Since the right wing is still claiming Bush is actually responsible for bringing OBL to justice, I thought I'd share these videos. I'd also like to add that Senator John McCain (video here) seems to have regained some sense of integrity by standing against his own party and debunking the myth that torture lead to OBL's whereabouts. This important development, at a time when 43% of Americans say torture is sometimes justified, further discredits Bush apologists who claim torture was an effective tactic. Not only did those methods fail, but the idea that GWB deserves recognition for the recent victory is absurd. The first video by Think Progress, is a montage which does a great job of recounting how Bush let bin Laden slip away while also revealing his true concern for finding America's most wanted man. In the second video, Ed Schultz gives credit where credit is do and is even joined by awesome firebrand Alan Grayson, the former Congressman from Florida. Remember how upset the right wing was when he said of the Republicans during the health care debate, "Don't get sick. If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly?" And here we are 2 years later with a plan to kill Medicare. I think if he chooses to run again in 2012, he's got a shot at getting his seat back in senior heavy Florida. But I digress, this time around he joins Big Eddie calling GWB the worst president of his lifetime, while also crediting him for other failures.
Showing posts with label ed schultz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ed schultz. Show all posts
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Aww...Wingnuts Need a Woobie
Aww...poor little teabaggers crying that President Obama spent 45 minutes criticizing Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan's budget proposal when all he actually did was describe it. This is what happens when you don't fight back for 2.5 years, once you do, your opponent doesn't recognize it. They were shell-shocked that he had the audacity to call out their shameful plan for what it is and for that, I'm grateful.
Teabagger math: Destroying Medicare and cutting the top tax rate for the wealthy to 25% will balance the budget! Ryan also wants to bring down the corporate tax rate because the 0% GE paid last year was too high! Are they freakin' serious? Who's dumb enough to think any of this makes sense? The Republicans are liars. And middle-class voters who listen to their rhetoric are idiots. They only care about the uber-wealthy and demonstrate that every single day. I'm 48 years old. Old enough to understand the dire consequences this holds for those of us under 55. We will be screwed if Medicare goes to a voucher system. I won't have the extra $12,500 out of my pocket they're estimating it will cost annually. Michael Steele was on Bill Maher's Real Time Friday night when Maher asked him what happens when the $15,000 voucher runs out which will only take 3 months if you're in assisted living. Steele's response, "We don't know." The audience let out a collective groan and boos, Ed Schultz grabbed his head and Maher's eyes bugged out. I would've posted that particular video below as well, but HBO has already taken it down. Schultz and Steele got into several heated discussions with Steele at one point actually saying, "I'm going to have to take you out back." Good idea Michael, Schultz is a former college football player. Let us know how it works out for ya!
Hey Dems, here's a golden opportunity - Medicare for all and it will be self-funded!
Cenk Uygar hosts' Joan Walsh and Ernie Istook to discuss teabagger math.
By the way, I don't care if the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of total federal income taxes. I want each and every one of them individually to pay at the same rate as us little folks. 35% out of $50,000 hurts a lot more than 35% coming out of $1,000,000. I'm really tired of that argument. I'm also tired of "they're the job creators." Really? 10 years of the Bush tax cuts and we've actually lost jobs. Creating jobs in India and China doesn't count. Hey Democrats, feel free to point that out LOUDLY. I'd also like to know how many of our wealthiest 2% are professional athletes or entertainers, clearly not job creators. Republicans really do want a third world America. Robin Hood in reverse explains it perfectly. Continued below...
I wonder how long it will take for some right wing genius to pursue a bill that will allow the government to remove The Statue of Liberty inscription," "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." and replace it with, "Keep out you no good immigrant, nothing's free here, even the air you breathe, you are wretched and homeless. Go home." Just sayin...
Teabagger math: Destroying Medicare and cutting the top tax rate for the wealthy to 25% will balance the budget! Ryan also wants to bring down the corporate tax rate because the 0% GE paid last year was too high! Are they freakin' serious? Who's dumb enough to think any of this makes sense? The Republicans are liars. And middle-class voters who listen to their rhetoric are idiots. They only care about the uber-wealthy and demonstrate that every single day. I'm 48 years old. Old enough to understand the dire consequences this holds for those of us under 55. We will be screwed if Medicare goes to a voucher system. I won't have the extra $12,500 out of my pocket they're estimating it will cost annually. Michael Steele was on Bill Maher's Real Time Friday night when Maher asked him what happens when the $15,000 voucher runs out which will only take 3 months if you're in assisted living. Steele's response, "We don't know." The audience let out a collective groan and boos, Ed Schultz grabbed his head and Maher's eyes bugged out. I would've posted that particular video below as well, but HBO has already taken it down. Schultz and Steele got into several heated discussions with Steele at one point actually saying, "I'm going to have to take you out back." Good idea Michael, Schultz is a former college football player. Let us know how it works out for ya!
Hey Dems, here's a golden opportunity - Medicare for all and it will be self-funded!
Cenk Uygar hosts' Joan Walsh and Ernie Istook to discuss teabagger math.
By the way, I don't care if the top 1% of income earners pay 40% of total federal income taxes. I want each and every one of them individually to pay at the same rate as us little folks. 35% out of $50,000 hurts a lot more than 35% coming out of $1,000,000. I'm really tired of that argument. I'm also tired of "they're the job creators." Really? 10 years of the Bush tax cuts and we've actually lost jobs. Creating jobs in India and China doesn't count. Hey Democrats, feel free to point that out LOUDLY. I'd also like to know how many of our wealthiest 2% are professional athletes or entertainers, clearly not job creators. Republicans really do want a third world America. Robin Hood in reverse explains it perfectly. Continued below...
I wonder how long it will take for some right wing genius to pursue a bill that will allow the government to remove The Statue of Liberty inscription," "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." and replace it with, "Keep out you no good immigrant, nothing's free here, even the air you breathe, you are wretched and homeless. Go home." Just sayin...
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Shame Felt As Koch's Republican Puppets in WI Thwart Democracy
So wacky Wednesday got even worse after my initial post...
A visibly upset Michael Moore appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show this evening, shortly after news broke that the Wisconsin Republicans pulled a stunt to remove collective bargaining from the budget bill, so they wouldn’t need a quorum to vote on it. The bill passed 18-1. It’s amazing how they argued all along that this was all about the budget, suddenly it’s not? Moore states in no uncertain terms that this is a class war that's been leveled against the working people of this country. The polls clearly show that the people are against this loss of bargaining rights. And wait until you see the manner in which they went about it!
The outrage felt throughout Wisconsin and to anyone concerned about the working class in this country has reached a level not seen in my lifetime. I hope this rage and anger at the Republicans who are trying to turn our country into a fascist dictatorship stay with us into November 2012. Elections DO have consequences so for anyone who stayed home this past November and is bitching now, stop it. Donate to your Democratic representatives and get off your ass in 2012 so we can try and right the ship!
I’m proud of Michael Moore, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz for standing shoulder to shoulder with the working class of America. Yes, they may all do very well financially at this point in their lives, but they have not forgotten their humble roots and dare I say, they have empathy.
A visibly upset Michael Moore appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show this evening, shortly after news broke that the Wisconsin Republicans pulled a stunt to remove collective bargaining from the budget bill, so they wouldn’t need a quorum to vote on it. The bill passed 18-1. It’s amazing how they argued all along that this was all about the budget, suddenly it’s not? Moore states in no uncertain terms that this is a class war that's been leveled against the working people of this country. The polls clearly show that the people are against this loss of bargaining rights. And wait until you see the manner in which they went about it!
The outrage felt throughout Wisconsin and to anyone concerned about the working class in this country has reached a level not seen in my lifetime. I hope this rage and anger at the Republicans who are trying to turn our country into a fascist dictatorship stay with us into November 2012. Elections DO have consequences so for anyone who stayed home this past November and is bitching now, stop it. Donate to your Democratic representatives and get off your ass in 2012 so we can try and right the ship!
I’m proud of Michael Moore, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz for standing shoulder to shoulder with the working class of America. Yes, they may all do very well financially at this point in their lives, but they have not forgotten their humble roots and dare I say, they have empathy.
Friday, February 18, 2011
GOP Goal: Bake Sales vs Billionaires
Rachel Maddow did this outstanding report about how the alleged Wisconsin budget problem is a canard to distract from the real Republican goal of destroying labor unions to remove election spending competition - and ultimately the Democratic Party itself. Thom Hartmann said today that he believes this scheme was hatched a couple weeks ago at the multi-billionaire Koch Brothers Retreat for the far right. It seems the governors and other politicians were given their instructions and this is the beginning of of what looks like attacks on organized labor with their eye on the big trophy - The Democratic Party's demise.
I'm very proud of these Wisconsin workers and there are reports that today, similar protest over similar legislation have broke out in Ohio. There are also reports that paid Tea Party thugs lead by right wing freak Andrew Breitbart (best known for his unscrupulous editing skills) are on their way to WI to start trouble with the folks who have been peacefully protesting for their rights.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”
- Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here (1935)
Ed Schultz on the ground defending unions in Wisconsin.
I'm very proud of these Wisconsin workers and there are reports that today, similar protest over similar legislation have broke out in Ohio. There are also reports that paid Tea Party thugs lead by right wing freak Andrew Breitbart (best known for his unscrupulous editing skills) are on their way to WI to start trouble with the folks who have been peacefully protesting for their rights.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”
- Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here (1935)
Ed Schultz on the ground defending unions in Wisconsin.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Power To The People! Wisconsin Getting It Done!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Union busting Chris Christie wannabe, Scott Walker is finding out that screwing the middle class instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share has consequences. The unions and their members are fighting back...finally! I had almost given up hope that Americans would finally see how the politicans and the wealthy are turning the US into a third world nation--and are starting to fight for what is right! I am in solidarity with the people on the streets of Madison and I hope for their success.Tuesday’s mid-day protests drew crowds estimated at 12-15,000, but Wednesday's mid-day rally drew 30,000 according to some estimates. This protest is getting stronger, not weaker, even under the threat of National Guard intervention threatened by the new governor who has stopped just short of calling for Marshall Law. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, a veteran of 27 years on the city’s force, said he had has never see a protest of this size at the Capitol.
Maybe this is what we needed to get people to wake up; a Republican govenor acting like a fascist dictator. These guys will destroy America unless they're stopped and that means more demonstrations. It was unions who made this country strong, not the obscenely wealthy. I hope this is an awakening for all non-millionaires. These demonstrations could become more frequent and possibly violent if Republicans, blue dog Democrats and Obama keep cutting social programs instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share. That means no loopholes, no rewards for off-shoring jobs and a decent living wage. Are they watching or listening?
I will say that with the exclusion of MSNBC, the news outlets have been extremely slow to cover this uprising, if at all. It's interesting that if 10 teabaggers gather in a liberal state, it gets national media attention, but thousands of angry union members who's lifestyle could be changed forever with negative impact barely gets mention. Another example of the liberal media lie.
Thanks to MSNBC, Ed Schultz who has been donating entire shows to this ongoing event, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Cenk Uygur and even Chris Matthews for giving this the attention it deserves.
Go Badgers!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Friday, April 30, 2010
Been Flirtin' With Disaster
In a nutshell, they drilled, it spilled and now a lot of wildlife will be killed. It has come to light that BP downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst U.S. spill in decades along the Gulf coast and endangering shoreline habitat, documents suggest. BP repeatedly said it was virtually impossible for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish, mammals and fisheries.
Can we begin to connect the dots? Will we learn anything from these crisis? In Washington we have the spectacle of a deregulated Wall Street spinning wildly out of control and bringing the world economy to the brink. In West Virgina we have a mining company, Massey Energy who thumbs its nose at safety violations resulting in over 100 miner's death. In the gulf coast we have a massive oil rig spewing out oil and threatening several southern states with no end in sight.
What they all have in common is this: In the deregulated world of the unfettered free market with little government regulations, disasters are bound to happen. Why? Because every company works endlessly to do two things; increase profits and reduce costs. In reducing costs to meet investor demands they forego safety procedures, they defer maintenance, they buy cheaper shoddier equipment and if there is no entity holding your feet to the fire you'll do it until what you do creates a disaster. The government that governs least, we are now learning, courts disaster for the nation. What's really weird in the twisted irony is that these Republican loving southern states that will be damaged for decades have actually jeopardized their own livelihood by supporting the party of greed. Innocent wetlands, wildlife, and Gulf fishermen's own livelihood have been discarded in this "free market." Wake up America! I'm mostly talking to you red staters.
Environmental lawyer Michael Papantonio joined Ed Schultz and explained how this disaster could've been minimized. It turns out every country in the world who allow oil exploration require a fail safe system called the Acoustic Switch System that will immediately lock down a well in an emergency such as this one. The cost is $500K per ASS. However in our free market land of no oversight or regulation, the U.S. doesn't require them and since BP (and the others I'm sure) decided the almighty dollar outweighs the risk, we have a mega-disaster on our hands.
The always idiotic Rush Limbaugh who is always quick to side with those with the most including corporations is claiming that the disaster might have been caused by environmental activists protesting Obama's expansion of off shore oil drilling. Seriously? It will be those very environmentalists cleaning oil off of birds and beavers or any other animal that can be saved. He also proudly proclaimed that this disaster would be Obama's Katrina. The truth of the matter is that the Coast Guard was on the scene almost immediately after this accident. The deputy secretary of the interior was on the ground the next day, and the administration's been coordinating closely with the local authorities and BP from the very beginning. Just last year Limpy actually said "Nature cleaned up itself" after Exxon Valdez oil spill. What a bunch of bullshit. The area still has remnants of the disaster partially because St. Ronnie let Exxon off the hook. How can anyone listen to this piece of chit?
Then there's the immense silence of the "Drill, baby drill - drill now" crowd. Excluding Sarah Palin's tweet that her prayers are with those who will be affected...instead of doing something that will actually be useful. Why doesn't she at least start a fund with some of that $12 million she bilked from her fans? Michael Steele? Rudy Guiliani? We can't hear you! Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty.
Can we begin to connect the dots? Will we learn anything from these crisis? In Washington we have the spectacle of a deregulated Wall Street spinning wildly out of control and bringing the world economy to the brink. In West Virgina we have a mining company, Massey Energy who thumbs its nose at safety violations resulting in over 100 miner's death. In the gulf coast we have a massive oil rig spewing out oil and threatening several southern states with no end in sight.
What they all have in common is this: In the deregulated world of the unfettered free market with little government regulations, disasters are bound to happen. Why? Because every company works endlessly to do two things; increase profits and reduce costs. In reducing costs to meet investor demands they forego safety procedures, they defer maintenance, they buy cheaper shoddier equipment and if there is no entity holding your feet to the fire you'll do it until what you do creates a disaster. The government that governs least, we are now learning, courts disaster for the nation. What's really weird in the twisted irony is that these Republican loving southern states that will be damaged for decades have actually jeopardized their own livelihood by supporting the party of greed. Innocent wetlands, wildlife, and Gulf fishermen's own livelihood have been discarded in this "free market." Wake up America! I'm mostly talking to you red staters.
Environmental lawyer Michael Papantonio joined Ed Schultz and explained how this disaster could've been minimized. It turns out every country in the world who allow oil exploration require a fail safe system called the Acoustic Switch System that will immediately lock down a well in an emergency such as this one. The cost is $500K per ASS. However in our free market land of no oversight or regulation, the U.S. doesn't require them and since BP (and the others I'm sure) decided the almighty dollar outweighs the risk, we have a mega-disaster on our hands.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The always idiotic Rush Limbaugh who is always quick to side with those with the most including corporations is claiming that the disaster might have been caused by environmental activists protesting Obama's expansion of off shore oil drilling. Seriously? It will be those very environmentalists cleaning oil off of birds and beavers or any other animal that can be saved. He also proudly proclaimed that this disaster would be Obama's Katrina. The truth of the matter is that the Coast Guard was on the scene almost immediately after this accident. The deputy secretary of the interior was on the ground the next day, and the administration's been coordinating closely with the local authorities and BP from the very beginning. Just last year Limpy actually said "Nature cleaned up itself" after Exxon Valdez oil spill. What a bunch of bullshit. The area still has remnants of the disaster partially because St. Ronnie let Exxon off the hook. How can anyone listen to this piece of chit?
Then there's the immense silence of the "Drill, baby drill - drill now" crowd. Excluding Sarah Palin's tweet that her prayers are with those who will be affected...instead of doing something that will actually be useful. Why doesn't she at least start a fund with some of that $12 million she bilked from her fans? Michael Steele? Rudy Guiliani? We can't hear you! Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Not surprisingly, there's a Fox in the Nielson house
Last week saw the release of the quarterly ratings performance data for television programming. Most of the reporting yammers on and on about the dominant position Fox News retains in the cable news sector. The claim is that Fox News smothered the competition and experienced rapid growth while other news programmers stagnated or declined. The reason I decided to write about this topic is that it's an ongoing battle on Huffington Post and other lefty blog sites that I frequent. Every time the new numbers are released, the right wing trolls decide to taunt all of us MSNBC viewers and I really get sick of it. They never argue about content, it's always about ratings. Here's part of my response to that. If Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are so insignificant, why are conservatives so unnerved by their reporting? Matthews plays to whoever's in the room, so I don't think a whole lot of him...and he voted for Bush, which says plenty. Schultz is making a name for himself as being Joe Everyman, which you'd think would be a good thing except that he's an admitted Democrat. Olbermann gets hammered by righties for exposing right wing lies, especially those coming from Fox, Limbaugh and other hate talkers. I'm glad someone's doing it because CNN, HLN, ABC, CBS and PBS sure aren't willing to take them on to set the record straight. Maddow not only exposes the lies, she digs deeper and presents the hypocrisy. Guess what wingnutz? When politicians are naming you and attempting to discredit you with even more lies, they know you're not insignificant! My other point about ratings? Last week, over 20 million people watched both American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. I'm guessing the Discovery Channel and The History Channel didn't do quite that well.
Before I send you off to the possible Fox fraud situation, let's look at some other facts. Check out the poll conducted by DailyKos/Research2000. Republicans and southerners almost completely shut out any cable news source other than Fox News. They are the most sharply segmented groups in the survey when asked on viewing of CNN and MSNBC. The rest of the nation doesn't much care for the right-wing hack network. 78% of the northeast never watches Fox, 70% of the midwest never watches Fox, 68% of the west never does and even 51% of the south doesn't! Also notable is the terrible performance of Fox amongst young voters (18-29) and minorities, at least 80% of whom report that they never watch Fox News. If Nielsen data were to confirm this, advertisers might alter the way they allocate their budgets. Also, cable operators might adjust their channel offerings, which could help to resolve the distribution problem that MSNBC has been hampered by. And why won't Nielson do that?
This might be why. Do you ever wonder how Fox News can be so consistently lead the ratings despite their obvious position and programming focus on a small segment of the viewers? The last time I saw a poll, only 23% of registered voters admitted to be Republicans. Evidently, Nielsen entered the high-tech era of TV market research in the early 2000's with People Meter methodology. It was during this time, that Fox News began its climb to ratings dominance. It has recently been discovered that the Wegener Corporation, the manufacturer of the set-top devices that Nielsen uses, has a long association with Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation, the parent of Fox News. It would not be difficult to encode an electronic device so that it would purposefully miscalculate survey data. Diebold anyone? So you have to ask; with a continuous 24/7 right wing propaganda effort, if Fox were as persuasive as they claim, why haven't they been able to move the country to their far right positions? Yes, they've got the teabaggers doing some of their dirty work now, but they're just Foxbots. This is not the large anti-government, anti-Obama pushback that Fox is selling to their viewers. According to the following article, Murdoch has paid millions for his cover-up of various media manipulations. Not only are there allegations about Nielson, he has also undermined competitor Dish Network. For those out there who dispise this man, and are considering satellite tv, you should know that he owns DirectTV as well. The connection to Murdoch's covert operations and his history of unlawful corporate espionage should not continue to be ignored. If Nielsen doesn't want it's credibility completely dismissed, it should investigate their equipment providers and perform intensive examinations of the devices they place in viewers' homes. To be fair, the suspicions have not been confirmed, but it really makes you wonder. Don't forget, this is the man who was continuously rebuffed in 1996 from putting his new network on NY's cable systems. It wasn't until he got Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Gov. George E. Pataki and Dennis C. Vacco, the State Attorney General involved. Source: NY Times
For more detail, read Fox News Caught In Massive Ratings Fraud at DailyKos (their compilation of various articles). I figured I better use that disclaimer before I get the, "what would you expect from a leftist, socialist, marxist blog like DailyKos."
Before I send you off to the possible Fox fraud situation, let's look at some other facts. Check out the poll conducted by DailyKos/Research2000. Republicans and southerners almost completely shut out any cable news source other than Fox News. They are the most sharply segmented groups in the survey when asked on viewing of CNN and MSNBC. The rest of the nation doesn't much care for the right-wing hack network. 78% of the northeast never watches Fox, 70% of the midwest never watches Fox, 68% of the west never does and even 51% of the south doesn't! Also notable is the terrible performance of Fox amongst young voters (18-29) and minorities, at least 80% of whom report that they never watch Fox News. If Nielsen data were to confirm this, advertisers might alter the way they allocate their budgets. Also, cable operators might adjust their channel offerings, which could help to resolve the distribution problem that MSNBC has been hampered by. And why won't Nielson do that?
This might be why. Do you ever wonder how Fox News can be so consistently lead the ratings despite their obvious position and programming focus on a small segment of the viewers? The last time I saw a poll, only 23% of registered voters admitted to be Republicans. Evidently, Nielsen entered the high-tech era of TV market research in the early 2000's with People Meter methodology. It was during this time, that Fox News began its climb to ratings dominance. It has recently been discovered that the Wegener Corporation, the manufacturer of the set-top devices that Nielsen uses, has a long association with Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation, the parent of Fox News. It would not be difficult to encode an electronic device so that it would purposefully miscalculate survey data. Diebold anyone? So you have to ask; with a continuous 24/7 right wing propaganda effort, if Fox were as persuasive as they claim, why haven't they been able to move the country to their far right positions? Yes, they've got the teabaggers doing some of their dirty work now, but they're just Foxbots. This is not the large anti-government, anti-Obama pushback that Fox is selling to their viewers. According to the following article, Murdoch has paid millions for his cover-up of various media manipulations. Not only are there allegations about Nielson, he has also undermined competitor Dish Network. For those out there who dispise this man, and are considering satellite tv, you should know that he owns DirectTV as well. The connection to Murdoch's covert operations and his history of unlawful corporate espionage should not continue to be ignored. If Nielsen doesn't want it's credibility completely dismissed, it should investigate their equipment providers and perform intensive examinations of the devices they place in viewers' homes. To be fair, the suspicions have not been confirmed, but it really makes you wonder. Don't forget, this is the man who was continuously rebuffed in 1996 from putting his new network on NY's cable systems. It wasn't until he got Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Gov. George E. Pataki and Dennis C. Vacco, the State Attorney General involved. Source: NY Times
For more detail, read Fox News Caught In Massive Ratings Fraud at DailyKos (their compilation of various articles). I figured I better use that disclaimer before I get the, "what would you expect from a leftist, socialist, marxist blog like DailyKos."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Limbaugh's Take on Hate-e
While this man knows no limit to the depth he’ll dive, he may have reached a level this week that even Jacques Cousteau would be jealous of. After the 7.0 Earthquake annihilated Haiti on Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh decided to make political rhetoric out of thousands of deaths to his simple minded hate-filled listeners. On Wednesday Rush declared;
On Thursday Rush told his empty headed sheep not to donate to any Haitian relief charities. You’ll love this reasoning:
Wait, we’re not done, Friday came…
Given their general lack of empathy, let’s be grateful Fox News isn’t even covering the event. With a tragedy so horrific just 700 miles off Florida’s coast, Fox has decided to just continue doing what they do best; their relentless journey of doing their part to destroy President Obama. They featured national security experts Liz Cheney and Sarah Palin this week. The only thing I have witnessed on Fox so far was earlier today when they were bemoaning the fact that illegal Haitians currently in the U.S. have been granted an eighteen month stay. I'm sure as this "rescue and recovery" moves forward, Fox will find stories more in line with what Limbaugh would find acceptable. The human crisis will not be witnessed by their minions. Given the mentality of an average Fox viewer, I'm betting their compassionate Christian disciples find Haitians to be sub-human anyways.
And for all the knocks MSNBC has gotten through the years for their poor weekend news coverage (which has been deserved), they have shined throughout this tragedy. Not only did Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz do two live shows per night during the week dedicated to this event, MSNBC has kept teams on it all day today as well. They're outshining CNN in my opinion. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement of U.S. commitment was carried live. I've watched live video of some of the planes landing at Edwards Air Force Base in Homestead, Florida with passengers. I've watched interviews with evacuees. Those have been some extremely grateful people! Only those who are U.S. residents, have green cards or some type of legal claim here, have been transported here so far. Fox will probably wait until some severely injured "aliens" are transported to a Miami hospital before they decide to cover the story.
"This will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, "credibility" with the black community -- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made-to-order for them. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there." "Now, I want you to remember, it took him three days to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom Bomber, three days. And when he came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it. He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about Haiti."Where do you even begin? Is he suggesting that Obama has some kind of connection upstairs to coincide this tragedy with his falling approval numbers? And that humanitarian, compassion stuff is for sissy’s, not for real Americans. Burnishing his credibility with the black community? That one actually made me start laughing. I’m pretty sure he’s already got them sewed up. No offense to anyone meant, but really? I’m certain the black community aren’t closet McCain fans. The Christmas Day bomber? Um, thousands didn’t die. Luckily the would-be bomber was incompetent. Obama waited until he had his facts straight before speaking publicly about it. Funny how they always forget Bush waited six days after the Shoe Bomber, a virtually identical attack. Ah, but that was just the day after the quake…
On Thursday Rush told his empty headed sheep not to donate to any Haitian relief charities. You’ll love this reasoning:
“We’ve already donated to Haiti! It’s called the US income tax! There are people who do charitable work every day in Haiti. It’s not as though… it’s our fault. There are people that have been trying to save Haiti, just as we’re trying to save Africa. You just can’t keep throwing money at it, because the dictatorships there just take it all. Besides, even if the people did get the money, that would just stop them from bothering to support themselves. It’s a simple matter of self-reliance.”There’s nothing I can say about such a mean, ignorant statement. The last two sentences are all you really need to read. Even Joe Scarborough was shocked and horrified by Limbaugh’s lack of compassion. This man is one of the most vicious hateful people ever to be given a platform. The fact that his followers actually think he is a “real American hero” is nauseating. Those are the same people who call Keith Olbermann evil and hateful because he was the first MSM personality to start reporting on Bush’s Evil Empire. These are the same people who just weeks ago attacked non-Rush fan bloggers that hoped for a poor outcome with Limpballs health scare. While I would never go there (that Karma thing), I found it amazing that the same people dancing on Ted Kennedy’s grave while cheering were appalled and downright angry at some of the non-Rush fans’ reactions. All I will say is, I wouldn’t miss him. It would actually be more satisfying if he got fired, but he brings in too much money with all these ignorant idiots tuning in.
Wait, we’re not done, Friday came…
“This is about domestic U.S. politics. Haiti is about domestic U.S. politics, in addition to the humanitarian effort that is behind this. By the -- of course, we are not suggesting that we shouldn't send soldiers to Haiti. Do not misunderstand. But why is there no concern about the cost from the White House, when there was so much concern about Afghanistan? After all, isn't the job of the U.S. military, first and foremost, to protect the national security and interests of the United States? No, it's not. The U.S. military is now Meals on Wheels. It always is with Democrat presidents.”Those bastard Democrats. Always trying to help out the less fortunate. Especially in a time of dire need. Rush says “f**k ‘em.” He honestly thinks our soldiers should just be killing people, not helping them! Again, he’s speaking to people who can’t even spell Afghanistan or Haiti. Hell, some of them probably can’t spell America. Notice how he never mentions that it’s always the Republicans that start the wars and tension. Notice how he doesn’t mention the economic disasters are always started by Republicans and the next poor Democratic President ends up with a big hot turd in every corner to try and clean up. And when the Democrat can’t get it cleaned up within one year after an eight year (or twelve 1980-1992) reign, they’re labeled a failure. What's worse is many dumb voters buy it!
Given their general lack of empathy, let’s be grateful Fox News isn’t even covering the event. With a tragedy so horrific just 700 miles off Florida’s coast, Fox has decided to just continue doing what they do best; their relentless journey of doing their part to destroy President Obama. They featured national security experts Liz Cheney and Sarah Palin this week. The only thing I have witnessed on Fox so far was earlier today when they were bemoaning the fact that illegal Haitians currently in the U.S. have been granted an eighteen month stay. I'm sure as this "rescue and recovery" moves forward, Fox will find stories more in line with what Limbaugh would find acceptable. The human crisis will not be witnessed by their minions. Given the mentality of an average Fox viewer, I'm betting their compassionate Christian disciples find Haitians to be sub-human anyways.
And for all the knocks MSNBC has gotten through the years for their poor weekend news coverage (which has been deserved), they have shined throughout this tragedy. Not only did Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and Ed Schultz do two live shows per night during the week dedicated to this event, MSNBC has kept teams on it all day today as well. They're outshining CNN in my opinion. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement of U.S. commitment was carried live. I've watched live video of some of the planes landing at Edwards Air Force Base in Homestead, Florida with passengers. I've watched interviews with evacuees. Those have been some extremely grateful people! Only those who are U.S. residents, have green cards or some type of legal claim here, have been transported here so far. Fox will probably wait until some severely injured "aliens" are transported to a Miami hospital before they decide to cover the story.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Has Obama Become "Compromised" Trying to "Compromise" With His Opponents?
Wednesday night, Keith Olbermann kind of stole my thunder with his Special Comment on the latest version of HR-3590, the Senate Health Care Reform bill. It was essentially a big “eff you” to Obama. He was correct on every point. Obama has continuously thumbed his nose at those of us who supported him, preferring to woo the right and conservative Democrats. Everytime the left rises in any kind of opposition to any proposed bill, he sends attack dog Rahm Emanual to tell the "liberals" to shut up. In my opinion he thinks we’ll support him in the end anyways, so he doesn’t care about how we’re feeling about one disappointment after another. This so called “health care reform” has magnified what a weak leader our President is turning out to be. I guess it was kind of silly of me last November 4, 2008 thinking I was voting for Obama/Biden. It turns out I was actually voting for Lieberman/Snowe. It's become painfully obvious over the past several months who holds the real power. It has actually been sickening to watch the alternating coddling the two of them have received from Democrats. I believe this administration is underestimating the degree that we're paying attention. They seem genuinely surprised that we actually expected them to be different. They better start realizing the damage they're doing or they're heading for one and done.
What we are currently looking at is a bill with no cost control. The insurance companies can’t deny you coverage for a pre-existing conditions, but they can charge you what they want. Isn't that great? There's no cap on premiums, but there's a cap on benefits! To top it off, you have to have insurance bought from the "insurance cartel!" So this has turned into a big gift to private insurers by handing them at least 30 million new customers. Way to go Obama, that’s not exactly the “change” we were looking for. The current position is something Obama actually chastised Hillary Clinton for during their respective campaign's. In 2012, I will vote for Obama again if he’s still the Democratic nominee, but only because we can’t leave the chance that Republicans will fill any more Supreme Court vacancies as they become open. It won’t be with excitement next time, unless he works very hard to right the ship. So far, he's been disappointing. Please take time to watch Keith’s outstanding spot on Special Comment:
After all this, we still have to wait for House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to meld the two bills together. The bill in the House at least has a Public Option to compete with private insurance, but it also has the Stupak Amendment, further restricting/obstructing a woman’s right to chose a safe and legal medical procedure. But don’t worry guys, you can still get ED supplements in both bills. The good ol' boys in Washington need be able to perform at a moments’ notice. I can't tell you how angry I am that these guys don’t feel a woman has the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (it's not accomplished without help), but we better damn well not infringe their rights to have a "drug induced" erection…so when she's ready, you're ready...lasting as long as four hours...if loss of hearing or vision occurs, call a doctor. I do have to ask; Is it really that important guys? The Senate version doesn’t contain anti-abortion language as I write this, but Nebraska Conservadem Ben Nelson is working on it. He claims he won't vote for a bill without it. I'm going to have to put some trust in Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on this one. She has been adament and consistent with her position that this is supposed to be about affordable health care, not circumventing a woman's right to choose. This should be simple, if you don’t believe in abortion don’t get one. However, making it virtually impossible to obtain a legal procedure because you personally have a problem with it is crossing the lines to women's rights. This country is letting religious beliefs dictate everything we do and I’m sick of it. The Catholic Church meddled in on this debate as well by having secret meetings with members of congress. The Hyde amendment from 1976 already disallows public funding for the procedure, but nooo that wasn’t enough – they added Stupak. What these guys are aiming for, is any insurance company who gets any federal money (which is almost all of them) will not be allowed to offer that service, even if a woman has her own insurance that she paid for. Somewhere along the way, this country began regressing on basic rights and I’m really afraid of where we’re going with the zealots getting louder and wielding more power. Let's start getting seperation of church and state in order. The next time the Catholics or the Mormons get involved in policy, strip them of their tax exempt status, until they see the errors of their ways. Then make them re-apply for it with a very long drawn out process. Let them see what it's like to have something taken away from them. I know -- it's a pipe dream of mine that will never happen.
Quick Thoughts: Thumbs up to MSNBC...mostly. Outstanding coverage from Olbermann and Ed Schultz for attempting to hold Obama accountable to campaign promises on health care. Ed's radio and tv shows have both covered the debate extensively and he's become a strong voice for a strong public option. Schultz was appearing on Morning Joe Thursday morning when he heard both Mika Brezinski's and Joe Scarborough's Blackberry's start ringing. Apparently they were getting complaints from the White House due to Schultz and fellow guest Arianna Huffington's blistering commentary and wanted the hosts to tone it down. I guess this White House expected MSNBC to behave as Fox did through the Bush years, as lapdogs. Also, great news for The Rachel Maddow Show whose overall ratings for the year were up 15% over 2008. While Rachel uses a gentler approach than the guys, she has been hammering the administration on numerous campaign promises since April. Even though the three aforementioned like Obama, they're doing their jobs in a non-partisan way. Chris Matthews continues to be the weak link in the evening line-up. Ever since his "thrill down my leg" comment, he's gone way to the right and insults liberals on a nightly basis. I guess he feels that's the way to redeem himself. I was never a fan, but now he's completely unwatchable....
I'm liking Al Franken (D-Minn.), more and more. When Lieberman's 10 minutes of yammering were up Thursday, this is what happened next; "I'm sorry. The senator has spoken for ten minutes," Franken the chamber's presiding officer, told Lieberman. "I wonder if I could ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment," Lieberman said. "In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object," said Franken. Good for Al. I've heard enough from Benedict Arnold for a lifetime. To actually state that he didn't want the Medicare buy-in for people 55-64 because "liberals like it too much" said all you needed to know about this prick....
As Sarah's World Turns: The Toronto Sun Reports that Sarah Palin has been booted from Canadian Hospital fundraiser. Apparently the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation received many angry calls and emails from people saying they wouldn't donate to any event in which she has a role. She will come to town raise money for a local children’s charity instead. See what having educated citizens does!...A Salt Lake City Costco where Palin was to attend a book signing removed all tomatos from the shelves to lessen the chance of a copycat tomato throwing incident as happened a couple weeks ago in Minnesota. That was brilliant, really. I wonder if it occured to them to remove the eggs too... While in Salt Lake, the diva's legend grew. Palin's entourage requested local hairdresser Rhonda Halliday do an emergency hair session. Halliday arrived at the hotel and had her car valet parked. After being ushered to a room and given some instructions (don't talk to Palin unless she talks first) she did Palin's hair while the Wasilla quitter chatted with her family. Then, the Queen's party left to get to the book signing at Costco on time. Halliday was the last one out of the room because she had to put her equipment away, then watched as they all drove off without anyone mentioning payment or a tip. When the valet attendant got her car, he said that would be $10. She said she was with the Palin party and assumed they would take care of parking. That was news to him, so she had to fork over the $10. I guess she should've just been honored to be in her majestry's presence, that was payment enough... Palin also annoyed leaders of the Utah Republican Party when she didn't have time for them during her stop in Salt Lake City. I'm sure if they offered her a few bucks, she would've gladly found the time. She sure knows how to win friends and influence people. Yup, she's going to make a fine Presidential hopeful!
Keep the pressure on!
What we are currently looking at is a bill with no cost control. The insurance companies can’t deny you coverage for a pre-existing conditions, but they can charge you what they want. Isn't that great? There's no cap on premiums, but there's a cap on benefits! To top it off, you have to have insurance bought from the "insurance cartel!" So this has turned into a big gift to private insurers by handing them at least 30 million new customers. Way to go Obama, that’s not exactly the “change” we were looking for. The current position is something Obama actually chastised Hillary Clinton for during their respective campaign's. In 2012, I will vote for Obama again if he’s still the Democratic nominee, but only because we can’t leave the chance that Republicans will fill any more Supreme Court vacancies as they become open. It won’t be with excitement next time, unless he works very hard to right the ship. So far, he's been disappointing. Please take time to watch Keith’s outstanding spot on Special Comment:
After all this, we still have to wait for House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to meld the two bills together. The bill in the House at least has a Public Option to compete with private insurance, but it also has the Stupak Amendment, further restricting/obstructing a woman’s right to chose a safe and legal medical procedure. But don’t worry guys, you can still get ED supplements in both bills. The good ol' boys in Washington need be able to perform at a moments’ notice. I can't tell you how angry I am that these guys don’t feel a woman has the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (it's not accomplished without help), but we better damn well not infringe their rights to have a "drug induced" erection…so when she's ready, you're ready...lasting as long as four hours...if loss of hearing or vision occurs, call a doctor. I do have to ask; Is it really that important guys? The Senate version doesn’t contain anti-abortion language as I write this, but Nebraska Conservadem Ben Nelson is working on it. He claims he won't vote for a bill without it. I'm going to have to put some trust in Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on this one. She has been adament and consistent with her position that this is supposed to be about affordable health care, not circumventing a woman's right to choose. This should be simple, if you don’t believe in abortion don’t get one. However, making it virtually impossible to obtain a legal procedure because you personally have a problem with it is crossing the lines to women's rights. This country is letting religious beliefs dictate everything we do and I’m sick of it. The Catholic Church meddled in on this debate as well by having secret meetings with members of congress. The Hyde amendment from 1976 already disallows public funding for the procedure, but nooo that wasn’t enough – they added Stupak. What these guys are aiming for, is any insurance company who gets any federal money (which is almost all of them) will not be allowed to offer that service, even if a woman has her own insurance that she paid for. Somewhere along the way, this country began regressing on basic rights and I’m really afraid of where we’re going with the zealots getting louder and wielding more power. Let's start getting seperation of church and state in order. The next time the Catholics or the Mormons get involved in policy, strip them of their tax exempt status, until they see the errors of their ways. Then make them re-apply for it with a very long drawn out process. Let them see what it's like to have something taken away from them. I know -- it's a pipe dream of mine that will never happen.
Quick Thoughts: Thumbs up to MSNBC...mostly. Outstanding coverage from Olbermann and Ed Schultz for attempting to hold Obama accountable to campaign promises on health care. Ed's radio and tv shows have both covered the debate extensively and he's become a strong voice for a strong public option. Schultz was appearing on Morning Joe Thursday morning when he heard both Mika Brezinski's and Joe Scarborough's Blackberry's start ringing. Apparently they were getting complaints from the White House due to Schultz and fellow guest Arianna Huffington's blistering commentary and wanted the hosts to tone it down. I guess this White House expected MSNBC to behave as Fox did through the Bush years, as lapdogs. Also, great news for The Rachel Maddow Show whose overall ratings for the year were up 15% over 2008. While Rachel uses a gentler approach than the guys, she has been hammering the administration on numerous campaign promises since April. Even though the three aforementioned like Obama, they're doing their jobs in a non-partisan way. Chris Matthews continues to be the weak link in the evening line-up. Ever since his "thrill down my leg" comment, he's gone way to the right and insults liberals on a nightly basis. I guess he feels that's the way to redeem himself. I was never a fan, but now he's completely unwatchable....
I'm liking Al Franken (D-Minn.), more and more. When Lieberman's 10 minutes of yammering were up Thursday, this is what happened next; "I'm sorry. The senator has spoken for ten minutes," Franken the chamber's presiding officer, told Lieberman. "I wonder if I could ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment," Lieberman said. "In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object," said Franken. Good for Al. I've heard enough from Benedict Arnold for a lifetime. To actually state that he didn't want the Medicare buy-in for people 55-64 because "liberals like it too much" said all you needed to know about this prick....
As Sarah's World Turns: The Toronto Sun Reports that Sarah Palin has been booted from Canadian Hospital fundraiser. Apparently the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation received many angry calls and emails from people saying they wouldn't donate to any event in which she has a role. She will come to town raise money for a local children’s charity instead. See what having educated citizens does!...A Salt Lake City Costco where Palin was to attend a book signing removed all tomatos from the shelves to lessen the chance of a copycat tomato throwing incident as happened a couple weeks ago in Minnesota. That was brilliant, really. I wonder if it occured to them to remove the eggs too... While in Salt Lake, the diva's legend grew. Palin's entourage requested local hairdresser Rhonda Halliday do an emergency hair session. Halliday arrived at the hotel and had her car valet parked. After being ushered to a room and given some instructions (don't talk to Palin unless she talks first) she did Palin's hair while the Wasilla quitter chatted with her family. Then, the Queen's party left to get to the book signing at Costco on time. Halliday was the last one out of the room because she had to put her equipment away, then watched as they all drove off without anyone mentioning payment or a tip. When the valet attendant got her car, he said that would be $10. She said she was with the Palin party and assumed they would take care of parking. That was news to him, so she had to fork over the $10. I guess she should've just been honored to be in her majestry's presence, that was payment enough... Palin also annoyed leaders of the Utah Republican Party when she didn't have time for them during her stop in Salt Lake City. I'm sure if they offered her a few bucks, she would've gladly found the time. She sure knows how to win friends and influence people. Yup, she's going to make a fine Presidential hopeful!
Keep the pressure on!
Friday, December 4, 2009
18 More Months...at least - Is It Officially The Obama Doctrine Now?
While I applaud Obama for deciding on a date to bring troops home from Afghanistan, I would have preferred there wasn’t an eighteen month escalation preceding it. Of course critics say that the only thing Obama’s 18 month plan does is create a month 19 plan for the terrorists. Well, maybe so, but realistically we can’t capture and kill them all so just how many more American lives need to be wasted as we stumble around looking for a clear path to a perceived victory? How many times in the last eight years has the mission been changed just to keep us there? Even though I never viewed Bush as a legitimate President, I supported his decision after 9/11 to go into Afghanistan with the mission to capture and/or kill Osama bin Laden. I wanted the man responsible for the attack on our country “dead or alive”. On March 13, 2002, the part-time resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue stated in regard to bin Laden, “I am truly not that concerned about him. I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." That was just six months after the worse attack ever on US soil. Clearly, W’s heart wasn’t in it as he discovered they had no oil, so he shifted his attention to Iraq where he forced unfounded ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban and used them to sell to congress and the American public the need of a pre-emptive war. Of course for the Bush administration, it was a financial windfall to keep the war going and capturing bin Laden was never a priority because it would have destroyed any way of justifying going into Iraq. Cheney’s lifetime ties to Halliburton and the millions he's made from them are rarely included in this sad story either. When Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow bring it up, they're assailed as enemies of "real" America. Who is the real enemy? U.S. Marines allegedly had bin Laden trapped in Tora Bora in December of 2001 and asked for additional support. A decision to not deploy those requested American forces to go after him or block his escape was made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commander, Gen. Tommy Franks. Why would they do that if not to prolong the war and start another one? How many American lives could have been saved.
Wednesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel was joined by our U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice. The two had a very respectful back and forth as Rachel believes there’s an undeclared war in Pakistan while Rice denies that is the case and explains the differences in our Middle East involvements. It’s informative to watch two adults talk about U.S. policy. The two parts are about 23 minutes combined:
This interview should be enlightening for those of us truly trying to understand our mission and goals. Unfortunately, we have an electorate that, for the most part, has no real intellectual curiosity and in fact dislikes anyone who does. Surely, 23 minutes of two smart women (gasp) talking about military strategy can not be taken seriously by the "right". They see this type of discussion reserved for conservative white males only and it wouldn't have taken 23 minutes, just six words, "bomb the hell out of them." They much prefer the primal instinct of war over a well reasoned peaceful policy discussion and decision. In their eyes, "fight makes right" and anyone who disagrees is viewed as a traitor or weak. These people agreed with McCain and his 100 year war idea. Most of our low information voters rely on “key” words/topics like; liberal, socialist, fascist, czar, Marxist, Nazi, Hitler along with Kenyan, ACORN, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc…to get them fired up -- no thought needed. These words are delivered on a nightly basis from Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on Fox and Rush Limbaugh on the radio. The fact that their listeners/viewers repeat these words after hearing them on these shows even though many of the terms are contradictory certainly doesn’t deter them, that’s for sure! They applaud the untrained, unsophisticated views of their hero's. The only one in that group who completed what he started is O'Reilly (Marist College). The people that hang on to their every word, despise Maddow (Stanford & Oxford), Olbermann (Cornell), Ed Schultz (Minnesota State) and Thom Hartmann (Michigan State). I'm not sure when having an education became a bad thing in this country. Except for the occasionally bombastic Schultz, have you also noticed that our commentators have a much calmer demeanor? I'm also not buying that being a "liberal" is the profanity that conservatives have turned it into. By definition, we favor progress and reform, the protection of civil liberties. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded. Those aren't bad things!
Anyhow...
Obviously President Obama has more information about the situation than we do, but I’d love to see our service members come home. I'm just not sure that the goals that Susan Rice explained are realistic. These wars have done nothing positive for our country and there’s so much more we need to focus on. I did not vote for Obama to follow in Bush's footsteps in any manner, including Iraq and Afghanistan. We live in a world of microwave ovens and high-speed internet so we’ve grown accustomed to wanting everything now…if not sooner! Besides the war, President Obama is being criticized a lot for not accomplishing anything in his first year because we can’t see sure evidence. The stimulus appears to be working, yet because unemployment didn’t immediately fall to 5%, conservatives call it a failure. The health care impasse has been caused by "just say no" Republicans and conservative Democrats. Granted, Obama should take a more active role, but with the eight year mess he was handed, there remains only so many hours in a day. George W. Bush was most likely the worst leader (I won’t call him Prez) this country has ever had and his legacy is quite possibly going to destroy Obama’s as well unless giant steps are taken. I think one of the things that has caught him off guard is there is no longer a "no drama Obama." Everything he does is getting ridiculed and scrutinized by the right in ways that they weren't totally prepared for, so they've taken some heat. He came out of the gate strong with broadening stem cell research and passing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He appeared to be a strong, quiet, no frills Commander-in-chief when he ordered the Navy Seals to kill three Somali pirates who were holding an American cargo ship captain hostage. Then the health care debate began, Sarah Palin spoke of death panels, the crazed fringe took over informational town hall meetings and all the wonderful momentum and hope we had for this young President came to a screeching halt. I hope he can clean up most of the damage before the 2010 elections. While I don't think the Democrats will lose the majority in the House, it may no longer be a strong majority.
Sarah Palin Update: Since my last post was on Thanksgiving, I wasn't yet aware of The Turkey Trot To Nowhere. Evidently Sarah agreed to run the 5k Kennewick “Turkey Trot.” But she quit 40 minutes in! She wanted to avoid the adoring masses at the finish line. The article is linked above from "The Mudflats." It appears that the infamous Palin bus tour is a hoax. Joe McGinniss reports she's in fact flying around America on a private jet, specifically a luxurious "Gulfstream II 12-passenger jet rented from Universal Jet Aviation of Boca Raton, Florida, at a cost of more than $4,000 per hour." Yes indeed, her fans say she's "just like them!" In addition, camera's and recording devices are being banned from her book signing stops, BUT for a fee, you can get a photo taken of yourself with the former Alaska Governor for the following size/prices: 5x7 $15.99, 8x10 $20.99, 8x12 $23.99, 11x14 $35.99. Has any of her "fans" figured out yet that she's just in this for the money? Speaking of the former Governor, the Minnesota Mall of America announces she wants to be called Governor and wants only English speaking press when she appears there. Why should they call her Governor? Honestly, the way her gaffe filled book signing tour is going, you'd think she'd ban English speaking press so her never ending flow of ignorance wouldn't be reported daily!
Palin has also called on President Obama to boycott the Copenhagen climate conference since she feels the hacked emails from the the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England prove that man-made climate change is a hoax.
Quick Thoughts: On the Tiger Woods' ongoing saga: You know, the story seemed pretty conflicted right from the start, and has unfolded exactly as I expected it too, including my vision of the night in question and how the window of the Escalade was smashed. I am the last person who will condone any form of domestic violence, but as more and more information comes out, don’t you get the feeling that he probably wishes he just stayed in the house and took the beating?... On Thursday, Republican Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla) introduced the gimmick filled "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act". "The idea, broad-brush, is that whatever government option is in the bill, every senator and every representative should be enrolled in it," Vitter told 'The Hill'. "No other possibilities, no other choices." "It's called leadership," Coburn said. "If it's good enough for everybody else, we ought to be leading by example." Funny thing happened though, Democrats called their bluff. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) who tried to become a co-sponsor and was given the cold shouldar, was joined by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) in support. These are the kind of Democrats we need -- one’s with a spine! I like Sherrod Brown a little more every time I see him. ... You will love this headline: "Arlington, Tennessee Mayor Russell Wiseman Assails 'Muslim President' For Pre-Empting 'Peanuts": Seriously, this guy believes that President Barack Obama's West Point address, in which he announced his intention to escalate the war in Afghanistan, was intentionally timed to prevent Christians from watching Charlie Brown, stating, “Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim [sic] president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose”: The Peanuts Christmas show? Really? Now I could see if it was Rudolph or Frosty, but...These conservative fools weren’t embarrassed by eight years of a court appointed corrupt Presidency with the Bush-Cheney Regime, but they still can’t get over the fact that the young, black Hawaiian (yes Republicans, it was a state in 1961) won. Southerners get upset that they're perceived as uneducated, but they keep electing people like this. In fact, they should be embarrassed that people like Wiseman (ironic, isn't it?) continue to pop up on television and other media and make every southern stereotype be proven true.
Snarky comment of the week from Huffington Post commentator MCISMetal: "I can't comment on the Kyoto Accord as I've only ever seen the Honda" - Sarah Palin
In case you missed it...
News of the "get a life -- and a new iron": Nov. 27 METHUEN, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts woman who recently separated from her husband and had her hours cut at work says an image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that "life is going to be good." Mary Jo Coady first noticed the image Sunday when she walked into her daughter's room. The brownish residue on the bottom of the iron looks like the face of a man with long hair. The 44-year-old Coady was raised Catholic. She and her two college-age daughters agree that the image looks like Jesus and is proof that "he's listening." Coady tells The Eagle-Tribune she hopes her story will inspire others during the holidays. She says she plans to keep the iron in a closet and buy a new one.
Wednesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show, Rachel was joined by our U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice. The two had a very respectful back and forth as Rachel believes there’s an undeclared war in Pakistan while Rice denies that is the case and explains the differences in our Middle East involvements. It’s informative to watch two adults talk about U.S. policy. The two parts are about 23 minutes combined:
This interview should be enlightening for those of us truly trying to understand our mission and goals. Unfortunately, we have an electorate that, for the most part, has no real intellectual curiosity and in fact dislikes anyone who does. Surely, 23 minutes of two smart women (gasp) talking about military strategy can not be taken seriously by the "right". They see this type of discussion reserved for conservative white males only and it wouldn't have taken 23 minutes, just six words, "bomb the hell out of them." They much prefer the primal instinct of war over a well reasoned peaceful policy discussion and decision. In their eyes, "fight makes right" and anyone who disagrees is viewed as a traitor or weak. These people agreed with McCain and his 100 year war idea. Most of our low information voters rely on “key” words/topics like; liberal, socialist, fascist, czar, Marxist, Nazi, Hitler along with Kenyan, ACORN, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc…to get them fired up -- no thought needed. These words are delivered on a nightly basis from Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on Fox and Rush Limbaugh on the radio. The fact that their listeners/viewers repeat these words after hearing them on these shows even though many of the terms are contradictory certainly doesn’t deter them, that’s for sure! They applaud the untrained, unsophisticated views of their hero's. The only one in that group who completed what he started is O'Reilly (Marist College). The people that hang on to their every word, despise Maddow (Stanford & Oxford), Olbermann (Cornell), Ed Schultz (Minnesota State) and Thom Hartmann (Michigan State). I'm not sure when having an education became a bad thing in this country. Except for the occasionally bombastic Schultz, have you also noticed that our commentators have a much calmer demeanor? I'm also not buying that being a "liberal" is the profanity that conservatives have turned it into. By definition, we favor progress and reform, the protection of civil liberties. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded. Those aren't bad things!
Anyhow...
Obviously President Obama has more information about the situation than we do, but I’d love to see our service members come home. I'm just not sure that the goals that Susan Rice explained are realistic. These wars have done nothing positive for our country and there’s so much more we need to focus on. I did not vote for Obama to follow in Bush's footsteps in any manner, including Iraq and Afghanistan. We live in a world of microwave ovens and high-speed internet so we’ve grown accustomed to wanting everything now…if not sooner! Besides the war, President Obama is being criticized a lot for not accomplishing anything in his first year because we can’t see sure evidence. The stimulus appears to be working, yet because unemployment didn’t immediately fall to 5%, conservatives call it a failure. The health care impasse has been caused by "just say no" Republicans and conservative Democrats. Granted, Obama should take a more active role, but with the eight year mess he was handed, there remains only so many hours in a day. George W. Bush was most likely the worst leader (I won’t call him Prez) this country has ever had and his legacy is quite possibly going to destroy Obama’s as well unless giant steps are taken. I think one of the things that has caught him off guard is there is no longer a "no drama Obama." Everything he does is getting ridiculed and scrutinized by the right in ways that they weren't totally prepared for, so they've taken some heat. He came out of the gate strong with broadening stem cell research and passing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He appeared to be a strong, quiet, no frills Commander-in-chief when he ordered the Navy Seals to kill three Somali pirates who were holding an American cargo ship captain hostage. Then the health care debate began, Sarah Palin spoke of death panels, the crazed fringe took over informational town hall meetings and all the wonderful momentum and hope we had for this young President came to a screeching halt. I hope he can clean up most of the damage before the 2010 elections. While I don't think the Democrats will lose the majority in the House, it may no longer be a strong majority.
Sarah Palin Update: Since my last post was on Thanksgiving, I wasn't yet aware of The Turkey Trot To Nowhere. Evidently Sarah agreed to run the 5k Kennewick “Turkey Trot.” But she quit 40 minutes in! She wanted to avoid the adoring masses at the finish line. The article is linked above from "The Mudflats." It appears that the infamous Palin bus tour is a hoax. Joe McGinniss reports she's in fact flying around America on a private jet, specifically a luxurious "Gulfstream II 12-passenger jet rented from Universal Jet Aviation of Boca Raton, Florida, at a cost of more than $4,000 per hour." Yes indeed, her fans say she's "just like them!" In addition, camera's and recording devices are being banned from her book signing stops, BUT for a fee, you can get a photo taken of yourself with the former Alaska Governor for the following size/prices: 5x7 $15.99, 8x10 $20.99, 8x12 $23.99, 11x14 $35.99. Has any of her "fans" figured out yet that she's just in this for the money? Speaking of the former Governor, the Minnesota Mall of America announces she wants to be called Governor and wants only English speaking press when she appears there. Why should they call her Governor? Honestly, the way her gaffe filled book signing tour is going, you'd think she'd ban English speaking press so her never ending flow of ignorance wouldn't be reported daily!
Palin has also called on President Obama to boycott the Copenhagen climate conference since she feels the hacked emails from the the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England prove that man-made climate change is a hoax.
"Policy decisions require real science and real solutions, not junk science and doomsday scare tactics pushed by an environmental priesthood that capitalizes on the public's worry and makes them feel that owning an SUV is a 'sin' against the planet."In some ways Palin's sudden enthusiasm for science comes as a surprise, since she has suggested evolution is not real and wants creationism taught in schools. Then again this gives her the chance to once again recite "Drill baby, drill."
Quick Thoughts: On the Tiger Woods' ongoing saga: You know, the story seemed pretty conflicted right from the start, and has unfolded exactly as I expected it too, including my vision of the night in question and how the window of the Escalade was smashed. I am the last person who will condone any form of domestic violence, but as more and more information comes out, don’t you get the feeling that he probably wishes he just stayed in the house and took the beating?... On Thursday, Republican Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla) introduced the gimmick filled "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act". "The idea, broad-brush, is that whatever government option is in the bill, every senator and every representative should be enrolled in it," Vitter told 'The Hill'. "No other possibilities, no other choices." "It's called leadership," Coburn said. "If it's good enough for everybody else, we ought to be leading by example." Funny thing happened though, Democrats called their bluff. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) who tried to become a co-sponsor and was given the cold shouldar, was joined by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) in support. These are the kind of Democrats we need -- one’s with a spine! I like Sherrod Brown a little more every time I see him. ... You will love this headline: "Arlington, Tennessee Mayor Russell Wiseman Assails 'Muslim President' For Pre-Empting 'Peanuts": Seriously, this guy believes that President Barack Obama's West Point address, in which he announced his intention to escalate the war in Afghanistan, was intentionally timed to prevent Christians from watching Charlie Brown, stating, “Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim [sic] president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose”: The Peanuts Christmas show? Really? Now I could see if it was Rudolph or Frosty, but...These conservative fools weren’t embarrassed by eight years of a court appointed corrupt Presidency with the Bush-Cheney Regime, but they still can’t get over the fact that the young, black Hawaiian (yes Republicans, it was a state in 1961) won. Southerners get upset that they're perceived as uneducated, but they keep electing people like this. In fact, they should be embarrassed that people like Wiseman (ironic, isn't it?) continue to pop up on television and other media and make every southern stereotype be proven true.
Snarky comment of the week from Huffington Post commentator MCISMetal: "I can't comment on the Kyoto Accord as I've only ever seen the Honda" - Sarah Palin
In case you missed it...
News of the "get a life -- and a new iron": Nov. 27 METHUEN, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts woman who recently separated from her husband and had her hours cut at work says an image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that "life is going to be good." Mary Jo Coady first noticed the image Sunday when she walked into her daughter's room. The brownish residue on the bottom of the iron looks like the face of a man with long hair. The 44-year-old Coady was raised Catholic. She and her two college-age daughters agree that the image looks like Jesus and is proof that "he's listening." Coady tells The Eagle-Tribune she hopes her story will inspire others during the holidays. She says she plans to keep the iron in a closet and buy a new one.
The "image of Jesus" that she sees has only reassured me that what's going to be good in her life is not burning down her house. The good news is she's going to put it in the closet and buy a new one. Since it looks like it's very old and well used, this is a good call...although I'll be expecting it to be up for bid on Ebay!
UPDATE 12/6/09: Just did a quick search on Ebay and there already is an iron with Jesus alleged image listed! The reasonable seller zinsanemods (amazingly the same person also has an Ozzy Osbourne iron - what are the odds?!) has allowed a $3000 Buy It Now.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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...
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...
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