On Porkulus

Here's the thing about Rush Limbaugh right now--he's lost 13 advertisers, I understand, and 2 radio stations and Peter Gabriel, the singer/songwriter/performer has demanded that he never use his song "Sledgehammer" again. It was the song he played as he--Limburger--derided the young lady last week. The thing is, here he was, doing his shtick and bam! He went too far. WAY too far. Now, he's had to apologize to the young lady--and he did it twice to date--so he's backing down big time, for the first time ever, to my knowledge. Now, say--God forbid--you're "Porkulus", just for this argument's sake. You've lambasted an otherwise innocent young lady, nearly the entire nation is against you and you're losing both stations and advertisers. What do you do? Really, what do you do on and for your next show? How can you angrily "go after" anyone when you were just heavily reprimanded by nearly the entire nation? It makes doing his shows right now extremely difficult. So good did come of this, after all. Unfortunately, the state of Missouri is, right now, arranging to have a statue of him put up in the State Capitol. Brilliant. Let's idolize and canonize an ugly hater. Way to spend the state money. Links: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/limbaugh-not-think-sandra-fluke-slut-prostitute-181711551.html; http://www.americablog.com/2012/03/rush-just-lost-station.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog%29; http://www.americablog.com/2012/03/list-of-advertisers-still-on-limbaughs.html; http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/rush-limbaugh-to-be-honored-in-state-capitol-s-hall/article_36b99152-66fb-11e1-af45-0019bb30f31a.html

Quote of the day

"There is nothing more frightening than active ignorance." ~Goethe

Ayn Rand follower?

On fear as a tool in America

“It’s not hard to bring out the worst in large numbers of citizens by constantly pressing their buttons; fear, hate, greed, false pride and blind loyalty are the main emotions used to manipulate people so much these last years. Reversing this process and empowering people through courage, love, generosity, humility and critical thinking is harder but it can and must be done.” -- Coleen Rowley for RootsAction; FBI whistle blower


Link:  http://rootsaction.org/

Great question (for the president)

"Whom now will the president choose to fight? The left, who wants him to succeed, or the right, who wants him to fail?"  --Kalli Joy Gray, posted at Daily Kos








Link to original post:  http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/12/928215/-The-presidents-promise-to-fight?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)

Why we love Michael Steele (and heck, the Republicans right now, for that matter)

I love this guy. Mr. Steele, whatever you do, don't go anywhere. His top 5 worst gaffes: 1. Obama's Afghan war can’t be won Speaking at a Connecticut fundraiser last week, Steele misstated the history of the Afghan conflict, which began on George W. Bush’s watch shortly after the 9/11 attacks. He told a crowd of GOP supporters that Obama had prosecuted the war. “This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in,” he said. Steele also implied the war can’t be won. “If he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, the one thing you don’t do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?” Steele said of Obama. “Everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed.” 2. Rush Limbaugh is "an entertainer," "incendiary," "ugly" In a March 2009 interview with CNN, Steele was asked about the White House’s position that Rush Limbaugh was the leader of the GOP. He strongly denied that claim, insisting that he was the party’s top leader. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment,” Steele said. And he trashed Limbaugh’s over-the-top remarks about Obama. “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly,” Steele said, prompting Limbaugh to declare Steele as unfit to lead the party. Steele later apologized to Limbaugh, insisting he did not want to “diminish his voice.” Later, he strangely suggested the Limbaugh flap had been “strategic” on his part. “It may look like a mistake, a gaffe. (But) there is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it,” he said. 3. Abortion is an “individual choice” In an interview with GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, Steele said abortion is “absolutely … an individual choice” and said the question of legality should be settled by the states. The comments prompted criticism from several top social conservatives, including Gov. Mike Huckabee. Steele, who is pro-life, later said his words had been taken out of context. 4. The RNC's lavish, X-rated, obscene spending In March, Steele was forced to apologize after a fundraising report revealed the RNC had spent nearly $2,000 on a donor event at Voyeur, a bondage-themed West Hollywood nightclub. Steele has said he didn’t know anything about the event, or the specifics of the expenditures involved. But the scandal fueled criticism that Steele hasn’t been a good steward of the RNC’s cash. Detractors say he’s blown more cash than he’s brought in, as he struggles to land big checks from major donors. 5. Is the GOP ready to govern? "I don't know" Perhaps the most important role of a party chairman is to be a cheerleader for candidates and their campaigns, even in the most dire circumstances. But in January, Steele told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that not only was he not sure if the GOP would regain control of Congress, he wasn’t sure if Republicans were ready to govern. “Are we ready? I don’t know,” Steele said. Candidates “looking to run” have to hew to the GOP's core principles, he added. “If they don’t, they’ll get to Washington, and they’ll start drinking that Potomac River water and they’ll get drunk with power.” Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100706/el_yblog_upshot/michael-steele-screws-up-again-can-he-survive

If you still listen to Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh, proof why you have to stop

What do we have to do with "Rush listeners"? Have an intervention?

Word to Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, all the Teabaggers, etc.

Check out that quote of the day here, today, on this page, to the right:

"If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen."

And look who said it.

None other than Republican and Former President Ronald Reagan.

So the next time you or anyone you hear, wants to trash "Liberals", "Lefties", "Socialists" (even the imagined ones), Blacks, African-Americans, Hispanics, Mexican-Americans, or any other minority, remember this.

Please.

We're Americans first.

We're all in this together.

Let's all work for the bettering of the country.

Together.

That includes listening to one another.

Let's have a great weekend, y'all.

On being open-minded

 

"I dreamed a lot when I was younger
I'm older now and still I hunger
for some understanding
There's no understanding now
Was there ever?"

--Ambrosia, "Harvey"
From the album "Somewhere I've Never Travelled"

The 10 Most Ridiculous Quotes About Health Care Reform--and then some really ugly stupidity

They speak for themselves.

By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide

1. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." —Sarah Palin, in a message posted on Facebook about Obama's health care reform plan, Aug. 7, 2009

2. "To our seniors, I have a message for you: you're going to die sooner." –Sen. Tom Coburn (R- Okla.), on what will happen if health care reform passes, Dec. 1, 2009

3. "If ObamaCare passes, that free insurance card that’s in people’s pockets is gonna be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the war between the states — the Great War of Yankee Aggression." –Rep. Paul Broun (R- Ga.), March 18, 2010

4. "They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God. This is an affront to God." –Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), interview with Glenn Beck, March 18, 2010

5. "Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), summing up the Republican health care plan

6. "Obama's got a health care logo that's right out of Adolf Hitler's playbook … Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate." —Rush Limbaugh, Aug. 6, 2009

7. "You have three people in the White House that are in love with eugenics or whatever it is you would call it today. … Please dear God, read history. Please dear God read the truth of what these people have said in their own words, and ask yourself this one question: Do you trust these people enough to give them control over who lives and who dies? Because that's what health care is when you have no other choice but to go to the state." —Glenn Beck, comparing health care reform to Nazi eugenics

8. "We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma." —Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Aug. 12, 2009

9. "That's why people need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the phone lines of their liberal members of Congress, and let them know, under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body and my health care decisions." —Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a pro-lifer who completely missed the irony of using the same slogan as the pro-choice movement

10. "Exercise freaks ... are the ones putting stress on the health care system." —Rush Limbaugh, June 12, 2009

~Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman

Up to now, they've only been saying fairly stupid, outrageous and ignorant things like the above.

They're going batshit crazy now, since health care reform passed.

In Washington, Saturday, as you no doubt know, some of the "Tea Party" protesters starting yelling "nigger" at RepresentativeJohn Lewism ,spat on our own representative Emanuel Cleaver (he waived charges) and yelled "homo" at Rep. Barney Frank, all in their anger. (But no, no, they're not racist or homophobic, right?).

Now it's getting really ugly.

In fact, the ugliest, stupidest and worst of all, that I've seen, to date, is two Twitter posts that suggest assassinating the President.

Here's hoping sanity rules.

Original link here:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/healthcare/a/health-care-reform-quotes.htm

Can we not agree that no one should be politicizing the Haitian earthquake?

From the blog: "POLITICS FROM THE EYES OF AN EBONY MOM"

Haiti is No Hurricane Katrina

Posted on January 14, 2010 by musesofamom

Over the past few days we have looked at the utter devastation of the island of Haiti. The images are heartbreaking, but we are heartened by the response of our government. President Obama’s response has been swift, coordinated and aggressive. He said that Haiti is our neighbor and we are here to help them. In spite of our country’s best efforts we still have detractors like Rush Limbaugh use this opportunity to inject race into the situation. Limbaugh said, “This will play right into Obama’s hands. Humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to, to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community, the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in, in this country. It’s made-to-order for him. That’s why he couldn’t wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there.” The other disturbing thing about this tragedy is the constant comparisons between the Haitian earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. This is truly like comparing apples to oranges. Haiti is our neighbor it is not a state. Katrina happened in the United States and we were unable to help our own citizens. The effort in Louisiana was flawed on every level: local, state and federal. We found it incomprehensible that we were hearing US citizens being referred to as “refugees.” We had a president who initially was disengaged and FEMA who was ill-equipped and unprepared to deal with the crisis, but this was an internal problem. These were our citizens and we were responsible for their well-being. Haitians are not our citizens they are our neighbors and we are doing everything to help them, but please stop comparing this disaster to Katrina they are two very different situations.

Original link here:
http://ebonymompolitics.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/haiti-is-no-hurricane-katrina/

___________________________

You wouldn't think Rush Limbaugh or any other "Right-winger" would want to politicize the Haitian earthquake anyway, Katrina comparison or no, for two reasons: 1) It's almost unthinkable to do so, since it is a horrific natural catastrophe and 2) The case can be made, I think, that the US is responding far better to this disaster, as "Ebony Mom" states above, to Haiti's troubles off our shore than we did to a disaster in one of our own major cities, in our own country.

"Ebony Mom" also points out that the Fox "News" network ignored the Haitian earthquake in it's coverage of world news (link here: http://ebonymompolitics.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/fox-news-top-shows-ignore-the-haiti-catastrophe/) and Glenn Beck also wanted to politicize the horrible tragedy that is Haiti right now, on his show (link: http://ebonymompolitics.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/glenn-beck-says-president-obama-is-%e2%80%9cdividing-the-nation%e2%80%9d-by-reacting-so-quickly-to-haiti/)

Then, not to be outdone in both the politicization or "I'm a ranting, raving lunatic" arena, "Venezualan President Hugo Chavez claimed yesterday that the US is trying to occupy Haiti "undercover"."

Then, "Former President George W. Bush weighed in on the matter (I can hardly believe I'm saying this) and denied that President Obama is "'politicizing' Haiti".

So, finally, I ask you: "Can't we all just get along?"

This is not your Grandfather's war

Okay, the President finally came out, after collecting all his information and doing his just homework (unlike the previous clod) and told us what he wanted and needed for our war in Afghanistan.

And it was "leaked" out so we knew what it was, too--30,000 more troops to go over as soon as possible.

Okay, blah, blah, blah.

We all knew it. We're resigned to it, let's move on.

I'm not being flip about war or our soldiers going to war, don't get me wrong. I'm just saying this was not a surprise.

What I would like to say is--could we stop acting like this is a war we can win in any way?

This is not World War I. This is not World War II.

This is not, as I said in the title, your Grandfather's war.

And it's not your Father's war, either.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a war against terrorism, as though we haven't been told that, what? a thousand times?

Terrorism is an ongoing mess, folks. Terrorism is some nut seemingly randomly shooting people. Terrorism, we have found out, is right-wing fundamentalists (hear that, Pat Robertson?) strapping bombs to their chests and blowing as many people up as they can, thinking they're going to some lunatic heaven, with--how many was it?--71 virgins waiting for them. (I wonder what the female suicide bombers get).

Terrorism isn't, as we've found out, a standing army, waiting to attack us. It is a disparate group of people, loosely defined and organized who do their best to make their opposition's (read: virtually everyone else) lives miserable.

So could we stop talking about "winning this war", please?

We won't "win" Afghanistan or the Afghan war.

To "win" this war, we would have to rebuild virtually the entire country AND educate its people and no one has the time or money to do that.

To repeat: The Afghanistan war is not a war ANYONE can win.

Some day---and hopefully soon--we will have to leave Afghanistan, just as all the other invading armies have. We will have to do what Russia did, not that long ago.

And you know what? Russia survived. More than that, no one talks about how they were "defeated". Russia found it couldn't "win Afghanistan", so they took all their toys and went home.

Which is what we should do.

And the sooner, the better.

So, all you right-wingers out there--all the Glenn Becks and Rush "Porkulus" Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys and Bill O'Reillys and yes, even local Thomas McClanahans should stop talking about "winning Afghanistan".

No one wins Afghanistan, folks. Look into it. It just doesn't happen.

And it ain't gonna happen.

You don't win a war against terrorism.

You just educate as many people as you can and always stay on your guard, to watch for the nincompoops.

The previous administration didn't read that Daily Presidential Brief about terrorists training to attack us by plane.


Side note: If you want to know more on this, you might read Norman Mailer's book "Why Are We at War?" or any number of other books on the subject.

Links: http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6737
http://summit.clubmadrid.org/keynotes/a-global-strategy-for-fighting-terrorism.html
http://milo.com/why-are-we-at-war

Whole lotta' hatin' comin' on

The President is going to the United Nations first, it seems, on December 9, at the start of a 12 day session, then go to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize the next day.

Can you imagine how Glenn Beck, Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and all the folks at Faux News are salivating for this? I'm thinking they all figure they have a great deal to be thankful for.

They'll be trashing the UN, this Nobel Peace Prize--again or some more--and dissing on Mr. Obama all they can, every second.

Get ready. They're going to whip themselves into a holiday frenzy.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/us/politics/26climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

This is the year for being wrong, clearly

A few days ago, after President Obama went to Dover Air Force Base to pay his respects to 18 deceased American Soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

I wrote that he showed a great deal of dignity and, again, respect for the Soldiers and their families.

I also wrote that surely the Right wing, Fox "News" and Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc., wouldn't dare speak out against this, that it would just be beyond the pale.

As it says above, this is my year for being wrong (you have no idea).

A quote, just now, from the Associated Press and Yahoo! News covering yesterday's Sunday morning news programs:

"Limbaugh belittled Obama's surprise, middle-of-the-night trip last week to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to observe the return of 18 flag-covered cases holding the remains of Americans killed in Afghanistan. 'It was a photo op' designed to 'create the impression that he has all of this great concern,' he contended."

It's been a banner year for me, I'll tell you.

Link to full story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_bi_ge/us_limbaugh_obama

Hear that, Bill O'Reilly? Rush? Mr. Beck?

From "The Progress Report":

"Paul Krugman writes today that, 'right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.' He argues, 'Fox News and the RNC...have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.'"

And people are dying because of it.

To wit: In November last year, a minister was shot and killed just outside his church in Kentucky; yet another pastor was killed during his Sunday service, right in his church in Illinois in early March; Dr. George Tiller was killed in his church in Wichita and just yesterday, of course, a US Park police officer, one Stephen T. Johns, was killed at, of all places, the national Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Let's hope this is the end of these killings and not just the beginning.

It's a terrific, true and poignant read.

See it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

From a person on the right and former Republican, to the Republicans

Open Letter to the Republican Traitors (From a Former Republican)

Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. Check out the sermon I just delivered about the Republican Party on CNN when being interviewed by D.L. Hughley -- and/or read on.

You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created.

I used to be one of you. As recently as 2000 I worked to get Senator McCain elected in that year's primary. (McCain and Gen. Tommy Franks wrote glowing endorsements regarding my book about military service, AWOL.). I have a file of handwritten thank you notes from Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush I and II. In the 1970s and early 80s I hung out with Jack Kemp and bought into his "supply side" myth and even wrote a book he endorsed pushing his ideas.) There's more, but take it from me; my parents (evangelical leaders Francis and Edith Schaeffer) and I were about as tight with -- and useful to -- the Republican Party as anyone. We played a big part creating the Religious Right.

In the mid 1980s I left the Religious Right, after I realized just how very anti-American they are, (the theme I explore in my book Crazy For God). They wanted America to fail in order to prove they were right about America's "moral decline." Soon after McCain lost in 2000 I re-registered as an independent in disgust with W. Bush. But I still respected many Republicans. Not today.

How can anyone who loves our country support the Republicans now? Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan defined the modern conservatism that used to be what the Republican Party I belonged to was about. Today no actual conservative can be a Republican. Reagan would despise today's wholly negative Republican Party. And can you picture the gentlemanly and always polite Ronald Reagan, endorsing a radio hate-jock slob who crudely mocked a man with Parkinson's and who now says he wants an American president to fail?!

With people like Limbaugh as the loudmouth image of the Republican Party -- you need no enemies. But something far more serious has happened than an image problem: the Republican Party has become the party of obstruction at just the time when all Americans should be pulling together for the good of our country. Instead, Republicans are today's fifth column sabotaging American renewal.

President Obama has been in office barely 45 days and the Republican Party has the nerve to blame him for the economic and military cataclysm he inherited. I say economic and military cataclysm because without the needless war in Iraq you all backed we would not be in the economic mess we're in today. If that money had been spent here at home on renovating our infrastructure, taking us toward a green economy, putting our health-care system in order we'd be a very different situation.

As the father of a Marine who served in George W. Bush's misbegotten wars let me say this: if President Obama's strategy to repair our economy, infrastructure and healthcare fails that will put our troops at far greater risk because the world will become a far more dangerous place. So for all you flag-waving Republicans who are trying to undermine the President at home -- if you succeed more of our troops will be killed abroad.

When your new leader Rush Limbaugh calls for President Obama to fail he's calling for more flag-draped coffins. Limbaugh is the new "Hanoi Jane."

For the party that created our crises of misbegotten war, mismanaged economy, the lack of regulation of our banking industry, handing our country to rich crooks... to obstruct the one person who is trying to repair the damage is obscene.

Just imagine where America would be today if the 14 to 20 million voters -- "the rube base" who slavishly follow the likes of Limbaugh -- had not voted as a block year after year thus empowering the Republican fiasco. We would have a regulated banking industry and would have avoided our current financial crisis; some 4000 of our killed military men and women would be alive; over to 35,000 wounded Americans would be whole; we would have been leaders in the environmental movement; we would be in the middle of a green technology boom fueling a huge expansion of our economy and stopping our dependence on foreign oil, and our health-care system would be reformed.

After Obama was elected, you Republican leaders had a unique last chance to send a patriotic message of unity to the world -- and to all Americans. You could have backed our president's economic recovery plan. Since we all know that half of our problem is one of lost confidence and perception, nothing would have done more to calm the markets and project resolve and confidence than if you had been big enough to take Obama's offered hand and had work with him -- even if you disagreed ideologically. You had the chance to put our country first. You utterly failed to rise to the occasion.

The worsening economic situation is your fault and your fault alone. The Republicans created this mess through 8 years of backing the worst president in our history and now, because you put partisan ideology ahead of the good of our country, you have blown your last chance to redeem yourselves. You deserve the banishment to the political wilderness that awaits all traitors.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back Now in paperback.

"Bonehead" Rush Limbaugh, courtesy of David Letterman

Thanks, Dave!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

It keeps getting better and better

I keep seeing more and more about the failing and failed Republicans and how, right now, it seems so clear that Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh is their de-facto leader.

It kills me--in a good way.

You have to smile, really big, if not laugh out loud at that current situation.

Rush Limbaugh, the brains of the Republican Party.

Ya-hoo!

It hardly gets any better than that.

Then, a new Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael "I swear I'm not a racial token" Steele tries to put Porkulus in his place and has to go back, the next day, hat in hand to apologize to him for saying he was "incendiary" and just an "entertainer".

Imagine that--having to apologize for saying what's both obvious AND true.

That would have to kill you.

Anyway, the more I see of it, the happier I am and the better it gets.

Then another thought struck me--another source of amusement and laughter:

You know it's gotta' be killing Bill "O'Really?" O'Reilly since he's not in the equation an virtually being ignored.


I tell you, it just keeps getting better and better.