Anyone who thinks they have all the Answers before they've even heard the Question - is Dangerously Deluded! Real Truth Requires Vigilance, Perseverance and Courage, regardless of Party and who wields Power. Left, Right, Center, Corporations, Government, Unions, Criminals or the Indifferent.
Today on Face the Nation, Colin Powell blows a truck sized hole in the Primary Republican Meme Against President Obama being "weak" on Terrorism.
The Relevant portion of the discussion starts at 10 Minutes into the video.
"The point is made, 'We don't waterboard anymore or use extreme interrogation techniques.' Most of those extreme interrogation techniques and waterboarding were done away with in the Bush administration," Powell said. "They've been made officially done away with in this current administration."
"The Transportation Security Administration created by George Bush is still in action working in our airports; they take care of me every day that I go to an airport," Powell told moderator Bob Schieffer.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was also created under President Bush, "and it is still under President Obama working hard," he said. "Our counterterrorism authorities and forces are hard at work. Our law enforcement officials are hard at work. We have gone after the enemy in Afghanistan with 50,000 more troops, more predators are striking al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan. We have continued the policies that President Bush put in place with respect to Iraq.
"The bottom line answer is the nation is still at risk. Terrorists are out there. They're trying to get through. But to suggest that somehow we have become much less safer because of the actions of the administration, I don't think that's borne out by the facts," Powell said.
The facts are the Powell is absolutely correct, most of the so-called "Enhanced Interrogation" Techniques that Dick Cheney continues to call for were Ended by the Bush Administration in 2005 after the CIA Inspector Generals Report found that they were both Illegal and Ineffective.
The real trouble began on May 7, 2004, the day the C.I.A. inspector general, John L. Helgerson, completed a devastating report. In thousands of pages, it challenged the legality of some interrogation methods, found that interrogators were exceeding the rules imposed by the Justice Department and questioned the effectiveness of the entire program.
The Torture Authorizing OLC memos by Yoo and Bybee were all recinded by 2005 - under Bush. The program was scrapped. (Although it should e noted that some elements of it were eventually revived by Bush in 2007, use of water-boarding and nudity remained off the table)
Powell goes on to note that in 8 years have only been THREE successful prosecutions under the Military Commissions system setup by Bush, two of those men, including Salin Hamdan whose Supreme Court Case effectively gutted the Commissions System and established that the Geneva Conventions Do Apply to Detainees, have already been released for time served. People in the Military Commissions still get Layers, like Hamdan's Attorney Commander Swift.
The idea that the only way to keep America Safe is to continue the Criminal Conspiracy of Torture that was headed and Championed by Dick Cheney - is patently ridiculous. This isn't a matter of "differences" unless you idea of a difference is a War Criminal vs NOT a War Criminal.
It's clear that Powell is still a Republican as he attempts to blame the Gridlock in Washington on the "failure to Compromise" on both sides of the aisle, as if the Democrats haven't already Compromised on Single Payer, Medicare for All and the Public Option. He suggests we should follow the example of the founding fathers on the Constitution, while ignoring that their failure to address and resolve the issue of Slavery rather than Kick the Can down the Road with clauses that prevented Congress from outlawing the importation of slaves until 1808 and ratified it's practice with the Fugitive Slave Clause led directly to the Heinous Dred Scott decision and the Civil War.
Every other Country that had Slavery ended the practice without bloodshed.
He're something that crystallizes a thought I've been struggling with for a couple years now. Which is "What the FRACK is Wrong with these Neo-Con, Birther, Deather, Tenther, Seconder, Torture-Monger, Corporate Shill Nut Balls on the Right Wing of this Country?"
Maher: Their A CULT!
Well, gee that pretty much explains everything.
You can't argue with people in a Cult, because the First Rule of Cult Club is you don't trust or listen to anyone who not in Cult Club.
This is why you have them constantly talk about the "Left Wing Media" - it's not their media - so it's not to be trusted, even when the get things 100% correct.
It's not about FACT. It's not about Reality.
The World is only 4,000 Years Old. Jesus Rode a Dinosaur. Climate Change isn't true because of the Snowpocolipse in Washington, even though they have to bring in Snow by the Truck Load in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics.
Sgt Hasan is a Terrorist because his name is Hasan.
Joe Stack isn't a Terrorist because his name is Stack.
Barack Obama isn't keeping our Country safe even though he's killed or captured more terrorist in Afghanistan and Pakistan than George Bush ever dreamed of - and he's an appeaser because he won't go all Jack Bauer on the Ass-Bomber, even though we're getting plenty of actionable (and Legally useful) information from him simply by being Smarter than he is, not more Assholish!
In every way, and in every sense these guys believe a pile of shit that is completely ridiculous. It's not a difference of opinion - it's a difference of REALITY.
And it's not just the Tea Baggers, it's increasingly become more and more of the BASE of the Republican Party. That's why we can't get Health Care. That's why we can't get Financial Regulatory Reform. That's why we can't get a Job's Bill.
This is not a matter of a honest ideological differences - this is total fucking Wackjob Lunacy.
It's time we just came to recognize this for what it is and deal with it accordingly. And that is to handle it the same way that they do on Bully Beatdown.
These people aren't going to recognize reality - Until Reality (Figuratively) Hits them In the FACE!. Their Alpha Male Pit Bulls - (like Mittance Romney), Bill "Fuck it, We'll Do it Live!" O'Reilly or Glenn "Barkin Mad" Beck - don't understand anything other than POWER!
If we need to pop a cap in the Filibuster, then let's do it. If we need to use Reconciliation to pass any meaningful bills - then Let's Do it.
It's time to stop trying to be reasonable with the Unreasoned.
A plane has crashed this morning into government offices in Austin Texas including those housing the IRS. Officials are not saying they think this is an act of domestic terrorism, but they aren't saying that it was an accident either.
A single-engine plane crashed Thursday into an office building housing the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, Texas, in what law enforcement said could be a deliberate act by the pilot.
Local law enforcement officials and the White House, however, said they did not believe the incident was an act of terrorism. U.S. law enforcement officials said authorities were trying to determine if the pilot intentionally targeted the IRS.
What bothers me about this story is the fact that this persons own story seems to mirror my own over the past decade. He was a Contract Software Engineer, as I used to be. He ran afoul of the IRS due to unreported income, I've been practically working under the table and under the radar for that last 5 years now taking in less than $10,000 a year when I used to make an average of $45/Hr a decade ago.
I've been through bankruptcy and multi-evictions. My credit rating is destroyed. I've struggled with rage-aholism and depression. I know there are no millions of Americans who've been through something very similar.
But this guy is a long way down the road from where I am.
He railed about the Bail-outs and Health Care: Via Huffpo
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
He was more than a little cynical about "America".
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”... and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
His biggest issue seemed to be a rather obscure section of the U.S. tax Code.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
It's at the end of the note that things turn most chilling and, in my mind, 'McVeigh-ish"...
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
In my opinion there is no question that this was a terrorist attack against the U.S. Government. This was a Suicide Bombing via plane.
But the open question is will he be pegged as a crank from the left (with his criticism of Health Care, and "GW Bush the Puppet President"), or a crank from the right (and his rabid criticism of a currupt government and unfair taxation ala the Tea Party?) - or does his case completely fail to fit into that framing?
I doubt the right will use this to attack Obama as "Soft" on Terrorism, since there was probably no visible warning and this guys didn't have a "Muslim" name - on the other hand their likely to reject that notion that he has clear "common cause" with the Tea Party movement.
Terrorism isn't just for Muslim's anymore.
More importantly how many more people who've lost their livelihoods and all hope over the last year or last 5 years are likely to self-destruct in equally explosive ways? Or will the size of this destruction instead case them to take pause, take stock, and attempt more productive ways to help recover their sanity and in world that seems to have gone insane?
After slipping out from his undisclosed bunker, Richard B. Cheney appeared On This Week and yet again criticized President Obama for not following in his torture-monger foot steps.
"I think you ought to have all of those capabilities on the table," Cheney told ABC's Jonathan Karl Sunday.
Cheney also said he opposed the Obama administration's ban on waterboarding.
"He announced when he came in last year that they would never use anything other than the U.S. Army manual, which doesn't include those techniques," Cheney said. "I think that's a mistake."
Before I get into the meat of this let me first give Dick some credit for correctly pointing out that Sarah Palin is a War-mongering Super Wingnut for suggesting Obama should go to War with Iran to get re-elected, and for exposing John McCain as a liar and hypocrite for ignoring the Militaries own decision making process on "Don't Ask Don't Tell".
As I pointed out just yesterday there is no evidence - ZERO - that Cheney's Torture-Lite(tm) techniques would have given us better information that what we're already getting from Omar AbdulMutallab by gaining the cooperation and support of his family.
For the record, he's wasn't Mirandized until 9 Hours After his arrest. Richard Reid the "Show Bomber" whose still isn't an American Citizen was Mirandized in the first five minutes back in 2001.
And yes, what Cheney is suggesting is Torture - Cheney's own former Chief of Staff at the Pentagon Ruled that it was in Military Court with a detainee who wasn't even water-boarded.
These techniques were developed by Communist Countries in order to illicit false confessions for political purposes - the same way that Cheney tried to have the Iraqi Head of Security Water-boarded so that he would claim Saddam had something to do with 9-11.
Also the system that Cheney continues to champion that he and Bush "put in place" was smashed to bits by the Supreme Court as Unconstitutional as Hamdan v Rumsfeld in 2006.
(c) Because UCMJ Article 36 has not been complied with here, the rules specified for Hamdan's commission trial are illegal. The procedures governing such trials historically have been the same as those governing courts-martial. Although this uniformity principle is not inflexible and does not preclude all departures from courts-martial procedures, any such departure must be tailored to the exigency that necessitates it.
...
(d) The procedures adopted to try Hamdan also violate the Geneva Conventions. The D. C. Circuit dismissed Hamdan's challenge in this regard on the grounds, inter alia, that the Conventions are not judicially enforceable and that, in any event, Hamdan is not entitled to their protections. Neither of these grounds is persuasive.
Now Bush and Congress responded to this decision with the Military Commissions Act, but even the tribunals established under this act have had a Rocky Road with at least SEVEN Prosecutors who've resigned in protest because of the disorganization of the Commissions and slipshod handling of the evidence.
"I am highly concerned, to the point that I believe I can no longer serve as a prosecutor at the Commissions, about the slipshod, uncertain 'procedure' for affording defense counsel discovery."
Even before Hamdan in 2004 the CIA Inspector General had ruled that the program was deeply illegal and ineffective.
The real trouble began on May 7, 2004, the day the C.I.A. inspector general, John L. Helgerson, completed a devastating report. In thousands of pages, it challenged the legality of some interrogation methods, found that interrogators were exceeding the rules imposed by the Justice Department and questioned the effectiveness of the entire program.
Because of this Cheney's pet interrogation program was all but dead by 2005.
And even if AbdulMuttalab had been put into the Military System, he would have still be required to have a lawyer as per a decision from former Federal Judge (And Bush Attorney General) Michael Mukasey ruled in the Jose Padilla Case.
Via Glenn Greenwald
I want to highlight one extremely relevant consideration concerning Judge Mukasey -- the impressive role he played in presiding over the Jose Padilla case in its earliest stages. After Padilla was first detained in April 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," he was held incommunicado, denied all access to the outside the world, including counsel, and the Bush administration refused to charge him with any crimes. A lawsuit was filed on Padilla's behalf by a New York criminal defense lawyer, Donna Newman, demanding that Padilla be accorded the right to petition for habeas corpus and that, first, he be allowed access to a lawyer. That lawsuit was assigned to Judge Mukasey, which almost certainly made the Bush DOJ happy.
But any such happiness proved to be unwarranted. Judge Mukasey repeatedly defied the demands of the Bush administration, ruled against them, excoriated them on multiple occasions for failing to comply with his legally issued orders, and ruled that Padilla was entitled to contest the factual claims of the government and to have access to lawyers. He issued these rulings in 2002 and 2003, when virtually nobody was defying the Bush administration on anything, let alone on assertions of executive power to combat the Terrorists. And he made these rulings in the face of what was became the standard Bush claim that unless there was complete acquiescence to all claimed powers by the President, a Terrorist attack would occur and the blood would be on the hands of those who impeded the President.
Both Jose Padilla and Ali Al-marri, the only two persons arrested for terrorism on U.S. Soil who actually were placed in Military Custody, were both ultimately tried and convicted in civilian courts.
So essentially what Cheney suggests shouldn've been "on the table" really isn't even legally viable. It's nowhere near the table, in fact it's not even in the same room as the law and the Constitution.
Speaking of "Granting Terrorist the Rights of Americans" - I thought Conservatives believed that the one thing that makes America unique and "Superior" to other countries was idea that Human Rights are granted By God rather than by government, isn't that what makes them "Inalienable"?
Dick Move Number 2 was Cheney's attempt to take Credit for the Iraq Withdrawal, which conventiently ignores how long Bush and Cheney both argued as recently as last June that the last thing we should do in Iraq - is set a date for Withdrawal or else chaos might erupt as the insurgent simply "Wait for us to leave".
Mr. Cheney told The Washington Times’ America’s Morning News radio show that he is a strong believer in Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and that the general is doing what needs to be done.
“But what he says concerns me: That there is still a continuing problem. One might speculate that insurgents are waiting as soon as they get an opportunity to launch more attacks.
Unlike the Bush Administration the Obama Presidency actually has a chance to "Win" the War on Al Qeada by aggressively pursuing them in Afghanistan (where a brand new massive offensive was just announced) and working closely with our allies in Pakistan as well as drying up their recruitment and re-enforcements by recommitting our country to the Rule of Law, our own Constitution, Ideals of Justice, Fairplay and the Geneva Conventions.
Y'know - everything that you FAILED to do - Dick.
Vyan
P.S. And Cheney et al. may not entirely be out of legal jeopardy on this, there's considerable evidence the Abu Zubaydah was abused long before the Yoo, Bybee memos were even written. The British inquiry into the Iraq War has found that Binyam Mohammed was brutally tortured also before the OLC Authorizing Memos.
In 1983 a Texas Sherrif was prosecuted and sentenced to 10 Years for water-boarding a suspect. All of that was before the President Reagan signed the U.N. Convention against Torture in 1988, and the War Crimes Act as passed in 1994. With Eric Holder's Special Prosecutor still out there investigating this issue, Cheney is a long way from being entirely "Safe".
Tea Baggers are again up-in-arms at being viciously attacked by those LEFTIES at Marvel Comics who dared to associate their cause with that of - a band of White Supremacists!
How Dare they! How could they so clearly misunderstand what Tea Bagging is all about?
Keith explains...
This is what the big stink is about.
Just how miffed are the Baggies about this? This miffed:
Like Dave Weigel I'm a longtime comics collector and fan, so let me take this piece by piece.
This guy complains that Marvel has been "influenced by the left" because of the Character Northstar from Alpha Flight - was one of the first openly gay Characters in Comics. (As a French Canadian, he was pretty much halfway there already wasn't he?) All kidding aside, Northstar actually came out in order to help bring more awareness to the epidemic of AIDS. Yeah, Marvel was obviously out to help that "Lefty Conspiracy" to keep people from dying. This occurred during a time when President Ronald Reagan wouldn't even SAY the word "AIDS" in public.
He actually invokes Frederick Wertham and the "Seduction of the Innocent" in a positive light? A book that alleged that Wonder Woman was a bondage lesbian and Batman was a Gay Pedophile because of close relationship with orphan Dick Grayson?
The hysterical Reefer-Madness element of Wertham's 1954 book actually inspired congressional action with the Senate Subcommitte on Juvenile Deliquency. This frightened the Comics industry so badly that William Gaines publisher of EC Comics called together an emergency meeting of all the various companies to come up with a plan to combat this suppression.
Excerpt of Gaines testimony:
* Chief Counsel Herbert Beaser: Let me get the limits as far as what you put into your magazine. Is the sole test of what you would put into your magazine whether it sells? Is there any limit you can think of that you would not put in a magazine because you thought a child should not see or read about it? * Bill Gaines: No, I wouldn't say that there is any limit for the reason you outlined. My only limits are the bounds of good taste, what I consider good taste. * Beaser: Then you think a child cannot in any way, in any way, shape, or manner, be hurt by anything that a child reads or sees? * Gaines: I don't believe so. * Beaser: There would be no limit actually to what you put in the magazines? * Gaines: Only within the bounds of good taste. * Beaser: Your own good taste and saleability? * Gaines: Yes. * Senator Estes Kefauver: Here is your May 22 issue. [Kefauver is mistakenly referring to Crime Suspenstories #22, cover date May] This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up which has been severed from her body. Do you think that is in good taste? * Gaines: Yes sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that the neck could be seen dripping blood from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody. * Kefauver: You have blood coming out of her mouth. * Gaines: A little. * Kefauver: Here is blood on the axe. I think most adults are shocked by that.
If he thinks that was in "bad taste" he should see some Japanese Manga comics - or any of the Saw Movies. Not all of this is "kid stuff" simply because it's printed on paper with pictures.
EC itself was a great risk since the core of their line included various horror comics such as "Tales from the Crypt" and "Vault of Horror" - all of which were morality tales wear a person who has done some type of wrong or evil is karmically punished in inventive ways. These titles were highly popular and very lucrative allowing EC to also published a set of very intense and hyper-realistic Saving Private Ryan-styled war comics by artist Harvey Kurtzman such as Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales.
As Dave Weigel alludes to in his segment with Keith, instead of coming up with a plan to fight back, Gaines meeting went horribly wrong as all the other publishers decided to create a self-censorship board called the Comics Code Authority, and made a pact with distributors not to sell ANY COMIC that didn't include a Comic Code "Seal of Approval" which could only be gained if the comic didn't include pretty much anything that was part of the basis for most of EC's Line of Books.
Like the previous (Hollywood) code, the CCA prohibited the presentation of "policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions ... in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority." But it added the requirements that "in every instance good shall triumph over evil" and discouraged "instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal's activities." Specific restrictions were placed on the portrayal of kidnapping and concealed weapons.
Depictions of "excessive violence" were forbidden, as were "lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations." Vampires, werewolves, ghouls and zombies could not be portrayed. In addition, comics could not use the words "horror" or "terror" in their titles. The use of the word "crime" was subject to numerous restrictions.
Where the previous code had condemned the publication of "sexy, wanton comics," the CCA was much more precise: depictions of "sex perversion", "sexual abnormalities", and "illicit sex relations" as well as seduction, rape, sadism, and masochism were specifically forbidden. In words echoing the Hollywood Production Code, love stories were enjoined to emphasize the "sanctity of marriage" and those portraying scenes of passion were advised to avoid stimulating "lower and baser emotions."
The Wingnut Wetdream Comics Code essentially put EC and Gaines almost entirely out of business with one lone exception - Mad Magazine.
Harvey Kurtzman had to give up his war books, and over the next several decades spent his time doing a low-grade porn comedy strip in Playboy Magazine called "Little Annie Fannie".
From Tales of the Crypt and Frontline Combat to Mad Magazine and Little Annie Fannie - that is the legacy of what Dr. Wertham hath wrought.
But even despite the Comics Code, what the Bag-Boys apparently doesn't know is that Captain America has nearly always leaned toward Liberty and against angry radicalized movements.
During the 70's the turmoil and disillusionment of the Vietnam War and Watergate led the original Cap (Steve Rogers) to give up being Captain America - (as he wasn't sure what it stood for anymore) - and to become The Nomad.
Later in the 80's Steve again left behind his his Captain America identity after being pressured by government officials to work directly for them. He refused, and took the name "the Captain" and was replaced by an extremely unstable right-wing Super-Patriot named John Walker in the Captain America uniform.
Rogers eventually regained his CA uniform, and Walker became U.S. Agent. Rogers was eventually killed after a Marvel Civil War over the issue of whether all superheroes should admit their identities and register with the government in the wake of 9-11. Rogers had led the forces of those opposed to registration against other heroes led by former Secretary of Defense Tony Stark (Iron Man):
The current Cap is Roger's former partner Bucky Barnes - but he's not exactly the plucky kid side-kick he used to be. In a plot twist which seems taken directly from the Bond novel "You Only Live Twice", Bucky who had long been thought dead had instead been brainwashed and turned into an Assassin by the Soviet Union.
After being cured and the apparent death of Rogers (who has since been "Reborn") Bucky has become the gun and knife wielding latest version of Cap.
This is the guy the baggers are whining about being too "Lefty"? The sad part is how fast Marvel Editor in chief Joe Quesada capitulated and apologized for the "Mistake" of linking Tea Partiers to Racism. He gave in even faster than the industry cow-towed to Wertham's delusions back in the 1950s.
It seems there's a new third rail in American politics -- don't mess with the Tea Partiers -- and Marvel Comics has inadvertently grabbed it with both hands. And even though members of the Tea Party movement have extracted a half-hearted apology and a promised retraction from Marvel, their anger has barely abated.
In a recent issue of Captain America, the long-time superhero and his African-American partner The Falcon travel to Idaho to investigate a white supremacist militia group, the Watchdogs, who are long-time villains in the Marvel Universe. On the way, they pass an anti-tax rally where the protesters are holding up signs bearing familiar Tea Party slogans, such as "Stop the Socialists!" and "Tea Bag the Libs Before They Tea Bag You."
This implied mockery of the Tea Partiers quickly aroused a firestorm of indignation on conservative blogs and message boards, made even worse by the implied association between the protesters and the local racist militia.
One particularly angry blogger, Warner Todd Huston, wrote, "So, there you have it, America. Tea Party protesters just 'hate the government,' they are racists, they are all white folks, they are angry, and they associate with secretive white supremacist groups that want to over throw the U.S. government."
Not to worry since Marvel has already apologized, and blamed the offending signs on a naughty inker and claim that they won't be included in future pressings of issue #602 of Captain America. Yeah those Baggers like nothing but some quick appeasement.
It really isn't all that far-fetched to think that the Bagger movement might, just might find common cause with Anti-Government White Supremacists. Maybe we should ask Tom "Literacy Test" Tancredo, or better yet, Meghan McCain?
McCain: "Literacy Test"? This is inate racism.
Gene Robinson: People who looked like myself died to help end the use of Literacy Tests and the Poll Tax to block blacks from voting.
Yeah, they do hate government. They do claim to want a "Revolution" and yeah, they do associate with "angry white folks" who fear and hate black people, minorities and those durn furriners who can barely say the word "Vote" in english.
The problem is that the Tea Party movement does have a clear racist streak - whether it's opposition to Barack Obama because he's black or whether they see him as a Liberal doens't much matter. Republican and Democratic Liberals on the Left have repeatedly been the champions of minorities and the disenfranchised achieving equal rights and protections - be they women, black, gay, young (SCHIP) or old (Social Security, Medicare).
The Right and Conservatives, regardless of party, have been historically in the way of this progress - they've fought time and time again to dismantle the protections for the vulnerable erected by Liberals be that the EPA or Medicare, they've have used cheap race baiting like James O'Keefe silly Pimp Tricks with ACORN to maintain the status quo power structure. They argue despite all evidence from the actual troops - that the troops couldn't possibly function with openly gay members.
Very often attacking the "Lefties and Liberals" is merely a way to attack minorities by proxy. Not everyone on the right is "racist" clearly, but they often find common cause with racists. The distinction between their agendas is paper-thin and should be called out often and loudly.
The fact is that Captain America is the least of their problems with race, but if they want to say that he has a "Liberal Agenda" - go right ahead, he certainly isn't on their side of this issue.
Not that any of us who've actually been paying attention would expect some type of consistency from the Half-Term Governor, but this is frankly mind-blowingly disingenuous. via HuffPo
She says that Limbaugh "Didn't call anyone retarded, it was merely satire"...
Satire? Y'mean like when a late night comedian makes a joke about your not-exactly-abstinent (adult) daughter being in the proximity of a known playboy baseball player?
That kind of Satire?
Not that any of us who've actually been paying attention would expect some type of consistency from the Half-Term Governor, but this is frankly mind-blowingly disingenuous. via HuffPo
She says that Limbaugh "Didn't call anyone retarded, it was merely satire"...
Satire? Y'mean like when a late night comedian makes a joke about your not-exactly-abstinent (adult) daughter being in the proximity of a known playboy baseball player?
In this full length version of the interview between Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly there are so many golden moments where Stewart just completely burns O'Reilly and Fox News to the ground, but not very surprisingly most of the best bits were edited out of the final broadcast.
One section edited out near the 11 min mark was a discussion of how Stewart's Show Treated O'Reilly over the issue of protests under Bush and protests under Obama.
Stewart: I disagree that we took you out of context.
O'Reilly: You mocked me.
Stewart: We have, we do mock. If you had said "Most people surveyed think that protested who are arrested are Loons" we wouldn't have used the clip, but you didn't say that.
And he didn't, O'Reilly's whine here is that the Daily Show cut out his preface statement which said "Most of the protesters are peaceful" and ignored that later statement where he went on to say "Most people surveyed think the protesters are LOONS!" when there was no distinction made between those who were violent protesters and those who weren't. It's clear that O'Reilly felt anyone who protested the Iraq War and President Bush - Were Lunatics, he's constantly talking about the Lunatic Left Fringe so this dodge isn't very artful.
Later on Stewart does a full-on vivisection of Fox News, cutting it to it's core. And apparently he did so well that O'Reilly had to print a rebuttal on his own site.
Mr. Stewart bases his GOP belief primarily on two guys, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. As everybody knows, Sean is a conservative who admires the politics of Ronald Reagan, and he is very consistent with his point of view. So why does that offend people? Shouldn't there be one program, one program on cable news hosted by a political conservative? Does CNN have anybody like that? Does MSNBC? Does "Headline News"? Come on.
And then there's Glenn Beck. Trust me on this one: Beck doesn't like most party politics. He is a constitutionalist. He takes a very traditional point of view on what America should be. It's ridiculous, crazy even to assert that Glenn Beck devotes his program to promoting the GOP.
First off yes CNN does have people like that on staff (but they don't constantly expose their opinions on air) Lynn Cheney and Tucker Carlson both used to work for CNN. Headline News - IS NEWS, not "Headline Opinion." So does MSNBC. Let's take the show on MSNBC that airs for the longest time Morning Joe with former Gingrich Era Congressman Joe Scarborough, and follow that up with Pat Freaking Buchanan.
More from O'Reilly post interview cleanup:
As far as the rest of Fox News is concerned, we have plenty of Republicans and plenty of Democrats on the staff, but nobody here really cares about that. If you're good at your job, you get to keep your job. If you watch the reporting by our hard news people, much of it brought to you by Bret Baier and Shepard Smith, two very fair guys, you know it's all facts, all the time.
I give some credit to Shep Smith, but he's just one out of a full house of crazy.
Secondly Stewart's main complain wasn't just with Hannity and Beck, it was with the entire Network being deliberately right-wing and getting away with it using just a sprinkling of neo-objectivity from people like Shep Smith or Major Barret every once in awhile. They discuss this about 16 Mins in.
Stewart: What are you News from 9am to 11am, then again from 1pm to 4pm? You're "News" every other Tuesday, with Jewish Holidays off?
You've taken a cyclonic media arm of a political party and sprinkled it, you've cut it a little bit of "objectivity" - a little bit of Chris Wallace asking a tough question.
O'Reilly: What do you mean? We're News from 9 til 4 when Cavuto comes on.
Stewart: Not even close, because they're also part of the Journey.
O'Reilly: What's the Journey?
Stewart: The Journey begins in the Morning with the wide-eyed Innocent of Fox and Friends: "Y'know Obama has a lot of Czars, I googled 'Czar' - did you know that's a Russian word? For a Russian Leader?" Or "These children in second grade are singing the praises of Obama, did you know they sing the praises of their leader - In North Korean"
And then when the Hard News starts it's like "Some people are concerned that they're indoctrinating children"
O'Reilly: You think that the Fox News Network is setup solely to provide aid and comfort to the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement.
Stewart: That's right, and to make some money.
O'Reilly then tries to counter all of these examples by arguing that since Fox News isn't biased for Republicans because neither John McCain or Dick Cheney would comes The Factor.
Stewarts: McCain's not "GOP Enough" for you - and maybe Dick Cheney saw all these lights - y'know he hates to come out of the dark
More from O'Reilly's cleanup:
Now Stewart has a minor beef with the "Fox & Friends" crew in the morning, but that's a hybrid news/entertainment program. So my question for John is this: You have an entertainment program. You're a liberal. So what if some of the "Fox & Friends" crew are conservative? Doesn't that balance things out?
So you're argument is that Stewart's COMEDY Show is "Liberal" so Fox gets to have a NOT COMEDY SHOW that isn't Liberal and that's some kind of Balance? Does anybody remember when Fox tried to actually do a "Conservative Comedy" Show that featured Funny Guy and Gal Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter on it's debut program? That's lasted about half a minute, didn't it?
I don't think Stewart begrudges that Fox that Fox is (Mostly) Conservative, it's just that they play this bullshit game of pretending they aren't - and then when they get called on it they're excuse is well, gee everyone else is SO LIBERAL then don't we have a responsibility to be SO Conservative?
They can't seem to make up their damned mind. Are you "Fair and Balanced" or are you Conservative? Nevermind the fact that MSNBC Does have a Conservative Hosted Program on the air... where's the Fox Liberal Hosted Program?
And no, Greta Van Susteren doesn't come close. She's about crime and sensationalism and always has been since she got her start in broadcasting as a consultant with Geraldo Rivera during the first O.J. Trial. She's an ambulance chaser, not a journalist.
Seriously, these guys couldn't let Alan Colmes outdoors to take leak without Hannity holding his leash, and now even he's gone. I frankly don't give a Crap that Fox is Conservative, I'd just wish they'd Admit It stop Lying about it - and Stop Pretending to be NEWS!.
But the best part was when Stewart took down Cavuto.
Stewart: You (O'Reilly) have become in some ways the voice of sanity here. Which when said is like being the skinniest kid at Fat Camp.
O'Reilly: Cavuto's Sane?
Stewart: No, he is not.
O'Reilly: Cavuto is insane? Neal Cavuto?
Stewart: His thing is all about questions. "Are Democrats Tanking the Stock Market?" It's all done with this very subtle propaganda, it's all done in questions. "I'm not saying Obama is a Stalinist, I'm just putting up Stalin's picture behind me and saying all his programs (are).
Look I grew up in Jersey, I know what this is: "I'm not saying you're mother's a whore - I'm just saying she has Sex for Money!"
Here's how I know you are (In the Tank for Republicans), because Fox News has done a 180 on so many integral principles of what a News Organization should be. Fox News used to be all about "You don't criticize a President during War Time. It's unacceptable, It's Treasonous -it gives Aid and Comfort to the Enemy." All of a sudden, for some reason you can say "Barack Obama is destroying the Fabric of this Country".
Here's what Fox has done through their cyclonic perpetual emotion machine. 24 Hours a Day. 7 Days a Week. They've taken reasonable concerns about this President and this economy and turned it into a full-fledge panic attack about the Coming of Chairman Mao!
O'Reilly response to this was priceless...
O'Reilly: Some people do that - but most don't. Not Brett Baier?
Ok, Look - when you have people on your network seriously suggesting that the President is a Stalinlist and you're defense is basically "Not All of 'Em" - it reminds me of the Kathy Griffin routine where she goes off on the Catholic Church being a bunch of "Kid Fuckers" and her mother weakly exclaims..."Not All of 'Em"!
It's 2 mins into this routine.
When you traffic is things as toxic as calling the duly elected President of the United States a Secret Muslim Terrorist/Stalinist/America-Hater - it becomes the DUTY of the rest of the people on that Network to MAKE IT CLEAR that they disagree, not just passively let those things slide - because if you do, then the entire rest of the Network is tacitly (if not actively) endorsing it.
Afterwhich you shouldn't be SHOCKED that a significant percentage of your audience believes that Crap.
It's like not everybody in the Tea Party Movement has a Obama is Hitler Sign in their hand, but you NEVER see anyone of them complain or protest the use of that kind of imagery, do you? It's then fair to say - They Support it.
You don't have to be holding the sign yourself, you just have to be standing next to the crazy guy with the sign while smiling and wearing the "I'm With Teh Crazy" T-shirt to show where you stand on the issue.
In this interview on the Young Turks, Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz lays out the current path forward on Health Care Reform to Cenk.
Definitely worth a listen all the way through. Transcript Here.
Essentially DWS describes the path to passage that I outlined last week with a couple small modifications.
CENK UYGUR: Yeah. Now you have a Senate version which I think is an absolute gift to corporate America. They love every piece of that legislation. You guys say you're not going to pass that in the House, right? Or if you do, you need a second bill that goes through reconciliation.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I think we'll pass this. I think we'll pass the reconciliation bill with a majority of the House and a majority of the Senate before we agree to vote on the Senate bill. So if it goes down like that, what I think will happen is, we will hold the Senate bill at the desk in the House, pass the reconciliation bill with a majority of the House, send it to the Senate, wait for them to pass it, and only then would we pass the Senate bill.
CENK UYGUR: All right, now we're making news.
Acoording to Wasserman-Schulz the House is currently working on a Reconciliation Amendment to the Senate Bill that can pass constitutional muster. My thoughts last week were that the House would need to pass the Senate Bill first, then work on a Reconciliation Amendment to fix it afterward - apparently they're doing exactly that but in the reverse order. Pass a fixing/correcting Amendment - then vote to pass the Senate Bill which will then include those corrections.
The problems are that anything included in the Amendment has to directly relate to funding issues and the House is currently working with the parliamentarians to outline what can and can not be included.
Just as Chris Mattew's told Alan Grayson you can't possibly get everything under the sun through Reconclliation, because it only allows you to fund or defund existing programs, however what you can do is pass an Amendment to an existing bill.
CENK UYGUR: Okay, and of course, the other major question everybody's got on their minds is, will it also have a public option in it?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It's unlikely that we can do in public option in a reconciliation bill because it's not funding related.
CENK UYGUR: Wait, I... Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't understand that at all. I thought the public option was completely funding related.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No because, it's...I mean, it's not a funding, I mean, mechanically, it's not a funding issue. The public option is the way you would structure, I mean, I'm trying to find the best way to explain it.
CENK UYGUR: No. I understand. It's, you know...
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It's not a funding mechanism.
CENK UYGUR: But it certainly affects the deficit. It certainly affects the budget, and I thought that was the necessary requirement for being included in a reconciliation bill.
The Public Option is not a current or active program, therefore it can't either have it's funding increased or decreased through Reconciliation. In the past Reconciliation has been used to fund the Iraq War (which was already ongoing) to implement the Bush Tax Cuts (which are clearly a funding issue) and the expand SCHIP (which was already an active program) - the Public Option is none of the above.
For the same reasons Drug Re-importation probably can't be included, nor can drug renegotiation. But you can do some things to modify or even exclude the excise tax as well as some other spending/funding modifications.
As I've said before, the Public Option is pyrate - the Real Gold is the Exchange...
Klein: There's a 80-90% Chance that we'll have Insurance Reform this year, which will ban Pre-existing conditions, and you'll have Health Care Exchanges - which will lower the prices for small business and individuals.
Klein: The Public Option is peripheral to the really important stuff here.
Ed: It's not.
Klein: I've been covering this 20 years, you can have Universal Coverage without a Public Option. What does the Public Option do? It's give bargaining power to the public against the insurance companies - that is precisely what the Health Exchange Does!
The Exchange actually does provided the Interstate Competition that Repbulicans have been clamoring for. It provides for choices and an economy of scale that can drastically lower prices. Further with pre-existing conditions banned (or at least limited), as well as a mandated medical loss ratio of 80-85% which ensures that most of the money provided in premiums actually goes directly into care and not into inflating stock prices - there is quite of bit of cost containment even in the Senate Bill.
CENK UYGUR: How. There's no public option. There's no check. How are you going to bring the cost down?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Because you're broadening the pool. You're prohibiting them from dropping people for preexisting conditions. You're requiring the insurance to be Guaranty Issue, you're setting the premiums... Just look what we're doing for women. Women pay on average a 48% higher premium, Cenk, right now, simply because of our gender. We're going to prohibit that and only allow very basic things for the premiums to be based on. That's gonna bring down costs all by itself.
CENK UYGUR: I don't want the audience to get misled into thinking that I don't think there are good things about this. There are. You do expand coverage.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you.
CENK UYGUR: There's no question about that.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Hallelujah.
CENK UYGUR: Ok. You expand coverage. What the things that you mentioned are absolutely true. But I'm going to guarantee you right here that our premiums are going to skyrocket.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: You are wrong. And I will come, I'm happy...
CENK UYGUR: The things that you mentioned are not cost containment. They expand coverage.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Okay. I will bet you that that's not true and I will come back on your show so that we can have another conversation about that so you can congratulate me that I was right.
CENK UYGUR: Okay. Two years from now, if my premium goes down, I'll pay for your insurance.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: That sounds good. Perfect.
CENK UYGUR: If my premium goes up, you pay for my insurance.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It works for me. I gotta run though. I'm sorry.
Cenk expresses more than a bit of skeptiscm that without a Public Option the price gouging that the Insurance Companies have been engaging in will be curbed - this is an issue I've addressed repeatedly - and I still maintain that even without the public option costs are likely to GO DOWN.
The proof of this isn't theory, it's History. During the 90's simply the threat of implementing a Health Care system that included Exchanges (which at the time were called "Associations") under the original Hillary Clinton plan did the following to the cost of private health insurance.
No Public Option was even considered at the time, yet medical inflation costs actually dropped below the Consumer Price Index and Wage inflation. The Public Option is a nice "get", but it's not a Must have.
But there's something even more important that Cenk and Debbie discuss here that goes by without being seriously considered - costs are not and should not be the bottom line issue, it should be about SAVING LIVES!
Even if Cenk is right and Debbie is wrong expanding Health Care coverage to another 35 Million Americans will put a huge dent in the 45,000 Americans who DIE each year from lack of coverage. Over ten years that could potentially save as much as 400,000 Lives.
How much is too much to pay for that?
Democrats have had such a difficult time with this because they've been repeatedly arguing about spare change rather than addressing what the Republicans and Tea-Baggers have been talking about - Life and Death. And the sad part is that we've always been on the winning side of that argument, but have failed to use the fact that expanding healthcare protects and save American Lives as a rallying cry.
It's time we got on the Moral side of this issue, and stopped squabbling over lose sheckles. What isn't perfect in the bill now, can be fixed in the future - meanwhile children who had been blocked from care because they had to temerity to get sick, will be able to get it.
Like Dave Weigel I'm a longtime comics collector and fan, so let me take this piece by piece.
