Green Eagle

The Truth About What Conservatives "Believe"

2012-01-27T08:21:00.000-08:00

The preposterous re-emergence of Newt Gingrich provides a perfect opportunity for me to revisit a primary theme of mine.

How can it be that the supposedly religious, family-values obsessed Republican "base" can turn for salvation to a man who has led a spectacularly immoral life, both in public and in private? How can they at the same time embrace their lofty pretensions and unashamedly cling to one of the most revoltingly disgraceful public figures of our time?

This phenomenon reinforces a claim I have made for years: that American Conservatism as it exists today is about one single thing and nothing else: Cut My Taxes. Absolutely nothing motivates modern Conservatives but a desire to get their government services for free, and to not have to bear the intolerable thought that a single penny of their money is going to help anyone else- particularly you know who.

Then why the religion? The whole "Christian" thing is, I believe, nothing but a smoke screen, intended to fool not us, but themselves. Their ludicrous religious act (ludicrous in its utter contradiction of anything Jesus ever really advocated) is intended to allow them to buy into the fantasy that they hold the moral high ground, while they give themselves over to all-consuming greed. To be blunt, it is a lie they need to tell themselves.

To further this deception, they have turned away from the real religion of Christ, who spoke openly of their obligations to the poor, the sick, to prisoners and the strangers among us (things that required a lot from them,) and instead embrace a religion that is obsessed with abortion, gays, evolution, prayer in the schools- all things that demand absolutely no sacrifice of any kind on their part. By stridently advocating these largely meaningless causes, they can tell themselves that it is they who are the truly moral ones, while continuing on with their daily diet of greed and hatred. So it is easy for them to stand behind a moral monster like Newt, without a shred of discomfort.

A corollary to this phenomenon explains the utter irrationality and inconsistency with which they make their arguments. Their endless changing of positions seems strange to liberals, because liberals, by and large, say things because they believe them. In fact, Conservatives actually have no ideology at all. The statements they make and the positions they claim to support are simply whatever allows them to do what they have decided best serves their own self-interest. They have determined in advance what public positions will aid them in their endless quest to sate their greed, and will say anything to twist the facts to seem to support their positions.

A typical example is the currently fashionable "job creator" delusion, the Conservative claim that giving rich people more money by cutting their taxes will induce them to hire more people, whether their companies need them or not. They cannot even be accused of ignoring the obvious absurdity of this claim, because they do not believe it themselves; it merely provides a pretext for doing what they intend to do anyway, regardless of the proven disastrous effects of their policies.

I know, I know, most people will think this is far too harsh a view of Conservatives. I have been told so for a couple of decades now. Well, this interpretation of mine has so far proven to explain everything conservatives do, over and over again. Watch them in action, and see if you don't end up being convinced that this is the only real explanation of American Conservatism.

The Scariest Thing You Will See Today

2012-01-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

I warned you.

When You're Right, You're Right

2012-01-25T12:17:00.000-08:00

Fidel Castro:

"The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been"

No End to the Stupidity

2012-01-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone out there who thinks the idiocy, the viciousness, and the contempt for reality from the Republican party has reached its peak, think again. And get ready for more like this in the future if people don't stand up to these malicious jackasses:

"You might think this is a story out of 'The Onion' but it is a real story.

An Oklahoma lawmaker files a bill to ban the making and selling of food or products that use aborted human fetuses.

The lawmaker that represents Oklahoma County couldn’t give any specific examples.

“There is a potential that there are companies that are using aborted human babies in their research and development of basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors," says Shortey."

Face it- like the birth certificate, the IslamoCommunist thing, the death panels, this is nothing but barely concealed racism. They hate the black guy, and every one of them is a hundred percent aware of what is really driving their hatred. Their public utterances don't have to have a shred of believability because they all know what they are really furious about.

Big Ideas?

2012-01-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich- the Man with the Big Ideas! We know that this is true, because we get told so every day. But, what are these big ideas, other than the standard, run-of-the-mill Conservative bitching? I've kind of been wondering that lately, and so, evidently, has Ezra Klein.

Think about it and I believe you will join Ezra and me in the conviction that the whole notion of Gingrich as a Big Idea Man is just one more pathetic Republican delusion, like the preposterous notion that Gingrich is a brilliant historian, or that Romney is just an ordinary guy whose brilliance as a businessman made him rich.

They have no ideas. They have no statesmen or disinterested leaders. They have no historians or honest businessmen. They have nothing but greed and hatred. Sadly, a significant portion of the American people also don't seem to have anything else in their hearts, so God knows how much luck Republicans are going to have at convincing voters to stab themselves in the back so people like Gingrich and Romney can have whatever they want.

GM retakes title of top-selling global automaker

2012-01-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

From the AP:

"General Motors Co. has retaken the title of world's top-selling automaker, selling just over 9 million cars and trucks across the globe.

The company said Thursday that it sold 9.03 million vehicles worldwide last year, up 7.6 percent from 2010. That's more than 1 million better than Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., which took the title away from GM in 2008."

Let us never, ever, forget that, under the Presidency of Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich, General Motors would no longer exist today.

Jobs (and no,not the guy from Apple)

2012-01-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

As we all know, a very significant part of the upcoming Republican Presidential campaign is going to consist of a disingenuous attempt to sucker the American people into believing that our current economic troubles are the result of Obama's presidency. This has, of course, been going on almost since he took office, but it is about to intensify into a never-ending, blaring din. Consequently, it is going to be very important that we all know the true story of the economic collapse of 2008. Here is a bare start, in the form of a single chart.

This chart comes from a website called the Daily Jobs Report, and here it is, along with a description of what it is:

Here is part of the explanation of what this chart shows:

"This sample chart shows the business cycle of the US economy. It is derived from tax data reported by the US Treasury Department, and is updated each business day. Each point on the chart is the year-over-year growth rate of taxes withheld from the paychecks of American workers....Notice how this technique captured the plunge during the recession in 2001, the bottom in late 2002, the expansion up to the top in 2007, the bone-crushing collapse of 2008 and 2009, and the rebound of 2010."

You can also see a more detailed explanation of what this reveals at this page of their website.

This chart clearly reveals that the collapse of the economy began under George W. Bush's watch, and that the economy was in free fall by the time Obama took over. Within months of taking office, Obama had stopped the crash, and despite constant attempts by Republicans to sabotage his efforts, had turned things around and set us on the painful road to recovery from the Republican damage.

The campaign to deny this reality is going to be financed by hundreds of millions of dollars of corporate money. Nothing in the coming year is more important than refuting this malignant lie, and I will continue assembling evidence of the truth about the collapse of the economy, at the hands of the now-nearly-disappeared Republicans George Bush and Dick Cheney.

Mean

2012-01-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

I think the whole story of South Carolina comes down to this, as so succinctly put at Daily Kos:

"Gingrich won by being mean... His win is based on that. And the SC Republicans (and a large part of the Republican base) want mean."

That's it. The Republican "base" is tired of having people suggest that race hatred and greed are less than honorable characteristics, and they are angry about it. So they are ready to openly abandon any pretense that they give a damn about all of their religious cant and family values hooey, and get in line behind the meanest motherfucker they can find, even if he is an openly corrupt, grossly immoral son of a bitch who would steal his granny's coffin if it made him a nickel (and probably marry her too, if he thought it would advance his political career,) and who makes fools of them every time he opens his mouth and utters another preposterous lie.

Well, at least here in South Carolina, the first State to go to war to defend the high principle that, if you have enough money, you should be able to own people with less money. They've got quite a record here of siding with the lowest bastards they can find.

So, maybe Mitt went to sleep last night counting on the Republican "base" in the rest of the country being just a tiny bit less a pack of vicious, self-serving animals than they are here. Well, Mitt, as far as I can tell, this sort of thing is as catching as the Ebola virus among Conservatives, so don't hold your breath waiting for that. And here, we thought the 2012 election was going to be between the sane and the crazy. We didn't realize that things in this country have already gotten so bad that people are going to have the chance to choose between a human being and a mad dog.

The More Things Change....

2012-01-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

A wonderful quote courtesy of Digby:

"Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events."

Abraham Lincoln

The forces of destruction never change.

Yes, I Was There!

2012-01-21T08:07:00.000-08:00

A couple of crude photos showing one of the benefits of working here in Charleston. I slipped away on my lunch hour to attend the only campaign rally worth a nickel:

The Cornerstone of the South

2012-01-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from the post below, which featured a minor instance of Ron Paul's unapologetic race hatred, I think I will provide some more evidence to disabuse the near-majority in this country who have licensed themselves to buy into the lie that the Civil War was about "States' rights" rather than about the right of those who are rich enough to own other people.

What follows are a couple of excerpts from the famous "Cornerstone speech," delivered by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, with the avowed purpose of setting forth the reasons for the secession:

"The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.

Our new government is founded upon...its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery fanatics. Their conclusions are right if their premises were. They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails...They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal."

If you need to be convinced that I have not somehow taken the above remarks out of context, you can read the entire text of the speech if you would like. You also might check out this site, which features various statements by both Stephens and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, to the same effect.

It has become fashionable among Republicans to openly champion views that should fill their listeners with disgust; unfortunately, the Republican party has, since Nixon, decided to exploit the same "peculiar institution" that produced the Confederacy: unapologetic race hatred; and their disgust is reserved for anyone who cares about the poor among us. Without their racists, Republicans would not win a single election, and to the Republican party, winning means more than the most sacred human principles. People like Newt Gingrich aren't that far off of Ron Paul's pace, and none of them shows a shred of shame at this behavior, as long as it works.

Ron Paul's True Colors

2012-01-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

In case you still haven't figured out that Ron Paul is the most contemptible candidate in the whole Republican pack, please watch this little bit, via Little Green Footballs, in which he argues that the Civil War was not about slavery, and that the South was on the right side in that conflict:

Pretty nice background he's speaking in front of, too. This man is a white supremacist. And yet the press takes him perfectly seriously as a presidential candidate.

The Tragedy Of Poverty

2012-01-20T12:16:00.001-08:00

Economic conditions are so bad in Iran that they can't afford real Imperial Stormtrooper uniforms.

Things You Never Thought You Would Ever Hear

2012-01-19T08:32:00.001-08:00

Season tickets to the Clippers are sold out.

The Clown Car Chugs On

2012-01-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

Last week: Romney up by eight votes in Iowa: a smashing victory.
Today's final Iowa results: Santorum wins by 34: Republican officials say "it's a split decision."

Man, I bet the Green Bay Packers wish they could have gotten that deal.

In further Republican news: Romney admits that he has investments in the Cayman Islands, but says they had nothing to do with avoiding U.S. taxes.

Defendant: "Yes, your honor, I admit that ounce of cocaine is mine, but I only bought it to use as roach repellant."

But wait, there's more! Newt's second wife to claim that Newt asked her to have an open marriage so he could continue screwing Callista without the public humiliation of another divorce.

Man, at least Bill Clinton didn't try to move Monica into the Lincoln bedroom.

Well, this is what happens when you let a pack of crazy, stupid people have a veto over who your party runs for president.

Wingnut Wrapup

2012-01-18T18:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, I've got to get rid of this stuff before it gets a fungus and infects my computer. Really, I can remember a couple of years ago when I used to be able to find this much to ridicule every day. I think the Republicans have gotten so complacent about their hatred that they just aren't putting much effort into it any more. They think any old hate is good enough to win them a coveted place in Wingnut Wrapup. How wrong they are! Nothing but the finest is good enough for Green Eagle's loyal readers. And here it is. It's a sorry lot, but apparently it's the best they can do:

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "#Occupy Criminal Movement Becomes Latest Terrorist Wing of Democrat Party ...Next Monday a group of boors known as “Occupy for Democracy” will hold a militant march in front of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s home east of Ann Arbor. They’re renting buses and hauling in goons from Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Benton Harbor to make noise. "

Apparently, now it is an act of terrorism for liberals to make noise. At least if it's noise that Jim doesn't want to hear; i.e. the truth. Jim continues:

"The Ku Klux Klan assassinated many Republicans including Republican Representative James M. Hinds (December 5, 1833—October 22, 1868)...It’s almost as if the #Occupy criminal movement has taken over where the KKK left off. Isn’t it about time this movement was outlawed?"

I see. When you are a liberal, stating your view in public is exactly equivalent to assassination. That makes sense. Funny, the only example of Democratic assassination Jim could find was from 1868. Not only are liberals murderers, but apparently they are very lazy.

Dana Loesch, CNN: "Now we have a bunch of progressives that are talking smack about our military because there were marines caught urinating on corpses"

And after all, what is there about urinating on corpses to be upset about? Isn't that normal American behavior?

And while we're on the subject:

Did you ever in your whole life think you would have to listen to a sentence like this from a supposedly serious news source?

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Today’s American Hero Spotlight Goes to Dana Loesch: “I’d Drop Trou and Do it Too”

No bigger hero in the eyes of the right than a millionaire talking head sitting in the comfort of her TV studio and making obscene threats to someone on the other side of the world.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Unreal… Obama Slams Romney for Destroying Good-Paying Jobs"

Yeah, shut up, Barack. Destroying jobs- that's Mitt's duty to his class.

Larry Kudlow, Town Hall: "Isn’t a Bainful Turnaround What America Needs? "

Yeah, Larry, that's right! Richer rich people and less jobs- that's the ticket for an economic recovery. Why didn't we think of that?

Now for the Islamoterrorist horror of the day:

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Muslim Man Throws Black Ink at Yoga Guru During Press Conference"

Oh God, will the world ever survive?

And now, a supreme example of Conservative logic:

Astute Bloggers: "Why doesn't the legacy media research Bain's record? The legacy media has stood aside and openly wondered why Mitt isn't explaining what the record of Bain really is.

WHY DON'T THEY RESEARCH IT? Isn't this the perfect thing for them to independently investigate!?!?!? Because they are on Obama's side..."

Yes indeed, they are giving the likely Republican nominee a free ride because they are in the tank for Obama. Man, finally everything makes sense! Where would we be without people like the Astute Bloggers to explain things for us?

Astute Bloggers: "THANKS OBAMA: JIHADISTS STORM AND TAKE RAMADI'S ANTI-TERROR POLICE BUILDING...THEY WERE WELL ARMED, WEARING BOMB BELTS AND THEY'RE HOLDING HOSTAGES.

THE WAR WAS WON UNDER BUSH.

Listen, morons, if the war was won under Bush, why should it matter that Obama pulled out the troops? The truth, as I have often had to point out, is that Bush and Cheney took the most powerful military in the history of the world, attacked a pathetic third world country starved by ten years of sanctions, and lost. This will be remembered for millenia as one of the greatest military blunders in the history of the human race. Nothing will ever change that, least of all your endless willingness to repeat the most preposterous lies about it. Obama's real mistake was that he didn't point this out and pull all American troops out of Iraq the day after he was elected. Now he has willingly tainted himself by participating in Bush's abysmal failure. That's the reality- deal with it.

Now, for the Black Is White Award for today:

Donald Douglas, PJ Media: "Progressive Race-Baiters Destroyed Civil Rights Progress in America"

No ridicule could possibly be enough for lying idiots like Donald. Really- progressives destroyed civil rights progress. This is one guy that really needs to go back in his hole.

Chuck Norris, World Net Daily: "My 1 question for all GOP candidates"

Why would you ever give a damn what Chuck Norris has to say? That's my number one question at the movement.

John Stossel, Town Hall: "Don't Trust Your Instincts"

Trust the Koch brothers. They only have your best interests at heart. Now shut up and do as you are told.

Erick Erickson, Red State: "Sarah Palin Says She’d Vote for Newt...This will probably be the biggest news of the morning."

Oh, I don't know, Erick, how about this breaking story: "Kitten falls off couch, lands on feet."

And here's the real cause of the nation's budgetary malaise:

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "US TAXPAYERS Stuck With Port-a-Potty Bill From Yesterday’s #Occupy DC Protest"

About $2100, according to Jim (which given his past history, probably means the real bill was around 39 cents.) I wonder how that compares to what it cost us to let Republicans hold their little "demonstration" for eight years in Iraq?

Jeannieology, Renew America: "Does Barack Obama survive because he's unfit?"

Finally! Conservatives have found evidence to disprove evolution!

Photos We've Waited a Long Time to See

2012-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Our new global cultural ambassador meets with the Secretary of State. Next: Kobe Bryant- Ambassador of Love.

Mitt From Two Angles

2012-01-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Anyone who happens to have read some of my coverage of the tea parties will perhaps remember my concentration on the skill of the Republicans at stage managing tiny events to have the look of major occurrences. Here's another opportunity for them to use that talent. It's an appearance in Florence, South Carolina of Mitt Romney, the Republican "frontrunner" and the choice of the real Republican base (really rich people like Mitt.) Here, courtesy of Daily Kos, is the photo you are likely to see in press coverage of the event:

Looks like an enthusiastic gathering...well, here's a photo from, shall we say, a little farther back in the hall:

One of these photos pretty well reveals the depths of enthusiasm which rank-and-file Republicans feel for Mitt. It will be interesting to see which one the press decides to use to represent this event. If the past is any indication, they will do anything to convey the impression that Republican candidates are awash in a tsunami of enthusiasm.

Along these lines, I see that the news that Obama will announce his acceptance of the Democratic nomination in a stadium near the convention is already being attacked by the Republicans, with, for example, Michelle Malkin stretching reason so far as to suggest that Obama is a gigantic hypocrite because the stadium is named after the Bank of America, and that therefore any negative comment he makes about banks and Wall Street is just a gigantic lie. They are really afraid of the fact that, after four years of constant Republican abuse, this guy can still get seventy thousand people out to see him any time he wants, while their favored candidate can't get two hundred people to show up in South Carolina, the current epicenter of national politics.

Everything You Ever Needed To Know About Republicans

2012-01-17T05:01:00.001-08:00

In one headline, courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

"Golden Rule Booed at SC Debate"

Right Wing Thought- the Real Thing

2012-01-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

Not depressed enough today? I thought you might like to see the headlines of the articles currently posted on one right wing website, currently going by the name of "WHITE CHILDREN GET VERY BAD NEWS." I'm not even going to bother to ridicule these monsters, nor, of course, will I link to them. If you really want to see if this could possibly be real, you can find it, and plenty more like it, easily enough.

JEW-MOTIVATED, RACIST NEGROES START RACIST-NEGRO DAY OFF WITH EXTERMINATION OF WHITES

JEW INCEST AND PEDOPHILIA ARE THE CORNERSTONE OF THE JEW RELIGION[TALMUD]

VIDEO===WHY THE JEW PLAN TO "HOLOCAUST" ALL WHITES IN CANADA AND U.S., IS SO EASY FOR JEWS TO DO

DOES OBAMA WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH DEAD BODIES? IS IT A NEGRO GENE? OBAMA'S PEOPLE DO !

NAZI-JEWS THAT RUN AMERICA'S NEWS, WILL ATTACK WHITES NEXT, FOR JEW WORLD ORDER

JEWS THAT RUN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAVING WHITES "HUNTED DOWN" ALL OVER AMERICA

"KILL ALL WHITES" SET UP BY AND DESIGNED BY JEWS, TO INCITE JEW WORLD ORDER IN THE FUTURE

Dumbed-Down White American Celebrates "Known Black Communist" Martin Luther Day

JEWS THAT RUN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT TO SET UP ATTACKS ON WHITES IN NURMEMBERG FASHION

The Jew-Designed, Jew-Written, Enemy Expatriation Act: No different than the Nazi Nuremberg Laws

EUROPEAN UNION, CREATED BY THE JEW TO KILL OFF WHITES, ATTACKING WHITE SCHOOL CHILDREN

JEWS THAT RUN U.S. GOVERNMENT WANT ENTIRE U.S.ARMY TO HAVE SEX WITH SHEEP, ETC. JEWS PROMOTE "BEAST-IALITY AMONG JEWS SINCE THE YEAR 1200 BC.

SARKOZY, A ROTTEN NAZI-JEW, TAKES FRANCE DOWN FOR JEW WORLD ORDER

JEW-CAMERON CONTINUES TO MOTIVATE NEGROES TO KILL WHITES, ALL OVER BRITAIN

Nice, huh? I've got an idea...how about having a bipartisan dialogue with these people, and then setting our national policy halfway between ours and theirs. That's the way liberals are supposed to behave, right?

Unexpected Consequences

2012-01-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well, isn't the world a strange place. Just when it seemed like the Supreme Court had rigged our electoral process so the rich couldn't lose, and when it seemed like the reward for the Republican's disloyalty was going to be total control of the government...

Six months ago it was all about the "runaway budget." The ever-compliant press was helping Republicans convince more and more people to accept their malignant fantasy that the real problem we were facing was too much government, and that the answer was to let the rich take even more from the poor than they already had in the last decade or so. And who better to carry out that task than a ruthless corporate destroyer who wasn't afraid to inflict pain on others to accomplish his goals.

And then along came #Occupy Wall Street. Sure, for months, they seemed like they were helpless when it came to really changing things, and could do nothing more than engage in impotent protests. The Republicans pretty much ignored them, when they weren't ridiculing them, and assumed that they were a bunch of shallow weaklings who would melt away when the weather got bad. And of course, as the Republicans expected, the protesters were unable to move one intransigent legislator to give a damn about anyone but the rich people who paid for their elections.

But a funny thing happened before the press got tired of the #Occupy movement and started ignoring them. These seemingly weak people succeeded in something that no one expected them to accomplish-they changed the terms of the debate. Their 99% mantra was so simple and so obviously true that the whole Republican obsession with the budget has been pretty much forgotten, and instead more Americans every day are concerned about the rape of the country by the hyper-rich.

All of a sudden, a corporate vulture worth a couple hundred million dollars doesn't really look like the best person to get the country out of our problems. And as the national perspective is changing, simultaneously Mitt Romney is sewing up the Republican nomination through the lavish expenditure of rich people's money

Well, a lot could happen in the next ten months. The Republicans could find a way to really devastate the economy and make Obama unelectable. The massive injection of corporate funds into our electoral process, thanks to a Supreme Court packed with corrupt Republican Justices, could destroy Obama the way it eliminated Newt in two weeks.

But maybe...just maybe...we are seeing the seeds of the most crushing Republican defeat the country has ever known, as people finally come to understand how insane it is to turn our country over to a rich sociopath.

Wingnut Wrapup

2012-01-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

I must admit I have had a real problem producing a Wingnut Wrapup the last few weeks- as it dawns on Republicans that their lying and mean spirited behavior have resulted in the most unappealing collection of would-be presidents that anyone has ever seen, their response seems to have been not to reconsider their jackass behavior, but to double down on the meanness. That leaves one feeling so sick that it's hard to laugh at them. Maybe I was just handling it a little better today, but I've finally got a collection of their ravings that is marginally worth repeating:

Ann Coulter, Town Hall: "Who Wouldn't Enjoy Firing These People?"

Well, we know you would, Ann. That's why rich people pay you to spread their lies. You don't care who you hurt, as long as you make money. Sound like any Republican presidential candidates you can think of?

Ann Continues:

"A venture capital firm in Boston that tries to rescue businesses headed for bankruptcy, for example, is not "Wall Street."

No? If you say so, Ann. How about a venture capital firm in Boston that plunders businesses and fires thousands of people so guys like Mitt Romney who are born rich can get even richer?

Jeff Carter, Town Hall: "Now We Will See The Real Obama and it Will Get Ugly"

No evidence, of course- it just will. And when those Republican Superpacs start spending their hundreds of millions of dollars to tell their lies, it will all be Obama's fault. See, if he had only really done something wrong, they wouldn't have to make up things to smear him.

Michael Tanner, Town Hall: "nearly all reporting on income inequality in America has suggested that the incomes of the rich have been rising, while incomes for the rest of us have been stagnant or even declining. But that may represent a significant misreading of the data."

Actually, Michael, that represents a significant reading of the data, not a misreading.

But don't worry- the people that vote for you guys generally can't read, so they won't even notice when you reduce them to penury.

Kate Hicks, Town Hall: "Bankrupt Solyndra Bribes Employees to Finish Their Jobs"

"Bribes" in this case roughly translating as "Pays them." The nerve. Liberals should work for free.

Myra Adams, PJ Media: 'Pick Romney's VP Now' Poll Contest...Have your say."

How about Jay Gould?

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Republicans to Act After Obama Refuses to Approve Keystone Jobs Project"

Keystone Jobs project. How Quaint. By this same definition, Obama is killing jobs by imprisoning heroin dealers. I can't wait to hear the Republicans slam him for that. After all, heroin dealers are "job creators," aren't they? Think of all the pawnshop jobs that junkies generate when they steal your stuff.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Claire McCaskill Flees State to Attend Obama Fundraiser"

I really liked this one. Claire McCaskill attends a fundraiser, and somehow that is fleeing her state. Man, I'd like to understand the thinking behind that one.

Lloyd Marcus, Renew America: "New TV show idea: All-American Christian"

How about All-American Asshole, Lloyd? That way, you and your buddies at Renew America could get to be on it.

Jeannieology, Renew America: "Planned Parenthood: government-funded religion"

Grow up, Jeannie.

Alan Caruba, Renew America: "Barack Machiavelli"

Who knew he was Italian?

National Review Online: "Rick Santorum, conservative stalwart"

Apparently, "stalwart" is a right wing synonym for "moron."

Selwyn Duke, American Thinker: "The Myth of Bad Republican Candidates...The current GOP hopefuls are the best group of presidential contenders we've had in a very long time."

The mind boggles. How could you ever hope to come up with a funnier line than that? Listen, Selwyn, Green Eagle is here to tell the jokes. Keep off of my territory.

Astute Bloggers: "WOW: BOLTON TO ENDORSE ROMNEY!"

Wow. What else can you say? Amazing. God help us.

Astute Bloggers: "INSANE "GREEN" PENALTIES LEVIED AGAINST OIL COMPANIES"

It is absolutely insane to expect oil companies to obey the law when they can make more money by breaking it. Well, I suspect that the Astute Bloggers are right on that one.

Astute Bloggers: "THE OBAMAS HELD A SECRET SATANIC RITUAL IN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2009"

Well, if you consider a Halloween party for the children of soldiers serving overseas to fit that definition, I guess they did. This is a story that has cropped up on a number of right wing websites in the last few days, even though this party happened over two years ago. The disgrace! A party for military children! The very definition of Satanism.

God, that's all I can take for today. See you soon.

My Defense Speech

2012-01-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

As was absolutely inevitable, Obama's proposal to slice a little sliver from our monstrously bloated military budget is meeting with the usual pack of right wing smears and lies. So, in an attempt to be helpful, Green Eagle would like to present the speech he would have given in announcing these cuts:

"Fellow Americans,

You are about to hear from numerous Republicans that the military budget cuts I am announcing are going to compromise your security and make you less safe.

Well, for once the Republicans are telling the truth. The money that we have to spend on our military is so restricted that your government is not going to be able to pay to totally protect you.

This is because two trillion dollars in funds that should have been available for military purposes were squandered by the previous Republican administration in a disastrous, failed war of aggression against an innocent country. Now, in a time of very limited government resources, also caused by the profligate waste and corruption of that administration, we simply don't have the money to pay for the kind of military you would like to have, that is, unless you would all like to give up your financial security and medical coverage to foot the bill.

Oh, of course, I meant all of you but the very rich. Don't worry about them- they will be just fine. Otherwise, you can make your choice. Less security, or get used to living in refrigerator boxes. The first is our plan, the second is the Republican plan. See you in November."

"I Like To Fire People"

2012-01-09T17:19:00.001-08:00

If Obama ever lets anyone forget that Mitt Romney said that today, he is the biggest idiot in the country.

Ron Paul Speaks

2012-01-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Via Little Green Footballs, here's a wonderful example of Ron Paul's thinking, from his newsletter. Keep this in mind the next time this disgusting creep claims to have the utmost respect for Martin Luther King, which he does with some regularity these days:

"He was also a comsymp, if not an actual party member, and the man who replaced the evil of forced segregation with the evil of forced integration.

King, the FBI files show, was not only a world-class adulterer, he also seduced underage girls and boys. The Re. Ralph David Abernathy revealed before his death that King had made a pass at him many years before.

And we are supposed to honor this “Christian minister” and lying socialist satyr with a holiday that puts him on a par with George Washington?

Congratulations to Arizona! Who could doubt that the result would be exactly the same if the other 49 states could also vote on a holiday for this affirmative-action saint?"

Besides the fact that Ron Paul reveals himself to be a racist of the worst sort, the use of terms like "comsymp" also indicates that he is nothing but a garden variety John Bircher. Just one more variety of human evil that the Republicans have seen fit to promote as an appropriate person to run this country.

He Doesn't Get It

2012-01-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

On purpose, of course. What is it this time? Here's Mitt Romney talking about health insurance:

"I want people to be able to own insurance if they wish to, and to buy it for themselves and perhaps keep it for the rest of their life and to choose among different policies offered from companies across the nation. I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep people healthy. It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them."

Very nice, Mitt. Except for the fact that this is exactly what we have right now, and it doesn't work. 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the country are caused by medical expenses, and three quarters of those people had health insurance when their medical costs bankrupted them. And without preexisting condition coverage, when you "fire" your insurance company, no one else will touch you. In fact, without the Federal government threatening all of these companies with extinction, we will never be anything but helpless victims to them.

Better yet would be to make Medicare available to everyone, and not just threaten these companies with extinction, but put an end to their 33% overheads, their massive staffs devoted to denying coverage, their executives making tens of millions a year, and all the rest of it.

Bristol Moves On

2012-01-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

My favorite story of the day, thanks to Yahoo:

"Bristol Palin Done With Hollywood, Moves Back to Alaska

It seemed Bristol Palin had definitely gone Hollywood after finishing third on Season 11 of "Dancing With the Stars" and then signing on to appear in a reality show along with her friend and fellow "DWTS" contestant Kyle Massey. Though they began filming last fall, the series ended up getting scrapped and the 21-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin quickly realized that there's no place like home, which is why she packed up her bags and moved back to Alaska."

"No place like home." Think she would have had the same revelation if her show hadn't "ended up getting scrapped?"

"I wasn't really into the Hollywood thing," she says. "After that, I just realized that I was over it."

Oh no, she wasn't into the Hollywood thing. That's why the very thing she did to capitalize on her family's newly minted celebrity was get herself a reality show- apparently the current strategy of choice for a talentless but nationally known person to remain rich and famous. And of course when it turned out that her life was too boring to sustain the lowest level of viewer interest, she realized just how shallow it all was and happily went home.

"Bristol -- who is currently working as a receptionist at a dermatologist's office in Anchorage..."

a life so much more fulfilling and exciting than that of a TV star...

"and her little boy reside on the Palin family's property in an apartment under Sarah's TV studio."

Oh well, at least she hasn't moved too far from the world of TV.

Nothing But a Mirage

2012-01-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a comment today from Doyle McManus at the Los Angeles Times:

"A year ago, the tea party movement looked like an irresistible wave sweeping through the Republican Party...But in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, the three candidates who hewed closest to the tea party line — Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich — sank straight to the bottom of the pack."

I have been documenting since its inception how the "tea party" was a fiction, bought and paid for by the rich, to make people believe that large numbers of Americans really wanted to have their stake in our country destroyed so the rich could have more. It was useful in creating an atmosphere of hatred against Obama, but now that it's time to actually try to put someone in the White House, the likes of the Koch brothers are certainly not going to trust people who might actually believe the lies they manufactured. No, they are going to go with the very rich corporate vulture who is one of them, and can be counted on to act accordingly.

No more tea parties unless Obama wins the 2012 election, and then we can count on them being trotted out again to do the bidding of their masters.

Another Republican Tax Plan...

2012-01-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Another cynical plot to thieve from the rest of us to give to the rich. What else would you expect?

"Do a little math and you'll see that 77% of Mitt Romney's tax cut would go to the top 1%—and 44% would go to the top 0.1%.

Oh, and that's not all—the tax cut would also add to the deficit. Cut taxes on the wealthy to explode the debt. Republinomics, perfected."

This plan would actually raise taxes on people earning less than $40,000 a year, while giving an $82,000 tax cut to the top 1% and a $462,000 tax cut to the top 0.1%. Under Republican rules, it is an act of class war to raise taxes on the rich to lower taxes on the rest of us, but raising taxes on us to lower taxes on the rich is just fine.

As in the two previous plans put forth by would-be Republican presidential candidates (that would be Herman Cain's and Rick Perry's plans) the lying rhetoric about reducing taxes is a lie: the vast majority of Americans would see their taxes go up or at best remain essentially the same, while the only group getting a big present would be the very wealthy. And of course, in with the package would be a substantial increase in the Federal budget deficit, allowing Republicans to come back in a year or two with their screaming mantra demanding that ordinary Americans give up even more to support the rich.

It is stunning that Republicans have been able to run this game for a hundred years, causing two depressions, and yet our vaunted "free press" can't be bothered to report the truth on the single source of our economic malaise.

Oops...Rick Santorum Speaks His Mind

2012-01-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

When he said this a couple of days ago:

“I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

Now, of course, Santorum is loudly proclaiming that he never said any such thing, and that he is such a friend to minorities. You decide:

Your Republican party- working to make life better for all Americans.

And a Little More:

Here's National Review Online on the subject:

"The website... has video of the allegedly “racist” statement made by Santorum about black welfare recipients in Iowa. It is abundantly clear from that video that Santorum did not speak the word “black” in talking about welfare. For it to be reported as a racially charged statement by Santorum — apparently originating with NPR — is libelous."

We have always been at war with Eurasia.

Basically, Nothing

2012-01-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

That's what the Iowa caucuses meant.

Consider what happened. Over the last few months, we have seen the rise and almost immediate collapse of a seemingly endless stream of right wing buffoons proposing to run for President as the Republican candidate. Having apparently run out of merely implausible characters, the lunatics who make up the Republican base turned to Newt Gingrich as their savior from the dreaded Romney, who, though just as greedy and lawless as the rest, appears to have the fatal flaw of being semi-sane.

Newt Gingrich! The man who, more than anyone else, legitimized the Republican Congressional tactic of destroying the government in an infantile tantrum if he couldn't get what he wanted through winning elections. The man who presided over the worst abuse of Congressional power in the history of the United States, the "Impeachment" of Bill Clinton. And the man who was then essentially kicked out of Congress by his own party because his open corruption was too much even for them. Well, that's for another post. All I want to point out is that, three weeks ago, he was the go-to guy for the "Conservative" wackos that seem to be driving so much of Republican politics.

Well, the rich people who really own the Republican party weren't going to have that. They just dumped a few million dollars into "Superpacs," which ran so many negative ads against Newt that it was estimated that the average Iowan saw or heard 60 to 80 of them in the two weeks before the Caucuses. And what did they purchase with their largesse? Newt's support was cut in half, and he went, in a few days, from being the leader to being a pathetic also-ran.

Now we have Rick Santorum, who should think about this cautionary tale, because he is about to fall prey to the same thing. The real owners of the Republican party want one of their own- a savage, rapacious corporate predator- in the White House, and they are about to make short work of Santorum too. Not, incidentally, that he deserves any better.

Of course, the bad side of this story is that this is all small potatoes compared to the eight month vomiting of vicious garbage against Obama that we are about to see from these "Superpacs," which will feature lies that make the Swift Boat stories look like quaint folk tales. You have just seen how quickly this massive expenditure of corporate money can eat away at whatever democracy this country has left. I find it doubtful that Obama can stand up to this onslaught, and thus, thanks to five corrupt Republican Supreme Court Justices, we can stop even pretending that our country belongs to its citizens.

Next in Line

2012-01-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

I would like to call your attention to a piece by Rick Perlstein at Crooks and Liars, entitled "Forget Iowa: The GOP Always Nominates 'Next in Line.'

Perlstein points out that the last time an outsider got the GOP nomination was in 1964, when they picked Barry Goldwater, with disastrous results. Since then, the real constituency of the Republican party, i.e. the very rich who have the money to foot the bill for their endless propaganda war, always see to it that their preferred candidate becomes the nominee.

So, when Romney is nominated, and the Republican "base" marches off to the polls in lockstep to vote for him, we can once again be treated to the spectacle of millions of people being swindled once more into stabbing themselves in the back, so the hyper-rich can have even more of the country than they already own.

Know Your Republican Candidates

2012-01-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

Rick Santorum last year:

"I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say 'now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people"

Really, I don't think we need to know another damned thing about this guy.

Drill, Baby, Drill

2011-12-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

Let those oil companies just drill away, so we have enough oil right here at home, right? That's what the Republicans have been telling us for years, isn't it? That's how they justify giving billions to the world's most profitable business, while we can't even afford to pay our police and fire fighters at home.

Think again:

"For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel. Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export...Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil.

Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home. Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.

The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president."

Americans prove themselves once again to be the biggest suckers in the world, falling for the notion that, if they let huge corporations do whatever they damned please, somehow those corporations are going to return the favor by making things better for us. How stupid and ignorant do you need to be to continue to fall for this sort of thing?

But Wait- There's More:

If this whole thing weren't a big enough insult to the American people, consider this:

"Newt Gingrich told conservative activists on Wednesday that Sarah "Drill Baby Drill" Palin would be an ideal candidate for secretary of energy.

"I can't imagine anybody who would do a better job of driving us to an energy solution than Gov. Palin, for example...Tell her that she would certainly be on the list of one of the people we would consider."

Why not just appoint one of the Koch brothers and be done with it?

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-12-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had real trouble putting this one together. I'm not sure if I'm just bored by the right's lies, or if they decided to go back on their meds for Christmas. Well, I present, you decide:

This news about John McCain: "Appearing on Fox News Thursday morning, Senator John McCain (AZ-R) didn’t mince words when he told Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade that President Obama was to blame for the impasse in Washington over how best to extend the expiring payroll tax cut.

“The president should play much more of a lead role, rather than go shopping for his dog,” he said"

Well, I agree with you there, John. How about if he starts by throwing several dozen Republican congressmen in prison for treason, for deliberately sabotaging the economy? Would that satisfy you? By the way, if he had taken "more of a lead role," you would be screaming that he was interfering with Congress in a Socialist power grab.

And here's a funny comment on this story, from Town Hall:

"If Obama were an effective leader, no one, not even the reasonable Republican opposition would be criticizing him for these things. That is the key. "

Reasonable Republican opposition? What's that?

Or this one: "The Democrats are beside themselves with glee at the thought of pinning an increase in taxes on the middle class on the Republicans. Why else would Obama be so giddy as he buys a chew bone for his dog"

Huh? Man, they sure are angry that Obama has a dog. I'd sure like to see some Psychiatrist analyze that.

Michael Reagan, Town Hall: "Americans Angry at Senate Sycophants...Americans need to kick the Harry Reid Senate down the road not for a period of months, but for a lifetime. We have a clear message for Harry Reid and his utter failure to lead the Senate: The nation is angry and our anger is directed at a legislative body that under Reid's leadership can't do its job."

Of course, Republican betrayal of the country is Harry Reid's fault. You can't win.

Walter Hudson, PJ Media: "Tea Party Leader's Gun Arrest Highlights Tyranny of Law"

Laws don't apply to right wingers. Everyone knows that.

Dan Popp, Renew America: "Scrooge was a "liberal"...The resemblance of Scrooge to today's liberal is... perfect "

A greedy businessman totally indifferent to the fate of the poor...the poster child for liberalism. Right wingers will believe any lie. I've said it before, and I say it again. There has never been a group on earth (okay, except maybe Scientologists) with such an appetite for lapping up lies.

Jerry Shenk, American Thinker: "When you think about it, the only blameless party in our nation's student loan fiasco is the banks."

Of course, if you listen to Pat Buchanan, the only blameless party in World War II was Hitler. Go figure.

And now, for the willing delusion of the month, in the wake of the revelation that Ron Paul is a racist, antisemitic pig:

Leon Wolff, Red State: "I have long theorized that the base of Paul’s support is hardcore anti-war leftists who find Barack Obama insufficiently dovish."

Right, Leon. How astute you are. Hardcore leftists. That's why they have been members of the Republican party for decades.

Bob Owens: "It’s the dangedest thing. The Times is able to find radical support for Paul and use that to undermine the candidate, but were somehow unable to find support from Nazis, Communists, Maoists, socialists and racists for their own beloved Occupy Wall Street movement."

The Times was also unable to find support for Occupy Wall Street from Martians. And for exactly the same reason, interestingly enough. Anyway, what really bothers us is that Ron Paul supports the Nazis, not that they support him.

David P. Goldman, Pajamas Media: "The best option for the Muslim states of the Middle East and Western and Central Asia is liberal democracy. That, I have argued for years, is unattainable. For years, the second-best option was a dictatorship friendly to American interests."

Best for whom? Best for David P. Goldman, I guess. Not so good for the brown people who have to live in a dictatorship, but really, who cares about them. Well, at least I have to credit David with spitting it right out. David continues:

"Americans are not cold enough to initiate a campaign of destabilization."

Oh no, we'd never do that. We'd never, for example, push the democratically elected leader of Iran out, in favor of a vicious dictator whose overthrow led to the current Iranian govermnent. We'd never hire a bunch of drug dealing terrorists to overthrow the legal government of Nicaragua. And certainly, we wouldn't do anything to "destabilize" Iraq. No, we'd never do that. Our hands are clean.

Bob Owens, Pajamas Media: "Gunwalker Anger Goes Bipartisan: Joe Lieberman Joins Chorus"

Joe Lieberman and the Republicans. Now, there's bipartisanship for you. Almost like saying "Both Koch Brothers Agree."

Michelle Malkin, Town Hall: "The Year in Obama Scandals"

The shortest article of the month. Oh, except for "Republican Economic Ideas that Won't Actually Make Things Worse."

John Ransome, Town Hall: "John Ransom: If You Thought War Expensive, Wait Until You Pay for Obama's Peace. Think the “end” of the Iraq War as announced by Obama is the beginning of peace? Not so fast. In fact, it could be the beginning of bigger and worse war."

Yeah, but it could be the beginning of thousand dollar bills falling out of the sky, too. Or of free Corgis for everyone.

Mike Shedlock, Town Hall: "Attack Dogs Unleashed on Ron Paul...There is no need to rethink endorsements. Here is the deal: Ron Paul did not say the things attributed to him. Can anyone honestly tell me why things Ron Paul did NOT say over twenty years ago should be news today? "

Yeah, you've got a real point there, Mike. Ron Paul didn't say all of those racist, antisemitic, hateful things that were in his newsletter- he only wrote them. And so they clearly don't count. Writing is so left wing and elitist.

Bryan Fischer, Renew America: "When we pick a president, we are in fact choosing a minister of God"

No thanks, Bryan.

David Limbaugh, Town Hall: "my objective observation is that liberals tend to be less aware of and less willing to admit their biases."

Giving a new meaning to the word "objective."

Walter Hudson, PJ Media: "Meet Your SEIU Babysitter and the Left's Scheme to Unionize Everything"

You caught us, Walter. That's our "scheme" alright- to see that everyone has a good-paying Union job with livable working conditions like health insurance and a pension. What a malignant plot!

Rush Limbaugh: " I think there’s a commitment to Romney at the upper levels of the Republican Party."

No Shit, Sherlock.

Alan Caruba, Renew America: "(Obama) ended the year comparing himself to previous presidents whose shoes he is not fit to shine."

Hey, now black people aren't even fit to shine white people's shoes. Man, they are a bunch of good-for-nothing lazy bums.

Enough already. Let's just go out on this wonderful example of humorous Republican Photoshop talent, from the Astute Bloggers:

Nothing like tasteful, relevant political humor, huh?

Republican Tackle Our Nation's Pressing Problems Again

2011-12-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

And here's the latest example, from USA Today:

"...an Indiana lawmaker wants to criminalize deviant versions sung or played at school functions...Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, has introduced legislation that would direct state education officials to set "performance standards" for singing and playing the national anthem at any event sponsored by public schools, charters or state universities.

Singers and musicians would have to sign a contract agreeing to follow the guidelines and would be fined $25 if their performances weren't deemed "acceptable."

I think I'll just invite a guest commentator to respond to this. I wonder how many tens of thousands of dollars of fines this would have been assessed:

Is It a Violation of Godwin's Law...

2011-12-29T12:00:00.000-08:00

...To call a person what he clearly is? Courtesy of Little Green Footballs, this remark about Ron Paul, published at a neo-Nazi website in 2007:

"Comrades:

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism."

For those of you who may not be aware of this, "White Nationalism" is a euphemism for Naziism.

"Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays...I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy."

Stormfront has been the leading neo-Nazi umbrella group in the country for decades; American Renaissance is a leading White racist publication; the Institute for Historical review is the world's leading purveyor of Holocaust denial material. Makes you wonder who the "others" were...maybe the Heinrich Himmler Appreciation Society; and makes you wonder what "policy" Ron Paul was discussing with this guy.

"Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position...he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism.

Bill White, Commander
American National Socialist Workers Party"

The "American National Socialist Workers Party." That would be as distinguished from the German National Socialist Workers Party, which, as far as I know, ceased to exist in May of 1945.

Well, I guess that sets that straight. Yes, a large part of the Republican "base," rather than accept a candidate who is, in relative terms, somewhat sane, will gladly throw their support behind a man whose ideology is perilously close to the principles of Nazi Germany, and who has willingly associated himself with the pathetic fringe of sociopathic idiots who promote Hitler's views in this country.

This is how far the Republican party has degenerated. We now have a nearly open advocate of Nazi views being hailed as an acceptable leader of their party, while they scream that the current middle-of-the-road, business friendly President is a Communist. The change in Republican ideology has been breathtaking in its swiftness and in the unapologetic adoption of policies and views that would make any decent person cringe. It's quite a lesson in how the German people, faced with worse economic collapse than we have experienced, fell for Hitler's blandishments. One lesson is already too many- let's hope we don't have to take the whole course.

And No, I Couldn't Help Myself

2011-12-28T12:30:00.001-08:00

Some wonderful footage of the funeral procession of Kim Jong Il. He was apparently quite the popular guy among the ladies. Don't forget to listen to the tone of voice of the narrator- I think that's the best part.

The Power of the Narrative

2011-12-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

I want to talk about what I believe to be the great failure of Obama as president, and in fact the great failure of the Democratic party in the last sixty years.

The Republican party, starting in the years before World War I, has presented to the people a consistent narrative about our country. You know the details: less taxes for the rich mean more money for everyone; the "free market," i.e. big business, is best equipped to set the rules by which we have to live; regulations (that would be laws to protect ourselves from crimes committed by businesses) are illegitimate, although we have a perfect right to be as harsh as we want, to protect ourselves from crimes committed by ordinary people; government always does the wrong thing; Democrats are weak pussies who can't be trusted to run the country, and on and on. Yes, all of this is nothing but an immense mass of lies, but they have repeated it over and over again for a hundred years, and at this point they have succeeded in getting well over half of the country to buy into some part of it or other. And at this point, the Republican party has a whole host of "think tanks," bought and paid for pundits, television news networks, newspapers and all of the rest of it, to push their line 24 hours a day.

What Obama could have done from the day he took office was to present a contrasting narrative, woven not from corporate lies, but from the truth. In this narrative, the Iraq war was one of the greatest military blunders in history, and proceeded directly from Republican thinking. The crash of 2008 was a product of cutting taxes on the rich and deregulation, just like the Republican depression of 1929. Republicans care nothing about our troops, or they wouldn't send them off to die for nothing. Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy Medicare and Social Security, so their backers can get their hands on the money. Endorsing torture is the sign of a person who is as degraded as a child molester, and needs to be treated the same way. People who fight against global warming initiatives are selling future generations into a nightmarish life, for no other reason than to generate short term profits for oil and coal companies. Again, I could go on and on here- you know the rest of it, because you know the truth.

Sure, it's not likely that three years of openly telling the truth would crack the facade of deception so carefully crafted by decades of Republican lies, but we have to start somewhere, and until Democrats begin to tell a consistent and truthful narrative about how we got into the trouble we're facing, there is no chance on earth that we will survive as a free country.

Green Eagle Gets Distracted

2011-12-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

What has Green Eagle been doing, while he has been neglecting his public complaining? Well, he's been cooking some food for Christmas:

There you go- fillet, salmon with mayonnaise vert, ham Villandry and some assorted Zakouski. Probably every bit as big a waste of time as Green Eagle's blog, but at least no one went away hungry.

Wrong Again. As Usual.

2011-12-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post, which specializes in misinterpreting everything in favor of the Republicans, today:

"There are only two possible reasons for House Republicans to behave the way they did. Maybe they are so blinded by ideology that they no longer care about the impact their actions might have on struggling American families. Or maybe their only guiding principle is that anything Obama supports, they oppose."

Still working every day to avoid gazing at the real reason why Republicans act this way: the Republican party is a corrupt conspiracy to do whatever is in the short-term interest of the very rich. They haven't cared about "struggling American families" for a hundred years. They didn't care in the nineteen twenties when they cut the top tax rate by 75% and did away with banking regulations, thereby precipitating the great depression. They didn't care when they pulled the same stunt this time around. "Struggling American families" are nothing but suckers to them, to be lied into stabbing themselves in the back, so we end up in a country where, for example, the six direct heirs of the Walton fortune have more net worth than the bottom 30% of the population.

But God forbid that even an ostensibly liberal columnist like Eugene Robinson should dirty himself by coming into contact with the truth. No, better to just stand by and let the country descend into an oligarchic dictatorship.

How Many Lies Can a Republican Cram Into One Remark?

2011-12-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney tries for the record:

"At that time, we didn't have the knowledge that we have now. At that time, Saddam Hussein was hiding. He was not letting the inspectors from the United Nations into the various places that they wanted to go. The IAEA was blocked from going into the palaces and so forth. And the intelligence in our nation and other nations was that this tyrant had weapons of mass destruction.

And in the light of that- that belief, we took action which was appropriate at the time"

1. We did have the knowledege we have now. Bush, Cheney, et. al. just lied about it
2. Saddam was not hiding. He was sitting at home.
3. Saddam was giving the UN inspectors full access to his country. In fact, they only had to leave because the United States threatened them when we decided to go to war.
4. We had exactly zero intelligence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction; in fact, after years of inspection, we knew that he did not.
5. Our murderous, criminal aggression against Iraq was not based on any of this, since our leaders knew perfectly well that it was a pack of lies, so applying the word "appropriate" to the invasion of Iraq is like calling Jeffrey Dahmer's diet "healthy."

And these lies never die, just like all Republican lies: That it's Republicans, not Democrats who balance the budget, that Republicans give a damn about "our troops," that cutting rich people's taxes makes poor people richer too, that no one needs laws against corporate crime, since CEO's are such morally evolved creatures that they would never do anything that isn't in the country's best interest, that science is not what scientists say it is, but what rich people and religious fanatics say it is, that treating all people fairly is Communism, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, the remedy against these lies is a simple weapon: the truth; but it happens to be a weapon, like nuclear weapons, that is so devastating to the enemy that Democrats, in their altruism, have apparently determined that it must never be used again.

As Full Of Crap

2011-12-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

As one human being could be. Today, I mean Tom Friedman. Via Atrios, and thanks to Virtually Speaking, this little contrast. Friedman now:

" the decision to go to war stemmed, for me, from a different choice: Could we collaborate with the people of Iraq to change the political trajectory of this pivotal state in the heart of the Arab world and help tilt it and the region onto a democratizing track?"

Friedman, as you will remember, then:

"What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, “Which part of this sentence don’t you understand?” Well, Suck. On. This...We could have hit Saudi Arabia. It was part of that bubble. Could have hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could. That’s the real truth…"

See, it's not just the Republicans. People like Tom Friedman, hailed far and wide as a responsible, even liberal (my God) journalist, felt free then to indulge in their infantile, homicidal fantasies, and now entitle themselves to lie their asses off to cover up the fact. Oh yes, we were there to bring democracy to the people of the Middle East. Certainly we were.

We were apparently there so immature psychopaths like Tom Friedman could have their jolly old time with the lives of other sorts of people, and now it is apparently our responsibility to forget all that, so they can get back to doing it again as soon as possible.

Standing Firm

2011-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

From a piece at Daily Kos (part of this is quoting Greg Sargent:)

"A senior Senate Republican aide I spoke to this morning said the sentiment among some Senate Republican aides is that the House holds no leverage at all. And he suggested a very interesting endgame in this fight for Dems.

“The House has zero leverage,” this Senate GOP aide says. “If I’m Schumer or Reid, what I’d do is let it expire and force the House to come back the next day and pass it.”

And according to a Democratic aide who spoke with Sargent, that appears to be exactly what Democrats are doing...So Democrats are standing firm."

Standing firm. For how long? The last three years have been littered with examples of Democrats not standing firm, even when they held all the cards and the American people were overwhelmingly on their side. Unfortunately, the far more likely scenario is that Congressional Democrats are just milking this for a little (nonexistent) propaganda benefit before caving in to the Republican' vicious, impotent threats. Anyone want to bet that this time will be different?

And while I'm on the subject, it is hardly news at this point that every thing any Republican ever says in public is a lie, but here we have the proof that the supposed Grand Principle of Republicanism, that upon which everything else they do is allegedly based, is just one more gigantic lie. The Republican pledge to never, ever, NEVER raise taxes turns out (what a surprise) to apply only to taxes on the rich, who despite paying historically minimal taxes must not be asked to pay one cent more to rescue the country from the consequences of their own greed. No, it's perfectly all right to raise taxes on everyone else in the country, no matter how much they are suffering economically. As I have said over and over again, the Republican party is a traitorous conspiracy to thieve the nation's wealth for the rich. That is all they are, period.

When I see Democrats start to point that out, maybe I will reconsider the kind of thinking that led me to write the rest of this post.

All Things Come To An End

2011-12-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

"Dictator for Life" Kim Jong Il was term-limited out over the weekend. With our political outlook at home so bleak, we can ill afford the loss of someone who has brought us so much innocent humor over the years.

Sad News for Democrats

2011-12-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich's lead in the Republican Race to the White House appears to be in collapse, having declined by half in the last few days.

I know the folks at the Daily Show are going to take this particularly hard.

The Most Important Fact In Years

2011-12-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not kidding here. This is the most important (and distressing) thing you could possibly read, and so it will turn out to be of virtually no interest to the people who control our mainstream news:

"A new look at U.S. census data painted a stark picture today of poverty. It showed nearly one in two Americans are now in poverty or classified as low-income."

The lightning fast decline of The Greatest Country Ever from the land of opportunity into a third world hellhole has been a frightening spectacle indeed, and is therefore far less worthy a part of our national discourse than, for example, whether Obama broke into a State vault in Hawaii when he was three or four years old and planted a forged birth certificate.

In the meantime, we have Republican Senior Intellectual Newt Gingrich, last heard advocating toilet cleaning as a way for poor children to prepare for a career, now suggesting that, as President, he would be justified in having Federal judges arrested if they didn't decide cases the way he wanted.

So tell me, what word would you use to describe a political system in which things like that happened?

A Quick Note About My Lack of Posts

2011-12-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Man, what difference does it make? At this point, the country is pretty much controlled by the enemy, and the Democrats with the power to do anything about it seem like they'd rather just roll over and go back to sleep.

Obama has turned his back on the decent thing to do way too many times to put up an effective counter-narrative to the Republicans' self-serving, endless avalanche of lies, and pretty much every Democrat in Congress has joined him. I just don't have a clue how we turn things around at this point.

HURRAH! THE WAR IS OVER!

2011-12-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

At least minor combat operations are over. We all remember so proudly when major combat operations ended:

99%- We Should Be So Lucky

2011-12-15T05:01:00.000-08:00

Anyone who thinks the battles in the United States today are between the bottom 99% and the upper 1%; and those people who think they are safe if they can just make it into that top 1%, should consider this piece of information:

"...the six Walton family members on the Forbes 400 had a net worth equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans."

Yes, the end game of the Republican plan is to leave the net worth of this country in the hands of not the top 1%, but of a few hundred families, after the pattern of South American dictatorships of yore. The rest of us will just have to be content to degenerate into near slave status. It is the top hundredth or even thousandth of one percent that the Republican party exists for. The "rich" who are today making half a million or a million a year are on a path to the same place as the guy who was making $200,000 a decade ago and thought that he was sitting pretty, until his world collapsed on him.

And the violent repression that answered even a mild protest by the #OWS people should be enough to let us know what will happen to anyone who makes a real attempt to turn this around.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-12-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Here we go again:

Ben Shapiro, Town Hall: "Poverty Doesn't Make Thieves -- Liberalism Does...The liberalism of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and President Obama hasn't turned thieves into sudden lovers of big-band swing. It's turned more and more Americans into thieves."

Now, what evidence does Ben have to support this interesting idea, that FDR, from beyond the grave, is still generating generations of thieves? Get ready for it:

"This week, the Los Angeles Times reported a wave of theft plaguing area high schools. The objects at stake? Tubas. According to South Gate High School music teacher Ruben Gonzalez Jr., thieves broke into the band room and stole nothing but tubas."

Now, how am I going to put this? Ben, when liberals want to make low notes, they generally resort to something more like this:

Now, here are some conservative musicians for contrast:

Notice which one has the tuba? Well, Ben continues:

"Spend five minutes with many poor inner city kids and the sense of entitlement drips from them. Many of these folks are refugee thugs from "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

I mean, what would a right wing rant be without a little racism?

Dave Ramsey, Town Hall: "Dave Says Be Choosey How You Give...My wife and I give the majority of our donations to Christian ministries."

Why not try taking your own advice, Dave?

Wes Vernon, Renew America: "What would you do differently from Obama (if you wanted to bring America down)?"

How about what every Republican politician in the country is doing? That seems to be working. But wait, Wes isn't done with his insightful historical analysis:

"The Marxist view of the world is that if someone has more in worldly goods than you do, it means he is robbing you of what is rightfully your "fair share."

This is the opposite of the Capitalist view of the world, which is that if someone has less than you do, it means he is robbing you of your "fair share," i.e. everything.

Marsha West, Renew America: "Hollywood unraveling the fabric of society...Liberal Hollywood is intentionally corrupting children's morals via the movies and TV programs they produce for public consumption— and it's criminal."

I guess if corporations are people, "Hollywood" is a person too. Now, as a Hollywood person myself, let me tell you the awful truth. We just had a production meeting this morning for the next episode of our TV show, and all we talked about was what we could put on screen in the way of "intentionally corrupting children's morals." And boy, did we come up with some evil ideas!

Well, actually, I was lying. We mainly talked about the shooting schedule and how we could keep the days out down. In fact, that is the number one thing we always talk about. Not that exciting, really, but then, for once, truth is a lot less strange than fiction. Anyway, here's one more insight from Marsha:

"social experiences during adolescence when the brain is still developing can have broad consequences."

Luckily, not a concern for Conservatives, whose brains stop developing around the age of three.

Alan Caruba, Renew America: "Obama is a horrid aberration, the result of a combination of the Democratic Party, the liberal media, and the education community to dumb down Americans and make them ready for the Communist America that Obama advocates."

Just in case you didn't know that already. I had a personal exchange of views with Mr. Caruba once. Let me just say that he doesn't take that well to people that disagree with him; so I'll just leave his comment to speak for itself.

World Net Daily EXCLUSIVE! "WASHINGTON – A messianic rabbi from New Jersey is stunning audiences nationwide by revealing the striking parallels between the fall of ancient Israel and what he suggests are God's early judgments of America."

In case you didn't know, a "Messianic" Rabbi is not a Rabbi at all, but an evangelical Christian pretending to be Jewish, on the theory that crooked Christian "ministers" have missed an opportunity to bilk a whole new bunch of people who they have previously overlooked. By the way, Green Eagle actually read the rest of this idiotic article, and believe me, the parallels between America and ancient Israel aren't really that striking.

Pam Geller, World Net Daily Exclusive Commentary: "Does Obama want a universal caliphate? "

Sure, Pam. Anything you say. Now, back in your cage. BACK!

World Net Daily: "Stopping Obama – before 2012?"

Better hurry up, guys. You only have three more weeks.

Deane Waldman, American Thinker: "Actually, Health Care Costs Are Under Control "

On which planet?

Astute Bloggers: "THE DRONE IS A FAKE DELIBERATELY AIR-DROPPED INTO IRAN WITH BAD TECHNOLOGY IN ORDER TO THROW OFF THE CHICOMS, RUSKIES AND IRANIANS."

Talk about another planet- these guys are in another universe. I mean really- they aren't suggesting that Obama did something right now, are they? By the way, "Chicoms" and "Ruskies?" Have these people been in suspended animation since Doctor Strangelove came out?

Astute Bloggers: "ISLAMO-NAZIS GET MONEY FROM INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING"

Boy, if you could only work pedophile football coaches in there, you'd just about have all the bad guys on earth in one pile.

The Truth Hurts, I Guess

2011-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Media Matters, this wonderful chart from Fox News of the nation's unemployment rate:

Observe from this chart that the current 8.6% unemployment rate is exactly the same as the 9.0% unemployment rate the month before, and is far above the 8.8% unemployment rate from last March. Math is a wonderful thing when you are a Republican.

The Vicious Lies Continue

2011-12-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Senator Lindsay Graham yesterday, on the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a branch of the Federal Government created in 2010 by an act of Congress:

"So this consumer bureau that they want to pass is under the Federal Reserve...It is something out of the Stalinist era."

Yes, it is not just Communism, but Stalinism, for a single government agency to exist in order to protect consumers instead of oil companies and multinational corporations. If you go to their website, you will see such subversive topics discusses as how to submit a mortgage complaint, or how to handle your student debt- malicious ideas that are undoubtedly going to result in the murder of tens of millions, just like with Stalin.

And do not forget that Lindsay Graham is constantly classed as one of the "reasonable" Republicans, which at this point apparently means he only compares Obama to Stalin, and not Satan.

It's Time

2011-12-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

As Paul Krugman says:

"It’s time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression."

Of course, I don't agree totally with him:

"...ominous political trends shouldn’t be dismissed just because there’s no Hitler in sight."

Brilliant History

2011-12-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

From that brilliant historian, Newt Gingrich, the Republican party's resident intellectual:

“Remember, there was no Palestine existing as a state. Part of the Ottoman Empire."

Of course, by that logic, the following countries also don't exist: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, the Sudan, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Rumania, and a bunch of others.

I suppose we have good reason to also doubt the legitimate existence of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan and large parts of New York, since they were once part of the Iroquois Confederacy.

This is the ignorant, shoot-from-the-hip logic which qualifies one to be well informed by Republican standards. Sad, isn't it?

Of course, the response of the Palestinian authority to this remark isn't much better:

"The most racist remark I have ever seen,” said Saeb Erekat, a top negotiator for a new Palestinian state and a close advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas."

Listen, Saeb, if that is the most racist thing you have ever seen, you really need to get out more. How about this, for example, from your boss:

"In 1982, Mahmoud Abbas, later to become President of the Palestinian Authority wrote his doctoral thesis which later became a book, The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism. In the book, Abbas raised doubts that gas chambers were used for extermination of Jews, and suggested that the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust was "less than a million", claiming secret ties between the Nazis and the Zionist movement. He also claimed that the Holocaust was a joint Zionist-Nazi plot, writing "The Zionist movement led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule, in order to arouse the government's hatred of them, to fuel vengeance against them, and to expand the mass extermination."

Depends on whose ox is gored, huh? Newt and Abbas- they deserve each other. Too bad that none of the rest of us deserves either one of them.

They Don't Get It

2011-12-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

And they don't want to get it. Latest Example- Michael Gerson, in the Washington Post:

"In the news coverage of Newt Gingrich’s rapid rise, there is wonderment that evangelicals are willing to forgive his serial offenses against the Seventh Commandment."

Gerson naturally tries to explain this phenomenon with a bunch of nonsense about how right wing Christians supposedly love reformed sinners. This might be believable if it weren't for the obvious fact that Republican sinners don't even need to pretend to reform to get their votes, while Democratic sinners can reform from now until doomsday without getting a shred of forgiveness from right wingers.

No, I have stated the real reason for this phenomenon over and over again. The simple truth is that American Conservatism is about one thing and one thing only, to the exclusion of all else: Cut My Taxes. Give me all the free Government services I want, but don't charge me a penny for something that benefits anyone else. All the rest is window dressing, to convince not us, but themselves, that despite their grotesque greed and hatred, they hold the moral high ground.

I have been saying this for years, and every day there is more evidence for it. It's time for people like Michael Gerson to accept the ugly truth.

The Unique Mixture of Idiocy and Pandering

2011-12-07T04:45:00.000-08:00

That is today's Republican party:

"House Republicans Push Bill To Ban Abortions Based On The Race Or Sex Of The Fetus...For House Republicans, this year has been the year of outlandish answers to non-existent problems. And tomorrow, they will offer the magnum opus of their 2011 campaign against a woman’s right to choose: the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA). The bill seeks to somehow protect the “civil rights” of fetuses by banning physicians from performing abortions based on the fetus’s race or sex."

Now, a fetus is presumably the same race as its parents. Apparently, these parents are committing a racist murder against their own race. There is just no end to the misuse of the legislative process that is just dandy with Republicans, as a perfectly fine substitute for any sort of real attempt to deal with the nation's problems. I suppose that this is because dealing with our problems would involve admitting that they were all caused by the previous round of Republican behavior, so it's easier to just continue the sideshow.

A Sad Day

2011-12-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

It is with considerable sadness that I report the death of one of the last links to the great era of the Chicago Blues, Hubert Sumlin, who was Howlin' Wolf's guitar player for many years. Here is Sumlin playing an extended version of Killing Floor, my favorite Howlin' Wolf song to play:

The Stupidest, Dumbest, Most Idiotic, Most Ignorant Political Article Ever Written

2011-12-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Jon Meacham in Time Magazine:

"The Myth of the Stature Gap: Could Newt Be the Next FDR?"

And no, things like this don't get links from Green Eagle. You got a problem with that?

China Syndrome

2011-12-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

Who could ever have expected that it was worse than they admitted:

"Fuel rods inside one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have completely melted and bored most of the way through a concrete floor, the reactor's last line of defence before its steel outer casing, the plant's operator said.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said in a report that fuel inside reactor No 1 appeared to have dropped through its inner pressure vessel and into the outer containment vessel, indicating that the accident was more severe than first thought.

The revelation that the plant may have narrowly averted a disastrous "China syndrome" scenario comes days after reports that the company had dismissed a 2008 warning that the plant was inadequately prepared to resist a tsunami."

And remember, this plant was built by an American company, which has produced many of our own reactors, and was located in a country acclaimed for the strongest nuclear safety regime anywhere in the world. Also, please remember that every one of these incidents that has ever occurred has been followed by endless lies attempting to minimize public knowledge of the damage.

The Insanity Continues

2011-12-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

I want to direct you toward an excellent piece today by Maureen Down, highlighting the total lunacy involved in the return of Newt Gingrich to prominence in the Republican party.

Who knew he wrote his Ph.D dissertation on the Belgian rule of the Congo, attempting to justify a colonial regime which was so barbarous that it shocked and disgusted even the other European colonial countries:

"Of the Europeans who scrambled for control of Africa at the end of the 19th century, Belgium's King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all.

While the Great Powers competed for territory elsewhere, the king of one of Europe's smallest countries carved his own private colony out of 100km2 of Central African rainforest...the king unleashed new horrors on the African continent.

He turned his "Congo Free State" into a massive labour camp, made a fortune for himself from the harvest of its wild rubber, and contributed in a large way to the death of perhaps 10 million innocent people."

And yet Newt's take on this was, "hey, let's look at the good side!"

There's much more in Dowd's piece, which is a great example of her patented sarcasm, which at least today has found a deserving target. But just consider that Republicans are apparently willing to have our country led by a man who demostrates a life-long willingness to advocate for the most brutal exploitation of other people and other countries. If you don't get where this is leading our country, you have your head buried in the sand.

Two Different Planets

2011-12-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

I mean of course, the one we live on and the one where Republicans live.

On our planet, one of the few major anti-global warming figures got a grant from the Koch brothers to debunk all the previous global warming data, and ended up announcing that the previous studies were all true. On our planet:

"Alas, a favorite climate change denial trope is on its deathbed. Specifically, the claim that modern polar ice sheets formed during a period of rising carbon dioxide. New analysis of CO2 levels from the time, about 33 million years ago, show the greenhouse gas dropping sharply and the ice caps forming right alongside"

And on our planet:

"NOAA: Arctic worse than in 2005...The report, written by 121 scientists from around the world, said statistics point to a shift in the Arctic health in 2006. That was right before 2007, when a mix of weather conditions and changing climate led to a record loss of sea ice, from which the region has never recovered. This summer's sea ice melt was the second worst on record, a tad behind 2007."

Not so in the galaxy that the Republicans have transported themselves to. Remember "Climategate," the cache of stolen e-mails from a university in East Anglia that Republicans claimed somehow proved that every climate scientist in the world was involved in some gigantic, purposeless conspiracy? Well, this wingnut pseudoscandal resulted in the massive waste of time of seven (yes, seven) scientific, academic reviews of their ludicrous claims, every single one of which found the claims to be patently false.

But now we have Climategate 2! The right wingers have gone through these e-mails again, and are again falsely claiming to have found evidence that global warming is a scientific conspiracy. Of course, remember that these are second-string e-mails that proved nothing the first go-around. But there's no stopping them. Here is a small, and I mean small, sample of the sort of edifying information conservatives are reading the last few days:

"Ed Driscoll, PJ Media: "‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Climate Apocalypse’...ClimateGate and the global financial meltdown are making the doomsday religious cult of global warming look awfully cartoon-like. "

Climategate having been rejected as a right wing lie by sane people, but still...

Washington Times: "The latest release of 5,000 emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) reconfirms what the 2009’s “Climategate” files established: Global warming is more fiction than science."

What 2009's Climategate established is that there is no end to the lies that right wingers will tell when they get paid to.

Big Government: "Breaking news: two years after the Climategate, a further batch of emails has been leaked onto the internet by a person – or persons – unknown. And as before, they show the “scientists” at the heart of the Man-Made Global Warming industry in a most unflattering light. Michael Mann, Phil Jones, Ben Santer, Tom Wigley, Kevin Trenberth, Keith Briffa – all your favourite Climategate characters are here, once again caught red-handed in a series of emails exaggerating the extent of Anthropogenic Global Warming"

"Once Again" caught in nothing but doing their job. And these right wing commenters are hard at work at their job too- lying their asses off.

Forbes Magazine: "A new release of incriminating e-mail exchanges between leading climate scientists that is now being termed “Climategate II” actually represents but another episode in a continuing scandal that has been taking place for decades. This fraud of massive scope and consequence has served as the basis for arguably the greatest regulatory overreach of all time...“

Believe me, I could have provided you with another hundred things like this. If you really want to see how blatantly dishonest this stuff is, I suggest you try this article at Discover Magazine.

Do I need to add that there is absolutely no chance of ever dealing with any of the problems facing our country, even something as clear-cut as the danger of global warming, as long as the fantastically rich are allowed to raise a population on their lies?

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-11-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

The natives are restless today:

Michael Barone, Town Hall: "Entitlement, Not Tax Cuts, Widen the Wealth Gap...Supercommittee Democrats argue that income inequality has been increasing and can be at least partially reversed by higher tax rates on high earners. They refused to agree on any deal that didn't include such tax increases."

Well, that sure makes sense- giving money to the poor makes them poorer, while giving money to the rich makes poor people richer. That's about the gist of Michael's remarks, and who could argue with rock-solid logic like that? Michael continues:

"In effect, Social Security and Medicare have been transferring money from low-earning young people (who don't pay income but are hit by the payroll tax) to increasingly affluent old people."

Well, except for the fact that the "increasingly affluent" old people paid for their social security benefits every week of their whole work life. So, let's take away their Social Security so they can be increasingly un-affluent, the way God intended them to be. And by the way, how about enacting a 100% tax on people making more than a million dollars a year so we don't commit the crime of transferring money from low-earning young people to them? How about that idea, Michael? After all, the government guaranteed Social Security payments to people who contributed to the fund when they were working, but it never guaranteed that rich people have a right to stay rich.

Humberto Fontova, Town Hall: "Black Friday Greetings from Fidel and Che...Macy's, for instance, serves tens of thousands of shoppers that one day. If nothing else, the theme would make for a hair-raising Hollywood drama or disaster blockbuster. Credibility might be a problem, however. After all, even the most bloodthirsty and psychopathic of terrorists seek government or semi-military targets...Yet the movie could be based on a terrorist living today who planned this very type of civilian carnage 49 years ago."

Carnage by three people that Humberto claims were arrested for planning this crime at the behest of the Cuban government, Roberto Santiesteban, and Jose and Elsa Gomez-Abad. I thought I would google these people's names and see what I learned. As to the first guy, I checked about the first seventy or eighty hits, and found not one word about him ever having been charged with this crime, except a few posts at Free Republic and other wingnut liars, mostly citing each other. The other two? Well, I didn't make it through eighty hits. I gave up when I got to this one: "Jose Canseco Proposes To Lady GaGa on Twitter" In fact, if you Google "Cuba terrorism" you will find nothing alleging any Cuban attacks against the United States, but you will find a good number of terrorist acts committed by right wing anti-Castro terrorists against Cuba.

And by the way, Humberto, Che died 44 years ago. Having to hunt pretty hard for left wing boogie men, huh? Going back half a century, and then making it all up. That really is pathetic.

Kate Hicks, Town Hall: "Thanksgiving Stocks at Lowest Level Since the Depression...Looks like the economy could use that Black Friday boost; the Dow is down at its lowest level since the Great Depression in 1932."

Gee, that's news to me. A quick Google search tells me that the Dow reached a low of 41.22 in 1932, before American citizens could take the economy out of the hands of the Republicans. The Dow closed at 11,240 on Friday, before rebounding by 300 points. I can't say I am a hundred percent positive, but I do believe that 11,240 is higher than 41.22.

Another lesson to teach us that there is no lie too big for Republicans.

Dan Spencer, Red State: "Union Leader Endorses Gingrich for President"

Man, that one almost gave me a heart attack. Turns out he was talking about the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the most right wing mainstream newspaper in the country. Funny what leaving out a hyphen can accomplish.

Bob Owens (nee Confederate Yankee:) "Barack Obama hates white people ...For decades, Democrats have suffered continuous and increasingly severe losses among white voters. But preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class."

Unlike Republicans, who will never abandon the white working class, since they abandoned them about a hundred years ago, and have been stabbing them in the back ever since. And as for the hate thing, Bob, that's pretty much your side's specialty. Asshole.

Bob Owens: "Frank flees House "

That would be Barney Frank, who at age 71 is "fleeing" from the house after being elected sixteen times. Now, if you really want to see a story about fleeing the house, try googling the words "Newt Gingrich."

Bob Owens: "Iran threatens ’150,000 missiles’ if Israel attacks...I love the smell of Iranian bombast in the morning"

Easy for you to say, from 12,000 miles away, dickhead. Why not go over and fight them yourself, rather than constantly encouraging people you don't give a damn about to kill each other so you can have your vicious fantasies?

Jazz Shaw, Pajamas Media: "The Logical Extreme of the ‘American System’...The toxic mix of unbridled individual liberty and unfettered capitalism."

Honestly, I was too bored to read much of this, but I think I got the idea: We don't dare tamper with unfettered capitalism, so we'd better do away with a bunch of individual liberty. Particularly those liberties popular among Democrats.

Michael Oberndorff, Renew America: "Democrat racism"

This article was about something that happened in 1955. I don't think you need to know any more about it than that. Well, how about just a little bit more:

"Frankly, I think this is where much of the anger and black hatred of white people comes from. Consciously, or subconsciously, they hate the fact that they have been suckered by white Democrats onto the Democrat Plantation."

Why, now I see! Black anger toward whites has nothing to do with slavery and a century and a half of oppression, no! They are angry because Democrats passed the Civil Rights act. Why didn't I ever see that before?

Renew America: "'Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone'..."Can't afford it," explained employer, Bill Looman, Tuesday evening. "I've got people that I want to hire now, but I just can't afford it. And I don't foresee that I'll be able to afford it unless some things change in D.C."

No real explanation of why the guy wants to hire people if he can't afford to. Most businessmen only hire people if hiring them makes money for their business. I suspect there's something about the free enterprise system that Bill there just doesn't quite understand. After all, I'd like to hire a million people to build me a great big palace, but I can't afford it either.

So, Bill, here's the thing: It's not Barack Obama's job to guarantee that you can make money if you hire people- it's your job. That's called Capitalism. Sounds like you are more into something they call "Communism." Think about it.

Barbara Simpson, World Net Daily: "In about 20 years, if you're in San Francisco and admiring a snazzy bridge crossing the bay – enjoy the view. It will be a good-looking structure...From the moment the decision was made to build a new bridge, there were government officials spending money they didn't have based on projections of future income..."

Yeah, what business does government have building a bridge? If you're in the East Bay and you want to get to San Francisco, swim for it, sucker. Or wait until private enterprise coughs up the billions to build the bridge, just dreaming of how fast it will make a profit on the two dollar tolls. Better to use that borrowed government money to CUT THE ESTATE TAX!

And by the way, who could imagine a business so stupid as to borrow money based on projections of future income? No, real businessmen borrow money on the projection that if they lose it all, the government will bail them out. That's what the government really exists for- to see to it that the rich stay rich no matter what they do. Anything else is class war.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Your ‘Feel Good’ Video of the Day: #Occupy Goons Tased & Dragged From WA Capitol Building"

Nothing humorous here. I just want to add this to the growing list of examples of what I believe to be a deliberate campaign by the right to desensitize their followers to the notion of violence against liberals. I've reported numerous instances of this behavior in the last several months- this is another one.

World Net Daily: "With God gone, can 'The Muppets' save society?"

Probably not, but they have a better chance than the Republicans. So there.

Doomed By The Press

2011-11-29T09:17:00.000-08:00

As usual.

I'm working here in Charleston, SC. No Stephanie Miller or Randi Rhodes here, that's for sure. So, I'm listening to that vicious den of liberal bias, NPR, on the way to work, when on comes a segment that must have been close to ten minutes long, about Newt Gingrich. Yes, this is the same Newt Gingrich that said the following a few days ago:

"You say to somebody, you shouldn't go to work before you're what, 14, 16 years of age, fine. You're totally poor...Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they'd begin the process of rising.

"You're going to see from me extraordinarily radical proposals to fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America and give people a chance to rise very rapidly."

So, taking poor kids out of science and math and English classes and making them wash the floors is going to give them " a chance to rise very rapidly." To rise, apparently, to the lofty janitorial profession, while their "betters" can stay in class. This is beyond conservative, it is sadistic cruelty designed deliberately to destroy any chance that they might have to compete in life.

And here's another recent gem from Newt:

"The Congressional Budget Office is a reactionary socialist institution which does not believe in economic growth, does not believe in innovation and does not believe in data that it has not internally generated"

Or to put it more clearly, the CBO won't abandon its data and support Newt's self-serving lies, so it is nothing but a pack of socialists- after all, only socialists care about data and meaningless things like that.

Well, this entire segment on NPR was devoted to pushing the ludicrous idea that Newt is actually a moderate who has stood up to conservatives over and over again. And if he is nominated, NPR, along with the rest of the mainstream "press" is going to continue presenting this corrupt,wingnut idiot as a perfectly reasonable alternative to the current administration, just like they did with George W. Bush.

The nation barely survived eight years of Bush. I guarantee you, it will not survive four years of Gingrich, at least not in any form recognizable to us now. But that means nothing to our bought-and-paid-for press.

How They Handle An Oil Spill

2011-11-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

caused by a foreign company, South American style, if you care. And believe me, no one is apologizing to the oil company. Too bad we don't get that kind of government in the Greatest Country on Earth.

Wrong Again, Republicans

2011-11-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

One of the most consistent right wing responses to Obama's success in helping drive Moammar Gaddafi from power, to be found from a nasty piece of work like Pam Geller, all the way to the Republican presidential hopefuls, was that Obama was a total failure when he removed Gaddafi, because he had just turned Libya over to a pack of Islamist radicals. Not so true, I guess:

"Prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib has sent Libya on a bumpy road towards democracy by naming a cabinet of secularists and thereby snubbing prominent Islamists.

The biggest surprise on the list was Osama al-Juwali, chief of the Zintan military council, who was appointed defence minister at the expense of Islamist Hakim Bilhaj."

Once again, the Republicans, still reeling from the utter failure of their dream administration to accomplish anything but disaster on every front, tries to find similar failures in everything Obama does- this time in the ludicrous notion that Obama is as dreadful at foreign policy as Bush.

Of course, don't expect the truth to make it into the mainstream press- that wouldn't help the Republican party replace Obama with one of their endless supply of corrupt liars.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-11-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

And you thought waterboarding was bad. Just wait until Green Eagle gets done with you:

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Glenn Beck Receives Major Credit From Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu...You know you've made it in the big leagues when a true world leader like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is praising your efforts."

You know what a colossal mistake the Israeli people made when they elected Netanyahu. A "true world leader" who is the head of a country with less people than Los Angeles, and who encourages Glenn Beck. Sheesh.

Star Parker, Town Hall: "The Declaration of Independence Defines Our Principles"

It used to be the Constitution, until they started discovering what it really says.

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Dems to Obama: Yeah, You Should Probably Just Quit"

Two of them. Katie found two Democrats willing to say that, including the execrable, self-serving pseudo-Democrat Pat Caddell. I had some experience with this guy a few years ago, and if he is a Democrat, then Heinrich Himmler was a yeshiva bucher. So, I guess Katie's headline was technically true, but it wouldn't sound so good if she had said "I found two Democrats who said Obama should quit, and one of them is lying about being a democrat."

Greg Hengler, Town Hall: "Newt Destroys OWS: "Go Get A Job Right After You Take A Bath!"

Now, there is some incisive analysis from the Republican party's greatest intellectual.

Kate Hicks, Town Hall: "Newt Plays Defense: 'I'm No Bill Clinton'

Boy, that's for sure.

J. Matt Barbour, Renew America: "Liberal violence rising...And so, as left-wing violence continues to spike in coming months, not only should we expect to hear little about it from a sympathetic mainstream media; we should also expect little help from the once-respected Southern Poverty Law Center."

I must say, this was a truly frightening article, and probably would have been even better if Mr. Barbour had managed to cite one example of "liberal violence." Unfortunately, He didn't, so I recovered before too long, and went back to playing Skyrim.

Paul A. Ibbetson, Renew America: "Tea party numbers grow as presidential election nears"

Mr. Ibbetson, like Mr. Barbour above, might have been far more convincing if he had presented any shred of evidence that this claim was true, in his 800 word post. He didn't, of course, so all I can say is, "keep dreaming, Paul."

World Net Daily: "Even more calendars predict End in 2012...Demonic plan culminating in Jesus' 2nd Coming hiding in plain sight?"

Well, we will sure give that one some thought. Coming from the number one purveyor of lies about Obama's birth certificate, you can certainly evaluate just how seriously to take this news.

World Net Daily: "Have you been 'Shocked by the Bible'? "

No, I never plug it in.

World Net Daily: "ELECTION 2012...How do GOP candidates answer Christians' questions?"

By seeing which one of them can pander the most shamelessly to the ignorant. That was an easy question.

World Net Daily: "Trump: I might run if GOP chooses 'wrong person'

Me too. I'm going to run for the border.

Larry Klayman, Renew America: "Why aren't we in the streets?"

Meaning the teabaggers. Oh, I don't know, Larry. Maybe it's because the Koch brothers stopped putting up the money to get your band of stupid codgers out there.

Steve McCann, American Thinker: "The United States finds itself at a crossroads, facing a stark reality it can no longer ignore or leave to future generations. We are presently on an irreversible path toward inevitable failure and second-class status"

Yeah, Steve, go tell your old friend Willie Brown. Don't get it? Shame on you.

Bob Owens: "Active shooter: police down gunman after he fires a dozen shots at Occupy Houston...There is no official word on who the shooter is or what his motives may have been, but it sounds suspiciously like an attempted case of “suicide by cop.”

Because a guy who fires on a liberal protest couldn't possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, be a right winger. No, we have no evidence, but he is clearly a crazy guy, not a wingnut. To continue on this theme, here are a couple of comments about this incident from the right wing world:

“The gunman appeared visibly unstable” That is an accurate description of almost all the Occupy spoiled children."

Hang around long enough, show you’re a haven for loons, and you’ll get it—of course, it’ll be someone else who gets killed, not those hoping for this kind of thing."

"The real take from this story IMHO is that this occupy crap has to end, its gone way to far."

Because it's all the Occupy protesters' fault that a right winger shot at them, so they should be banned from expressing their opinions.

Richard Viguere, Renew America: "Ann Coulter is wrong: a real conservative can beat Obama"

Maybe you're right there, Richard. Unfortunately, you guys don't have any "real conservatives," only a pack of corrupt liars who have sold their souls to the rich.

Bruce Whitsitt, American Thinker: "Politics and Pepper Spray...The important thing to remember is that pepper spray is almost universally safe. There are no lasting effects, and it does no permanent physical damage"

Well, I guess it's okay, then. You can torture people all you want, as long as you don't leave any marks. That's a good rule for the police.

Astute Bloggers: "MAYBE IF OBAMA WASN'T PLAYING GOLF HALF THE TIME AND STONED THE OTHER HALF, THEN HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO BECOME A REAL LEADER..."

Maybe if you weren't stoned all the time, you would remember to turn off your caps lock key.

Boo

2011-11-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

Maybe you thought that it was only the leaders of the Republican party who snarled out their supposed love of the military at every occasion, while actually not giving a damn about them in real life. No, it's all of the rest of the lying pack of "patriots" on the right:

"First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden were grand marshals at today’s NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, appearing as part of their charitable campaign to support military veterans and their families.

But their benign, bipartisan cause wasn’t enough to prevent public fallout from the nation’s polarized political climate as they were introduced before the crowd.

ESPN video from the event documented loud boos from some in the stands as the announcer named Obama and Biden, seconds before they delivered the “most famous words in motorsports,” telling drivers to start their engines."

None of these people care in any way about anything but their tax cuts. They don't give a hoot if the whole country is destroyed as long as they don't have to pay their share of the taxes it takes to keep the country going. That is all American conservatism was ever about- that and the manipulation of these people's greed and hatred by the rich to get them to give up more and more in the ludicrous belief that they all will be rich too some day. So instead they willingly destroy their children's lives, rather than face the truth that they are nothing but a bunch of pathetic suckers.

So True As Usual

2011-11-20T18:04:00.001-08:00

Paul Krugman on Newt Gingrich:

'He's a stupid man's idea of what a smart person sounds like.'

Oh, And Then There's This

2011-11-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

From that radical publication, Forbes:

"The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains"

I don't think I need to add anything to that. It pretty much speaks for itself. Please remember this when you hear Republicans endlessly calling for reductions in the capital gains tax rate.

The Beast Approaches

2011-11-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'd like to continue the theme of my last little post with a comment on the government reaction to the Occupy protests. Before beginning, let's be clear- this movement has absolutely no power at the present time, other than its moral righteousness. It poses no threat whatsoever to the people who really control the government. All they would have to do is ignore the protests long enough, and that would be that. In truth, Americans are mostly too complacent, too propagandized, and to be blunt, just too damned lazy to do anything to impede their own destruction.

But even the pathetic threat represented by these demonstrators is too much for the people who want to turn this country into an oligarchy. So, here is where we are today, as described by Robert Hass, the 70 year old former Poet Laureate of the United States, who, along with his wife, was beaten by police at a demonstration he went to observe:

"...the deputies in the cordon surged forward and, using their clubs as battering rams, began to hammer at the bodies of the line of students. It was stunning to see. They swung hard into their chests and bellies. Particularly shocking to me — it must be a generational reaction — was that they assaulted both the young men and the young women with the same indiscriminate force. If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines.

NONE of the police officers invited us to disperse or gave any warning. We couldn’t have dispersed if we’d wanted to because the crowd behind us was pushing forward to see what was going on."

As similar scenes are being enacted across the country, an equally frightening pattern of behavior has begun to emerge:

"Over the past few days we have seen a truly remarkable and even more truly frightening occurrence, one I never thought I’d see in America. Legitimate reporters are not being allowed to cover the news and it’s happening all across our country. In a recent report, Reporters Without Borders raised concerns about the number of incidents in which credentialed reporters have been forcefully and physically prevented from covering police attacks on OWS encampments and the disparity in the legal outcome of their arrest. In part. their report says:

“Sometimes they are arrested and then set free almost immediately. Sometimes they are arrested and, before being released, are charged with unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct or lack of press credentials.

Journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street movement’s protests and marches are not only exposed to police brutality but also to a sort of judicial lottery when detained. The situation varies from state to state, according to local laws, but the freedom to report news and information is being violated almost everywhere, not only for professional journalists but also for bloggers and for activists who want to cover the protests themselves."

And lest we forget why these people are out in the streets, let's remember this:

and this:

As I have been saying for years now, the United States is undergoing a concerted attempt to turn us from a democracy with a thriving middle class into a fascist dictatorship in which (in the end) a few hundred families will own practically all of the wealth in the nation, while the rest of the populace- not the 99%, but the 99.99% will live in abject poverty, forced to accept whatever jobs, whatever pay, whatever freedoms suit the minuscule ruling class. It should be obvious to everyone at this point that this is not the accidental result of clinging to dysfunctional economic theories, but rather the desired end product of a society run by a few people who exist for nothing but to sate their monumental greed.

The violence and evil of the government response to these innocent protests, enacted over and over again all around the country, should make it clear how determined these malignant people are to conquer us all. If the Occupy movement continues for another year or so, we can expect to see scenes that are reminiscent of what we have seen in Egypt, Libya and Syria. It is becoming more unlikely every day that the peoplle of the United States can save themselves from this fate.

America

2011-11-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here it is:

This is the fruit of a nation that accepts torture and aggression against innocent countries. This is the fruit of a nation that has apparently decided that those in control can do nothing that justifies any sort of penalty. And believe me, this fruit is far from ripe. The leaders of the Republican party have, over the last year or so, engaged in a continuous campaign to acclimatize their followers to the notion that anything they choose to do to their enemies is justified, no matter how savage. Now, the nation will pay the price of standing by and doing nothing while the rich raped the planet.

And a little more: Here's a comment on this incident by wingnut mainstay Jim Hoft:

"Sorry Libs… You can quit your squawking and take you leftie-indoctrinated butts back to class. The UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident Was “Standard Police Procedure”

And I'm afraid that Mr. Hoft is right- this is standard police procedure in today's America. Get used to it.

Impunity

2011-11-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

This cheery news, from Yahoo:

"KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The top Roman Catholic official for the Kansas City Diocese agreed on Tuesday to have his actions monitored by prosecutors in order to avoid criminal charges for failing to turn in a priest suspected of creating child pornography.

Bishop Robert Finn, the leader of the 134,000-member diocese, is the highest-ranking Catholic official ever to face U.S. criminal charges in a child sexual abuse case."

Since he is, however, the "highest ranking Catholic official ever to face U.S. criminal charges in a child sexual abuse case," "facing" charges actually means not being charged. So, he joins the Bush torturers and the Wall Street crooks in that august group "too big to fail."

As Glenn Greenwald has lately been pointing out, in the United States, we have more people in prison than anywhere else on earth, and harsher punishments than most anywhere else, too. But, not for the rich and powerful. In today's America, they are free to commit any crime they please, without consequences.

The Most Preposterous Lie of All

2011-11-16T04:42:00.000-08:00

We learn from Media Matters that Sean Hannity on Fox "News" hosted Joseph Farah last night to hold this conversation:

"FARAH: From a journalistic perspective, there's nothing to report about the charges about Herman Cain. And that's the thing I think that everybody's missing.

HANNITY: I said that from day one. I agree with you.

FARAH: Look, there are people out there right now who make far more substantive charges, worse charges about Barack Obama, who claimed to have done all kinds of things with -- you wouldn't report that, Sean, I wouldn't report that, nobody in the media would report it. Why is it that we report this conjecture, this -- these unsubstantiated, uncorroborated charges?"

That would be Joseph Farah, whose website World Net Daily, a perpetual staple here of Wingnut Wrapup, is the number one source of stories about how President Obama was born in Kenya, That would be the same World Net Daily that provides a continuous platform to Jerome Corsi, the creator of the Swift Boat smear. The Same World Net Daily which today features an article that claims President Obama is turning labor unions into his own private SS troops. The same World Net Daily that provides a platform for arch-Muslim hater Pam Geller to spout her racism . The same World Net Daily which today features several articles about Obama's birth certificate, as it has every single day for years now, and which also has the following today:

"North American Union: WND killed it?"

Yes, World Net Daily kept Obama from totally destroying the separate existence of the United States.

"Officials running a federal program that is considering redefining death are going to be seeking further public comment after members of the Christian Medical Association raised alarms about several problems, including what they believe would be an open door to pressure families to donate organs before their loved one has died."

And what is the Christian Medical Association? Well, first of all, it does not seem to have anything to do with real doctors, judging from its website. It seems totally dedicated to indoctrinating medical students, and states:

"our mission is to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ in our relationships with our friends, our community, and the world."

Curiously, there doesn't seem to be anything on their website that indicates that their mission has anything at all to do with healing sick people. Some "medical association." Well, on to a few questions raised at World Net Daily today:

    "Could Obama be removed for violations of the Constitution?
    Could he be removed for still-unresolved issues of constitutional eligibility?
    What about a Democratic Party challenge to his nomination?
    And is there even a way to ensure he doesn't win re-election through voter fraud or third-party gimmickry?"

No comment needed.

"Is this the end of the world?
'Flashpoint 2012' offers analysis from 3 experts"

If you care to pay for it.

"The FDA kills smokers..."The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health." That's what the Food and Drug Administration tells us on its website.

My intuition makes me grateful that the FDA is there to protect me – to make sure that every drug is proven both safe and effective – but "protection" kills people.

What other conclusion can we draw when we consider that the FDA now talks about banning electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes...True, the cigarette substitutes are basically nicotine-delivery devices. But so what?"

So what? Huh? So what if they contain the same poison that cigarettes do? What right does the FDA have to ban them, just because they kill people too? In fact, stopping them from killing people is what ACTUALLY KILLS PEOPLE! If you can't see the sense in that, you aren't a real Conservative.

Joseph Farah- this is who Fox news sees fit to host for a discussion about responsible journalism. Fox News fans: Wake up. They are laughing at you as you do their bidding.

Hell Freezes Over

2011-11-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

Or, Green Eagle defends Herman Cain!

There has been a great deal of hoopla about a video which has been circulating the last couple of days, of Herman Cain answering a question about Libya.

Well, I'm sorry, but I think that, after the first minute or so of this five minute discussion, Cain gives a far more honest and acceptable answer to this question than the focus-group crafted attacks and talking points that are all we would have gotten from any other Republican candidate. Watch if you would like and see if you disagree with me:

I think this is a great example of the unthinking herd behavior of the mainstream press. Now that they have had a taste of Cain's blood, they are determined to fit him into the image of a buffoon. Well, I suspect that he is a buffoon, but you can't prove it with this clip.

The Country's Descent into Madness Continues

2011-11-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

Today, documented by the New York Times:

"Felons Finding It Easy to Get Gun Rights Reinstated...Decades of lobbying by pro-gun groups have loosened laws across the nation, allowing thousands of felons each year to regain their gun rights, often with little or no review.

While previously a small number of felons were able to reclaim their gun rights, the process became commonplace in many states in the late 1980s, after Congress started allowing state laws to dictate these reinstatements — part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by the National Rifle Association."

Brought to you by the Law and Order party. They don't give a damn about anything that doesn't stand in the way of businesses getting whatever they want- in this case, public safety means nothing when it prevents someone from selling a gun. This truly is a kind of madness, and it is going to end very badly.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-11-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

Boy, there hasn't been much news worth paying attention to lately. Anyway, as a substitute for saying anything meaningful, here is the latest load of right wing lies to come to the attention of Green Eagle:

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Twenty Minutes Before SEALs Killed Bin Laden, Obama Was Playing Golf"

Well, not quite:

"According to a new book, however, the President was not nearly that engaged – and was actually playing golf until 20 minutes before the operation began in earnest."

20 minutes before the operation began, not until Bin Laden was killed. These people don't even care enough about the truth to stick with it when their own columns prove them to be liars five or six sentences later. Luckily for them, neither do their readers, so I guess it's all okay.

Moe Lane, Red State: "If this story is accurate, Herman Cain will not win Iowa."

Luckily for Cain, since the story appeared at Red State, he doesn't have much to worry about.

Pajamas Media: "Proper Government Would End ‘Occupy Wall Street’...You read correctly. Spare us any hubbub about the constitutional freedoms of speech, assembly, or association"

And exactly what sort of "proper government" doesn't allow protest? I guess you can figure that out for yourselves. So, spare us any crap about freedom of speech or the Constitution. That's only for "demonstrators" paid for by the Koch brothers.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Oh, Good Grief… #Occupy LA Goons Shut Down Burger King"

Will the threats to our way of life never cease?

Alan Caruba, Renew America: "As a student of history, I recall the hippie movement of the 1960s, the famed Haight-Ashbury refuge in San Francisco, and other places where a disaffected and unhappy youth gathered to "tune out" and listen to speeches about the Vietnam War and other grievances. "

Alan, as I remember it, the phrase was "tune in." A little difference there. Alan is angry that the government doesn't crush the Occupy Wall Street movement, because they are all Communists like Hitler. Honestly, Alan, if I were you, I wouldn't rest my public image on being a "student of history."

World Net Daily EXCLUSIVE: "Look who's behind Occupy Jew-hating"

Who cares what this idiotic article has to say? I just thought you would get a laugh out of the title.

World Net Daily: "Remember Obama's call for a civilian army? Here it is...How America's labor unions serve as ground troops for the radical left"

Yes indeed, unions are nothing but a pack of Storm Troopers, just like the Nazis, waiting for their chance to go out and start killing anyone who gets in their way.

Astute Bloggers: "UH-OH: NYC REAL ESTATE ABOUT TO CRASH: WALL STREET BONUSES TO BE CUT 25%"

Wall Street Bonuses to be cut? Yippee! OWS is working!

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "OCCUPY DEATH CAMPS – Protester Found Dead In Tent"

Which makes Occupy Wall Street just like Auschwitz, apparently. One accidental death- ten million murders- same thing, really, and just goes to prove that the Nazis were really liberals.

Kevin Holtsberry, Red State: "Issue 2 in Ohio has failed... I personally believe there is a simple explanation. Voters like their local cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers. In many ways, they idealize these type of positions even if they don’t like the state of education or public safety, etc. Thus opponents of reform had a very easy and emotionally effective message: Senate Bill 5 is an attack on the “everyday heroes” who protect our communities. It doesn’t really matter if this was true or not."

Well, it never matters to Republicans if something is true or not. But just for your information, Kevin, in this case it was true. People do like teachers and firemen more than greed-crazed oil billionaires. Deal with it.

Lauri B. Regan, American Thinker: "There is something wrong if women do not understand that men are men no matter what their profession. Men like women, and it is usually not because they need a new friend."

Yeah, but not all men try to force women's heads down into their crotch. I bet you never thought of it that way, Lauri. Lauri continues:

"Was he right to use his position to gain female companionship under the false pretext of future employment? No. Was she right to reach out to a superior in the hopes of gaining employment without establishing clear limits? No."

Oh, NOW I understand. It was the woman's responsibility to make it clear to Cain that she wasn't interested in being forced to have sex, before she had her interview. It is totally unreasonable to expect a successful businessman like Herman Cain to understand that there is a difference between a job interview and a cheap date. He is far too busy pondering weighty international issues like how much pepperoni to put on a pizza.

Pam Geller, American Thinker: "History will not be kind to Obama for his siding with evil and brutally aggressive oppression over freedom."

Yeah, yeah, we know, Pam. Like how he sided with the brutal oppression of the people of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, crushing the freedom they had to live under dictators.

Bernie Reeves, American Thinker: "The rumor that J. Edgar Hoover was gay is repeated in the new biopic J. Edgar opening this week. And herein lies a useful lesson worth noting: Hoover's alleged homosexuality was contrived by the KGB in the 1960s."

Contrived by the KGB after they discovered that Hoover liked to wear a dress.

Astute Bloggers: "IF PALIN WERE TO NOW ENDORSE NEWT, IT WOULD BE OVER..."

What would be over? Sanity in government? Any remaining shred of hope for the American people?

Well, here's a person suffering from terminal delusions about Herman Cain:

Erick Erickson, Red State: "I still believe you can win the Republican nomination. I still believe you can beat Barack Obama. I still believe you can be one of the most inspiring Presidents since Ronald Reagan"

Man, I hope there are lots of Republicans who feel the same way. At this point, Moammar Gaddafi has as much chance of moving into the White House as Herman Cain.

Jerome R. Corsi, World Net Daily: "Amid death threats, Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scratching his head over the major media's virtual silence about his decision to investigate Barack Obama's eligibility to run for re-election."

Maybe because "investigating" bogus lies about a President is slightly outside the mandate of a county sheriff. Listen, Joe, they are doing you a favor by ignoring you. How about going back to something more in line with your capacities, like catching jaywalkers?

Smitty, The Other McCain: "Jerry Sandusky Is To Joe Paterno As. . .Eric Holder is to. .

Just to belabor the point here, this post is not equating professional incompetence with being a sex offender"

Yes it is, Smitty. That's exactly what you are doing. Why even bother with the denial? You guys are usually proud of your lies and smears. By the way, even the part about Holder being incompetent is based on nothing. Unlike, say, your guy Alberto Gonzales. Remember him? Now there's incompetent. Didn't bother you too much at the time, though. I don't remember any of you wingnuts comparing him to a child molester, even when he was torturing teenage captives down in Guantanamo.

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "No, Attorney General Eric Holder Still Has Not Apologized For Border Agent's Murder "

You know what? He hasn't apologized for the assassination of Leon Trotsky either. And he had as much to do with that as with some border agent's murder. Katie, whoever the hell she is, has certainly become prolific in the lying pig department lately. Here's another sample:

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Fast and Furious Was Not Botched... in no way was allowing Mexican cartels to get their hands on high powered weapons a "mistake."

Oh no, if we are to believe Katy, the Obama administration deliberately gave weapons to Mexican drug gangs so that they could murder U.S. law enforcement officers. I'm sure we all believe that. But of course, accusing Herman Cain of being a pig based on the evidence of five different women is an outrage.

Jonah Goldberg, Town Hall: "'Right to Riot' Cemented in Campus Culture"

College football fans riot for no discerable reason? It's all the fault of Occupy Wall Street!

Kathy Shaidle, World Net Daily: "'I've never seen anything like what they're doing to Cain"

Born after Bill Clinton left office, were you, Kathy?

World Net Daily: "Russian coffins get makeover...20 years after fall of USSR, more people can afford good life and good death"

Too bad we can't say the same about the U.S. of A. Sort of makes you wonder who really won the cold war, huh?

S.T. Karnick, American Thinker: "Hypocrisy in Media's Penn State Storyline...Instead of a story about sexual predation and a cover-up by government employees"

Yes, indeed, folks- listen up: The Penn State program is really all about the abuses of big government. I'm sure Mr. Karnick's plan to stop such incidents in the future involves tax cuts for the rich.

And now, a high point in Backwards Wingnut Thinking:

Bruce Walker, American Thinker: "The Occupy Wall Street goons, along with the copycats in other cities, expose just how dependent the left is upon a powerful establishment."

Why, who could doubt that? A spontaneous movement that has had virtually no connection with the government or media, and has, in fact attacked them both, is really the exact opposite, while the teabaggers are a genuine popular uprising despite their movement having been almost totally financed by very rich people. You just knew that this post would descend to this before it was done:

"Totalitarians, ultimately, are simply frauds. There is abundant evidence that the Nazis, for example, believed in nothing but nihilistic power, eschewing even Nazism's touted racial theories."

Yup, liberals are Nazis. Not too hard to predict they'd stoop to that line of reasoning, huh?

Mona Charen, Town Hall: "I think I understand why the audience at Wednesday's CNBC debate booed Maria Bartiromo's question to Herman Cain about sexual harassment allegations. They don't believe there is any truth to them."

Of course, they don't believe in evolution or global warming either. They DO, however, believe that Obama is a socialist born in Kenya, and they also believe that Sarah Palin would make a dandy President. So forgive me if I'm being unfair to them, but I don't really give a damn what the hand picked audience at some Republican dog and pony show thinks.

And I guess I don't care what you think either, or I wouldn't torture you with this stuff.

News from Another Planet

2011-11-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Liz Cheney on Face the Nation:

"Barack Obama likes to talk about what he inherited. He inherited a victory in Iraq. He inherited a AAA bond rating."

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean, I take your point."

You've got to laugh. I guess.

Our Court System At Work Again

2011-11-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

I wonder if this story will be covered by the mainstream press:

"NEW ORLEANS (CN) - Ruling in favor of Transocean and BP, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed third-party environmental claims in a giant pleading bundle in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation, saying the fact that the oil flow has stopped makes those lawsuits irrelevant."

In other news, a Federal judge ruled today that O. J. Simpson is not responsible for the murders he committed, since his victims are already dead.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-11-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

If I don't force this garbage on you, it will stay in my computer and rot it from the inside, and soon it will be posting right wing crap all on its own. No, really.

The lead story at Town Hall today: "House Reaffirms 'In God We Trust' as US Motto"

Aren't we so happy that our House of Representatives has, keeping a promise that Republicans made when they took control of it from Democrats, focused like a laser beam on the important things?

Town Hall: "Rice: Mideast Peace Prospects Worsened Under Obama"

Unlike what they did under her boss, George W. Bush.

Thomas W. Sowell, Town Hall: "Democracy Versus Mob Rule...In various cities across the country, mobs of mostly young, mostly incoherent, often noisy and sometimes violent demonstrators are making themselves a major nuisance."

Real democracy, right wing style, consists of billionaires bussing people in to synthetic demonstrations, not real people making a "nuisance" of themselves by expressing an opinion. Americans should have figured that out by now.

Michael Barone, Town Hall: "In Foreign Affairs, Obama Needs Respect, Not Love"

Translation: Blowing the hell out of people works so much better than helping them dispose of dictators. Obama is a wimp because he didn't kill a lot of people in Libya when he had the chance. Michael observes:

"As for Iraq, let's hope that military scholars Frederick and Kimberly Kagan are wrong when they say that the Obama administration's inability to achieve its goal of a U.S. troop presence there has converted what was a limited success into "retreat" and "failure."

The most limited "success" in the history of the world; i.e. a complete, abysmal failure, brought to you by infantile Republicans of the Michael Barone variety. Now, they are going to try to blame this disgrace on Obama. What else did you expect? It's all they have.

Ann Coulter, Town Hall: "I'm spitting mad about this attack on Herman Cain"

Who gives a flying fuck what you are mad about, Ann?

Repair Man Jack: "A Halloween Question: Who Is Afraid of Seven Billion People?"

Brought to you by the same people who gave us "Global Warming- So What?" Maybe Repair Man Jack is excited because he thinks there will be lots more stopped up toilets for him to fix.

Michael Reagan, Town Hall: "No Shame...Ask yourself: If similar accusations were aimed at any liberal candidate would the mainstream media, aside from condemning the charges, give them much publicity? Ask Paula Jones, harassed by the media for daring to accuse President Clinton of sexually abusing her. They smeared her mercilessly."

Maybe that's because Paula Jones was a proven liar who was paid by rich right wingers to say what she did, while Herman Cain paid his accusers to go away and shut up, sort of admitting that something really happened.

Ion Mihai Pacepa, Pajamas Media: "Blame the Predecessor, Not the Ideology: A Historical Leftist Tactic"

Otherwise known as telling the truth. Those evil leftists will stoop to anything.

Monte Kuligowski, Renew America: "Frankly, Qadhafi's death should heighten the GOP's criticism of Obama."

Of course it should! EVERYTHING should heighten the GOP's criticism of Obama. And dont worry- it will.

Well, here's the biggest laugh of the day:

World Net Daily: "Jack Abramoff decries endemic corruption in Washington"

In other news: "Jeffrey Dahmer speaks out for a healthy diet."

Mona Charen, Town Hall: "Moral Abdication...My high school sophomore son was grumbling as he read his world history textbook. He pointed me to this paragraph about the encounter between European and Mesoamerican civilizations."

Well, that's as far as I made it into Mona's article. You know what, Mona? We don't give a God damn what idiotic, meaningless thing you've found to complain about this time. Now, go away.

Oliver North, Town Hall: "Our head of state is now in Cannes, France, at the G-20 summit, gallivanting with elites from the planet's most powerful economies."

"Gallivanting" apparently being Republican speak for "working to save the world's economy from collapse." I can see how they would regard that as a frivolous dalliance, given the way they are dealing with our economy. Notice that Ollie couldn't quite bring himself to use the term "President." I wonder why that might be. Well, at least Obama isn't a drug dealing traitor like you, Ollie.

Pat Buchanan, Town Hall: "Will popular democracy bring down the New World Order?"

Pat, believe me: something has to exist before it can be brought down. Think about it. Maybe you'll figure out what I'm trying to tell you.

Town Hall: "A Year Out, Obama Campaign Already Recruiting Volunteers"

How vile he is. As opposed to his potential Republican opponents, who haven't even begun to think of the Presidential race.

And now, a little citation for Classic Right Wing Lack of Self Awareness:

Erica Johnsen, Town Hall: "Clean Air for Chinese Communist Party Leaders, None for their Peasants...Despicable."

As opposed to, say, our noble Republican leaders, who fight so hard for clean air, right here in the Greatest Country in the Whole World.

Doug Giles, Town Hall: "Meet the 99%: Agitators, Racists and Rapists"

Well, if you want a lie, hire a liar. I can't be bothered to show you the dozens and dozens of wingnut posts making the same sort of claim. Jim Hoft, for example, has given his whole website over to such lies for days now. And I suppose there are people who believe this sort of thing- you know, the same ones that believe Obama is both a Muslim and a Communist.

Kevin McCullough, Town Hall: "GLEE's Gay Garden Goes Too Far...This week's episode is dangerous for family viewing"

Oh sure. You know what, Kevin? If you really think public outrages are put into network TV shows, you need to grow up too.

And here's another Gigantic Scandal that Ain't Goin' Nowhere:

Jack Cashill, World Net Daily: "Obama went to France while in college?...On Thursday, while in Cannes for the G-20 Summit, President Barack Obama casually said the following: "The last time I was in the South of France – or the first time, rather – was as a college student..."

To Obama followers, this comes as news. Its details, in fact, sound like they were pulled from the memory of Bill Ayers"

No lie so grotesque that it's not worth repeating year after year. Don't these people have anything better to do with their time?

Well, let's just finish with the most disgusting right wing comment of the day:

Astute Bloggers: "WOW: AMAZING HUBBLE PHOTO OF BLACK HOLE (NO: NOT MICHELLE OBAMA!)"

There is nothing too low for them.

But It's All A Great Big Liberal Fraud

2011-11-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

And Al Gore is fat.

Just sayin'

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.

The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago."

Nothing to see here. Time to go back to covering the latest Republican "debate."

Angered

2011-11-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

An amusing take on things, courtesy of CNBC:

"European leaders were angered by Papandreou's surprise unilateral announcement on Monday of a referendum on a bailout deal reached with euro zone leaders at a summit last week."

And who could expect anything else from their "leaders" than anger? Submitting major decisions about the fate of your nation to a vote of the people, rather than just doing whatever the bankers want, regardless of the destruction it causes- what a subversive idea.

Luckily for us, no one needs to worry about that sort of Communistic thinking taking hold in this country.

Republicans Finally Uncover Democratic Voter Fraud!

2011-11-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, as detailed by Red State:

"The investigation revealed that Johnson and her husband, Ernest Sinclair Johnson, Jr., approached voters and obtained their agreement to vote, after which the voters were asked to sign an “Absentee Ballot Request Form.” ...In 2010, Florida law required ballots to be sent to a voter’s registered address unless the voter was absent from the county, hospitalized, or temporarily unable to occupy their residence. The Johnsons retrieved the ballots from the third party locations, brought the ballots to the voter, waited for the person to vote, and then returned the ballots to the Supervisor of Elections...Good thing that the FBI doesn’t believe the left’s claim that voter fraud doesn’t exist."

Notice that, in this massive "fraud," there is not one shred of evidence that anyone voted that was not a legally registered voter- not one vote was cast by someone who did not have a legal right to vote. Still, this is a horrible crime that justifies the Republican party in trying to deny the right to vote to millions of Democratic voters.

Apparently democrats helping people cast legal votes is far worse than the decades-long Republican effort to prevent their opponents from voting.

Another Day...

2011-11-02T04:56:00.000-07:00

Another bunch of right wing terrorists for the mainstream media to ignore:

"Four Georgia men who belonged to a “fringe militia group” were arrested by FBI agents on Tuesday and charged with plotting an attack against U.S. citizens and federal employees using the biological toxin ricin.

Authorities say 73-year-old Frederick Thomas of Cleveland; 67-year-old Dan Roberts; 65-year-old Ray H. Adams; and 68-year-old Samuel J. Crump, all of Toccoa, Ga. began meeting in March 2011 as part of a covert group that called itself, well, the “covert group.”

Thomas allegedly said that there “is no way for us, as militiamen, to save this country, to save Georgia, without doing something that’s highly highly illegal. Murder. That’s fucking illegal, but it’s gotta be done,” Thomas allegedly said.

“When it comes time to saving the Constitution, that means some people gotta die,” Thomas allegedly said."

Nothing to see here, really. Nothing at all. Keep hiding under your beds and quaking in fear about the Mooslums who are coming to kill you. And do I need to point out that these guys care exactly zero about "saving the constitution," unless it has a secret part in it about a military dictatorship?

Debates?

2011-10-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I saw a headline that gave me a laugh:

"Rick Perry to Attend Next Five Debates"

When have we ever had to suffer through endless meaningless "debates" like this? These are not debates; they are free commercials designed to give the press an excuse to provide national news coverage to a bunch of clowns that have done absolutely nothing to deserve our attention. And of course, the press plays along, pretending that there is something newsworthy in the sight of a bunch of Republicans spouting the same self-serving lies that they have told for decades, and which have put our country in the condition it is today.

Obama has not been a particularly strong President, but the notion that any of these fools could possibly be a viable alternative to him is just crazy. Yet, the press is going to continue to serve the Republican party and its rich masters by doing everything it can to make ignorant voters think that it would be a really good idea to turn our country back over to them, four years after they destroyed our economy.

It Remains Unclear

2011-10-28T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post reports:

"WASHINGTON -- The family of Gabe Zimmerman, the congressional aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) who was killed in the Tucson shootings in January, sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday urging him to allow a House vote on a stalled resolution that would name a room in the Capitol Visitor Center after Gabe.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), has more than 350 cosponsors and doesn't cost taxpayers anything, save the costs of hanging a sign outside of a room. Still, it hasn't moved since it was filed in July for reasons that remain unclear to just about anyone."

It remains unclear to just about anyone? What kind of idiot could say that? Just for the record, let me state that it is one hundred percent clear that the Republican party is composed of a collection of corrupt, evil pigs that can't allow Democrats even the simple dignity of honoring one of their own who was mowed down by a terrorist, let alone give up the voluntary Republican slavery to the rich long enough to save the country.

I can't be bothered to link to the rest of this nonsense. Who could possibly want to read any more of it?

How to Get a AAA Bond Rating...

2011-10-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

...In one easy lesson, courtesy of Former Dittohead, via Kos:

"Only Countries with Socialized Medicine have AAA Bond ratings.

AAA countries according to Standard & Poor’s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_credit_rating

    Austrailia
    Austria
    Canada
    Denmark
    Finland
    France
    Germany
    Guernsey
    Hong Kong
    Isle of Man
    Liechtenstein
    Luxembourg
    Netherlands
    Norway
    Singapore
    Sweden
    Switzerland
    United Kingdom"

One more outrageous Republican lie- that we can only insure a sound economy by screwing ordinary people- demolished by the facts. Hardly a new phenomenon, but every one of their lies has ten more standing behind it ready to take their turn.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-10-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

Life through the looking glass:

To begin with, the award for the first right winger out of the box with the usual anti-global warming lies, since the Koch-funded Berkeley study revealed the climate scientists to be right all along:

Michael Barone, Town Hall: "Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence"

Well, it turns out that it is the people on Michaels's side that have been lying all along, which is not surprising, because they are all financed by oil companies, but what's a little lying between friends, huh?

Katie Kieffer, Town Hall: "Sex Sells Socialism...When all else fails, sex sells. The only way to sell the American public on socialism is to use sex appeal because socialism does not appeal to reason or justice. And watching handsome high rollers head to prison is no doubt an Occupy Wall Streeter’s notion of ultimate bondage sex appeal."

Not my definition of sex, but there you go. And who is this Katie woman?

"Katie Kieffer is a conservative multimedia personality, writer and public speaker.

Katie graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of St. Thomas. As a college freshman, she wrote an opinion column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. During her sophomore year of college, Katie founded, edited and published a nationally recognized student journal of thought and opinion called the St. Thomas Standard. Katie also developed a comprehensive website for the newspaper so that all of the articles were available online.

Katie has over six years of experience in commercial real estate. Before launching into multimedia, she chaired a National NAIOP Young Professionals Forum of rising stars in commercial real estate and traveled across the country learning about different geographic business climates and development trends."

Quite the resume, huh? Just a hint: When people are still listing in their resume things they did when they were a college freshman, chances are they don't really have the economic credentials of, say, a Nobel Prize winning Princeton economics professor. Oh, by the way, here's Katie's picture:

Of course, it's the left that's obsessed with sex to the point of abandoning their better judgment.

Let's move on to a little of the gracious right wing reaction to the removal of one of the world's worst dictators, by Obama and a NATO coalition:

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has been killed. Now, Sarah Palin is giving credit to presidential candidate Ron Paul..."

Yes, Ron Paul, who was openly against the whole thing from the beginning, and attacked Obama every step of the way. No credit to Obama. Oh no, all of the kudos go to a teabag idiot who did absolutely nothing. To no one's surprise, the Quitter easily takes the award for most offensive denial of credit to Obama.

Raymond Ibrahim, Pajamas Media: "Gaddafi Dead — So What?...Gaddafi, Mubarak, Bin Laden — even Obama — are not causes but symptoms of their societies."

Obama got these guys out, and so it is meaningless. Oh, and by the way, he is just like dictators and terrorists. Yeah, that's the story. Bin Laden, Obama...same thing.

Mona Charen, Town Hall: "Two successful assassinations -- those of al-Awlaki and bin Laden -- have persuaded some that President Obama, whatever his domestic failures, has presided over a successful foreign policy."

Imagine that! The fools!

Cal Thomas, Town Hall: "Forgive me if I don't join the State Department, American officials and world leaders in their euphoric Hallelujah Chorus celebrating the demise of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dropped an additional $11 million on Libya ($135 million since the uprising began), no doubt borrowed from the Chinese since we don't have that kind of money."

$11 MILLION DOLLARS! God, who is this guy, Dr. Evil? We don't have $11 million to remove Gaddafi? You think maybe that might be because you guys wasted $2 trillion going after the wrong guy in Iraq? Huh? What do you think? I'm waiting...

Dennis Prager, Town Hall: "Are Evangelicals or University Professors More Irrational?"

Which do you think, idiot? Dennis continues:

"With regard to those evangelicals who believe that Earth is less than 10,000 years old and that there either were no dinosaurs or that they lived alongside human beings, my reaction has always been: So what? I believe that Earth is many millions of years old...and that dinosaurs preexisted man by millions of years. But what real-life problem is caused by people who believe otherwise?"

What real-life problem? How about eight years of a presidency that destroyed our economy and made us look like fools to the rest of the world?

So, here is the most disgusting right wing blog comment of the day- and don't think that is ever an easy accomplishment:

Astute Bloggers: "Joe Biden has brain issues, including two brain surgeries for aneurysms in 1988. Just a few months ago, he welcomed Representative Gabrielle Giffords to the cracked head club upon to her return to Congress."

The cracked head club. Why don't you assholes shoot a few more of our congressmen, so the cracked head club can get bigger? Now for a little "oh no, it isn't racism:"

Nikki Jackson, Astute Bloggers: "Herman Cain...Magic Negro? ...some Republicans have decided that they need a "magic negro" of their own. After all, what could counteract the uplifting post-racial appeal of the first half-black, half-American president so well as a presidential candidate who is an authentic American black man, with no unsettling questions about his birth, his Social Security number, his college records, his religion and even his name?"

Unsettling questions? I think you meant unsettling lies, Nikki. You need a better editor.

Astute Bloggers: "THIS WAS NO DEMOCRATIC UPRISING; THIS WAS AN AL QAEDA AND IRANIAN LED JIHAD. AND OBAMA AND NATO HELPED. "

Right, guys, it is led by Al Qaida and Iran. Get back to me when you have some "proof" on that one. We all need a good laugh now and then.

Astute Bloggers: "OBAMA RE-ELECT STRATEGY EMERGES IN INDIANA: LIBERTARIAN PARTY CANDIDATES TO SIPHON OFF GOP VOTES...THE SPECIAL ELECTION IN NY26 SHOWED THE DEMS THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN WIN...With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Hochul held a commanding 48 percent to 42 percent lead over Corwin. Tea party candidate Jack Davis received 9 percent."

Yes, a Republican lost an election because a teabagger ran against him. It's all Obama's fault. As usual.

James Lewis, American Thinker: "Captain America Abandons the Entire Middle East"

"Captain America" being Obama, of course, and "Abandons the Entire Middle East" because he was involved in removing three of their worst dictators. Nothing a wingnut loves like a dictator.

Brad Hamilton, New York Post: "Bullets are flying over Broadway -- and everywhere else in the city. The number of people shot surged 154 percent two weeks ago -- to 56 from 22 over the same week last year -- and spiked 28 percent in the last month.The recent gunplay has now pushed the number of shooting victims this year slightly above last year’s tragic tally -- to 1,484 from 1,451 -- through Oct. 16.

Four high-ranking cops point the finger at Occupy Wall Street protesters..."

No comment needed on this idiotic story, which is getting considerable coverage in wingnut world today.

Breitbart.com: "#Occupy Milwaukee protester may have voted illegally in Wisconsin"

A major corruption scandal here. Yes, the crack investigators at Breitbart.com have found one person who may have voted illegally in Wisconsin. Maybe. They weren't able to verify that he actually did vote illegally, but maybe he did. Maybe.

PJ Tatler: "Loser Democrat Sues Because He Lost...Make this man the poster child for everything that is wrong with the party of trial lawyers."

Remember Bush v. Gore, buddy? No? I didn't think so. You guys don't remember much. Except for things that didn't happen, like the Acorn Scandal, the massive Global Warming scientist conspiracy or Obama's Kenyan birth certificate. Those things you never forget.

Bet You Never Heard This

2011-10-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

From the Portland Maine Press Herald:

"PORTLAND — Portland police are looking for the person who threw a chemical bomb at the Occupy Maine encampment in Portland during the early morning hours on Sunday.

Sgt. Glen McGary said police responded around 4 a.m. Sunday to an explosion in Lincoln Park at Congress and Pearl streets"

I checked the first six pages of google hits for "Maine occupy wall street bomb," and there was not a single hit from a mainstream news outlet. Apparently, right wing acts of terror against liberals are not worthy of being reported. You know that if something like this happened as a teabag event, every national news outlet would be screaming about this for days, and there would be nothing else on Fox News and CNN. Instead, when real people not paid for by the Koch brothers get attacked, it's just fine.

A Long Graph

2011-10-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't resist posting this wonderful graph of the results of Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax proposal. It's a little small, so let me tell you that the first four columns are the bottom four quintiles of the American populace, while the column at the far left is the top .1%:

No comment needed.

2011-10-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a little tidbit from a post at American Thinker which amused me:

"Perhaps the most stunning element of the Revolutionary Communist Party's manifesto is the call for black Americans to unite into a separate, autonomous republic in the American South. Wilson cited the Revolutionary Communist Party's constitution, which called upon African-Americans to forge an autonomous region comprising "the southern part of the former imperialist United States of America." That decision would be made by a special vote in which only African-Americans would be eligible to participate. Insane? Yes."

Oh, totally insane. After all, just imagine the absurdity of the thought that White Americans would ever call for the forging of "an autonomous region comprising the southern part of the United States of America." And imagine what an idiot you would have to be to imagine that such a thing would be decided by a vote in which only white Americans would be allowed to participate. The whole thing is so stupid that no one could ever imagine patriotic white people doing that. Thank heaven for the Republican party and its followers for being so alert to the sort of treasonous plot that could only come from the left.

My God, don't these people have a shred of self-awareness or concern about humiliating themselves in public?

What? Global Warming is Real? Who Knew?

2011-10-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

I don't want to devote too much time to this, but for the record, a climate study funded by the Koch brothers made the huge mistake of hiring an honest climate sceptic (apparently, as hard as it is to believe, there was at least one) who discovered that it is all true! Here is a chart comparing his results (referred to on the chart as "Berkeley") to several well-known climate studies that have been the subject of endless derision and accusations of fraud by climate deniers, and all of the other usual right wing fools:

Well, what do you know? The scientists were telling the truth, and it was the people taking money from the oil companies that were lying. Who could have ever predicted that?

I just know that, when I write my next Wingnut Wrapup I'm going to find all sorts of posts apologizing for having trusted a bunch of corporate shills.

Wingnut Wrapup

2011-10-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't resist devoting a large part of today's garbage collection to the wingnuts' analysis of a left-wing movement that has, in one month, and without financial support from the Koch Brothers, spread to over a thousand cities around the world. I want to start with a true milestone in wilful self-delusion:

Pajamas Media: "Bizarre neo-swastika reminiscent of “The Great Dictator” used as power symbol by OWS leaders...El Marco, one of the best citizen photojournalists in the country, this morning published an outstanding photo-essay about the Occupy Denver protests over the weekend, and in it he makes this highly disturbing observation: Note how when the “leaders” put the symbol on their sleeves (as in the first and third photos), it is rotated 45 degrees just like the Nazi swastika was...Don’t these people see an echo of the swastika in their new power symbol?"

Not too familiar with Twitter hash tags, huh, guys? Or are you convinced at this point that the morons who read your blog will believe anything, no matter how stupid? Based on past behavior, it's a good bet.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Busted. Emails Show Liberal Media & Far Left Cranks Conspired With #OWS Protesters to Craft Message"

Hey, the liberals "conspired" to craft their message! The abomination! Crafting messages is a job better left to Newt Gingrich, Frank Luntz and other great American heroes.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Predictable… Obama-Endorsed “Occupy Wall Street” Goons Deface 9-11 Memorial Statue in Zuccotti Park"

Well, not quite "defaced." Someone tied an American flag around the statue's head. I guess displaying the American flag constitutes defacing now. Grasping at straws there, Jim, or what?

Town Hall: "Great: Obama Moves to Exploit "Occupy" Movement's Fury "

Another evil act. The Republican party, to cite a more noble example of politicians, would never attempt to curry favor with the Tea Partiers, or to use them for political advantage.

Katie Pavlich, Town Hall: "Nazi Party Supports Occupy Wall Street...The Nazi Party of America has released a statement in support of Occupy Wall Street"

Well, as usual, not quite. Actually, I couldn't find any mention of the "Nazi Party of America," nor, in over 40 years of following neo-Nazis have I ever heard of such a group. Here's what the American Nazi Party had to say, however:

"THE NATIVES ARE GETTING RESTLESS, AND ZOG FEARS IT MIGHT HAVE A POPULAR UPRISING ON ITS HANDS - finally! After all - JUST WHO - are the WALL STREET BANKERS? The vast majority are JEWS - and the others are SPIRITUAL JEW materialists, who would sell their own mother's gold teeth for a PROFIT. And MORE and MORE people are AWARE of this truth, are not only NOT afraid to TALK ABOUT IT - they're shouting it on WALL STREET! I urgently URGE all of you to TAKE PART and JOIN IN when these protests hit your neck of the woods. Produce some flyers EXPLAINING the "JEW BANKER" influence"

So actually, they weren't so much supporting the demonstrators, as trying to figure out a way to use the protests to push their usual anti-semitism. But no right winger is going to pass up an opportunity to claim that liberals are the real Nazis. Just to continue with what real would-be Nazis think of the protests, here is a statement from the National Socialist American Labor Party:

"The Marxist-Leftist demonstrations on Wall Street over the course of the last month have clearly shown the depths to which our Nation's economic, cultural, and societal standing has fallen...Marxist-Leftists are attempting to use the current economic collapse as a means and way to bring about their doctrine of Cultural and Economic Marxism and all its glory of multiculturalism. Under their utopianism, our civil society will be destroyed, race mixing will be mandatory, Christianity will be repressed and the free market based economic system that fuels our economic system and that is also a basis for a National Socialist economic system will be abolished in favor of a the Communist textbook redistribution of wealth."

Not such a vote of confidence after all, huh? It's so much easier for right wingers to make their points when they studiously avoid the facts.

John Ransom, Town Hall: "Occupy Wall Street is made up of a bunch of European-style nihilists in the purest sense. Their stock-in trade is alienation, Jared Lee Loughner-style."

I see. Jared Lee Loughner, a right wing lunatic sovereign citizen who carried out a murderous attack against a liberal ccongresswoman, is the archetypical leftist. That makes a lot of sense.

Walter Hudson, Pajamas Media: "By definition, a government bailout is the seizure and redistribution of wealth to insulate bad actors from malinvestment. In that way, bailing out Wall Street is fundamentally no different than bailing out student loans (one of the Occupiers’ demands). One cannot be against the bailouts and for socialism, as they are one and the same."

Oh yeah? I can understand how you are unable to see the difference between helping out poor people who are working hard to advance themselves, and thieving the nation's wealth to see to it that the rich who destroyed our economy don't have to pay a penny of the cost- that's just standard right wing thinking. But don't try to tell us what we are allowed to believe. Hopefully, we're past that stage now.

Enough. Now, some miscellaneous trash:

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:Flashback: Gaddafi Says Obama Is a Blessing to Muslim World… “He Is a Friend” It wasan’t that long ago that Muammar Gaddafi heiled Obama as a Muslim and a friend.
Now he’s dead.

Not a mention of Obama's role in driving Gaddafi from power, or George W. Bush taking Gaddafi off of the terror list, and hailing him as a friend in the fight against terrorism.

I bet Gaddafi didn't see Obama as such a friend lately. But Jim is so intent on smearing Obama that he simply ignores reality to make his sick accusations.

Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Hillary Clinton Arrives in Afghanistan to Push Peace With Taliban – After They Firebombed the US Embassy Just Last Month"

Yeah, why isn't she in Britain, negotiating peace with the English? Oh wait, we already have peace with them. That's right, now I remember- negotiating peace is something you do with your enemies. Makes sense when you think about it.

Michael Ledeen, Pajamas Media: "I'm Baffled. What's He Up To? Every time I think I’ve got a grip on this administration, they do something I just can’t deconstruct. "

Like tell the truth about something. I mean, how crazy is that?

Star Parker, Town Hall: "Herman Cain: Rocket Fuel for America"

This kind of rocket fuel, I think:

Jonathan Spyer, Pajamas Media: "Syria Proving the Hollowness of 'Arab Spring'"

Because removing three dictators means nothing, I tell you, if there is still one dictatorship left. You see, right wingers are still entitled to spout their cant, even after it has nearly destroyed the country, and produced nothing but colossal foreign policy disasters. But, liberals have to keep their mouths shut about what they believe until they have ushered in a golden age.

Susan Brown, Town Hall: "The response to president Obama's October 14, 2011 announcement that U.S. military boots were on the ground in Africa to assist in another "overseas contingency" "non-war" operation in Africa is another example of the left's ever-evolving definition of war based upon which political party is in control."

Something which is very evil, I take it. Like, if it would be wrong to overthrow, say, the government of Canada, it was wrong to shoot at the poor soldiers who were only trying to defend Hitler's right to rule the world. Yes, I can certainly see how right wingers would think that. Using the word "think" in a very loose way.

Dianne West, Town Hall: "... if nationalized health care is a demonstrably Bolshevik program, "stimulus spending" is what you might call a genuine Bolshevik plot"

In fact everything to stop the economic collapse of the country is a Bolshevik plot, until everything has collapsed so much in value that the whole nation can be bought by the Koch brothers and a few of their friends. Then, it will be a great idea to have a few trillion more in "bailouts" to corporations.

And finally, this analysis from our friends at News Cottage Two, who we can always count on to help us see where the Republican party is heading:

"JEWS TAKE OVER RIOTERS IN UNITED STATES TO ELIMINATE THE WHITE RACE"

And here's the evidence:

“For many of us, social justice is where we find our Judaism,” said Regina Weiss, the communications director for the Progressive Jewish Alliance & Jewish Funds for Justice. “For many there is no more important way to stand up and express Judaism on the holiest night of the year [Yom Kippur] than to stand with people who are hurting and to stand up for greater equality in the country.”

What a bunch of evil, malignant bastards, huh? Standing up for greater equality- the most contemptible Jewish plot of all.

No End to the Lying

2011-10-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

So Obama is ending the colossal Republican military blunder in Iraq. Here's George Romney's response to this:

"President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women," Romney said in a statement. "The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government."

What victories and how did Obama put them at risk? This entire statement is a malignant smear. That is all the Republicans have, but given the collaboration of the press, it's all they may need.

I Think I'll Just Bum You Out

2011-10-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

with this headline from Daily Kos:

"Half of wage earners made less than $26,400 in 2010"

I don't think I need to say any more, really, although you are free to click the link and read the rest, if you aren't already depressed enough.

If it makes you feel any better, 81 people in the U.S. made more than 50 million. For those who are still wondering who the Republicans' real constituency is, well there they are- all 81 of them. The rest of us can just go to hell as far as they are concerned.

Self-Serving Stupidity

2011-10-20T04:53:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Mitt Romney, from the Republican Presidential "debate" the other day:

"The -- the idea that 49 states can tell Nevada, "We want to give you our nuclear waste," doesn't make a lot of sense. I think the people of Nevada ought to have the final say as to whether they want that...Let -- let the free market work. And on that basis, the places that are geologically safe, according to science, and where the people say the deal's a good one will decide where we put this stuff. That's the right course for America. (APPLAUSE)"

Oh yes, the American people, who can't even understand their own mortgages, and half of whom don't seem to understand that the earth is older than 6,000 years, are going to:

A) read the technical geological reports about the areas concerned, and

B) understand them, and finally

C) fight their way through the propaganda campaigns paid for by the nuclear industry,

to make a sensible decision about issues like this. Definitely, a better approach to decision making than for the Federal government to hire experts in the issues involved to come up with a solution. The people like Romney who propose such solutions are corrupt liars. There is no question about that, and it's about time that the truth be stated bluntly.

P.S. Much of this radioactive waste remains immensely toxic for tens of thousands of years. Do we really want to let decisions about its fate to be decided by people who believe the earth is 6000 years old, and likely to come to an end in our lifetimes?

No Crime Too Low

2011-10-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

From the BBC , another appalling story of the moral bankruptcy of the Catholic Church:

"Spanish society has been shaken by allegations of the theft and trafficking of thousands of babies by nuns, priests and doctors, which started under Franco and continued up to the 1990s.

The scale of the baby trafficking was unknown until this year, when two men - Antonio Barroso and Juan Luis Moreno, childhood friends from a seaside town near Barcelona - discovered that they had been bought from a nun. Their parents weren't their real parents, and their life had been built on a lie.

The pair went to the press and suddenly the story was everywhere. Mothers began to come forward across Spain with disturbingly similar stories."

Lawyers believe that up to 300,000 babies were taken.

The scandal is closely linked to the Catholic Church, which under Franco assumed a prominent role in Spain's social services including hospitals, schools and children's homes.

Nuns and priests compiled waiting lists of would-be adoptive parents, while doctors were said to have lied to mothers about the fate of their children.

A Spanish magazine published photographs of a dead baby kept in a freezer at the San Ramon clinic, supposedly to show mothers that their child had died."

There is, apparently, no depravity too despicable for it to become accepted practice in the Catholic Church. And just like the revelations that the Church is effectively a machine for the manufacture of child sexual abusers, you can bet every penny you own that it will turn out that the hateful crime of stealing babies for profit was standard Church practice in many other places.

Anyone who, after all of this, grants the Catholic Church the right to speak with authority on moral matters is a fool, who is voluntarily making himself complicit to monstrous evil.

Press Set To Screw Democrats as Usual

2011-10-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the most important stories about the coming election that you will ever read. It relates a Pew study of press coverage of the various presidential candidates.

We have all heard, so many times, the Republican lies about the supposed liberal bias of the mainstream press. Well, here is the truth:

As you can see from the above chart, Obama is given favorable coverage in only nine percent of mainstream press stories. This compares to 31% favorable coverage of Palin and Bachmann, and 28% favorable for Herman Cain, all three of whom are ignorant pathological liars who would be disastrous as President of the United States, and who shouldn't be taken seriously by any sane person.

This is what every Democratic Presidential candidate for decades has had to bear, and it is coming again, from a corporate press which is determined to see a Republican back in the White House, despite the near fatal damage caused by the last one. Add this to the billions in corporate money the Republicans have to spend this time around, and it will be a near miracle if American voters are not deluded into electing someone who will, almost assuredly, destroy the economic and social fabric of our country for decades to come.

And let us not forget that every single member of the mainstream press knows perfectly well that Barack Obama, however ineffectual he has proven to be, is an honest and well-meaning man who has dedicated his life to doing the best he can for the American people, while the Republican candidates are, without exception, corrupt, lying demagogues committed to nothing but thievery of our national wealth.

This is a bleak prospect, but it is reality, notwithstanding all of the Republican screaming about the "liberal" press. We may be seeing the end of our founding fathers' dream, destroyed by greed and hatred, and by the ultimate treason from the Republican party, which would rather see a few thousand people have billions than to see this country survive.

Just Kill Them

2011-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

From the New York Times, this solution to immigration from current Republican front-runner Herman Cain:

"Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Saturday that part of his immigration policy would be to build an electrified fence on the country’s border with Mexico that could kill people trying to enter the country illegally.

The remarks, which came at two campaign rallies in Tennessee as part of a barnstorming bus tour across the state, drew loud cheers from crowds of several hundred people at each rally. At the second stop, in Harriman, Tenn., Mr. Cain added that he also would consider using military troops “with real guns and real bullets” on the border to stop illegal immigration."

Entering the United States illegally is a misdemeanor in most cases. Here's a Republican leader openly advocating killing masses of people for committing a misdemeanor, to open cheers from his audience.

You would have to be an idiot not to understand where this sort of thing is taking our country. We are no longer in a contest between two political parties to determine the direction of our nation. The right is succeeding in bringing to life one of their fondest desires: a Manichean struggle between good and evil. Of course, they turned out to be on the evil side, but they won't appreciate the irony in that.

The Dumbest Holiday in the History of the Earth

2011-10-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

And yes, this is real, and not some sick creation by Green Eagle. There is nothing so simple and innocent that "Christians" can't ruin it by trying to suck the energy out of it for their own selfish ends.