How close are we to living in an idiocracy?

I watched the movie Idiocracy last night for the first time, and I couldn't help but keep thinking how close to reality it already is. We are living in a society that is increasingly commercialized and bought and paid for by the corporations. For anyone who may not be familiar with the movie, let me summarize the plot. Basically, Luke Wilson gets frozen in a military experiment and then thawed out 500 years in the future. In the future he is the smartest person alive, and ends up saving the country by telling them that they should put water on the crops instead of the Gatorade substance they have been pouring on them because some corporation thought it would help their profits if they eliminated the use of water for everything except toilets. It seems far fetched in some respects, but in many ways it's very close to the reality we live in today.

Just look at the health care bill and the finance reform bills. These are two examples of where what is best for the corporations won out over what is best for the country. It would have certainly been better for the country if we had adopted something other than what ended up being adopted. While there are some provisions that are good in the health care bill, such as the mandate to cover pre-existing conditions, it doesn't do a whole lot to help those who can't afford insurance.

As far as the finance reform bill goes, the banks managed to kill most of the provisions that protect the little guy. It is very likely that the finance reform bill will not do anything to prevent another banking crisis from happening. As I understand it the finance reform bill does nothing to limit the size of banks, and let's them continue many of the practices that led to the mess that the economy is slowly recovering from now.

Until we as a country stand up and take our country back from the big corporations we are destined to one day live in an idiocracy.

BP Should be Fined in Addition to Paying for Cleanup

I just watched an interview that Anderson Cooper did with an attorney for the families of the workers on the Horizon. After watching this interview, I am convinced that the oil spill happened because of negligence on BP's part. This being the case they need to be fined in addition to paying for the cleanup and for lost wages to fisherman and others impacted by the spill.

What the attorney said was that BP decided to cut corners to finish the drilling sooner, and that is what led to the accident that caused the oil spill. If that is the case, I believe that the government should throw the book at BP so to speak. BP is acting like this was just an unfortunate accident,  and from what I'm heard from this attorney, that's just not the case. Evidently, there were some steps skipped in the drilling process because BP wanted the well completed faster. If this is truly the case, which I believe it probably is, then BP should be punished to the full extent of the law. 

I need your help.

 I need the help of all of the fans of the Brandon Kinney Show with 2 things. Those 2 things are getting the word out about the show, and ideas for show topics and guests.

First, help me get the word out by telling all your friends about the show, and tell them to tell their friends to tell their friends. At this point I don't have a budget for promoting the show so I am relying on word of mouth to help the show reach more listeners.

Second, I would like to know what topics you would like to hear about on the Brandon Kinney Show. Also if you feel you would make a good guest on the show then contact me and let me know that too. You can email me at brandonkinneyshow@gmail.com or send me a message on facebook at www.facebook.com/brandonkinneyshow.

I have an idea to stop the oil spill leak faster.

I think I know a way to stop the oil spill faster. I think that the Federal Government should let other companies come in and try to fix the leak. They could have a contest to see who could stop the leak. If another company is able to stop the leak before the relief wells that BP is drilling are finished then the other company should get to take over the lease from BP. If they don't then BP gets to keep the lease. Of course BP would still be responsible for cleaning up the spill, but I think that it would be a fitting punishment for the accident if BP loses the right to drill in that area of the Gulf. I know it's a crazy idea, but it might just light a fire under BP's butt if the government proposed something similar to this. More about the oil spill and a lot of other stuff on the Brandon Kinney Show.