Dave Dubya's Freedom Rants

Naughty, Naughty

2010-03-14T15:25:00.001-04:00

Despite my number of years on this Earth and in this country, and despite my experiences with some marginally, and not so marginally, outlaw fringes of our society, I must admit something. I am rather a bit of a square.

Yes, I admit, before last year, I never had a clue what “teabagging” was. I’m a coffee drinker anyway.

And though I’ve spent many, many hours observing aquatic flora and fauna while using a mask to see and a snorkel to breathe, I apparently still don’t know what “snorkeling” is.

Eric Massa (D-NY) announced his resignation from the House of Representatives over what? Tickle fights? Well, ok, maybe it’s good we don’t have such dreadful violence in our halls of government when we have the urgency of pointless cruel wars to wage and a world to militarily dominate.

I guess it’s more important for us to be outraged that an individual might be in bed with someone against our approval.

After all, this kind of distraction is very important to a corporate media that would rather spend countless hours and pages of print on tantalizing trivia, than discuss the topic of an entire government in bed with Wall Street and insurance corporations.

Thank goodness we have all those radical right politicians to tell us what this shocking lapse of decency means. I saw House of Representative Reich Wing leader John Boehner demanding a thorough investigation into who knew what and when about what and when and how and where and why and who Massa did, however and whatever he did. After all, Boehner is only trying to protect the high ethical standards of Congress, you know.

Sean Hannity dutifully gave cover with his assertion that it, “...Looks like this is only the latest instance of intimidation to come from the Obama White House."

Meanwhile Republican hetero-scoundrels John Ensign and David Vitter remain in office to dictate morality to the rest of America. This is in addition, of course, to protecting the high ethical standards of the Senate.

As we take comfort in Republicans maintaining our government’s upstanding behavior, we need someone to guide and enlighten the rest of us in this time of national moral distress.

Enter Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

First we behold Rush’s eloquent conservatism and racial sensitivity in colorful display as he explained the political ramifications and complexities of Massa’s vacant House seat.

"So, David Paterson will become the massa who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa's place. So, for the first time in his life, Paterson's gonna be a massa."

Now, if any of you liberals out there see anything racist in this, it only proves Rush was right when he said, “Liberals are the racists.” Liberals are so racist, they see racism everywhere, even in Rush. He’s got us there, doesn’t he?

Next up we have the mighty Beckerhead himself, fresh from defending the innocent against Socialist, Marxist, Fascist churches with their social and economic justice agendas. On his radio show, Beck stated: "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words."

Hmm, code words, as in, “fair and balanced” means both right wing AND radical right?

After cautioning us against the horrible iniquities of church-driven social and economic justice, Glenn was going to bring the hammer down on the sinister Democratic Party with the help of Eric Massa. Glenn devoted the entire hour of his TV show for an interview with Massa. He was about to blow the lid off the entire ring of moral turpitude in the Democratic Party. He had just the guy to break open the inside story.

The irony was, while attempting to frame the crooked Democrats, Beck actually got Massa to blurt out the REAL reason behind the corruption in DC. Massa told him campaign finance reform was the first step needed to combat corruption.

Beck ignored this, of course. Instead he apologized for “wasting” our time. Thanks for the groundbreaking journalism there, Glenn. But fear not, even when wasting our time our hero genius still offers us a very valuable lesson.

"You cannot lie to the American people for very long unless you're really good."

Yes, it takes one to know one, eh, Glennie?

So, thanks to our Reich Wing heroes and the corporate media, America can rest easy in our moral certainty and enjoy the show.

Naughty is naughty, but corruption is business as usual. No story there.

"Ever Wondered"

2010-03-05T12:07:00.002-05:00

Oh, boy, another stupid conservative forward. Bring ‘em on.

****

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

Subject: What side of the fence?

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

Lot of truth here!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn’t buy one.If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".

Well I forwarded it to you so where does that put me?

Kathryn Boyd Stakelin

****
You know me; I just have to return the favor and send these forwards back with my complimentary clarifications.

REALITY ADJUSTED MESSAGE:

Subject: What side of the fence?

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!
(A test has questions about facts. This is a sanctimonious lecture.)

Lot of truth here!
(A lot of BS here.)

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn’t buy one.If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
(Many of my liberal friends and I have firearms.)
(It’s not the guns we don’t like, it’s the murder. Remember the slaughtered Tennessee Unitarians?)

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
(Name just ONE of these people, please.)

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
(A gay conservative is very lonely and shuts up to avoid the hatred and judgment of peers.)
(Both gay liberals and gay conservatives want equal rights.)

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
(A conservative will still gladly accept that “socialist” unemployment or Social Security check.)

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.
(This is what Rush “Liberals Hate America” Limbaugh told you, right?)

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!
(Liberals want religion out of government policy, not silenced.)
(So Christianity is a Native American religion? The country’s first Bibles were brought here by foreigners.)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.
(I didn’t know conservatives went “shopping” for ambulances and emergency rooms.)
(And good luck on that health care providing job you “choose”.)

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".
(Really? So why am I laughing at this nonsense?)

Well I forwarded it to you so where does that put me?

Kathryn Boyd Stakelin

*****

Since I can't help the fact I have such compassion for conservatives, I thought I would return their kindness with a friendly response as well.

To Kathryn Boyd Stakelin and her sheeple:

If a conservative wants to form and share an opinion, he’ll just repeat stupid slogans.
If a liberal wants to form and share an opinion, he’ll read and seek information himself.

A conservative thinks Big Business should run the government.
A liberal thinks government should regulate Big Business.

A conservative SAYS he is a Christian, but tells the poor they are on their own.
A liberal may, or may not, be a Christian, but supports a safety net for those whose jobs are sent overseas by rich Republicans.

A conservative always sides with the rich and powerful.
A liberal Jesus said, ‘Sell what you have and give to the poor.”

A conservative wants MORE tax breaks for the rich.
A liberal Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”

A conservative supported Bush’s lies and his war on Iraq, and called liberals unpatriotic.
A liberal Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” A conservative Pope also opposed the war.

“A liberal will delete it because he's "offended",” is yet another presumptuous and incorrect statement.
A conservative will more likely be offended and angry after reading this.

Maybe this presents a better picture of just where the fence is.

Well Kathryn, you forwarded this, so we know where that puts you.
Well I think for myself and I responded to this, so where does that put me?

"Centrist" America

2010-03-01T00:05:00.003-05:00

As any non-kool-ade-drinking observer would see over the past years, the US Government has drifted radically to the right. The right wing, Big Money, Neocon interests of the past three decades have given us two corporate influenced parties to run our, or should I say THEIR, government.

The present Democratic Party occupies the same part of the political spectrum as the Republicans did just over thirty years ago. And now the Republican Party is the party of Palin, Limbaugh and Cheney. Need I say more?

The shift rightward, with its accompanying recession, job losses, deficits and debt, has been moving our country to the precipice of a morally and fiscally bankrupt fascist police state. Some would say we are already there. And for some, that would be true. There’s a growing list of persons and organizations that have been illegally detained and put under warrantless surveillance.

“Whoa, there”, says the image of a reeling conservative mentality in my reality based imagination. “We have a liberal president and liberals in the majorities of both the House and Senate. We have liberal media giving the liberals a pass all the time.”

“Whoa, there, back at you,” says my reality based mind. Obama and the Democrats have been operating, from the very beginning, from a center-right position.

TARP was a continuation of Bush/Cheney policy.

The Stimulus Bill was a package that common sense conservative economists agreed was needed. Republican politicians who opposed the bill and denounced it as “pork laden” are now hypocritically posing for photo ops, with the big checks, boasting about creating jobs and stimulating the economy in their districts.

Democrats entered the health care debacle without even suggesting the liberal idea of Medicare for all. Obama has advanced Bush’s belligerent foreign policy, and bought into the insane “war of necessity” crap to the extent that even Dick Cheney agrees with him on Afghanistan.

So maybe now you are getting my point. The Democratic Party is NOT a liberal party. It is nearly as corporate owned as the Republican Party. I can easily show how less than half of the Democrats in Washington are liberal. In fact they are no more liberal than the corporate media that says they are liberal.

No wonder Americans are so confused. It all goes back to the radical Right’s successful propaganda program indoctrinating the people with the idea of “liberal media”. Right, the media is so liberal; Dick Cheney is invited over and over again to spew his evil swill as if he were an honest and credible person.

Now, that’s not all we can observe about that liberal media. I was having a perfectly good Sunday morning when I came upon an article in the New York Times. Yes, that same liberal entity that unquestioningly fed us the Neocon lies about Saddam’s WMD’s and Iraq’s ties to al-Qaeda, the same liberal voice sabre-rattling about the “threat” from Iran. As I’ve said, corporate media loves sensationalism and war is sensational.

“Well, what is it THIS time?” One may ask.

The headline read, “Wary Centrists Posing Challenge in Health Care Vote.”

Ahh, we learn centrists are the ones “wary” of the health care bill. I guess that would imply only liberals think we actually need to do something about health care.

Please enlighten me, oh great beacon of Liberalism.

The future of President Obama’s health care overhaul now rests largely with two blocs of swing Democrats in the House of Representatives — abortion opponents and fiscal conservatives — whose indecision signals the difficulties Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces in securing the votes necessary to pass the bill.

I see. Abortion opponents and fiscal conservatives are now “centrists”.

Compared to what? Just how in the hell of American politics are conservatives “centrists”? I guess that makes fiscal moderates actually tax and spend liberals.

But wait, there’s more.

Representative Dennis Cardoza, Democrat of California, typifies the speaker’s challenge. The husband of a family practice doctor, he is intimately familiar with the failings of the American health care system. His wife “comes home every night,” he said, “angry and frustrated at insurance companies denying people coverage they have paid for.

But as a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Cardoza is not convinced that Mr. Obama’s bill offers the right prescription. It lacks anti-abortion language he favors, and he does not think it goes far enough in cutting costs. So while he voted for the House version — “with serious reservations,” he said — he is now on the fence.

Cardoza is intimately familiar with the failings of the health care system, but it’s more important to kiss up to the anti-choice crowd. A fetus’ rights take priority over millions of sick and injured Americans. And not going far enough in cutting costs is better than not cutting costs at all, right?

Sounds pretty centrist, eh?

What else do we learn about centrists from the pro-war corporate media?

Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., Democrat of Maryland, is also unconvinced. He voted against the House bill on the grounds that it is too big and too costly — a view that some constituents in his Republican-leaning district share. In case he did not get the message, one of them hanged him in effigy this past summer outside his district office on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

“This system is broken; we have to do something,” Mr. Kratovil said. “But my preference would be to do smaller things.”

Gee, Frank, is it really too big and too costly, or are you just a wee bit terrorized and threatened by your conservative constituents? You don’t have to answer, I understand. I do wonder, though, if our health care system is broken, if it is so vast that it consumes one-sixth of our economy, as our conservatives like to point out; how on God’s green Earth do you fix it with “smaller things”?

This idea of “centrism” we are being fed sure sounds a lot like conservatism to me. Americans are being indoctrinated by very powerful economic forces. The corporatist media and their enablers have been shifting the entire playing field for a long time.

Is it really any wonder, even IF we had a liberal in the White House, the bought-and-paid-for US Government has become such an engine of empire and corporate profiteering?

“Wait a minute”, the conservative mentality speaks out in one more challenge. “You said you can easily show how less than half of the Democrats in Washington are liberal.”

Yes, how could I say such a radical thing? Well, it turns out there was another bit of news in the corporate media this Sunday.

The Associated PressSaturday, February 27, 2010; 9:08 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation's main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act.
Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama's signature Saturday.

The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government's ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security.
Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:

-Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.
-Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.
-Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.
Obama's signature comes after the House voted 315 to 97 Thursday to extend the measure.

The Senate also approved the measure, with privacy protections cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government's authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

Let’s see. That would be 255 Democrats and 178 Republicans in the House. Even if every “no” vote was by a Democrat, 97 is far less than half no matter how the Senate vote breaks down.

And the Torture Club founders Bybee, Yoo and Cheney remain free men. We are still in Bush/Cheney’s war-loving Neocon “Centrist” America.

The Cult of Conservatism: Part Three

2010-02-21T11:45:00.005-05:00

The Cult of Conservatism: An Anthropological Field Study

Part Three: Where the Cult Attacks Liberal “Fascism” And Admits It Is Against Democracy.

We enter our last chapter in this Anthropological Field Study with the conservative judicial ruling that cements the power of free speech, for all practical purposes, exclusively into the cold hard cash of corporatism. The “For Sale” sign has now been hung over every election in the US.

Supreme Court Decision on Citizens United v. FEC Post: January 21st.

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DD:
I think it was Mark Twain who first said we have the “best Congress money can buy”. Back in his day the Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County vs. The Union Pacific Railroad in 1886 was used to grant corporate personhood. Although this personhood was not specifically worded in the decision. It was added by a clerk. J. C. Bancroft Davis wrote that the Chief Justice had said all the Justices had agreed that corporations are persons. Chief Justice Waite specifically disavowed this later in writing. Davis happened to be a former president of a small railroad, and was the man to endow corporations with all the rights of living person.

Thus a corporation is entitled to all the rights of a human being, and none of the accountability. You can’t put a corporation in prison, now can you? And with the army of lawyers they can afford, it’s not easy to lock up a crooked CEO.

We remember The Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 blessing the pouring of private corporate money into campaigns for public office.

The corrupting influence of money has once again been sanctioned as free speech.

The Golden Rule shall prevail. Those with the gold shall rule. One thing for sure, this will show who the real “elites” are. Unfortunately those elites are indoctrinating the masses to continue hating the dreaded liberal/socialist/communist/fascist, or other scary word of the week, voices of dissent, as if there were any doubt about who really has the money to pull the strings of the puppet politicians.

Free speech has been vulgarized into Big Money’s choke hold on corporate media propaganda. The voices of the poor and working class will be smothered.

Nothing will really change. It’s been that way for a long time.
*
Joe:
And what prevented China from buying a corp, setting up a PAC, and buying lobbyists before?

What kept China from buying Big Media and doing what they want? Face it – Big Media were the only corporations that were allowed to be critical of a sitting politician during that critical period just before an election. Everyone else was frozen out, including any little mom & pops that might have wanted to put out pamphlets.

All the fascilibs are in a dither screaming Big Oil! Big Pharma! Big This, Big That! – including the guy in the Oval Office. Trotting out all the usual boogymen to scare the children. But NONE of them ever think to bash Big Corporate Media – the one type of corporation that was EXEMPTED from taking sides. And guess which side it took in the last big election – yep, with the help of Big Corporate Media, the former jr. Sen. from IL stole the White House.

But now, Mom&Pop Pop can put out pamphlets on their soda counter within two months of a general election. And for the left that is a Bad Thing. Can’t have a real grass roots, populist movement.
*
DD:
In case you missed it, liberals were pointing out how complicit and subservient the corporate media were in parroting Bush/Cheney’s lies, fear mongering, and sabre rattling. There was near zero journalistic fact checking. Just like Fox, they all poured the Neocons’ Saddam/bin-Laden WMD kool-ade down the Americans’ throats.

Corporate media loves sensationalism and war is sensational. Mission Accomplished.
Of course now that three liberals have their own show on MSNBC, Cons think ALL media is liberal. Never mind radical right wing voices rage all over the rest of corporate radio, print, and TV. Their gullible listeners are true believers who never care to check the facts. In the Cult of conservatism, blind unquestioning belief is everything. Without that it falls like a house of cards.

Let me suggest a bit of truth here. Corporate media always suck up to power. Since money is power the media suck up mostly to corporate power.

They nit pick trivial crap to fake their way out of their shameful lack of investigative journalism.

Now you did it. You had to bring up China. Since the US government has been under the control of anti-regulation conservatism since 1980, the once greatest creditor nation has fallen into deep debt to the Chinese. Corporatism and unregulated capitalism has failed our economy and the public to the point of indebtedness to Communist China. But it’s worth it, right? The CEO’s and top suits have skimmed the cream off the top. Good conservatives ALWAYS want what’s best for their beloved uberclass.

Why do those corporatist worshipers of Mammon hate America? I bet they hate us for our freedom and once thriving middle class. Don’t worry; we can fix all this with more tax breaks for big business and our holy and wealthy elite masters. We can all help them by accepting less jobs, pay, and benefits for working class corporate employees. A proven formula for success since 1980. Why change anything now?

Oh, and the absurd part is they really do think WE are the commies for mentioning these things.

Oh look, a tea party! Go drink your corporate kool-ade and don’t forget to call Obama a fascist, or a communist, or a socialist. Chances are you don’t know the difference anyway.
*
Doomed:
Dave Dubya,Actually the FASCIST movement is OUTRAGED.
Gee imagine that….CORPORATIONS are given freedoms to use the 1st amendment.
Now why would a fascist who wants to CONTROL corporations….be angry over this decision?
*
DD:
Doomed, Thanks for proving my last statement.
*
Scoop:
When did ‘fascist’ become a pejorative for the Left? That’s like calling Nixon a commie.
*
Joe:
Scoop, I’ve been using it for 15 or 20 years, since I realized that the actions are somewhat fascist.

“Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state (sounds a lot like the libs in CA), with the belief that the majority is unsuited to govern itself through democracy (who pushes the nanny state?) and by reaffirming the benefits of inequality (look at the politics of division that the left uses, and the cult of victimhood it preaches).

Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement(if you dare to express any opinion other than that of the DNC you are mobbed, vilified, slandered, shouted down – and before you go off about the “teabaggers” [see comments about being vilified] – this has been a tactic of the left for at least 40 years here, only recently taken up by moderates and conservatives).
*
DD:
Joe, Your contempt for democracy was quite clear when your boys were given the White House by a conservative court against the will of the voters.

You are right about one thing. Fascists do not tolerate dissent.

By your reasoning, you must agree that Bush/Cheney and their supporters were fascists when they accused us of treason for calling them liars. Remember when Ashcroft warned us, “Americans need to watch what they say.” They spied on Quakers for Pete’s sake. Every pro-peace movement was regarded as hostile to the regime and was put under surveillance.

It’s NEVER fascism when Right Wingers do it. No double standards here, right?
*
Joe:
Dave Dubya, Damned straight I’m against democracy as you seem to mean it, and for the same reason the Founders were, and why they gave us a REPUBLIC. I am against mob rule.

Yes, Lincoln tossed tens of thousands of pro-peace activists in jail, without warrant or trial. He also intercepted mail and telegrams.

I don’t see the right or moderates, or didn’t until last year, sending in mobs to shout down speakers, throwing riots as “peaceful demonstrations” (they haven’t started doing that yet). And…hmmmm…it was a DEMOCRATICALLY CONTROLLED SENATE that passed 99-1 that POS USA PATRIOT Act that gave the executive branch power unseen since the days when Lincoln grabbed those powers for himself. And which the current guy in the Oval Office is seeking to expand. I still wonder exactly what he mean by
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded (as the combined military forces). Was that, as J. Cary wrote in American Thinker ”
Barack Obama’s recent words to promote his image as Community Organizer in Chief were not about forming a paramilitary force of volunteer brown shirts. They were about turning America into one, giant, community organizer’s sandbox at enormous cost to taxpayers.” If so, I suggest that you take a close look at how Germany was organized in the 1930s & 40s with the organization starting with the block, and several blocks in a cell, several cells in a district, and so on up, all with “People of all ages, stations, and skills (will be) asked (and expected) to serve.”
*
Joe:
Dave Dubya, I look at three issues – 2nd amendment, abortion, and affirmative action. Gross generalization, but good indicator – liberals hate the civil rights protected by the 2nd, love abortion, love affirmative action(blacks are too dumb to compete on even terms with whites). The main stream media is very anti-civil rights, pro-abortion, pro-affirmative action.

“subservient the corporate media were in parroting Bush/Cheney’s lies, fear mongering, and sabre rattling.”

While heaping derision on Pres. Bush. And I love your continuing to parrot the lefts myth of “Bush/Cheney’s lies.” Sorry, they may have relied on faulty data, but then, so did the UN, most of Europe, and most of the Dems in power at the time.

Fear mongering? Gee, lets see, to be a good lib, you have to be afraid of guns, goose liver, fat, trans-fat, Christians, whites, males, Big Business, smoke, cars, light bulbs, nuclear power, coal power, (and now it seems “green” power like solar, wind, and testing tidal generated power).
*
DD:
Joe, I’m happy to see you admit gross generalization to be the base of your wild accusations. You don’t know me and you probably don’t know any liberals. You only “know” what you are told by the right wing propagandists. I can tell exactly what you think by what the radical right propaganda machine says. You have no clue to what I think other than what I tell you I think. I happen to have REAL Christian values like peace, and love of ones neighbor. I own firearms and support all the Bill of Rights, not just the Second Amendment. In case you didn’t notice, Bush/Cheney shredded the Fourth Amendment with warrantless surveillance of Americans.

And nobody loves abortion. One would be insane to think so. It is about a woman’s reproductive rights and control of her own body. They must face their conscience and Creator for the choice they make. I respect your opposition to abortion. It is a horrible thing and I would never choose it if I were a woman. But it’s not about me, and it’s not just about YOU, either. Liberals understand sex ed and contraception are needed to avoid the entire circumstances for abortion. Cons would rather dictate morality. That’s always their preferred method. Some cons even go so far as to kill those doctors and Unitarians who disagree with them.

Those lies are myths? Say it ain’t so, Joe. Bush/Cheney lies are reality, not myths. They are recorded for posterity you know. One would have to be a radical right wing authoritarian to be gullible enough to believe their lie about “faulty data”. They cherry picked exactly what they wanted to use for fear-mongering propaganda. I remember Dick saying something like, “Americans are going to get hit again if they don’t vote right”.

They pushed the lies as truth and suppressed any voice contradicting their claims. Reverence of Cheney puts you well into the far-right fringe, you know. Torture, war based on lies, and spying on dissenters are all elements of fascism embraced by both the American radical right and Hitler. But you let Rush tell you tax funded health care is fascism. You DO know how ridiculous that makes your side look, don’t you?

One more thing: There are many Christian liberals. Hard for you to comprehend isn’t it? In fact Jesus was so liberal the conservatives in power killed him. Cons do love their capital punishment. “Thou shalt not kill” applies to others, not them. Just ask Blackwater.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon.”—Matthew 6:19-21,24

Bottom line: Corporate power and their corporatist politicians are all servants of mammon.

How do you expect anyone to actually believe you embrace the teachings of Jesus, when you ALWAYS (apart from a fetus) take the side of the rich and powerful?
*
Joe:
Dave, I grew up in a Dem household. I was a bleeding heart, straight party Dem for years. I spent 30 years in liberal, o, so tolerant, diverse, and inclusive Sonoma County, just up the street from San Francisco. I don’t listen to any right wing talk radio, but I did a heap of listening to local left wing talk shows. I base my attitudes on personal experience.

i love your knee-jerk ‘you don’t know me so you can’t know jack about me.’ Yeah, turn that right back around at your own generalizations and hate.

Yeah, the 4th. And who gave the last admin that power? why a DEMOCRATIC Senate. Yep. And while I agree that there were predations on the 4th, at least they left the rest of the BoR intact, unlike the left which is still trying to take out most of the protections in the 1s, 2nd, 4th, 5th (remember Pelosi applauding Kelo?),9th, 10th, and throw in the part of the 14th for good measure.
*
DD:
Joe, I’m glad you have an inkling of the perils befalling our Fourth Amendment. Both parties, along with the Supreme Court, have threatened our Bill of Rights. You falsely assume I am a Democrat. I distrust all politicians. I’m the opposite of a true believer like you. I am skeptical of our corrupted system of campaign finance, the false notion of corporate personhood, and corporate media.

Cons seem to love projecting the word hate upon those who disagree with their narrow views confined to promoting the interests of the rich and powerful. Just who are you accusing me of hating? I give you honest verifiable fact based information and opinion and you think that means I hate someone. I try not to hate anybody. It is a soul killing emotion contrary to my above mentioned Christian values. I’ll tell you what I do hate. I hate being lied to. I hate seeing needless suffering, death and war because of those lies. I hate seeing our Bill of Rights destroyed. But I don’t hate you or other right wingers. I sort of pity them as I would other cultist true believers.

I’m curious what traumatic event turned you into such a radical right winger. What turned you from tolerance to intolerance? Was it 9-11? Were you attacked or mistreated by a black person? Was it hatred for Bill Clinton? I have a buddy who fell for the Right over that escapade. He thought Clinton’s affair was harmful to his daughter. Never mind Republicans (like Vitter) made it a public issue and are guilty of similar sins.

Your devotion to Dick Cheney seems to carry a lot of resentment toward the vast majority of the people of this country who do not believe him. Have you considered the possibility that your side is the hateful one?
*
Joe:
A question for all those here who will shout “Democracy!” and imply that you truly believe one man/one vote. What do you do about the houses of Congress? The lower house has set its membership at 435 for almost 100 years now. In some states a member of the House of Reps. will represent oh, 600,000 people. Those from other states may represent 900,000 (numbers for examples, but the range is well within what is really happening). Is that fair? And the Senate – how is it “democratic” for every state, no matter the size, to have two members of the Senate?

Another question, this one for the ones wetting themselves and screaming ‘Big Business!’

How is a ruling that will now allow the Mom & Pop Pop Shoppe, Inc. (all one location) to put stacks of flyers on their counter blasting Jane Incumbent (P-Anystate) within 60 days of a general election somehow vesting Big Business with the the power to control elections?

And how is stripping Big Corporate Media of the power to be the ONLY voice that can be critical of Jane Incumbent bad?
*
DD:
Joe , I don’t know who is shouting or implying anything about democracy, other your claim to be against democracy and equating it with “mob rule”. Hmm. You prefer a tyranny by the minority? You got it. You should be a very happy man.

This is why the US government is a right wing engine of militarism, empire, and corporate profiteering. The majority of the US population is under-represented in both the House and Senate. As we learned from the health care fiasco, a state has but two senators, while the insurance companies have at least 45. No democracy here. It’s corporatocracy, bro.

Remnants of your dreaded democracy lie in our right to vote, petition, and participate in government through ballot initiatives. But don’t worry, Big Business can easily oppose these with the influence wielded by their massive wealth through their corrupt, bought and paid for politicians. And this democracy stuff reminds me of another Bush/Cheney lie about “spreadin’ democracy” at the point of a gun.

And to your next question, just what mom and pop operation, or any other interest, has the cash to buy politicians like Big Money does? Sheeesh! Corporatism has reduced and restricted free speech to a cash commodity. Freedom of speech has gone from a right to, in effect, a privilege for the powerful wealthy elite. Like Orwell said in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

So, you’re right, Joe. Nothing is fair in the American way of government. And conservatives still bitch as if liberals can do anything about anything. Liberalism has been extinct at the federal level since Reagan. Give me a break. And don’t try to tell me that welfare-cutting, government-reducing, Bill “NAFTA” Clinton was not in the pockets of Big Money. At least he did what no Republican would do, and left a balanced budget with a surplus.

Now then, where are the answers to my questions? They seem to have been conveniently ignored, as were most of the points I made. Anyone want to explain the double standards mentioned above?

And, again, how do you expect anyone to actually believe you embrace the teachings of Jesus, when you ALWAYS (apart from a fetus) take the side of the rich and powerful?
*
Joe:
Dave Dubya, Well, in matters of what the government does I’m on the side of the Constitution. I’m sorry if you believe that is the same as being on the side of the rich and powerful.
*
DD:
Joe, I think it’s great we are both on the side of the Constitution. I knew we had a lot in common. Does your Constitution say buying politicians is a First Amendment Right? Does your Constitution say corporations are entitled to all the rights and none of the accountability of human beings? Does your Constitution say it’s ok for telecoms to tap your phone and give your personal information to Cheney? Mine doesn’t say any of these things. I do have a corrupt government that makes these outrageous claims; mostly thanks to corporate intrusion into the Supreme Court as well as the other branches of government.
*
Joe:
Does it protect a right to abortion? Or medical pot? Or same sex marriage?
Does it support laws that trample down free exercise of religion? Does it support laws that limit the RKBA? (Right to Keep and Bear Arms) Does is say that the State can take property from an individual and give it to another because the second one will provide a better tax base?
Dows it support laws that tell you with whom you may associate? Does it support having to beg a permit from the State to exercise a civil right? Does it support though crimes?
*
DD:
My point was the Right is abusing the Bill of Rights to consolidate more privilege and power for the wealthy elite. If you remember the Bill of Rights is supposed to be about protecting the rights of individuals from abuses of government power. Government power is fast coming under control of Big Money against the rights of the individual citizens. You even gave one example about eminent domain. What was first used by government to build highways and infrastructure for the public good has been twisted into taking peoples homes for the benefit of corporate interests.

Where you trying to make a point with your list of grievances? You don’t believe people have a right to treat their own bodies as they see fit? Are you saying medical marijuana is wrong? Did God make a mistake giving that plant to us?

(Crickets.....)
*********************
Conclusion:

As we see our conservative friends have left the building, so to speak, I just want to mention my conviction that my words have not been in vain. Of course we don’t expect the authoritarian personalities to revise their beliefs, prejudices and indoctrination. We cannot deprogram cult members with facts, reason, or logic. What we CAN do is say, “I call you on your false beliefs and refusal of facts, and have now told you the truth.” And what we MUST do is make our stand against the madness. We are fighting for our freedom here.

Aside from that, I must confess I find a certain degree of sporting amusement in my exchanges with the cult members. I enjoy dismantling the falsehoods of the cult’s indoctrination because I also gain the benefits of better understanding and expressing the issues at hand.

In addition I want to say, ALL the commenters at Gun Totin’ Liberal are not such radical right wing authoritarian types. Scoop was one to offer a clear-headed comment. I’d like to add this comment from a post-exchange observer.

How R You:
Just for the record I must say Dave Dubya has given the most facts and even pointed out Google searches. I agree with most everything he has said. I'm not an avid watcher of news, but have easily noticed FOX news is a propaganda channel, just as much as MSNBC. CNN and moreover, BBC news is the most balanced. Glenn Beck is just a tool. Conservatives hated him on CNN for going after Bush. Now he's a hero. Same thing as Lou Dobbs.

Thanks, How R You.

I’d also like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to our friend the Gun Toting Liberal for his kindly accommodation for our Field Study. I couldn’t have done it without him. And I’d also like to thank our conservative friends for sharing with us their beliefs, fears, resentments and misunderstandings. I do believe there are some well intentioned and decent people underneath the dark cloud of cult indoctrination. We liberals do not need to accept their thinking, but we need to accept them as our family, friends, neighbors, and fellow countrymen. We liberals need to find some compassion for everyone. If we are not the compassionate ones, who will be? This is what makes us different from the Cult of Conservatism.

Before I conclude this Anthropological Field Study, I wish to emphasize the distinction between traditional conservatism and the Cult of Conservatism. The Republican Cult of Conservatism exists only to consolidate political and economic gain for the Republican Party and its corporate donors and benefactors. These interests are not limited to Military Industrial Complex companies like weapons manufacturers, corporate mercenaries, and Halliburton/KBR. The financial, pharmaceutical, energy and insurance industries also nourish the propaganda network with their vast PR and lobbying efforts.

The Cult of Conservatism does not include the reserved old couple down the street who may not pay attention to politics and do not watch Fox. The Cult of Conservatism does not include Libertarians who opposed the Neocons’ criminal deceptions and efforts to implement their cruel and terrible doctrine of “pre-emptive war”. The Cult of Conservatism does not include the rational conservatives who oppose the insane and destructive war on drugs. The Cult of Conservatism does not include conservatives who value our Bill of Rights’ protection against illegal warrantless surveillance of citizens. The Cult of Conservatism does not include conservatives who don’t accept the absurdity of corporate personhood and their lock on “free speech money” to buy elections. I heard of one poll that said three quarters of Republicans disagree with the Supreme Court’s opening up our elections to unlimited corporate money.

There are conservatives who are very much opposed to abortion, and also very much opposed to the permanent “War on Terror” hysteria. There are conservatives outraged by Wall Street swindlers and their political enablers. Traditional conservatives and liberals can find common cause and interests; not so with the Cult of Conservatism and anyone else.

I will offer one more example to illustrate the fact that this study and its conclusions are not an attack against conservatism in general or people who consider themselves conservative.

It may be difficult to think of any group of Americans more traditionally conservative than the Amish. These folks are nothing like the war-mongering Neocons and greedy corporatists behind the Cult of Conservatism. Amish style conservatism is the kind that would make the planet a better place if more Cult members were to adopt it.

So you see, I am actually pro-conservatism here.

In conclusion we have learned the American Republican Cult of Conservatism is further inflamed with more anger, more delusional ideation, and more intolerance than ever witnessed in most of our lifetimes. Their authoritarian Republican and radical right media cult leaders have become increasingly more dishonest, divisive, and outright hateful.

Cheney is still allowed to brazenly accuse a sitting wartime president of giving “aid and comfort to the enemy". Imagine what would have happened to anyone saying that about HIM a few years ago. It was enough to get Dan Rather fired to have merely attempted telling the true story of Bush’s dereliction of duty and history of being AWOL from the National Guard. Cheney is instead rewarded with more invitations by the media to spew his evil lies.

Tom Tancredo invoked the most racist of anti-civil rights sentiment at the recent Tea Party Convention. “...We do not have civics literacy test before people can vote. People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."

Wow. That can make someone not only very angry and frightened, but to also want to bring back civics literacy tests to be given to those who would vote for a committed socialist ideologue.

What’s wrong with a little civics literacy test? For one thing, they only applied to blacks in the South. Here are a couple sample questions:

"If a person is charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted?"

"In what year did the Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the states?"

These are what a black American voter needed to answer to prove his “literacy” in Alabama back in 1965. Even a college degree wouldn’t qualify him.

Whatcha bet Sarah Palin could answer these questions?

Palin closed the same gathering with her usual thinly veiled hateful sneer. “How’s that hopey changey thing workin’ out for ya?”

Nothing is too outrageous for them to assert, and it is done almost completely without question on their own Fox media empire. At least Fox would make a quick mention of a Republican sex scandal now and then. However, they would sneak in a capital “D” by the Republicans’ names on the screen just to give it their best fair and balanced twist.

We are learning to our dismay the other networks within the corporate media are also not very interested in challenging the lies and disinformation. They continue to put Dick Cheney on the air as if he were a credible person, as if the war based on his lies was legitimate and not even worth a second look back. Our corporate news media has degenerated to the point where they would present an argument in this manner. Were a radical right winger to claim the sky is yellow, and the opposing person say that the sky is blue, our corporate media will shrug and say, “The truth must lie somewhere in between. Therefore the sky is quite probably green. And we’ll have to leave it at that.”

Thanks, Wolfie.

This is why it is important for us to share as much truth and information as we can with the uninformed and unwary souls targeted for assimilation by the Cult of Conservatism.

The Cult of Conservatism: Part Two

2010-02-16T12:07:00.003-05:00

The Cult of Conservatism: An Anthropological Field Study

Part Two: Where the Cult Gets Information Overload and Sputters “Socialism”, And Is Confronted With Their Greatest Unanswerable Question. Also the Cult Defends Glenn Beck’s Racist Accusation of Obama.

The following discussion is ignited by a stupid comment by Glenn Beck about a stupid comment from the new Massachusetts senator Scott Brown about his daughters. Of course most of this dialogue is quickly removed from the original topic. But I wanted to go for the full ride, and, besides, how could I resist taking the cultists to the logical extension of their belief system?

Glenn Beck Post: January 20th
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DD:
It speaks volumes that so many American people pay attention to a nitwit who said Obama is a racist who hates white people. I suppose that would include his hatred for his grandparents who raised him after his white mother died of cancer.

I’m no defender of Obama, but the Reich Wingers’ delusional Obama Derangement Syndrome is comical. Health care is fascism, and war based on lies, torture, and warrantless spying on Americans is what, again?

Oh yeah, I remember. Freedom. Yes, that’s it; they hate us for our freedom.
Idiocracy is here.
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F&B:
No, Dave Dubya, Health care isn’t fascism, but the health care legislation being proposed by the current regime is Socialsim.

And, no again, they don’t hate us for our freedom, they hate us because we are not Muslim, therefore we are infidels, and it is the duty of Muslim (extremists) to kill infidels.
It’s easy to bash someone (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, conservatives in general, etc.) when you lie about what they have said, or when you lie about what you pretend to know that they believe. An end to the hypocrisy and lies will come about only after each party learns to respect the beliefs of the other party. Constructive discussions between the opposing sides will help both sides achieve mutually agreeable compromises. And quite honestly, I don’t see that coming from the left any time soon. Are left-wingers so insecure, so unsure of their own beliefs that they are unable to see the merit in any points of view other than their own?
*
DD:
Hi, F&B. Did you miss me?

Rush said the health care debacle is just what the Nazis did. It is recorded on both video and audio, you know. Just like the Becker-head’s “Obama is a racist” crack. I wouldn’t lie to you. Remember when the Shrub and his Big Dick were whipping up war frenzy over non-reality based WMDs and Sadddam’s fictional ties to al-Qaeda? I have all this on tape. And it is a fact that your man Bush told us they hated us for our freedom. (Hint: They hate us for the military occupation of Muslim land, US coddling of Arab dictators, and unconditional support of the Israeli hard right.)

I’m happy to respect the beliefs of others when they are fact based.

I’d like to help you understand the difference between socialism and corporatism. Corporatism is the government taking our money and channeling it into the pockets of big business. You know, like the idiotic proposed mandate for purchasing health insurance. Here’s another example. Remember when Bush’s Texas Rangers wanted a new stadium? They raised taxes on the public for the direct benefit of corporate interests.

Socialism is the government returning our tax dollars in the form of public services. Yes, that would include the military, law enforcement, fire departments, infrastructure maintenance, and Medicare.

So we can clearly see the Senate version of health care “reform” is actually more about corporate wealth care than public health care. This is corporatism. Look it up.
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F&B:
Of course we missed you Dubya. No, really.

Of course it is no surprise that you are still blinded by your irrational fear of corporations.
You need to research your definition of Socialism a little more, btw.

Socialism is centralized control of the economy by the government, or more precisely, government control of the means of production and government allocation of resources (including people).

This is exactly what Obama-Pelosi-Reid is trying to do to the U.S. health care system.
Government’s provision of services to society, e.g. military (which is mandated by the constitution), fire department, etc. is not socialism. Government control of the means of production and the allocation of resources is Socialism.

I truly hope you can see the difference, although I know most liberals are brain-washed beyond the ability to understand this.
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DD:
F&B, I see you are befuddled again, my boy. You have confused socialism with communism. And that’s just what your right wing propagandists want.

It would appear your definition of socialism is directly from the mouths of propagandists like Limbaugh or Beck. It is entirely wrong of course. Your confusing socialism with communism is exactly the intent of your right wing propaganda indoctrination. I’d be interested if you could even cite one instance where you disagree with Limbaugh. Either this man is blessed with the perfect wisdom of being always correct,(Self-described as 99.9 percent) or his listeners are a gullible cult incapable of independent thought.

Fascism is the nexus of military/industrial complex and authoritarian government that employs a foreign policy benefiting business to the detriment of civil liberties and citizen participation in governing. A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism.

Socialism establishes government regulation of business and provides services primarily for public benefit. It also allows more civil liberties than Fascism or Communism. It is a social system in which the producers (All the people, not just the corporate boardroom) possess both political power and the means of producing and distributing goods.

Communism is a one party authoritarian government with ownership and control of the means of production and distribution with extreme social control.

As to your false judgment of my “irrational fear”, I remember explaining corporatism to you. I’m sure you have either ignored it or quickly forgotten it because it does not fit the radical right’s ideology. It is amazing, or maybe not so surprising, the very word corporatism is invisible to both the radical right and corporate media. Orwell nailed it. Ignorance is strength.

Here is my position as simply as I can put it. Corporatism is antithetical to democracy. We need more citizen involvement in government and less influence by the big power brokers.

My concern for the expansion of corporatism in our government, media, and culture was first kindled by the words of our last Republican president who was not primarily a corporatist. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and the Bushes were all company men who could never say no to any demand or request from Big Business. I would also include Carter, Clinton and Obama as corporatists, albeit to somewhat lesser extents. Nobody gets into the White House in these times without being a company player.

None of today’s corporate media like to acknowledge this message in Eisenhower’s Farewell Address on January 17, 1961.

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.“

Of course the corporate acquisition of influence in government is not limited to military related industries. We can clearly see the workings of the telecommunications, finance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, insurance, and large agribusiness sectors as well.

Due to the nature of our system of campaign finance, Big Business has a veritable open channel of legalized bribery. Since the Supreme Court has confused free speech with handing money to politicians, the influence is now institutionalized. Public financed elections would help immensely in solving this situation, but guess who is against that kind of change. Big Money has a lock on our politicians that overcomes any interests or needs of the public.

This is only the foundation of corporatism. The edifice of corporatism has been built by the exponential growth of the lobby industry over the past decades. It is now out of control. Congress itself has become a virtual lobbyist academy. Outgoing congressmen have been moving in droves over to K Street.

Finally the very powerful machinery of corporatism has taken hold to the point where business interests are involved in the actual writing of our laws. You ask how we are to determine too much influence by business. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was largely written by credit card companies. Eighteen corporatist Democratic senators voted with the lock-step Republicans. Now credit card interest rates are exceeding the levels charged by organized crime syndicates.

Here is what you ignored, once again.

Don’t get me wrong. I give my hard earned money to corporations. All I want in exchange is what I pay for. Isn’t that fair? I do not want them buying off my representation in government with money they get from me or anyone else. That is what happens when corporate money fills the campaign coffers of politicians. And to see them get away with not paying their taxes is an insult to me.

Government policy bought by corporate money and influence is Corporatism. That is antithetical to the principles of democracy.

I am not against capitalism, I am against corporatism.
I am not against corporations, I am against corporatocracy.
All that money greasing the skids for Big Business and special interests takes all the democracy out of our government.

So you see, I am an old-fashioned American, just like you, who values my freedom, self determination, and representation along with taxation through a free democratic republic.
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F&B:
You seem to have more time to write than I have to read Dubya. I won’t bother refuting all your points one-by-one, mainly because I know the limitations of the liberal mind and you would be unable to accept the truth.

Since the liberals have begun their latest attempt to destroy our Republic and its economic foundation, I have been spending more time than usual trying to create jobs by expanding business for my company. Unlike liberals who are destroying jobs, but somehow counting them as “jobs created or saved.”

Dubya: “cite one instance where you disagree with Limbaugh.” — As hard as it seems to be for you to believe that not all conservatives listen to Rush Limbaugh constantly, I am not that familiar with what he says. So if you would be so kind as to provide a list of things that he says that you disagree with, I would be more than happy to look that list over and respond to your request. Otherwise, like I said, I’m not that familiar with what Limbaugh says. At most I may hear him for an hour or two a month when I happen to be in my car around lunch time. In general, I get the impression that he is a little more radical than I am.

Socialism is as I described it. What you refer to as “communism” is the highest stage of Socialism. That is from Karl Marx, who would not generally be considered a right wing propagandist by any rational person. Can you spell U-S-S-R, as in the now defunct “Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics”? Socialism’s end goal is state control of the means of production and state control of the allocation of resources, which includes not just money and raw materials, but also people. The political concept that you describe as “Socialism” is in fact more correctly termed “Socialist” or “Social” “Democracy”.
*
DD:
F&B, Your inability or refusal to refute my points with the excuse of “limitations of the liberal mind” displays the limitations of your radical right indoctrination, pal. It is a psychological defense mechanism called projection. Look it up. Oh, sorry, you don’t have time to read. No wonder you dislike facts that are inconvenient to your belief system.

So what gives you the impression Rush is more radical right than you are? That’s all I ask. I happen to pay a lot of attention to the propaganda machine of the right. They ALL say ridiculous things like, “Obama hates America and is destroying America.” “Obama apologizes for America.” “Obama gives aid and comfort to the enemy.” The FOX propagandists are all on the same page, basically. This is the koolade you are drinking. Rush backs EVERYTHING Cheney says. Where do you disagree with the most radical right wing war criminal ever to wield US power?

Hell, over half the crap Obama does regarding war and foreign policy is right wing. The Bush/Cheney Cartel built the foundation of a police state and Obama has done nothing to dismantle it. Domestically, he is a corporatist company man. Ask the telecoms and pharma and Wall Street. And still the propagandists call Obama a racist, socialist, fascist, communist, along with other scary unfounded accusations with the sole purpose of duping voters into fear and anger towards Obama and anyone else not drinking their Cult’s Kool-ade. Fear and anger are at the heart of right wing “conservative” propaganda. The radical right seems to be entirely oblivious to the corrupting influence of money. To them free speech is money, and freedom is power over the weak.

They pretend to be Christian, but by all appearances worship wealth. That would be “mammon” to a real Christian.

As I explained to Joe:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ““No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve both God and Mammon.”—Matthew 6:19-21,24

How do you expect anyone to actually believe you embrace the teachings of Jesus, when you ALWAYS (apart from a fetus) take the side of the rich and powerful? And you call me a hypocrite for calling Cheney a war criminal.

The Republican Party works completely in lock step for the top one percent economic elite of the country. Me-too corporatist Dems like Lieberman, Baucus, etc. march along with them. Bottom line: Corporate power and their corporatist politicians are all servants of mammon.

“Socialism’s end goal is state control of the means of production and state control of the allocation of resources.” Who told you this? Don’t you have a dictionary? You invalidate reasoned debate by failing to define terms. The Cult leaders freely interchange the term socialism with communism to the point where the Cultists think they are the same thing. They are not. Remember, communism, like fascism, is a system of single party rule. You know, like we had under Bush.

Speaking of definitions, the Cult has redefined the Estate Tax on inherited wealth as a “Death Tax”. Most Americans would rightly not be overly concerned with how much poor little rich kids scoop up when the wealthy Old Man who was never home finally croaks. Notice how falsely calling it a Death Tax not only gets attention, it throws in a little fear mongering as well. Death scares everybody, right? Now the Death Tax myth frightens those poor people who would otherwise never have heard of an Estate Tax.

This worked so well, the Cult decided to call health care counseling a “death panel’. See the pattern here?

I also seem to have more time to read and think than you do as well. I will not lie to you. As they say, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. You could learn something from what I write, but I think you are unable to process the information I provide and resort to your pre-conceived belief system. Radical right wing “conservatism” has a long history of ignoring facts in order to embrace their rigid ideology.

Nonetheless and ever the optimist, I offer you the following facts:

Fact One: Since corporatism’s near complete seizure of the US government we have gone from being the leading creditor nation and become a debtor nation. Check for yourself. Pre-Reagan up to the present.

Fact Two: You have not recognized the word corporatism. Therefore you are again unable to enter reasoned debate on the subject. Sub-Fact: The corporate media also NEVER use the word corporatism. Coincidence?

Fact Three: We NEVER hear a word of acknowledgment of Eisenhower’s warning about the military industrial complex from the radical right. This is why I use the phrase radical right “conservatism”. It is not traditional Eisenhower conservatism.

Facts Four and Five; Of course Bush/Cheney are to blame. They entered office inheriting a balanced budget with a surplus. They left with a 1.3 TRILLION dollar debt and two UNFINFISHED wars of choice.

Fact Six: Contrary to the Right Wing media circus, liberals have not been in charge in decades. And they still are not in charge.

Fact Seven: Obama is not a socialist. This one is a little complicated so you may want to skip it and call me irrational instead.

We have a grossly unbalanced information network dominated by indoctrination from radical right interests. Money talks and Big Money talks the most. A significant part of the population doubts the American birth of the president. A significant part of the population believes Obama and the Democrats are socialists, communists, and even fascists. A significant part of the population believes in death panels. A significant part of the population believes universal health care is a Nazi-inspired conspiracy. Yes, as extreme and delusional as this seems, the abuse of free speech has successfully sown the seeds of anger, ignorance, and hatred. We hear them tell us Obama and the Democrats are socialists.

We hear from the same voices that Hitler and his henchmen were socialists. Never mind that every extremist in the last century, whether communist or fascist, claimed to be socialist. This is because democratic socialism was the middle ground between fascism and communism. This was what people wanted. The Great Depression taught them the lessons of unregulated capitalism. There had to be a better way. FDR”s New Deal was attacked as socialism but it gave many people jobs, and helped turn our country back from the abyss.

Those concentration camps were filled with Jews, liberals, educators, socialists, communists, and anyone else who wasn’t a war profiteering Nazi capitalist or enabler. Hitler often called his enemies terrorists. He knew that was a perfect tool for building a fascist police state. Now the radical right is crowing about Hitler the socialist. The radical right wingers still believe what Hitler said. Not much has changed. The old Nazi fascist still dupes ‘em.
*
(Crickets... It would seem F&B didn’t have time to read this far.)
*
Mike:
Dave, I also Beck make a case for Obama qualifying for the term “racist”. I didn’t take it as a joke, I thought Beck made a decent case that Obama could qualify for that term. I don’t think having a caucasion grandmother that cared for you or raised you guarentees you aren’t racist. Obviously what qualifies or disqualifies someone from the term “racist” can be debated, but these days it is slung around so quickly and easily it might be worth analysing what one thinks those standards are. I’m pretty sure we would all be better off if people were slower to use that term, but since it seems everyone accuses everyone of such perhaps we should define what qualifies as racist.
*
DD:
Mike, What is racist? Well it could be suggested that Bush and his crew’s heckuva job casually responding to the Hurricane Katrina disaster was tainted by racism. Or maybe those Democratic voting people down there were just crybabies, complaining about their National Guard dying for Bush’s war in Iraq, instead of being home to help. Although I personally think Bush is more of an arrogant, bigoted aristocrat than a racist. But I certainly cannot rule it out.

But you say Beck has a decent case for Obama’s racism? How about you educate me about that decent case? “Everyone accuses everyone” doesn’t quite define it. Since you are decent enough to say, “We would all be better off if people were slower to use that term”, then we would be better off if either Beck shuts up, or Obama is, in fact, a racist.

“What qualifies or disqualifies someone from the term “racist” can be debated”. Yes, since you and Beck have “qualified” Obama as a racist, let’s see your rationale and evidence. Somehow I feel confident to bet your white ass any half black /half white person has a lot better idea of what racism is than you, myself, and Glenn Beckerhead combined could ever comprehend.

Of course you are free to prove me wrong…
*

Mike:
Dave Dubya, I’m going to be as candid as I can be here. I’d like to dodge your question because to answer it puts me in a place of setting a standard of which I believe there are no standards. Put the standard up high enough and violent KKK members can be seen as just misunderstood individuals with gaps in their education. Set it low enough and only Gandhi would get a partial pass. I think the term “black” or “white” as a race is as ambiguous as the term “rich”. We may all agree Oprah is rich but where is the cut off? I don’t recall all what Beck said, it was a number of months ago, of course there was the “guilt by association” argument for The President of the United States Obama (oops, I didn’t use his proper title last post) being such a fan of Rev. Wright until it became politically expedient to dump him. There was the President’s statement about his Grandma being..I forget the exact quote but..being a “typical white person afraid of blacks”. Even if it were true of his grandma, does that make it typical? Then there is the case of The President’s reaction to the Harvard professor vs. cop. Without knowing the facts at all, I immediately identified with the cop, having experienced a time being falsely accused of bias, my wife immediately identified with Professor Gates, and “knew” the cop was in the wrong, from experiences she has had. Perhaps my wife and I both qualify as being racist too. For 9 months I worked as an unpaid volunteer in what was then called Zaire, Africa. That may win me some charity points but I’ll concede that doesn’t make me an expert on what racism is, so I’d have to say I would lose that bet, I really have no idea what is or isn’t racist. Perhaps Beck and the President of the United States Obama would beat me. What is that old cliche? Takes one to know one.
*
DD:Mike, Citing a grandmother’s anxiety over minorities and attending a black church does not provide clear evidence of racism. (And saying a white cop over-reacted by arresting a black college professor in his own home is racism? That was also my impression, so I guess that would make me a racist too in your judgment. Although I’m not sure how the perspective of a white guy like myself can be racist toward a white cop.) However, an accusation of racism, especially by a conservative white man towards a black person, “excuses” and encourages racially based hatred for that individual. This is the consequence either intended or unintended by Beck’s accusation.
-----
I am somewhat heartened by Mike’s insight into his and his wife’s reactions to the Gates Gate incident. He seems to be a nice guy and I don’t believe he is racist. Although I do think he does indicate a slight bias when he “immediately identified with the cop”. On the whole I see Mike as somewhat less of an authoritarian than most of the cult, and more open to a reasoned discussion.

This will not be the case in our final chapter of our Anthropological Field Study. We shall soon again be off the deep end into the Cult of Conservatism.

The Cult of Conservatism: Part One

2010-02-11T13:49:00.008-05:00

The Cult of Conservatism: An Anthropological Field Study

Introduction

For quite some time I’ve been a rather bemused observer of human nature and its immersion into the surreal world of American political dynamics. In part two of my “Simple Explanation” posts we finally came to identify the cult behind Republican American Conservatism.

Now that Obama has been president for over a year, interesting tangents have sprouted from the Cult of Conservatism. It is time for some fresh research into their belief system now that it has detached itself even further from reality.

Once again I couldn’t resist the urge to wade into the murky waters of the Cult of Conservatism. And there are few better places to do so than at the blog of our friend, the “Gun Toting Liberal”.

Please feel free to go read his posts on the following subjects; although typical to cult behavior, the members quickly wander off topic. They do their best to splatter their indoctrination everywhere and muddy up the possibility of clear discourse.

Anyway, I just love how the cult members like to respond to my comments and attempt to “correct” my wayward independent thinking. Along with meeting some new conservative friends we are even reacquainted with our old buddy F&B.

The Cult of Conservatism: An Anthropological Field Study

Part One: Where Contact Is Established With The Cult, And “Honest” Dick Cheney Is Defended From “Liberal Hate”

“Jesus Guns” Post: January 18th

U.S. Military Weapons Used In Middle East Unconstitutionally Inscribed By Manufacturer With References To Jesus Christ

---
DD:
Nothing new here folks. Remember the inscription on the Wehrmacht’s belt buckles? “Gott Mit Uns”. Onward Christian soldiers.

Whether by the Third Reich or the corporate Amerikaner Reich, the dead innocents, military and civilian, are just as dead. The difference comes down to a matter of degree. And of course the American war criminals are still free to spew accusations that Obama is giving “aid and comfort to the enemy”.

Hail Victory!

*
Joe:
LOL, you forgot to use the little smiley faces on your humor piece there, Dave.
*
DD:
You know what they say, Joe. Satire is funny ’cause it’s true.
*
F&B:
Dave Dubya, That’s right, I’m glad you noticed that…
By moving known terrorists and enemy combatants who were captured on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to a cushy prison in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, and home to Thousands of soldiers who have died defending our Liberty against foreign enemies, and many of whom died fighting against these very enemies of the United States, and thus granting these enemies of the People of the United States with Rights that they should not have and do not deserve, Obama is in fact providing “aid and comfort to the enemy”, and for this he should be Impeached and tried for High Treason.Thanks for reminding us Dubya
*
DD:
F&B, when you said, “That’s right, I’m glad you noticed that…”, I take it you were referring to “American war criminals are still free to spew accusations that Obama is giving “aid and comfort to the enemy”.

I’m glad you agree Cheney is a war criminal.

Your point about “known terrorists and enemy combatants who were captured on the battlefields” should be proven lest someone accuse you of being a known terrorist. Remember you’re supposed to deprive people of their rights AFTER you establish their guilt. You may have no problem with punishing people with no proof of guilt, but that is not the American way. It is the Bush/Cheney Neocon/fascist way.

*
F&B
Dave Dubya, Are you really going to try to deny that nearly all of the enemy combatants in Gitmo were captured on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan? If so, then you are merely re-writing history, twisting the facts to try to support a baseless position. But then, I guess that is typical of liberal arguments.

BTW, non-U.S. citizens do not have the same rights as U.S. citizens. Maybe we should treat them according to the laws of their home countries. Oh, but we couldn’t do that, that would be cruel and unusual punishment under our laws.

I am not clear who you are calling war criminals. It appears that you mean anyone who fights to uphold and defend the Constitution or the American way of life.

And yes, you are correct, as soon as prisoners of war are transferred to a cushy Illinois jail, Obama will be giving Aid and Comfort to the enemies of the United States.
This is a joke right: “that is not the American way” – the American way has NEVER been and never will be to provide aid and comfort to the enemies of the U.S. who have killed our citizens and soldiers. I know the truth is a bitter pill sometimes, and liberals really have trouble dealing with cold hard reality, but these people were trying to kill our soldiers when they were captured and they deserve to be treated through our military system, not through the U.S. civil or criminal court system. It reminds me of a scene in “A Few Good Men” – “You can’t handle the truth.”

Life isn’t always simple and pretty like the liberal mind-washers would have you all believe. Sometimes it is dirty and violent in ways that decent men don’t want to talk about but know that it must be done, especially when the people we are up against would rather kill you than look at you, and they believe whole-heartedly that their God will reward them for it.

Good luck with your naivete. At least the tide has turned and We The People have started electing people with some sense again.

Didn’t take long this time. Less than a year for the dem’s to show their true colors and for the People to see them for what they are.

*
DD:
F&B, I’m not going to waste time correcting all your wild assumptions, accusations and tangential thinking. You are free to spin out of control now. By your own twisted logic George W. Bush should be tried for high treason for aid and comfort to enemies by putting the Shoe Bomber in a “cushy” prison. Try to get a grip on reality here, buddy.

It’s hard to imagine how you didn’t see I was clearly calling Cheney a war criminal. Cheney is guilty of the complete antithesis of the notion to “uphold and defend the Constitution or the American way of life”.

Your embrace of “justice” based on presumption of guilt is at the very heart of totalitarianism.

It is sad to see well-intentioned good people like you blinded by radical right wing ideology.

*
F&B:
Dave Dubya, Are liberals really unable to see the difference, or just unwilling to admit that there is a difference, between a person committing a crime on U.S. soil, even if it is an act of terrorism (e.g. Shoe bomber, Timothy McVeigh, Zacarias Moussaoui) and enemy combatants captured on a battlefield who have declared war against the U.S.
Now, if you look at your last post you should see that in one line you accuse Cheney of being a war criminal and then describe what he is guilty of, then in the next line you accuse me of presuming guilt…Hmmmm….Can you spell H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e ???
*
Joe:
When was the trial, Dave? I missed it. Is Cheney going to appeal? How many of the Democrats in Congress were also implicated?
*
DD:
Joe, As we learn from history, war crimes are rarely prosecuted, especially by the dominant power against its own. If the US was defeated by Iraq, you can bet your bottom dollar Cheney would be hung. Unlike the secrecy surrounding detainees, the entire world is a witness to the lies and resulting war crimes these men committed. No trial doesn’t mean no crime, now does it?

You and I well know the Democratic Party is composed of republican lite, spineless enablers, and corporate yes men. Obama’s cowardly “looking forward” way of dealing with past crimes only portrays the US government as a rogue regime.

It must be very blissful for those folks who are incapable of seeing the true extent of the corruption in the US government. And those who see corruption in only one of the corporate owned parties are blind fools.

Those same fools will also jump to conclude liberals are to blame for everything wrong in this country. Never mind liberalism has been extinct at the federal level for over 30 years.

Yes, liberals are to the American Reich Wingers as Jews were to the Third Reich. Peace groups are still spied on as if they were traitors. War crimes by the Bush/Cheney cartel are still unprosecuted. Blackwater/Xe thugs are getting away with mass murder. KBR is unaccountable for the electrocutions of our military.

It saddens me to see how many Americans still blindly believe Dick Cheney. This is not conservatism; it is much more like a cult. No wonder the real cult leader and Bush family friend Sun Myung Moon is a staunch republican supporter.
*
Joe:
OH, so, in other words, he IN NOT a war criminal, except in the minds of a few. This is,at best, an UNSUPPORTED OPINION which may or may not be true.

But, to me, it sounds a lot more like the blind hate that liberals of various stripes have for anyone and anything remotely connected with the Bush Administration.
Thank you for making it clear.
*

(No, Joe. Thank YOU for making things clear. Something tells me this will not be the last time I get accused of liberal “hate”.)

To be continued...

Brother Tim

2010-02-07T13:20:00.001-05:00

From Brother Tim's Blog of Revelation:

Saturday, February 06, 2010

O'Donnell, Timothy J.60, son of the
late Edward and Laleeta O'Donnell
died on February 1, 2010
at his home in St. Louis, MO.
Best friend and loving husband of
Hallie O'Donnell; loving father of
Michelle (Frank) Mancuso, Bridget
(Tim) Olson, Maghen (Greg) Ellingson
and Amy O'Donnell; dear grandfather
of Sean, Brooklyn, Justin and Keaghen;
brother of Kevin O'Donnell; best friend of
Pushkin and Sadie (dogs), Moose and
Jose (ferrets), Big Daddy and Jippy (turtles)
and Jake the bird.

My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to our Brother Tim's family. Although our world is a colder and darker place without him, our hearts will be warmed by our memories of his kindness and compassion, and our minds will always be illuminated by his brilliant ideas and observations. God bless you Brother Tim. We take comfort in knowing you are with Jesus.

More Forwarded Fun

2010-01-27T11:09:00.009-05:00

I just can’t resist these idiotic right wing bits of viral propaganda. This one was titled "Love the T-shirt".

Original Message:
***
To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons:
The US. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938.. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARESYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our "duly elected' and their staff (they never read anything) will clue them in on how American's feel.

******

Sanity Adjusted Message:

This should be read and understood by all Americans
(If only most Americans understood what little they DO read...)

Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!
(Now that most of you are Democrats )

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,
(Funny how we never heard you say this during the Bush years.)

The US. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
(My mail ALWAYS goes through. Try putting enough postage stamps on next time.)

Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
(It’s not broken. Americans are greatly helped by this. The rich get off with a low cap on their contribution. If we raised their deduction rate to match the rest of us Social Security would be well funded.)

Fannie Mae was established in 1938.. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
(It was mismanaged, not broken.)

War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
(Where’d you get that number, Sparky? Was it from Rush or FOX? Far more of the public’s tax dollars are transferred into Big Business pockets through corporate welfare, and tax breaks for the rich than ever go to the “greedy” poor. Then there are the unaccountable bottomless pits of no-bid contracts with war profiteers and mercenaries like Halliburton/KBR and Blackwater. Since the right wing “conservatives” have dominated the federal government since 1980, the middle class shrunk and the poverty rate increased. )

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
(If we rolled back the Reagan/Bush tax cuts for the richest one percent these programs would be completely solvent)

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
(It was mismanaged, not broken.)

The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
(Since Reagan, the Republicans have filled the leadership of this department with oil and energy corporate foxes in the henhouse.)

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars.
(Government still works remarkably well considering how American voters have been duped into handing it over to the right wingers who insist government doesn’t work and then proceed to fulfill their promise.)

AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARESYSTEM??
(Government doesn’t “run” health care. Doctors, nurses and hospitals do. Government funds health care quite successfully with Medicare and the VA. Ask the beneficiaries if they want to give money to Insurance companies instead.)

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated. Maybe it will end up in the e-mails of some of our "duly elected' and their staff (they never read anything) will clue them in on how American's feel.
(And it will clue them in on how ignorant Americans are letting the right wing propaganda machine stir up their anger towards an administration that has had one year, with total Republican obstruction, to fix things. )

And about that T-shirt you love:

The angry tea-bagger’s T-shirt says: “Jam it down our throats in 2009... We’ll stick it up your ass in 2010.”

Why isn’t he angry with the Republicans for jamming two unfinished wars (one based completely on lies) and a 1.3 TRILLION dollar debt down our throats?

Clinton left a balanced budget WITH a surplus. How much would you bet he doesn’t remember that?

Mobilization Of Resentments

2009-12-30T17:07:00.002-05:00

The email with an attachment came to me Christmas morning. The forwarded message was titled, “I am honored to do this”. It was from a well-intentioned Christian friend. Unfortunately my friend was not as well informed as he could have been.

The radical right-slanted message presented two horrible lies about the ACLU while hiding behind the sacrifices of the military. Once again we see the dishonest and cowardly treachery of hateful “conservative” Americans. Their hatred for the ACLU, and for liberalism itself, is as blind as it is intense.

The words jumped out in huge letters.

Did you know that the ACLU has filed a suit to have all military cross-shaped headstones removed and another suit to end prayer from the military completely. They're making great progress. The Navy Chaplains can no longer mention Jesus' name in prayer thanks to the wretched ACLU.

This was followed by photos of cemeteries, and photos of mourning troops at memorial services for their fellow soldiers who paid the ultimate price. The fallen were most likely victims of Cheney’s and Bush’s trumped up war in Iraq. Notice how their hatred is not directed at the politicians who sent the soldiers to their needless deaths.

They died because Bush, Cheney, the Neocon warmongers, sycophantic media, and all the other war profiteering politicians frightened the American people with lies. Those soldiers gave their lives because they were told Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. They are dead because they were told they must go to war, because Iraq had a nuclear weapons program. Remember those scary aluminum tubes?

They were slaughtered because they were told Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, and would share them with Al Qaeda. They went to war because they were told Saddam had ties with Al Qaeda. Then they were sent to die in order to kill the Iraqis that would otherwise have come to kill us in America. Remember we had to fight them over there so we wouldn’t have to fight them here.

Operation Iraqi Freedom was really for neither Iraqis nor freedom. The war in Iraq was used for political gains for the Republican Party, and profit for Bush/Cheney cronies.

Now those troops are told to fight and die over in Muslim lands to protect our freedom. To protect our freedom? What freedom is that? Our freedom to scream medical care is socialism, communism and fascism? Our freedom to say our president is a secret Muslim who wants to destroy America? Our freedom to say the president is giving aid and comfort to the enemy? Our freedom to continue the lies of those who started the war? Our freedom to advocate racial profiling? Our freedom to be under warrantless surveillance?

That’s a lot of freedom for somebody. That’s a lot of freedom to scare and blame. That’s a lot of freedom to accuse, bully and threaten. That’s a lot of freedom for powerful economic elites to facilitate Nixonian “mobilization of resentments”.

This forwarded piece of propaganda is a classic example of mobilization of resentments.

Is this the freedom our troops are fighting to protect?

Republicans mobilized the resentments of angry white voters during the civil rights struggle. Republicans are employing the same strategy today with angry white voters. Resentment is being cultivated for an African American president and his entire party. Resentment is fueled by frightening terms like fascism, communism, and death panels. Resentment is mobilized toward the removal, and destruction, of all political opposition to the radical right.

The party targeted by obstruction and mobilization of resentments is the conservative party of the American government. That party would be the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party ifs fairly conservative, likes the status quo and looks after many of the interests of Big Money. Democrats, as a party, didn’t want to step on the toes of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in the health care debacle.

On the other hand, there’s the party of the radical right. The Republican Party works completely in lock step for the top one percent economic elite of the country. They always support wealthcare for billionaires, and war is often their first choice in foreign policy. The Military Industrial Complex Eisenhower cautioned against is a prime mover, beneficiary, and benefactor of the radical right Republican Party.

This is the purpose of free speech as utilized by right wing interests. It is intended for nothing short of complete nullification of the process of democracy represented by the majority of American voters. Radical right wing ideology is intolerant of any rule outside its narrow interests. It will obstruct, demonize, slander and libel any proponents of civil liberties and government service working for the public good. Education, healthcare, collective bargaining, environmental concerns, and the preservation of American jobs are all targets for the radical right. And their voices have dominated the media through the access provided by their vast wealth and economic leverage.

We have a grossly unbalanced information network dominated by indoctrination from radical right interests. A significant part of the population doubts the American birth of the president. A significant part of the population believes Obama and the Democrats are socialists, communists, and even fascists. A significant part of the population believes in death panels. A significant part of the population believes universal health care is a Nazi-inspired conspiracy.

Yes, as extreme and delusional as this seems, the abuse of free speech has successfully sown the seeds of anger, ignorance, and hatred. We hear them tell us Obama and the Democrats are socialists.

We hear from the same voices the line that Hitler and his henchmen were socialists. Never mind that every extremist in the last century, whether communist or fascist, claimed to be socialist. This is because democratic socialism was the middle ground between fascism and communism. This was what people wanted. The Great Depression taught them the lessons of unregulated capitalism. There had to be a better way. FDR”s New Deal was attacked as socialism but it gave many people jobs, and helped turn our country back from the abyss.

Now the radical right is crowing about Hitler the socialist.

Not much has changed. The radical right wingers still believe what Hitler said. The old Nazi still dupes 'em.

Those concentration camps were filled with Jews, liberals, educators, socialists, communists, and anyone else who was not a war profiteering Nazi capitalist or enabler.

Or, maybe I'm wrong, and every government that promotes employment, education, and health care is a Nazi regime. Such is the absurdity of the radical right’s twisted logic.

But then, what would we call a regime that launched a war based on lies, without provocation, while profiting financially and politically from such action? What kind of regime would demand obedience and loyalty while imposing warrantless surveillance on dissident civilians in its Fatherland, or "Homeland"?

What kind of regime would have its chief law enforcement official warning, “Americans need to watch what they say”?

What kind of politician would accuse the other party of giving aid and comfort to the enemy? These are tough questions for anyone who can't remember anything that happened over a year ago, or didn't hear Dictator Dick recently on Fox propaganda.

Any sane, objective, or informed non-authoritarian personality will see the obvious fascism in the American radical right.

The radical right certainly reduces the freedom of speech to the level of vulgar and hateful propaganda. Where’s the counter balance to all this? Free speech cries out for the cause of equality and Constitutional liberty. But that free speech in support of democracy is in short supply in our corporate dominated media.

There are some progressive voices out in the corporate media, but they are a minority.

Who has the resources, time and access to the legal system to fight for the public’s civil liberties and right to know what the government is doing? This brings us back to the “wretched ACLU”.

Here’s what Glenn Greenwald said about the ACLU.

I can say with certainty that most of the evidence now in the public record has come from compelled disclosures by the ACLU’s FOIA litigations:

DOJ documents authorizing the “use of military force inside the U.S.”

The notorious Yoo and Bybee memos purporting to legalize torture in gruesome detail.

The CIA Inspector General’s Report describing the brutality in how those techniques were used.

The funny thing about this forward was a comment down in the chain from a guy named Mike saying, “You should check some of this stuff out. Snopes.com says this is false and the ACLU (as stupid as they can be at times) have never sued over this issue.”

Yet more proof the radical righties don’t care to read, as much as they don’t care about passing along falsehoods.

Knowing well enough that few would read what I wrote, I still added my two cents and hit “reply all”.

If you read below, you see Mike is right.

Anger and hatred is contagious. It is much easier for angry Right Wingers to spread lies and get other people angry, than it is to investigate the reality of an issue. This is one reason why Dick Cheney is not in prison.

Instead of blindly hating the ACLU, remember they even defended the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Ollie North when they saw their Constitutional rights threatened.

The ACLU is defending through the courts the SAME BILL OF RIGHTS and Constitution our troops defend. If you support the troops, shouldn’t you also support what they swore upon oath to defend?

We have a Constitutional Democratic Republic, not a theocracy. Wrapping oneself in the flag, in religion, and in militarism is NOT conducive to freedom and equality for all.

By the way, you can thank the ACLU for recently stopping the strip searches of your daughters in school. (One girl was accused of possessing a motrin tablet and strip searched for it.)

Please, people, join us and support the ACLU. Become a freedom fighter, because freedom can’t protect itself.

Holiday Cheer

2009-12-23T17:46:00.002-05:00

I'd like to thank Media Matters for not only contributing to the cause of truth, but helping to bring the following statement to the light of day. I'm pleased to share, and repeat, this bit of holiday cheer.

Fox News' Bernie Goldberg said, "If they repeat this long enough and often enough -- that Fox News is not a real news organization, it's an arm of the national Republican Party, it's not to be taken seriously -- if they say that long enough, it might become part of bloodstream of the American culture."

Happy holidays to all, and please give Media Matters a generous contribution of financial support.

A Simple Explanation: Part Three

2009-11-24T16:32:00.008-05:00

A Simple Explanation, In Three Parts

Part Three: What to Do?

We’ve seen from the DEBIT MAP who basically runs our government. We understand the dynamics of the Myths of Liberalism and the Cult of Conservatism that keep the corporatocracy in power. It’s a daunting situation facing the Americans who want some real democracy in their government.

The bottom line is hope for real change and progress lies with “we the people”. If we don't do it, no one else will do it for us.

Work needs to be done to elevate the public consciousness and conscience. This can be done. Over the years Americans have slowly become more aware of environmental issues and grew to accept re-cycling, and energy conservation. They are learning more about global climate change. Especially since the Bush Administration’s muzzle on climate science has been removed.

American citizens are becoming less enthused about our endless wars and occupation. We can still have the most powerful military in the world, even with a massive shift of funding to education and health care.

Education must be accompanied by motivation for the people to understand their part in the process of democracy. Along with math and science, Americans need to learn more history and civics. Instead of posting the Ten Commandments in city halls and courthouses, let’s put the Constitution there instead. If conservatives insist on a pledge of allegiance to the flag, maybe we should insist on a pledge to the Bill of Rights, especially from public officials.

The public must be made aware that their vital interest in government lies in their Constitutional rights. They need to know they are entitled to their general welfare clearly stated in the “We the people” introduction. Also, section 8 of the Constitution provides Congress the power to “collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States”. How can there be general welfare without education, employment, and health care, along with the protections of the entire Bill of Rights? Next time you see a tea bagger griping about taxes, ask them if there‘s a Constitutional basis for all that oppressive taxation they suffer. They likely won’t know, of course. Then you can inform them, and ask why they hate the Constitution of the United States of America.

Democracy is not given to us. We need to fight for it, take it and hold it. Americans have been lulled by corporate media and the Cult of Conservatism into an unconsciousness of this need for the maintenance of democracy. Voting for one corporate candidate over another corporate candidate does not make a democracy.

This brings us to a scary word. But there’s no real reason for anyone to fear this word. Due to the Cult’s lies and deception, many Americans tremble in anger and trepidation over the very word socialism. The Cult’s demonization of socialism must be challenged as the propaganda it is.

They freely interchange socialism with communism to the point where the Cultists think they are the same thing. They are not. Remember, communism is a system of single party rule. You know, like we had under Bush. Democrats are too diverse to rule with the lockstep ruthlessness of the Republicans.

Millions of people are living happily in socialistic democracies. Every socialized program in the US is wanted by the public.

We have a socialized military, socialized law enforcement agencies, and socialized fire departments. The V.A. is socialized medicine vital to the well-being of veterans. Medicare is socialized medicine. Our interstate highways and bridges are a socialized transportation infrastructure. The Postal Service is socialized mail delivery. Why should we be afraid of the mailman? Why should we be afraid of Social Security?

In fact, everything run by government is socialistic. That means the public has ownership. Imagine if every government service was privatized, the taxpayers would have zero input and control. Who would be the first to receive police, fire and health care protection? Well, the “free market would decide” on that. And we all know the market decides in favor of the wealthiest, first and foremost and always.

Americans need to understand democracy can exist and even prosper under socialism; it cannot exist under unregulated corporatism.

Democratic socialism allows civil liberties and freedoms intolerable under the fascistic trajectory of a corporatist national security state. The Bush/Cheney Cartel built the foundation of a police state. Their violations of law must face judgment and their deeds undone. To the degree the rule of law does not apply to its leaders, the US Government is a rogue regime.

We must have an educated and active public that participates in the process of democracy. As Thomas Jefferson said, “No country and no people can be free and ignorant at the same time. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

It can’t be made any clearer than what old Tom said. The lessons and consequences of ignorance and apathy, not to mention the antiquated Electoral College, were made quite clear by the Bush years.

We know how to reverse the DEBIT MAP corporate lock on power. Democracy’s requirements are not secrets. Well, not yet, anyway. There are some ways to promote democracy without radical change. Having proportional representation, hard copy ballots, and instant runoff elections would help. And dumping the Electoral Collage would be an improvement to the situation. But, there are deeper issues.

To restore the process of democracy, we need to take four crucial corrective measures:

1. No more legal corporate personhood. A corporation is not a human being.
2. No more "too big to fail" financial institutions. They are toxic to our economy.
3. No more media monopolies. More voices and views, not fewer, are needed.
4. No more corporate money, and no more union money, going to federal election campaigns. We need publicly financed federal elections...NOW.

These four big issues are beginning to get more attention than ever. Here’s one example. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced new legislation in just two pages called the "Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act". It calls for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to "submit to Congress a list of all commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds and insurance companies that the Secretary believes are too big to fail."

It then says, one year after the law is enacted, the Treasury Secretary would be required to "break up entities included on the Too Big To Fail List, so that their failure would no longer cause a catastrophic effect on the United States or global economy without a taxpayer bailout."

This is the beginning of a good idea, and word of this idea needs to be spread.

The Cult of Conservatism has been spreading misinformation and outright lies for a long time. It’s time to join the battle for truth.

The corporate media monoliths can be countered with a reinstituted, corporate-free, truly Public NPR/PBS style journalism. So we don’t have to rely on just the “internets”. The surviving print media needs to hear from us.

Progressive talk radio is finally becoming more established. They should reach out more to find common cause with those conservatives who may agree to some dialog other than dueling sound bites. This can be done. Thom Hartmann often has conservatives on his show.

New legislation on corporate personhood and public finance of federal election campaigns can be accomplished if enough people push the politicians hard enough. The people just need to participate in the process.

It’s time to bring to the public discourse the urgent need for real democracy. It’s time to identify, promote and elect representatives who understand the need for these measures. And it’s time to remove the corporatist politicians.

What can we ordinary citizens do to make a difference?

First of all, vote. We can still vote, and the more of us that do vote the better.

Second, be informed.

Follow the corporate money that buys their politicians’ services at opensecrets.org.

Follow the politicians’ misbehavior and help hold them accountable with the watchdogs at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

There are organizations of free thinkers and real optimists out there who work hard for the cause of democracy. Two important filters of truth and fiction in the swirling media madness are Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting and Media Matters for America.

Besides the more well known Daily Kos and Huffington Post, good sources of vital information and thoughtful progressive views are offered by Buzz Flash, Common Dreams, Democracy Now, TPM (Talking Points Memo), and Truthout.org.

Support them and share their information.

And here’s what I think is very important. As long as I have a nickel to spare I will contribute to the ACLU. Their tireless defense of our Bill of Rights needs all the help we can afford to give. They are doing what is most important. We all owe a debt to the ACLU for bringing to light the torture and warrantless surveillance crimes of the Bush Administration. It would take far more than this Simple Explanation to discuss all they do for us. Please help them. Remember, freedom can’t defend itself.

And third, be active.

We need citizen participation in a strong social and political movement for democracy in America. Don’t tell me there’s nothing progressives can do outside the system. Let’s remember when Beck called Obama a racist. It was not the reaction of his fan base that pulled the advertisers by the dozens out of his hour. Let’s remember Lou Dobbs. He and/or his bosses felt the heat from progressives and now he’s off to spew his anger in radical right wing radio or Fox.

Advertisers listen to the public and corporate media listens to advertisers.

We need to unite and motivate American citizens to call, write, e-mail, call again, and face their politicians. They won’t do anything until we rattle their cages and let them know we’re mad as hell and sick of corporatism. We want our Bill of Rights back. Even educated traditional conservatives do.

I know this may sound futile and even foolish to the more cynical types.

Since third parties cannot gain sufficient access at the federal level, and democracy is not a spectator sport, we need to infiltrate and reclaim the Democratic Party. Ordinary people need to rise to the challenge. There is no other way to gain representation of the public interest. The republican wing of the Democratic Party needs to be purged. We cannot survive with both parties owned entirely by Big Money.

Check out Democracy for America. They are promoting progressive values and politicians who share those values within the Democratic Party.

People can actively work to restore American Democracy. Left to themselves, politicians will, at their best, do nothing to change the status quo; and at their worst, they facilitate more corporatism. We the people need to remind them they are supposed work for us. We pay their salaries. And we need to push them to do their real job and represent the people’s interests.

Let’s turn the focus from the corporate tea bagging shills and stooges. If they get all the attention, we deserve to be shut out. There are plenty of Americans other than the Foxsuckers cheering republican obstructionism. In fact, we are a larger group than they are. We just don’t get the corporate money to bus in the masses to a rally. The Anti-war rallies in 2003 were far larger than any Tea Parties, but they were ignored because they were not corporate sponsored and media fed.

We are not helpless and doomed to slide into the subclass of corporate servitude. We have the numbers to support our cause. What we lack is organization, communication and coordination of purpose.

As I said we need a vast shift of consciousness. This is happening. Even conservatives are starting to think something is wrong. Their problem is they are listening to Republicans. Liberals have voted Democrats into a majority. Yet, they know something is still wrong. Their problem is they are listening to Democrats.

Liberals need to talk with conservatives and reach the realization that this is not about Left versus Right. This is not capitalism versus socialism. This is corporatism versus democracy. Some conservatives are waking up to the fact that the Republican Party is not working in their interests. Liberals are waking up to the fact that the Democratic Party is not working in their interests.

Remember, there are traditional conservatives out there who want the Bill of Rights to stand. There are conservatives who opposed the Neocons’ war agenda and the Bush/Cheney surveillance state. Not all conservatives are of the Cult.

Just recently some of these conservatives addressed the trial of Gitmo detainees in New York City. The Cult is screaming as if a bloody Armageddon of terror will sweep over us if we dare bring the terrorists into our country for trial. Former congressman and presidential candidate Bob Barr, American Conservative Union chairman David Keen, and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist are actually supporting the administration's decision to try and imprison terrorists in the U.S., and even wrote, "The scaremongering about these issues should stop."

We liberals need to tell these non-Cult conservatives we are with them on some important issues. This will require civil and diplomatic relations between camps. Someone has to be the first to advance this alliance. It may as well be us. We need them to understand we are on THEIR side, not Limbaugh’s, Hannity’s, and Beck’s. The multi-millionaire media Cult leaders are proven liars. We have the truth on our side and the truth can set them free from their Cult.

It’s time working class conservatives and liberals realize they have many common concerns and agree that both parties work for Big Money. If liberals and enough non-indoctrinated conservatives come to understand they have both been betrayed by the two parties’ corporatist ways, maybe they can cooperate in efforts toward democracy.

Where there’s unity for democracy there’s real hope.

Yes, this notion can be called nothing more than a dream. It may always be just a dream. But, it’s not just my dream. Some dreams come true. Some dreams grow into greater human consciousness and eventually into a movement.

Think of democracy as a supply and demand commodity. There will be no supply unless we demand it.

If enough of us work together and educate and motivate enough of the public, we can still nurture the American Dream. And just what is the American Dream? Is it about acquiring as much wealth and power as we possibly can? I don’t think so. That would be corporatism.

One of the few great Republicans told us what the American Dream is. “That this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Now this sounds like the American Dream our founders fought and died for. This is what we must struggle for in our time, and in our lives. It’s the American thing to do. It’s the patriotic thing to do if we love freedom.

We have to believe it’s not too late to accomplish these things without a civil war and reconstruction; without systemic collapse and restructuring. It could very well be past the point of no return for American Democracy if we fail to actively participate in revitalizing what’s left of our democratic process. Democracy won’t happen on its own accord. It is up to we the people.

While it is true much of America’s struggle for freedom has been through armed conflict, America’s greatness cannot be measured only by victories in wars.

It is measured by how we preserve and protect freedom and democracy. War should be only the last resort for this purpose. Much is also done through the determination and commitment of citizens to follow the moral imperative that our cause of liberty demands here at home.

It is for all freedom loving Americans to rise to the struggle, and devote our efforts to advance, preserve and protect freedom and democracy.

Our history has been a long fight for freedom. We are a part of this history. And we are part of the future. We carry on the fight for freedom, for ourselves, for our families, for our communities, for our nation, and for our future.

A Simple Explanation: Part Two

2009-11-18T16:28:00.003-05:00

A Simple Explanation, In Three Parts

Part Two: Myths and a Cult

We now see the main problem with the US Government is clearly the overpowering of American Democracy by corporatocracy.

Just last Sunday, a New York Times article featured a classic story of corporatism at work. This was something straight off the DEBIT MAP. In the “debate” on health care, 42 representatives entered statements into the Congressional Record directly from talking points handed to them by lobbyists working for Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche. 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats submitted similarly worded claptrap about research and jobs and a provision that would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to approve generic versions of expensive “biosimilar” biotechnology drugs.

And then there were the insults added to the injury. A lobbyist close to Genentech said: “This happens all the time. There was nothing nefarious about it.”

Right, there’s nothing nefarious about corporations writing our Congressional Record, just big business as usual.

Indeed, there certainly couldn’t be bribery here from the corporate campaign donors. Evan L. Morris, head of Genentech’s Washington office, said, “There was no connection between the contributions and the statements.”

Yes, how could anyone possibly imagine such a connection?

Who’s responsible for this ongoing calamity? What is sustaining this mess?

This brings us to the Myth of Liberalism and Cult of Conservatism.

“Wait a minute”, you may be saying. “I know a lot of liberals and a lot of conservatives. I have liberal neighbors who are quite real. And my parents are conservative, but they are not Moonies.”

That’s true. In fact most people are not totally liberal or totally conservative. Almost all of us share opinions and views from both perspectives. Almost all of us want public safety, public education, and yes, public health. We all want jobs, prosperity and security.

And it’s true both liberals and conservatives are opposed to government abuse of power. Liberals, and a few conservatives, see abuse of power in warrantless surveillance, indefinite detention without charges, torture, and war based on falsehood.

Conservatives, and a few liberals, see abuse of power in bureaucracy, the Department of Education, “unfair” taxes of wealth, Medicare, Social Security, and other public services they call entitlements.

As long as inflexible ideology is not in the mix, there can be common ground with most Americans.

Real liberalism exists as much as conservatism in the public. It’s another story with government. Liberalism has been not only institutionally discouraged in government by the entrenched power of Big Money, it has been actively libeled and slandered by the radical Right. The Right has unilaterally defined the terms and the issues, and framed the debate to their advantage over the past few decades.

The real struggle, of course, is not between liberals and conservatives. It is between corporatocracy and democracy.

The Myth of Liberalism becomes clear when we look at how few liberals there actually are in government. Beyond Sanders, Feingold, and Franken in the Senate, I have a hard time seeing many more. I’m sure there are more than three liberals in the House. Let’s be generous and say about ten percent of the Senate and House of Representatives are liberal. What are they going to do against the ninety percent who do the bidding of their corporate masters?

Contrary to the Right Wing media circus, liberals have not been in charge in decades. And they still are not in charge.

Look at the financial collapse. If liberals were in charge we’d never have de-regulated Wall Street. Clinton was a company man working with the Republicans. It was not liberalism when Obama joined the Bush Administration in the TARP bailout for the banksters.

Look at the health care debacle. If liberals were in charge we’d have a single payer system of health care in this country. Instead we see endless haggle over a so-called public option that still channels money into insurance company pockets. It was not liberalism we saw when Obama met with big Pharma and let them set terms for their participation in the health care debacle.

Look at foreign policy. If liberals were in charge we’d have fewer dead soldiers, or none, returning to our shores. It was not liberalism we saw when Obama sent more troops to Afghanistan. Instead we’ve seen an escalation of troops in Afghanistan and pressure for more.

Look at our state of justice. If liberals were in charge we’d see Dick Cheney on trial for war crimes. Instead we see him fear mongering and undermining democracy at Fox.

It’s plain to see the influence of liberalism at the federal level has been reduced to non-existent.

The Cult of Conservatism, on the other hand, is thriving. And no wonder, it has all the money of corporate America behind it. With that financial leverage, the Cult of Conservatism has enormous access to corporate media. As we all know, money talks. And it talks incessantly in the mainstream corporate media and the Right Wing media of talk radio and Fox.

The Cult of Conservatism does not include all conservative people. I’m not necessarily referring to the fiscally prudent or socially reserved common folk. Many people live a conservative personal life style that doesn’t have much to do with politics.

The Cult of Conservatism is the right wing propaganda arm of corporatism. It is the authoritarian voice of a system of indoctrination. The purpose of the Cult of Conservatism is to sell a belief system. They need people to accept without question the idea that conservatism is good and everything else is evil.

The conservatism they promote is based on emotion, not on reason, logic, or fact. Their conservatism is devoid of compassion, love, and concern for the health and well-being of everyone outside their Cult, who is not a fetus. The emotional component of this conservatism is based on manipulation of ignorance, resentment, racism, fear and anger.

The only love exhibited in their world is for wealth and power. They embrace a system of authoritarian social control, through unrestricted surveillance by law enforcement and harsh punishment for those convicted of crimes. Of course this does not include corporate criminals and Republican politicians like Scooter Libby.

Their belief system embraces militarism and war over diplomacy and peace. Patriotism (to the flag, not the Constitution) is their primary virtue, along with obedience and loyalty to the Cult leaders. Above everything else is blind devotion to the bottom line of corporate profit. If more money was made through peace than war, they would be pacifists. Their god is Mammon, cloaked in a superficial facade of pseudo-Christianity. They do not love their neighbor and they do not love their fellow man.

They need the common folk to embrace an ideology that is openly hostile to their economic interests. For the corporatists to prevail, their politicians need the support of those people that would not share the benefits of their agenda.

Thus we were constantly deluged with their messages. For years the Cult worked to undermine, subvert, and destroy the very idea of liberalism. It cast liberals as unpatriotic for not blindly adhering to nationalism, militarism, and corporatism. Liberals were called treasonous for questioning the Bush/Cheney warrantless surveillance and torture crimes.

The Cult worked endlessly to demonize liberalism as ungodly satanic legions of secular humanists out to slaughter babies and burn the flag. The indoctrination is hammered in endlessly. Government can’t do anything right. Government is always the problem. Big Government is bad. Taxes are bad. Tax and spend Democrats are bad. Government regulation of business is very bad. Regulation and public services are socialism. And socialism is very, very bad.

This propaganda is crucial to the success of the corporatocracy behind the Cult. They run a thriving propaganda operation that has successfully redefined important terms through which to push their agenda. The Cult has been quite adept at manufacturing its own myths to confuse the people.

Perhaps the most famous myth from the Cult of Conservatism is the “liberal media”. You see, all the Cult had to do was substitute the inaccurate word “liberal” for the accurate word “corporate” to create their myth. Everyone has now heard the myth of liberal media. This lie has been repeated so often by so many that it has become accepted by at least half the American public.

The Cult has redefined the Estate Tax on inherited wealth as a “Death Tax”. Most Americans would rightly not be overly concerned with how much poor little rich kids scoop up when the wealthy Old Man who was never home finally croaks. Notice how falsely calling it a Death Tax not only gets attention, it throws in a little fear mongering as well. Death scares everybody, right? Now the Death Tax myth frightens those poor people who would otherwise never have heard of an Estate Tax.

This worked so well, the Cult decided to call health care counseling a “death panel’. See the pattern here?

The Cult claims to represent freedom. And they do in a limited sense. According to Cicero, “Freedom is participation in power.” The Cult of Conservatism has a great deal of power. But their freedom and power is not democracy and freedom for America. It is freedom for the power of wealth.

The Cult must be exposed and its victims need de-programming. This will not be easy. The indoctrinated believers have had their senses of fear, anger, frustration and confusion manipulated and aggravated for a long time. They are suspicious of ideas not fed to them by the Cult.

This indoctrination is so powerful the followers can’t even see the obvious fact that the interests of private and corporate wealth are always held over the interests of the public welfare. The cultists are enraged over health care to the poor and oblivious to the vastly larger corporate welfare handouts to Big Money.

Remember the Cult of Conservatism plays the God card to these frightened souls. As with the Divine Right of Kings, God’s will is invoked as the guiding force behind the Cult. This Cult is as medieval as witch burning and inquisitions. They are proponents of execution and torture. Humanity is not so far removed from the Dark Ages.

The Cult frightens people with horror stories of a non-existent myth of gun control. It promotes imaginary myths of threats from different sexual orientation. Fortunately the God, gays, and guns fabrications and hysteria are losing their hold on folks. I can see some hope in these strange and cruel times.

Let’s compare the results of the latest efforts by the Cult of Conservatism to the efforts of its opposition.

We’ve seen the Fox/Republican Tea Parties, and the angry True Believers carrying ridiculous signs of the fictional “Death Panels”, “We Come Unarmed: This Time”, and “National Socialism Death Camps”. There was nothing positive or constructive or helpful to any person accomplished by these rallies.

Now contrast this image with the reality of a “Life Panel” in Louisiana. There was a free health clinic for the uninsured in the convention center in New Orleans. Over a thousand people without insurance were treated. Some had life-threatening diseases like hypertension and diabetes diagnosed. They surely would have eventually been among the thousands of Americans to die without health coverage. Now they at least have a start towards treatment. This was made possible by donations from compassionate Americans in response to Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Health Care.

Some real and tangible good is being done. My friends, there are grounds for optimism.

The True Believers are finally becoming more marginalized. We can be thankful for the Tea Parties, where the Hannity insanity-afflicted, Beckerheaded Foxsuckers expose the rampant raging lunacy within their group.

The Cult of Conservatism is finally being challenged by some voices, albeit relatively few, in commercial media. Air America radio and the three evening hours of MSNBC are still dwarfed by the machinery of talk radio and 24/7 right wing propaganda from Fox. But there are others out there doing their part in the struggle for democracy.

What can we do to make a difference? We’ll discuss this in part three of A Simple Explanation.

A Simple Explanation: Part One

2009-11-12T19:02:00.013-05:00

A Simple Explanation, In Three Parts

Part One: What’s the Problem?

Here we are now, over a year since the historic election of America’s first non-white male president. And coincidently, today marks the tenth anniversary of the Financial Services Modernization Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. We’ll get back to this later.

So here we are, living in the bright new era of hope and change and transparency of government, right? No more of the senselessly cruel and illegal Bush/Cheney wars. And the time has come for those war criminals to face justice, right? No more abuses of our Constitutional rights from the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, the Warner Defense Authorization Act, and Bush’s FISA Amendment. No more warrantless surveillance of citizens and extraordinary renditions to other countries for “special treatment”. And thank goodness we have no more shrouding and obstructing of justice with claims of state secrecy for national security, right?

No? Well then at least we have Americans finally getting something back from the government through greatly expanded, affordable health care, uh, right? At least the American public is happy about something these days, aren’t they?

They’re NOT? There’s a mass of dense-minded citizens who are duped into believing that anything to expand health care coverage beyond the clutches of insurance companies is socialism...communism.....fascism??

Oh, dear.

You mean to tell me things STILL really suck? We need some answers here, don’t we?

All right, I’m a simple-minded guy who wants to see these huge problems with some clarity. I’d like to understand the collapse of America’s social, political, and economic stability in a simple way that I can comprehend. Let’s see if we can sort out some way to explain this mess.

So, just what is the major malfunction of the US Government? Does it do anything right? Does it accomplish anything? What does it do? Who does it work for? Or maybe it’s performing exactly as it has been designed to function.

Most of us can agree on this much of the problem. It’s the politicians, stupid. Yes, if we narrow it down, we find the two primary flaws of our government are the Republican and Democratic Parties.

There’s plenty to be disgusted and furious about with these people. If there’s incompetence, sleaze and corruption anywhere, we find plenty throughout our esteemed two party system. What difference is there between them anyway?

The Republican Party claims to work for the people. Most of us know this is laughably absurd, but it’s true. They do make that claim. And they certainly work to get votes from a lot of the people. They pander to the fundamentalists and other conservative religious types. They developed the “Southern Strategy” to exploit racial tensions surrounding the civil rights movement in the South. The Republican Party has naturally done very little in the way of legislation, apart from occasional efforts to fuse church and state, for the benefit of lower income white voters. But they’ve mastered the manipulation of their grievances and resentments well enough to maintain huge voter support from average, middle to low income Americans.

To see who the Republican Party really works for, all we need to do is follow the money. The campaign contributions and lobbies all point to Big Money.

So, who then, you may ask, does the Democratic Party work for?

The Democratic Party also claims that it works for the people. They boast of representing the middle class, unions, the working people, the unemployed and the poor. Well, maybe the minority of democrats, that don’t feed at the same corporate trough as the Republicans suck from, give enough a damn about them to court their votes.

Nevertheless enough Democrats enable the Republicans to continue a corporatist agenda in the US Government. Behind the facade of a representative democratic republic stands a corporatocracy. “Corporatocracy” is a word we never hear from the corporate media. In fact, I still can’t find the word in a dictionary.

But, we can find these two words in the dictionary:

Corporatism. noun - the principles, doctrine, or system of corporative organization of a political unit, as a city or state.

Corporatist. adj. - Of, relating to, or being a corporative state or system.

A massive corporatist agenda has now emplaced corporatism as the controlling influence in our government.

I have drawn up a simple map of the corporatocracy. In order to have a handy easy term I use a little acronym I call a DEBIT MAP.

Here is the DEBIT MAP of the Corporatist Empire that has dismantled the vestiges of democracy in the US.

DEBIT: Defense, Energy, Banking, Insurance, and Telecom industries
MAP: Media, Agri-business, and Pharmaceutical industries

This is a far from complete list of the Big Money interests that corrupt our government, but it is probably the bulk of it. There are others. The mining industry, surveillance and security businesses, and the private corporate prison complex are a few of the others who contribute to the lack of accountability of the government to the people.

The DEBIT MAP Corporate Empire will continue unless there is massive social, political, or financial upheaval.

Upheaval need not be violence. Violent change would be avoided if the government would recognize and restore our rights, if the government worked for the public good.

The public good is measured in its education, employment, and health. If the government worked for the people, it would provide an environment of education, employment, and health care.

So, how do we get the government to see this? There seems to be little choice in our corrupt system. As George Carlin said, “You don’t have choices. You have owners.”

We’ve seen ample proof that Wall Street owns most of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. This did not happen overnight.

Here are five pivotal points leading to the dominance of our system by corporatocracy. They were abetted by the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches of the federal government.

1. The Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County vs. The Union Pacific
Railroad in 1886 was used to grant corporate personhood. Although this
personhood was not specifically worded in the decision. It was added by a
clerk. J. C. Bancroft Davis wrote that the Chief Justice had said all the
Justices had agreed that corporations are persons. Chief Justice Waite
specifically disavowed this later in writing. Davis happened to be a former
president of a small railroad, and was thus the man to endow corporations
with all the rights of living person.

2. The Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo in 1976 was the fateful decision
that turned corporate money donated to political campaigns into protected
“Free Speech”. De facto bribery was now legalized.

3. The repeal of the Glass/Steagall Act (1933-1999) through the passage of
the Financial Services Modernization Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-
Bliley Act of 1999 allowed investment banks to merge with commercial banks. It also allowed financial institutions to merge with insurance companies. This opened the door to unchecked banking and insurance company abuses from Wall Street.

4. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 is famous for creating the “Enron Loophole” and the resulting swindles. It also granted free license to the mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, derivatives and other Wall Street shell games.

5. These insidious insertions of corporate leverage into government needed only the dark years of the Bush Administration’s total lack of its oversight and regulatory obligation. What followed was the near collapse of our economy. Then the banksters pulled off the greatest extortion of American taxpayer money in history, known as the monstrosity called TARP, the Troubled Asset Recovery Program.

The media watch dogs had turned into lapdogs of the government, and the government watchdogs turned into lapdogs of Wall Street.

Both Republican and Democratic Parties became subsidiaries of Wall Street, leaving third parties and independents out in the fringes and irrelevant.

Since the corporate media is embedded in the two corporate parties of the US government, there is little access for third or fourth parties to have a voice.

Democracy in the US was not killed by the conservative Supreme Court’s selection of Bush/Cheney over the will of the majority of voters. I would say that was more like the burial of democracy. It was dying and they needed to it put out of sight.

We see the US Government has become a vast right wing engine of empire and corporate profiteering. It is nearly completely unresponsive to the public interest. Why is this, and how can this be happening? We’ll examine this in part two of my Simple Explanation.

Foxsuckers Thwarted

2009-11-05T23:19:00.001-05:00

Today the tea bagging agitators were sent out by Fox News and other corporate interests to harass politicians and stage photo ops in DC. But they ran into some competition for attention. They found their wide-eyed crusade against health care was overshadowed by the horrible shootings at Fort Hood. The Hannity insanity would have to take a back seat on the media wagon to the insanity of mass murder.

The seventy-five suicides over the past six years at the US Army base were now augmented by at least a dozen murder victims. As the old song goes, military madness is killing our country; not to mention the widespread slaughter in the Af-Pak-Iraq quagmires.

Before the Fort Hood Massacre erupted, one of the radical Right’s favorite bleach-blonde mouthpieces put on an interesting display this morning. The brilliant English actor Ian McKellen was a guest on the View. The not-so-brilliant Elisabeth Hasselbeck was set to pounce. She mentioned the swine flu and asked him if he was vaccinated.

Mr. McKellen answered, “No, I’ve not been vaccinated. I was advised I didn’t need it, but it is available to me free on the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.”

Applause came from the studio audience.

Undeterred, our Palin pal hostess pressed on.

“We look at Goldman Sachs, ok? Private industry has the shots.”

The notion of private industry CALLING the shots would probably never occur to her.

“You give it over to the government. You don’t know the order in which they’re going to administer it.”

Well, maybe we know a little. They distribute the vaccine first to those most at risk of fatality from the flu, and those who request it.

Then she went on a bit of a schizo-tangent. “And also I do think we need to rely on government for emergency situations. This is an emergency situation.”

What’s that emergency again? Could it be just the flu, or would it be the fact that thousands die in this country every year without health coverage? She seems slightly reasonable so far. You don’t suppose she’s about to twist her spiel into something convoluted and contradictory, do you?

Now she pours the kool-ade. “Giving the government our health care is not the answer here.”

So, what is the answer, miss know-it-all? She doesn’t say. They never say, do they?

Mr. McKellen tries to reason with her. “The government doesn’t run the National Health Service. It’s run by the doctors and the hospitals.”

“That’s what they’d like you to believe, I’m sure,” zings back our Fox-indoctrinated bimbo. Then catching herself, she adds, “Over here in the United States it would not be the case.”

Here was her big chance to explain just who would be managing health care in the US. Would it be politicians tapping your knee for reflexes in the examination room? Perhaps those meddling Washington DC bureaucrats will be jabbing the tongue depressor down your throat, demanding you say, “Ahh”, while they ponder sending you off to a Death Panel.

I’m afraid we’ll never know. We’re just supposed to be afraid. That’s what’s important.

Sir Ian McKellen, like the average factory worker in Britain, didn’t have to worry about facing bankruptcy as a result of his treatment for prostate cancer. He could have explained a lot to little Lizzie about the National Health Service, but I’m sure he knew she wouldn’t listen anyway.

Instead he simply said, “It’s been going an awfully long time and I wouldn’t be as healthy as I was now if I hadn’t had the National Health Service.”

Once again applause came from the studio audience.

“I’m glad you’re very healthy,” Lizzie conceded. “It is my personal belief, and the belief of many others, I do not want the government running our health care.”

Little Lizzie couldn’t even get one pair of hands to clap in agreement with her belief.

Whoopi Goldberg then asked about Mr. McKellen’s new movie. My goodness. It looked like that evil old socialism scored a point against our brave defender of the insurance industry.

Liz must have been certain her beliefs would be validated by the next guest. It was none other than Fox anchorman Shepard Smith.

Our fairly unbalanced reality game show celebrity offered Mr, Smith her biggest question of the day. “Do you think it was an unfair thing that the Obama Administration did then, by trying to single out Fox, say not MSNBC?”

Liz must have thought Shep had been drugged by some of McKellen’s socialized medicine in the green room when he replied, “Oh, it’s not a new thing. Administrations have been fighting with news organizations since time began.”

This was supposed to be a big day for Liz and her fellow teabaggers. Once again reality stepped in to thwart them.

Lizzie couldn’t cope with someone who was actually helped by national health care. Shepard Smith didn’t buy into her Fox persecution fantasy.

The Beckerheads’ media assault was upstaged by someone even crazier than most of their group.

Now watch the Foxsuckers try to blame this Fort Hood incident on liberals. You know they will.

Dithering Dick

2009-10-22T21:10:00.003-04:00

I hope all of you are having a nice fall season. I have to say I’ve been enjoying a pretty good autumn this year. There’s been no election year induced stress from worrying about another presidency stolen by the Republicans. The economy has not been shattered. And we taxpayers have not been extorted by the corporate criminals on Wall Street. Well not lately, anyway.

So I’ve been taking a break from my usual three to four hours of daily news reading and watching. Four hours! Seeing this in print shocks me. Pretty pathetic, and that doesn’t include my Stewart and Colbert viewing. I’ve still been keeping tabs on the imperial circus of permanent war, and the health care debacle, er debate. I’ve learned to not expect any “change” from the US Government, so why fret so much?

Anyway, I’ve been quite happily enjoying a beautiful October. I like spending quiet time sitting on the deck, or walking my German shepherd named Lucy Jean. She keeps me healthy with two or three walks a day, and it’s working out for her as well. She’ll be fifteen years old in December, bless her heart.

And I have been spending some not-so-quiet time too. I have been getting together to play music with old friends, and even some new friends. Most everyone should do more of what they love doing, right? It isn’t complicated, but sometimes we need to be reminded.

Well, today I glanced at the TV only to see the sneering mug of former VP (and still the leading voice of American fascism) Dick Cheney.

In his typical reptilian tone he hissed, "President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission."

Then he snarled, “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger. It's time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity. Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries."

In less than a hundred words from this lying, cowardly, treasonous war criminal we see the same old bald-faced dishonesty, scapegoating, projection, and blaming of others for his own utter wrongheadedness, malevolence and failure.

In other words, he’s still spewing more of the same, tired, old evil bile. The really sick part of all this is the fact that he is not screaming this from his prison cell. Almost as twisted is the fact that too many Americans still believe this vile crook. Never underestimate American arrogance and ignorance.

Today, National Security Network Senior Adviser and retired General Paul Eaton, who oversaw the training of the Iraqi military from 2003-2004, had something to say about Dick.

"The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it. 2. Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.

"The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy 'experts' have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan.”

Well said, General. If you don’t mind, I’d like to add my little critique. Shall we dissect this cancerous tumor of Reich Wing contagion, and maybe frame, contain, and contrast it with truth and light?

Let’s start with this “afraid to make a decision” bit. Apart from his blatant and ubiquitous fear mongering, we see the obvious comparison to the sinister and destructive decisions decided by the Big Dick and his Decider. Why can’t Obama decide on a whim the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings? Sounds like some kind of character flaw, eh, Dick?

“While America’s armed forces are in danger.” How’d that happen, Dick? It’s not like you, and somebody you know, were asleep at the switch; and then dismissed the guy who delivered the “Bin Laden planning to strike in the US” August 6th Presidential Daily Briefing with “Your ass is covered,” right?

No, you were too busy thinking up a reason to invade Iraq for oil, profit, and re-election. Oh, and also to put America’s armed forces in danger.

“Unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission." Sort of like you were unable to go to Vietnam to complete the mission, eh, Dick? Of course you had other priorities, didn’t you?

Here’s a good one. “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger. It's time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity.” You mean the war you and George started but couldn’t finish while you dithered over it for six years?

“It's time for President Obama to do what it takes.” Yes, and realize that agreeing with you, Dick, about it being a war of necessity will be the worst mistake of his life.

And let’s go back to “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” And what were you up to, Dick, “while America’s armed forces were in danger” during the war in Vietnam? Perhaps you were too busy dithering over your next draft deferment, right, Dick? How about getting a deferment for spawning a hateful voice for the next generation? Liz can cheer on, and then dodge, her generation’s war just like dear old Dad did with his.

We are sick and tired of this Chicken Hawk squawk. Make no mistake, It hurts our allies and emboldens our adversaries, and is a disgrace to every honest, law abiding, peaceful American.

And in one way I agree with Dick about “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” It’s time to arrest the men who lied to us in order to put those troops in danger. They are war criminals, traitors, torturers, and murderers. Make no mistake.

American Republican Suppression Engine

2009-09-14T18:08:00.005-04:00

Many ordinary folks consider themselves to be conservative. They generally tend to be regular decent people. They care about others and are capable of great kindness. They may not pay a lot of attention to what goes on in Washington DC, and maybe they think Fox News is actually an unbiased “fair and balanced” news source.

Apart from CNN, it’s possible these good folks are unaware of other televised information sources besides Fox. Pretty much all cable outlets provide Fox in the basic package while anyone who wishes to watch MSNBC would have to pay extra. There truly is an exposure factor in favor of the O’Reilly Factor.

Regular Americans like things to stay pretty much as they are, at least in their personal world. When changes happen beyond their control, they are usually not seen as changes for the better. They may see people with different skin color or apparel moving into town. They may learn that this is not so terrible after all. But, they also may notice many of the familiar old local businesses disappear. In some of the worst cases, folks who see themselves as conservatives may lose their jobs. They may lose their health insurance or even their homes. It is also possible they will be forced into bankruptcy by medical costs, even if they have insurance.

These changes are bad.

All of a sudden Americans watching Fox News find themselves getting angry and frightened. Fox tells them who is to blame for their troubles.

And then the politicians step in. Republicans (and corporatist Democrats) will claim to be conservative so these folks identify with them and vote for them. The conservative politicians join Fox News and tell them these awful changes are the results of liberals imposing their evil liberalism into America.

This is called scapegoating and political propaganda. These are not conservative tools. These are right wing tactics to get people to vote for politicians who have an agenda that is not in the best interests of the vast majority of voters. It is more than clear that modern Republican Conservatism isn’t really traditional conservatism at all. It is difficult for Americans to grasp the idea of just who is blocking any government policy that would be favorable to the working people.

In order to oppose something one must first clearly identify the antagonizing forces suppressing the will and well being of the people. These sinister and dark forces that wield enormous power and embody such greed are a threat to over 99 percent of our nation’s citizens. Let me put a name to this entity.

It is the huge American Republican Suppression Engine, or ARSE.

The Big ARSE will tell you they are conservative and represent the common people. They will tell you they want to preserve the family, traditional values, religion, patriotism, and of course law and order. They will even openly advocate American military and economic supremacy over the world. They rigidly support the economic interests of the wealthiest people in the country, to the measurable detriment of the rest of us.

By the way, Republican suppression is not manifested entirely within the Republican Party. Enough Blue Dog Democrats embrace the Republican American Suppression Engine to make it truly bipartisan. Blue Dog syndrome is apparently due to the lack of oxygen up the corporate ARSE’s where conservative Democrats’ noses are known to frequent.

The Republican American Suppression Engine is the primary political movement of our time. It is also called Corporatism, with a generous portion of Cheney-style authoritarianism stirred into the mix for additional control through fear and anger manipulation.

When we take a closer look, we see these ARSE politicians follow a distinct pattern.

By their traditional definitions, liberalism is supposed to promote change, and conservatism is supposed to be against change. Who have been the primary agents of change in the past 30 years? Republican Conservatism has taken control of our government and has brought about more change than liberalism has accomplished in 60 years.

In response to $3.7 billion in lobbying money between 1998 and 2007 from the financial sector, the Big ARSE has deregulated the financial industry. That worked out fine, didn’t it?

We see the same kind of influence from the insurance/pharma/medical industry that will be dictating (and rationing) our health care. They are pouring ten million bucks every week into bribing politicians and confusing the pubic about health care.

ARSE has worked tirelessly to suppress every legislative attempt to benefit consumers, the public interest, the poor, and middle class.

Progress, growth, shared prosperity, and adaptation have been suppressed by stagnation, greed, militarism and re-distribution of wealth to the top one percent. In fact the wealth redistribution has overwhelmingly benefitted the top tenth of one per cent.

Let’s check the record.

According to the article on the Bush legacy in the September 11th issue of the Atlantic:

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

And we learn from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.

During those years, the Piketty-Saez data also show, the inflation-adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households grew more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent of households.

The smothering forces of the big ARSE have increased poverty, restricted and eliminated health care for millions, slaughtered countless thousands in war, and brought our economy to the brink of collapse. They have strangled the Constitution by lying to Congress, the American people, and the world, in order to start their war for power and profit. They undermined Habeas Corpus, rationalized and embraced torture, rendition, and warrantless surveillance of citizens.

We’ve seen the crazed and confused conservatives whining at town halls, “We want out country back.” We hear Rush and his ditto head parrots shouting about wanting their country back, too.

Well, fine, I kind of want MY country back, too, but what country is that? Is it the criminal regime of Bush/Cheney they yearn to restore? Perhaps, but I think they want the “good old days” back. Most of the loudest of these whiners grew up in an America that nurtured its working class through the liberal programs of FDR’s New Deal.

Those confused conservatives’ former standard of living and thriving economy was boosted by the very target of their political leaders. The Big ARSE has successfully demolished nearly all vestiges of the New Deal. They’ve had the privatization of Medicare and Social Security in their sights for a long time.

The Big ARSE has done everything possible to subvert the people’s government into a right wing engine of militarism, national security police state, and corporate profiteering.

The New Deal has been replaced by the Big Screw. Americans’ health and future are being poisoned by the toxic crap flowing from Fox News, the primary orifice of the Big ARSE.

So, the question we must ask is one that we can be sure will NOT be asked by corporate media and other establishment voices. Just what does Big ARSE Conservatism want to conserve?

It is the ARSE’s intention to put a cramp on the system, obstruct freedom, and dominate the rest of the entire body politic.

It’s time for some serious ARSE kicking.

Who's A Nazi?

2009-08-19T19:55:00.003-04:00

Like many of you, I enjoy a nice cup of tea now and then. It is such a calming and civil thing to do. And it got me thinking.

Those pitiful Tea Baggers can't even enjoy their tea; all they can drink is the kool-ade.

Here’s what one of them asked Barney Frank yesterday.

As she clutched her photo of Obama with a mustache drawn onto it, she self-righteously posed this artificial raspberry flavored challenge. “Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy as Obama has expressly supported this policy...Why are you supporting it?”

Frank’s response was eloquently on target. “On what planet do you spend most of your time?”

So he answered her. “As you stand there with a picture of the President defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, my answer to you is, as I’ve said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing so.”

I guess she likes to listen to Rush Limbaugh. Rush has been the most vehement pourer of the Nazi kool-ade lately. You may remember this began when Rush falsely claimed Nancy Pelosi called Town Hall shouters Nazis. She didn’t. But that’s no reason for Rush to not come unhinged from reality.

Here are some samples of his loathsome bile, from just ONE SHOW on August 6th, followed by a classic lie at the end.

The Speaker of the House accusing people showing up at these town hall meetings of wearing swastikas -- that is not insignificant, folks. That is -- this woman is deranged. ....She's basically saying that we are Nazis. She is saying that the people who oppose this are Nazis. And I'm gonna tell you what, I'm going to run down a list here later on the program, but this party -- the Democrat Party, and where it's taking this country, the radical left leadership of this party bears much more resemblance to Nazis' policies than anything we on the right believe in at all.

It is Obama who is astroturfing. It is Obama who is manufacturing right from the White House, sending out his brownshirts to head up opposition to genuine American citizens who want no part of what Barack Obama stands for and is trying to stuff down our throats

They accuse of us being Nazis, and Obama's got a health care logo that's right out of Adolf Hitler's playbook. Now, what are the similarities between the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in Germany? Well, the Nazis were against big business -- they hated big business. And of course we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution.... they banned smoking. ...and they were for cradle-to-grave nationalized healthcare.

This is why I have always bristled when I hear people claim conservatism gets close to Nazism. It is liberalism that's the closest you can get to Nazism and socialism. It's all bundled up under the socialist banner. There are far more similarities between Nancy Pelosi and Adolf Hitler than between these people showing up at town halls to protest a Hitler-like policy that's being heralded like a Hitler-like logo.

Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate.

Oh, another similarity. Obama is asking citizens to rat each other out like Hitler did.

These are just a few examples. Believe me, there are plenty more.

Here’s the kicker from August 10th: “Nobody was comparing Obama to Hitler.”

What the...? So Nazis were against big business, pollution, and smoking? Anything you say, Rush. Poor Rush has been obsessed with comparing liberals and democrats to Nazis. He was also calling all of us who disagree with him kooks.

Those of us who have a basic understanding of psychology can clearly see the projection being displayed here.

If you listen to Rush, you’d think Hitler was the first person who had the notion of universal health care.

Not surprisingly, that’s not true. Germans had the right idea before Adolf, before Paul von Hindenburg, and before the Kaiser, even. It was Otto von Bismarck, not the Nazis, who established a national health care system in Germany. And he was not a socialist or a Nazi. He was the Chancellor of Germany and Minister-President of Prussia. He was also an anti-socialist aristocrat, kind of like George W. Bush, but more compassionate. The Bismarck model featured regulated insurance coverage for everyone. The key factor was coverage, not profit.

Somebody must have told Rush about Bismarck, because recently Rush declared Bismarck was a “lefty”.

Let’s make something clear. Socialists, liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, or even American Reich Wing fascists are not Nazis.

However, American Reich Wing fascists share more than a few of the Nazis’ attitudes toward others. They despise democracy, liberalism, the arts, humanities, unions, real socialists, intellectuals, ethnic and racial minorities, homosexuals, and black presidents.

It can be tempting to call them Nazis by their adoration of militarism and unquestioning worship of law enforcement. We may be reminded of Nazis when we see them embrace the anger and hatred fed to them by their authoritarian leaders.

Like the Nazis of old, they are excited into a flag waving frenzy when their country invades countries that never attacked or threatened them. The American Reich Wingers angrily attacked anyone who questioned the Bush/Cheney wars and illegal surveillance programs as unpatriotic or worse. The RW’s also supported spying on peace groups, regarding them as potential terrorists or threats to America.

Yes, the Nazis did all this and more, but our rabid Righties in America are still not the same as Nazis. There are differences that need to be examined.

American Reich Wing fascists are so ignorant they don’t know what real Nazis were like. Real Nazis would scoff at them and regard the tea bagging, Fox-indoctrinated, ditto head imbeciles as mere oafish amateurs, corporatist stooges and useful idiots.

American Reich Wingers are for the most part a cheap imitation by comparison.

Most of the two-bit, tin-horn, dimwitted American Reich Wing fascists pale when compared to the original Nazis. Sure, American fascists destroyed our economy and devastated the middle class and public sector. And yes, they engendered world-wide anger, resentment and disappointment towards their country by belligerent war-mongering and war making. It just wasn’t accomplished on as grand a scale.

Our RW’s are only capable of implementing the destructive aspects of the Nazis. They build nothing to benefit their fellow citizens. They contribute nothing to advance education, health care, jobs, workers’ rights, public works, culture, and services for the unemployed and homeless.

The original Nazis could at least build something. Apart from the munitions and armaments they did construct Olympic stadiums, railroads, the autobahn and infrastructure for their country.

The horrible destruction they wrought came from their hatefulness, brutal authoritarian police state, and wars of aggression.

Thankfully, most Americans will never be fascists. Very few even call themselves Nazis.

But fascists live in America and they don’t need to be a majority to do their harm. Look at the type of folks at Blackwater/Xe. The rest of us need to watch them closely and do our best to keep them out of power.

The overreaction by the crazed racists to a black president is bad enough.

The horror of it all is these angry, frightened, ignorant people are capable of becoming even more dangerous. As the abortion doctor killers, Pittsburgh cop killer, Holocaust Memorial killer, and thousands of wannabes seethe in their hatred, all they need in order to be set loose on innocent Americans is another Dick Cheney in the White House with his corporate media propagandists calling those who dissent socialists or communists, or... Nazis. It doesn’t matter. Stupid Americans have proven they don’t know the difference anyway.

And right now, another Dick Cheney, or worse, is thinking about running for president.

But we liberals, Socialists, Communists, Anarchists, and yes, kooks as well, have learned so much from the rabid Righties lately, haven’t we?

Let’s review our most important lesson from those town hall shouters.

We learned Obama is a Democrat, foreigner, liberal, Marxist, authoritarian, Communist, Socialist, AND a Nazi...all at once. His wallet must be so full of membership cards he'll never need to find a chair to sit on.

Misinformed Christians

2009-08-06T18:19:00.001-04:00

Maybe you saw the woman holding her Bible up in the air and chanting “This is the only truth.” She was one of a group of conservatives following instructions to disrupt Democratic representatives meeting with constituents. Perhaps she was inspired by Republican lobbyist Dick Armey’s Freedom Works’ guide "Rocking the Town Halls-Best Practices."

Maybe she was following Conservatives for Patients' Rights. It's a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization that's run by a former hospital executive and generally slippery greedy fellow named Rick Scott. Or maybe she was taking her cue from Americans for Prosperity. They’re listed on the RecessRally.com page under the name of their own subsidiary, Patients First. The national chairman of Americans for Prosperity is the 19th richest man in the world. A man named David Koch.

These are organizing forces behind the Right Wing offensive against the free speech and democracy being attempted at these meetings. The Republican Party tells us, "What Democrats call mob rule, the average American calls democracy. These kinds of despicable characterizations of middle-class Americans smacks of elitism."

So let’s get this straight. The 19th richest man and his fellow Republicans are in no way promoting anything resembling elitist interests.

Right. And Hitler’s Brown Shirts were promoting democracy by doing the exact same thing. The Brown Shirts were charged with disrupting political opponents’ meetings.

Now, I’m not saying these duped citizens are Nazis. Although Rush was telling his brain-dead listeners today how much Democrats are like Nazis. You all know how famously those Nazis promoted nationalized health care and questioned their military/industrial complex. Oops, that last part was from Republican President Eisenhower. He fought against the Nazis.

What I AM saying is these conservatives shouting down meetings are doing the same thing Hitler’s Brown Shirts did. And I’ll bet there were many German Christians among them. Many German Christians believed Hitler was one of them. They were misinformed and blinded by ideology, of course. Today we see many American Christians who are similarly misinformed and ideological.

Let’s take a look at what misinformed Christians have been up to and see if we can find any historical pattern.

Misinformed Christians set out to kill for Christ on their Crusades.

Misinformed Christians launched a bloody Inquisition.

Misinformed Christians burned people at the stake in Europe.

Misinformed Christians hung “witches” in Salem.

Misinformed Christians followed Hitler.

Misinformed Christians believe Obama was not born in the US.

Misinformed Christians believe Obama is a racist.

Misinformed Christians don’t want government-sponsored health care.

Misinformed Christians want VA health care for veterans.

Misinformed Christians want to keep Medicare.

Misinformed Christians don’t know VA and Medicare are successful government-sponsored health care.

Misinformed Christians believe government-sponsored Health care is Communism.

Misinformed Christians are frightened by Socialism.

Misinformed Christians do not know what Socialism is.

Misinformed Christians watch Fox News.

Misinformed Christians believe Right Wing propaganda.

Misinformed Christians are frightened and angered by Right Wing propaganda.

Misinformed Christians repeat Right Wing propaganda.

Misinformed Christians don’t know Right Wing propaganda is funded by Mammon.

Misinformed Christians believe government sponsored health care will kill old people.

Misinformed Christians don’t know for the top 10 corporate health insurers profits are up over 430% the past 7 years.

Misinformed Christians prefer the insurance companies influence our politicians.

Misinformed Christians believe in free speech.

Misinformed Christians will disrupt others’ right to free speech at meetings.

Misinformed Christians follow instructions titled "Rocking the Town Halls-Best Practices."

Misinformed Christians don’t care that "Rocking the Town Halls-Best Practices" was funded by corporate money.

Misinformed Christians shill for corporate profits against the public’s health.

Misinformed Christians serve the interests of Mammon.

Misinformed Christians forgot Jesus said, “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”

Misinformed Christians don’t care that health care costs cause bankruptcy.

Misinformed Christians would prefer $10 trillion go towards war than care for our own.

Misinformed Christians want to deny health care to millions of Americans

Misinformed Christians forgot Jesus healed the sick.

Misinformed Christians forgot who said, “Blessed are the merciful”.

Misinformed Christians believe we are a Christian Nation.

I think I see a pattern here...

Misinformed Christians aren’t very Christian at all, are they?

Birthers and Racists and Brats

2009-07-29T19:18:00.002-04:00

By some thoughtless impulse I flipped the TV channel to another station.

I heard the commentator's voice explaining, “All he’s doing is bloviating. He’s just bloviating. That’s all it is.” The commentator was Bill O’Reilly, and he was talking to his guest from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“It takes one to know one,” I thought to myself, while wondering who the subject was of Bill-O’s remark.

I learned it was none other than Lou Dobbs of CNN. It looks like old Lou is coming more unglued than ever. His pathological obsession with all those leprosy spreading immigrants living in his narrow imagination was apparently shutting down more parts of his brain.

Yes, Dobbs has joined the “Birthers”. This is the sect of the lunatic Right Wing that is even less grounded in reality than O’Reilly. In fact, Bill says the Factor “investigated” this issue and found the wackos’ notion of Obama’s foreign birth “bogus”.

Man, thank goodness for O’Reilly’s prowess as an investigative journalist. When old Bull O Really sides with sanity over delusion, maybe there IS some hope, after all. Or, maybe I’m getting carried away. The Ridiculous Right has legions of Birthers marching among them. Many Republican congressmen are pandering to this crazed crowd. Toss in Glenn-the-Reality-Impaired Beck’s equally ridiculous accusation that Obama is a racist, and we see some significant mass madness over on the conservative, or I should say confused side of American politics.

Now, as any sane observer would ask, what would happen if this situation were reversed and liberals said some outrageous thing about a republican? Why, they’d be accused of treason, of course. And you could bet there would be some major Republican political theater along with it. Remember the Senate resolution condemning the liberal antiwar group MoveOn.org for publishing a newspaper ad?

Why don’t we see Democrats behaving like Republicans when they feel some slight against them? Could it be Democrats and liberals are the mature adults here?

I have a theory. Those tough talking, flag waving, sanctimonious hypocrites are crybabies. Yes, they act just like a bunch of immature little whiners.

Amazingly, the richest and most powerful are the biggest crybabies. Conservative talk radio whiners and republican politicians are always crying abut something. Most of their complaining is about their own insatiable greed, of course. “Waa! I want my Bush tax cuts permanent!” “Waa! I’m a poor unfairly taxed millionaire!” “Waa! I don’t want everyone else to have health care!” Waa! I want the insurance companies to have their way!” “Waa! Government is supposed to work for Big Business!” “Waa! Obama is a socialist!” “Waa! Obama was born in Africa!” “Waa! Obama is a racist!”

And yes, Progressives have many complaints as well. They speak and write about rampant injustice. They illuminate the class warfare waged against the poor and middle class. They correctly say the rich are clearly the winners in this contest. But, unlike the emotionally charged howling from the Right, Progressives base their claims on verifiable fact and history.

The crybaby Right cannot base their arguments on reality. Since they confuse journalism with liberalism they can’t support their claims with documented verifiable facts. In fact, they scream the “liberal media” is to blame for everything.

Let’s look at what Sarah Palin, the quitter with lipstick, said in her Quittin’ the Governorship Speech the other day.

“Some straight talk for some—just some—in the media, because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press and you have such important jobs, reporting facts and informing the electorate and exerting power to influence. You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy.

Democracy depends on you. And that is why—that‘s why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how about, in honor of the American soldier, ya quit makin’ things up?”

Like a child behind Mother’s skirt, they love to hide behind the troops and patriotism so they can accuse opponents of not being “real Americans”.

It’s time to spank these spoiled little brats and tell them to grow up and face reality. Most Americans want the government to work for all of us, not just for the richest one percent. Obama is not a racist. Obama does not pal around with a terrorist. Obama is not a socialist. Obama won.

Let’s tell those folks who cheered the stolen 2000 election something. Let’s remind those who stomp their feet and hold their breath because the guy with the most votes won last year’s election.

Let’s remind them of what they told us back in 2000.

Get over it.

Gates Gate

2009-07-28T14:17:00.005-04:00

A travel fatigued and sickly college professor walking with a cane was arrested by Cambridge police and everybody has to chime in. Talk radio filled countless hours of air time. The President, after admitting he didn’t have all the facts, decided the police acted stupidly.

Now we have a right wing representative from Michigan pushing for a congressional resolution demanding Obama apologize to the Cambridge Police Department. Representative Thaddeus McCotter must come from a very prosperous district in the state. Michigan is suffering the highest unemployment rate in the country. Old Thaddeus has his priorities, though. I bet those unemployed constituents are cheering his noble crusade for truth and justice, while they eat their boxed mac and cheese and count their remaining food stamps.

We all know what happened. Henry Louis Gates was returning home from China and found his front door jammed shut. A neighbor saw him attempting to push it open, called the police and reported a possible B and E. She mentioned in her call that the guy had luggage and may even live there.

Sgt. Crowley arrived to save the day. Soon professor Gates was placed in handcuffs, arrested and carted off to jail. So, what’s the big deal? Nothing stupid was done, right?

Yes, Gates did get upset and he made some remarks like the cop not knowing who he was “messing with”.

I read the officers’ report and learned that Gates presented ID after the officer had entered the house. Crowley stated Gates “appeared to be a resident but was uncooperative”. Gates was indignant and annoyed about the cop’s intrusiveness. Crowley asked Gates to “step out onto the porch and speak to me”. That’s a smart way to calm someone down, right?

Crowley reported he was “led to believe Gates was lawfully in the residence”. Then as Crowley was leaving the residence he told Gates he would, “speak with him outside.” So Crowley was followed out onto the porch.

Professor Gates was then arrested for “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior.”

I have 25 years of experience in a maximum security environment. I have been in many situations that required an even temperament to prevent people from getting hurt. After reading the cops' report, I see this could be a good teaching case for officers to learn about unnecessary escalation of an incident.

Crowley certainly could have been more professional about this. It was obvious that these were not young thugs attempting a B and E. The “step outside” line could have been regarded as over-reaching and even threatening. The situation could have been de-escalated if the cop had a cooler head. After the cop knew Gates lived there, it was the officers’ presence that escalated the situation. Crowley should have left the scene. His business was finished. By his staying, the situation became a contest of egos, not a public safety matter.

Cops are not paid to win a shouting match at a person’s home.

This is assuming the report was written in complete honesty. Cops do lie sometimes.

I agree Obama should have kept his mouth shut on this, but he was right the first time. Crowley acted stupidly and let the situation blow up out of proportion.

As to Thaddeus McCotter’s hare-brained resolution for a presidential apology on this minor incident; I have a better suggestion.

I’d like Obama to apologize for bigger transgressions.

What about his protecting Cheney’s secret testimony in the Libby/Plame CIA leak? He used the same old Bush “state secrets” dodge for illegal surveillance.

Let’s see if he will apologize for betraying our nation’s constitution by “looking forward’ past the Bush/Cheney war crimes.

I’d certainly like Obama to apologize for saying some things. Let’s start with that one about, “Nobody is above the law”.

Around And Around

2009-07-22T21:27:00.006-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of coming across a blog called Gun Toting Liberal. I recommend you all check this blog.

“Gun toting liberal, eh,” I thought, “Sounds like my kind of guy”.

There was a post written by a conservative guest titled “Lesson For A Liberal”. You have to hand it to GTL. He knows how to stir up some active comments.

The writer is a golf instructor who was giving a lesson to his liberal student. During the lesson the woman said to him, “The greedy corporations that created this mess will pay for what they did, don’t worry Chris, our President will take care of us.”

Feel free to go read the entire piece, but for our purposes here and now, that clip should suffice.

Friendly guy that I am, I thought I’d leave a thoughtful comment. Soon afterwards, off we went, around and around with my new conservative friend, FandB.

I know this kind of repartee can be annoying to some people, but sometimes I really like it. If you are also inclined to enjoy a spirited exchange, I offer to you this little spin on the carousel for your entertainment and edification.

Comments:
***

Just as it is naive for the Left to believe Obama will "take care of us", we see the mirrored reflection of the Right's similarly misplaced belief in warrantless surveillance by an unrestrained national security state. Our freedoms are protected by enforcement of the Bill of Rights, not by the false promise of hope by Obama, and not by the false promise of safety by Bush/Cheney rogue agencies.

There is a valid argument that the US and the world would be just as safe, if not safer, without an NSA or CIA. Unfortunately these agencies deny us the very facts we need to debate the issue.

And yes, greed exists in corporations. They serve their bottom line. Businesses who grew in the US and were nurtured by American workers, would betray those employees in a heartbeat and send those jobs overseas. Not all of them, but too many have done just that. My wife even had to train her Indian replacement. It is not in the nature of Big Business to be benevolent and merciful.

Dave Dubya

***

People need to accept responsibility for their actions, and they need to understand the effects of their actions on others, including the effects on corporations. Corporations respond to the demand from their customers. If their customers demand lower prices for goods and services than they are able to achieve in the U.S., then there is pressure from their customers to move overseas to lower their costs.

Just as businesses would "betray" the "American workers" who "nurtured" them, the very same American workers would betray the businesses they worked for in a heartbeat if they could buy down the street and save half a buck.

And the American worker is also not without responsibility in this matter. Every year, Workers demand higher and higher pay and benefits (even though their work usually does not improve much, if at all, from year to year). The workers threaten to destroy the business if they don't get what they want. So when it reaches the point where sales decline due to higher prices forced by higher wages, businesses have to choose between off-shoring, out-sourcing, raising prices, or shutting their doors.

When customers demand lower prices, and workers demand higher wages, the business is left with too few options.

Now this is where the liberals jump in and scream that the people running the companies get paid too much, they should cut their own pay. It is a fundamental difference between the free market capitalism that built this great nation, and the socialism that is destroying it. The problem is, the liberals can't see that (1) the big bad CEO doesn't earn enough to make a difference in the above scenario, even if his pay were cut to zero it would have a marginal effect at best; and (2) if companies don't pay enough to attract the talent needed to run the company, it will fail anyway.

If the American workers, who expect to get paid more and more every year, were to develop new ways to do things, better, faster, cheaper ways to produce. And if they were to do it consistently year after year, there would be several differences between the way things are now and the way they could be. America would not have a trade deficit - as long as our quality and productivity improve year after year after year, our goods and services would be the lowest priced and the highest quality in the world. Not only would Americans only want to buy American made goods, the rest of the world would want American made goods. Our unemployment rate would be nil. Our tax rates would be lower. Everyone would be insured through their employers, since profits are high and everyone is working. And on and on...

So I still believe that the American worker CAN make a difference, and should strive every day to make that difference.

The movement away from accepting personal responsibility for your own actions, and toward expecting more and more from the government, has led to the deadly spiral that we are in now.

Remember, the big scary evil "corporations" don't exist in a void, and they don't run themselves. They are run by people, EVERY SINGLE ONE of whom is just trying to make the best living they can for themselves and for their families. The people running the corporations are ALSO American Workers.

FandB

***

F and B- I'm such a dope, all this time reading your posts I always though you just had an odd name that rhymed with Bambi. Then I saw Chris split it with a "&" , now I see the light.

Dave W. (I catch on so fast!)- The government overstepping the line with U.S. Citizens is indeed a serious issue and a big problem that is compounded by technology. However, I dare say the vast majority of spying is much more innocuous and safe from abuse than you may realize. Back in the old days, an overseas spy might befriend and pay a janitor to get the trash out of some dictator's office to get a sense what was going on. Now, with so much information being created and stored electronically, agencies use different methods of gaining information. As powerful as the tools are to gather information, the agencies struggle with the problem of netting "dolphine with the tuna". And when it comes to phone calls, e-mails,texting and such, there are millions of worthless "dolphine" information for the few tuna they are after. It is hard not pull in sometimes unauthorized information on U.S. citizens, but my opinion is that it is a very rare day when one of those "Alphabet" agencies actually wants to have infomation on a U.S. citizen that it wasn't authorized to have.

Mike Hatcher

***
FandB,

Personally, and like many other Americans who may still have an income, I will always spend a little more on products made in the US over an import. That is, if I even have the choice.

I must say I’ve never heard that the reason for the horrific job losses in the US is the irresponsibility of workers looking for lower prices and their greed for better wages. But it’s OK, I guess, for the company and its bosses to do what it takes to achieve those same things. Executive and CEO pay has risen exponentially, often regardless of performance, while economic stagnation and depression close in on most Americans.

I’d like to see someone explain that to the unemployed. I suppose that’s why there’s Fox News, eh, F and B? F and B... Hmm, why does that ring a bell? Listening to the shrill cries of the Right, you’d think the middle class was expanding out of control and lynching the rich, instead of shrinking into a distant memory. An informed middle class is exactly what the ruling political and corporate elite want to suppress.

And say, don’t those trade deficits and job losses have something to do with corporate friendly “Free Trade Agreements”?

I am also surprised to learn that corporations are run by people who, unlike those selfish laborers, are free from the influence of greed; even the Wall Street banksters, I suppose.

Well, that’s “Free Market Capitalism” for you. It’s a good thing they have reverse socialism to bail them out. We all work for them now. That is so much better than that evil kind of socialism that uses tax dollars to provide public services like police and fire departments and infrastructure. If someone doesn’t have the sense of personal responsibility to put out his house fire, or catch the arsonist burglar who broke into his house before he started the fire, then he gets what he deserves, right?

You know what else liberals can’t see? They can’t see “free trade” and “free markets”. They see a revolving door relationship between politicians and corporate lobbyists. They see two thirds of corporations paying no income taxes. They see Big Business filling the campaign funds of both parties. They see corporatocracy. They see the golden rule where those with the gold make the rules.

You’re right FandB, American workers can make a difference. As long as they shut up, accept a lower standard of living, give up on health care, and gratefully serve their corporate masters for minimum wage.

Mike,

Remember this line? “Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way..." – G. W. B. 4-20-04

We liberals, and conservatives who understand the Fourth Amendment, call that a lie.

It may well be that “the vast majority of spying is much more innocuous and safe from abuse,” but the fact remains it has been, and is done, without Constitutional accountability and oversight. Journalists were specifically targeted and had their phones and email wiretapped. At least that was the case with James Risen of the New York Times. Perhaps he was being punished for reporting illegal surveillance by the Bush Administration. (There goes that pesky First Amendment as well.) Just how much warrantless spying on innocent Americans for no probable cause is acceptable? And just who do you trust with that power?

Do you trust the likes of General Michael Hayden? Maybe you remember he was the former NSA director who was rewarded with a new job as CIA boss by Bush/Cheney.

And do you remember Hayden being questioned by reporter Jonathan Landay in January of 2006?

Landay of Knight Ridder began his question by stating that "the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution specifies that you must have probable cause to be able to do a search that does not violate an American's right against unlawful searches and seizures." Hayden then interjected: "Actually, the Fourth Amendment actually protects all of us against unreasonable search and seizure. That's what it says."

Landay politely corrected him, saying, "But the measure is 'probable cause,' I believe." But Hayden insisted: "The amendment says 'unreasonable search and seizure.'" When Landay continued, "But does it not say probable--" he was interrupted by Hayden, who said, "No.... The amendment says 'unreasonable search and seizure.'"

Astoundingly, Hayden then said, “Just to be very clear, believe me. If there’s any Amendment to the Constitution that the employees of the National Security Agency are familiar with, it’s the fourth. And it is the reasonableness standard that is in the Amendment.”

So, here it is:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

This leaves me with some questions.

Why would our corporate media allow such ignorance of our rights by powerful leaders go unreported? Could it be their tight relationship with the telecom industry that was soon granted immunity for their part in the illegal surveillance? Why do they attack a constitutionally protected free press as the dreaded “liberal media” and embrace unconstitutional abuse of power by radical dishonest Right Wing conservatives?

And one more question. Except for the Second Amendment, why do Right Wing conservatives dismiss and scorn the Bill of Rights?

-Dave Dubya

***
Dave Dubya: ” I will always spend a little more on products made in the US over an import” — not enough people are willing and then actually follow through and do it. That’s a large part of the problem.

“I’ve never heard that the reason for the horrific job losses in the US is the irresponsibility of workers looking for lower prices and their greed for better wages” — I realize it is a bitter pill, and not very PC, but in order to solve a problem, you have to attack the root cause, not the symptoms.

Businesses ONLY sell what people buy. The buyer is ALWAYS in control, not the seller.
Most people have trouble understanding this concept. They are used to being controlled by government and have forgotten that government should not be the one in control.

Your next paragraph, Dave Dubya (hmmm…why does that sound familiar), is just a feeble attempt to bash the right and is completely meaningless, especially in terms of fosteriing a productive discussion on the serious, but solvable, issues that the U.S. now faces.

All of your questions were answered in my first post. All of the corporate actions you disagree with are brought about through the actions of businesses trying to satisfy the needs/desires of consumers. It isn’t the other way around as liberals would like you to believe. If everyone took responsibility for their actions, stopped buying foreign made products, demanded U.S. made products, etc., all these things would change.

“Two thirds of corporations paying no income taxes” is SHEER FABRICATION on your part Dubya. Making up statistics is no way to make meaningful contributions to improving the situation in the U.S.

Your comment regarding what American workers are capable of is about as pessimistic as you can get. It just shows how deeply ingrained the lack of understanding goes.

FandB

***

GTL,

I must thank you for this opportunity to engage in friendly discourse and debate. It’s a good thing to see two sides presented without shouting and interruption.

FandB,

I see you prefer a black and white world of absolutes. "Businesses ONLY sell what people buy. The buyer is ALWAYS in control, not the seller." While that may provide some comfort to a right wing belief system, it does little to aid in one's grasp of realty. The minimum wage employee who must spend the bulk of his paycheck on gas to get to his job is not in control. The same worker is also mandated to buy insurance for that car. That is not in his control.

My comments are not so much "a feeble attempt to bash the right", but simply my effort to bash what is wrong. (IMHO, that is.) I happen to agree with conservatives who support the right to firearm ownership, but it's sensible to regulate and to deny that right to psychotics and criminals. And I agree with them that abortion is a horrible thing. However I do feel it is not up to a man, or the government, or some church to make what is clearly the woman's personal painful decision..

True liberalism dwells in thoughtful, fair-minded people who yearn for a government that works for the public good. You may be surprised to learn most folks embrace both liberal and conservative ideas.

Both progressive and conservative interests in our Constitutional directives to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” are undermined by corporate agendas. Liberals were called traitors when they questioned the motives of war profiteers/mongers Cheney and Rumsfeld. The Right accused us of “hating America” by objecting to Bush’s illegal, corporate telecom-assisted domestic spying. Those same voices are now howling about some foreign born socialist who wants to destroy capitalism while palling around with a terrorist. Give me a break.

Liberalism TM exists primarily in the fevered fantasies of right wing propagandists. It is not in the corporate-bought government of the United States.

My pessimism is grounded in the historical facts from Reagan’s “trickle down” myth to Bush/Cheney’s Enron/Halliburton style corporatism. Corporatism, masked as conservatism, has been the guiding force in US Government policy for 30 years now

I will not go in circles with you over these issues. I will, however, assert myself when accused of dishonesty. (“Two thirds of corporations paying no income taxes” is SHEER FABRICATION...) If you want sheer fabrication, I suggest tuning in to Rush Limbaugh, Bill O Reilly, Sean Hannity and their countless legions who can only make their points by outrageous comments and sheer fabrication. Feel free to fact check those folks if you have the curiosity that is obviously lacking in their listeners.

My “fabrication” is from the General Accounting Office report mentioned by many sources, excluding Fox News, of course. I have included a couple for you. I accept your apology.

---
Christian Science Monitor April 19, 2004

The April 2 release of a General Accounting Office report on corporate taxes could hardly have been better timed to get press attention. Just as millions of Americans were filling out their federal 2003 tax forms to beat the April 15 deadline, the GAO study indicated that most corporations owed no taxes from 1996 to 2000, a boom period for corporate profits.
Those untaxed corporations earned $3.5 trillion of revenues.
---
SF Chronicle Wednesday, August 13, 2008

When the taxman cometh, most corporations wave him on by, according to a government study released on Tuesday.
About two-thirds of U.S. companies and foreign firms doing business in this country paid no federal income taxes from 1998 to 2005, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the report "a shocking indictment of the current tax system."

To be sure, many of the nonpayers were small or new companies that probably made no money. But the report said that about a quarter of large corporations - ones that had more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in gross receipts - paid no taxes. In 2005, for instance, 3,565 large U.S. companies and 998 large foreign-owned companies operating here did not pay any income taxes.

Dave Dubya

***

“The minimum wage employee who must spend the bulk of his paycheck on gas” --- as I said, we need to get to the root cause of the problem. Why is this employee only earning minimum wage? Trying to solve the wrong problem does not bring us closer to a solution that is equitable for all.

“mandated to buy insurance for that car” --- This varies from state to state. Who is responsible for this nanny-state law? (Hint: It usually falls under the same political discussion as 'Affordable Health Care')

“woman’s personal painful decision” --- why is the decision painful? Because every woman who has an abortion knows that she is killing her own child. That's why.

Why do liberals not have empathy for the baby that is being executed, often through excruciatingly painful and Torturous “procedures.” Who is protecting their rights?

Liberals are OK with torturing babies to death, but if we waterboard a murderer we should be hanged for Treason. Hmmmm.... Something's not quite right in the liberal camp.

“True liberalism dwells in thoughtful, fair-minded people who yearn for a government that works for the public good.” --- That sounds like conservatism to me.

“undermined by corporate agendas” --- They are also undermined by the left wing socialist agendas.

Regarding the whole “war profiteer” scenario you brought up, have you looked at what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan lately? Yeah, looks like Bush and Cheney were right. Again.

“I will not go in circles with you over these issues” --- Heh, I don’t blame you.

Dude. Apology not tendered. Don’t make so many assumptions. :-) You back-pedaled on that fallacy yourself, even after giving it a decidedly leftist spin.

It is funny how the lefties repeatedly single out three or four conservative talk show hosts and then throw out their little snipes, like ‘fact check them’. Maybe the lefties who believe the venom spewed by the New York Times, MSNBC, most of the other MSM outlets, CNN, etc. should do a little Fact-Checking themselves rather than believing everything uttered by The Party of Hate and the new official State-Run Media.

(Hint: When a company doesn’t pay income taxes, it usually means the company did not make any money. Just as Joe Private Citizen doesn’t pay any income taxes if he has no taxable income.)

Why do the lefties always try to spin it to look like the companies made tons of money and paid no taxes.

(Another Hint: People (and corporations) don’t pay taxes on assets, gross receipts, or revenue. They pay taxes on Net Income, i.e. ‘Taxable’ income)

FandB

***

Hi, FandB,

I am delighted to see you are agreeable to some of my points, just as I agree with some conservative views. See, we can make progress. Even though such agreements may be similar to Sarah Palin and a geologist agreeing that the Earth is old; old, as in six thousand years to Sarah, and old as in billions of years to the geologist.

What, no apology? I guess if you’re never wrong you never need to apologize. (Hint: I originally said “income taxes”. You copied and pasted that, remember? Thanks for clarifying, though.) In good faith I provided the documented source of my corporate tax point and you rejected it with your un-documentable claim of fallacy. I understand. Righties do tend to confuse journalism with liberalism, and right wing ideology with fact.

Speaking of journalism, since Fox “news” is not journalism, and thus also never wrong, I agree with your suggestion to fact check the rest of the corporate-owned media. I remember when the New York Times parroted the Bush Cheney lies about Saddam’s “nukular” weapons, sinister aluminum tubes, and scary mushroom clouds. I also remember the Times telling us, on Bush’s behalf, about Saddam training al-Qaeda in chemical and biological weapons. (After no evidence was found to support their propaganda, Cheney wanted to waterboard Iraqis to get them to “confess” to these falsehoods.)

Yes, the corporate media do tend to drink that right wing kool-aid, don’t they? And since media ownership has not changed since back in 2002 and 2003 when they were whipping up war fever, your “state run media” description has a certain ring of truth to it. Why didn’t you and Rush tell us back then that the media was state run? Oh, maybe it’s because progressives were making similar accusations.

And I’m with you buddy, I never blindly believe anything uttered by the Party of Hate, or democrats either, for that matter.

I won’t pick at any of the other unsubstantiated assertions you made. Instead I’ll just respond to a few of your questions, and then I’ll shut up like a good little liberal and let you have the last word.

“Why is this employee only earning minimum wage?”

He’s getting minimum wage because the company will not pay him more. The Right hates the minimum wage and thinks it’s too generous, remember?

“...mandated to buy insurance for that car” --- This varies from state to state. Who is responsible for this nanny-state law?”

That would be the insurance companies, not those socialists.

“Have you looked at what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan lately? “

Yes, I have. Obama is escalating the war is Afghanistan. That would be a “surge” to you folks on the Right. And like the escalation in Iraq, many more of our troops will have their lives sacrificed to a political/corporate agenda. Many more will suffer long term disabilities and PTSD. These vets will need to be treated by government run health care systems supported by our tax dollars, right? You do support our troops, and would gladly contribute your tax money for their care and rehabilitation, wouldn’t you? I would hope you’d not want to cast them into the streets and say “It was your own irresponsibility that got you wounded. You’re on your own.”

I see the Iraqis STILL want us out of their country and celebrated the day our military committed to remain on their bases outside of their cities. Both countries have untold thousands of terrified civilians paying the price for our wars of terror. I see innocent lives still being blown away in both countries. Innocent American, Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani blood still pours into the ground. Halliburton/KBR profits are up. Mission accomplished.

For the cost of Bush’s war for re-election, political capital, and profits for his cronies, we could pay for health care for every American. That paints a pretty clear picture of Neocon values, doesn’t it?

“Why do the lefties always try to spin it to look like the companies made tons of money and paid no taxes?”

Because it is true. Since you have such high regard for responsibility, who do you think should be responsible for paying the tax dollars required to finance the above-mentioned wars? Is it asking too much for corporations who profit from wars to pay some taxes to wage them? Who should pay the taxes to build and maintain the infrastructure, public services, legal system, military, law enforcement, etc.? If corporations bear no responsibility in supporting these “socialist” institutions and public works, even though they freely avail themselves of said services and infrastructure, then that leaves the rest of us to pay for it all. The public gets stuck paying for the facilitation of corporate profit. It looks like we have a new guiding economic principle in the USA. Private corporate profit is to be extracted at the public’s expense.

There are your Fair and Balanced responsibilities, eh?

One thing I hope you understand, FandB, is we both love this country and want what is best for our land and its people. At least I hope you love this country more than you love right wing conservatism. Although our visions of those ends differ, we can co-exist as long as we respect each other’s right to disagree. I won’t call you a goose-stepping fascist if you don’t call me a treasonous commie. ;-)

Dave Dubya

*
You’ll have to go over to GTL’s blog to see FandB’s “last word”. But first I want to show how I explained something for FandB at a different post.

*

You obviously have it in for “corporations” for some reason, and that is jading your perspective.

FandB

***
FandB,

Don't get me wrong. I give my hard earned money to corporations. All I want in exchange is what I pay for. Isn't that fair? I do not want them buying off my representation in government with money they get from me or anyone else. That is what happens when corporate money fills the campaign coffers of politicians.

And to see them get away with not paying their taxes is an insult to me.

Government policy bought by corporate money and influence is Corporatism. That is antithetical to the principles of democracy.

I am not against capitalism, I am against corporatism.

I am not against corporations, I am against corporatocracy.

All that money greasing the skids for Big Business and special interests takes all the democracy out of our government.

So you see, I am an old-fashioned American, just like you, who values my freedom, self determination, and representation along with taxation through a free democratic republic.

Dave Dubya

*
I tried to be the gentleman and offered FandB the last word. He graciously obliged. Then, wouldn't you know it? True to the nature of right wing conservatives everywhere; he took the last word, right after he took the second-to-last word. He took one more delusional jab about liberals being “OK with torturing babies to death”. There's just no satisfying them is there?

The News

2009-07-16T11:39:00.005-04:00

What’s wrong with the news? Ask the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, O Reilly, Drudge, Beck, Coulter, Malkin, Weiner Savage, and the rest of the hordes of Right Wingers whose voices flood corporate American media and they will all tell you. The media is liberal.

Amusingly, since the Obama Administration came to power, our favorite oxy-moron Rush has been referring to the mainstream media as “state run media”. I wonder why he never divulged this dirty little secret during the Right Wing’s campaign to ratchet up support for the neo-con’s war on Iraq. He could have been close to the truth, for once.

Of course, the very existence of this mob of propagandists renders their assertion of liberal media absurd. Their job is to indoctrinate the majority of Americans into voting against their economic interests by supporting the Republican Party. They would take up the Right’s favorite wedge issues like religion, abortion, gays and guns, and add to those the famous Cheney fear mongering to great effect. They have been enormously successful. Enough Americans were emotionally manipulated into surrendering much of their freedom for the illusion of safety promised by the Right.

George W. Bush was re-elected well after any curious American would have discovered the lies, desecration of the Bill of Rights, and war crimes committed by the Bush/Cheney cartel. An informed American citizen would need to look beyond mainstream media.

Corporate American media as well as most of the rest of corporate America had much to gain from Republican power in Washington DC. American media would profit by having a merger-friendly Republican Administration, Congress, and FCC.

Although the Clinton Administration was deep enough in the pockets of Big Money to generously repeal the Glass-Steagall act, Wall Street and Big Business yearned for the deregulation and negligible oversight a Republican government would provide.

Apart from the unionized manufacturing sector, (The CEO’s are doing fine, thank you.) they got everything they wanted. They looted our treasury, bankrupted our economy and mired us into wars we cannot afford.

Finally enough Americans were finally shaken from the spell of the radical Right and voted Democrats into office. And as we are painfully discovering, the situation has not greatly improved. While the Republican Party has dangerously moved to the far Right, the Democratic Party has drifted to at best, a center/right position. Both parties are significantly under corporate influence and free from public direction through any remaining vestiges of democracy.

There are three primary reasons for this.

First, the system of political campaign finance is infiltrated by moneyed interests. Corporate lobbyists and politicians have an interactive revolving door relationship. They have become partners in governing our nation. To the citizen observer this appears as simple bribery sanctioned by the Supreme Court as protected free speech.

Second, there is the endowment of personhood to corporations. In our legal system a corporation has all the rights of a person. The problem is they have none of the accountability. A corporation can steal and kill, but unlike a person facing justice, it cannot be imprisoned or executed.

The third factor in our government’s estrangement from the people is the corporatization of media. The news organizations used to have the responsibility to the people as a watchdog over the government. This is no longer the case. The nexus of corporate media and corporate government is an entity that is hostile to both the public interest and the principles of democracy.

We have a serious need for someone to watch the former watchdogs. The good folks at Media Matters for America and Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) are taking up the cause for us. I urge you all to become familiar with these two organizations.

To help get you acquainted, I thought I’d set you up with FAIR’s clear-eyed overview of the government filtered, corporate censored information control system, known as the American news industry. This is what citizens, and especially voters, need to understand about that business. Thank you, FAIR, for assessing for us:

What's Wrong With the News?

Independent, aggressive and critical media are essential to an informed democracy. But mainstream media are increasingly cozy with the economic and political powers they should be watchdogging. Mergers in the news industry have accelerated, further limiting the spectrum of viewpoints that have access to mass media. With U.S. media outlets overwhelmingly owned by for-profit conglomerates and supported by corporate advertisers, independent journalism is compromised.

Ultimately, FAIR believes that structural reform is needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting, and promote strong, non-profit alternative sources of information.

Corporate Ownership

Almost all media that reach a large audience in the United States are owned by for-profit corporations--institutions that by law are obligated to put the profits of their investors ahead of all other considerations. The goal of maximizing profits is often in conflict with the practice of responsible journalism.

Not only are most major media owned by corporations, these companies are becoming larger and fewer in number as the biggest ones absorb their rivals. This concentration of ownership tends to reduce the diversity of media voices and puts great power in the hands of a few companies. As news outlets fall into the hands of large conglomerates with holdings in many industries, conflicts of interest inevitably interfere with newsgathering.

FAIR believes that independent media are essential to a democratic society, and that aggressive antitrust action must be taken to break up monopolistic media conglomerates. At the same time, non-corporate, alternative media outlets need to be promoted by both the government and the non-profit sector.

Advertiser Influence

Most of the income of for-profit media outlets comes not from their audiences, but from commercial advertisers who are interested in selling products to that audience. Although people sometimes defend commercial media by arguing that the market gives people what they want, the fact is that the most important transaction in the media marketplace--the only transaction, in the case of broadcast television and radio--does not involve media companies selling content to audiences, but rather media companies selling audiences to sponsors.

This gives corporate sponsors a disproportionate influence over what people get to see or read. Most obviously, they don't want to support media that regularly criticizes their products or discusses corporate wrongdoing. More generally, they would rather support media that puts audiences in a passive, non-critical state of mind-making them easier to sell things to. Advertisers typically find affluent audiences more attractive than poorer ones, and pay a premium for young, white, male consumers-factors that end up skewing the range of content offered to the public.

It is becoming harder and harder to escape from the propagandistic effects of advertising. Many students are now forced to watch commercials in school on Channel One. Even supposedly "noncommercial" outlets like PBS and NPR run ads-euphemistically known as "underwriter announcements." FAIR believes that commercial advertising should be taxed, with the proceeds earmarked to fund truly noncommercial media.

Official Agendas

Despite the claims that the press has an adversarial relationship with the government, in truth U.S. media generally follow Washington's official line. This is particularly obvious in wartime and in foreign policy coverage, but even with domestic controversies, the spectrum of debate usually falls in the relatively narrow range between the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties.

The owners and managers of dominant media outlets generally share the background, worldview and income bracket of political elites. Top news executives and celebrity reporters frequently socialize with government officials. The most powerful media companies routinely make large contributions to both major political parties, while receiving millions of dollars in return in the form of payments for running political ads.

In this incestuous culture, "news" is defined chiefly as the actions and statements of people in power. Reporters, dependent on "access" and leaks provided by official sources, are too often unwilling to risk alienating these sources with truly critical coverage. Nor are corporate media outlets interested in angering the elected and bureaucratic officials who have the power to regulate their businesses.

Telecom Policy

The United States' original communications policy is the 1st Amendment. Freedom of the press was guaranteed in the Constitution because an exchange of information and an unfettered debate were considered essential components of a democratic society.

Today, however, government policy is designed less to facilitate a democratic discussion than to protect the investments of media corporations. Regulations tend to promote the formation of huge media conglomerates and discourage new, competing voices.

PR Industry

The drive to maximize profits compels corporate news outlets to produce more and more news with fewer and fewer reporters. With less time to do each story, journalists are increasingly pressured to rely on the public relations industry to do much of their work for them: Reporters can rewrite press releases rather than do their own independent research, and TV stations can broadcast promotional videos that are designed to look like news footage. This symbiotic relationship between news outlets and the industries they cover, however, is a bad deal for the public.

Pressure Groups

While institutional pressures are enough to keep most journalists from straying from the conventional wisdom, pressure groups stand ready to punish the exceptional reporter who challenges the official agenda.

FAIR believes that grassroots activism around media issues is legitimate and indeed essential. When does an activist group become a pressure group? A pressure group is more concerned with suppressing viewpoints that it disagrees with than ensuring that a wide range of perspectives is available. Since pressure groups are often funded by companies or industries whose interests they promote, these groups often push ideologies that are already well-represented in media debates.

Narrow Range of Debate

Given that most media outlets are owned by for-profit corporations and are funded by corporate advertising, it is not surprising that they seldom provide a full range of debate. The right edge of discussion is usually represented by a committed supporter of right-wing causes, someone who calls for significantly changing the status quo in a conservative direction. The left edge, by contrast, is often represented by an establishment-oriented centrist who supports maintaining the status quo; very rarely is a critic of corporate power who identifies with progressive causes and movements with the same passion as their conservative counterparts allowed to take part in mass media debates.

Censorship

Since governments almost always have an interest in controlling the free flow of information, official censorship is something that must be constantly guarded against. In our society, however, large corporations are a more common source of censorship than governments: Media outlets killing stories because they undermine corporate interests; advertisers using their financial clout to squelch negative reports; powerful businesses using the threat of expensive lawsuits to discourage legitimate investigations. The most frequent form of censorship is self-censorship: Journalists deciding not to pursue certain stories that they know will be unpopular with the boss.

Sensationalism

Profit-driven news organizations are under great pressure to boost ratings by sensationalizing the news: focusing attention on lurid, highly emotional stories, often featuring a bizarre cast of characters and a gripping plot but devoid of significance to most people's lives. From Tonya Harding to O.J. Simpson to Elian Gonzalez, major news outlets have become more and more dependent on these kind of tabloid soap operas to keep profits high.

Random Observations On Corporate Government

2009-06-17T16:29:00.007-04:00

The US Government is a corporatocracy. It has become a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.

Corporations are endowed with all the rights and none of the responsibilities of personhood.

The Supreme Court sanctioned corporate money donated to political campaigns as “free speech”.
Both major parties are thus primarily in the service of corporate interests.

Congress rewards their donors with billions of dollars in corporate welfare.

Congress supported Bush’s warrantless NSA surveillance of US citizens, and immunity for telecoms for aiding illegal surveillance by voting for Bush’s FISA Amendment.

Congress was upset to learn Jane Harmon's e-mail was intercepted, and demanded their members be exempted from surveillance.

A Democratic led Congress authorized money to continue Bush’s wars.

Soldiers’ lives are sacrificed by electrocution for KBR/Halliburton profits and no-bid contracts.

Blackwater/Xe mercenaries murdered Iraqis without facing justice.

Blackwater/Xe mercenaries are becoming private corporate armies and police.

Obama supported Bush’s warrantless NSA surveillance of US citizens, and immunity for telecoms for aiding illegal surveillance by voting for Bush’s FISA Amendment

Obama invoked State Secrets privilege against lawsuits challenging warrantless surveillance.

Obama reversed his stance and censored photos of detainee abuse at the urging of military officers.

Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan.

The Obama Administration avoids confronting Bush/Cheney war crimes and torture by “looking forward”.

The radical Right still accuses Obama of being a liberal socialist.

Corporate media still transmit unquestioned government propaganda.

Investigative journalism in corporate media is disappearing.

The alleged “liberal” New York Times printed Bush Administration WMD lies without question.

The alleged “liberal” New York Times withheld reporting the Bush warrantless surveillance program at the behest of the Bush Administration.

Right wing Fox News still deceives the gullible into thinking that they are fair and balanced.

The network most accused of liberalism is NBC, owned by military contractor corporation GE.

In the frenzied run-up to the Iraq War MSNBC dumped Phil Donahue, and replaced him with radical Right winger and hate radio mouthpiece Michael (Wiener) Savage.

The radical Right still accuses the corporate media of being liberal.

Eisenhower’s warning about the military industrial complex’s influence in government is still ignored by Washington DC.

These days, the military industrial media complex may be the more accurate description.

The US is less a democracy and more a national security state.

In the halls of government money talks and the Golden Rule prevails.
Those with the gold make the rules.

The financial industry, which designed their own de-regulation, over-leveraged shady loans, and wrote our bankruptcy laws have facilitated the downfall of our economy.

The profit-driven medical/insurance/pharmaceutical complex is working to deny health care rights to American people.

Both progressive and conservative interests in our Constitutional directives to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty” will be undermined by corporate agendas.

Even when progressives are elected (both of them) the US Government remains primarily an institutionalized right wing engine of empire and an agent of Big Money.

When the president does it that means it is not illegal.

Rush Week

2009-05-05T23:10:00.004-04:00

It’s time again to have a look at what the Reich Wing indoctrination program is feeding the flock of ditto head sheeple. This past week Republican Boss Limbaugh has poured forth a reeking batch of verbal manure to fertilize his followers’ growing hatred, anger, and fear. That’s all that’s left growing in their field of ideas. When your corrupt crop of fetid and failed ideology morally bankrupts the country’s values, leaves the nation in its worst economy in memory, and saddles us with two disastrous quagmires of military aggression, the strategy, or as Rush puts it, “strategery” is clear.

Attack Democrats and liberals with every possible lie and outrageous accusation in the hope they can still somehow demonize the opposition. If only they could repeat their glory days of the Clinton impeachment. Without presidential philandering or the power of a Ken Starr Chamber, it won’t be easy.

But that won’t deter the mighty mouth of the great Oxy-Moron. Rush is on his crusade to purify the “Republicant” Party and gather the most gullible, extreme, and radical right wingers into the shrinking party’s tent.

As we recall from those heady days of the Great Fox Tea Party outrage, Rush was alerting his minions to the big bad Department of Homeland Security bulletin warning of right wing extremists.

April 14: “So what you have here, you have a report from Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama Department of Homeland Security portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than Al Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong-Il.”

April 15: “Does Obama know about the DHS report? Is Obama -- it is Obama's DHS report. The DHS report calling every mainstream conservative a right-wing extremist is who Barack Obama is.”

Rush loves nothing more than throwing gas on the burning rage inside the uninformed ignorant Reich Wing mind. Reasonable mainstream conservatives know these are nothing but flat out lies.
Let me share with you some samples from his shows last week.

On Tuesday Rush was explaining Obama’s visit to the FBI.

April 28: OBAMA: [audio clip]: "Living our values means that we must hold ourselves to higher standards than our enemies. We face a long struggle against a determined adversary. We know that Al Qaeda is not constrained by a constitution or by allegiance to anything other than a hateful ideology and a determination to kill as many innocents as possible.

But what makes the United States of America so special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and our ideals, not just when it's easy, but when it's hard."

LIMBAUGH: So, what he's basically again saying, "Look, I kinda envy Al Qaeda. They're not constrained by a constitution like I am. But don't worry, I'm working on getting rid of that constitution or changing it, so that it's not such a burden on me."

I mean, guys like Obama look at the Constitution as a burden. He looks at Al Qaeda as sort of wistfully: "Gee, these guys aren't constrained by a constitution."

Wow. So Rush is basically saying Obama is the kind of president who disdains the Constitution so much he would start a war based on lies, launch a warrantless illegal surveillance program on American citizens, indefinitely detain people without charges or right to counsel, and eliminate Habeas Corpus from that very Constitution he swore to protect and defend.

Geez oh Pete! That would make Obama the worst president EVER!

Or that would be the worst case of psycho talk projection I’ve heard in a long time. One would be tempted to see this as Obama Derangement Syndrome at its peak, but it is more than that. Rush knows what he’s saying. This kind of “Big Lie” propaganda would have made Reichsfuhrer Himmler proud.

Moving on through the week we find Rush nurturing empathy in his listeners for the banksters.

May 1st: The third possibility to explain why the big banks rolled over is: They're just scared to death because the Obama administration Treasury Department has their future in its hands. So, of the three possibilities, from the goodness of their hearts, they got secret slush money under the table from TARP, or they're scared to death because the Treasury Department holds the future right in their hands.

I vote option three. I vote that the big banks rolled over 'cause they're scared to death, 'cause wherever I go, I don't care who I interact with. They're scared to death of this administration. There is genuine fear of the government from average Americans buying up guns and ammunition like they never have before, to people on Wall Street, the big businesses -- there is abject fear.

Notice how he ties in the poor victimized banks with the poor victimized average Americans. In one minute of air time Rush whines they’re “scared to death” four times, along with spewing “genuine fear” and “abject fear”.

May 4: There is no question that there is fear all over this country of this administration. There's fear in American business. There's fear in average citizens. There's fear in every aspect that does business one way or the other with the United States government now. I mean, the fear that the average American has always had for the IRS has now been transferred to everybody having fear of whatever branch of government they deal with -- in this case, Geithner and Treasury and President Obama.

This is pure, unadulterated, and calculated evil. What else can you call such manipulative, sociopathic and dishonest fear mongering?

It was laughable when Rush slammed Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz for daring to accuse him on C-SPAN of stirring up anger and hatred.Rush called her "stupid," "blitheringly ignorant" and a "ditz", then proclaimed, "There's no hate on this program"

Yeah, and no lies either.

May 5: “People on the left, the Democrat Party and the media obviously, some people on our side, writing so many columns, so many editorials, so many op-eds, hell-bent on trying to diminish the influence of conservatism in the Republican Party. Why? If we're dead, as they say we are, why are they continuing to try to kill us? I mean of course in a political sense. It's 'cause we're not dead. It's because we still threaten them, and we threaten them precisely because they are a collection of lies and deceit and phony ideas and ours are ideas of substance that, properly articulated, connect with a majority of the American people. So they're going after anybody on the right who can articulate these things and setting out to try to destroy them. Me, Sarah Palin, you name it, whoever it is, they're trying to destroy the people who could and can articulate the beliefs and the principles that the left actually fears.

Imagine that. We are out to destroy Rush and Sarah for articulating principles. Yup, that’s what us librools like to do, all right. We want to destroy those who disagree with us, especially if they have principles...like Rush. And what could we possibly do to diminish Sarah’s brilliance, articulating her deep knowledge of science, Supreme Court rulings and “ideas of substance”?

Rush even included Joe the non-licensed plumber as one who articulates those conservative values and principles. Joe said he won’t let “those queers” near his kids.

Then Rush gave me my birthday gift today. He re-anointed Sarah as the leader of the Republican Party.

"Sarah Palin could build the party, and all these moderates and independents think that she's going to be a drag on building the party. Why? Because, true, she will not attract liberals. She won't attract moderates. Thank God! We don't want 'em in our party."

Yessiree. Sarah’s shining beacon of righteous enlightenment will illuminate the building of the Republican Party into the fringe cult of Bush loving wackos they deserve, and have always wanted, to be.

Please, Rush, do you promise?

Like I Was Saying...

2009-04-30T22:49:00.006-04:00

Like I was saying about the tea bagger party on April 15th:

“The entire episode would be utterly and hysterically funny if it were not for the strong likelihood that some of the attendees are the same unstable sort as Richard Poplawski. He was the sociopathic conservative without a conscience who murdered three cops in Pittsburgh. Poplawski’s racist head was filled with crap like Beck’s poisonous lies about Obama coming to take his guns away from him.”

Sure enough, one of them, in Oklahoma City at that, popped up with his crazy ugly anger and got arrested. Daniel Knight Hayden, or to those in Twitter World Citizen Quasar, was on a mission. He tweeted his vision for all his fellow Reich Wing gun nuts, conspiracy nuts, and general all around paranoid Obama Derangement Syndrome sufferers.

The messages sent in the few days running up to his idea of a glorious D-Day went like this:

“Secret Homeland Security Threat Assessment Labels Gun Owners Potential Terrorists

Danish Scientist on TV: Nano-thermite Behind Collapse of WTC Buildings on 9/11, Not Planes

I made 15 copies of "The Obama Deception" which I will hand out. ALSO made 100 flyers...We shall SEE what happens

Maybe it's time to die. Let's see if I can video record the Highway Patrol at the entrance to the Oklahoma State Capitol...

I WISH I had someone to watch my back with MY camera... And post it on the internet. Since i live on this sorry fucking state,that is as good a place as ANY to die and start a WAR. WEshallsee

Locked AND loaded for the Oklahoma State Capitol. Let's see what happens”

His big day was coming and he was desperate for attention

“START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!

After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!

Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.”

I hope the judge was right when he sent Citizen Quasar to a halfway house. Let’s hope this guy can be medicated back to reality. I just don’t happen to think they have strong enough anti-psychotic drugs to treat ODS.

And like I was saying in my post Monday about how we learn:

"Yes, that’s how we learn. And that’s how future presidents learn. They learn to break any law that gets in their way of exercising whatever abuse of power they wish.Remember what we learned from Nixon? “When the president does it that means it is not illegal.”

And sure enough, on the very day I posted that, Iraq war monger Condi Nixon, er... Rice, told students at Stanford these little gems:

“The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture."

"The United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture, and so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”

There you go. By definition, if the president does it, it’s not illegal, or did not violate any law. The president IS the law. Since the decider decided it, then it must be legal.

Even the dreaded “Communist dictator” Hugo Chavez never so blatantly asserted such a clear crossing of the line to tyranny.

And wasn’t it the perfectly predictable republican projection from Karl Rove when he said investigation of Bush war crimes is what you’d expect from “mirrored sunglass wearing banana republic dictators”

The lessons are once again clearly visible to us. The delusional Reich Wingers see their fellow Americans as enemies. And they embrace totalitarianism for the cause of their megalomaniacal authoritarian cult.

As recent GOP defector Arlen Specter said, “...the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right.”

I think moderates, liberals, and anyone else who pays attention are learning that.

Unfortunately we will be seeing more and more evidence of rampant Obama Derangement Syndrome. Let’s hope the flu never reaches that level of pandemic contagion, or we are all in trouble.