Glenn Beck & Dwight Schrute

Youtube elevates the discourse:

Oklahoma: We’ll Shame You

It’s obvious many pro-lifers don’t really care about children – hence opposition to sex education, family planning funding and subsidized childrens’ health insurance.  Though these are methods proven to decrease the number of abortions, they don’t want to hear it.  What really drives them is their judgment of sexually active women and a desire to impose their morality.  They think the promiscuity of these women should be punished by forcing them to carry babies they don’t want, or can’t care for.  Then there’s the Oklahoma state legislature:

A new Oklahoma law requires physicians to disclose detailed information on women’s abortions to the State’s Department Of Health, which will then post the collected data on a public website. The controversial measure comes into effect on November 1 and will cost $281,285 to implement, $256,285 each subsequent year to maintain.

Oklahoma women undergoing abortion procedures will be legally forced to reveal:

1) Date of abortion
2) County in which abortion is performed
3) Age of mother
4) Marital status of mother
5) Race of mother
6) Years of education of mother
7) State or foreign country of residence of mother
8) Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother

Proponents of the legislation claim that women should not be concerned over their privacy since no names or “personal information” will be reported. This defense is questionable. Feminists For Choice argues, “In reviewing the actual text of the law, the first 8 questions that will be asked and reported could easily be used to identify any member of a smaller community.”

Why stop with abortions?  I am using this blog post as a call to action.  ALL ILLINOIS COLONOSCOPIES NEED TO BE DISCLOSED TO THE ILLINOIS’ DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH IN NARRATIVE FORM.  I’ll start:

ATTN:  Illinois Dept. of Health
RE:        Colonoscopy (October 2, 2009)

It was a dreary October day.  I entered my Doctor’s lobby, stomach still rumbling from the prior night’s laxative.  A rosy-cheeked nurse sporting a snaggle-tooth called my name.  The reverberations echoed in my soul.  I was led to a sparse room and asked to disrobe.  My skinny frame trembled with dread.  I said goodbye to my pale ass, wondering if it would ever be the same, and put on the gown given to me.

I waited. And waited.  My psyche turbulent with mental projections of the upcoming procedure.

Nurse Snaggle reentered and hooked me to an IV. She placated me with some assurances intimating that the procedure wouldn’t hurt.  It was nice.  She took me to the procedure room, where I met Dr. Jellyfinger.  Someone put a contraption on my finger and an oxygen mask was strapped to my faced.  My mind spun. I thought about that time when I was child and I was running with my dog Lady, a stunning German Shepherd.  I stopped at Springdale Park to take a sip of water from the drinking fountain.  It was refreshing.  I took Lady over to the park bench for a brief rest.  As I collapsed on the bench, I sat directly on a pine cone.  Something happened to me that day…

I ventured back to reality, but noticed myself getting sleepy.  Dr. J asked me to turn over on my side.  I thought I saw Lou Diamond Phillips. But it was just a poster…of Lou Diamond Phillips trying to raise awareness of colon-health.  I saw the Doctor take the scope – longer than anything I could imagine.  In my haze, I was convinced it would be possible to see the scope from space – like the Great Wall.

Then it all went black.  I don’t envy the doctor. Not at all. 

I woke up to Nurse Snaggle gently shaking my shoulder.  She was smiling, snaggle fully exposed. But I hate to criticize – she was a nice lady.  She told me I had done well.  I smiled weakly. Then I rolled over on my side and let out a seismic fart.  That felt good.

I left and went home.  My butt had changed, but my life was still the same.  Or was it…

And Then They Came For The Sane, And I Did Not Speak Out

Glenn Beck drops the obvious Holocaust victim/FOX News comparison:

BECK: When they’re done with Fox, and you decide to speak out on something. The old, “first they came for the Jews, and I wasn’t Jewish.” When you have a question, and you believe that something should be asked, they’re a — totally fine with you right now; they have no problem with you.

When they’re done with Fox and talk radio, do you really think they’re going to leave you alone if you want to ask a tough question? Do you really think that a man who has never had to stand against tough questions and has as much power as he does — do you really believe after he takes out the number one news network, do you really think that this man is then not going to turn on you? That you and your little organization is going to cause him any hesitation at all not to take you out?

If you believe that, you should open up a history book, because you’ve missed the point of many brutal dictators. You missed the point on how they always start.

I love the strawman argument.  Who the fuck are “they,” and what questions are they preventing you from asking? 

I’ll open up some history for you:  First they came for the guy spewing nonsense out of his ass, and they gave him a syndicated radio show. 

Then they came for the nutjob ratcheting up his hate-filled rhetoric, and they gave him his own tv show. 

And then they came for the douchebag who was spreading more hate and nonsensical conspiracy theories, and they gave him a fucking book deal which allowed the poor, oppressed victim to pull in $20 Million last year. 

It’s possible this is pretty insulting to some in the Jewish community, particularly on the back of Beck’s  attempt to politicize Yom Kippur.  But I’m sure they they can speak for themselves.

“First they came …” is a popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. Although the precise origin of the poem is not known, Niemoller stated he prefers the version as:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Texas Messes With Liberty

Unfrozen Caveman Governor.

  GW has been a big follower of Rick Perry ever since he proclaimed to his constituents that ”secession”  is a patriotic act. 

Even recent IL Govs. Ryan + Blago wouldn’t dare make such claims.  Well…maybe if the price was right.

But there’s one thing I’m pretty confident the disgraced Land of Lincoln leaders would not turn a blind-eye to:  the execution of an innocent man.

If you have not read last month’s New Yorker article about the heart-breaking story of Cameron Todd Willingham, you should.  It’s amazing journalism and a tragic indictment of the imperfections and inequities of our justice system.

Long story, short: Mr. Willingham was sentenced to death for the arson-murder of his 3 young children in 1991.  The forensic and eyewitness evidence was shoddy at best.  Despite exculpatory evidence produced by independent fire experts shortly before his 2004 execution date,  Perry signed off on Willingham’s execution. 

And Perry is now running from the story.

Via TPM:

Sam Bassett, the former chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, has now told the Houston Chronicle that lawyers for Perry told him the case was inappropriate, and that the hiring of a nationally known fire expert was a “waste of state money…”

Last month, Perry, a Republican, had declined to re-appoint Bassett, as well as several other commissioners whose terms had expired. Bassett has since suggested that the decision was part of an effort to stymie the Willingham inquiry.

Bassett’s replacement as chair, John Bradley, immediately canceled a hearing at which the nationally known arson expert, Craig Beyler, was scheduled to testify, and has not said whether it will be rescheduled.

Bassett told the Chronicle he had been summoned to a meeting earlier this year with Perry’s then-General Counsel David Cabrales and Deputy General Counsel Mary Anne Wiley. He described it as “progressively confrontational.”

Reports the paper:

At one point, the lawyers asked Bassett how the panel chose Beyler to review the Willingham case. Bassett said he explained state regulations, requiring the soliciting of bids, were followed. When Wiley asked how much Beyler had been paid, Bassett said he responded, “$30,000, maybe a little more.” 

Wiley then remarked, “That sounds like a waste of state money,” according to Bassett.

Of course, it costs about $2 million to convict, imprison and execute a Texan, but I digress.

This looks like the cover-up of a sad, sad story.  Perry is fighting for re-election and wishes not to be bothered by his criminal negligence, and overt disregard for the truth and the life of a Texas citizen. Willingham’s widow would not even let him be buried next his daughters because authorities had convinced her he was a murderer. 

Indeed, Rick Perry’s actions would probably make Blago blush.  But there is no joke to be made here.  He’s a despicable human being who hopefully will someday reap what he sows.

John Boehner Choo-Choo-Chooses To Be An Ignorant Jag

Barack Obama Doesn't Care About Orange People.

I don’t have very strong feelings when it comes to hate crimes statutes. However, in the context of current legislation, if there is going to be a hate crime law, it should protect all targeted groups.

Enter the House Minority Leader:

Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance,” he said. “The Democrats’ ‘thought crimes’ legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance.”

Based on that statement, CBSNews.com contacted Boehner’s office to find out if the minority leader opposes all hate crimes legislation. The law as it now stands offers protections based on race, color, religion and national origin.

In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner “supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics.”

It should be noted that the current law does not include gender, though the expanded legislation would cover gender as well as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

“He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes,” Smith continued.

Boehner’s position, then, appears to be grounded in the notion that immutable characteristics should be protected under hate crimes laws. And while religion is an immutable characteristic, his office suggests, sexual orientation is not.

So being gay is a choice, but being Catholic is immutable? That’s disheartening. I thought I had broken free from the shackles of the religious upbringing repeatedly thrust upon me as a delicate, innocent child. 

I did choose to use that erotic imagery. 

How about having a fierce Man Tan? Nature or Nurture? Choice or

Frazzle.

Immutable?   It’s Adam + Eve, not Frazzle and Steve! 

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Actual Congressional Advocacy For Those In Need.

I like Al Franken for a couple reasons:

1)  He’s a member of an endangered species – a Senate Democrat with an actual spine and moral compass.

2)  He bothers Republicans.

The issue here involves the gang-rape of Jamie Leigh Jones, a KBR employee allegedly raped by co-workers in Baghdad.  Ms. Jones tried for years to get her day in court.  KBR/Halliburton fought this, saying her employment contract dictated any dispute be resolved via private arbitration proceedings.

Via Thinkprogress:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Franken said:

The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law … And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. … The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.

The Amendment passed 68-30.  However, some were not happy.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.”

Franken rebutted, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.”

Speaking of sex crimes, no word yet on whether an amendment will be drafted related to Sessions’ whoring on behalf of one of the Republican party’s biggest corporate contributors.  Sleep tight, Jefferson Beauregard.

Take Your Rings And Shove ‘Em

Congratulations, Chicago.  You won in spite of yourself.  And it only cost $100 million for the losing Olympic bid.  Bless you.  But can we stop the ridiculous storyline that Oprah, Obama, or Ronnie Woo-Woo had anything to do with it?  The fact is, the bid was bad.   The fact is that the IOC has long been in a financial power struggle with the USOC.  And the fact is the IOC goes where they can make the most coin.

Nothing Wrong With This.

Above all, however, is the fact that the city just wasn’t into it.  While conservative media derided Chicago as this bastion of sin and corruption, other Americans wanted the Olympics to come to Chicago (84%) way more than Chicagoans themselves. Recent WGN/Chicago Tribune polls put local support for the Olympics bid at around 50%. The 3 other potential host cities had public support in the 70%-80% range.  The politicians and business elite did not represent the will of the people. What a surprise.

The reveling of conservative media in Chicago’s defeat was far from surprising.  Not long ago, Glenn Beck was extolling the success of Salt Lake City’s Winter Games as evidence of Mitt Romney’s presidential qualifications. Now? The gate-keepers of patriotism have decided the failure of the IOC to award Chicago the Olympics is evidence of Obama’s failed foreign policy.  Would it be wrong to characterize this elation as “Anti-American?” Maybe. It’s at least a Silver Medal in the sport of Logical Gymnastics.

But alas, there will be no Michael Phelps finger-banging some DePaul student of the Le Passage dance floor.  No Canadian softball player enjoying an Al’s Beef.  No 12-year old Chinese gymnasts being ogled by weird middle-age men from Rockford.   We could’ve had it all!  Not a working contract for the CPD. Not smaller class sizes and better paid teachers for the CPS.  Not a 21st Century CTA.  But a 2-week athletic event-money pit we could’ve been paying off for the next 30 years.  Ah, what a shame.

Naperville 2024.

Lobbyists 2 – Affordable Health Care 0

 

The Senate Finance Committee can’t even endorse a modest public option like Chuck Schumer’s. Citing his belief that a public option can’t pass on the Senate floor “at this time,” Finance chairman Max Baucus joined two Democrats and all Republicans in voting down the amendment, which failed 10 to 13.

Joining Baucus on the Democrats’ side of the dais were Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and, by proxy, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) who wasn’t present for the vote.

There will be no public option in the Finance Committee’s health care bill.

So when Conrad and Baucus talk about not having enough votes for the public option, they’re really just projecting.  Cowardly, yet not surprising.  Senators like Baucus and Harry Reid are not “leaders” of anything.  Douchebags? yes.  Leaders? Not in any sense of the term.

Small Non-Profit Destroying America!

This ACORN shit baffles me.  Here are some excerpts from Greenwald’s excellent article on the subject:

Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Fox-News/Glenn-Beck/Rush-Limbaugh leadership trains its protesting followers to focus the vast bulk of their resentment and anxieties on largely powerless and downtrodden factions, while ignoring, and even revering, the outright pillaging by virtually omnipotent corporate interests that own and control their Government (and, not coincidentally, Fox News).  It’s hard to imagine a more perfectly illustrative example of all of that than the hysterical furor over ACORN.

ACORN has received a grand total of $53 million in federal funds over the last 15 years — an average of $3.5 million per year.  Meanwhile, not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars of public funds have been, in the last year alone, transferred to or otherwise used for the benefit of Wall Street.  Billions of dollars in American taxpayer money vanished into thin air, eaten by private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by Halliburton subsidiary KBR.  All of those corporate interests employ armies of lobbyists and bottomless donor activities that ensure they dominate our legislative and regulatory processes, and to be extra certain, the revolving door between industry and government is more prolific than ever, with key corporate officials constantly ending up occupying the government positions with the most influence over those industries…

So with this massive pillaging of America’s economic security and its control of American government by its richest and most powerful factions growing by the day, to whom is America’s intense economic anxiety being directed?  To a non-profit group that devotes itself to providing minute benefits to people who live under America’s poverty line, and which is so powerless in Washington that virtually the entire U.S. Senate just voted to cut off its funding at the first sign of real controversy — could anyone imagine that happening to a key player in the banking or defense industry? 

Apparently, the problem for middle-class and lower-middle-class Americans is not that their taxpayer dollars are going to prop up billionaires, oligarchs and their corrupt industries.  It’s that America’s impoverished — a group that is growing rapidly — is getting too much, has too much power and too little accountability.  Anonymous Liberal has a superb post on the manipulative inanity of the Fox-generated ACORN ”scandal” (h/t D-day):

Let’s take a step back and consider just what ACORN is. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and improve the lives of poor people. As with many other organizations, ACORN has a number of legally distinct parts, each of which has different sources of funding and engages in different kinds of activities (ACORN’s conservative enemies routinely conflate these various parts to imply that ACORN is using federal money for improper political purposes). Since its founding the 70s, ACORN and its employees and volunteers have fought successfully to, among other things, increase minimum wages across the country, increase the quality of public education in poor areas, and protect people from predatory lending practices. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, ACORN helped rebuild thousands of homes and assisted victims in relocating and finding housing outside of New Orleans. The ACORN activity that has drawn the most conservative ire is its voter registration efforts which, consistent with ACORN’s mission, are primarily aimed at low-income voters (who tend to vote Democratic). . . .

But even if you take these film-makers at face value and assume the worst, the reality is that ACORN has thousands of employees and the vast majority of them spend their days trying to help poor people through perfectly legal means (and receive very little compensation for doing so). Even before yesterday’s Senate vote, the amount of federal money that went to ACORN was very small. This is a relatively insignificant organization in the grand scheme of things, but it’s an organization that has unquestionably fought over the years to improve the lives of the less fortunate in this country.

That the GOP and its conservative supporters would single out this particular organization for such intense demonization is telling. In September of last year, the entire world came perilously close to complete financial catastrophe. We’re still not out of the woods and we’re deep within one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. This situation was brought about by the recklessness and greed of our banks and financial institutions, most of which had to be bailed out at enormous cost to the American taxpayer (exponentially more than all of the tax dollars given to ACORN over the years). The people who brought about this near catastrophe, for the most, profited immensely from it. These very same institutions, propped up by the American taxpayer, are once again raking in large profits.

But rather than focus their anger on these folks, conservatives choose to go after an organization composed almost entirely of low-paid community organizers, an organization that could never hope to have even a small fraction of the clout or the ability to affect the overall direction of the country that Wall Street bankers have. ACORN’s relative lack of political influence was on full display yesterday, when the U.S. Senate (in which Democrats have a supermajority) not only entertained a vote to defund ACORN, but approved it by a huge margin (with only seven Democrats opposing).

If one were to watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh — as millions do — one would believe that the burden of the ordinary American taxpayer, and the unfair plight of America’s rich, is that their money is being stolen by the poorest and most powerless sectors of the society.  An organization whose constituencies are often-unregistered inner-city minorities, the homeless and the dispossesed is depicted as though it’s Goldman Sachs, Blackwater, Halliburton and combined, as though Washington officials are in thrall to those living in poverty rather than those who fund their campaigns.  It’s not the nice men in the suits doing the stealing but the very people, often minorities or illegal immigrants, with no political or financial power who nonetheless somehow dominate the government and get everything for themselves.  The poorer and weaker one is, the more one is demonized in right-wing mythology as all-powerful recipients of ill-gotten gains; conversely, the stronger and more powerful one is, the more one is depicted as an oppressed and put-upon victim (that same dynamic applies to foreign affairs as well).

It’s such an obvious falsehood — so counter-intuitive and irrational — yet it resonates due to powerful cultural manipulations.  Most of all, what’s so pernicious about all of this is that the same interests who are stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption are scapegoating the poorest and most vulnerable in order to ensure that the victims of their behavior are furious with everyone except for them.

I don’t care if ACORN gets a dime of federal money.  Some other non-profit will likely take the reins, the money, and perform similar services. So why the big obsession? I don’t understand the conservative outrage over a decentralized organization that operates on a shoestring budget and has absolutely NO power (as can be seen by Congress’ vote). 

And when the Federal government builds inadequate levies, destroys the wetlands naturally protecting the area, and then sits on its hands while an American city is destroyed by a storm, it’s groups like ACORN that help the displaced and marginalized pick up the pieces while the government turns its head and the rest of us sit on our asses watching reality TV and eating KFC gravy bowls. So why the outrage? Why, my friends, why? Is it a case of “providing assistance while colored?”  Who knows? Only the indignant. Crazy times.

Protesters Of “Government Spending” Want More Government $ Spent On Them

Maybe I’m biased because I live in the public transportation shithole that is Chicago, but D.C.’s Metro always seems well-planned, clean and efficient. Essentially, everything you want for a subway.  But apparently, you can’t please everyone. According to the Wall Street Journal,

Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services…

The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.

“These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote. “These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”

A spokesman for Brady says that “there weren’t enough cars and there weren’t enough trains.” Brady tweeted as much from the Saturday march. “METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March! More stories. People couldn’t get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers from Metro,” he wrote on Twitter.

Brady says in his letter to Metro that overcrowding forced an 80-year-old woman and elderly veterans in wheelchairs to pay for cabs. He concludes that it “appears that Metro added no additional capacity to its regular weekend schedule.”

Next Stop - Irony.

 I don’t think it’s a stretch to infer that  Rep. Brady didn’t ride the train that day, nor is a frequent rider.  Mr. Brady’s constituents, while bitching about how the Metro doesn’t ride nearly as smooth as a John Deere LX176 Riding Mower, also maintain there were too many “coloreds” and “ethnics” on the train. 

Teabaggers in the Big City.  There you go, TNN. I just gave you sitcom-gold. Brady is also likely to complain about the publicly-funded police and paramedics that kept order during their protest, as well as the publicly-maintained roads on which they marched.

People From Jersey

Some Evangelicals believe Mohammed is the Antichrist. Lutherans believe the Pope is the Antichrist.  Fat people believe broccoli is the Antichrist. What about people from Jersey?

Public Policy Polling’s habit of asking revealing, bizarre questions continues with a survey of New Jersey voters that finds—as President Obama’s approval rating dips slightly—only 79 percent of voters ready to rule out the possibility that their president is the Anti-Christ. Eight percent say he is, while 13 percent are not sure.

 Further breakdowns on that question:

- Twelve percent of McCain voters think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Twenty-one percent are not sure.

- Fourteen percent of Republicans think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Fifteen percent are not sure.

- Eighteen percent of “conservative” voters think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Seventeen percent are not sure.

The big surprise here–the group of voters most likely to think Obama is the Anti-Christ are … Hispanics, who solidly backed Obama in 2008. Only 58 percent of them say, for sure, that their president is not Satan come to wreak havoc here on earth.

In a related poll, 42% of antichrists surveyed said they would only set foot in New Jersey for a lay-over, and 82% of antichrists believe the Antichrist is really some Jersey “Housewife.”  Good stuff.

 

Nothing metaphysical about these douchebags.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Mayor Daley Gets Gold For Coercion

Please pick Rio. Please pick Rio…Tokyo? Tulsa?

In a historic vote that could transform Chicago or saddle future generations with Olympic debt, the City Council on Wednesday authorized Mayor Daley to sign a host city contract that amounts to an unlimited guarantee from Chicago taxpayers.

The 49-to-0 vote sends a message loud and clear to International Olympic Committee members — one of whom was in the City Council chambers: Chicago may have hesitated to sign on the dotted line. But, there’s no hesitation anymore.

The Mayor is famous at getting the City Council to bend to his will. If someone votes against him and angers His Majesty, come next election, this council person will get primaried and rolled by the Daley machine. 

However, yesterday the Mayor had a moment of benevolence:

“Vote your conscience. If you firmly believe and you have the courage, you vote no … Be not afraid of the stand you’ve taken before in a committee or on the floor,” he said, refusing to name names.

Great guy, the Mayor. Putting personal vendettas and political games aside for the benefit of the city.  Certainly, the consciences of these 49 diverse council members should come to distinct conclusions on a complex issue such as this, right? 

49-0.

Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) acknowledged that Wednesday’s vote was a leap of faith. But, she said, “Fear can’t paralyze you. Fear of the unseen cannot stop you from taking risk.”

Why be scared at all, Ms. Lyle?  There’s nothing scary about gambling with other peoples’ money.   Rest easy, children. Nothing is fucked.

If Chicago wins the Olympic sweepstakes Oct. 2 and the 2016 Summer Games are a financial disaster, taxpayers would be left holding the bag.

Daley and Ryan insist that won’t happen.

They claim Olympic organizers would literally have to blow through $2.4 billion worth of surpluses, private insurance and previously approved city and state guarantees before Chicago taxpayers would be left standing alone.

“This is very, very well protected. We have every catastrophe covered,” Ryan said.

$2.4 billion? That’s a long weekend for this city.   These Powerful Men must really want to see some ‘roided-up freaks run around in a circle.  I have a feeling we won’t be able to charge this to the Underhills.

You Don’t Want To Burn In Hell, Do You Little Girl?

To follow up on this non-story-story, I’m guessing the DoE won’t request the impressionable youngsters adhere to such mandatory, creepy behavior:

If You Can’t Trust A Former Cokehead, Top 40 DJ, And College Dropout, Who Can You Trust?

So the President is set to address school children about staying in school, studying, and all that shit.  Exciting for the children? Maybe. Constructive use of time? I don’t know.  Seemingly mundane exercise likely to ignite the furor of wingnuts? Oh, you betcha.

Nevermind that both Bush and Reagan addressed school children during their presidencies.  This must be different because, as we all know – Obama was born a Kenyan-Muslim-Antichrist.  He’s the biggest threat to school kids since Halloween candy and Father Reacharound.

To the out-of-power Right, everything is a life-and-death issue. Everything is suddenly a conspiracy.  President Obama must be trying to indoctrinate impressionable youth. Here’s the e-mail floating around. Maybe your crazy aunt has forwarded it to you.

NOTE TO OBAMA :

th due to the beginning of Socialist Indoctrination of Americas children.Keep your kids home September 8th and twitter, the choice is clear : No school for kids on September 8bloggers, between internetWord is traveling fast on the

LEAVE OUR KIDS ALONE !!!!

 2009 September 1
by DanaLoesch
Take a day of vacation. Go to the zoo. Anything that would save your offspring from what I will bluntly say is just the quasi-fellating the executive branch. That cackling over a bubbling cauldron you hear is the NEA rejoicing.
Picture 4
President Obama’s Address to Students Across America September 8, 2009
I wouldn’t have such a problem with the Department of Education were this presented in a non-Orwellian fashion. Oh yes, it is, as the lesson plan directs, to listen to what t he president, the mayor, et al. says, to respect their “authoritah” </Cartman>, but there is no emphasis in here on why the president and other elected officials should listen to US. The focus is solely on authority. There is no consideration given to the authority of the American people. That’s what concerns me.
There is this mindset that those in Washington are the “elite,” that we should mind our Ps and Qs and blindly follow their directives. That’s not the manner of governance upon which this country was founded – it is quite the opposite; even the hobbyist Constitutional aficionado appreciates this.
So yes, keep your kids home on September 8th and teach them that the power of America rests in the hands of its people, no one else.

And guess who has picked up the torch, pitchfork and kool-aid for this cause? Glenn Beck! What a surprise!

Beck had this to say today:

We have a special 1 hour broadcast, on Tuesday…on the Indoctrination of your children. And we put it on that Tuesday because of Barack Obama speaking on that Tuesday.  Gang, you have a system that is wildly, wildly out-of-control…Stand guard America! You’re Republic is under attack!

Well, I have a pretty good idea what most home-schoolers are going to get to listen to on September 8. If anyone should speak on education, it should definitely be the chemically imbalanced, high school (equivalency) graduate, and surely not the democratically elected President with 2 Ivy League degrees. Beck continues…

Something wicked this way comes. I pray every night for more time…An event is coming and they will use this event to seize power. You are looking at the administration of Chavez…

What the fuck does this even mean?  Of course, this is nothing new for Beck.  He spews the alarmist, fear-mongering, apocalyptic, nonsensical rhetoric for hours a day.  Though the subject may change, the crazy hater basically spoon-feeds other delusional haters.  Actually, it’s quite disturbing.  Dan Savage calls it like it is:

 

Dan Savage:     I really do think the Michelle Bachmanns of the world and the Glenn Becks of the world are actively and, consciously or subconsciously, trying to get, I’m just gonna say it, trying to get the President killed.  That’s why they’re setting this up as kill or be killed arguments. He’s gonna kill you grandma, pull the plug on grandma, death panels children have to go in front of. This kind of rhetoric, this paranoid style on the religious right, from the birchers to the birthers doesn’t usually end well, and we, somebody’s gotta put the brakes on it, and unfortunately, in the Republican party, there are no adults left in the room, there are only the Michele Bachmann’s and the Glenn Beck’s and the Rush Limbaugh’s running the show.”

Amen.  There is no way around it.  Beck can add all the qualifiers he wants, but his repetition of “Obama is killing this country,” speaks to this point.  He’s mobilizing his viewers through any possible threat:  Obama’s indoctrinated 3rd-grade minions will take your guns, queer up your son, and bite your ankles.  So why is it only grassroots organizations that will call him on this?

 The majority of the country wants health insurance reform, but there sending the birchers and birthers to these meeting to scream and yell and create the appearance of controversy and the media, which is capped by it’s uh, allegiance to always describing every debate as a 50/50 either or, they create the impression that there is a deadlock when there is not,and it is a very conscious working around strategy on the part of Republican strategists.”

If you haven’t contacted Beck’s advertisers to tell them he’s a bigoted douchebag, please look here.  Play Beck’s game and let the free-market sort it out.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Jesus Fish

Cuckoo...Cuckoo

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Who would Jesus condemn to death? These guys  put their recommendations in the prayer box:

Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR-15 rifle and a handgun to an Arizona Obama rally earlier this month, says he “concurs” with his fundamentalist pastor’s prayer for President Obama “to die and go to hell.”

Maybe the pastor was taken out of context?

And in an interview with a local TV station, pastor Steven Anderson himself elaborated on his statement to TPMmuckraker that he would prefer Obama to die of natural causes so “he’s not some martyr.”

“I don’t want him to be a martyr, we don’t need another holiday. I’d like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer,” Anderson now says.

That’s nice. 

So…Remember when the GOP (facilitated by every Dem Senator minus Feingold) rammed the Patriot Act through Congress? 

Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. No. 107-52) expanded the definition of terrorism to cover “”domestic,”" as opposed to international, terrorism.   A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act “”dangerous to human life”" that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to:  (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.  Additionally, the acts have to occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and if they do not, may be regarded as international terrorism. 

I am a defender of the Bill of Rights (not just #2).  I also think the Patriot Act should be trashed.  Under the Brandenburg  standard, this probably doesn’t fall under “imminent threat.”  However, inflammatory rhetoric needs to be called out.  Time will tell whether these “Men of God” are dangerous.  Regardless, they are certainly hateful, crazy-ass f’ers.  Peace be with you.

Greenwald: Thomas Paine v. The Right’s Torture Defenders

My favorite blogger (other than riproarious  + poorluckyme, of course) is Glenn Greenwald.  I was ready to give my DNOTW  to NY Rep. Peter King for his ridiculous name-calling and fear-mongering regarding Holder’s decision to investigate war crimes. Greenwald does it with 1/2 the sarcasm and triple the substance. Bless him. I’ll post in full:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

GOP Congressman Peter King — the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee — had this rancid outburst today in Politico regarding Eric Holder’s decision to investigate whether laws were broken by the Bush administration’s torture:

“It’s bullshit. It’s disgraceful. You wonder which side they’re on. [It's' a] declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense. . . . When Holder was talking about being ’shocked’ [before the report's release], I thought they were going to have cutting guys’ fingers off or something — or that they actually used the power drill. . . “

Pressed on whether interrogators had actually broken the law, King said he didn’t think the Geneva Convention “applies to terrorists.”

Never mind that the Supreme Court in Hamdan ruled exactly the opposite:  that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to all detainees, including accused Terrorists.  Never mind that the War Crimes Act makes it a felony to inflict “prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from . . . the threat of imminent death; or the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering. . . .”  and that these acts are therefore criminal whether or not King likes them.

Never mind that scores of people have died — not merely been threatened with death — in American custody as a result of “interrogation tactics.”  Never mind that Ronald Reagan signed the Convention Against Torture which compels the U.S. to prosecute anyone authorizing torture; that the Treaty proclaims that “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever . . . may be invoked as a justification of torture”; and that Reagan himself said the Treaty “will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.”  And most of all, never mind that King has no idea whether these people are actually “terrorists” because the people we tortured were never given trials, never proven to have done anything wrong, and in many cases were — as federal courts have repeatedly found and as the CIA IG Report itself recognized — completely innocent. 

My email inbox and comment section are filled with King-like accusatory sentiments that to oppose Torture is to defend Terrorists, because Terrorists deserve to be tortured, and that to oppose their abuse is to be treasonous because it’s terrible to care if Terrorists are abused, etc. etc.  In his 1795 essay, which he entitled Dissertations on First Principles of Government, Thomas Paine wrote this as his last paragraph:

An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

Can that be any clearer?  Of course, Paine also wrote in Common Sense that “so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king” and “in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.”  And in his Dissertations, he also wrote:

The executive is not invested with the power of deliberating whether it shall act or not; it has no discretionary authority in the case; for it can act no other thing than what the laws decree, and it is obliged to act conformably thereto. . . .

For anyone who believes in the basic principles of the founding, the fact that these acts of torture are illegal — felonies — ought to end the discussion about whether they were justified.

Few things are more repellent than watching the contemporary Right in America invoke the principles of the Founders — in general — to justify their warped and lawless authoritarianism.  But nothing is more repulsive than watching them pretend that Thomas Paine — of all people — has anything to do with them (Glenn Beck actually wrote his most recent book based on the explicit pretense that he is the modern day Paine).  Any casual reading of Paine makes clear that, today, he would be so far on what is deemed the “left” side of the spectrum that you’d be unable to find him.  Paine is nothing but what Joe Klein refers to as a “crazy civil liberties absolutist” and what Rush Limbaugh similarly calls ”far, fringe, lunatic kooks, far left radical lunatic fringe.” 

The Right today argues that condemning torture is wrong because the people who were tortured were just Terrorists — barely human — and they deserve no defense, not even the force of law.  Thomas Paine argued as a first principle that those devoted to liberty “must guard even his enemy from oppression.”  Could the contrast be any more stark?

 

UPDATE:  The version of the IG Report released yesterday was heavily, heavily redacted.  It is now being reported that several of the redacted provisions detailed at least some of the deaths of detainees at the hands of their U.S. captors, while other detainees were simply “lost.”

Tyrant Cuts Taxes For 98% Of American Workers

People forget 37% of the Stimulus bill came in the form of tax cuts.  I have no idea why the President and his crew have been seemingly reluctant to highlight this fact.  Luckily, Nate Silver breaks it down:

Let’s take a look at the tax cuts contained in the stimulus package in a little bit more detail. First is the Making Work Pay tax credit. As I mentioned, this applies to single filers making less than $95,000 and joint filers making less than $190,000. Using the IRS tax tables that I linked to earlier, this means that about 102 million taxpayers, or about 92.4 percent of “working” tax filers, will be eligible for the credit.

Then there’s the AMT reduction. The Tax Policy Center has helpfully estimated the percentage of Americans who are subject to the AMT by income bracket. For instance, about 79.2 percent of earners between $100,000 and $200,000 should be subject to the AMT by this time, according to estimates that the Tax Policy Center put together a couple of years ago. All told, this works out to about 24 million tax filers according to the estimates that I linked to above, or 26 million according to newer (but unfortunately much less detailed) estimates. If we perform this calculation for each income bracket based on the 24 million figure, this includes about 6.8 million tax filers who are not eligible for the Making Work Pay tax credit.

So as the lies, hate, violence and dangerous behavior  continue to gather steam on the Right, some facts still remain.  Why Obama does not tout this information to combat some of the crazed fury is beyond me.  Maybe bringing reason to the debate is an act of futility.

numbers

_______________________________________________________________________

Protester Makes Me Blush.

Sign from Obama’s town hall in New Hampshire:

 

Depending on the state, this man's sign may get you registered as a pederast.

Classy statement from the guy who, according to his hat, gets government-run health care through the V.A.  So apparently, this man has already had his “throat jammed.”  Thank goodness he didn’t turn the sign around.  The reverse side escalates to read:

…And then we’ll skull fuck you (both eyes) in 2011..

…Come 2012, there will be fisting!  Painful, painful fisting.

On the other hand, this man realizes there are problems bigger than health care:

Amen, patriot.

 ______________________________________________________

Who Will Get The Chance To Passive-Aggressively Deride Mitt Romney’s Mormon Faith?

The 2012 GOP Republican primary just got more entertaining.  Joining possible candidates Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee in the race to “Out-Jesus” opponents is none other than man-dog-sex enthusiast Rick Santorum.

 

The Future First Family of The United States of America?  God bless the, um, USA.

POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists who dominate the state GOP’s key presidential caucuses.

One can only hope Tom Tancredo and/or Alan Keyes will join the parade of crazy.

The conservative base will find Santorum a sympathetic candidate. However, I’m sure they have one burning question:  Where’s the birth certificate?

________________________________________________________

Undead Democrat

Chalk up another derogatory label for liberals. This time it’s supernatural!  Dobbs on Howard Dean:

“I thought we had gotten rid of this left-wing pest for a while,” Dobbs said. “But I guess he is just resurgent. He is a blood-sucking leftist. You have got to put a stake through his heart to stop this guy. So you have to give him credit for resilience even if he is a lefty.”

We are the fascist, nazi, socialist, gay, baby-killing vampires within. Boo!

Obama Will Massacre The Palin Family

From TPM:

In a new posting on her Facebook account, former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) made a dire statement about health care reform — that it could result in an Obama-created “death panel” killing her infant son with Down Syndrome:

 

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

   

How dare she?! Using Sarah Palin’s kid to score political points! Sarah Palin would be ashamed of her.  And what the fuck is “Obama’s death panel?”  I searched the House bill for this language. It’s not in there. I thought she read everything.  

It’s one thing when entertainers like Beck + Hannity make shit up, but quite another when your political leaders (Boehner, Palin, etc.) lack the integrity to honestly address the issues at hand. Come on!

Conservatives ‘09: I Don’t Agree With You = You’re A Nazi

When two people are having a substantive debate or argument and one party plays the “Nazi/Hitler card,” I’m of the opinion that this person let his grasp on rationality get away, and subsequently concedes the debate.  No comparison is more falsely equivalent in American society than comparing any political cog to Hitler.  Yet that always seems to be the first thing spewed from the irrational asshead.  Luckily, we’ve only ever had to deal with this silencer for the past 50+ years.  Imagine if the time-line was different:

Hateful White People...Cause They Did Such A Great Job With Country Music

Hamilton:  Burr, you seat-stealing, nation-hating Nazi!

Burr: Kiss my ass, Al. You’re a Hitler-fellating Federalist! Let’s Duel!

Hamilton: I’m no Hitler. You’re Hitler! Commence the duel.  

(I left this example historically neutral. I don’t mess with chaos theory.)

Anyway, Sam Stein  touched on these protests today:

These protesters are outside the norm. But they are receiving the preponderance of media attention, which presents a tricky proposition for the GOP. Clearly, the party has reveled in the disruption of Democratic town hall events. But it also risks being perceived as tolerant of an angry mob-like mentality that freely throws out charges of Nazism against the President of the United States.

Part of me wants to agree with Stein, but I don’t think that’s the case.  Indeed, I heard people on the fringe left compare W to Hitler when we preemptively invaded Iraq like Hitler did Czechoslovakia.  However, this did not constitute the liberal base.  Conversely, these people are now the GOP base.  Actually, de facto conservative leader Rush Limbaugh had the following to say today:

“Adolph Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate.”

I thought Obama ruled thanks to a 53-46 democratic general election.  Maybe that’s just a liberal interpretation of the facts. 

More Rush Below: 

Obama is “sending out his brownshirts” & Rush discusses “the similarities between the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in Germany“

First of all, I understand Rush & Co. do not want to debate actual issues. He talks “to” not “with.” And that is a comfortable arrangement for his spoon-fed audience.  The Right loses when they don’t get to rabidly play the victim and obfuscate the facts.  That’s why they can (and do) make shit up about actual legislation.  The base doesn’t care.  They’re out of power for the first time in years, and part of them wants to take their ball and go home. Yet they can’t help themselves but to shout over their shoulders about how the “libruls” are out to get them, led by their scary Non-Old-White-Man. All victims.

Second, not that they care, but the Wingers need to read Poli-Sci For Dummies.  Someone please tell their tea-bagging base how their screams closely echo the fascist (nativist, nationalistic, corporatist) ideology they condemn by name.

The Whitecoats Are Coming!

The Right gets considerable mileage out of criticizing Massachusetts’ state-run health plan that covers over 97% of its citizens.  Case in point, listen to Glenn Beck lose his shit (aneurysm around 3:40 mark):

The Boston Globe had a different take today:

The facts – according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation – are quite different. Its report this spring put the cost to the state taxpayer at about $88 million a year, less than four-tenths of 1 percent of the state budget of $27 billion. Yes, the state recently had to cut benefits for legal immigrants, and safety-net hospital Boston Medical Center has sued for higher state aid. But that is because the recession has cut state revenues, not because universal healthcare is a boondoggle. The main reason costs to the state have been well within expectations? More than half of all the previously uninsured got coverage by buying into their employers’ plans, not by opting for one of the state-subsidized plans…

…Trying to scare off the nation from helping the uninsured get coverage, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said recently, “You don’t have to look any further than the universal healthcare mess in Massachusetts to see disaster ahead.’’ New York Times columnist Ross Douthat on Monday accused President Obama of “pushing a health plan that looks a lot like the system currently hemorrhaging money in Massachusetts.’’

…

In Massachusetts, cost estimates for the reform plan before its passage in 2006 were so low that Romney and the reform law’s Democratic supporters in the Legislature were able to get away without creating a new tax to fund it. After the costly Wall Street bailout and the $787 billion stimulus package, that option is not open to President Obama and Congress. But Congress should not allow itself to be buffaloed by false claims about Massachusetts into fearing a tsunami of red ink.

There is one other statistic about the Massachusetts plan that politicians, in particular, should appreciate. According to Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kennedy School of Government, the law’s approval rating in June 2008 was 69 percent. That is a figure officeholders can only dream about.

I am neither equating Democrats’ national plan to Massachusetts’ plan, nor endorsing its adoption. I refrain from writing about the intricacies of health care policy because I’m no expert.  As one of the “underinsured,” I do know the following:

• My health care sucks. I’ve been denied coverage twice for medical procedures because of “pre-existing conditions.”  One of these occassions is the only time a doctor recommend I go “under the knife.”
• I had to change primary care doctors because mine was “out-of-network.” (I am covered through one of the nation’s largest insurance companies.)
• I’ve dealt with the IRS through work.  Receiving money from them is a cakewalk compared to getting reimbursements from my insurance co.
• My Dad has more health issues than Dick Cheney.  He’s no liberal, but he thanks the heavens for the insurance he gets through the Veterans’ Administration.  Like Medicare, that’s a government-run program with high customer-satisfaction rates.

I highlight the above editorial because it’s a rare mainstream media counter-point to the anti-reform movement that has done an amazing job getting out their message. This is not surprising considering the mainstream media’s long-running need to regurgitate right wing talking points. 

The Right can literally make shit up about Obama wanting to kill grandma and the talking heads will give it credence.  Soon, Boehner will be telling you that no American will have coverage until he/she bends over while  Barney Frank puts on a latex glove.  Get on that hot story, Stephanopoulos.

Douchenozzle of the Week: People Still Listen To John Bolton?

 This is the headline that met me on yahoo.com most of the day when I checked my e-mail:  Bill Clinton rewarding NKorea for bad behavior: Bolton

According to Bolton,

“It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists,” Bolton told AFP when asked about Bill Clinton’s trip to secure the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

“I think this is a very bad signal because it does exactly what we always try and avoid doing with terrorists, or with rogue states in general, and that’s encouraging their bad behavior,” Bolton said.

And Now?

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has issued a “special pardon” to two American journalists convicted of sneaking into the country illegally, and he ordered them released during a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, North Korean media reported early Wednesday.

Ok, ok. It’s great these two women will be released, but what price did we pay for “negotiating?”  This is not my area of expertise.  Apparently, obstructing Congress’ investigation  into “negotiating with terrorists” wasn’t dangerous when Bolton was at the D.O.J.  But now? God help us.

We know Bolton has never met a problem he didn’t want to bomb.  Iraq? Bomb ‘em.  Iran? Bomb ‘em.  North Korea? Bomb ’em. Landscapers cut his lawn too short? Bomb ‘em.  Wife forgot the dry cleaning?  Bomb her.

In fact, Bolton’s fervent support of the Bush Doctrine would be comical if he wasn’t held in such high esteem by Conservative editorial outlets such as WaPo and the WSJ. 

Joe Cirincioni writes:

John Bolton had eight years to test his theories. He failed. The Bush Doctrine he helped develop held that nuclear weapons don’t kill people, hostile regimes do. Instead of trying to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons, we would eliminate regimes. The Iraq War was the first implementation of this strategy.

Bolton and others claimed that the war was intended not just to remove an urgent nuclear threat but to deter others. When Bolton was asked in mid-2003 what lesson other nations should draw from the Iraq War, he replied, “Take a number.” The message was clear: abandon your programs or face overthrow.The strategy backfired. Both Iran and North Korea — two countries that, unlike Iraq, actually had nuclear programs — accelerated their efforts. Both made more progress in nuclear programs in the past six years than they had in the previous 12.

So why do people still treat him like some sage diplomatic and military (never served) expert?  Perhaps it’s his comedic timing and cavalier attitude regarding the destruction of my hometown.  Hilarious…!

Congrats, Douchenozzle. And go ef yourself.

Luis Ramirez – A Year Later

 Anthony analyzes a Shenandoah, Pennsylvania tragedy:

Immigration issues incite fiery emotions on all sides of the debate. However, every American should agree with the simple editorial sentiment from the local Pennsylvania newspaper - The Republican Herald: 

[T]his tragic incident is not so much about who is responsible for America’s failed immigration policy as it is about the right of human beings to — live.

Conservatives Demand To See Obama’s Birthmark

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The controversy over President Barack Obama’s birthmark continues to be a hot topic in the nation’s capital, thanks to new allegations from prominent Conservatives.

On Friday, reiterating information first reported in an e-mail forwarded from some guy in Shreveport,  Alan Keyes appeared on Fox News to discuss this incendiary issue.

“We have received, from a reliable source, startling information regarding President Obama’s birthmark,” clamored Keyes.  ”It turns out the President doesn’t have an old-fashioned American birthmark at all.  He has a mark commonly known as a ‘cafe’ au lait spot‘.”

The increasingly agitated Keyes continued, “Cafe’ au lait! That’s French. The President is a Frenchman!”

The birthmark has been an issue since President Obama disclosed the blemish during his 2008 Primary campaign.  In an interview following an Iowa City campaign stop, Obama addressed the issue stating, “Yes, I have a birthmark. It’s about the size of a, uh, quarter, and it’s about 2 inches above my right hip.”

Since this time, the blogosphere and conservative media have simmered with theories and rumors concerning the birthmark.  Viral e-mails have circulated, claiming the birthmark resembles, among other things, the “mark of the beast,” Lesotho’s national flag, and Stalin’s mustache.  

Evansville, IN resident Betty Hathaway says she has been skeptical about the president’s place of birth for months, “Well, I was kind of surprised this mark means he’s French. I heard that it looked like Castro.”  

Continued Hathaway, “But I just knew that man was not from this country.”

Keyes was not alone among conservative activists. Attorney/Dentist Orly Taitz claims this “spot” demonstrates Obama is not a natural born American Citizen, but instead, a Frenchman. ”This mark proves the President is not only a Communist, but a French Communist.”

Taitz demanded the President ” ‘Drop trou’ in front of the American People and end this controversy once and for all.”

Taitz promised to present more evidence on Monday’s Lou Dobbs’ Show.

Dixie’s Alternative Reality

From today’s kos poll:

Here’s another amazing finding from our poll showing that less than half of Republicans and southerners believe Barack Obama was born in the United States: 7 in 10 Americans who don’t believe Barack Obama was born in the U.S. live in the south, which has 30% of the U.S. population. Nearly 6 in 10 are Republicans, who compromise just 22% of the population.

This is incredibly discouraging, yet not real surprising.  The Conservatives have come a long way since William Buckley.  This manufactured story has been ongoing for well over a year.  The facts are right there for anyone who wants them. 

The reality? These fucking idiots choose to believe this.  No amount of logic or evidence will change their minds.  This speaks to the success of such media outlets as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc.  The truth doesn’t matter. People like the ”Birthers” only want to hear rhetoric that reinforces their ideology – bigotry and xenophobia included.  Facts are often inconvenient and subsequently dismissed, or used selectively.  Thus, constructive debate concerning important issues is impossible.  Well done.

Questionable Persuasion Technique

Lonely Planet: Salisbury, MD

Via Thinkprogress.org:

A group called “Patients First,” a project of the lobbyist-funded Americans for Prosperity, has been going around the country and hosting tea parties in opposition to “government-run health care.” Last week, they held a symposium in Salisbury, MD, and warned about the dangers of “socialized” medicine. Yesterday, some individuals decided to protest outside Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil’s office, even though he hasn’t yet come out in favor of a public option. Protesters even hung up Kratovil in effigy.

The interesting part (beyond the quasi-threat to a public official) is that Rep. Kratovil has not come out in favor of a “public option,” or any particular health care plan.  This is supposed to persuade (threaten?) Kratovil into voting against health care reform. 

If this doesn’t work, the A.F.P definitely has a plan B:  Sleeping with Kratovil’s wife. 

C-Street and the Myth of the Christian Nation

What has been Christianity’s fruits? Superstition, Bigotry and Persecution. – James Madison

If you want to get me heated up, convey your support for theories of Christian Nationalism.  If that doesn’t work, tell me the Bears shouldn’t have traded for Cutler.

In light of the Sanford and Ensign scandals, I’ve been reading a lot about the C-Street House, a tax-exempt house where pious Christian legislators apparently go to pray or get laid far away from the watchful eyes of their wives. It depends on the day of the week.  There are even exorcisms , and on the 2nd Wednesday of every month  Tom Coburn gives pelvic exams!  You know, a little something for the conservative in all of us. This place is affiliated with “The Family,” essentially a religious lobbying group of powerful, skin-deep Jesus Freaks. A great backgroundcan be found here.  As Jeff Sharlet writes:

One needn’t be a Marxist to findfault with the Family’s mash-up of New Testament andunfettered capitalism — Adam Smith himself would have recognized that theology as a disingenuous form of self-interest by proxy. Such interests have led the Family into some strange alliances over the years. Seduced by the Indonesian dictator Suharto’s militant anti-communism, they described the murder of hundreds of thousands that brought him to power as a “spiritual revolution,” and sent delegations of congressmen andoil executives to pray to Jesus with the Muslim leader. In Africa, they anointed the Somali killer Siad Barre as God’s man and sent Sen. Grassley and a defense contractor as emissaries. Barre described himself as a “Koranic Marxist,” but he agreed to pray to Grassley’s American Christ in return for American military aid, which he then used to wreak a biblical terror on his nation. It has not yet recovered.

Now I don’t give a shit where these guys put their St.Peters.  The hypocrisy of these moralizing, Christian crusaders is obvious and well-documented. Whether these douchebags keep their jobs due to such hiccups as misappropriation of funds related to these trysts is an issue for their voters or state legislatures.  While the fact that this fucking frat house qualifies as tax-exempt infuriates me, that is not the subject of this post. 

Feel free to use for your band's album cover.

 

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) is on a quest from God. This quest is to rewrite American history and falsely indoctrinate students, the naive and The Dumb as to the historical origins and governmental foundations of this country.

 On may 4th, 2009 Randy Forbes re-introduced the text of the resolution, as House Resolution 397, which currently has 74 co-sponsors.  This reads:

Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history andexpressing support for designation of the first week in May as “America’s Spiritual Heritage Week” for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.

Although the First Amendment might conflict with this resolution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”), the text is fairly innocuous.  What’s troubling is that the Resolution contains 75 historically dubious footnotes detailing how America is a Christian nation.  

What instigated Forbes?  According to this post:

The trigger for the reintroduction of the falsified US history fussilade was, by Randy Forbes’ own statements, president Barack Obama’s April 7, 2009statement during a public appearance in Turkey, in which Obama declared that “one of the great strengths” of the United States is that “we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”

Obama’s declaration set off a firestorm of criticism from Christian conservatives in Congress and the Senate, with GOP Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann attacking Obama, in an April 21 speech on the House floor in which Bachmann cited the falsified “Washington’s prayer” as evidence that the United States was in fact a Christian nation. Mention of the falsified “prayer” is not at all unusual in Congress. The Congressional record notes multiple citations of the “prayer” in Congress, including by Senate chaplains associated with The Family.

In a May 6th speech on the floor of the US Congress, Randy Forbes asked the questions, “Did America ever consider itself a Judeo-Christian nation?” and “If America was once a Judeo-Christian nation, when did it cease to be?” Forbes’ speech, posted as a YouTube video segment, has so far received over 2 and 1/2 million views.  

In a May 7th, 2009 press conferenceRandy Forbes attacked Barack Obama’s Turkey declaration, stating,

“I suggest the overwhelming evidence suggests that this nation was born andit was birthed with Judeo-Christian principles and I would challenge anybody to tell me that point in time that we ceased to be such, because it doesn’t exist.”

Forbes went on to issue an even more explicit challenge, in a July 1, 2009 appearance on the Jody Hice Show, during which Forbes declared,

“I challenge the president or anyone else — come up, either debate me on this issue or simply tell me where that single moment in time was when you can say we crossed the threshold — we ceased being a Judeo-Christian nation — and you can’t do it.”

The problem with debating these issues (as Chris Rodda offered) is that the facts are so apparent and contrary to Forbes’ view, that even engaging Mr. Forbes gives some credence to his distorted views. Of course, sometimes a person must descend to that level and I would enjoy watching Ms. Rodda dismantle Forbes in a debate on the subject.

However, the “debate” should end with the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The rebuttal from the Nationalists usually hit 2 points:

1.  The Declaration of Independence states:  “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

2.  The Founding Fathers were Christians and intended the U.S. to reflect their religious affiliation.

1: There is no mention of Christ, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, our any of the other biblical characters – only a supreme force. (Also, the Constitution makes no mention of God at all.) 

Which brings me to #2:

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and James Madison is the “Father of the Constitution!” (also a Disney movie coming 2010)  These two men were deists  and had the most input on the political theories and actual text of the documents on which our country was founded.  It’s infuriating.  I’ll also throw in that Lincoln was likely a Deist/agnostic, and the Christian convictions of George Washington are far from established.  Yet where does this leave the historical beliefs of our country?

Over the course of the 19th and 20th Centuries, an entire parallel historiography, based on fabricated historical details, falsified founding father quotes, quotes taken out of context, deceptive textual ellipsis, and a host of other methods, has arisen and been incorporated not only into books but also textbooks and curriculum, including that taught in the national Junior ROTC program.

That falsified American history campaign has apparently had some effect. Over the last three decades, the percent of Americans who incorrectly believe the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation has increased significantly. A 2007 poll from the First Amendment Center showed that  65%, nearly 2/3, of Americans believe the founders intended the US to be a Christian nation and 55% from that poll thought the US Constitution establishes the US as a Christian nation.

As Frederick Clarkson, journalist and author of Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy wrote in the commentary History is Powerful: Why the Christian Right Distorts History and Why it Matters published in the Spring 2007 issue of Public Eye, a publication from Political Research Associates,

“The notion that America was founded as a Christian nation is a central animating element of the ideology of the Christian Right. It touches every aspect of life and culture in this, one of the most successful and powerful political movements in American history. The idea that America’s supposed Christian identity has somehow been wrongly taken, and must somehow be restored, permeates the psychology and vision of the entire movement. No understanding of the Christian Right is remotely adequate without this foundational concept.

But the Christian nationalist narrative has a fatal flaw: it is based on revisionist history that does not stand up under scrutiny. The bad news is that to true believers, it does not have to stand up to the facts of history to be a powerful and animating part of the once and future Christian nation. Indeed, through a growing cottage industry of Christian revisionist books and lectures now dominating the curricula of home schools and many private Christian academies, Christian nationalism becomes a central feature of the political identity of children growing up in the movement. The contest for control of the narrative of American history is well underway.

Gods help us.

I Trust You to Protect Me. Just Not Everyone Else.

Dick Cheney has given more interviews since he has be out-of-office than he did in his last 3 years as VP. A common theme to these speeches is that President Obama is making this country less safe by undoing (some) of Dick’s illegal and draconian measures.  Dick’s philosophy helped limit this country to only 1 horrific, record-setting terrorist attack over his 8 years.  So, in the alternative, who does Dick want to protect him?

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Secret Service protection has been extended for at least another six months, beginning Tuesday.

Normally, ex-veeps only get six months of protection at taxpayer expense. But Cheney asked for an extension, and President Obama – whom Cheney has excoriated in several interviews since leaving office – recently signed off.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signed the order extending Cheney’s security detail, her spokeswoman Sara Kuban confirmed Monday.

This delusional and paranoid fucker pursued policies of preemptive war.  I believe he supports American invasion of every sovereign nation, with the possible exceptions of Israel and Suriname. He is independently wealthy. He has Blackwater and Halliburton on speed-dial and an inherent dislike and mistrust of the President.  It doesn’t add up unless he has some sort of death wish. Or he’s already dead.   Perhaps undead.