Showing posts with label Fox Republican News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fox Republican News. Show all posts

9/19/09

Healy Is Still Fat, Drunk and Stupid



Seriously, Healy, is this really a great way for you to to continue to go through life?
"Let this be a warning to those who think they can roll the American people and get away it. Exhibit A is the quick destruction of ACORN - Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - after several videos showed their members setting up prostitution ring and one member bragging how she shot her husband dead without anyone knowing about it - until she told the tale on tape."
If the pitiful head Connecticut Republican mobile liquor sponge would turn off Glen Beck and the FOX noise for a few minutes he might begin to realize how much of a joke he really is.

I can't do anything about your being fat and drunk, Healy, but here is some Kryptonite for your stupid:
Here’s what ACORN says:
When the actors approached Ms. Kaelke with their provocative costuming and outlandish scenario, she could not take them seriously. So she met their outrageousness with her own personal style of outrageousness. She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios.

“They were not believable”, said Ms. Kaelke of the two actors. “Somewhat entertaining, but they weren’t even good actors. I didn’t know what to make of them. They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me. Like Stephan Colbert does – saying the most outrageous things with a straight face.” While her sense of humor might not be funny to many people, the fact is that she spun false scenario after false scenario and the videographer ate them up.

For example, in response to the set-up by the filmmakers in which they say they are trying get the young woman away from her abusive pimp, she responds that she was abused by her former husband as well (true) and that she shot and killed him (false). He is very much alive and living near Barstow, CA.

However, this is taken as the gospel truth, not just in the film itself, but also by several “news” personalities, indicating that no journalistic standards were applied to making the video or vetting it for broadcast.
And here’s a report from the San Bernadino police department:
An undercover video reportedly filmed in the San Bernardino office for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was recently released on the Internet. The film depicts a worker talking about her past involvement in prostitution and the alleged self- defense killing of her former husband.

The San Bernardino Police Department is investigating the claims made regarding
the homicide. From the initial investigation conducted, the claims do not appear to be factual. Investigators have been in contact with the involved party’s known former husbands, who are alive and well.
Of course when the video popped, righties didn’t apply their b.s.-filters and like when Cheney said Iraq would greet us as liberators, just assumed all was as it appeared.
Yet again... Joke is you.

Healy is, still, clearly "Fat, drunk and stupid"  if he thinks anyone is buying the Republican snake oil he sells.

3/10/09

Will the GOP upChuck on Norris support?

Here we have the GOP's favorite far right wingnut Chucky Norris discussing his wish to destroy America with dreams of a Texas secession where he can reign supreme because he didn't get his way in the last elections with FOX news lunatic, Glen Beck, trying to start a wingnut revolution:

On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas."

That need may be a reality sooner than we think. (...snip...)

How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority according to America's Declaration of Independence, which states:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

When I appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show, he told me that someone had asked him, "Do you really believe that there is going to be trouble in the future?" And he answered, "If this country starts to spiral out of control and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control, before America allows a country to become a totalitarian country (which it would have under I think the Republicans as well in this situation; they were taking us to the same place, just slower), Americans won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up." Then Glenn asked me and his listening audience, "And where's that going to come from?" He answered his own question, "Texas, it's going to come from Texas. Do you agree with that Chuck?" I replied, "Oh yeah!" Definitely.

...snip...

For those losing hope, and others wanting to rekindle the patriotic fires of early America, I encourage you to join Fox News' Glenn Beck, me and millions of people across the country in the live telecast, "We Surround Them,"

Certainly explaining why Chucky was so fond of secessionist Sarah Palin...
When I heard Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was McCain's choice, I knew she was a woman whom Americans could support and trust.
Will Palin renounce him and his lunatic call for secession? This is a woman who has secessionist issues of her own and still has aspirations to be the president. (Maybe president of Alaska?) But you have to remember that her and her families involvement in AKIP is about secession through a vote, not with some call for a violent revolution.

Although, some of her connections to far right wing secessionists are also tied into people with racist/conspiracist whack job extraordinaire Mark Chryson and other crazy militia type ties like "Black Helicopter Steve" Stoll:
During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin's campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory.

Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as "Black Helicopter Steve," to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. "Every time I showed up her door was open," said Chryson. "And that policy continued when she became governor."

...snip...

After intense evangelizing by Chryson and his allies, they claimed Palin as a convert. "When she started taking her job seriously," Chryson said, "the people who put her in as the rubber stamp found out the hard way that she was not going to go their way." In 1994, Sarah Palin attended the AIP's statewide convention. In 1995, her husband, Todd, changed his voter registration to AIP. Except for an interruption of a few months, he would remain registered was an AIP member until 2002, when he changed his registration to undeclared.

...snip...

Clark pointed to Palin's political career as the model of a successful infiltration. "There's a lot of talk of her moving up," Clark said of Palin. "She was a member [of the AIP] when she was mayor of a small town, that was a nonpartisan job. But to get along and to go along she switched to the Republican Party … She is pretty well sympathetic because of her membership."
Much like the loony secessionist Sarah Palin in Alaska, Norris is a crazed wingnut that has always been treated as a mainstream representative of the GOP...
  1. Chuck Norris roundhouses GOP presidential campaign

    Dec 8, 2007 ... Chuck Norris roundhouses. GOP presidential campaign. Surge of national support for Huckabee triggered by WND column endorsement ...
    www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59090 - 38k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  2. Chuck Norris Boosts Huckabee | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 ...

    Chuck and Huck: GOP's Delta Force? Now that the Gipper is gone and Charlton Heston is in his 80s, Chuck Norris has emerged as a dream celebrity 'get' on the ...
    www.newsweek.com/id/73272 - 70k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  3. Chuck Norris (I) - Biography

    A website known as "Chuck Norris Facts" has been created as a parody of his career. ....GOP candidate can be dissected to a point that he is railed for ...
    www.imdb.com/name/nm0001569/bio - 49k -
    Any Cached - Similar pages -
  4. Video results for chuck norris, gop

  5. Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Alaska GOP Touts Chuck Norris's ...

    Oct 7, 2008 ... Brad Haynes reports on the 2008 election. A few facts: Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open. Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one ...
    blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/10/07/alaska-gop-touts-chuck-norriss-endorsement-of-don-young/ - 178k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  6. GOP's Mike Huckabee campaigns with Chuck Norris in Huntsville ...

    GOP's Mike Huckabee campaigns with Chuck Norris in Huntsville S. Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee visits ...
    videos.al.com/birmingham-news/2008/02/gops_mike_huckabee_campaigns_w.html - 38k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  7. Hotline - Chuck Norris' Tears Could Heal GOP Rift; Too Bad He ...

    Jan 13, 2009 ... Chuck Norris' Tears Could Heal GOP Rift; Too Bad He Doesn't Cry. Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Large GOP donors are "having to choose" between Gov ...
    nationaljournal.com/hotline/hl_20090113_4120.php - 32k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  8. CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive ...

    Obvisouly all those cuts in education by the GoP have made a difference over .... Go Chuck Norris…I love finding out whose a republican in Hollywood…there ...
    politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/22/martial-arts-tv-star-picks-presidential-candidate/ - 327k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  9. Chuck Norris Pictures - CNN And YouTube Host GOP Presidential ...

    Actor Chuck Norris sits in the audience during the CNN-YouTube Presidential Debate at the Mahaffey Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts ...
    www.zimbio.com/pictures/aHV7U6TlYFj/CNN+YouTube+Host+GOP+Presidential+Debate/4oP2iirr8Vo/Chuck+Norris - 17k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
  10. Chuck Norris - the GOP's Oprah - The Daily Breeze

    Chuck Norris - the GOP.
    www.dailybreeze.com/ci_7748032 - 49k -
    Cached - Similar pages -
Right now, the FOX news sponsored group "We surround them" has not only exposed, yet again, their true allegiance to Republican rule for ever but, also, the violent underbelly of supporters amongst their viewership willing to fall in line for a war against the USA, with literal calls to arms by some of the most extremist Americans:
The call by some right wing leaders for rebellion and for the military to refuse the commander in chief’s orders is joined by Chuck Norris who claims that thousands of right wing cell groups have organized and are ready for a second American Revolution. (snip) Norris claims that; “Thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation.” The right wing cells will meet during a live telecast, "We Surround Them," on Friday March 13 at 5 p.m.
Which the rest of the lunatic fringe right wing is already quite willing to do:
Norris and Beck are not the only crazies. Watch this video by a group called "Restore the Republic" calling for soldiers and law enforcement to not only to disobey President Obama but to be prepared to arrest and detain federal officials.



The lit match has always been there in the heart of the crazed GOP and these fanatics are trying to lead their allies into a pool of gasoline, dragging the entire USA into the fire with them.

Will the GOP stand by and watch their own side ignite a war on the USA?

Will Huckabee renounce him? John McCain, whom Norris eventually stood beside? How about WorldNetDaily? Will they renounce these calls to violence? Townhall? The Alaskan GOP and Rep. Don Young? Will Ron Paul, a guy he told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was "the only guy he trusts" in politics kick Norris to the curb?

And How about FOX news? Will they fire Glen Beck and renounce these lunatic calls for a treasonous movement to begin their violence against the USA?

I doubt it because these people are just sick. All of them. Hate, lies, violence and tearing down our own government is all they know.

9/15/08

Florida Outlaws an Open and Verifiable Vote Count

On this FOX news report their answer at the end of it is even more technology. But this does not - in any way, shape or form - address the reality of an open and verifiable vote in a recount... As Florida has outlawed hand recounts:



This needs to be challenged in the courts immediately so real recounts - including hand recounts - can and will go ahead as needed. Do any of you doubt that hand recounts will be needed? Why else would they be outlawing them now?

In other Florida news:
The location of a Bush fundraising event in Florida has been changed after event planners realized that the original host is under an IRS investigation. The event was originally scheduled to be at the home of John Boswell, whose Boswell House Ministries is undergoing an IRS probe.

9/10/08

More Bigoted Atrocities at FOX

From The Hill:
Even by the low standards of the Republican News Network, this morning's attack on Rachel Maddow, on the Fox News network, as a "lesbian Air America host" was a despicable new low. Those words, an open appeal to bigotry and hate, said by an alleged media analyst named Tim Graham, were met with laughter and chortles by the Fox News team on air. This is sick and despicable stuff, even for Fox News.

Here is a message to Barack Obama: You need to spend more time fighting back against the lies and smears of a Swift Boat campaign more ugly than the campaign against John Kerry, and less time having sweet-talk meetings with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes followed by professorial discourse with Bill O'Reilly. This is war, Barack, and you had better fight back.

The sickness and dementia of a purported news network airing with smug laughs and happy chortles a naked appeal to hatred and bigotry in this attack on "a lesbian Air America host" is a low that even a Republican cable organization like Fox should never stoop to.
Crooks and Liars has the video up in order to document another in the long line of FOX atrocities. Bear in mind that FOX actually pays this guy to spout these bigoted views. Recently there was a lot of mediocre right wing Traditional Media bashing on the emergence of Keith Olbermann as the MSNBC go-to-guy:
Mr. Olbermann, a 49-year-old former sportscaster, has become the face of the more aggressive MSNBC, and the lightning rod for much of the criticism. His program “Countdown,” now a liberal institution, was created by Mr. Olbermann in 2003 but it found its voice in his gnawing dissent regarding the Bush administration, often in the form of “special comment” segments.

As Mr. Olbermann raised his voice, his ratings rose as well, and he now reaches more than one million viewers a night, a higher television rating than any other show in the troubled 12-year history of the network. As a result, his identity largely defines MSNBC. “They have banked the entirety of the network on Keith Olbermann,” one employee said.
It makes sense given the fact that in the last while KO has regularly pummeled the wingnut at Fox that ran at the same time in the most lucrative demographics. What pisses off the far right wingnuts about KO and, even at times, Chris Matthews? They have a habit of occasionally pointing out the obvious:
On the final night of the Republican convention, after MSNBC televised the party’s video “tribute to the victims of 9/11,” including graphic footage of the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Olbermann abruptly took off his journalistic hat.

“I’m sorry, it’s necessary to say this,” he began. After saying that the video had exploited the memories of the dead, he directly apologized to viewers who were offended. Then, sounding like a network executive, he said it was “probably not appropriate to be shown.”

Get your fear on little GOPeeons...
The desperation suits you well.

Because, unlike KO or Chris Matthews, who are likely nothing more than typical moderate conservatives that lean Democratic in their personal politics, Rachel Maddow is, IMHO, even closer to actually being a full-blown honest-to-God liberal. We know that has you wetting your pants on the spot. That is what the attacks on her are all about.

I watched Rachel's new show last night... And it was good. A few tweaks in time and Rachel Maddow's show could very well surpass all of the other cable news networks shows in ratings because it has been so long since there has been this kind of voice on any of those channels.

The American people are starving for this kind of truth to power editorializing from the failing punditocracy.

And where the Edward R. Murrow award winning - for his work in the aftermath of 911 - Keith Olbermann's ratings successes as MSNBC's flagship show have only scratched the surface of this serious problem, I believe that Rachel Maddow's show will tear a gaping wound open in the fallacy that is force fed like pablum to the brownshirt wingnuts at FOX trying to paint a false picture of Americans being conservative.

American politicians being crammed down the citizens' throats may be more conservative... But American citizens being more liberal than than any of the politicians and most of the TV news available have proven to be fed up with that situation.

The simple fact that Blogosphere is dominated by the left - Yes! COMPLETELY DOMINATED BY THE LEFT as all of the biggest and most popular political Blogs are left leaning.

  1. 1.
  2. 12.
  3. 22.

    Think Progress » Home Page

    Hard hitting progressive political news site


Very few of the right wingnut Blogs even come close to the top left Blogs - which tells you all you need to know about the leanings of American activists, voters and citizens. Hopefully it will not be long before the true voices of the people are dominating the news cycles again.

This may scare the hell out of the far right wingnuts and many in the media, spurring their vicious attacks and fear mongering on even further with their formulaic poison pill of feeding into the scared and bigoted viewers they rely on.

In the end, and as the failed Traditional Media becomes more and more exposed to the viewers - the citizens that the Media are supposed to speak truth to power for - for what they truly are, we can only hope they will change their ways, hope they will stop flacking for corporations and talking point politicians and hope they will stop working against the real interests of Americans or they will continue to slip into the obscurity of failure and irrelevancy that they have epitomized in their spiraling downfall.

I would gladly return to the days of reading the newspapers and watching the news if they were truly representative of the people's interests. I would love nothing more than to return to doing more of my favorite things to do before I had to start Blogging in order to help spread the truth. And while I cannot save the reckless Traditional Media nor their corporate masters from themselves, I can be happy when there is just a little shift away from their past failures... And I will continue to tune in to the shows like Countdown or the new Rachel Maddow show that do try and do this, that do speak the truth to power.

And it will show in their ratings. And that is the bottom line of it all, isn't it?

7/30/08

Bill O'Reilly: Where was his story a year ago?

Let us take a peek at last year, shall we?
Bill O'Reilly Says He Will "Destroy" Daily Kos Today Hotlist
by Hunter
Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 03:28:17 PM EDT


Today, Father Coughlin -- er, sorry, frog in my throat -- Bill O'Reilly is planning another in his ongoing attacks against Daily Kos and YearlyKos. Fox News has apparently been emailing the Democratic campaigns asking them for "comment" on Bill's ongoing Jihad of Jackassery: the following email was sent on to us from one of those Democratic campaigns:

From: Mitchell, Ron [mailto:xxxxxxx@FOXNEWS.COM]
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007
To: xxxxxxx
Subject: Fox News Request

This is Ron Mitchell with Bill O'Reilly at the Fox News Channel.

The O'Reilly Factor plans an update on issues involving DailyKos website the story for Monday.

There are some disturbing images on the DailyKos depicting Sen. Joe Lieberman and others along with some very offensive language. We are asking for statements regarding this issue from each of the Democratic candidates planning to attend the YearlyKos convention.

The image attached is from an active posting. I think that most people would agree that this sort of thing has no place in mainstream political discourse.

So, what was this abominable photoshopped image, the one that was supposed to "bury" Daily Kos by the mere fact that some commenter once put it on the site? Well, here it is, but I warn you, it is very graphic and mean and abominable and it causes puppies to cry, so we don't dare post it.

DailyKos had been so afraid of this fight that they feared posting the shockingly disturbing image... Well? Maybe not.

Front page space ain't cheap at dKos so they only snarkily supplied a space saving link to the hyper-offensive photo. But here at my little brewery not only is front page space cheap but it is also found in plentiful abundance for anyone with access (that would be me!) and has shown a willingness to poke fun at R (Idiots) like bush and Joe neocon Lieberman (that would be me, again!) any chance they can:



Truthfully, this could not really be the BIG O'Reilly story that everyone really wanted to talk about last year, could it? It had to be a minor distraction from the real news of the day, right? Opening Crooks and Liars today (among the many great Blogs I start my day with) was a reminder of the significance of today and, of course, the real reason for last year's bloviating Bill O'.

Happy Falafel Day!
Falafel Day

Line 66.

During the course of O'REILLY's telephone monologue on August 2, 2004, he suggested that Plaintiff ANDREA MACKRIS purchase a vibrator and name it, and that he had one "shaped like a cock with a little battery in it" that a woman had given him. It became apparent that Defendant was masturbating as he spoke. After he climaxed, Defendant O'REILLY said to Plaintiff: "I appreciate the fun phone call. You can have fun tonight. I'll appreciate it. I mean it."

-Atrios 16:10

Falafel Day


Line 37:

When Plaintiff responded that she never engaged in phone sex, Defendant BILL O'REILLY professed disbelief, and told her that the sexual stories he told were all based on his own experiences, such as when he received a massage in a cabana in Bali and the "little short brown woman" asked to see his penis and was "amazed." Defendant BILL O'REILLY then suggested that he tell Plaintiff the same sexual stories, which he knew she would "just love." Shocked and embarrassed, Plaintiff ANDREA MACKRIS informed Defendant in no uncertain terms that she was never experienced in nor interested in gaining experience in telephone sex. Defendant expressed disbelief.

Falafel Day

Line 54.

If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed. And besides, she wouldn't be able to afford the lawyers I can or endure it financially as long as I can. And nobody would believe her, it'd be her word against mine and who are they going to believe? Me or some unstable woman making outrageous accusations. They'd see her as some psycho, someone unstable. Besides, I'd never make the mistake of picking unstable crazy girls like that.


Line 55.

If you cross FOX NEWS CHANNEL, it's not just me, it's [FOX President] Roger Ailes who will go after you. I'm the street guy out front making loud noises about the issues, but Ailes operates behind the scenes, strategizes and makes things happen so that one day BAM! The person gets what's coming to them but never sees it coming. Look at Al Franken, one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me.

-Atrios 16:00

Yes... I think O'Reilly's ranting and raving and foaming at the mouth over a little picture on dKos may have been a distraction from what was really going on in the news that day.

Maybe I should try crossposting this over at dKos just to see if the streetfighter, Bill O'Reilly, and his behind the scenes, strategizing boss destroyed the dKos community after he raked them through the mud?

[update] Just like O'Reilly failed to cover up his sordid phone sex scandal, it appears that he has failed to take down dKos. I wouldn't be a real Blogger if I didn't fact-check these things, would I?

2/21/08

Bill O'Reilly on Lynching Michelle Obama

Via Crooks and Liars, where they have the video up:

Keith Olbermann brings on Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson to discuss the horrific history behind Bill O’Reilly’s casual and callous use of the phrase “lynching party” in reference to Michelle Obama’s quote about being really proud of this country and the implications one may draw from it.

You know what lynching was? Lynching was a horrific practice of murder, torture, dismemberment, burning alive, hanging, and the only purpose of lynching was to perpetuate white supremacy in the Jim Crow south. It wasn’t…the idea of course, wasn’t to lynch all black people, but by lynching a few black people…not a few, by lynching some black people to demonstrate to other African Americans that this could happen to you, that you have no power, that we have all the power, and that we can take anything we want from you, including your life. There’s nothing funny about lynching. There’s certainly nothing at all funny or remotely appropriate about the use of a lynching reference to talk about Michelle Obama. And the word “unless” followed by “we’ll track it down,” is way beyond the pale.


I have written on this subject before, and I agree with Eugene Robinson on this topic, but I also think that it goes beyond just the racial issues:
Is Racism on the Rise in the USA?

I am sadly leaning towards a "yes" considering the reports of things that are going on locally in Connecticut and, via Man Eegee, around the rest of the country:
I'm sure race has nothing to with the recent surge of nooses in the news since we are soooo over bigotry in the U.S.
Police are looking for whoever dangled a 3-foot rope with a small loop at its end from a tree outside a campus cultural center that is home to several black organizations. The incident is being treated as a possible hate crime.

"This is bigger than a noose," Black Student Union President Altmann Pannell told his fellow students, many of whom were wearing "Terps as one" buttons."

"This is bigger than a noose because we as a community know that something else is going on in this country," Pannell said to murmurs of agreement.
linkage
That "something else" is not missed by minority communties, especially when the disparities in justice are blatantly tied to the color of one's skin.

For a year, Jena (pronounced JEEN-uh), a poor mining community of 3,000 people, has been embroiled in racial tensions pitting the black community against white school officials and a white prosecutor. It began last August when a black student asked at an assembly if black students could sit under a tree where white students usually sat. The next day, two nooses hung from the tree.

Black parents were outraged by the symbolism, recalling the mob lynchings of black men. They complained to school officials. District superintendent Roy Breithaupt and the school board gave three-day suspensions to the white students who hung the nooses, overruling the recommendation of then-principal Scott Windham that the students be expelled.

linkage

The case of the Jena Six has been covered extensively by fellow bloggers, such as Hello, Negro with information on how to donate to the defense fund; also My Right Mind! who offers a slew of tips to assist these young teens.

Nooses are more than just complex slip knots in a rope - they are both symbolic and directly representative of torture, murder and racist mob rule.

Man Eegee has some more bad news on this sad reality check...

But before you go there, I want you to think about this:
Lynching is sometimes justified by its supporters as the administration of justice (in a social-moral sense, not in law) without the delays and inefficiencies inherent to the legal system; in this way it echoes the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, which was justified by the claim:

"Terror is nothing other than
prompt, severe, inflexible justice."



What are some of the possible reasons why racism seems to be on the rise in the Good Ol' USA? Hey! It's not like anyone in our government would ever encourage this kind of terrorizing behavior with its own actions and ideologies...

The "traditional" conservative Claes G. Ryn has argued that neoconservatives are "a variety of neo-Jacobins." Ryn maintains that true conservatives deny the existence of a universal political and economic philosophy and model that is suitable for all societies and cultures, and believe that a society's institutions should be adjusted to suit its culture, while Neo-Jacobins

are attached in the end to ahistorical, supranational principles that they believe should supplant the traditions of particular societies. The new Jacobins see themselves as on the side of right and fighting evil and are not prone to respecting or looking for common ground with countries that do not share their democratic preferences. (Ryn 2003: 387)

Further examining the relationship between Neoconservatism and moral rhetoric, Ryn argues that

Neo-Jacobinism regards America as founded on universal principles and assigns to the United States the role of supervising the remaking of the world. Its adherents have the intense dogmatic commitment of true believers and are highly prone to moralistic rhetoric. They demand, among other things, "moral clarity" in dealing with regimes that stand in the way of America's universal purpose. They see themselves as champions of "virtue." (p. 384).

Thus, according to Ryn, neoconservatism is analogous to Bolshevism: in the same way that the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy established ways of life throughout the world to replace them with communism, the neoconservatives want to do the same, only imposing free-market capitalism and American-style liberal democracy instead of socialism.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, had the following to say in a December, 2005 interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel:

"They are not new conservatives. They're Jacobins. Their predecessor is French Revolution leader Maximilien Robespierre."

Sheeple see... Sheeple do...
Or some terrorizing thought like that?

His statement makes Bill O'Reilly both racist and a homegrown terrorist, IMHO. The Jacobins used lynching to terrorize the people during the French revolution, and the neoconservatives/Jacobins do it today.

The prospect of even a symbolic press lynching party is a horrible and disgusting message for O'Reilly to send to Michelle Obama and it is meant to go to the entire African American community in the USA... But it is also part of the "Fear Campaign" meant for the consumption and terrorizing of all Americans and to spill over to the rest of the world.

12/3/07

Fox News Won't Televise It...

So, it must be true:


Via emptywheel, over at her new firedoglake home:

CCR is one of the organizations that will go before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in hopes of restoring Habeas Corpus. At the same time, they're trying to raise awareness of Bush's attacks on our rights with ads like this and a cool campaign to send Bush a copy of the Constitution (what do you get the President who has everything??). But when they went to Fox to buy time for this ad, Fox asked for proof that Bush had shredded the Constitution.

Perhaps it's time to launch a campaign to inundate Fox with your favorite proof that Bush trashed the Constitution. Copies of the Risen-Lichtblau scoop on warrantless wiretapping, pictures of the "free speech zones" at Bush appearances, a copy of the report proving NYC spied on citizens and detained many illegally leading up to the Republican convention in 2004. Anyone else have some good ideas?

9/5/07

NBC Outs Keith Olbermann

And Countdown's ratings soar!

No... This is not your typical republican type outing that you have had to explain to your kids over and over again the last few years. Last Tuesday I passed along a News Corpse story on Keith Olbermann's Sunday night pre-football game broadcast:

A resounding success for Keith Olbermann and the Countdown crew according to News Corpse:
Last night’s broadcast of Countdown on the mothership, NBC, was a major coup for Keith Olbermann and his MSNBC program.



For all the clamoring for attention that goes on amongst the cable news kiddies, they are all fighting for slices of a relatively small pie. The ratings leader, Bill O’Reilly, averages about 2 million viewers a day. The lowest rated network news program (CBS) pulls in over 6 million. So graduating to the network opens millions of doors to a cablecaster.

Olbermann, not surprisingly, benefited from this. The early results show him with 4.1 million viewers. That only earned him a third place finish, behind “60 Minutes” and “America’s Funniest Videos,” but it was good enough to quadruple his average MSNBC audience. What’s more, (and this has to hurt) it is twice what Bill O’Reilly does on an average night.

Lies about Countdown are most assuredly forthcoming from Rupert Murdoch's Republican stooge, O'Liely, any minute now... You can read more at News Corpse about why there is still room for growth in those numbers for KO and Countdown.

This is a good showing for a brand new entry in the time slot. I suspect that the football game shown afterwards may have helped his numbers a little with people tuning in expecting a pre-game show, or just not wanting to miss kick off. I wonder how his numbers compared to the game's numbers?

The key here is to see if he can replicate (or increase) those numbers when he gets slots like that again. Another good measure of how well he did might be if there is a spike, even a little one, on his regular 8 pm (EST) and midnight slots. That might be some of those NBC viewers going out of their way to find his show on MSNBC. I hope that does happen... One of his Special Comments on a prime time network would probably shake a few viewers out of their seats.

This week News Corpse comes back with numbers showing that the NBC broadcast was a resounding success and it showed in Countdown's recent ratings numbers on MSNBC:
On August 26, 2007, Keith Olbermann's Countdown was broadcast on NBC. Despite a scattered schedule wherein the program was delayed or preempted in many markets, it performed respectably, delivering 4.1 million viewers. But what I was waiting for, was to see if there would be any afterglow that reflected on his MSNBC airing. There was:



For the week ending August 31, Countdown averaged 278,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demo. That's a 17% increase over the program average for the 2nd quarter of 2007. It is fair to conclude that this spike was due almost entirely to the promotional value of the NBC broadcast. None of the other programs on MSNBC's schedule enjoyed a comparable bounce. Olbermann's numbers exceeded his 2nd quarter average (230K) as well as his prior week average (242K).
Read more on how these numbers compare to a certain regular nominee for the "Worst Person in the World!" and how this reflects not just on Keith Olbermann and the Countdown crew but, also, on "mainstream progressive news that is factual and compelling."

If you haven't seen Countdown before, here is a clip of Keith Olbermann's most recent Special Comment. These Special Comment editorials have become a fan favorite and hallmark of the show:



"Just over 500 days remain in this Presidency.

Consider the dead who have piled up on the battlefield.... in these last 500 days.

Consider the singular fraudulence of this President's trip to Iraq yesterday, and the singular fraudulence of the selling of The Petraeus Report... in these last 500 days.

Consider how this President has torn away at the fabric of this nation in a manner of which terrorists can only dream... in these last 500 days.

And consider again how this President has spoken to that biographer: that he is "playing for October-November"… the goal in Iraq is "To get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence"… and consider how this revelation contradicts every other rationale he has offered... in these last 500 days.

In the context of all that… now, consider… these next 500 days.

Mr. Bush, our presence in Iraq must end.

Even if it means your resignation.

Even if it means your impeachment.

Even if it means a different Republican to serve out your term.

Even if it means a Democratic Congress -- and those true Patriots among the Republicans -- standing up and denying you another **penny** for Iraq, other than for the safety and the safe conduct home of our troops.

This country cannot run the risk of what you can still do to this country... in the next 500 days…

Not while you, Sir... are playing.

Good night, and good luck."

Partial transcript via Countdown's Blog, The News Hole.

8/28/07

And the Numbers for Sunday's Countdown?

A resounding success for Keith Olbermann and the Countdown crew according to News Corpse:
Last night’s broadcast of Countdown on the mothership, NBC, was a major coup for Keith Olbermann and his MSNBC program.



For all the clamoring for attention that goes on amongst the cable news kiddies, they are all fighting for slices of a relatively small pie. The ratings leader, Bill O’Reilly, averages about 2 million viewers a day. The lowest rated network news program (CBS) pulls in over 6 million. So graduating to the network opens millions of doors to a cablecaster.

Olbermann, not surprisingly, benefited from this. The early results show him with 4.1 million viewers. That only earned him a third place finish, behind “60 Minutes” and “America’s Funniest Videos,” but it was good enough to quadruple his average MSNBC audience. What’s more, (and this has to hurt) it is twice what Bill O’Reilly does on an average night.

Lies about Countdown are most assuredly forthcoming from Rupert Murdoch's Republican stooge, O'Liely, any minute now... You can read more at News Corpse about why there is still room for growth in those numbers for KO and Countdown.

This is a good showing for a brand new entry in the time slot. I suspect that the football game shown afterwards may have helped his numbers a little with people tuning in expecting a pre-game show, or just not wanting to miss kick off. I wonder how his numbers compared to the game's numbers?

The key here is to see if he can replicate (or increase) those numbers when he gets slots like that again. Another good measure of how well he did might be if there is a spike, even a little one, on his regular 8 pm (EST) and midnight slots. That might be some of those NBC viewers going out of their way to find his show on MSNBC. I hope that does happen... One of his Special Comments on a prime time network would probably shake a few viewers out of their seats.

Some of you may have missed it but The NewsHole - Countdown's official Blog - live Blogged the event for shits and giggles and without much pre-show hype about that fact.
"We didn't announce it...and it's not that big a deal, but we're going to do a real-time live blog for tonight's show. For all you folks on the West Coast, tune into Countdown AFTER the game for the big show."
Go on over and give'em all some well wishes and kudos for their efforts and successes. And since many of you are probably interested in knowing... Here are the "Worst person in the world!" winners for the NBC broadcast:

6/28/07

Warning Shot to Rupert Murdoch

According to Poynter Online:

Wall Street Journal reporters across the country chose not to show up to work this morning.

We did so for two reasons.

First, The Wall Street Journal's long tradition of independence, which has been the hallmark of our news coverage for decades, is threatened today. We, along with hundreds of other Dow Jones employees represented by the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, want to demonstrate our conviction that the Journal’s editorial integrity depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence.

Second, by our absence from newsrooms around the country, we are reminding Dow Jones management that the quality of its publications depends on a top-quality professional staff. Dow Jones currently is in contract negotiations with its primary union, seeking severe cutbacks in our health benefits and limits on our pay. It is beyond debate that the professionals who create The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones publications every day deserve a fair contract that rewards their achievements. At a time when Dow Jones is finding the resources to award golden parachutes to 135 top executives, it should not be seeking to eviscerate employees’ health benefits and impose salary adjustments that amount to a pay cut.

We put the reputation of The Wall Street Journal and the needs of its readers first. That's why we will be back at our desks this afternoon, producing the day's news reports. But we hope this demonstration will remind those entrusted with the future of Dow Jones that our publications' integrity must be protected, and sustained, from top to bottom.

I am guessing they are familiar with the Fox brand of "news", and they likely have a pretty decent idea about the inner workings of how Fox "news" is produced.

Last February at News Corpse Blog:

Last Friday, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Rupert Murdoch sat on a panel where he lamented what he described as a “loss of power” due to the ascension of the Internet and other new media. The notion that this captain of one of the most dominant media conglomerates in the world is trembling in the shadow of bloggers is simply absurd. Especially when you consider the fact that his company is also a dominant player on the Internet with an aggressive acquisitiveness that includes MySpace, the world’s largest online social networking site.

But there was a more shocking exchange that took place that ought to have caused more of a stir amongst professional journalists and all freedom loving people. It was an exchange that revealed something that most conscious beings knew, but which I have never seen explicitly articulated.

Murdoch was asked if News Corp. had managed to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq. His answer?

“No, I don’t think so. We tried.” Asked by Rose for further comment, he said: “We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East…but we have been very critical of his execution.”

Let me repeat this: “We Tried!”

Setting aside the nonsense that they had ever been critical of Bush’s adventures in Baghdad, having confessed to being deliberatly deceitful raises some questions. For instance, how can anyone ever again take seriously Fox News or any of Murdoch’s other instruments of bias? How can News Corp. continue to pretend that they are “fair and balanced?” How can any other media company exhibit the slightest expression of respect or patronization? And speaking of other media companies, where are they now? The Chairman and CEO of a media empire that includes the number one rated cable news network, and numerous newspapers around the world, has just admitted that he tried to use that empire to “shape the agenda” in support of a partisan political goal with consequences of life, death, and global destabilization.

This is what you can expect from a Wall Street Journal in the Murdoch "news" empire:

Propaganda


And you can bet that it will be propaganda that will help his businesses and his far right wing radical political views.

6/14/07

The Iraq Blame Game

And in the Iraqi Blame we have today's contestants:

The Pentagon blames al-Maliki:
"In its required quarterly report on security, political and economic developments in Iraq, covering the February-May period, the Pentagon also raised questions about Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to fulfill a pledge made in January to prohibit political interference in security operations and to allow no safe havens for sectarian militias."

Joe neocon Lieberman blames Iran:
"Having fallen for the Iranian plot to gain control over Iraq, Lieberman now seeks to undo the damage by invading Iran. He is apparently unaware of public warnings that key Shiite leaders in Iraq would take up arms again in support of their co-religionists across the border."

Bill O'Liely blames CNN and MSNBC for reporting on Iraq:
"They’re not doing it to inform anybody about anything. The terrorists are going to set off a bomb every day because they know CNN and MSNBC are going to put it on the air. That’s a strategy for the other side. The terrorist side. So I’m taking an argument that CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions."

Tony Snow blames the successful plan in place:
"During his press briefing yesterday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the increasing chaos was a positive sign. The new levels of attacks “fit a pattern that we see throughout the region,” he said, “which is that when you see things moving towards success, or when you see signs of success, that there are acts of violence.”"

The White House blames high expectations:
"A September progress report on the U.S. troop increase in Iraq that President George W. Bush called an important moment for his war strategy is unlikely to be a "pivotal" assessment, officials now say.

Amid unrelenting bloodshed in Iraq and scant signs of progress by the Iraqi government in meeting political benchmarks, the White House sought to temper expectations of a rapid strides resulting from a security crackdown begun at the start of this year."

Bush blames Al Qaeda:
""I join Iraq's leaders in calling on all Iraqis to refrain from acts of vengeance and reject Al-Qaeda's scheme to sow hatred among the Iraqi people and to instead join together in fighting Al-Qaeda as the true enemy of a free and secure Iraq," said Bush, one of several US officials to blame Al-Qaeda."



But nobody, not in the failed bush administration, or the November '06 castrated GOP party, nor any of their few cheerleading supporters that remain, nobody blames the collosal failure of the actual policies that these neocon incompetents have put in place...

Nobody except Jon Stewart:





What a great idea! The idiots are making sure that everyone in Iraq has plenty of weapons to use in the middle of a civil war, while simultaneously adding more American soldiers to the mix for the Iraqi's target practice.

Now... Just who wins in this game? It sure isn't America or US soldiers.

4/25/07

CBC may leave Fox Republican News Channel in the dust


The Hill is reporting that
Spurred by liberal activist groups such as MoveOn.org, the three Democratic presidential frontrunners, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), have withdrawn from the debate, citing what they call Fox News’s conservative bias.

“I do think that the CBC should seriously consider pulling out because Fox almost always chooses the opposite position of our caucus and members are continuously badmouthed on there,” a member of the black caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), said. “That would be my position inside the caucus. However, I in the final analysis would support the caucus’s decision.”

Another caucus member, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), said: “Fox News brings the right-wing side of the news, and there’s no sense in participating in that kind of game-playing.

“We’re very serious about taking the administration in November and I wouldn’t trust getting an accurate and true portrayal of our views on the issues if Fox News is coordinating it,” she said in reference to Democratic hopes of taking back the White House in 2008.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus may raise the issue at a weekly meeting scheduled for today.


Now here is the only reason there may still be some support within the CBC and the CBC Institute to keep the debate date with Fox Repeublican news:

CBC leaders feel some sense of obligation to Fox because it was the only news network that agreed to televise a black caucus-sponsored debate before the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.

CNN is already carrying a CBC Institue sponsored debate, so this time the left has a chance to make a serious statement about about the GOP talking pointy heads' right wingnut "news agency" and the fact that Fox Republican news should be required to register as a major donor to the GOP for the biased and unethical political spin they give to the far right wing GOP agenda.