Looking Back at 2009

Winners

Barack Obama: On January 20th, our 44th and first African-American President was sworn in at the age of 47. So much hope, so much energy.  We'd never again have to hear nuclear pronounced nucular or wonder if our chi'dren was learnin'.  He started quickly out of the box, but got bogged down by the health care reform kerfuffle.  Then there were the unfortunate August town halls.  Like many observers have noted, no one has ever made a dime betting against this guy.  It's nice having a smart guy in the White House again.  Let's hope 2010 gives him the bounceback we'd all like to see...well, most of us. 

Rachel Maddow: She never shouts. She doesn't talk over guests or down to them. She doesn't ask questions to listen to herself talk. She examines, reports and exhibits a cool calmness while politely dissecting adversaries on both sides of the aisle, often to their faces...then thanks them for being on her show!  Her preparation is unmatched.  She covers stories no one else wants too. She goes out of her way to explain complex issues, often with humor so her viewers 'get it' without feeling inadequate. Her show has definitely found it's niche and hit it's stride.

Senator Al Franken (D-MN):  Franken’s very first piece of legislation was an amendment to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill, prohibiting defense contractors from restricting their employees’ abilities to take workplace discrimination, battery, and sexual assault cases to court.  30 male Republicans voted against it.  Then they were shocked by the blowback they received.  Apparently, they viewed Jamie Leigh Jones gang rape and the 24 hour lock up in a shipping container, which inspired this amendment as frivolous; "Just boys being boys."  Protecting Halliburton/KBR against lawsuits must come first in their neo-con world.  I honestly do not understand how any self-respecting woman can vote Republican.  This was just another example of their ongoing dismissal of women as equal parts of society.

Chesley Sullenberger: How could you not be impressed on January 15th when Captain Sully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River saving all 155 on board. The plane encountered a double bird strike which crippled both engines.  Further adding to his legend was that he walked the aisle of the jet twice looking for passengers before exiting the plane himself.  One part of his legend that was too much information was how it increased his "love" life.

Susan Boyle:  Who can forget her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" on Britain's Got Talent. The sneers, jeers, eye rolls and chuckles the portly, frumpy woman received prior to her song, and the immediate reactions upon launching into it was one of the greatest moments ever on live TV.  If ever anyone proved you can't judge a book by it's cover, she sure did.

Shaquille O'Neil:  In a nice gesture towards a poor family, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal paid for the funeral of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis whose body was found November 16 in North Carolina on the side of the road.  Her mother and another man were charged with multiple offenses. I'm not a basketball or O'Neil fan, but I'll give the guy credit for doing a very nice thing.

Losers

Glenn Beck & Rush Limbaugh: Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory.  Lie after lie.  All nonsense, much of it dangerous. They give the teetering fringe the outlets they need to justify radical actions.  I'm all for freedom of speech, however when you are able to spread outright lies without consequence, we have a problem.

Dick Cheney: He does everything the above do, but he says it as an ex-VP. That may give him a bit more credibility with a few more people.  His constant attacks on Obama are meant to distract people of the true Bush-Cheney record.  The 20%ers honestly believe they kept us safe and think Clinton was at fault for 9/11. They think the economy was strong under Bush.  It does seem to have effectiveness with the same old segment. Of course Cheney won't appear anywhere but Fox Newz, the right wing propaganda channel.  This is another case of repeating the message incessantly until it becomes a perceived truth to as many as possible. 

Birthers: So is it that they don't realize Hawaii was a state in 1961?  Do they really believe Obama's grandparents posted birth announcements in the Honolulu Advertiser & Star Bulletin in August of 1961 because they knew he'd be president one day? Do they just not care that Kenya didn't become a republic until 1964? Or is it as simple as trying to delegitimize the "exotic" guy for some predisposed opinions?  Hmm...

Deathers: The same people as the birthers.  They couldn't make that argument stick so they moved on.  The new claim, kicked off by Sarah Palin was that Obama was going to have a panel of bureaucrats to decide who lives and who dies.  Apparently, in addition to the elderly and down's syndrome babies, there was even an amendment that conservatives get offed first!  You know, we could laugh about this, but there's a whole lot of people in this country that actually believe this crap.  You know who they are as well as I do.  They're the anti-education Christofascists.   No surprise that my top pick(s) gave both groups credibility for their message(s).

Sarah Palin: There's not much more that I can add to what I've already written about her.  I just find it terribly disturbing that 58,343,671 people willingly voted for a ticket that could've put this empty-headed nitwit one heartbeat from the presidency.  In 2009 she proved that she's a liar, she's deceptive, she's manipulative, she's an anti-intellect, she's an opportunist ... and she's becoming a multi-millionaire because she has a huge fan base who thinks she's attractive - and waves the bible.

Peyton Manning: Because it's my blog.  I can't stand this guy for a variety of reasons. It started while he was a college "star" and continued as his professional success grew.  Somewhat recently, Huffington Post had an article about his commercials that eventually led to a discussion comparing him and Tom Brady. A lot of responses were calling Manning the all-American boy and disparaging Brady because he had a child out of wedlock. Even the fact that it had been a long-term relationship was irrelevant to these flag-waving, bible-thumping clowns. Manning likes to use the God word.  Whenever I spoke of Manning's issue, I got scrubbed. Whenever I linked the article, I got scrubbed.  Read this linked article if you want to see where my feelings about him begin.  It's the story of a female trainer's treatment by not only him, but her employer because of him.  I will root against the Indianapolis Colts until he retires.  Brother Eli's stunt when the San Diego Chargers drafted him was just one more clue about how cocky these guys are, thanks to their father Archie who was a below average NFL quarterback in the 70's.  I'll keep Tom Brady, thank you very much. 

The WTF's

Joe Wilson (R-SC): He of the "You lie" fame. Can you imagine had a Democrat yelled "You lie" at Bush when he was making his WMD claims? He/she would've been censured, Republicans would've demanded an apology on the floor and the Republicans would've spent millions on a challenger. How did the Democrats handle it? As usual they did nothing. They once again let the R's have a "win". Is it an important win? Not by itself. Democrats still don't get that these little victories add up in the minds of our simple minded electorate. There's a group that thinks by not responding, it means any of their various nonsense is correct.  When will Dems learn?

Michele Bachmann: "I have experience that throughout my political career, being labeled a kook." - "Michael Steele, you be the man. You be the man." - “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing." Ok, I just used a few of my favorites although there are dozens more. Gee Michele, given the comment about slitting wrists over HCR, I have no idea why you would be labeled a kook!

Tiger Woods: There's really nothing I can add that you haven't heard or thought yourself.  I'm not sure if I've ever witnessed a faster fall from grace.  He'll return to golf and he'll win, but he'll never have the marketability that he had before Thanksgiving.  His brazenness probably even makes Bill Clinton jealous.

Balloon Boy: You now, the day I got home from work and saw this on tv, while we didn't know officially that it was a hoax, I knew that kid was going to be found hiding in the house.  Glad mom and dad are going to jail for a little while.  They should also be forced to pay the $42,000 bill they received to reimburse police, the National Guard, and the FAA who were all involved in the search.

Party Crashers: Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into a state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list.  Reportedly, the Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures.  Yeah, that makes sense, let them investigate themselves.  Am I the only one who thinks that's ridiculous?  Anyone?

Happy New Year!

Stay safe

Fox: They Distort, They Decide (that viewers are too dumb to notice)

On Faux Newz, the fairly unbalanced channel, boot-licking, Sean Hannity had a big week ignoring major gaffes by his guests. First came Sarah Palin who was trying to show off her foreign policy knowledge, responding to a question by Hannity on how we should handle the nuclear threat posed by Iran. It didn't take long for it to become abuntantly clear that she doesn‘t know the difference between Iraq and Iran. 



Can you believe that there are actually some Americans who think that she‘s qualified to be president?  This woman clearly is not ready for national politics.  What is clear is that she wants to make a ton of money on her book tour and clearly will on the backs of her lower middle class supporters who believe she's the real deal and will plunk down their hard earned money (please watch video at the end of this paragraph to watch an example of her supporters).  The sad thing is, I'm willing to bet most of them won't read anything except the back cover, the inside of the dust jacket and probably look through the 16 pages of color photos. The thing about the video above is Hannity sitting there like the president of her fan club and not at least nudging her that she's got her countries mixed up.  If she just misspoke once, I could see him giving her a pass, but after several times in 1:03, he ends up looking just as ignorant as she does.  There's several things about her popularity that are disturbing.  The fact that she doesn't know the difference between Iraq and Iran makes me think she has no understanding of world events.  The fact that she doesn't know the difference between a continent and a country makes me think she flunked geography.  Her word salad speaking ability makes me think she flunked english.  The fact that she didn't know "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 makes me think she flunked history.  The fact that it took her over a year to figure out what she reads makes me think fellow wingnut Dick Armey finally told her what to say.  The fact that she had no clue what Charlie Gibson was talking about when he asked her, her opinion of the Bush Doctrine which makes me think McCain's handlers flunked vetting.  Scariest of all, many of her supporters are willing to vote for her because they find her attractive or that she's an average person...just like them.  On her attractiveness, that's subjective.  While I don't find her offensive to look at, the minute she opens her mouth, the ugliness is impossible to ignore.  As far as her being "just like them"...what the hell is wrong with these people?!  I don't want my president to be average or just like me.  We saw what eight years of having a guy who folks thought they could have a beer with got us.  I want my president to be way above average, maybe even a Harvard Law School graduate.  I don't want to be able to beat our president in a debate about policy!

 

Then came Hannity's interview with former Press Secretary Dana Perino who President Obama recently nominated to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent agency responsible for overseeing the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other non-military broadcasts sponsored by the federal government.  What the hell is he thinking?  In a discussion on Hannity's show, Perino claimed that President Obama was playing politics by refusing to describe the massacre at Fort Hood as a terrorist attack. "We should call it what it is," she said. "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."  Is she kidding?

 

One again, did you notice the lack of correction from Hannity or Stuart Varney?  I know the Bush Administration tried to pin 9/11 on Former President Clinton for 7 years and 3 months, but do they actually believe that people don't remember who was sitting in a Florida kindergarten classroom being read "My Pet Goat" by 5 year olds on September 11, 2001?  A few months later, five people were killed in the anthrax attacks.  Clearly, conservatives want to call the Fort Hood murders, terrorism so that they can claim there was a terrorist attack on Obama's watch and use that for campaigning by saying he's weak on national security/defense.  The thing is, by definition, terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.  I don't think what Major Nidal Hasan did accomplished any of those things.  Even though we know that Hasan had exchanged several emails with a radical Yemeni American cleric, there's also a paper trail of him not wanting to be deployed to kill Muslims.  This is a disturbed man who should've been removed from the military two years ago, who snapped and belongs behind bars for the rest of his life.  Yet, Perino went on to say "I hope they're not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is."  So who is actually playing politics with this tragic event?  Do the right thing Mr. President, recind that nomination from this spin machine.

Is Fox so sure of it's complete mastering of brainwashing their loyal sheep that they get more brazen as time moves on?  In 2004, they actually won a lawsuit by using the defense that they didn't need to use facts as they are an infotainment channel!  The "fair and balanced" catch phrase they flash repeatedly has always represented a subliminal message to their weak minded viewers.  As time has moved on, the lies have gotten more outrageous, which led to the White House calling them out for what they are.  Former White House communications director Anita Dunn said, "Let's not pretend they're a news network, Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. What I think is fair to say about Fox, and certainly the way we view it, is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party."  And White House senior adviser David Axelrod added that they're "not really a news station", their viewers were outraged, infiltrating left wing blogs while brandishing their ignorance about the fact that their favorite channel doesn't use facts!  I saw countless copied Nielson ratings posts about how many viewers were watching them as if to prove that the estimated 3 million angry, undereducated fools determined the pulse of the country. My standard gas on the fire response is, "that's because the Faux sheep need to have their bigotry and ignorance justified on a daily basis. Liberals are confident enough in their beliefs that we don't need daily reassurance."  Furthermore, none of them seem to realize that these are not "hard numbers", but an estimate based on 25,000 Nielson homes out of 114,000,000 U.S. homes. Who watches the most tv? Angry, white, middle-aged conservatives.  As the saying goes, "You can have your own opinion, but you can't have your own facts."  The next comparison is always "MSNBC does it too."  Not exactly.  MSNBC isn't promoting progressive rallies, like Fox did with several conservative "Teabagger" events. Fox sponsored and sent their nighttime anchors out to multiple locations to cover the "grass roots" events.  The closest thing MSNBC has done via Olbermann's Countdown is assist the National Association of Free Clinics in getting donations for free health care clinics to underprivileged areas.  Let's see, one station chose to support anti-Obama rallies (let's just be honest here), the other channel chose to help those less fortunate.  Indeed, MSNBC has three hours of liberal commentators with Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz, who are increasingly focused on the dual task of holding President Obama to a progressive agenda and criticizing his detractors. MSNBC also has three hours of conservative talk with Joe Scarborough and daily guest, nazi Pat Buchanan, who are focused on criticizing the President and defending his assailants!  Chris Matthews is a conservative Democrat, so I laugh when the right calls him liberal.  They haven't figured out that not all Democrats are liberal just because all Republicans are conservative.  The rest of the MSNBC news line-up is a mixed bag of hopefuls along with Andrea Mitchell (Mrs. Alan Greenspan).  Fox counters with supposed liberal Alan Colmes who everyone knows is a joke, except their loyal viewers.  Even Colmes is in on it which makes his sellout all the more disgusting.  He makes the exact case that Fox wants to promote, that Democrats and/or liberals are weak and he's paid quite handsomely for it.  The bottom line is that Fox is right wing propaganda 24/7.

Palin Punked By A Comedian...Again
Once again, I thought the body of my article was complete, but this is too good to not report. Canadian Comedian Mary Walsh is the co-creator and star of "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", a nightly news parody show in the same vein as "The Daily Show."  She arrived in character, as conservative Marg Delahunty to the Borders in Columbus, Ohio where Palin was signing books.  It's bad enough that Fox favorite pin-up doesn't want to see our health care system improved, now she's venturing into Canada's health care system telling Walsh that "Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit!"  In addition to those comments, Walsh said, she found it equally bizarre that no one was allowed to ask Palin any questions at the book-signing. "It was great fun, but also very strange," Walsh recalled. "We're in a bookstore, at a public event, in a place one would think was a bastion of free speech. And no one was allowed to ask questions. What are they afraid of?"



Quick Thoughts: The best line of the week from an unknown commentator on Huffington Post, “If Sarah Palin ever wins the presidency, Canada will have to build a wall on it’s southern border.”... “The Wrap’s” Dylan Stableford quotes a Fox News insider as saying Bill O'Reilly had a "hissyfit" over the fact that Hannity's interview with Palin would air first, so he released a teaser of his Palin interview on his YouTube channel, a move Stableford characterized as "going rogue" and a "pre-emptive strike. You know, with the Republicans eating their own, it really is fitting that the egomaniacs at Faux would follow suit.  Get the popcorn, this could be fun!... Bat shit crazy Michele Bachmann and Palin will be speaking at the National Tea Party Convention in Tennessee in February. "Press will be allowed in a designated section of the lobby of the convention only and will not be allowed inside the convention, there will be no media allowed for the banquet with Sarah Palin." I don't know about you, but it makes me wonder what they're hiding... Howard Dean thinks that Joe Lieberman should give up his chairmanship of Senate Homeland Security Committee if he can't bring himself to oppose a Republican filibuster of health care reform legislation.  Never mind letting him give it up, Harry Reid needs to issue an ultimatum and stick with it. "You caucus with the Democrats, you're with us or you're not.  Here's the price"... Speaking of Joe, after ignoring several requests from Rachel Maddow to appear on her show after stating he'd welcome a serious policy debate, I love that blogger Mike Stark found him in person and asked him to debate Rachel and his response was, "No, no, she's got a point of view". Does he not understand that a debate is a discussion of opposing views?  Sitting around with his like minded pals on Fox Sunday isn't a debate. Heck, she even offered him a shake and a cookie!... Rush Limbaugh and Glenn "he's a hoot" Beck (twice) called Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu a prostitute and hooker for allowing discussion of the health care reform bill. So Christian of them. This sexist attitude is one of the reasons why the GOP should continue to struggle to attract a majority of female voters. Imagine had Olbermann called Palin or Bachmann one of those things. The right would've organized a campaign to get him fired. While Keith has his fun with those two with their ineptness politically, he's never stepped over that line.  The cons don't think their side has a line. So Sarah, Michele or Carrie Prejean, where's your outrage?  Where's that double-standard?... Lou Dobbs is considering a Senate run in New Jersey.  How big does your ego have to be to think being an opinion commentator makes you qualified for office?  The police refuted his claims of gun shots at his house.  They've determined that the gunshots were from hunters nearby and not an attack on he and his wife. Lou figured it was a great way to get publicity and maybe some sympathy. Right wingers never want to hear facts. They get in the way of a perfectly good lie... A funny thing happened as I was finishing this up on this Thanksgiving evening, Beck put to rest any rumors of one possible "dream team" ticket. On his radio show today, Beck said he was absolutely ruling out the possibility of running for office with Saracuda at the top of the ticket.  It also appears that his true opinion of the former governor was expressed.  BECK: I don't think things are hoots. I don't. I don't think it's a hoot. I would never use the word hoot, and I respectfully ask that every time my name is brought up she would stop using the word 'hoot.' No, no I'm just saying -- Beck-Palin, I'll consider. But Palin-Beck -- can you imagine, can you imagine what an administration with the two of us would be like? What? Come on! She'd be yapping or something, and I'd say, "I'm sorry, why am I hearing your voice? I'm not in the kitchen." ...ouch...
If you want to listen in entirety, here's the clip: Beck Turns Down Ticket With Palin, Makes Sexist Remark

Until the next time...

The Week That Was...Mixed Messages 11/1-11/8 2009

Women’s reproductive rights are under attack by letting the Stupak Amendment be slipped into the House bill on health care reform. The 33 year old Hyde Amendment which was slipped into an appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services already disallows public funding for abortion, but this amendment goes one step further by denying women who are paying for their own insurance through private insurance the ability to access this legal, I repeat, legal medical procedure by forcing them to buy an additional separate, single-service rider. While we all know that no Republicans have any respect for any woman to make a decision about her own body, it’s now clear that the male Democrats feel the same way. Another thing bothering me is that this amendment was brokered in part with Catholic Bishops! When do we go back to seperation of church and state? Any church involved in policy should be stripped of their tax exempt existence.

Which brings me to the Catholic Churches assistence in repealing same-sex marriage rights in Maine on Tuesday…you know the state that claims “live and let live” as it’s motto. It’s now crystal clear that they’re just another bunch of hypocrites whose prejudice came out loud and clear. Live and let live, unless you’re gay, then tough luck, your human and civil rights do not supercede the homophobia of the masses. The fact that the same-sex marriage rights campaign failed to use a winning strategy bothers me as well, since I would’ve thought the Prop 8 defeat in California would have been the model of what went wrong and not repeat it. Yet, my understanding is, they never fought back forcfully enough, particularly the lie that same-sex, sex would be taught in school. Who would actually believe that?! Apparently 52% of Mainiacs. The high five the Catholic Church received is another reminder of how they should be strpped of their tax exempt status, along with the Mormans who heavily funded Yes on 8 in California.

Quick Thoughts: That wild and "carazy" Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota with assistence from Faux Newz rallied thousands of teabagging hillbillies to the Capitol on Thursday to voice their displeasure of a bill designed to help them. They want no part government run healthcare, but don’t even think about taking away their Medicare! All in all they had a good day. Think about it, a free bus ride to Washington D.C. and donuts supplied by multi-millionaire David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity……Also that day, I thoroughly enjoyed Ohio Republican John Boehner proudly holding up “his copy” of the Constitution and then reciting the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. The best part was, Bachmann mouthing the incorrect words right behind him! Then there was Missouri Republican Todd Akin stating that saying the Pledge of Allegiance “drives liberals crazy.” Then of course, stumbling over the words, it doesn’t get any better than that!......Also love the firestorm about the Republicans winning two Governorships. I wouldn’t have voted for weak Democrat Creigh Deeds who ran a terrible campaign in Virginia either, nor would I have voted for the Republican which is how he won, Democrats stayed home. In New Jersey, Jon Corzine’s approval ratings going into Tuesday were abysmal and he still nearly won even after breaking his promise to lower property taxes in his state, which he never delivered on. NY-23 is the most amusing in my mind. Apparently, moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava who believed in a woman’s right to choose and same-sex rights, yet was a fiscal conservative got tagged as a “radical leftist” by far, far right winger Michelle Malkin. In the Republican’s quest to “purify” their party and turn it into a bunch of far right teabagging anti-woman, anti-progress radical Neanderthals, they called on ultra conservative and creepy businessman Doug Hoffman to run against her and Democrat Bill Owens as a Conservative Party candidate even though he didn’t live in the district. With the endorsement of celebrity serial quitter Sarah Palin and Tea-Bagging extraordinaire Dick Armey of FreedomWorks, they knocked Scozzafava out of the race and were celebrating the fact that no Democrat has held that seat since 1872 so clearly, the purification had begun! A funny thing happened on the way to the polls, Scozzafava backed Owens and the voters actually chose to elect someone based on his knowledge of their local concerns as opposed to sending a message to Washington. Elections do have consequences!

That’s it for now, until the next time, stay safe, think forward!