Green Eagle

A last dose of garbage for 2014. I'd like to start off today with some of the headlines featured in one day at Breitbart.com: "RUSSIAN SHOPPING MALL LAYS DOWN USA FLAG DOORMATS"   "Liam Neeson Cancels Move to Ireland Over Government Water Regulations: ‘They F***ing Better Listen’"   "Police: Baby Jesus Taken, Replaced With Pig’s Head"   "Seahawks Star Marshawn Lynch Fined for Crotch Grab After Dramatic Touchdown" God, what a horrible world we live in.  How will we ever survive? And while we are on the subject of headlines, here's an important clarification regarding a right wing claim, from Little Green Footballs: "No, Argentina’s president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf" Well, glad to get that straight.    Okay, then, onward: Michelle Malkin, Town Hall:  "All Life Matters: Jahi McMath's Journey" Michelle, I don't know how to break this to you, but ...

Just not all the way to your destination.

Bill Bratton, the head of the New York Police Department: " Police Feel 'Under Attack' From Federal Government Leaders" You know what, buddy?  They don't feel this under attack: Or this under attack: For people who go around our cities confident that they can shoot anyone they want and get away with it, they sure are a pack of pathetic, whiny cowards.

I ran across a conspiracy theory today that had even Green Eagle staggered by its sheer audacity, so I would like to share some of it with you.  I usually don't link to right wing sites, as you know, but this one is so massively loony, and has so much that I can't do justice to in a post that I;ll make an exception in this case, for those of you who want a good laugh. Anyway, here are the basics: "Top 10 “Greenland Theory” Revelations: .   1. The Greco-Roman Empire faked its own death 714 years ago and relocated to Greenland   2. Greenland is actually green and therefore not covered in ice and snow   3. Switzerland is home to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)   4. The Earth is an oblate spheroid (i.e., a disc) rather than a round basketball-like shape   5. Earth has a second moon, the light of which is the Aurora Borealis   6. The Romans spoke English as evidenced by the Roman Score (i.e., the Roman alphabet)   7. The Grec...

I saw this photo today at Hullabaloo, of an airborne banner paid for by New York police.  This sort of thing, and the accompanying demands that Mayor DeBlasio had to resign because the police were mad at him, motivated me to make a comment I've been meaning to air the last few days: Digby mainly talks about the gross inappropriateness of city employees behaving in this manner, but it made me think of something else:  The systematic way the right has worked for years to delegitimize Obama and force him, somehow, to leave office.  With the good degree of success that this tactic has had in diminishing Obama's ability to do his job, it was perhaps inevitable that it would be expanded, and used against any left of center leader the right could find.  Well, here is a new example of it, and we can only expect many more in the future. There are, of course, some who are so lost in their fog of right wing delusion that they actually believe that no liberal has a right ...

Green Eagle indulges in his usual season's greetings: And all the best in the new year.  Just remember not to call up that which ye cannot put down.  Particularly at Christmas dinner.

God, the fury over Cuba and a movie has been strong on the right.  Which leads me to this question: Chuck Baldwin, Renew America:  "Are you mad yet?" Yup.  I sure am.  Well, on with the idiocy: Conn Carol, Town Hall:  "Obama blames Sony" Well, no he didn't.  But since when does a blatant lie bother Conservatives? Allen West, Town Hall:  "The Evolution of an American Patriot – From the Battlefield to Capitol Hill to Policy Development" Assuming that Allen West was talking about himself, that should have read  "from war criminal to getting kicked out of Congress for being a lunatic, to living off of wingnut welfare spouting the worst right wing delusions."  It is one of the most sickening signs of the deformity of the right wing in this country today that they chose to make a leader and a hero out of a torturer.  But I guess it fits right in with Dick Cheney and all.  "Patriot" indeed. Mark Davis, Town Hall:  "F...

I am not going to quote from this editorial in the New York Times yesterday, but it is an open and forceful call for the prosecution of everyone involved in the Bush Administration torture policy. Well, okay, just this little bit listing some of those that should be included as defendants: "any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos. There are many more names that could be considered, including Jose Rodriguez Jr., the C.I.A. official who ordered the destruction of the videotapes; the psychologists who devised the torture regimen; and the C.I.A. employees who carried out that regimen." Please go to the link and read it, if you didn't see it in yesterday's paper.  I am stunned at this forthrightness from the Times, which has so ofte...

Did it ever occur to the people who say this sort of thing that what would really protect us is being the kind of people that no one hated?

Well, it seems that everyone is just hopping mad that Sony has at least temporarily withdrawn their movie "The Interview," a supposed comedy revolving around the murder of Kim Jong Un. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have nothing but contempt for Kim Jong Un, but it doesn't extend to my approving of the Sony Pictures Corporation* making money from ridiculing and pretend assassinating this pathetic jerk. Well, here is what I haven't heard from all of the people weighing in on this subject today:  Sony is a Japanese company.  The US and North Korea certainly haven't had the most cordial relationship the last few decades, but the history of conflict between Japan and Korea goes back hundreds of years, and includes episodes of barbarism on the part of the Japanese, most notably in the period before and during World War II, for many of which (e.g. the comfort women) the Japanese still refuse to accept responsibility.  This film simply adds insult to some ve...

Whatever you may think of the weakness that Obama has shown over the years at standing up to the rich and their subsidiary, the Republican party,  he finally did something really brave in starting the process of ending our malicious and cruel embargo of Cuba for having the unmitigated gall to pick a government we didn't like.  This action is decades overdue, and shows a level of courage that none of the six or so previous Presidents could muster. We know he is now going to be attacked by right wing liars for decades to come because of this, but he did the right thing.  Thank you, Barack, and may we see a few more things like this before you leave office.

Today's Wingnut Wrapup respectfully dedicated to Missouri State Representative Rick Brattin: "...brain dead deadbolt extraordinaire Missouri State Rep. Rick Brattin has a nice idea. women who want or need an abortion must get a mans approval." Rick, maybe you'd like to consider relocating your political career to Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, where they are far more on board with your line of thinking. Cal Thomas, Town Hall:  "Why Release a Report on the CIA in Wartime?" And of course, since we all know that we are now in a perpetual war against "terror" until the end of time, the American people don't have the right to hear the truth about anything. Cal continues with the usual Republican cant: "There is a dispute among politicians and intelligence experts as to whether these tactics resulted in any information that was helpful in defending the U.S. from another terrorist attack." No, there is a "dispute" betw...

As I mentioned, Conservatives just took two more occasions to utterly, catastrophically fail at bringing out their allegedly massive ranks.  We are at a point now, when I think it might be useful to look at the right wing "marches" on Washington and elsewhere over the last year and a half, just to get a real sense of their miserable performance.  So, here is a list, along with links to my posts about them, where you can find much more photographic evidence; however, before I do, I'd like to provide a picture of a left leaning demonstration this weekend in New York, protesting police misconduct; This essentially spontaneous event is a real demonstration, reminiscent of those from the Vietnam era, and provides a helpful contrast to the utter nonsense cataloged below: December 10, 2014: Sheriffs' "massive gathering" in Washington to protest Obama' immigration action:   Turnout?  20 NumbersUSA Immigration Rally in Washington:  Turnout?  Under 10 ...

I am so sickened by the massive defense of our nation's program of systematic torture under the "leadership" of Bush and Cheney, that I cannot even pretend that it deserves a detailed response from decent human beings.  So, I am going to invite a guest commentator to make my point, at least about the despicable argument that torture was okay because it supposedly worked: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" That's it.  I'm out of here.

Antonin Scalia, the ideological leader of the Conservatives on the Supreme Court, weighs in with his opinion on torture: WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is joining the debate over the Senate's torture report by saying it's hard to rule out the use of extreme measures to extract information... Scalia told a Swiss broadcast network that American and European liberals who say such tactics may never be used are being self-righteous." Justice Scalia, just what is it about the phrase "cruel and unusual punishment" don't you understand?  Did your fine Constitutional education stop with the second amendment?  Or maybe you are reasoning that if we torture lots of prisoners, it won't be "unusual" any more, and so then it will be just fine if it's cruel. Of course, there are some Conservatives who argue that what we do to people who haven't been charged with a crime is not "punishment," and therefore a...

In keeping with the absolutely shameless promotion and then failure of endless wingnut marches on Washington, there were two related ones today, to protest the Obama administration's failure to treat immigrants like subhuman animals.  The fact that they were abysmal failures will clearly not stop this endless succession of humiliating performances from continuing, as long, I guess, as they can be used to bilk money from the stupid, ignorant people who make up the Republican base. First up was a meeting of the cracker, ignorant Sheriffs who have fallen in with right wing politics in the last couple of years: "Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson of Bristol County, Mass., sent a letter to organize a meeting of sheriffs in Washington, D.C., on December 10, two days before the existing government-funding bill expires, to meet with congressmen and encourage them to take action to secure the border.  Hodgson wrote. “Senator Jeff Sessions, Senator David Vitter and other members of Congre...

I know this is completely irrelevant, but I would like to remind people that the treaty which we forced on Cuba to let us take extended possession of the Guantanamo area specifically laid out what it could be used for, and a prison or concentration camp was most decidedly not on the list. Yeah, yeah, what do this country's word and its reputation around the world, and the Constitutional mandate requiring that we uphold treaties, mean when some right wingers decide they are so angry that they'd like to torture people?  What is more important, our right to torture or our honor?  I mean, it's pretty obvious who comes down on which side of that argument.

Well, I waited a few days until the sick crowing that we all knew was coming from the wingnuts over their having murdered another black guy and gotten away with it had had some chance to die down- not that it will ever go away completely, of course- right wing lies never die- but I guess it's time to get back to work. Let's start with this:  From the nethermost depths of the right wing psyche, this forgery: Elvis, right.  And what, exactly, would it prove if one long dead rural Southern cracker hated Jews?  After Ted Nugent and the Duck Dynasty guys, will right wingers bow in adoration before any ignorant fool that spouts the words they want to hear?  Not, by the way, that this is Elvis.  I never was a big Elvis fan myself, but people who are seem to universally agree that it is a poor imitation.  Well, anyway, on to those who spout their ignorance with a computer keyboard instead of a guitar: Leah Barkoukis, Town Hall:  “While your Executive...

The following information from Reuters, via the Huffington Post: "A Reuters examination of nine years of cases shows that 66 of the 17,000 lawyers who petitioned the Supreme Court succeeded at getting their clients' appeals heard at a remarkable rate...Although they account for far less than 1 percent of lawyers who filed appeals to the Supreme Court, these attorneys were involved in 43 percent of the cases the high court chose to decide from 2004 through 2012." Needless to say, the vast majority of these lawyers represent corporations. "They basically are just a step ahead of us in identifying the cases that we'll take a look at," said Justice Anthony Kennedy. "They are on the front lines and they apply the same standards" as the justices do." Well, that's comforting.  The Justices on the Supreme Court rely on a group of corporate lawyers to identify the cases they will consider.  It will come as no surprise, I guess, that the...

With the recent two incidents involving right wing Christian terrorists in this country*, and the total suppression, as usual, of their political affiliations by the mainstream press, I thought it would be beneficial to take a few minutes to consider briefly the history of these two groups, the Sovereign Citizen movement and the Christian Identity "religion."  This is not a complete story- the Christian Identity movement is an outgrowth of the British Israelite movement, which since the 1870's was based on the absurd claim that Northern Europeans were the real descendants of the Jews in the bible.  Various explanations have been given about where today's Jews came from, some going so far as to claim that Jews (and black people too, of course) are actually not human beings at all, but spawns of an affair which Satan supposedly had with Eve, which is why God ejected Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.  Well, enough of this idiocy, on with the story. First, with Chri...