to the media, even though it is newsworthy, now do you think it was reported? Do you think the media would report news about themselves…no matter how newsworthy the story actually is? No. The media reported ONLY the parts of the conference that backed up their own original claims. Article after article, news organization after news organization reported about 1/10th of the conference’s information to protect its own image. Virtually nothing about the tests with the other popular phones, virtually nothing about how they themselves may have blown this issue up. The result of this hypocrisy? The news hungry public, as usual, is only partially informed. Ok, so we have SOME information…where’s the harm in that?

Having only some of the facts associated with a news making story can be dangerous. There’s a bright shining example of that making headlines in the last day or two. The African American, former USDA employee, Shirley Sherrod. She was fired from her job recently due to a ‘selectively edited’ video of a speech she gave not long ago appeared as if she was intentionally not assisting a white farmer. The Obama administration reacted to this report and fired the woman. However, after further investigation, watching the original video, uncut, they see they took these remarks out of context and now our President is begging for her to come back to her job with a huge apology.

So what can we do about this? How can we become more informed? Unfortunately, there’s no clear answer. Just try to get your news from multiple sources. Try to get your news from organizations other than the “big ones.” There are many smaller news reporting agencies all over our country that are non-profit and therefore have no monetary gain from reporting sensationalism and over-hyped headlines.

Now don’t get me wrong, the storm that’s not even in the Gulf of Mexico yet (as of the writing of this article) may hit “BP’s leaky well” dead on. But at this point, that’s uncertain. So, with all of the sensationalism, fear tactics and profit-mindedness the news media maintains the only problem I see with the media seems to be the media.

It shouldn’t be such a far flung idea, switching to the Metric system.  Right now we do have more important things to deal with, but can’t we get the ball rolling finally on this whole Metric system thing?

I was chatting with friends in Australia this evening (where it’s always tomorrow) and since they are in the Southern hemisphere, it’s getting warmer down there this time of year and colder up here. They asked what the temperature was, knowing they’re used to Metric down there I used the trusty calculator that comes with Mac OS X and used the “Convert” menu to convert my 45 degrees Farenheit to degrees Celsius, then proceeded to tell them “…it’s about 7 degrees here now.”

Not expecting me to have done the conversion for them, they asked “is that in degrees Celsius?”

This conversation started me thinking about how all American kids have been taught the Metric
system in public schools since sometime in the 70′s.  So most 30 and 40-something adults in America are more than familiar with it.  Let alone the generation X and Y’s that follow.

After being somewhat impressed and thanking me for doing the conversion, I proceeded to inform the Australians that all Americans have been taught Metric in school for some number of years now.  They then asked “So how come you haven’t switched yet?” Good question Ozzie friend.

With lots of obvious reasons coming to mind, for example, laziness, priorities, etc etc…I then thought about our new President. With Obama representing “change” and “the future” and all that maybe after the wars calm down and the health care debate gets somewhat resolved, could it be possible in a few years, or the beginning of a second term, he could start a push to get this great isolationist country switched to the Metric system?  After all, at this rate, it clearly won’t happen spontaneously, there will have to be Federal law to make it happen.

I’ve been living in Southern California now for almost 3 years.  I moved from Phoenix, where I lived for 19 years. If you take the I-10 freeway out to LA from Phoenix, you will see some well intentioned “Metric/English” road signs indicating in kilometers as well as miles the distance to the next town.  The first time I saw this I got excited, that someone started doing something about it.  Then realized, those signs are THE ONLY signs of their kind. Seems like California may have tried to get the ball rolling some years ago and realized there may have been better things to spend tax dollars on.  Tax dollars this great state is coming up short on these days.

Ultimately, the thing that binds societies together, brings people together, and even makes doing business more seamless is uniform communication.  Without communication what do we have?  This huge gap in standardizing units of measurement needs to be closed, once and for all.  It may cost money.  It may take time. But I believe it is worth the investment in the long term.  Let’s do it for the kids!

Not sure if you’ve seen this yet on national TV. A family that took what appear to be completely innocent bath time photos of their children were reported by a WalMart employee after seeing the photos (where the parents took the film to be developed).

I have ONE thing to say about this…

Why are they still shooting with film?

Shoot digital, get prints made in minutes with a great Canon inkjet photo printer, no weirdo, freako WalMart employees eyeballing your kids in the tub.

Moral of the story…shoot digital!

Here’s what’s going on in the country and the world: (And I’m not even covering half of it)

We have wildfires, unemployment, healthcare, recession, earthquake in indonesia, civil wars in Africa, protesting in PA, Iran, 2 wars in the Middle East , N. Korea, China, global warming, rising violent crime rates, swine flu, military contractor corruption…shall I continue?

So, with all of this REAL news going on in the world what does CNN show last night? For hours instead? Maybe I missed a larger news issue? What is this happening that would cause replays for hours over and over? Did terrorists attack somewhere again? No, Michael Jackson died…oh wait that was almost 2 and a half months ago.

Michael Jackson’s PRIVATE funeral for family and close friends was the event that trumped all of the other news-worthy happenings in the world for hours and hours. It wasn’t on any other news channel for as long or as repetitious. Nobody else cared. But CNN seemed to think it was the most important thing going on in the world at the time.

The FAA disallowed helicopters over the cemetery where the funeral was held to keep privacy for the family so what did CNN find it prudent to do? They had a camera floating overhead so they could peer into the service. A PRIVATE CITIZEN’S FUNERAL SERVICE. The media SPECIFICALLY was not invited to this. But they all showed up. Respect is obviously not newsworthy.

This is proof CNN is an icon representing how American news media has hit bottom. This is not about reporting news. It never really was.

CNN not only has lost it’s grasp on what’s important as a news organization (if they ever had it), but they’re now violating the privacy of American Citizens. I thought I was watching E! Entertainment Television’s News report or something. Didn’t Michael Jackson’s PUBLIC funeral over a month ago get enough air time?

What else has CNN been prioritizing over real news?

1) Paris Hilton (yes even lately)

2) Larry King interviews that rapist that “pretends” to not remember his actions. This a*hole should not have gotten air time. Shame on you Larry King.

3) Even MORE of the Carrie Prejean saga, the anti-gay marriage Miss California candidate
that’s suing the Miss USA organization…WHO GIVES A SH*T!!??

CNN is sickening. I don’t even want basic cable anymore. Getting rid of it.

Join me in this protest…it won’t change unless the consumer public shows it’s not interested in this kind of “news reporting.”

Quentin outdoes himself with this one…the opening scene is unforgettable, the climax is unforgettable…and everything in between…The tension building, the back story, the rewards are well worth the ticket price.

And then there are the actors. I’m not sure if it’s fair to say it’s his best ability, but may I at least put forth that Mr. Tarantino has a gift when it comes to casting? From Brad to Mélanie and from Christoph to Eli, everyone was perfect.

This may have a been a semi-silly, obnoxious, Tarantino-style, WWII flick but it was also a dramatic, intense, revenge fantasy I won’t soon forget.

Reality TV is soooo over-stretched

VERY REAL Reality TV…Joan persists in pigeon-holing Annie until the squeaky wheel, and with blind loyalty from her supporters wins out. Par for the course, politics as usual in American Corporations. Performance again loses to politics. Another reason to love working for ones self, and another reason Corporate America is a failure.

What we witnessed this 8th season on Celebrity Apprentice was very realistic. It has also been my experience watching, co-workers, like children, bicker and fight until the “more popular” of them wins out among their peers. Be consistent, break someone down over time and gain popularity through friendship and humor. Being more effective in business, more experienced at the task at hand and more productive has nothing to do with it. Which is unfortunate, because it’s a business they’re both working for.

Pocket Aces Don’t Help Promiscuous Pit Viper

Joan, being funny and clever and having been in the public eye much longer (possibly too long) has won the popularity hand. And that’s proved better than pocket Aces for Annie Duke. You see, Joan was playing with a hand Annie simply could never be dealt.

When I was new to corporate politics, in the early 90′s, I watched a newly appointed department manager be unseated within days by someone who actually cried to their manager to steal the position. Unbelievably, the “cry baby” was rewarded. The qualified candidate’s placement was second guessed and they were demoted. I then had to work with the new manager and the demoted manager as well. What fun!  This was so unbelievably destructive to the company on so many levels, and ultimately, the endeavor was a failure due to the fact that crying has never proven to be an effective business tactic long term.

We all wonder how GM, Chrysler, Ford have unbelievably unqualified people at the top…this is how. Cry babies and kiss-asses are the general breed that want to climb the ladder. People that are good at what they do, and love what they do, by nature, simply aren’t that political. Ultimately, it is very rare that someone truly earns these upper management positions. And those that do, don’t often see failure like the typical American Corporation has been experiencing lately.

Mommy Help Me!

Finally, it was never really mentioned on the show, but am I the only one that sees a HUMONGOUS character flaw in Melissa and Joan that baby Rivers called out to mommy for help, almost as if it were a reflex, whenever she was in trouble?

This is unbelievable.  1) For Melissa to be so co-dependent on her mother at her age is embarrassing for both of them and 2) What motivates a mother to raise her child to rely on her in such ways?

It’s a Stretch

It tells me enough that someone would feel so insecure about themselves and their appearance to have their face artificially stretched out to the point it becomes painful to look at.  Let alone the butt of so many jokes.

It was already a far reach for me to maintain respect for Joan after that.  Maybe she had me convinced too.  I don’t think she’s all bad.  She’s clever and witty and has been around a long time.  For her age she’s still punching along.  There’s much to be said for that.  But it’s not enough to have carte blanche.  I’ve seen enough ego from her to last 100 lifetimes.

Annie We Love You!

Annie, I just want to say that what happened to you makes you more a real person.  Anyone who doesn’t make it through the cut-throat, back-stabbing world of corporate politics is more than OK in my book.  At the tables you have to be cold and calculating.  But I’ve seen enough to know you’re definitely the Queen of Hearts to me.

Bad Luck?

American culture truly is falling apart when an emotionally unstable individual named “Perez Hilton” dressed like a character from Mary Poppins throws the most deserving Miss USA a very controversial curve ball, ultimately costing her the crown.

It’s quite apparent that Carrie Prejean would be Miss USA 2009 if she hadn’t had the misfortune of picking the ‘gay’ question card.

The Value in Question

I believe all of us should have equal rights.  No matter what you believe, in God or otherwise.  And I believe same sex couples should receive the same benefits that straight couples receive.

However, the term marriage, the institution of marriage, was conceived by religion and is clearly stated in the oldest of texts that it is, quite specifically, to be between a man and a woman.

Have domestic partnerships, recognize them, by law.  But then we must remove the religious concept of marriage from our laws as I see it.  Isn’t this a separation of church and state?  A principal this country of ours was founded on? But that’s for yet another topic of discussion.

Carrie is our Miss USA

She was truthful and honest, and I believe, represents the majority of Americans on her values, specifically the one in question.  This is the individual that should represent America in the Miss Universe pageant in August.  Not the woman that may actually have exactly the same opinion on gay marriage but happened to choose the right card and was lucky enough not to have had to air her controversial opinions on national television.

We love you Carrie, you’re our true Miss USA.