Federal Judge says Hateful Religous Extremists have Rights

if they happen to be Hateful Christian Extremists, that is.

Washington (CNN) -- Missouri's tight restrictions on protests and picketing outside military funerals were tossed out by a federal judge Monday, over free speech concerns.

A small Kansas church had brought suit over its claimed right to loudly march outside the burials and memorial services of those killed in overseas conflicts. The state legislature had passed a law to keep members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church from demonstrating within 300 feet of such private services.

But that doesn't mean that other "Extremists" are going to take this lying down...



While both Democratic leaders (Harry Reid) and Republicans (Pat Buchannan vs Newt Gingrich's Hate Speech) are turning themselves into pretzels of the Mosque that's not a Mosque, in the area that's not Ground Zero - we've been having a set of Bigoted Christian Supremacists running around the country and protesting at the funerals of our troops in order to express their opinion of God's "Diapproval" of Teh Ghey.

It's literally like Leviticus vs John.

Religious Literalists from Westboro want to take the "Abomination of a man lying with a man" to it's ultimate conclusion - but I have this question for them, what about the "abomination" of children talking back to their elders?

Do they deserve to be put to death?

What about the Bible's support for Slavery? What about the prohibition from planting different crops in the same field or wearing cloth of two different types?



What about the fact that Moses under Levitican law allowed people to become divorced, but Jesus overrode him in Matthew 19:

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Jesus argued that Marriage - under God - is for life and that anyone who tried to divorce and marry another, was committing adultery. So should they be put to death, harrassed, shamed? No. Not according to John 8:

3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

The Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church do have a "Right" to protest for their version of the Bible, just as much as others have a right to argue that they've gotten it completely wrong, that Jesus repeatedly overrode and updated Moses Levitican laws. They're like Constitutional Originalists who refuse to acknowledge the 13th Amendment or 14th Amendment.

Or people who say that those Co-exist stickers are "Giving our Country Away".



Florida House Tea Party Candidate Alan West:

– “We already have a 5th column that is already infiltrating into our colleges, into our universities, into our high schools, into our religious aspect, our cultural aspect, our financial, our political systems in this country. And that enemy represents something called Islam and Islam is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, it is not a religion. It has not been a religion since 622 AD, and we need to have individuals that stand up and say that.”

To People who say that Islam isn't a Religion, would you say that to Muhammad Ali? Would you say it to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Islam has been a part of the fabric of America since it's founding, since the Treaty of Tripoli where President John Adams stated:

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion - as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, - and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arrising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Just as our Current President did say....

Obama: This is America, and our commitment to Religious Freedom must be unshakable.

And didn't walk back when he later said this...

Obama: My intention was to simply let people know what I thought... In this country we treat everyone equally, . I was not commenting, and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decisions to put a mosque there, I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. As difficult as some of these issues are, (we should) stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.

In both cases, the President was absolutely correct. Just as the Judge who approved the Westboro protests was correct. In this country we have the Right of Religious Freedom and Expression, the Right to Public Assembly and the Right to Petition our Government.

We have that Right even if what we have to say, and that which we worship is essentially vile and despicable to others. Westboro has that Right, but so does the Park 51 Community Complex.

Fortunately though, we also have the right - to protest the protesters. To call out their Hate and replace it with knowledge, understanding, compassion and outreach just as Jesus replaced the isolationist and openly xenophobic views of Moses, with Love, Forgiveness and Repentance.

It is so interesting to me that so many so called "Christians" don't seem to know the very first thing about Christ - or their own Country.

Vyan

Tea Party Bigotry - Not just for the Sign Carriers Anymore

According to a New York Times/CBS News Poll which included self-proclaimed "Tea Party Members", they are..

– More than twice as likely as the general public (25% vs 11%) to believe that “the policies of the Obama administration favor blacks over whites.”

– Half as likely as the general public (16% to 31%) to believe that “white people have a better chance of getting ahead in today’s society.”

– Almost twice as likely as the general public (52% to 28%) to believe that “too much has been made of the problems facing black people” in recent years.

But it's not like any of that is Racist or anything....

Contrary to the Mark William's claim that that it's "Impossible for the Tea Party to be Racist"... it's seems that that is exactly what they are, and then some...

Williams: It's impossible for the Tea Party to be racist, because it's about the Constitution. It's about individual rights. What's racist about demanding for lower taxes, less intrusive government, no more bailouts and stop the rape of the private sector.

Except for the question of exactly whose going to pay those taxes, because apparently if you ask the Tea Partiers they think it's going to be the "White People" - and whose going to be "intruded on" by the government, they seem to think it's going to be private sector Corporations (run by white people) who have been refusing to give black people loans for the homes and businesses, or to provide them health care.

It's all about the Constitution, except for the the 1st Amendment protections for Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Religion - and except for the 4th Amendment protection against Unreasonable Search and Seizure since these guys like Racial Profiling of Blacks and Muslims so much - and except for the 5th and 8th Amendment protections against "Self Incrimination" due to "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" when it comes to some Terrorist Scum we want to question - and except for the 14th Amendment guarantee of "Equal Protection for All Persons within the Jurisdiction of the State" when it comes to Marriage Equality, and especially children who are born here no matter what sins their parents may or may not have committed.

Once you peel back the union skin this is what you find....

As TP’s Matt Yglesias wrote in this weekend’s Washington Post, right-wing xenophobes are fueling a “summer of fear” that has its roots in the economic downturn. The strategy of linking racial resentment to fears of economic redistribution and government control under a black presidency — in right-wing storylines including Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, New Black Panther Party, ACORN, the “Ground Zero Mosque“, and “anchor babies” — is finding a ready audience among the people who identify themselves as tea party supporters.

To this very day Glenn Beck repeatedly uses the clip of President Obama saying "The Police acted Stupidly" as an supposed example of HIS bias. But the facts are the Sgt Crowley Lied on his Police Report.

When I arrived at 17 Ware street I radioed ECC and asked that they have the caller meet me at the front door to this residence. SNIP . As I reached the door, a female voice called out to me. I turned and looked in the direction of the voice and observed a white female, later identified as Lucia Whalen. Whalen, who was standing on the sidewalk in front of the residence, held a wireless telephone in her hand and told me that it was she who called. She went on to tell me that the observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch of 17 Ware street.

Lucia Whalen never told him any of that - Lucia Whalen never spoke with Officer Crowley. Calling what he did "Stupid" was frankly an upgrade when compared to the facts.

Shirley Sherrod did NOT unfairly discriminate against a White Farmer as a member of the USDA.

ACORN did not steal the 2008 Election, or attempt to help a Pimp and Prostitute setup of a under-age Sex Ring - they called the Police on them - TWICE.

Van Jones didn't sign a 9-11 Truther Petition.

The New Black Panther Party didn't get away with a PLOT to block White People from Voting in Philadelphia.

But these are the things that these people believe, just like their irrational belief in Death Panels.

In a broad study of adults in Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and California conducted between February and March, the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Sexuality (WISER) asked a number of questions about “racial resentment” — such as whether blacks don’t try hard enough or have gotten more than they deserve. Conservatives are 23 percent more likely to be racially resentful, and Republicans 15 percent more likely than Democrats. However, the institute found that this racial sentiment isn’t simply a byproduct of white conservativism:

[E]ven as we account for conservatism and partisanship, support for the Tea Party remains a valid predictor of racial resentment.

It is untrue, as political commentator Dave Weigel argues, that racism in the Tea Party is merely reflective of its conservatism. The WISER study found that compared to other conservatives, Tea Party supporters are:

– 25 percent more likely to have racial resentment.

– 27 percent more likely to support racial profiling.

– 28 percent more likely to support indefinite detention without charges.

Tea Party supporters are also significantly more likely to hold racial stereotypes, with a majority believing blacks are not hard-working, intelligent, or trustworthy. Their fear of others transcends race, however — the WISER study found that a majority of tea party adherents distrust Latinos, Asians, and other whites as well.

See there, at least their equal opportunity paranoids. They fear and loath everyone different from themselves equally. This is why we're having these ridiculous battles over who can put a mosque where - despite our alleged 1st Amendment Right to Freedom of Religion. This is we're hearing so much suddenly about changing the 14th Amendment to prevent Anchor Babies, and why they losing their God Damned Minds over Judge Walker's calm rational Equal Protection Decision in the Prop 8 case.

They're Bigots, plain and simple.



And the Republican Party (and Fox News) is planning to continually play the "White FEAR CARD" - the Southern Strategy Redux in order to ride this wave of paranoia right back into control of Congress.

The sad thing is that it just might work too - if we let them get away with it.

Vyan

David Boies: Under Oath is a Lonely Place to Lie

Wherein David Boies cuts Tony Perkins of the Family Bigot Council into tiny tiny ribbons.



Following the typical Prop H8 Bigot Script Tony Perkins trots all the old saws - The Judge is openly Gay (So I guess you can't trust an Emotional Old Queen to make a decision fairly?) - he ignored all of the "social science" on the issue (none of which was produced by actual scientists) - he ignored the will of the people in 30 states (which has exactly what bearing on the law and Constitution?)


Boies sliced him into guilian fries in seconds:

Boies: All of that is Junk Science. It's easy to come on TV and Lie, but to sit in a witness chair and present your opinions, and have them challenged and be cross examined is a lonely place. It's a lonely place to Lie under oath.

If people like Perkins really believed their position they would have put their asses in a witness chair and taken the heat for it - but most of them didn't

This is what the crumbling of Perkin's Sexual Supremacy sounds like.

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite sex couples are superior to same sex couples.

Meanwhile Ted Olson put Fox News Chris Wallace on the Spot - would you like Your Rights Put up to a Vote?

OLSON: Well, would you like your right to free speech? Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote and say well, if five states approved it, let’s wait till the other 45 states do? These are fundamental constitutional rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees Fox News and you, Chris Wallace, the right to speak. It’s in the constitution. And the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the denial of our citizens of the equal rights to equal access to justice under the law, is a violation of our fundamental rights. Yes, it’s encouraging that many states are moving towards equality on the basis of sexual orientation, and I’m very, very pleased about that. ... We can’t wait for the voters to decide that that immeasurable harm, that is unconstitutional, must be eliminated

Yeah, I'd like to see how well the Rabid Million Moran Fox Nation could withstand the Vote of all those who regular watch every other News Channel combined, not to mention all the fans of Shark Week.

As some have noted the defendants in the case may lack standing to appeal to the Ninth Circuit and thus this decision would be limited to California and Prop 8, which almost makes me wish the Governor and Attorney General would join the suit if only to make Marriage Equality the National Standard.

The 14th Amendment was written - in part - to allow former slaves to marry under the law, how could it not apply to today's couples who've been cruelly and systematically denied the same right out of fear, ignorance, hatred and the outright LIES of people like Perkins?


Vyan
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Everything the Right Wing Believes - Is Crap!

There used to be a time when I could honestly say that I could listen to people on the Right Side of the political spectrum and take what they said at face value. There used to be a time when I could debate honestly with them... that time is long gone.

Newt Gingrich on the Prop 8 Decision

Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. In every state of the union from California to Maine to Georgia, where the people have had a chance to vote they've affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Congress now has the responsibility to act immediately to reaffirm marriage as a union of one man and one woman as our national policy. Today’s notorious decision also underscores the importance of the Senate vote tomorrow on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court because judges who oppose the American people are a growing threat to our society.

Really?

Serously?

Has this fracking douche nozzle even read the Constitution?

Here's a refresher.

Amendment 14:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This Amendment was created to reverse tragically wrong decisions such as Dred Scot where the Supreme Court found...

The question is simply this: Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution.

...

It is very clear, therefore, that no State can, by any act or law of its own, passed since the adoption of the Constitution, introduce a new member into the political community created by the Constitution of the United States. It cannot make him a member of this community by making him a member of its own. And for the same reason it cannot introduce any person, or description of persons, who were not intended to be embraced in this new political family, which the Constitution brought into existence, but were intended to be excluded from it.

In the opinion of the court, the legislation and histories of the times, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument.

Quite literally this decision said that "We the People" from the declaration of Independence and in the Constitution didn't include Black folk, whether they be slaves or free.

It took the 14th Amendment to correct this.

And now the Right wants to tear it apart...

Senator John McCain.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday he supports GOP calls for congressional hearings into altering the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States.

“I support the concept of holding hearings,” McCain told reporters in the Capitol. [...] McCain, who helped lead the charge in 2007 for a comprehensive immigration bill with a pathway to citizenship for illegals, has taken an increasingly hard-line position on the issue as he faces a conservative primary challenger in a state that has become ground zero for the nation’s battle over immigration reform.

Senator Lindsey Graham.

“I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here,” Graham said during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake, that we should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.”

Senator John Kyl.

"And so the question is," said Kyl, "if both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?"

Since when did the sins of the parents become visited upon their children?

Since when did America become a Nation of Hate?



What the hell is America becoming?

They don't want to help 9-11 First Responders, they don't want to help people on Unemployement looking for work, they don't want to support Firefighters and Cops... they don't believe in anything.

John Beohner.

The American people don’t want more Washington ‘stimulus’ spending – especially in the form of a pay-off to union bosses and liberal special interests. This stunning display of tone-deafness comes at the expense of American workers, who will be hit by another job-killing tax hike because Washington Democrats can’t kick their addiction to more government ‘stimulus’ spending. Democrats should be listening to their constituents – who are asking ‘where are the jobs?’ – instead of scampering back to Washington to push through more special interest bailouts and job-killing tax hikes.

No more job killing tax hikes? It's interesting that the recession of the 1980's ended after the Reagan Tax Hike of 1982, and the George H.W. Bush recession ended after the Bill Clinton Tax hike of 1993. You want to know why? Because when you raise taxes on rich people, they Spend More of their Money on Tax Breaks - and that helps the Economy to grow.

These people CAN NOT be allowed to take over Congress, that can't Happen.

It's just unthinkable.

Vyan

George Carlin - You Have to be Asleep to have the American Dream

This just says it all. The Tea Party think they have a BEEF? This is from 2005, and it's still absolutely True.



We're living in the Age of Corporate Fuedalism, the average person hasn't moved forward in wages since 1973, but the top 1% - ONE PERCENT - have seen their incomes TRIPLE. Where do you think that wealth came from? The rest of us.

Vyan

Deficit Demagogues and Budget Bigots

Over again the Republican Party keeps trying to cut taxes on their primary financial supporters (Industry and their Shareholders) trying to tell us that the hello water raining down on our heads is Rain!

Herein where Con. Bilbray attempts to deny reality, returning the Tax Base to where it was during the Clinton Administration (as it was set before Republicans took over Congress in 1994) would not kill the Economy and would not stop job growth.


Over again the Republican Party keeps trying to cut taxes on their primary financial supporters (Industry and their Shareholders) trying to tell us that the hello water raining down on our heads is Rain!

MATTHEWS: Well there he is, Congressman Bilbray, your leader, your whip is now admitting that if you cut taxes, you’re raising the deficit. ... Why would he say something like that that runs against your orthodoxy?

BILBRAY: The fact is, look, Chris, you can’t get around the fact –

MATTHEWS: Well the fact is that he just said that. Why did he just say that cutting taxes at this point is going to yield a lower revenue and therefore a bigger deficit? What he just said what contradicts to what you just said.

BILBRAY: We’re not even talking about cutting about taxes. We’re talking about not allowing an increase –

MATTHEWS: — continuing the Bush tax cuts is what we’re talking about. And that’s what he was talking about.

BILBRAY: And that is maintaining the status quo –

MATTHEWS: — Are you in disagreement with Eric Cantor? Just tell me you disagree with him and we’ll be on the same page.

BILBRAY: I am disagreement with anybody that thinks we can get ourselves out of this mess by raising more taxes on the American people.

Contrary to Billbray's claim that the Republicans "Helped" cut the Deficit during the 90's the truth is that they attempted to Cut MEDICARE (below the Cost of Living Index) while implementing massive Tax Cuts that would have shot the Deficit up through the Roof and it was only because Bill Clinton was willing to call their bluff and shutdown the entire government - TWICE - that they were prevented from doing what George W. Bush did when he came into office - implement massive tax cuts and CUT Medicare (for which they used Reconciliation).

Republicans wanted a 7-Year Balanced Budget, but in reality the Budget was Balanced within 5 years because they used Clinton's strategy which was to ride the economic growth rather than spend everything via tax cuts in order to land on a specific date.

Bilbray - like other Republicans - suggests we rescind the unspent Stimulus and TARP funds, but most of that would lead to the layoff of Teachers, Cops and Firemen in various states and a Tax Increase on Small Businesses. It's completely opposite to everything he's claiming he supports. But then that's why they filibustered the Unemployement Extension and the latest Jobs Bill.

The fact is that Clinton didn't cut taxes he raised them on the Rich by 3% and it didn't hurt the economy, we had the largest and strongest period of economic growth After he did that. The majority if not all of the Bush Tax Cuts need to be rescinded permanently - returning us back to Clinton Era Tax Levels - or this country WILL NEVER get to a Balanced Budget again.

And as was shown on Countdown Last Night - not even the Architect and Implementor of the Reagan Republican Trickle Down Theory is willing to keep up the facade any longer.



But then again maybe none of this has to do with the Deficit or the Budget but really has to do with Rank Partisan Bigotry as (soon to be former Republican Rep) Bob Inglis Admits.

Inglis said that one of the reasons for his defeat was because he refused to demagogue like other conservatives in the House. In one instance during the primary, Inglis was chastised simply for not calling President Obama a “socialist.” He also noted that many of the GOPs criticisms regarding Obama’s response to the economic crisis were motivated by racism:

Instead, he remarks, his party turned toward demagoguery. Inglis lists the examples: falsely claiming Obama’s health care overhaul included “death panels,” raising questions about Obama’s birthplace, calling the president a socialist, and maintaining that the Community Reinvestment Act was a major factor of the financial meltdown. “CRA,” Inglis says, “has been around for decades. How could it suddenly create this problem? You see how that has other things worked into it?” Racism? “Yes,” Inglis says.

This might be why even John McCain has openly said he supports having hearings to revoke the Birthright Citizenship granted by the 14th Amendment - might that be because one of our President's parents wasn't a citizen? Also interesting since McCain himself was born in Panama. Might it have something to do with McCain favored "Danged Fence" Sherrif spouting Militia Rhetoric and appearing on a White Supremacist Radio Show?

Everything the Republicans are doing is driving us full-on back into the ditch that Bush crashed us into as Paul Krugman notes - they're Addicted to Bush

The truth, however, is that the only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style — and they want them back. In recent weeks, G.O.P. leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They’ve even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits.

Mmm Mm, give me some of those Good Ole Time Busisms.

As I've noted before Krugman isn't exaggerating, the Republican Battle Plan as published by Rep. Paul Ryan according to the CBO would...

• Raise Taxes on the Poor and Middle Class by Eliminating nearly ALL Tax Deductions, Offsets and Credits.
• Lower Taxes on the Rich by yet another 12-15%
• Raise Social Security Taxes, while Decreasing Benefits for those under 55 by "Personalizing" up to 1/3rd of it on the Stock Market
• Increase the Eligibility Age for Medicare to 69 and Cut Benefits
• Replace Medicaid with Medical Savings Accounts
• Completely Ignore Climate Change, Stall Green Energy Policies, Environmental Concerns, Safety and Health Regulations

This is what these people want to do, and why the scream and cry so loud. This is what we need to remember every time one of them opens their mouths, they're out to destroy the Middle Class, Period.

Vyan

Tea Party Comix Creator: I'm a Hater - Not a Racist

If you haven't seen any of these Comix Images yet - get ready to be shocked, and then shocked again when you read how the creator of the clearly racist, bigoted and ignorant books reacted when confronted with his Hatred.



From Talking Points Memo

The books were first flagged by Ethan Persoff, the comic book blogger who brought us the hilarious Defense Department Don't Ask, Don't Tell explanation comic book "Dignity and Respect." Pershoff told Rachel Maddow's blog that he bought the first issue of the comic (there are at least three) somewhere in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Each issue of the comic (there are three out on the net) is very, very racist, pulling no punches when it comes to bashing President Obama with the familiar tea party complaints about spending, fears of a biased judiciary and even the infamous death panels (featuring a bonus offensive image of a large-nosed Ezekiel Emanuel.) There's something else interesting about them, one comic book expert at the Atomic Comics megastore in Mesa, Arizona told me today: they're clearly drawn by someone who knows a lot about comics. Each is a fairly faithful parody of a well-known comic book cover.

On this they are right on the money as shown here.

Yeah, it's not like any of that is reminiscent of any of this...



As you might expect in true Tea Party Form, rather than apologize for these Comix, members of the Tea Party instead denied that they were done by a TRUE Tea Partier, claiming instead that they were "a plant"?

"This is not something that is floating around Corpus Christi," Kathy Burnette, president of the largest Corpus Christi, Texas tea party group, told me. "This is the first we've seen or heard of it."

Burnette said her group "unequivocally denounces" the comic book, and said the "content is in poor taste at best and does nothing but cause more division in a time when our country needs unity." She added "racism has no place in our movement or our nation."

Shelby Blakely, executive director of the Tea Party Patriots' official online publication Patriot Journal said fakery in the comics was obvious.

"It's a plant and a bad one at that," she told me. "The truth is in the details."

Blakely said the comic does not have the feel of a tea party "giveaway," which is how one dealer on eBay characterizes it (attempts to reach the dealer today were unsuccessful). Plus, she said, imagery like the Tea Party Comix would raise flags instantly among tea party groups.

Denial is not just a River in Egypt.


That was their story on day one, but now on day two the actual creator of these Comix has come forward to whine that he's NOT a racist, he's just a Hater - the worm has turned.

Subject: TEA PARTY COMIX Thursday, July 29, 2010 5:23 AM

From: [Name and email address redacted by EP.TC]

To: Ethan Persoff

I have taken all TEA PARTY COMIX OFF of [Internet marketplace]. I hope you are happy and I hope the world is a little bit better better place in which to live now. ....I do not understand the connection with "big ears" and "racism", and I do not understand how a "dark face" implies racism...... The accusation of "Hate" is true, but it is the hate of an IDEOLGY, not a of race of people..... I understand that the ideology has captured 80 or 90% of the race(s) in question, but it is STILL a AN IDEOLOGY and NOT a "race" that this comic book attacks.... Cartoonists have historically drawn "the enemy" in a negative light... Please search cartoons of Reagan and Bush for instance ( and please see my caracature of Janet Napolatano in Tea Party Comix #2!)..... Think, and you will have to admit there was NO LIMIT placed upon these depictions.... But somehow, ANY negative drawing of Presient Obama is automatically "racist"... Be honest with yourself, if it is possible. ....Think. And maybe admit that you have an advantage that you are taking advantage OF..... In Tea Party Comix #1 there is a strip in which a person handing out Tea Party Comix #1 has an ALAN KEYES tee-shirt... Did you upload THAT strip?? Not that it would matter to people who think that RACE is more important than IDEOLOGY, but I would think that a fair-minded person might include that strip....

You can edit this and make me into any monster you like, that's up to you. We'll see what a moral person you are, and you can live with that. I'm sure you will be safer than I feel tonight, either way......

The undergrounds of the sixties WERE "allowed". Apparently "Tea Party Comix" are NOT allowed.... To any reasonable man, well, this miight give him something to think about, about how far we have "come"..... Is it truely a BETTER world?? You tell ME! - [name redacted ]

So his serious defense is that his Hate Inspired books aren't "racist" because they only show his anger at a group of people, not because of their skin-tone, but because they share a particular common cultural trait? (ie. Liberals)

How is Hating people who generally agree with Noam Chomsky that different from Hating a groups who believe in the teachings of Mohammad, or Buddha, or Bahia, or Jesus of Nazareth?

Is that not still BIGOTRY?

And for the record the fact that he features someone in an Alan (The Neo-Con Steppin Fetchit) Keyes T-shirt as a "Good Guy" after having a "Big nosed" image of Rahm Emmanuel's (more than a bit jewish) brother is not really convincing.

The funny thing about this is that I pretty much predicted this new strain of racism & bigotry four years ago when I declared Liberal Bashing : The New Racism

John Lennon once sang that "Woman is the Nigger of the World". In the last few weeks, something has become increasing clear to me. Times have indeed changed from the bad-old days of the Civil Rights movement and women's suffrage. No longer is it women who are the chief second-class citizen of this nation. It's not the gays. It's not the immigrants. It's not minorities, be they Black, Brown, Red or Yellow.


Granted, there are an increasing number of issues which affect each of them, but the one method for getting a full on smash-mouth whack at all the above - without being called nasty names, and being accused of being incivil, impolite, or basically a Fucking Dick - is to attack just one group.

Liberals.

You don't have to say you hate "Black People" anymore, all you have to say is you believe in a "Strong Work Ethic" (unlike those Lazy Black people) and you oppose "Socialism" and "Marxism" (especially from people like that Martin Luther King Jr. guy) and you believe in American Exceptionalism (because everyone else from every other Country is Inferior) - but it has nothing to do with disliking other people from other races and backgrounds, it's all "Ideology".

Not getting the "Message"?

All you have to do is listen to the "Heroes" of the Right to hear the message.

Glenn Beck: Liberals want to rape immigrants by denying them social security!

Joe Klein: No doubt "solutions" was a slip--but the notion that "Democratic ideas" might not be an oxymoron represented one small step forward for the perpetually benighted Donkey party

Rush Limbaugh : Let me tell you something, the Democrats are more fearful -- and I've told you this too -- they're more fearful of Christians than they are of Al Qaeda.

And our all time favorite potty-mouth girl, Ann Coulter : I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo.

Is this over-the-top hateful rhetoric really all that different from this argument from "Birth of a Nation"?

The white men were roused by the mere instinct of self-preservation -- until at last there had sprung into existence a great Klu Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern Country.

See, they just wanted Their Country Back Too...

Yet somehow this douch-nozzle thinks what he's done is in some way NOT as vile, hateful and destructive as what D.W. Griffith did with "Birth of a Nation"? It's not as distorted, twisted and bigoted as the Yellow Peril Comics of the 1930's, 40's and 50's?

Is it not raw naked bigotry?

One could argue that the left has been just as verbally and visual biting with those on the Right, however I would include this one caveat - the Left didn't have Make Shit UP about the Right - all they had to do was accurate document them and let the painful truth burn. We didn't have to Lie about Bush exploding the Deficit, Crashing the Economy or falsely invading Iraq or Abu Ghraib, or Gitmo, or Warrantless Wiretaps or Torture and ignoring Bin Laden until it was too late - all of that HAPPENED. But the Right has to Turn Obama into a Characatured SUPERVILLIAN and still none of their criticisms stick because they aren't based on fact or reality (there are NO Death Panels, the Goverment didn't TAKE OVER the Auto Industry or Wall Street, BP wasn't SHAKEN DOWN to create a Slush Fund, there are no FEMA CAMPS, Financial Reform will not take your Bank Account Away) it's all nothing but BUllSHIT and Irrational HATE.

Yet again, Denial is not just a River in Egypt.


One more point: What would happen if the Tea Party held a "Uni-Tea" Diversity rally and nobody but the White People came? Was it because of the Ideology or the Hatred?

Vyan
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/Vyan1
Blog - http://vyan.blogspot.com
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Mi Fullride Contest Begins Today

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The Musicians Institute Fullride Contest Begins Today, allowing YOU to put in your vote on who may have a chance to be become the next Music Superstar! (Fans can Vote Once per Day until August 15th)

MI is one of the premier Music Schools in the nation and includes great musicians such as Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Jeff Buckley, Scott Travers of Judas Priest, John Frusciante and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big and Racer X, Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson) and Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver..


To put your two scents in all to help grant the next MI Superstar with a $10,000 Fullride Scholar Ship all you have to do is Listen and VOTE for your favorite artist at http://fullride.mi.edu

(Which Includes Me -Vyan)

http://fullride.mi.edu/contest.php?sid=185&rid=1980&aid=63715&mid=65854&mtype=1

Semi-Random Riffing



Tumbling Down Video



Vyan