FBI Found Maj Hasan was NOT a Terrorist!

Ok, this needs to be said and said loudly. The FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force Both Investigated Maj Nidal Hasan and found he was NOT a Terrorist.

The major, a 39-year-old US-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was scrutinised by an FBI-led joint terrorism task force because of a series of e-mails between December 2008 and early 2009 with Mr al-Awlaki.

US officials said the content of the e-mail messages did not advocate or threaten violence, and was consistent with Maj Hasan's research for his job as an army psychiatrist, part of which involved post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from US combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This of course is not how the Right Wing Wants to See it.

Right now Michelle Malkin is on a anti-secret jihadi crudade: The "enemy" is everywhere - Everywhere! Be afriad!

Blind diversity=death. Here's a reminder of the GOP's own P.C. jihadi-coddling problem. Face it: (link removed)

P.C. festered under W. Continues under O. Jihadi influences in military, FBI, prisons, fire depts: (link removed)

The FBI didn't see it that way (Via the Weekly Standard)

Major Hasan came to the attention of the FBI in December 2008 as part of an unrelated investigation being conducted by one of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). JTTFs are FBI-led, multi-agency teams made up of FBI agents, other federal investigators—including those from the Department of Defense—and state and local law enforcement officers.

Investigators on the JTTF reviewed certain communications between Major Hasan and the subject of that investigation and assessed that the content of those communications was consistent with research being conducted by Major Hasan in his position as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning. Other communications of which the FBI was aware were similar to the ones reviewed by the JTTF.

The fact that the FBI found that his contacting this Imam was completely innocent and consistent with his actual JOB is something that rightwing simply can not fathom and understand. If he emailed the guy, he must have Supported the guys Agenda Right?

Two of 9-11 hijackers had visited al-Awlaki's former Mosque in Virginia, to the Standard this makes him an "al Qeada recruiter". My thinking is that these guys had been recruited into al Qeada a long time before they reached Virginia, and blaming this Imam for aiding and abetting 9-11 is like blaming Mohummad Atta's Landlord and Green Grocer.

Awlaki is an active al Qaeda cleric and recruiter. Undoubtedly, that’s why he was being investigated in December 2008 in the first place. Moreover, Awlaki and his followers assisted three 9/11 hijackers here on U.S. soil before their day of terror and, according to the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the September 11 attacks, Awlaki was a “spiritual advisor” for at least two of them.

Why would a member of the U.S. military contact a major al Qaeda ideologue to discuss his research? The only way that could be justifiable is if that American serviceman was collecting intelligence on Awlaki and his operations. But there is no evidence that this was the case here.

No, that's not the only reason.

Maj Hasan had attended the same Virginia Mosque, hence his connection to al-Awlaki - he didn't just contact him out of the blue - and was apparently working on a project that addressed the issues and stresses that were uniquely placed on Muslim fighting as members of the U.S. Armed Forces - and how those stresses might threaten the force.

in late June 2007, he stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.

"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he said in the presentation.

The title of Hasan's PowerPoint presentation was "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." It consisted of 50 slides. In one slide, Hasan described the presentation's objectives as identifying "what the Koran inculcates in the minds of Muslims and the potential implications this may have for the U.S. military."

He also sought to "describe the nature of the religious conflicts that Muslims" who serve in the U.S. military may have and to persuade the Army to identify these individuals.

To further emphasize this point, Hasan himself was the victim of anti-Muslim harrasment.

In mid-August, just a few weeks after moving to Killeen, Hasan had a run-in with a soldier living in apartment No. 12. One night after he had been drinking, John Van de Walker scraped a key along the full length of the passenger's side of Hasan's car. Then he removed and destroyed a bumper sticker that read, "Allah is Love," according to several residents, including live-in managers John and Alice Thompson.

Van de Walker had recently returned from service in Iraq and was distraught that his neighbor was a Muslim, Alice Thompson said. Shortly after the incident, Van de Walker's girlfriend, Jenni, came to visit Alice Thompson.

"I can't believe what John just did," Thompson recalled the woman saying. "John just keyed Number Nine's car. I told him, 'You're back from Iraq now, and you can't be doing anything that pops in your head like that.' "

Hasan filed a police report, but neighbors said he did not seem too bothered. According to the Associated Press, Van de Walker was arrested Oct. 21 and was charged with criminal mischief.

As of today ABC News has reports that there were more contacts than just one former Virginia Cleric that the FBI had been tracking. The nature of these contacts is not described as being any different than those that were already known, looked at, and considered innocent - yet that hasn't stopped the FEAR BRIGADE from starting a finger-pointing storm between the FBI and the Army as to who should have told who about what and when...

The FBI said it turned over the information to the Army, but Defense Department officials today denied that. One military investigator on a joint terror task force with the FBI was shown the e-mails, but they were never forwarded in a formal way to more senior officials at the Pentagon, and the Army did not learn of the contacts until after the shootings.

I may be speculating here, but I suspect this information wasn't forwarded - or if it was forwarded, was ignored - because there was nothing remarkable about it.

Even the Car Keying incident doesn't seem to be an easy source for Hasan's ultimate explosion as he stated afterward "It's (Ramadan) a time to forgive everybody who's done wrong against you".

Easy answers seem elusive and lazy analysis and reporting is clearly insufficient to completely explain what occurred at Ft Hood and why.

Having a conversation with someone doesn't make you a Terrorist.

The FBI was aware of his contacts and didn't find them indicative of someone who appeared to be growing radically anti-American, and from the content of his Presentation at Walker Reed this seems consistent - he was warning the Army of the potentially danger of disaffected Muslim Soldiers who were faced with a growing internal conflict with fighting against other Muslims, he had been dealing with those soldiers who were suffering Post Traumatic Stress and in some ways he himself was vulnerable to acquiring their stress through such repeated and close contact with the most difficult elements of their transition back to civilian life.

He didn't want to be deployed.

He had allegedly wanted to leave the Army although there is no evidence they he attempted to apply for "Consciencious Objector" status - he believed and stressed in his presentation that Muslim soldiers should have that option, in order to avoid "adverse effects" for the military itself.

More and more this appears to me more like a case of "Workplace violence" (similar to the Shooting Spree in 1995 at Ft Bragg which (corrected) killed 1 and wounded 18 people) than some type of "Sleeper Agent" or the work of a "Terrorist Sympathizer".

Earlier this year the Shooter, Sgt William Kruetzer, was sentenced to life in prison.

Kreutzer was convicted of one specification of premeditated murder, 18 specifications of attempted murder, one specification of violating a general order by transporting weapons on post, and one specification of larceny of government property (theft of government ammunition).

The charges stem from the Oct. 27, 1995, shooting at Towle Stadium of members of the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division as they were conducting morning physical training. Kreutzer hid in the tree line and picked off the Soldiers one by one until three Special Forces members were able to sneak up and tackle him.

In 1995 the World Trade Center had already been bombed, and the Murrah Federal Building had been destroyed. Was anyone asking then if Sgt Kreutzer was a Terrorist Sympathizer? I don't think so.

Is the race to turn Maj. Hasan into a "Terrorist" on flimsy insufficient evidece anything more than profiling? Calling his names and trying to jin up fear and paranoia of other "sleeper agents" in our military doesn't change the fact that he is still (an accused) Mass Murderer!

Isn't that bad enough?

We don't really know why - anymore than we know why Kreutzer did what he did, or other shooters such as the one at Virginia Tech who killed 32 People did what he did. We may never really know, but we really don't need to MAKE SHIT UP!

Vyan

(H/T to Randi Rhodes for the Links)

Update: I don't have a link for this yet, but Randi during her show also talked about the supposed "comparing a soldier who jumps on a grenade to a suicide bomber" post which has been mentioned. She read the post and what it actually said, assuming it wasn't some other Nidal Hasan who posted it was that the Koran does NOT condone suicide or suicide bombings. That in order to be considered a "Martyr" one has to fight your enemies, and kill them, until they kill you. A Suicide bombing is killing themselves, not being killed by their enemy. In contrast a soldier throwing himself on a grenade IS a Martyr, but not committing suicide. He also stated (at some point) that no form if Islam supported the use of suicide bombings that he could find - except al Qeada.

Update II Found it (maybe)

NidalHasan scribbled: There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best.

Ok, so actually what he said was that neither of them are committing "Suicide", one is attempting to save their comrades while the other attempting to kill their enemies - but neither's intent is simply to die. That doesn't make them equivalent or equal and he doesn't suggest that they are.

Update III ABC News is now adding gasoline to this bonfire by reporting that Al Awlaki is connected and inspired several other Terrorist Attacks including the attack on Fort Dix.

In addition to his contacts with Major Nidal Hasan, the radical American cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, served as an inspiration for men convicted in terror plots in Toronto and Fort Dix, New Jersey, according to government officials and court records reviewed by ABCNews.com.

Despite his ties to other plots, including the one against the Army post at Fort Dix, some 20 e-mails between Awlaki and Major Hasan were dismissed as "innocent" by a military investigator working on the FBI's Joint Terror Task Force in Washington, D.C.

IMO This is really bad reporting - (but after Path to 9-11 and how ABC Swiftboated Obama with Reverend Wright, I'm not surprised) - first of all they don't actually provide the details of what those links and "inspirations" where between Awlaki and these other individuals. His former mosque in Virginia is one of the largest on the East Coast - so it's likely quite a few people attended it. Yes, It's clear he's somewhat radical, seeing as he has praised Hasan's attack - but what's he got to do with Fort Dix? You could make exactly the same kind of "inspiration" arguements about Glenn Beck and the Holocaust Museum Shooter or Bill O'Reilly and Scott Roeder.

On this point- how he inspired them exactly - they fail to explain.

They also stick quotes around the FBI's assessment that the Hasan's contacts with him were "innocent" completely absent any evidence that they *weren't* innocent.

This is guilt by association, and although I'm not saying it's not possible there is some connection the FBI completely missed and fumbled - it's also not credible either, yet.

Vyan

Karl Rove is Completely Irony Proof

Believe it or not the other day Karl Rove tweeted this:

@KarlRove NBC finally gives some fair and balanced election night coverage. http://bit.ly/3bpKKr #TCOT #SGP

Being curious just what fresh pile of horse feces this could be - I clicked the link and found - TA DA - This!



This clip was briefly shown on Olbermann last night, but just how the audience immediately picks up on the ridiculousness of Fox News as Saturday NIght Live pretty much plays it straight - is very telling.

The one single solitary Democrat on the panel gets cut off even before he can say "Hello".

The smarmy smile on the "News" guys face as he states how this is clearly the Demise of Hope.

But regard the Rove Tweet: Let me get this straight, Karl Rove doesn't know when Karl Rove is being Punked?

I mean he either trying to do a double-ironic leap, or he doesn't quite get that this wasn't really NBC News.

I mean, is that like an amazing Hot Bowl of Fail Sauce or what?

With the New Tea Party-Party in Florida it seems as thoough Republicans are literally coming apart at the seems, and they choose to help promote their own public humiliation - not realizing that they're being ridiculed in the process?

If this keeps up there may be real HOPE for this nation yet.

Vyan

Leiberman = Anusface: Ft Hood Worst Terrorist Attack since 9-11?

In this clip from Fox News Sunday, Joe Lieberman (I-Liebermanville) proves yet again that he's a complete and total ANUSFACE as he starts off discussing the Ft Hood Shooting by saying "It's too soon to draw conclusions..." and then proceeds to draw the conclusion that this was the Worst Terrorist Attack Since 9-11! Self-ingratiating Prick Says Wha?



Leiberhole said:

"If the reports that we're receiving of various statements he made, acts he took, are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism, and, therefore, if that is true, the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact,it was the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on american soil since 9/11,"

Look, Ft Hood was a tragedy - but it was not "Terrorism" simply because the shooter was Muslim, that's the most rank and despicable from of bigotry and profiling I've seen from a sitting U.S. Senator since - well - Ever!

Reports are that Major Hasan supposed shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the shooting - ok, well that's about is odd as a Christian saying "Praise Jesus" as he runs into a firefight. It's said that he wrote an internet post (although it hasn't been confirmed that it was the same Nidal Hasan) that compared suicide bombers to solders who throw themselves on a grenade to protect others - which frankly, isn't that big a stretch to me IMO both are partaking in a willful act of self-sacrifice to accomplish a larger goal. We may disagree with one goal and agree with the other, but the acts themselves are similar.

What also has been reported is that while stationed at Ft Hood Maj Hasan's car which display a bumper sticker which said "Allah is Love" was vandalized, the sticker removed and his paint job keyed.

An apartment complex manager says the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood, Texas recently had a religious bumper sticker torn off his car.

The manager, John Thompson, says a fellow soldier allegedly keyed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's car and ripped up the bumper sticker. Thompson says the soldier had been to Iraq and was upset to learn Hasan was Muslim.

Thompson, who manages the Killeen, Texas complex where Hasan lives, says the bumper sticker read: "Allah is Love." In Arabic, Allah means God.

A report filed on Aug. 16 with Killeen police says Hasan's car had been scratched causing $1,000 worth of damage. The report says an Army employee had been arrested. It didn't provide more details about what happened

This shows that Hasan was the victim of a Hate Crime, but that doesn't mean that it was the catalyst for his actions this weekend. We know that he wanted out of the Army, that he was deathly afraid of being deployed and that he had received a deployment date.

His worst fear had been realized.

It doesn't have to be more complicated than his simply (forgive the phrase) Going POSTAL - with his greatest personal terror staring him in the face.

But no, according Joe LieberAss, although he was born in Virginia he was a "terrorist". Tell me, Joe - which terrorist group was he acting in support and concert with, Al Qaeda? Hamas? Hezbollah? The Sunni Insurgency? The Pashtun Tribes of Afghanistan? The Taliban? THE ASIAN DAWN!??

Terrorism is an act of violence in order to make a political point. What was his political agenda? What was he trying to say? If we don't know - then as a Terrorist all we have is Fail Sauce. It's not "terrorism" simply because the man was a devout muslim or had an arabic last name anymore than someone should assume this was "gang violence" influenced if the shooter had been black or "mafia related" if he'd been Italian. That's BIGOTRY!!

It's pathetically ignorant and naked racism.

I posted my initial comments to this on Twitter/Facebook and one response came back...

Well obviously it was terrorism. The shooter was a muslim. Anyone of the nation of Islam that commits a crime is directly linked to al queda.

The Nation of Islam? Really? That's Louis Farrakhan's African-American organization and they've never - REPEAT NEVER - been linked to any terrorist act or Al Qeada. The stupid is so think sometimes you can walk on it.

Also, not to trivialize the death of 13 people and injuries to 30+ more, but if this mass gun shooting was the "Worst Terrorist Attack" since 9-11 -- what the FRACK does that make the mass gun shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 where 32 People were killed! - a picnic?

The first portion of Leiberman's statement is correct, it *is* premature to try any draw conclusions on the nature of this tragedy - and certainly it should be fully and thoroughly investigated, in the end he just might have terrorist ties (although I doubt it) that go far beyond shooting "Allahu Akbar" and giving copies of the Koran to his landlord- but it's not too premature to point out that Joe Lieberman is a shallow bigoted grandstanding Ass Clown.

Vyan

This IS the Change we Hoped For...

In the last week or so the World has almost literally shifted upside down...

In Afghanistan, Hamid Karzi has agreed to a Run-Off Election, which will significant help legitimize the government after the UN report of ballot stuffing in the election.

In Iran, a deal has been agreed to that will significantly control and slow down that countries Nuclear ambitions.

Corporate Fat Cat CEO's and Execs who have been growing even Fatter with Record Bonuses out of the Pockets of the American Public have just received a massive Smack-Down.

In Addition the Obama Administration has directed that the remaining $316 Billion in TARP funds head straight to Main-Street where the jobs are needed instead of Wall Street.

Several different Terrorist plots have been foiled - No Torture Was Required.

Lastly, we may soon have a vote on Medicare Part-E - Medicare for Everyone.

Not A Bad First Year so far.

I'm not saying everything is "perfect" - far from it - but just consider how different today is from yesterday, and the week before and the week before that?

All Five Health Care Bills have passed out of Committee and are headed to the House and Senate Floor for a vote. In the meantime the Dems seem to have finally learning the Branding Game and are now beginning to call the Public Option - Medicare Part E.



With this kind of framing calling it a "Government Take-over" or "Death Panel" just became all the more difficult. And it gets even harder with this recent study that shows that a Robust Public Option would almost immediately bring down Health Care Costs by an average of 11%.

Via FDL

What this means is that the premiums charged by the public option would be roughly 11 percent lower than private insurance, but, in reality, it would cost 18 percent less for the public option to provide health insurance. Since the public option is cheaper it would end up attracting a less healthy costumer base. Having people with more medical needs sign up for the public option would end up somewhat increasing the premiums the public option would need to charge. Conversely, because the public option would end up attracting many of the least healthy individuals, it would also drive down premiums for private insurance plans.

Yeah, that's some Change I can believe in.

Meanwhile the Obama White House has decided to openly admit the Fox News - GASP - IS Not News, this has prompted the Fixed Ones to defend themselves and for people such as Karl Rove to suggested in mock apoplexy that "People would have gone CRAZY if Bush had frozen out NBC or the New York times" -- yeah, well Bush Did Freeze out NBC and the New York Times!

ROVE: I mean, imagine what would have happened if President Bush had said, “You know what, I’m not going to — I’m going to call NBC not a news organization because, well, MSNBC has some ugly left- wing opinion programming”? I mean, people would go nuts.

What would happen if somebody said, “You know what, the people who are working for The New York Times are not journalists because on the opinion page of The New York Times there are very liberal journalists and very liberal editorials?” I mean, people would be up in arms.

No Karl, they wouldn't be - because they weren't when Dana Perino accused NBC of being biased in their Reporting in May 2008.

Perino: The reason that we sent the letter yesterday is because we had gotten fed up with the way that the President’s policies are being mischaracterized, or the situations on the ground weren’t being accurately reflected in the reporting. We had complained before. And it just reached a boiling point when things had boiled over when we believed that NBC News specifically edited out — intentionally edited out — something that the President said in response to a question in an interview regarding Iran, and that it mischaracterized the whole interview because of it.

As regards the civil war, I remember very distinctly how there was quite the pomp and circumstance when NBC, on the Today Show, decided to declare — that they were declaring that Iraq was a civil war. But since then, after the surge and things certainly improved in Iraq, NBC has never had a corresponding ceremony to say that Iraq is not in a civil war. I was just curious to find out what they believe.

And the same goes with the economy. When we got the numbers just two weeks ago on the GDP for the economic growth, it said that we had grown at 0.6 percent. And yet the anchor that night decided to disavow that number. We’re just curious what part of the official government data that’s been coming out for years do they not agree with. So we haven’t had a response on that.

Then there's the idea that the Obama White House is compiling a Nixon-like "Enemies" list simply by pointing out that Fox News is biased - yet that exact same accusation was made the Bush White House when Ed Gillespie accused NBC of being Biased...

Mr. Capus, I'm sure you don't want people to conclude that there is really no distinction between the "news" as reported on NBC and the "opinion" as reported on MSNBC, despite the increasing blurring of those lines. I welcome your response to this letter, and hope it is one that reassures your broadcast network's viewers that blatantly partisan talk show hosts like Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC don't hold editorial sway over the NBC network news division.

Never - NOT ONCE - did George W. Bush give an interview to the New York Times. It was even quite common for Conservatives to openly accuse NYT Editor Bill Keller of Treason simply because the Times had the Temerity to report that the Bush Administration was Illegally Wiretapping American Citizens.

Eleven days after the meeting with Bush, the Times defied the president; the story, by James Risen and Eric Licht­blau, was headlined bush lets u.s. spy on callers without courts. That same day, the USA Patriot Act was blocked in the Senate.

The White House went into attack mode. Its target: Bill Keller and the New York Times.

Even Former Nixon Aide Pat Buchanan thinks this "Enemies List" stuff simply Ridiculous!

BUCHANAN: It is the most idiotic comparison I’ve ever seen. Barack Obama won 95 percent of Washington DC, he comes in with both houses Congress behind him, the media love him, the country loves him. Nixon came in with both houses of Congress against him, he probably got 8 percent of the vote in Washington DC, the media loathed him. ... I don’t see any comparison between Obama and Nixon whatsoever. ... [T]here’s no comparison. Barack Obama’s got enormous press support, he’s got problems with Fox News but for heaven’s sakes there is no comparison here.

Yeah, well - when Barack Obama orders that the IRA Audit Rupert Murdoch and he has Rahm Emmanuel stage a break-in at Rockefeller Center to "dig up dirt" on Bill O'Reilly - (as if there already weren't enough dirt in his sexual harrassment case papers) - the Fox Whiners might have a point, right now they don't.

Nixon didn't just keep "A List" - he went for Pay Back!

Meanwhile as Liz Cheney is ranting about how Obama needs to "Keep America Safe" by continuing to implement TORTURE - and accuses MSNBC of being "afraid to debate the issues" while she refuses to appear on any of their shows and debate the issues - Obama is busy actually Keeping America Safe

Plot #1

Four men are in custody over an alleged plot to bomb a New York synagogue and Jewish community center.

The men wanted to fire surface-to-air missiles at military planes, according to prosecutors.

Plot #2

After weekend arrests made in Colorado and Queens, the FBI says it prevented a terrorist attack in New York City. Authorities arrested the plot's suspected ringleader, Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, in Denver on Saturday night. Zazi's father, Mohammad Zazi, was also taken into custody, and both are expected to appear in court in Denver on Monday. Zazi had been under surveillance by the FBI and CIA for a year leading up to his arrest, and allegedly traveled to Pakistan twice for al Qaeda explosives training. Nine handwritten pages detailing the manufacture and detonation of explosives were found in Zazi's possession, according to the FBI.

Plot #3

BOSTON - A pharmacy college graduate and two friends tried and failed to get into terrorist training camps and then plotted to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and randomly shoot people at American shopping malls, authorities said Wednesday.

Tarek Mehanna, who recently taught math at a Muslim school in Worcester, was arrested early Wednesday at his parents' suburban Boston home. Mehanna was charged with conspiring with two other men — an American now in Syria and another man who is cooperating with authorities — to provide support to terrorists.

Rather than use Waterboarding, Stress Positions and Sleep Deprivation President Obama actually bothers to read his daily security briefings which is a BIG change from where we were at the same point in President Bush's first term.

Again, everything isn't perfect - Chicago still didn't get the Olympics, we don't yet have a comprehensive plan to deal with Afghanistan and Pakistan - but with actual effective diplomacy instead of cowboy bluster, rational policy and bipartisan outreach instead of petty partisan snipe-hunts and vindictiveness our country is certainly headed in a better direction, the right direction, and that's the change I wanted and voted for.

Vyan

Obama White House is Dead Right to Go After Fox

All week long we've been hearing from the Punditocracy questioning the White Houses "Motives" for attacking Fox News.

"What do they hope to gain?"

"Why do they feel the need to "Punch Down"?"

"Don't they realize Fox has unlimited Time to Fight Back?"

"Don't they know it's going to Back Fire?"

Well here's the thing - It's Not! What they've done is shine big bright spotlight on Fox, and now the Cockroaches are starting to scramble for cover.



It's doesn't matter that their is NO REAL DIFFERENCE between Fox's Opinion Commentators and the So-Called "News" reporters as Media Matters has thoroughly documented.

The question we should be considering is how many decades did the Right Wing Decry "Media Bias"? How long did they make it the Mantra? When did it ever "Back-fire" on them?

We've even had studies of so-called Media Bias from UCLA that conclude that the Media has an inherent Left-Wing Bias.

While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper's news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.

These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

"I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

Of course any report that says the Drudge Report Leans Left has to be seriously questioned, but the point isn't whether such charges are true - it's that they've become so common they are often assumed to be true and therefore those with a right-ward persuasion are justified in feeling aggrieved and disenfranchised.

Then comes Fox News.

They claim to be "Fair" in that they won't dismiss Right-Wing Ideas so hair-brained that the Mainstream Media wouldn't touch it while wearing a Level 5 Hazmat suit. They claim to be "Balanced" in that they hire multiple sets of Conservative Republicans like Former Congressman John Kascich (who led the Gingrich Budget Fight Against Bill Clinton in the 90's) and Former Governor Mike Huckabee to Host their own shows, but have yet to do the same for a single solitary Former Democratic Politician?

"Fair"? I think not.

They even gave convicted congressional liar Oliver North his own show!

Shouldn't we be expecting the William Jefferson/Blaggo Variety Hour from them next?

MSNBC is supposedly "Biased" to the left but the largest block of programming they have everyday is hosted by Former Gingrich-Era Republican Congressman Joe (Oops, I just found a dead intern in my office) Scarborough. And each and everyday - sometimes multiple times a day - we get pithy commentary on MSNBC by former Nixon henchman and devout Right-wing Nutball/Neo-Racist Pat Buchannan! If anything MSNBC is pretty darn "Balanced" when *those two* are what you have to cantilever against for contrast.

The point is that no media outlet is perfectly balanced - and it's easy to admit that if you look at the things with as skewed a world-view as Sarah (Death Panel) Palin, Michelle (Anti-American Test) Bachmann, James (Global Warming is a Hoax) Inhofe or John (JUST NUKE 'EM) Bolton of course you think CNN or the New York Times is "Biased" when they refuse to agree with and validate some of your Fracking Crazy, Wacked-Out Ideas - however some of them on their actual News pages, if not their opinion sections, are at least Trying to do their reporting accurately and responsibly. Conversely Fox News not only isn't trying to be balanced on their News Coverage, their deliberately spinning it like a top as was shown when direct orders from Fox VP John Moody were given to his NEWS people to try and look for the "Happy Insurgents"....



The point is that bashing the so-called "Liberal Media" really didn't hurt the Conservatives - they RAN WITH IT like a runaway horse whose tail was on fire. So pointing out the FOX NEWS IS BIASED doesn't really have a downside, what are they going to do Make up even Bigger Lies about Obama?

Besides delegitimizing Fox as a reliable source for News and Facts - this tactic has the additional benefit of actually being true, and ultimately Truth is an Absolute Defense.

Vyan

You Must See the Adventures of Power!

Last night I caught a screening of this Amazing, Funny, Pro-Union, Inspiring and Hilarious new Indie Film called Adventures of Power in Hollywood.

Part Norma Rae, Flashdance, Napolean Dynamite and Rocky this is the best film about NOT drumming you're likely to see - Ever.



I had a chance to participate in a Q&A with Writer/Director/Star Ari Gold at the Laemmle Sunset 5 Theaters in Hollywood and when asked why he wanted to make a movie about Air Drumming he said - "Because I do it.. and it's funny."

At the time I didn't think to mention that the kind of Air Musician Event he envisions at the climax of his film actually exists and has been recorded in films such as the documentary Air Nation.



The Faux Musician Championship was even reported by Faux News. Somehow quite fitting.

So even though the basic premise of the film is completely made-up and seems far fetched - it actually isn't.

Laying beneath the basic idea of self-actualization and realizing your dream purely through having the will to believe the film also touches on many real issues as the father of the main character played by Spinal Tap veteran Michael McKean leads his fellow copper miners through a bitter strike against an oppressive greedy corporation. Eventually though even the bitter hyper-realist father realizes just how important it is to dream, as his own hopes and those of his son become joined in a powerful scene of strikers standing up to a bull-gang of corporate thugs sent to intimidate them into submission, instead of running they stand their ground defiantly Air Drumming to "In the Air Tonight" without sticks as they are viciously beaten with billy clubs.

Yes, we bloody well CAN! Yes we WILL!

The film is playing in very limited release, as Ari described the independent film business has been devastated in recent years and resources that used to be readily available are now long gone.

It's scheduled to be shown in Austin in the next week, then move on to Salt Lake City. After that there will be a limited engagement in Pheonix, Portland and New Mexico.

And just to whet your appetite here's a deleted scene featuring Ari as "Power" in an Air/Real Drum-off with Neal Peart of Rush (who does a brief cameo in the finished film).




More info
http://www.adventuresofpower.com/
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Obama Derangement Syndrome is Real!

In the last few days I'd been thinking about writing this diary, then President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize and Rachel Maddow let the cat out of the bag and halfway down the street.

I've come to realize that Obama Derangement Syndrome (or Baracknophobia) isn't just a cute way to play turn-about on the Right Wing, it's the dangerous deadly truth of how the Wingnuts have turned literally against their own country.



Obama loses the Olympics and they Cheer, Obama wins the Nobel Prize and they Cry - "He doesn't Deserve it!" (Except for the fact that Pound for Pound based on what he actually has done - HE DOES! - not to mention the potential of what he may yet accomplish)

Obama ordered Gitmo Closed and Torture Banned. He presided over the UN Security Council voting Unanimously to Bring the World Ultimately to ZERO Nuclear Weapons. His approach to Diplomacy has brought Iran to the table, exposed their Nuclear deceit and allowed them to agree to have IAEA inspectors brought in to ensure their compliance with International Mandates. Those are all good things, but not the Right.

So for a moment lets look seriously at where the original version of the phrase 'Bush Derangement Syndrome" comes from (Dr.) Charles Krauthhammer who suggested it in relation to an offhand comment by Howard Dean that President Bush's attempts to suppress the 9-11 Report was because he didn't want information coming out that he'd already aware of it ahead of time.

Diane Rehm: ``Why do you think he (Bush) is suppressing that (Sept. 11) report?''

Howard Dean: ``I don't know. There are many theories about it. The most interesting theory that I've heard so far -- which is nothing more than a theory, it can't be proved -- is that he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis. Now who knows what the real situation is?''

Bush Derangement Syndrome: the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.

Now, I cannot testify to Howard Dean's sanity before this campaign, but five terms as governor by a man with no visible tics and no history of involuntary confinement is pretty good evidence of a normal mental status. When he avers, however, that ``the most interesting'' theory as to why the president is ``suppressing'' the 9/11 report is that Bush knew about 9/11 in advance, it's time to check on thorazine supplies.

It's clear from Dean's comment that he doesn't seriously support the theory that Bush was warned by the Saudis prior to 9-11, and that he was doing nothing more than speculating.

However... years later we do know that Bush Received this in the August 6th PDB which at the time of the 9-11 Commission Hearings remained classified. He may not have received a warning from the Saudis but THIS IS WHAT HE DID KNOW more than a month before the attack.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.

Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.

Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.

Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ---- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

They had a ton of information right there - including methods and targets, everything but the date - and Bush did nothing. Nothing. Zero. Zip. ZILCH about it.

In addition to this it was revealed by Bob Woodward that an urgent meeting between CIA director Tenet and then National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice calling a Four Alarm Warning about Bin Laden and al Qeada in July of 2001 was Concealed from the 9-11 Commission.

"The July 10 meeting of Rice, Tenet and Black went unmentioned in various investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks, and Woodward wrote that Black 'felt there were things the commissions wanted to know about and things they didn't want to know about.' "Jamie S. Gorelick, a member of the Sept. 11 commission, said she checked with commission staff members who told her investigators were never told about a July 10 meeting. 'We didn't know about the meeting itself,' she said. 'I can assure you it would have been in our report if we had known to ask about it.'

"White House and State Department officials yesterday confirmed that the July 10 meeting took place, although they took issue with Woodward's portrayal of its results."

It may not have occurred as Dean theorized, or even as Michael Moore suggested in Fahrenheit 9-11 that Bush was slow in his response, and more interested in ready "My Pet Goat" because of his families long standing direct financial ties to the Bin Laden family.

It was not about George W. Bush the person it wasn't just because some people simply had a pathological dislike for George W. Bush - in fact at this point in his career just a month after 9-11 Bush approval ratimgs were in the high 80 percent range - this was because of HIS ACTIONS!

But to Krauthhammer, the intense dislike an eventual calls for "Impeachment" by his most vocal critics had nothing to do with George Bush's Policies... it has to do with those who suffered from "Compromised Intellectual Immune Systems" like of course Barbara Streisand.

Now it's clear Krauthhammer had at least half his tongue in his cheek, never the less the term has stuck - and is even more appropriate now in reverse.

People had good reason to question President Bush on his reasons and rationale for rushing headlong into the Iraq War before the nearly re-inserted Inspectors had finished their job. People had good reason to question Bush's rationale for by-passing the FISA Court to implement broadbased surveillance of U.S Citizens, Journalists and Servicemen without a warrant. People had good reason to question Indifinate Detention in Secret Prisons and Gulags of suspects without Trail access to Habeus Corpus or protections from Mistreatment and Torture.

People had good reason to wonder why it took FIVE FUCKING DAYS to get Fresh Water to New Orleans.

Bush's decision to attacked killed more Americans in a pointless Iraq War than died in 9-11.

Bush CRASH OUR FRACKING ECONOMY by ignoring dangerous lending practices until it was far too late - just like he ignored Bin Laden, just like he ignore Katrina, just like he ignored Afghanistan and Tora Bora, just like he ignored everything - and slammed the country head first into a thick Stone Reality Wall.

These were not Fever Dreams. These were not the Phantasms of a Deranged Mind!

Those of us were bothering to notice had good reason to be upset about all this.

But Death Panels?

Using the Census Bureau to Round Up Republicans and send them to Detention Camps?

We have to fear Socialism and Fascism by Barack Obama when it was George W. Bush who implemented the TARP, took over the Banks and Auto Industry?

We have to fear that Barack Obama is trying to Indoctrinate our School Children by telling them to Stay In School?

Barack shouldn't have bothered even trying to get the Olympics for Chicago unless we pretty much were going to have them anyway?

Barack Obama Doesn't Deserve the Nobel Prize but Yasar Arafat did when the Peace agreement he signed with Izhak Rabin ultimately led to Rabin's assassination? When Desmond Tutu received it years before South African Apartheid ended - a long before there was even any strong evidence that it ever would?

If you have to look for people who are suffering from a serious issue of DERANGEMENT - it's the right wing of this country who have been throwing a massive Temper Tantrum for the last ten months because they think they lost "Their America" - the one where all the really SHITTY things only happened to the Poor and the Brown.

When George W. Bush was first elected, they told the Democrats and those who support Al Gore through the long month of Hell that was Florida to Suck It Up, that they need to Just GET OVER IT and MOVE ON!!

I'm thinking these people are far behind any such good and reasonable advice, and worse -- Thorazine is probably too good for 'em.

Obama Derangement Syndrome is Real! Get the Flynets, the padded rooms are waiting.

Vyan

Betsy McCaughey's massage PWNAGE by Ratigan and Weiner

Dylan Ratigan has been a recent addition to MSNBC's morning lineup, and has been seen doing an ad sport where he says "The job of the Media is to HOUND Money and Power until you get at the Truth.."

Now I know that he wasn't kidding or exaggering after I saw this clip of him taking on Former NY Lt. Governor and current Health Care Shill Betsy McCaughey the "Death Panel" Queen.



He starts over and over again, "What would you like to see (In Health Care Reform)?" - and she continually dodges the question.

Early on she suggests "High Risk Pools" as a method to address the currently uninsured - this would be low-premium high deductable insurance which would provide coverage that would be too expensive to actually use.

This does nothing to contain costs, it simply shifts those costs onto the backs of the sick.

Ratigan comes back again and asks "What are you going to do about this Corporate Communism" that is destroying our country right now?"

To which she says; "That's a Preposterous Statement!"

Preposterous after the failures of AIG & Lehman Brothers followed by a $Billion bailout? Uh, Massive FAIL!

She then goes on to try yet again scare the bejeezus out of Grandma with her Death Panel talk, talk about "Preposterous Statments".

McCaughey: These Bills are a Medical Assault on Seniors

Ratigan: I want to address that, but how do you answer the question that Insurance Companies have a anti-Trust Exemption?

McCaughey then plays the "Tort Reform" Card and both Ratigan and Wiener pounce.

Ratigan: As a percentage of the overall costs Tort Reform is a very small percent. Why would you start with Tort Reform when Insurance Companies have an anti-Trust exemption? How do you contain costs?

Weiner: CBO has asked what would happen if you eliminated 30% of all Tort Cases? The answer is .04%. 48 out of 50 states already have Tort Caps, and what happens is that the Insurance Companies take whatever "Savings" they get and put them in their pocket - it doesn't bring down costs. How do you contain the costs?

Again and again and again they ask how do you cut costs, and this time she answers - "Education, we can have people take better care of themselves with obesity as we have with smoking"

Ok. Right, we cut costs by making people work out more. I'm sure Bally's just saw their stock tick up slightly.

Then starts the whining -

McCaughey: You're not a very fair moderator.

Ratigan: You're not a very fair answerer - it takes one to know one.

...

McCaughey: This has to go down as one of the most brow-beating interviews in television history...

Ratigan: I Hope That it DOES! And maybe you’ll learn at that point then to answer questions as opposed to go on television and cast accusations.”

Then she start whining about those "State Laws" and says Anthony Weiner is "Ignorant about Health Care Issues" - to which Weiner then proves he absolutely IS NOT without losing a breath.

Ultimately she finally admits that her primary method for cutting costs --- is the increase the eligibility age for Medicare up from 65 to 70!

Ok, so while she railing that all these bills in Congress are going to hurt seniors her final answer is to TAKE HEALTH CARE AWAY FROM SENIORS, until they're 70 years old. Brilliant.

There's more but it's truly classic. Even better than John Stewart Take Down of McCaughey.

Vyan