Green Eagle

From a Newsweek article by Jonathan Alter: "Senate colleagues say Lieberman is consumed by his resentment toward liberals... For Lieberman, defeating health-care reform would be the fulfillment of a revenge fantasy." And there you have it- exactly the argument I have been making for several years now. This monumental, colossal egomaniac seethes with fury every day of his life that the Democrats didn't understand that he is the only person qualified to speak for them, and to run the country. Thus, our entire national agenda is held hostage to this one disgusting man's ego and anger. And let's not forget the icing on the cake: Lieberman's petty, vindictive, self-serving corruption is portrayed by him and his enablers in the beltway press as some sort of high-minded religious fervor. Of course, we get the same papering over of corruption with fake religion regarding so many Republicans, but it is particularly galling to have to own this guy. I know I like ...

Has this been a boring few days or what?

We are in the early stages of another grand right wing phony conspiracy- this one with a name and all. It's called Climategate, and in the last few days there have been literally dozens of posts on right wing blogs, and endless nonsense on their talk shows about it. Obviously, it relates to global warming, and the chief global warming denier (i.e. corrupt corporate stooge) in Congress, James Inhofe, is already promising "investigations." I hate dealing with this kind of synthetic, lying crap, but this is a textbook example of the way the right generates noise to prevent actions being taken which might hurt their corporate masters, and it is something with which Ihave some familiarity, having been involved in environmental issues since serving as a regional organizer of the first earth day, so I am going to force myself to tackle it. I want to do this in a couple of parts, to avoid a tediously long post. Today, I want to briefly describe the alleged story of this pseud...

This trenchant observation, from the ever-thoughtful Erick Erickson at Red State: "With President Obama having concluded his trip through one of the fastest-dying regions of the planet, complete with literal prostrations to a symbolic Emperor and metaphorical prostrations to an Emperor in all but name, this is as good a time as any to ask whether his Administration has developed a coherent foreign policy grand strategy yet." A "coherent grand strategy." You mean, like, waste three trillion dollars in useless aggression, make the whole world hate us, fill eight years with impotent, belligerent blather, and at the same time cozy up to the people (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan) who are really financing our enemies? Now that's a grand strategy, right, Erick? And it worked out so well.

Dana Perino, former Bush press secretary, on Fox News yesterday: "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term" I guess they think they can lie their way out of anything. And with our "liberal press" helping them every step of the way, maybe they can.

William McGurn, from the Wall Street Journal today: "Conservatives and Republicans rattle off any number of objections to the bill: It would bust the budget; it would force many families to replace private coverage with government; it would subsidize abortion; it would ration care, etc. These are all variations on the major argument: It's not going to work. None of this really persuades Democrats, because they see it differently." No, Mr. McGurn. As you well know, none of this persuades Democrats, because it is a pack of lies. You guys just love to listen to lies. We don't. How's that for the real explanation?

This just in: " Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government in October, expects to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion in 2007. The company’s effective income tax rate dropped to 1 percent from 34.1 percent, New York-based Goldman Sachs said today in a statement." Just sayin'.

Adding out and out corruption to a long history of lies, hypocrisy and nauseating proclamations of his religious superiority. You know who I mean- It's not an accident that the first three letters of his name are L-I-E.

There has been some attention the last few days to items such as the following t-shirt, being sold around the right wing world. This is a perfect example of something known as a "dog-whistle" statement- that is, something whose real meaning can only be understood by the (usually right wing Christian) insiders, while it seems totally innocuous to everyone else. What does Verse 8 of Psalm 109 say? " Let his days be few; and let another take his office." Thus, hidden behind a seemingly positive message of reconciliation with Obama, is actually a call for his death. These are truly religious people, huh, following in the footsteps of their savior by hiding their true intent from the world. Just like him, huh? I don't think I need to add my voice to the people pointing out how contemptible this is, but I would like to use this phenomenon to point out how truly ignorant of, and unconcerned with, their supposed sacred text these disgusting people really...

Green Eagle found himself unexpectedly spending a week in a place with no internet connectivity. He's back now, and meaner than ever.

Someone Let Green Eagle loose on the computer again, and the naughty bird has been having his way with it. First up, I saw this bumper sticker for sale on a wingnut website the other day: Here's another one that I thought they could sell, which should also be popular among their followers: What do you think? It's brief and to the point, and I believe it's something they ought to consider. Now, my next delight comes as a result of the news that former CNN racist jackass Lou Dobbs may be planning to run for president. Knowing how much it costs to run for President, and feeling fairly certain that large donors are not going to be casting wads of money at his feet, Green Eagle thought he would help poor Lou out, with some campaign assistance in the form of a poster, designed to epitomize the nature of his campaign. Pretty much sums it up, huh?

Here we go: Pam Geller, Atlas Shrugs: "Obama kisses the bloody fists of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" By putting him on trial for mass murder. Not really a kiss I'd like to get, but maybe Pam is just a lot more horny than I am. Erick Erickson, Red State: "Newsweek is declaring war on Sarah Palin. The magazine that has given up all pretense of objective news coverage and now caters to an ever shrinking Upper West Side Elite is making Palin the cover of Newsweek (PDF)...Does This Mean Newsweek Stands in For the Nazis?" Erick, Erick, Erick...Really. Putting her on the cover of their magazine is not really like shipping her off to a death camp. I would have thought that even you could see that. Guess not, huh? World Net Daily: "Send Chuck Norris to the troops for Christmas" Great idea. One way ticket only, I hope. Joseph Farah, World Net Daily: "So where is the birth certificate? ... Petition signups are stagnant. Contributions to the billboard c...

Here is something I rarely do: I am going to reprint a right wing blog post in its entirety. It is from a not particularly extreme blog I check out daily, and no, I will not identify it or link to it. You'll just have to trust me on this one: "LEFTISTS ANNOUNCE KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED DEFENSE FUND They've just started a KSM Defense Fund. After all, KSM was "arrested" without a search warrant, he was not read his Miranda rights, and his "confessions" were only a result of torutre. He's just a garden-variety Muslim arrested for being anti-Bushitlerhaliburtoncheneymcchimpy. Honorary Chairs for the event: Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Danny Clover, Susan Sarandon and Rosie O'Donnell. The event is co-sponsored by the CCR, the ACLU, CODE PINK, J-STREET, ACORN, the SEIU and the Democratic National Committee. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Dr. Zawahiri and Shekih Osama Bin Laden will address the crowd via satellite. With a spec...

The "Dean of our National Press Corps," providing us with one more example of why our country is so totally screwed: "It is evident from the length of this deliberative process and from the flood of leaks that have emerged from Kabul and Washington that the perfect course of action does not exist. Given that reality, the urgent necessity is to make a decision -- whether or not it is right." Can anyone really be this stupid? Or is Broder lending his voice to the demands that Obama cave in and do what the wingnuts and neocons want, even though they know it will only lead to further disaster? "The cost of indecision is growing every day." Really, David? How? And how does that cost compare to the cost of doing the wrong thing? I'm thinking Iraq here. And Katrina. And turning the economy over to Wall Street thieves. And allowing our health care to become secondary to the profit of a few hundred CEO's. What in God's name do you think the cost...

Glenn Greenwald hits the nail on the head, with his comments about the right's panic at the idea of bringing Khalid Sheik Muhammad to New York for his trial: "As always, the Right's tough-guy leaders wallow in a combination of pitiful fear and cynical manipulation of the fear of their followers. Indeed, it's hard to find any group of people on the globe who exude this sort of weakness and fear more than the American Right. It is, however, noteworthy that the position they advocate -- it's too scary to have normal trials in our country of Terrorists -- is as pure a surrender to the Terrorists as it gets." Not much more to say, is there?

I see that the guy who shot the soldiers at Fort Hood seems to be paralyzed from the waist down, due to being shot by the people who apprehended him. Any predictions about how long it will be before we hear phony wingnut stories about how left-wingers are protesting this as an act of police brutality? I'm guessing Pam Geller, tomorrow. Let's see.

I don't remember ever linking to a book review before, but this one, from Jacob Heilbrunn at the New York Times, is such a great summary of facts that I urgently recommend it to you. As so often, I was led to it via Atrios. It concerns the truth about the Bush Administration's catastrophic response to the 9/11 attacks: "Preoccupied with building a costly missile defense system to counter a spurious menace from Russia and with maintaining “full spectrum dominance” over the rest of the globe, most Bush administration officials blithely ignored the danger emanating from the caves of Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Laden and his acolytes plotted against America. Confronted by a small group of mostly Saudi nationals armed with box cutters, the central nervous system of the country’s defense agencies went into a state of cataleptic shock... ...efforts to reconstruct the tragedy itself were, at best, resented and, at worst, impeded by the sprawling defense bureaucracy and the B...

Again I want to point out that it has taken me two days to compile what would have been a mediocre single day's output of wingnut garbage just a few months ago. I don't mention this as a joke. A lot of what is going to happen in the next few years seems to depend on how long these people can maintain their ignorant rage. Right now, there are some good signs that they are losing the battle, but it sure doesn't take much to get them started again. Kevin Fobbs, Renew America: "Magic Mirror on the Wall, who is the fairest one of all?" was uttered by the wicked Queen in the 1937 Walt Disney animated movie 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The question which many have speculated over was whether or not this movie's focus on the dark side of magic acted perhaps as a springboard for reliance on other-world forces to forecast the truth? Or was the future set into motion by a reliance to turn away from faith and God and toward occult or then ever-growing spirit...

As if we needed any more evidence of what a clueless, malicious idiot Charles Krauthammer is, here's a little quote from his Washington Post column today, pointed out by Steve M. at No More Mr. Nice Blog: "Have we totally lost our moral bearings? Nidal Hasan (allegedly) cold-bloodedly killed 13 innocent people. His business card had his name, his profession, his medical degrees and his occupational identity. U.S. Army? No. "SoA" -- Soldier of Allah. In such cases, political correctness is not just an abomination. It's a danger, clear and present. " For the benefit of Mr. Krauthammer, and all of the other malicious hatemongers that we are forced to listen to every day, I present the following scorecard: Price of being too tolerant of Muslims: 13 dead American Soldiers Price of indulging in our mindless hatred of Muslims: 5,000 dead American soldiers and half a million dead Iraqi civilians. Even a dimwitted habitual liar like Krauthammer should be able to a...

With great pleasure, I link to this story in the Los Angeles Times this morning, about an American company that is thriving in world competition, through the apparently bizarre combination of insisting on maintaining high quality and turning out products that consumers around the world actually want. It all seems so simple, doesn't it? Below, one of their products, made in 1968 (like the one I bought in a pawn shop long ago) and formerly owned by someone named Hendrix.

Breaking News from the world of Pseudo-Journalism, from the New York Times: "Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said Wednesday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately." What a loss, huh? For those of you who don't speak media language, in this case, the term "lightning rod" can be roughly translated as "lying racist prick." “I’m considering a number of options and directions,” Mr. Dobbs added. " Want to take a guess how many of those "options" involve Fox News? "CNN indicated that it would name a replacement for Mr. Dobbs on Thursday morning." I hear that Gollum is available. "Mr. Dobbs met with Roger Ailes, the chairman of the Fox News Channel, in September. At the time Mr. Dobbs was viewed as a potential hire for the Fox Business Network. But a Fox spokesperson said Wednesday, “We have not had any discussions with Lou Dobbs for Fox N...

A few treats, just to remind ourselves that, even though they've lost their moxie these days, they still haven't lost the stupid: Town Hall: "With memories of NY-23 fresh in the minds of conservative activists, the fight over California’s GOP Senate nominee to potentially unseat Barbara Boxer has turned into a game of “who is conservative enough?” You go, Republicans. We over here on the left love good news. Maybe David Duke is still available. John Stossel, Town Hall: "The U.S. House of Presumptuous Meddlers" i.e. The U.S. House of People who Pass Legislation. Wake up, John- that's their job. Of course, I don't remember you referring to the last Republican congress, when they were working as fast as they could to ruin the economy, as presumptuous meddlers. Funny, that. David Solway, Pajamas Media: "Bush Is a Liar, Obama Is a Savior: The Rhetoric of Propaganda" The rhetoric of truth, David. Stuff that in your fat, stupid mouth. Rick Mor...

A couple of pieces of Republican news: From the Washington Post: "(Dede) Scozzafava, who was stripped of her Republican leadership position in the New York State Assembly on Monday, says she has no regrets and even leaves open the possibility of running for the seat again as a Republican. She sees herself as a champion of local expertise over ideological purity. "How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can't answer some basic questions," Scozzafava asked. "Do these people even know who they are endorsing?" Those conservative forces now descend on Florida, where former House speaker Marco Rubio, who on Monday received the endorsement of the Club for Growth, might shove aside centrist Gov. Charlie Crist, who was once on John McCain's short list for running mate." And this, from Talking Points Memo: "A new survey of Maine from Public Policy Polling (D) has some dire news for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), with the moderate Republican po...

Another example of what you are missing if you don't read Digby every day, as I have for years: "...according to (N. Y. Times moron- clarification GE's) Nagourney the Democrats are boldly defying their base in spite of their fear they will desert them as Bush's did. Except, I don't think Bush's base actually deserted him, did it? Sure, today you can't find a hard core Republican who will admit to ever supporting Bush, but that doesn't make it true now does it? In fact, the base stuck with him through every thing he did, the spending, the wars, the malfeasance, the torture, all of it. They worshipped him like a God for years. Only after the fact has the base purged Bush, using a recently discovered "liberalism" to explain his catastrophic failure. It's the only way they can understand their world. " The most truth in the fewest words- Digby's specialty. The only disagreement I have with her is the conclusion that this is the on...

That great man of religion (oh yes, and collaborator with the worst African dictators)Pat Robertson yesterday, on the TV network that we have stupidly allowed him to own ( from Dave Niewert at Crooks and Liars: ) "...if we don't stop covering up what Islam is -- Islam is a violent -- I was gonna say religion, but it's not a religion, it's a political system, a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and -- and -- and world domination. That is the ultimate aim. And they talk about infidels and all this -- but the truth is, that's what the game is. So you're dealing with a -- not a religion, you're dealing with a political system. And I think we should treat it as such, and treat its adherents as such, as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group." Niewert is absolutely correct in what he has to say about this contemptible specimen of hatred; I have more to add (as usual.) So, Islam is...

Bob Herbert, in today's New York Times (I saw this quote first at Daily Kos: ) "Reforming the chaotic and unfair health care system in the U.S. is an important issue. But in terms of pressing national priorities, the most important are the need to find solutions to a catastrophic employment environment that is devastating American families and to end the folly of an 8-year-old war that is both extremely debilitating and ultimately unwinnable." Pretty much right. Here is my solution: Obama needs to use whatever force he has to see to it that economic improvements go into increasing the number of jobs instead of enriching the same people who got us into this mess. Devastating the pay of Wall Street types until the rest of us see some gains would be a great symbolic move, but more importantly, we must see that, as things improve, the money goes into hiring and not improvements in "productivity." How many more jobs would we have already if the 9% growth in produ...

This news today from Talking Points Memo: "Club For Growth Backs FL Right-Winger Over Crist" In other major news today: "Dogs prefer meat over broccoli!"

A good crop of lies today, as I thought there might be after the right's stunning loss in the House last night. Forgive me if I'm not so casual about some of it. Conservatives are not good losers, and it shows: Little Pammy Geller, Atlas Shrugs: "The depraved and degenerate Democrat party is using the "distraction" of the biggest terror attack on a US military base in history to ram through healthcare today. Nazi Pelosi is the poster girl for this century's national socialism." Madness, how do I count thy ways? After a ten month fight, the Dems had the vote when they did, because the whole country was obsessed by a mass murder. First, false. Second, maybe you guys should keep your eyes on the important stuff, instead of constantly looking for a new excuse to spew out your racism, huh? And finally, an extra star, Pammy, for getting the Hitler thing in there again. Pajamas Media: "Yesterday, in the dead of night, the U.S. House of Representativ...

From Gateway Pundit: "Joe Lieberman Bashes House Bill… Will Not Allow Similar Bill to Come to Final Vote in Senate “I’m afraid that our colleagues in the House added a lot on to their bill to subtract from the genuine purposes of health care reform.” Well, stand in front of the train, Joe. See where it gets you. What kind of sick, bloated ego do you have, anyway, that you think that you alone must sign on for the Democrats to accomplish anything? What kind of degenerate, smug arrogance does it take for you to convince yourself that the American people need to beg for your indulgence before they can have anything? You have gone far beyond opposition, Joe. You have now made yourself into the corrupt stuff that has made people despise politics since the dawn of humanity. You've accomplished your goal: now, you are bigger than the Democratic party, bigger than our country. You are as big as evil, as big as Satan, Joe. Proud of yourself?

It wasn't a big margin and we had to accept a lot of crap to get there, but the medical care reform bill passed the house. Don't you wish a day would come when congress could pass some needed legislation without having to let Republicans pander to their ignorant, stupid base, and include some more big giveaways to the rich? I mean, a day when we have a country again with two parties that care about our fate, instead of being stuck with one party that is nothing but a bunch of seditious, corrupt cowards?

Although I'm not sure that a bunch of old white people, bussed in courtesy of big business, really deserves the term. I was just listening to Fox News while I was making my lunch. Remember the "two million" who showed up for the first teabagger march on Washington? Remember the three or four thousand, reported by the wingnuts as anything from 20,000 to a million, just the other day? The big vote day is here, and I heard Fox refer to "several hundred" protesters who showed up today. That's it, baby. "Several hundred." The other three hundred million of us stayed home. I guess we weren't all that worried that public health care would lead to Auschwitz. Bye bye, teabaggers. It's been fun.

John Cole, one of our best left-wing bloggers: "I seriously do not get this country. The subservience to the Republicans by the media at least made sense when they were in the majority and held the Presidency in 2001. But this is 2009, the Republicans have been routed electorally for the past few years, everything the Republican party believed in failed miserably the last eight years and they have been exposed as total frauds....It is nothing but fail, fail, fail, from the GOP , they just lost two more seats in the house, they are going through a horrible (yet delicious) civil war, yet according to the media, everything is bad news for Democrats." I do not mean to pick on Mr. Cole, who I really like. I have heard this sort of thing consistently for a couple of decades from the left. Well, here's your answer. It's so simple, it explains everything, and to me it is totally obvious. I have never understood the left wing resistance to accepting it. During the administ...

Here are two facts that, taken in conjunction, make a miserable comment on the state of the American economy: "Unemployment rate rises to 10.2% It's the first time it has hit double digits since 1983. Employers cut 190,000 jobs last month, a bigger drop than expected." "Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 9.5 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today." Get the joke? Yes, the government's efforts to improve the economy are producing results, but our business leaders have decided to take all of their increase in sales in the form of "increased productivity," i.e. squeezing more work out of their existing workers. Still need a hint: they have decided to take all of the economic improvement in the form of higher profits, rather than adding more jobs. This has the double benefit of further enriching themselves, and seeing to it that American working people remain...

This comment was inspired by something I heard Ed Schultz say yesterday. I don't mean to pick on Ed, who I have liked very much since he went on MSNBC- I have heard similar things from a number of people. Ed said that he thought Obama needed to be much more forceful with congress, after the manner of Lyndon Johnson, who was famous for manipulating congress like a slave master. I think this view misses something. In the time of Lyndon Johnson, candidates were dependent on the support of the party and its adherents for the means to run for election or re-election. Johnson could enforce party discipline because he had the power to deny that to them. Today, in the world of legalized corruption left to us by deregulation and the explosion of lobbyists, the situation is sadly different. Remember that, for a Democrat, to buck his party is to side with the rich and their companies. The likes of Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman find that these people are ready at a moment's notice to st...

Crooks And Liars asks the following question: "What happens after all the fear mongering that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons bunker turns out to be bunk?" Answer: Nothing. The Republicans will go on telling the same lies they have for years. How could you think anything else would happen? Particularly when the press only reports the news that helps Republicans.

It's been a while. Here's a little fun for anyone who cares: World Net Daily: "Shooter advised Obama transition-Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force" Pam Geller, Atlas Shrugs: "Major Muslim Hasan Participated in Homeland Security Panel for Obama" Two sources for a particularly preposterous lie that conservatives are enjoying today. There's just no end to their ability to swallow this sort of thing, is there? Tomorrow: "Charlie Manson appointed newest Obama Czar!" World Net Daily: "Congressman 'amazed' by turnout at Capitol- GOP's Franks: Americans 'don't want health-care monstrosity shoved down their throats" Or at least the 2-4,000 Americans that they managed to turn out for their latest public tantrum. That Congressman Franks guy is apparently pretty easy to amaze. Face it: The teabag movement is dead. The teabaggers all ran out of Geritol and went home. World Net Daily: ...

-From the department of "heads I win, tails you lose:" I just heard Laura Ingraham on the radio, in a fit of vicious anger, claiming that the shooting yesterday by a Muslim army doctor proves that Obama's terrorism strategy is a TOTAL FAILURE!!!!! I wonder how Laura and her wingnut associates would have reacted if they found out that the Obama administration was investigating active duty U. S. military officers for terrorism. Do you think they would have been all for it? Or do you think it would be time to brace for yet one more round of disingenuous screaming and howling?

Green Eagle presents the following entirely scientific calculation of the size of yesterday's Fox News/Michelle Bachman Grand Teabag Tantrum: Sean Hannity reports that there were 20,000 in attendance. Now, as you may remember, at the last Washington Teabag Tantrum and 9/11 Political Exploitation Faire, 70,000 attendees were reported by the likes of Hannity to have been 2 million. Thus, the actual attendees amounted to 3.5% of claimed attendees. Using this known fact as a standard, we can now, through a simple feat of multiplication, calculate the actual attendance at yesterday's event, using the formula: H times 0.035 = R; where H represents Hannity's lying claims, and R represents the actual attendance. We thus arrive at the likely real size of the great National Demonstration against Healthcare: 700. And Green Eagle is sticking by that number, suckers. So deal with it. Now, if you happen to have missed this grand event, sponsored by Congressional Republicans, here is...

Here's a little sample of the brilliant political observation which our Republican party has to offer the American people these days: RNC Chairman Michael Steele, channeling his party's energized conservative wing, said the party will "come after" moderates who support President Obama's domestic policies. Michael, you guys are at 20% of the American people right now. I say, why not go for 15%, or even 12%. I know you can do it, guy. David Broder, Washington Post: "Tuesday's defeats in gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey not only ended a decade or more of Democratic gains in those states but also signaled possible trouble ahead in the midterm elections at the national level. At the same time, the loss of another Republican House seat in a special election -- the fourth such defeat in the past two years -- showed how bitter ideological conflict within the party could cripple the GOP's prospects for a comeback." Democrats lose- it...

Still a jerk. Just in case you hadn't noticed.

So the Dems only won one out of three high media profile elections, and the press is going right along with the Republican talking points, claiming that this represents some huge repudiation of Obama. Funny how, when the Republicans lose, we hear over and over again the old saying, "all politics is local." Here are the messages that Green Eagle took away from the events of last Tuesday: First, the biggest wakeup call for Democrats: New Jersey. What we learned there is that, even though Republicans represent a small minority at this point, if the Dem canditate has worked as hard as Corzine did to make himself out to be a total fool, he can still be knocked off by a Republican. Strange as it seems, people don't want just Democrats, they want good Democrats. Speaking of which, we have exhibit two: Mr. Deeds in Virginia, one of the most pathetic politicians I have ever seen. This bozo started out running way to the right of the coalition of voters that put Obama into the...

Green Eagle has been out of commission for a few days, but he's back, and crankier than ever.