Remember this outrage?

Back from Sunday Apr 19, 2009


DHS issued a report suggesting some right wing groups may get violent?

How did the GOP react?









What do we do now?


And they keep talking....

Take a listen to this interview

And....


And now they're calling for an Armed March on Washington!

Not just the "Party of No"

So in this video here... John McCain is campaigning for reelection to the Senate. He brings in Sarah Palin to energize his base. I suppose it does. There are some protesters who get pushed around and ejected from the event.

What caught my attention is the parting clip from McCain himself...

McCain: "We're not the party of No like Sarah said, we're the party of Hell NO!"

He then leads them in a chant.



I suppose running against something can be politically expedient at times but it seems very short sighted to me.

Elect me, I'll say Hell No!

Pat Robertson - “Dude, STFU.”

Cross-posted in it's entirety from The Baltimore Sun - In Good Faith: A blog for news and discussion on matters of faith

January 14, 2010
Guest post: A message for Pat Robertson

The Rev. Jason Poling is pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

It’s been said that if you give an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters an infinite amount of time they will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. Then again, this scenario may explain the genesis of the blogosphere.

There’s a basic principle to keeping blogs healthy: Don’t feed the trolls. Every blog has them, the people who delight in vituperative attacks on others (known as “flaming”), obnoxiously long screeds, and monopolizing the virtual conversation. But if you engage the actual content of his remarks, you will find yourself sucked into a black hole of back-and-forth posts involving bad logic, worse grammar and endless frustration. It’s a lot like arguing with a four-year-old: the minute you start, you’ve lost, because in doing so you have effectively declared that a rational adult ought to seriously debate the merits of sleeping under all of the blankets in the closet sorted first by color then by texture.

But there is a remedy: the universal shorthand “Dude, STFU” which translates to “Kindly be quiet.” This treatment, which only works if applied sparingly, essentially declares: “What you are saying makes absolutely no sense. Nothing good will come of discussing it with you. You’re annoying everyone on this blog. So cut it out.” Such an approach steadfastly and resolutely refuses to reason with the unreasonable, to join a battle of wits with the unarmed, to punch the tar baby.

Much the same principle applies to the outlying voices in our media landscape. There may have been some gaps in my seminary education, for I cannot begin to fathom how I might evaluate Pat Robertson’s claim that the entire nation of Haiti in the course of its battle for independence made a pact with the devil. What would be the text of such a pact? Would everyone in the nation need to agree to it? Every adult? A majority, or perhaps a super-majority? Would it need to be signed in blood? The mind boggles.

In much the same way, I have difficulty finding handles with which I might begin to grapple with other ideas promoted by Robertson: that Hurricane Katrina constituted an exercise of God’s wrath against New Orleans for its wickedness, or that 9/11 happened when God withdrew his protection from America when some obscure ACLU lawsuit was filed somewhere that morning and he decided he had simply had enough.

But I think maybe I’m not supposed to. That would be a relief, because I have absolutely no interest in feeding this troll. I don’t want to begin to engage his statements because I do not want to effectively declare that a rational adult ought to seriously debate whether a particular nation’s misfortunes derive from a binding contract with the Prince of Darkness executed over 200 years ago. I certainly do not want to engage these ideas when that nation’s capital lies in ruins with tens of thousands of its citizens, if not more, lying dead in the wake of a massive earthquake.

No, all I really want to say to Pat Robertson is, “Dude, STFU.”

Global Con-spir-a-cy

So I don't have the time right now to talk about the War for Your Mind contained in the Right's talking points.

But I thought this guy clearly explains the 'hoax' of Global Climate Change that's recently been 'uncovered' by some emails.



About him: "I've been a journalist for 20 years, 14 years as a science correspondent. My degree is in geology, but while working for a science magazine and several science programs I had to tackle a number of different fields, from quantum physics to microbiology."

Captain Obvious Strikes again - in the War for your Mind this time

I normally don't get hysterical watching the news but Rep. Peter King (Republican representing Long Island) was quoted saying the most remarkable thing...

Following the attempted bombing of the Delta airlines flight into Detroit there has been a lot of chatter about the need to profile Muslims. He is clear to point out that the majority of Muslims are good people and then spews this line:

"One hundred percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims"

Really? You mean there is a link between Islam and Muslims? Whoever thinks that Members of Congress are elected because of their superior intellect are sadly mistaken.

Honestly, I almost spit my coffee out I was laughing so hard.

(You can watch the clip that include King's remarks here. His Captain Obvious statement comes in at the 1:25 mark.)

Side note: I liked it when the former CIA analyst took on profiling by saying: "Look, I think when people make an argument for racial profiling they’re either lazy, they’re either arrogant, or frankly they’re racist."

As we move into the War on your Mind section of the post, please take a moment to watch this clip where talking heads are talking about profiling.

Perhaps there can be an intelligent conversation about profiling... Right? Do we need to pull a 78 year old Mexican grandmother out of line to question her? Even if we wanted to engage in the debate listen again as to how the question was framed....

"Are the political correctness police putting our safety at risk?"

(at the 3:00 mark just before the break)
(and then again at the 3:15 mark just after returning from the break)

"Is political correctness jeopardizing our security in the sky?"

(Sidebar: Note the use of fear. It's like those teasers for the 11:00 news. "Can the common household cleaners you have in your home right now, KILL YOUR CHILDREN? Tune in at 11 to find out". Seriously - if there is something serious enough to kill my children you should tell us now.)

OK - back to the War for your Mind. What's happening here?

Any real debate on the merits of profiling need to happen within a different context. Is it feasible to pull out all Muslims? First off, how do you tell if someone is a Muslim? You can't. Ideology isn't seen. But let's put this aside and put down the fear mongering.

Is this 'Political Correctness' that is preventing us from doing this? No. Are there 'Political Correctness police'? No.

In our great nation we have laws that govern our land and protect people from unreasonable search and seizure (it's in the Constitution, look it up). So it is our Constitution and our laws that say we can't stop and search someone without a reasonable cause. Not political correctness.

But when the argument is framed as political correctness, people think that it's just silly, naive liberals who want to create a 'magical Utopia'. Right? The reason that the terrorist was almost able to kill all those people is simply because of some 'political correctness'. That is, we were somehow afraid of offending his (or others) sensibilities so he was let on the plane.

Within the American culture it is widely held that the political correct movement has come from the Left. So this links the Left with preventing America from protecting itself. And why? As we see here, it's framed again in terms of political correctness - of 'offending someone':

When Professor Fair (of Peace Studies) says "One-third of the world's population is Muslim. Trying to treat every single Muslim as a terrorist is simply untenable, it's fearmongering" she presents a cogent argument suggesting that trying to lump billions of people into a group for extra screening isn't a practical or realistic solution.

Gallagher responds: "Who are you afraid of offending Christine? Al Qaeda? " (5:15 mark).

So again, this isn't about coming up with realistic solutions to these problems, it's about framing a political group as being 'weak' when it comes to defending America. And why do we say they are weak? Because they are afraid to 'offend' people. Gallagher's remark pulls the debate to the extreme. Can we realistically profile that many people? (a reasonable question) answered with : 'of course, the only thing that is stopping us is that YOU ARE AFRAID OF OFFENDING Al QAEDA'.

I'd say it's a bizare leap of logic, but the logic behind it isn't resting in the merits of the debate, it rests in how the debate is perceived.

Several times you hear Professor Fair state "I'm not opposed to profiling", but that is flatly ignored. Why? Because having someone from the Left say that there could be reasonable profiling, but it's complicated, doesn't fit with the image that they are trying to produce.

In the War on your Mind, this conversation is trying to convince you that because the Left doesn't buy into simplistic, unrealistic solutions, they are weak. From the way the question was asked, there was no real debate.

What if the moderator asked, "Is our Constitution up to the task of protecting us or should we cut back on the Rights it affords to us?" You think the conversation would play out differently?

There is a War for your Mind.

Oh baby..... Waddle like that!

No Illegal Immigrants!!!

Punk'd

From his speech:
It's no secret that with an invasion of immigrants comes waves of crime. We see them involved in massive theft, in murder, and bringing diseases like smallpox, which is responsible for the death of millions of Americans. These aren't new problems, though -- they have been going on for hundreds of years, and continue to this day.

I say it's time for us to say enough is enough! Are you with me? Are you with me? Let's send these European immigrants back where they came from! I don't care if they are Polish, Irish, English, Italian, or Norwegian! European immigrants are responsible for the most violent and heinous crimes in the history of the world, including genocide and slavery! It's time to restore the sovereignty of people native to this land!

I want more workplace raids, starting with the big banks downtown. There are thousands of illegals working in those buildings, hiding in their offices, and taking Dakota jobs. Let's round them up and ship them out. Then we need to hit them at home where they sleep. I don’t care if we separate families, they should have known better when they came here illegally!

If we aren't able to stand up to these European immigrants, who can we stand up to? We need to send every one of them back home, right now.

Thank you very much, and we'll see you in the streets!

Columbus Go Home! Columbus Go Home! Columbus Go Home!

Update:
Over at Bluestem Prairie the authors went down and witnessed the event. They write about it, including the reaction (pushing, shoving, intimidating) by the anti-immigrant crowd (classy as always).

...we watched "Robert Erickson" of Minneapolis rally the anti-immigration part of the crowd with his objections to the mass invasion of America by immigrants who brought disease and took away jobs. They stayed with him as he called for a mass deportation of these invaders.

To Europe.

Most of the MINN-SIR supporters were slow to catch the satire, and so the cheering from that side of the crowd took a while to subside. As they realized they'd been punk'ed, they stood in a cold, stunned silence, while the 30 or so counter-protesters urged Columbus to go home. Read the rest here.

The good folks over at I Don't Hate America! have also written about it, including the reaction from the anti-immigrant organizers.

UNBELIEVABLE

This just makes me sick. Honestly.

This is our free market capitalist system at work...

Here is the set up - a woman, with insurance, gets raped. Because she was drug raped and they did not know if the attacker used a condom or not, she was put on anti-HIV/AIDS meds. Her insurance company finds out she's on these meds and in therapy so, the compassion of the market takes over and they drop her faster than a conservative politician (who cheat on their wives) vote for family values.

And on top of it - she's an insurance agent. She talks with the underwriters with this 'hypothetical' case and they all answer the same - drop her - she's uninsured until out of therapy and HIV/AIDS free for 3 years.

Don't believe me? Watch the video your self.

Then do something....
Join A Woman Is Not A Pre-Existing Condition and advocate with congress.

So denying a rape victim insurance isn't bad enough? How about this one? Peggy Robertson needed insurance but there was one pesky problem... she had a previous C-section. Solution? Voluntary sterilization.


And then... let's deny coverage to her son!


My wife and I ran into this same thing when our son was born. At the time my company was trying to get private insurance because of the costs for group coverage. At his first check-up the doctor noticed my son 'looking down'. Apparently that can be a sign of something very serious - hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. To rule that out he had an MRI at the tender age of 8 days old. Needless to say, we were terrified through the proceedure and so relieved to find out he was perfectly healthy.

Then the insurance company shared their good news with us: Because he had an MRI at that age, he was uninsurable. Good news for them that is because it reduces their exposure to potential problems. Seems any medical intervention increases the statistical risk for future intervention and therefore - my son was no longer a potential profit center but a liability.

PLEASE CALL CONGRESS... Tell them to get off their 'lifetime covered asses' and fix healthcare including a public option.

Wanna know what Congress gets? Coverage that includes "a choice of 10 healthcare plans that provide access to a national network of doctors, as well as several HMOs that serve each member's home state...[They] also get special treatment at Washington's federal medical facilities and, for a few hundred dollars a month, access to their own pharmacy and doctors, nurses and medical technicians standing by in an office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers.

In all, taxpayers spent about $15 billion last year to insure 8.5 million federal workers and their dependents, including postal service employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management."

Illegals, Watch Out - We're Taking Back Our Jobs!

Alicia Morgan over at Last Left Turn Before Hooterville has a warning for all those so-called Illegal Immigrants...Watch Out - We're Taking Back Our Jobs!
She writes:
There's a new movement afoot in the American Right. Inspired by the rabidly anti-immigration, tirelessly pro-American-worker Lou Dobbs, it's springing up all across America. From the meatpacking plants of Iowa to the dairy farms of Arizona, from the kitchens of New York's finest restaurants to the Salad Bowl of California's Salinas Valley, in hotels, motels, and Holiday Inns all across this great nation of ours, the patriotic men and women who for years have stood by and watched illegal immigrants swarming across the border to brazenly steal their jobs have had enough. (Read the rest here)