No justice, no peace.

I think what bugs me most about the Solyndral solar panel "scandal" is that Republicans seem to be taking glee that an American company failed and that American jobs were lost, putting politics ahead of what is best for America. It's the economy stupids, which includes American jobs and attempts to let us become energy independent, or at least less reliant on other nations, so we can continue to be able to control our own destiny. The government tried to invest in an American company and failed. It's not like they squandered it on bankers' bonuses. But then the solar panel companies don't run the country.

There are those who believe that we the people are no longer owners of our own country and that those who do own the country, whoever "they" really are, spend billions of dollars every year lobbying their paid for Congress. The supporters of the pizza industry have money, so pizza gets declared a vegetable (the official reason, according to the GOP, is that the government shouldn't be telling children what to eat, no matter how bad it is to them and to our country). The supporters of the solar industry don't have the capital to buy politicians so instead they get buried by them. And yet the people don't question this, which is fine with those in power.

Those in power don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking pondering, for example, why there is such a strict crackdown on protestors, apparently coordinated by Homeland Security (you didn't think they would only go after international terrorists did you?),  and why the media seems to be in favor of this crackdown, noting every little thing that shows the movement is dying. They don't want a population that questions anything against their interests.

Income inequality is good as long as those in power get to keep the power and wealth and influence that allows them to tell politicians what to do. They are pissed that farmers, worried that an oil pipeline that could destroy the aquifer they need to for their livelihoods, had the audacity, to stop the pipeline, for now.  But those farmers shouldn't rest on their laurels.

Those in power  have shown that they will use violence against the people to protect those interests. You don't pay for a strong police force if you don't plan to use them to beat down the people after all.Watching the police crack down on the people with whatever excuse the politicians can come up with, and the media apparently taking their side, I have to wonder if we really are headed down towards fascism, gladly ignoring what is going on so we can play with our new tablet or iPhone. 

Too many in power seem to be happy that  honest hard-working people are fighting with those protesting for their rights, worried that the country is being stolen by a few. The media mocks these people as dreadlocked buffoons or spoiled rotten brats instead of those truly worried about where this country is headed. I guess it's only patriotic to protest when it is conservatives protesting against too much government, not control of the government by banks and Wall Street.

Those in power have convinced us that it is not ok to mortgage our kids' futures if it means higher taxes to pay the debts they left that funded their rise to power. It is ok to mortgage their futures, however, if it means they can't pay their college loans (student loans can't be dismissed in bankruptcy, the banks need to be paid after all). If you are one of these unemployed serfs, hoping to just work for free much less get a job that pays low wages that can't begin to pay your college debts and allow you live on your own, it is not ok to get mad about this, unless you are a conservative.

It is not in the best interest of those in power to have their college educated  slaves, stuck in dead end jobs they can't afford to leave, to be suddenly set free to become entrepreneurs and form the next Solyndral if their student loan debts are suddenly removed. Good talent that is cheap is hard to keep, unless that talent can't afford to leave due to loans and lack of health care, for example. Why aren't we concerned that the next Steve Jobs or Henry Ford will not be able to afford to build the next big thing in their garage? Whatever happened to supporting Americans who want to build a business and create jobs?

But I don't want to put the entire blame on those in charge. They can't get their message out without help. Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer independently owned media outlets, meaning that what is left can be easily influenced or bought thanks to a changing economic picture for the print media, whether it is through hired spokespersons or corporate owned newspapers.

For example, the media told us that those in power, who committed atrocities for years, needed the full force of the federal government to come to their aid within days when their gravy trains crashed under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity for the good of the nation, unless actual American jobs were saved. Yet they now ignore that tax dollars are being spent on tear gas to control the people or are being spent to create new weapons while they they barely question why politicians continue to demand that tax dollars not be spent on healthcare to heal.

This is the same media that is now not openly questioning politicians why they are practically celebrating the loss of American jobs. Why would they do that if they truly reported all that was fit to print? Could it be that they simply can't afford to offend those in power?

There is more going on here then we realize. No justice, no peace.