The dark underbelly of America contains numerous warts, boils, and cancerous tumors, inflicted by that loathsome grimoire of madness that the elected leaders of our nation have become.
Republicans have a LEGACY of DIRTY TRICKS and Criminal behavior going back to Richard Nixon and Water Gate, J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy… (All Republicans)
In the 2000 election, it was REPUBLICANS who did everything possible to elect and install BUSH.. the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. BUSH is also the most Despised President by people all over the world.
It was REPUBLICAN Governor, BUSH’s brother Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris who ultimately handed WORST PRESIDENT EVER BUSH…. the election and Presidency. They accomplished this by throughing out thousands of votes in black neighborhoods in Florida.
Republicans also used legal tactics to stop the vote recount thereby installing BUSH as President in 2000
BUSH was NOT elected by the people by popular vote…. Al Gore actually had more popular votes than Bush.
Prior to BUSH being INSTALLED as president, he was caught on a video BRAGGING how he will win the State of Florida and stated to a reporter ‘YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!” (you can see this in the movie Fahrenheit 9/11) That is because he already knew the votes would be RIGGED by Brother Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.
It was REPUBLICANS who challenged Democratic voters in Ohio in 2004 at polls and used tactics to keep Democratic registered voters from voting to get WORST PRESEDENT EVER BUSH Re-Elected.
Just goes to show how Republicans don’t give a DAM about the will of the American people OR Democracy.
Never in the history of exit poll data has there been there such a discrepantly which showed Kerry was winning and yet when the votes were counted, BUSH won. Phd Professors and Mathematic Scholars has certified that exit poll data has historically been accurate within 3% of the actual votes counted. They have stated that what happened in 2004 was mathematically impossible and the only explanation is that the 2004 election was RIGGED!
Most people are too naive and too trusting of the US Government to believe that a election in the US could be Rigged but that is exactly what happened. Sure there were a lot of people who were STUPID enough to vote for BUSH, but if it weren’t for Republicans and supporters who Rigged the election, PLUS doing everything possible to keep Democratic voters from being able to vote, BUSH would not have been re-elected.
If you don’t believe FRAUD was involved in the 2004 election, click the links below.
For 8 years, Republicans had control of the US Government by controling Congress and the Presidency. I can’t think of ONE good thing they did that helped me and my family and the average Joe. Republican supporters will say, “they kept us safe and prevented attacks”. Well Bush and members of congress did not personally protect us, it was the Military and those who’s job it is to keep us safe and prevent attacks. Those unsung hereos who do a great job of protecting us day in and day out who NEVER get the credit they deserve. BUSH DID NOTHING! He didn’t even get Osama Bin Laden.
Here are some undeniable facts:
Within days of 9.11.2001, BUSH allowed over 100 members of Osama Ben Laden’s family to leave the US without being questioned or interrogated. Click this link to view video from 9/11 Coincidences http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs4eHvD-BrE
Republican President BUSH lied to the American people about Weapons of Mass Destruction being in Iraq and declared war on Iraq when they had NOTHING to do with 9/11.
It was and IS Republicans who are responsible for Thousands of American service men and women losing their lives in Iraq… a war which should have never been waged.
Republican President BUSH is directly responsible for the deaths of at least, 50,000 Iraqi citizens.
It is REPUBLICANS who are responsible for running up the largest national debt in the history of the US of 9 TRILLION Dollars because of their IRRESPONSIBLE, RECKLESS spending and inept Governing.
It is REPUBLICAN Business owners who have taken millions of jobs overseas. thereby putting MILLIONS of Americans out of work.
Republicans say they are for LESS government, yet THEY are responsible for Americans losing many of their rights such as legislation which has made search & seizure and wire taps legal without court orders. Now, thanks to Republicans, anyone can be declared a enemy combatant and put in prison for years without a trial.
My favorite quote in history is by Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775: “Give me Liberty or Give me Death”
Unfortunately much of our liberty has been taken away mostly by Republicans.
When it comes right down to it, REPUBLICANS don’t give a DAM about the American people or this country.
They just want to WIN at all and any costs.
They have proven this to be true by their own actions… such as;
* Having votes thrown out in Black Neighborhoods in Florida, plus using legal tactics to keeps the votes from being re-counted in Florida in the 2000 Election.
* Challenging Voters in Ohio in the 2004 Election..
* Do Anything, Say Anything to WIN Politics…
* Negative Attack Ads Designed to Destroy Their Opponent…
* Spreading Blatant LIES and Character Assassinations..
Click the Play button below and listen to this recording Produced by Republicans and Endorsed by McCain accusing Barack Obama of practically being a Terrorist and associating with Terrorists. As of 10/17/08 automatic Robo callers were calling Millions of Americans with this outrageous message.
More Evidence
This is Proof that… REPUBLICANS ARE THE ONES WHO ARE TERRORISTS by Using Fear Tactics to Try and SCARE Voters Into NOT Voting For Barack Obama. By appealing to people with racists feelings and those who will always hate black people and minorities.
They appeal to IGNORANT people… People who are too stupid to realize the truth and see the big picture.
They appeal the DUMB ASS sideshow freaks like “Joe the Plumber”.
They appeal to GREEDY Corporate America and those who only care about the almighty dollar.
REPUBLICANS are for BIG BUSINESS and CORPORATE AMERICAN. Always have been… and always will be.
Republicans will CHEAT, INTIMIDATE, LIE, STEAL VOTES, USE LEGAL TACTICS to get THEIR candidates elected… as they have in the past.
Most Republican Congressmen are OBSTRUCTIONISTS and their only agenda is to do everything possible to make President Obama FAIL. They are BITTER over losing the 2008 Election. They are a Party of the PAST.
I will NEVER forget or forgive the REPUBLICANS for the DAMAGE they have done to this country!
One week ago, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich described the political outlook of President Barack Obama as “Kenyan anti-colonialism.”
The first thing we can deduce about the comment is that it is obviously derogatory. Putting aside for the moment the confusing anti-colonialism bit at the end, Gingrich is clearly saying that Barack Obama has a “Kenyan”—and therefore un-American—outlook, despite being born, raised, and educated in the United States.
As for the anti-colonialism bit, that’s a bit tougher. Gingrich seems to be equating Obama’s beliefs with those of radical movements that took place in African nations once their citizens were released from the oppressive grasp of European powers. The contemporary outlook on colonialism is that it was a cruel, unjust, and fundamentally racist system of imposing governance. If Gingrich thinks “anti-colonialism” is bad, does that mean he thinks colonialism is good? Does that mean that Gingrich—a man who was the third most powerful elected representative in America during the Clinton years—is racist?
Two days later, Gingrich spoke up again, this time calling Obama a “loud tribesman.” Yeah, he’s racist.
I’m talking about good old Newt because he is the latest in a series of bombastic conservative talking heads preaching—unfortunately quite successfully—about something that genuinely terrifies the hell out me: “reactionism.” You may be unfamiliar with this term, but you are probably familiar with the concept. Charismatic figures such as Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and, of course, Gingrich have tapped a freaked-out and unstable base of conservative Americans, and have united them under the banner of bringing back “the good old days.” You may know them as the Tea Parties, but this is only one affiliation among many that reactionary, conservative Americans associate with.
I want you to be scared of this too. I think every rational person should be scared of an ideology that abhors progress and seeks to restore the “greatness” of a closed chapter in our history. This reactionsim is especially absurd when you realize that the Golden Age that they seek to emulate stretched exactly from the beginning to the end of the Cold War.
Why do they miss fighting the intrinsically evil Soviet heathens? One answer is that it provided them with a clear, undeniable enemy—hating Muslims is a much more tricky business because, well, the vast majority of Muslims are not evil. A second, even more important answer is that this was the last period in American history in which white Americans had unquestionable economic and political dominance in this country and the world. With the election of a half-black President and the clear statistical inevitability of whites becoming a minority in this country, some white Americans now feel confused and helpless, especially when they are losing their jobs.
Their logic, while certainly wrong, can be easily understood. Reactionaries fear that, after centuries of oppression, ethnic minorities will use their newfound electoral and economic power to “punish” white people, a phenomena referred to as “reverse-racism.” How they can see Barack Obama and other black politicians as vindictive and bloodthirsty remains a mystery to me.
Conservatives also miss the Cold War era because it was seen as a triumph of Christian values over the steadfastly secular Soviet Union. In both the 2000 and 2004 elections, we all saw the power of the mobilized Christian Right as they twice elected George W. Bush into office.
What’s changed? First of all, one in five Americans now think that the President is a Muslim, and those sixty million people are mad about it. If I were a Muslim I would be deeply insulted that it should matter if there were a conspiracy theory that the President were a Muslim, but that’s beside the point. There is an overwhelming and false sentiment that Islam is an inherently “violent” religion, and that, my friends, is a slippery slope.
The fight against Islam’s perceived “assault on Christian America” has manifested in many different arenas. Perhaps the most publicized of these arenas is the debate over the proposed Islamic center near the site of Ground Zero. However, this debate is tame when compared to the Qu’ran burning that happened in Florida, as well as Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s highly religious and partisan rally at the Lincoln Memorial to “reclaim the civil rights movement.”
These conservatives are reacting to Islamic radicalism (which they refuse to separate from peaceful Islam) with Christian radicalism. A political movement based on religion is volatile at best, especially when opposition to another religion is at its core. Right now, the angry voices of this movement are getting far more attention than any others, and that’s exactly what is so frightening about this seemingly ludicrous movement.
If you are frightened too, I encourage you not to remain apathetic about political developments in this country. America cannot afford apathetic liberals right now. The Tea Party and other anti-intellectual movements will continue as long as educated, forward-thinking people sit by and dismiss them as an innocuous fad. We need a movement from the left that is loud enough to oppose reactionism and keep this country moving—albeit one inch at a time—in the right direction.
The Republican Party and its allies are using a clear financial advantage to pursue a rare opportunity this year, spreading resources across an unusually large number of races, including many considered safe for Democrats just weeks ago.
The conservative push further endangers Democratic control of the House and Senate in a political environment already highly favorable for the GOP.
The GOP strategy, enabled by millions of dollars raised and distributed by interest groups, has opened up contests weeks before the Nov. 2 midterm elections and forced the Democrats to ratchet up their defensive spending in many districts.
But Nancy Pelosi put t best.
If Democrats can't match them in spending, said Pelosi, the party would tar Republicans by connecting them to corporate cash. "Of course, they all have euphemistic terms, "For Seniors" or "For Prosperity," or whatever it is, but really it's just cover," she said.
"Whenever you get hit with an overwhelming weight, you have to jujitsu it. So we want to turn it against them... I want to tattoo them right on to the Republican candidate," she said, smacking her hand for emphasis. "Big oil, big banks, big health insurance: We're going to tattoo you with that, so it's like doggy-doo stuck on your shoe. Wherever you go, people will know."
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According to Newt Gingrich, the Democratic Party is “the party of food stamps.” Does Newt Gingrich actually know anything about the food stamps program? Probably not. If he did, he would realize that the reddest state in the union, Texas, has more folks on food stamps than any other state. 3.7 million Texans need government assistance to eat. And the number has risen by almost 800,000 since last year---the largest growth in recipients for any state.
So, according to Newt Texas is the most Democratic state!
Does Newt know (or care) that folks living in rural areas are more likely to need government help to put food on their tables? In 2005---before the recession---people who lived in the country were twice as likely to receive food stamps as those living in cities.
So, according to Newt rural America is more Democratic than urban America .
Does Newt know that the elderly as more likely to receive food stamps than younger adults? Does he know that children are also more likely to need Supplemental Nutritional Assistance in order to get the food they need in order to grow? Does Newt realize that the working poor receive more food stamps than folks on welfare?
According to Newt, the Democratic Party is the party of the elderly, children and hard working (but struggling) Americans.
Does Newt know that unemployed Americans who have run out of unemployment benefits are one of the fastest growth groups in the food stamp program? The New York Times reported on this, and being a food stamp expert, I am sure Newt must have read the story.
“I went from making $180,000 to relying on food stamps,” she said. “Without that government program, I wouldn’t be able to feed my children
Newt says that if you are unemployed, the Democratic Party has your back.
Does Newt know that the number of Americans using food stamps steadily rose during the Nixon presidency and the Bush Sr. presidency then declined during the Clinton administration? Does he know that food stamp use rose again during the Bush/Cheney administration? Doesn’t that make the GOP the party of poverty and food stamps?
Since Newt obviously does not know shit about food stamps, maybe he is also unaware of the fact that more white folks live in poverty in this country---and receive aid for the poor, like food stamps---than members of any other racial group. These studies have been around for literally decades.
All of this raises an interesting question. Does Newt know anything? Or is he 100% blind ambition, struggling to become politically relevant again in a country he does not even understand? Maybe Newt should go back to school and let the people who really know what the hell is happening in this country run the government. . . .
Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has released a new political ad in an attempt to downplay her 1999 statements about “dabbling” in witchcraft. On Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” program Ms. O’Donnell stated, “…I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven…One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's a little blood there and stuff like that…" She opens her new ad by saying, “I’m not a witch; I’m nothing you’ve heard, I’m you …” Point of clarification; you are not us, most of us have never “dabbled in witchcraft”.
For Ms. O’Donnell to claim in her ad that she is, “nothing you’ve heard” poses a problem. These statements about her are not based on hearsay. What we’ve heard we’ve heard from Ms. O’Donnell herself. In court her statements about “dabbling in witchcraft” and her date on a “satanic alter” would be admissible as declarations against interest. Statements so prejudicial to the person making them that they would not have made the statement unless they believed the statements were true. Ms. O’Donnell unknowingly went on a date to a satanic alter? Who was she dating Beelzebub?
As part of a debate on stem cell research Ms. O’Donnell told Bill O’Reilly on Nov. 15, 2007, “American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.” According to POLITICO, in a 2006 interview with O’Reilly she stated that condom use is “anti-human” and in 2002 Ms. O’Donnell told Phil Donahue that “condoms will not protect you from AIDS." Now with a twitch of her nose and the blink of an eye our collective minds are supposed to be erased as though we never heard her say such things? Her old black magic has us in a spell…
With a little slight-of-hand and a lot of hocus pocus, House Republicans led by minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) have presented the “Pledge to America”. In it they claim (among other things) that a trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill was signed into law; the economy has declined and our debt has mushroomed with the loss of millions of jobs; and the president is going to raise taxes on roughly half of small business income in America.
Here are some facts that Boehner and other republicans would like to make disappear: according to Fact Check.org the CBO’s most recent estimate the stimulus spending will fall short of the $1 trillion claimed by the Republicans, even if it is spread over 10 years. The CBO puts the price tag at around $814 billion. Over the past three years the economy has lost nearly 8.4 million jobs but according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 4.4 million of those jobs were lost during the Bush administration. The economy has regained 723,000 jobs since President Obama has been in the Oval Office.
In terms of the president raising taxes on small businesses, again, according to Fact Check.org, “This is an exaggeration. Republicans are equating "net positive business income" reported on individual returns with "small business income," which isn’t correct. They rely on a report from the nonpartisan staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (p. 12), which estimated that about 3 percent of taxpayers who have any business income on their personal returns would see a tax increase under Obama’s proposal, and that those 750,000 taxpayers account for about half of all the business income reported. The JCT stated quite clearly that "These figures for net positive business income do not imply that all of the income is from entities that might be considered ’small.”
For as much as conservatives continue to slam “Obama Care” the reality is that as of September 23rd, families can receive free check-ups with their doctor, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage when someone gets sick, and young adults can stay on their parents' insurance plans until they are 26 years old. Parents being able to keep their young adult children on their insurance plan is very important as the unemployment rate among recent college graduates has more than doubled over the past year to 4.3 percent.
When you add an “eye of newt” to this hocus pocus, conservatives like Newt Gingrich are using lies and distortions to play upon the fears of American people. Recently in an interview with National Review's Robert Costa former House speaker Newt Gingrich said, "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? ...This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president." Again, not so subtle code language playing to the fear of President Obama's Kenyan heritage and to the unfounded rhetoric of the "birther" movement. Actually, anti-colonial behavior is a good thing if you are a victim of colonialism. Gingrich’s reactionary politics are not practical but tactical.
As we move closer to the end of October and All Hallows Eve, Americans should not fall victim to the scare tactics, black magic, slight of hand, and hocus pocus of the Republican Party. The truth is the light. Those running for office should be held accountable for what they say. If American voters focus on the truth they will be able to see their way through these difficult times and work together towards a better day.
This election is not about Obama, Pelosi or Reid. They will do just fine no matter who runs the country. This election is not about more power for the Democratic Party. As one of only two viable parties in the richest nation on earth, the Democrats will always be flush with cash and power, on the state and local level if not in Washington.
This election is for Felicia, whose parents brought her to this country when she was nine months old. She did not ask to be an “illegal alien”. But her parents were offered jobs at a chicken plucking factory that did not want to hire citizens or legal immigrants, since that would mean overtime pay and OSHA inspections. Felicia was always a bright kid, and she worked hard in school. She graduated at the top of her class. Now, she attends a state college. She has to pay out of state tuition and she does not qualify for a grant (even though her family has paid sales, income and property taxes for 20 years). Somehow, her family managed to scrape together the money. She will graduate next year, and she has already been accepted to medical school, where she plans to study in order to become a rural family doctor. Too bad for Felicia that the Republicans view her as an “anchor” for a couple of aging lower wage earning chicken pluckers. Her hopes of medical school---and some small town’s dream of having its own doctor---will be dashed when she is deported, days after graduating magna cum laude---
This election is for Felicia---and the residents of a small town that will never get a doctor.
This election is for our firefighters. The Republican Party thinks that firemen are paid too much. And they think that local governments should get out of the public safety business and let private corporations take over. There is a lot of money to be made protecting a handful of wealthy people who live in well designed homes with smoke detectors and sprinklers. The right wing thinks that people who do not have enough money to pay their medical bills should not have fire protection either. If they have their way, fire fighters all across the country will be ordered to stand by and do nothing as the homes of “non deserving” Americans burn to the ground. I expect a lot of firemen will quit their jobs, in frustration and disgust---
This election is for the firefighters---and for the homeowners who will watch their life’s investment go up in flames.
This election is for Mary. Her kidneys are weak. With proper medical care, she could save them. However, the insurers will not write her an individual policy---pre-existing condition---and she is self employed, one of those “small businessmen” the Republicans are always going on about. The GOP is promising to repeal the health reform legislation that would allow her to get insurance by withholding necessary funding. Unable to see a doctor to get tests and medication, Mary’s kidney problem will get worse and worse---until she ends up on dialysis, at tax payers’ expense. She will have to close her business, which will put four more people on the unemployment rolls.
This election is for Mary—and for the families of her employees, who will be plunged into poverty.
This election is for Raymond, who is wasting away. Medical marijuana would let him keep down food, which would help him battle his health problems. But the Republicans have no intention of legalizing one of the most effective medications known to man. Their buddies who run the private prisons would much rather house a non violent offender---at tax payers’ expense---than real criminals.
This election is for Raymond---and for the families that will be broken to keep the for profit American prison system flush.
This election is for Terrance. He always dreamed of being a marine. After grueling training, he finally got his wish. He has fought for America in some of the most dangerous places on earth. But next year, some one will tell his CO that he was seen in a local restaurant with his male lover. This will be construed as “telling”, and he will be kicked out of the service, at a time when his country needs all the fighters it can get.
This election is for Terrance---and his country.
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Every national election cycle here in the US, the terrorists seem to be more active. Somehow they become more threatening and usually Osama Bin Laden (long bin dead) joins in on the threats.
This obviously pumps up the fear factor and encourages Americans to vote for pro-war candidates.
Facing a barrage of ad spending from conservative-friendly third party groups, Democrats are upping their attacks on the outside influence that threatens to drown out their messaging ahead of November's midterm elections.
Several House Democrats are demanding some of those outside ads get pulled from the airways and one senior Democratic senator wants an investigation into whether such groups are violating federal tax law.
On Wednesday, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, penned a letter to the IRS asking it to look into whether outside groups organized as 501-c4's, 5s and 6s are in compliance with the federal tax code.
Groups like American Crossroads GPS, Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Job Security, all of which have spent millions on ads in 2010, are among the targets.
At issue is whether the nonprofit groups, named for the sections of the tax code that govern them, are primarily engaged in political activity. In order to keep their donors anonymous and hold their tax-exempt status, the group's primary purpose cannot be political, according to federal law.
Still, the groups have poured millions into some of 2010's top Senate and House races, leading Baucus to question whether they're operating within the tax code.
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee.
He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards.
He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee.
His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work properly and effectively as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers
medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance and now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes
is clean because some tree-hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay,
medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.
Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't
want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills.
Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FDCI because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at
his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to
dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.
He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electric until
some liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (REA)
(Those STUPID rural Republicans would STILL be sitting in the dark)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to. After his visit with dad
he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host keeps bellowing that liberals are bad and conservatives are good, but what he doesn’t tell Joe I that his beloved republicunts have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.
Joe agrees,
"We don't need those biggovernment liberals ruining our lives; after all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have
WASHINGTON — The few remaining Republican centrists in the Senate were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Michael N. Castle of Delaware, a longtime and reliable moderate voice who could provide some counterbalance to the wave of conservatives poised to enter Congress and the steadily rightward shift of party leaders.
But Mr. Castle was defeated in his party primary on Tuesday by Christine O’Donnell, a Tea Party insurgent. And while the conservative wing rejoiced, the surprise outcome raised serious questions about the future place in the party of lawmakers like Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and other Republicans in the Senate and House who are not lock-step conservatives.
Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who has seen his stature rise through his support of conservative candidates, made it clear in the aftermath of the Delaware upset that he would prefer losing a seat to Democrats than having Republican colleagues who stray from the conservative line and erode party unity and image by voting for policies supported by the Obama administration.
The ascendancy of the right is forcing even some of the most loyal Republicans, like Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the No. 3 Senate Republican, to defend their conservative bona fides. And it seems to be dashing the hopes among moderates that the prospect of winning a majority in the House, and a pursuit of independent voters, would push Republican leaders to the middle.
In what he calls an "educational video" that's widely circulated on YouTube, comedian Chris Rock offers advice on what to do when you get pulled over for a traffic violation.
"Obey the law" he says. "Stop immediately" and "stay in your car with your hands on the wheel." Finally, "if your woman is mad at you, leave her at home. There's nothing she'd like to see more than you getting your ass kicked."
It's a dead-on spoof of a hard truth: Respect authority. If you don't, you increase the odds of a pricey ticket.
"Everything in that video is absolutely true," said Sgt. Matthew Koep of the South Plainfield, N.J., Police Department. "It's funny, but it's accurate."
Citizens who are generally law-abiding are likely to come into contact with the police only under two circumstances: If you're a crime victim or you get pulled over for a traffic violation.
Police officers are not out to make your life miserable, but to make sure you're following the rules of the road and not endangering yourself or those around you.
With a few exceptions, and an egregious traffic violation is top among them, cops aren't mandated to write tickets. Most would rather send you on your way with a friendly warning -- that can save you time and money.
But handle the situation with an aggressive or arrogant attitude and you can expect to squeeze an expensive court date into your busy schedule.
Play Nice
First rule: don't argue.
"I get this all the time," said Karen Rittorno, a nine-year veteran with the Chicago Police Department. "'What are you stopping me for? I didn't do nothing.' If they try to take charge of the traffic stop, they're not going to get out of it without a ticket," she said. "We ask the questions, not them."
Accept that the police have caught you doing something that's against the law, such as speeding or gliding through a stop sign.
"All we do is react to what people do when you pull them over," said Dennis Fanning, a homicide detective and veteran officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. "We don't instigate the stuff, but we will react to you. The situation will escalate or de-escalate depending on how that person reacts."
To argue with cops is akin to calling them idiots. Don't do that. "That's implying that I pulled you over for no reason and that bothers me," Koep said.
Keep It Honest
Don't lie, either. Cops are trained to note the human characteristics of lying, including twitching and looking to the left, and they know the right questions to ask to suss out the truth.
Fanning estimates that nine out of 10 people lie to him. "It's an attack on our intelligence," he said.
Moreover, the truth can set you free. Koep recalled an incident when he pulled a young guy over for speeding.
"He looks straight at me and says, 'You know, officer, I wasn't even paying attention. I just had the best date of my life. I just met my future bride. I'm just on cloud nine right now.'
"The guy was completely serious," Koep said. "How are you going to write that guy up after that? Who makes that kind of stuff up?"
Of course, don't use pejoratives when addressing the police, unless you're eager for a ticket. But other words may backfire, too. Rittorno works in a crime-ridden section of Chicago where the majority of people she pulls over for traffic violations don't have licenses or insurance, she said.
"So I get a lot of, 'I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean it, sweetheart,'" she said. "I hate being called 'baby' or 'sweetheart.' I'm 'officer' to you.''
The police don't like being talked over, either. "Be polite," said Chicago Officer Mike Thomas. "You have your rights as a citizen, too, but it doesn't do you any good to talk while he's talking."
Cops know that people are nervous when they get pulled over, and they expect a certain amount of jumpiness when they approach a car. Rittorno even admitted she's intimidated in the same situation. "I'm the police and I get scared if I get pulled over," she said.
But did you know they're on edge, too? You know who they are, but they don't know whether you're a good guy or a bad guy. "The only thing on his mind when he approaches you is safety," Thomas said. "You know you don't have a gun in your lap, but the officer doesn't know it."
Rittorno, for one, said she assumes everyone has a gun. "I'm always on 10," she said, referring to her high level of vigilance. "I take it down depending on their demeanor or what I see."
Stay Calm
When those headlights go on, it's best to pull the car to the right, stay in the car, turn the interior lights on if it's dark and put your hands on the steering wheel.
Don't make any quick movements, and don't turn to grab your purse or put your hands in your pocket or under your seat to retrieve your license -- until the officer instructs you to. Then, do it slowly.
Don't move to open the glove box either, until directed. And do that slowly, too. Let the police shine a light inside the box before you reach in. Many criminals hide guns in glove boxes.
"What's going to cause the situation to get worse is for the fear factor to rise in that officer," Koep said. "The officer is more likely to cut you a break as long as you can reduce that fear. …If you're friendly with me, not arguing or denying what happened, that lowers the fear factor and will make me a lot more cooperative with you."
Don't boast about who you know, either. That can infuriate cops. They consider it a veiled threat to their livelihoods. Fortunately, most municipalities have laws in place to insure that an officer is not fired or reprimanded for ticketing, say, the mayor's daughter.
Finally, never try to buy off a cop. "In those instances where they've offered me a bribe," Fanning said. "I loved making those arrests."
In Jamie Court's new book, "The Progressive's Guide to Raising Hell," Court recounts ways in which citizens have reclaimed direct democracy as citizen activist. This guide takes the fight from closed doors and halls of power in Washington and brings it home to states and communities.
"Don't Hope - Get mad and do something!
Change is no simple matter in American politics-a fact that Americans have recently learned well.
Elections rarely produce the change they promise. After the vote, power vacuums fill with familiar values, if not faces. Promises give way to fiscal realities, hope succumbs to pragmatism, and ambition concedes to inertia. The old tricks of interest groups - confuse, diffuse, scare - prevail over the better angels of American nature.
Watch Brave New Films' Video about Court's new book:
Seems these days Conservatives have convinced themselves, and some of the American public, that being a Liberal is akin to being a card-carrying member of the Communist Party. While this may be a great smear tactic for an election year, to believe such a notion proves that the believer is uneducated in the fundamentals of the American political system. Our nation was founded on Liberalism. Embodied in the Declaration of Independence are its three tenets: "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The very term, itself, is taken from the same root as the second of these precepts. To be a Liberal is to defend the freedom - the Liberty - of all people who make up our great nation. To be a Liberal is to trust individuals and families to run their own lives as they see fit. To be a Liberal is to create a nation where anyone can excel if they are willing to do the work.
In order to understand the true nature of Liberalism, and to dispel the misconceptions fomented by those whose agenda is counter to our freedom, I will detail the tenets of Liberal thought and dispel the misconceptions so often put forth by Conservative rhetoric.
Liberalism is "Life." It is freedom from physical dangers that can kill or disable us. The Liberal believes it is a nation's job to protect its citizens from physical harm, whether from external sources, such as hostile nations, or internal ones, like crime, disease, or hunger. Without the solid ground of physical wellbeing, our nation and its citizens cannot enjoy the benefits of being free. Liberals believe in a strong military, well suited to defend the nation. Liberals believe in good laws, hard-working police, and a just legal system to protect its citizens from crime. Liberals believe in affordable health care for everyone, to keep our people strong. And Liberals believe in the availability of food and shelter for its needy, not as a hand out but as a reasonable step in moving all Americans toward self-reliance and the freedom that comes with it.
Liberalism is "Liberty." It is the freedom to do as your conscience dictates without impeding another's rights. Fleeing oppression in mother Europe, our founders established a nation where personal belief and self-determination are protected, not persecuted, where hard work is rewarded, not demanded, and where each person is bestowed with the ability to better his or her life because of citizenship, not class. Liberals believe in freedom of speech to protect us from political oppression. Liberals believe in sound regulations to protect us from economic oppression. Liberals believe in just laws to protect us from social oppression. And Liberals believe in quality education to protect us from the oppression of ignorance.
Liberalism is "The Pursuit of Happiness." It is the freedom to create an environment where the individual can excel. What is freedom if it cannot be used to better our lives? A truly free society must be one where its members can rise above their limitations and expand their futures. We call it "The American Dream," and it's alive and well in the heart of the Liberal. Liberals believe in equal opportunities for all to rise above our means. Liberals believe in equal opportunities to rise above our education levels. Liberals believe in equal opportunities to rise above our social status. And Liberals believe each and every family should have an equal opportunity to make this world better for their children.
Based on these tenets, we can see that Liberalism is not the monster it's made out to be by the opposition. It is pro individual and pro family. It is pro community and pro country. Liberalism is, by its very definition, the heart and soul of what it means to be an American. It stands against tyranny of any kind, whether international or domestic. It works to remove abuse and fight crime. And it strives to eliminate the idea of a wasted life by not wasting resources and opportunities.
By this time someone might ask, "if that is a Liberal, then what is a Conservative?"
Liberals and Conservatives received their names for good reasons. Just as Liberals get their label by standing for Liberty, Conservatives get their label from the desire to "conserve" a style of living.
They, too, claim they are fighting to conserve our personal rights and our economic opportunities, but they do it with a different ideal than the Liberal. The term they use for the difference is "values." Values are norms or codes by which people live their lives. While most Americans share some common values, such as the right to own property and the right to protect our families, we also have many divergent values with which we raise our children. So if we try to impose values into the political framework of the nation, we are forced to ask, "whose values?" And in the search for such absolutes, we must also ask, "which generation's values?"
As the nation ages and new generations take over leadership, the values of its population change. Where once a woman was valued for how well she cooked, cleaned and entertained, today's women are gaining recognition that they offer as much, if not more, to the work force than men. Where once African Americans were forced to live as second-class citizens, now they have a legal status equal to that of whites, even if we still have a ways to go in actual practice.
Changing values brings confusing times for many - especially for those who believe that America was better with an older set of values. These people want to "conserve" a style of American living they believe once existed, what they call, "traditional family values." They want to conserve the system that they believe made America wealthy and strong. Unfortunately that also means they want to force all of us to live according to their values.
Conservatives don't really fight for our rights - they fight for what they think our rights should be - putting limits on our freedom of speech in order to "conserve" an older, more traditional norm of what should be said. Conservatives don't really fight for our family values - they fight for what they believe our family values should be - putting limits on our behavior, even behavior between consenting adults, in order to "conserve" an older, more traditional view of acceptable personal activity. Conservatives don't really fight for our income - they fight for little or no regulations - putting limits on our ability to be treated fairly by large companies, who if left without restriction, can form monopolies that choke out competition and drive down wages.
Conservatives are willing to curb our freedom of speech if it clashes with their interpretation of "traditional" values, values from an older time where woman were in domestic servitude to men, where child abuse, sexual abuse, wife abuse, and homosexuality were all kept locked in closets, where minorities were second-class citizens and discrimination was free from incrimination, and where the inability to plan a family's growth meant an explosion of mouths to feed - a population explosion that today threatens to bankrupt our nation's retirement funds. The Conservative position, therefore, is inherently contradictory. You cannot be for legislating away freedom in the name of "family values" and also claim you are protecting individual and family rights.
As new generations have placed their own values into the laws that govern our land, Conservatives have sought to fight back by limiting the size and power of the government. Conservatives are willing to give away the very power needed to protect our liberties in the work place. Their idea of a smaller, less-intrusive government means a return to the days where business decisions and profits were more important than clean air and clean water, where a business could abuse its employees without incrimination, and where minorities and women could be passed over for jobs or paid less then white males for the same jobs. Again the Conservative position is at odds with itself. You cannot claim you are fighting for families at the same time that you allow the family bread winner to be overworked and underpaid and allow neighborhoods to be overrun by non-regulated big business. The Conservative would effectively shift power away from the people, who can elect public officials to fight for their rights, and into the hands of private businesses, who need not answer to the public when making decisions that affect us all.
Because Liberals fight to protect every citizen from having other people's values imposed on them, Conservatives like to label Liberals as being evil. The following list shows what Conservatives like to say against Liberals, and then goes on to show why such assertions are false:
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-family.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-business.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-religion.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-freedom.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-morality.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Conservatives say that Liberals are anti-military.
However . . .
Whereas . . .
Liberalism's Stance on Specific Issues
With the desire to promote Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness as the central motivation, the Liberal always defends these tenets when deciding how to stand on a particular issue. The following will show why Liberals often take the stance they do:
Abortion/Contraception - Liberty means the freedom to control your body, your reproductive system, and your future.
Affirmative Action - Liberty means having fair opportunities for those in society who are discriminated against.
Education - Liberty means the freedom to learn in order to build a better future for yourself, your family, your community, and your country.
Environment - Liberty means the fair use of our nation's natural resources for all citizens. Where possible, without unreasonable restriction to private enterprise, the government should strive to protect our natural environment so all can enjoy its bounty.
Gun Control - Liberty means the freedom to protect yourself, your family, and your property, with deadly force if necessary. People have a right to keep guns for such a purpose. People also have a right to use guns in sporting activities and in the event that citizens should be called on to form a citizen militia. We do not, however, have a right to own all the latest people-killing technology. The People, through the government, can restrict some of the more deadly weapons being sold today.
Health - Liberty means the freedom to overcome physical limitations in order to better yourself, your family, your community, and your country.
Regulations - Liberty means the freedom to live and work in an environment that best allows individuals and families to grow in the pursuit of happiness. Bad air, bad water, bad living and working conditions only stifle that liberty.
Sexuality - Liberty means the freedom to share mutual intimate affection with the person of your choice, regardless of gender.
Substance Abuse - Liberty means the freedom to decide what you put in your body. Unless the use of a substance is a danger to unwilling victims, its use should be kept legal. In situations where use of a substance may or may not effect bystanders, regulations - such as in the case with tobacco - should be enacted to protect the bystander without denying the individual's choice to use the substance. Smoking and non-smoking areas in public places are a prime example of this.
Taxation - Liberty is found within a system. That system does not happen by itself. It is created and supported by us, the People, and it is funded by our labors. The money we pay in taxes is what allows us to thrive in Liberty and work in fairness. Reasonable taxation is necessary because without it, many of us would find it difficult to get paid even a fraction of what we are paid now. And those who benefit more from the system should expect to pay more to help support it.
Women's/Minority Rights - Liberty means the freedom to be valued and judged on talent and work, not on the physical characteristics over which we have no control.
In closing let me state that freedom sometimes brings situations we don't like. Some people will choose to use their freedom to engage in activities that go against our personal values. It is a great temptation to use our democratic rights to try and enshrine our own personal values - whether they come from religious or humanistic origins - in the laws of the nation. The inherent problem with this is that when Liberty is restrained by any one group's values, even if that group represents the majority of the population at the time, it can easily be changed from one generation to the next, meaning that you could be forced to live under someone else's values as easily as you might force someone to live under yours.
The only true defense of our values is the defense of our liberties.
If you don't want to be forced to live under a foreign set of values, don't force others to live under yours. Instead, fight for the freedom to believe as you want while others believe as they want. Freedom of choice, as long as it does not infringe on another's rights, is the foundation upon which this nation was built. Liberalism is the ideology that strives to defend that freedom for everyone. And for that reason it pleases me to no end to state that I am proud to be Liberal.
In 1928, the newly legalized National Socialist German Worker’s Party, aka the Nazi Party won just 2.6% of the vote, which netted them 12 seats (out of 491) in the German Parliament. In 1930, thanks to the Depression, massive unemployment and business failures, Hitler’s party got 18.3% of the vote and become the second major party in the Reichstag. By 1932, the ongoing economic crisis combined with corporate money, Hitler’s eloquent speeches, the boogeyman of Communism and a fear of domestic political violence (often inflicted by Nazi Party members themselves) propelled the National Socialist Party to first place. Illegal political party to dominant political party in four short years---
Could not happen here, right? We do not have the necessary ingredients, like a depression with high unemployment and business failures driving people to despair and desperation…
Oh, wait, we do. Well, there is no corporate money behind the far right, and we all know that you can not win an election in this country without lots and lots of money, the kind that you can only get nowadays from billionaires…
Like the oil industry’s Koch brothers and Wall Street. Ok, but the far right has no one with the charisma of Adolph Hitler, no one that speaks to the ordinary, undereducated, underpaid, disgruntled American worker…
No, that’s not right. The right is cultivating a whole garden of little Hitlers, folks like Palin and Beck and Limbaugh. Good thing there is no boogeyman like the communist party to make people give up their civil liberties…
Oh, I forgot about Muslims, the new Red (Crescent) Scare. We have given up almost all the marbles for them. Never mind, one thing we absolutely do not have in this land of law and order is a problem with political violence, right wing fanatics intimidating the weak or threatening the lives of our elected leaders, so that ordinary citizens forget about compassion and turn to anyone who will promise law and order….
It is very old recipe, handed down from generation to generation of corporate fascists in this country, the very same ones who financed Hitler.
Wall Street was an early U.S. investor in German fascism. Wall Street has done more than anyone else to engineer this recession and keep it going by destroying our retirement accounts, stealing our homes and shutting down small business, which creates a disproportionate share of US jobs. Wall Street does not care what happens to this country ten years from now. Wall Street wants to turn a quick cash profit and retire to some island paradise. That’s why they are called banksters
Big Oil is also working against a deadline. Their product will run out soon. Before that happens, the world will switch fuels. That means the Saudis and Exxon and Henry Kissinger and the Koch brothers will be out of a job. Before that happens, they plan to squeeze every last dollar they can from us, even if it means a Road Warrior style future in which the world falls into chaos when the oil runs out. The Rockefellers’ Standard Oil was in on the action in 1932 Germany, and Big Oil is one of the big players in the right wing coup. We all know how Oil and Energy price gouged the country for eight years under Bush and how they created two foreign wars which have drained federal coffers and how their artifically high oil prices crippled a variety of domestic industries, like manufacturing, retail sales and travel, leading to a further loss of U.S. jobs. Like Wall Street, Big Oil is multinational. After they have drained the last drop of our life’s blood and gnawed on our bones, they will retire to Dubai along with Dick Cheney.
It is going to take more than a vote to save this country. It is going to take political contributions, volunteer efforts, letters to the press and Congress. Democracy takes a lot of work by a lot of people. That is why it is called democracy.
I never heard this before but I was listening to an NPR broadcast from the morning of September 11, 2001 and something popped out at me that I don't quite know what to make of it.
The hosts were discussing the towers going down and the Pentagon strike when they started discussing other breaking news of the day. The story of Iraq shooting down two unmanned American spy planes.
This is the first I've ever heard of this. Supposedly it happened on September 10th.
Whatever happened to this story? Or for that matter, what happened to the story of the Rumsfeld Pentagon "mis placing" $2.3 TRILLION
Seems that the events of 9/11 distracted us (deservedly so) from these news stories.
Sat Sep 11th 2010, 07:07 AM
Something stinks in Houston.
On Aug. 27, all of the Democratic stronghold’s 10,000 voting machine were destroyed in a fire which is described as probably arson. Houston is the (huge) home city of Mayor Bill White who is giving Gov. Rick “Goodhair” Perry a run for his money this year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/us/polit...
Polls show that Perry and White are in a tight race. A Zogby poll from Sept 8 shows incumbent Perry leading White by only 3 points.
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/arc...
That may be why Perry is up to his usual election year tricks. Recall that in 2006, the Teamsters, who supported Perry, declared a bus strike inside the city of Fort Worth, Texas a couple of days before the election. While other cities in Texas had huge turnouts on election day, Fort Worth’s voting that day was relatively slow----probably because the Democratic voters who relied on the city bus system to get to the polls had no transportation. The strike ended abruptly without any gains for employees immediately after the election.
If you pay attention to Texas news, you also know that Perry’s chief of staff Mike Toomey was caught trying to get a Green candidate on this fall’s ballot, presumably to either siphon off Democratic votes or (more likely) to allow election officials to shift some votes from White to the Green. The e-voting system in Texas is notorious for its inaccuracy.
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/arc...
In another story, the Rick Perry campaign was paying the salary of a staffer, Stuart Moss at the same time he was getting Green candidates in the Texas ballot.
http://www.oaoa.com/articles/texas-50656-a...
Back to the integrity of Texas elections. Just how bad is e-voting in Texas? Check this out:
http://texaspopulists.org/book/export/html...
In 2009, state Democrats managed to derail plans for a Poll Tax in their state. By “poll tax” I refer, of course, to a strict voter ID law, of the kind that was ruled illegal in Georgia. Republicans vow to try again next year.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/14/22...
Despite not having a poll tax, it looks like Perry will have an easy election, now that voters in White’s own city of Houston will have to scramble for election machines. Shades of Ohio, 2004.
SAVAGE: Now is it any wonder why people have no respect anymore for this? I mean, really? What is the average life of a fireman today? Nine AM: Work out on the weights in the firehouse. Eleven AM: Perfect your low-fat cooking skill. One PM: Respond to a false alarm. Three PM: Take a nap. Five o'clock: It's pau hana beer time.
And then, there are far too many firehouses. There are far too many firehouses throughout America. They need to be amalgamated into single units that respond to an entirely large area. This is all part of the union-legislature complex.
Addressing his September 4 comments, in which he called the National Organization for Women, the "National Organization of Ugly Women," Mark Levin said: "I just wanted to underscore that maybe I shouldn't have called them the National Organization of Ugly Women. For now on, it's the National Organization of Really Ugly Women
3. The Right Wing Hates Black folks : Rush Limbaugh
Obama wouldn’t have been voted president if he weren’t black. Somebody asked me over the weekend why does somebody earn a lot of money have a lot of money, because she’s black. It was Oprah. No, it can’t be. Yes, it is. There’s a lot of guilt out there, show we’re not racists, we’ll make this person wealthy and big and famous and so forth…. If Obama weren’t black he’d be a tour guide in Honolulu or he’d be teaching Saul Alinsky constitutional law or lecturing on it in Chicago.
4. The Right Wing Hates Jewish people : Sean Hannity
Gibbs: Let me ask you a question. Are you anti-Semitic?
Hannity: Not at all.
Gibbs: On your show on Sunday, the show that's named after you, right? The center piece of that show was a guy named Andy Martin.
Hannity: I know you're reading your talking points.
When I interviewed Al Sharpton, when I interviewed all these controversial figures, you see on FOX we actually interview people of all points of view whether we agree or disagree.
Gibbs: Andy Martin called a judge a crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to....Martin when on to write that he understood better why the Holocaust took place given that Jew survivors are acting like a wolf pack...
Hannity:I find those comments despicable...
Gibbs: You put him on your show. It's the Hannity Show
5. The Right Wing Hates Victims of Katrina and 9/11 : Glenn Beck
But the second thought I had when I saw these people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims. These guys -- you know it's really sad. We're not hearing anything about Mississippi. We're not hearing anything about Alabama. We're hearing about the victims in New Orleans. This is a 90,000-square-mile disaster site, New Orleans is 181 square miles. A hundred and -- 0.2 percent of the disaster area is New Orleans! And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in New Orleans. Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags -- and again, it's not all the people in New Orleans. Most of the people in New Orleans got out! It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention. It's exactly like the 9-11 victims' families. There's about 10 of them that are spoiling it for everybody.
6. The Right Wing Hates Matthew Shephard : Laura Schlessinger
"You know what was largely responsible for that guy’s death? Those two guys who killed him did not go out looking for a homosexual to kill that night. They were shooting pool. He went to the bar. He left with two guys he thought he was gonna have sex with. He got murdered. How many women has that happened to? How many women have left bars thinking they were gonna get some action with some guy who raped and murdered and tortured and murdered them? Far more women than homosexual men have ended up dead that way, I would guess. Is that a hate crime against women? I think so but they specifically picked the woman who was willing to leave for sex. If Matthew hadn’t been willing to leave for sex, he might still be alive. That certainly doesn’t make him responsible for his own death but when you put yourself into a situation of going off to have anonymous sex with people you meet at a bar, what kind of person is gonna leave with you? Usually scum.... This was a terrible tragedy but it’s also one that might have been avoided if he had simply gone home with his friends instead of thinking he was gonna get a little."
7. The Right Wing Hates The US Constitution (and loves the Interment of Japanese-Americans in WWII): Michelle Malkin
"The politically correct myth of American 'concentration camps' has become enshrined as incontrovertible wisdom in the gullible press, postmodern academia, the cash-hungry grievance industry, and liberal Hollywood. This hijacking of history is endangering us today"(p. xx).
"Make no mistake: I am not advocating rounding up all Arabs or Muslims and tossing them into camps, but when we are under attack, 'racial profiling' -- or more precisely, threat profiling -- is justified. It is unfortunate that well-intentioned Arabs and Muslims might be burdened because of terrorists who share their race, nationality or religion. But any inconvenience, no matter how bothersome or offensive, is preferable to being incinerated at your office desk by a flaming hijacked plane" (p. xxx).
"Civil rights absolutists and ethnic lobbyists waged an intimidating campaign for reparations and redress on behalf of ethnic Japanese evacuees. In 1988, relying on the biased conclusion of a stacked federal panel that the World War II evacuation and relocation were based on 'race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership,' President Reagan issued a formal apology… The most damaging legacy of this apologia and compensation package has been its impact on national security efforts. The ethnic grievance industry and civil liberties Chicken Littles wield the reparations law like a bludgeon over the War on Terror debate"
A conservative talk radio station in San Diego has a pressing question to ask its listeners: Should "practicing Muslims" be "registered" on a national database during a time of war?
KFMB 760 AM, the San Diego home of such right-wing on-air personalities as Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, reportedly asked the question on its Web site Wednesday, according to Ben Dimiero at MediaMatters.
"During a time of war, should we register as many practicing Muslims as we can find in a national database?" the poll asked.
8. The Right Wing Hates Teachers : Sarah Palin
Watch Sarah Palin grimace and roll her eyes when she learns that she is talking to a teacher.
9. The Ring Wing Hates Fairness : Charles Krauthammer
Obama is a leveler. He has come to narrow the divide between rich and poor. For him the ultimate social value is fairness. Imposing it upon the American social order is his mission.
<...>
If Obama has his way, the change that is coming is a new America: “fair,” leveled and social democratic.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, indicated that he supported holding hearings on whether the 14th Amendment citizenship right should be abolished.
The campaign to abolish the citizenship clause has been accompanied by an accelerating xenophobic campaign against immigrants and their children. “People come here to have babies,” Lindsey Graham declared on National Public Radio. “They come here to drop a child—it’s called drop and leave. To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to an emergency room, have a child and that child is automatically an American citizen.”
John Cornyn appeared on CBS to say, “The question is, if both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?” Here the birth of a child is treated as a criminal act, with both the parents and the child to be punished for the offense
“Obama Voted for and McCain Voted Against $360 Million for Armored Vehicles for Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005, Obama voted for and McCain voted against providing $360.8 million for armored tactical wheeled vehicles for units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and $5 million to establish ballistics engineering research centers at two major research institutions. The measure against which McCain voted also required such centers to advance knowledge and application of ballistics materials and procedures to improve the safety of land-based military vehicles
snip
McCain voted against providing an additional $322 million for troop equipment and body armor
Snip
McCain also has numerous votes against increased funding for veterans’ health care.
Asked for a "final thought" on the president's speech last night, conservative columnist George Will chose to focus on the fact that Obama was able to wrap his arms around another man, in friendship. "I don't know when men started to hug each other, but hug they do, and look at that," he said.
If the scariest thing in the world to the Right Wing is two men hugging, I shudder to think what the Right Wing Coup has planned for the America and the World.
"The U.S. Declaration of Independence, which founded our nation and at the same time rationalized its existence, is one of the most radical documents in the history of the world. I mean that in a good way, as I believe that it is a great concise blueprint for an ideal nation. Though in some ways our nation has progressed since 1776 towards fulfilling the promises of its founding document, in other ways it has regressed. At this point in history the promise is very far from fulfilled. More Americans need to understand that, because problems can’t be solved until their existence is recognized and understood."
The American economy has been devastated by the criminal activity of the bush administration.
The American people are hurting BAD as a result.
Millions displaced
The bush administration committed criminal acts, and there is ZERO justification for this administration to allow this treasonous act to go unpunished.
Our international peace treaties are rendered meaningless. The crimes in America are going unpunished.
Yes, the bush administration is a bunch of criminal traitors who committed the ultimate treasonous act of committing our troops into war and murder and death based on LIES.
But, the Obama administration has allowed this treason to be sanctioned.
Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty.
Liberals ended segregation.
Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Liberals created Medicare.
Liberals passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
What did the ignorant conservatives do?
They opposed them on every one of those things.
Every damn one!
So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.