A Liberal's Hit List: Aug 28, 2009

O'Reilly Butt Boy, Goldberg, Has a Scoop (Reported 9 Years Ago) on Bush's Military Records

Friday, August 28, 2009

By David Neiwert
Crooks and Liars

Bernard Goldberg was on The O'Reilly Factor last night touting his hot new scoop in the long-running controversy over George W. Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard:

Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is it: Mary Mapes knew before she put the story on the air that George W. Bush, the alleged slacker, had in fact volunteered to go to Vietnam.

Who says? The outside panel CBS brought into to get to the bottom of the so-called “Rathergate” mess says. I recently re-examined the panel’s report after a source, Deep Throat style, told me to “Go to page 130.” When I did, here’s the startling piece of information I found:

Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 [2004] Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG [Texas Air National Guard] did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush “did want to go to Vietnam but others went first.” Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify.

This information, despite the fact that it has been available since the CBS report came out four years ago, has remained a secret to almost everybody both in and out of the media — one lonely fact in a 234- page report loaded with thousands of facts, and overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the documents.

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We Have Federal Laws On Torture For A Reason!

By CSPANJunkie
Crooks and Liars

August 24, 2009 News Corp

(Heather): Wow. Bill-O actually put someone on his show who does a good job of shooting down his talking points. O'Reilly thinks that no one wants torture investigated and that it's just a witch hunt, and that our torture program was "an absolute success". Jami Floyd hits back at him with some logic, like the Department of Justice is not supposed to be politicized, and that "we have federal laws on torture for a reason".

I guess after all of those years of the Bush administration using the D.O.J. as a political arm of the White House, Bill-O is having a little bit of trouble understanding that how the Bush administration did things is not exactly how they are supposed to work.

Transcript below the fold.

O'REILLY: "Unresolved problem" segment tonight, President Obama's on record as saying he does not want to prosecute CIA agents, who may have broken rules and laws and interrogating terror suspects after 9/11. However, Attorney General Eric Holder has now decided to appoint a prosecutor to investigate about dozen cases of alleged CIA wrongdoing, while interrogating the terror suspects. And he wants to see if crimes were committed.

Justice Department official John Durham will head the probe. And with us now to analyze, attorney and Democratic strategist Jami Floyd.

So this will make the ACLU happy, but I don't think it's going to make Barack Obama happy. ...

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Right-Wing Tool & Lying Twat, Frank Luntz, Thinks Health Reform Will Lower Doc Pay

Lawrence O'Donnell Says Kennedy's Passing Makes It Less Likely Obama Gets a Health Reform Victory

Fucktard O'Reilly Says Van Jones Reminds Him of Rev. Wright, "Anti-American"

A Cacophony of Stupid, Oxy-Moron Tells LSDM that Holder/Obama Making US "Villain of the World"

The Retarded Baby Jesus Gives Forum to Town Hall Moron for Moronic Nazi Comparison

The Retarded Baby Jesus Tries to Tie "Death Book" Lie, British Rationing, and Caribou Barbie

At Rep. Jim Moran's Town Hall, Citizen Says He's Concerned About Quality of the Debate

Sanchez Asks What Tom Coburn is Going to Do About the Other 46,999,999 Who Don't Have Insurance

By Heather
Crooks and Liars

Rick Sanchez shows some footage of a woman pleading with Tom Coburn to help her at a town hall meeting because her husband has had a traumatic brain injury, and they can't get insurance for him. After Coburn says he'll help through his office that that we "as neighbors" ought to help each other and the idea that the government is here to help is inaccurate. Gotta' love Sanchez's response here.

What's interesting about that is that Sen. Coburn just essentially said the government is not the solution, but then you have to ask yourself. He just told her to come and see him, isn't he the government? By the way after helping her, what will he do about the other 46,999,999 who don't have insurance, and the thousands upon thousands of Americans who say they do have insurance but like her, they're not getting covered? We'll ask those questions.

Exactly.

h/t The Political Carnival

(Original.)

Kennedy's Funeral Further Damages the Catholic Church's Credibility

Whilst reading this article, keep in mind that it comes from the extreme Right. So everything should be taken with appropriate skepticism.

By Rev. Michael P. Orsi
Human Events

There is much truth to the adage that many of our wounds are self inflicted. This has been especially true for the Catholic Church in the United States and the Archdiocese of Boston in particular. Recall that the clergy sex abuse scandal first came to light there because of their egregious nature and the laxity of the then Archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law in handling them. According to statistics the Church is still reeling from the aftershocks.

On Wednesday the Church further diminished her credibility when it was announced that a Mass of Christian Burial would be celebrated for Senator Edward M. Kennedy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica. It was also announced that President Barack Obama would be the eulogist.

Senator Kennedy, along with President Obama have been the most pro-abortion and pro-embryonic stem cell research politicians in the nation. As a matter of fact, Senator Kennedy refused to vote for Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Samuel Alito for fear their appointment might lead to overturning Roe v. Wade. These positions are inimical to Catholic Church teaching and throughout the years, the American hierarchy has railed against Catholic politicians such as Kennedy who hold such views. Some bishops have even advised them not to receive Holy Communion -- an action just short of excommunication....(Remainder.)

Behind the Obama-Hitler Slur

By Max Blumenthal
The Daily Beast

That outrageous comparison that Limbaugh and town-hall screamers have been making? Max Blumenthal tracks its origins to cult leader Lyndon LaRouche, whose followers pushed the attacks.

The June 10, 2009 public “listening session” of the newly created Federal Council Coordinating Comparative Effectiveness Research would have been an uneventful gathering had not Anton Chaitkin seated himself before the 15-member panel and began to read breathlessly from notes he had prepared for the hearing. After describing himself simply as “a historian,” the nondescript Chaitkin quickly launched into a diatribe against President Barack Obama and panelist Ezekiel Emanuel, the head of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health and the brother of presidential chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

"President Obama has put in place a reform apparatus reviving the euthanasia of Hitler Germany in 1939, that began the genocide there,” Chaitkin alleged. “Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and other avowed cost-cutters on this panel also lead a propaganda movement for euthanasia... They shape public opinion and the medical profession to accept a death culture… to let physicians help kill patients whose medical care is now rapidly being withdrawn in the universal health-care disaster.”

When Chaitkin was done, Emanuel calmly responded, “I think I do have a very long record of writing against the legalization of euthanasia, so the association of me and that seemed a little strange.” Emanuel then stood and excused himself from the hearing room, apparently unaware that Chaitkin had launched the opening volley of an orchestrated propaganda campaign designed to link him and the White House’s health-care reform proposals to the T-4 mass euthanasia program of Adolph Hitler....(Remainder.)

Editorial Cartoon Tributes to Sen. Teddy Kennedy

By Bob Englehart
The Hartford Courant

By John Cole
The Scranton Times-Tribune

By Mike Luckovich
truthdig

By John Deering
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

By John Sherffius
Boulder Daily Camera

Bush's Search Policy for Travelers is Kept

Obama Officials Say Oversight Will Grow

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post

The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to search -- without suspicion of wrongdoing -- the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cellphone or other electronic device, although officials said new policies would expand oversight of such inspections.

The policy, disclosed Thursday in a pair of Department of Homeland Security directives, describes more fully than did the Bush administration the procedures by which travelers' laptops, iPods, cameras and other digital devices can be searched and seized when they cross a U.S. border. And it sets time limits for completing searches.

But representatives of civil liberties and travelers groups say they see little substantive difference between the Bush-era policy, which prompted controversy, and this one.

"It's a disappointing ratification of the suspicionless search policy put in place by the Bush administration," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. "It provides a lot of procedural safeguards, but it doesn't deal with the fundamental problem, which is that under the policy, government officials are free to search people's laptops and cellphones for any reason whatsoever."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday framed the new policy as an enhancement of oversight. "Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States," she said in a statement. "The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders."...(Remainder.)

Till Debt Does Its Part

By Paul Krugman
The New York Times

So new budget projections show a cumulative deficit of $9 trillion over the next decade. According to many commentators, that’s a terrifying number, requiring drastic action — in particular, of course, canceling efforts to boost the economy and calling off health care reform.

The truth is more complicated and less frightening. Right now deficits are actually helping the economy. In fact, deficits here and in other major economies saved the world from a much deeper slump. The longer-term outlook is worrying, but it’s not catastrophic.

The only real reason for concern is political. The United States can deal with its debts if politicians of both parties are, in the end, willing to show at least a bit of maturity. Need I say more?

Let’s start with the effects of this year’s deficit.

There are two main reasons for the surge in red ink. First, the recession has led both to a sharp drop in tax receipts and to increased spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs. Second, there have been large outlays on financial rescues. These are counted as part of the deficit, although the government is acquiring assets in the process and will eventually get at least part of its money back.

What this tells us is that right now it’s good to run a deficit. Consider what would have happened if the U.S. government and its counterparts around the world had tried to balance their budgets as they did in the early 1930s. It’s a scary thought. If governments had raised taxes or slashed spending in the face of the slump, if they had refused to rescue distressed financial institutions, we could all too easily have seen a full replay of the Great Depression....(Remainder.)

Ted Kennedy: There Went a Man

By Rude One
The Rude Pundit

Finally, we must take a measure of the man. Not the person, or the legislator, or the family member. No, the man. Ted Kennedy was more of a man's man than any of the brush-clearing, hick-talking, pick-up driving politicians who overcompensate again and again by faking it. No, Kennedy demonstrated, through all the ups and downs, again and again what a real man is. It is a type of masculinity that we rarely see anymore because it is a fearlessness that few are allowed to embrace.

Put aside the money for a moment. Wealth makes life easier but it does not make one happy and it is not a measure of character. Don't you think that Kennedy would have given away his whole fortune to have his brothers back?

For a man does not shy away from the tragedies of his life. When John was assassinated, Kennedy took up the cause of the civil rights movement as his first major action in the Senate. When Bobby was killed, he began to push even harder against the Vietnam War. When his 12 year-old son, Ted, Jr., had to have a leg amputated to prevent the cancer there from spreading in 1973, Kennedy threw himself into the cause of rights for people with disabilities as much as his sister, Eunice, had, a crusade that would last the rest of his life.

A man fucks up again and again, but he owns his mistakes and learns from them. Ted Kennedy wore his flaws openly in his personal life. Some of it was the price of juvenile overindulgence (even as an adult) and some of it was just stupidity. The question is less about fucking up, but how a man reacts to it. He was kicked out of Harvard for cheating on an exam, so he joined the military (although he would achieve none of the glory of John and Joe, Jr.). When the Chappaquiddick incident happened, he nutted up and told the voters to decide on his fate. He was a hard-drinking son of a bitch who screwed around on his first wife, a Dean Martin-like punchline to jokes about alcoholism and a tabloid laughingstock. During that period, among other things, he was getting funding cut off to Chile because of Pinochet's barbarism, pushing legislation to help political refugees, getting sanctions imposed on apartheid-era South Africa, negotiating with Gorbachev on nuclear missiles, stopping Robert Bork's Supreme Court nomination, and strengthening the Civil Rights Act. What did you do on your years-long bender? He paid, too, with his presidential ambitions dashed. And when he was slugging 'em back like a frat boy with his nephews on a night that ended with William Kennedy Smith arrested on an accusation of rape, Kennedy made another public reckoning about who he was as a man in a speech in October 1991. And despite all he had accomplished before, he grew up, finally, understanding that to be a man one must become a man....(Remainder.)

Rachel Maddow: Watching the Republicans Fall Apart

Sony Tells Westboro Baptist Church to Fuck Off!

(h/t Jeremy Hooper @ Good As You)

Brodsky Letter & Reply

Kennedy Was Out 'Greatest Champion' says Gay Activst

By Ed Hornick
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For writer John Aravosis, Edward "Ted" Kennedy's early support for gay rights was very important to a community that has faced a history steeped in discrimination.

"On gay rights, he was absurdly helpful for a straight senator back before gay rights were popular," he said.

Aravosis, who runs AmericaBlog -- a political site that often focuses on gay rights issues -- said it was Kennedy who sparked his interest in the movement.

"For me it was particularly personal since he gave me my start in gay rights," he said. "I started doing volunteer work in his office in 1993 when I was still working for a Republican senator."

Unabashedly liberal, Kennedy had a long track record in support of gay rights.

Former Massachusetts state Sen. Jarrett Barrios -- and incoming President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised the Democratic senator's work.

"In those early years, his support may have turned heads but [that] didn't dampen his support -- and eventually helped change hearts and minds about LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] equality in the Senate and around the country," he said in a statement.

Kennedy's death, Barrios noted, is deeply personal.

"He was a friend whom I worked with on many issues in the Massachusetts senate, and my husband Doug and I have the print he gave us for our wedding framed at home," he said. "His passing is a loss for many of us who knew him, and all of us who benefited from his uncompromising support of our full equality."...(Remainder.)

Who's Paying to Kill Health Reform?

By Campaign for America's Future

Click image for larger version.

Senator Kennedy's Casket Leaves Compount in Hyannis Port

(h/t Towelroad)

Uruguay Lawmakers OK Gay Adoption

By Associated Press

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Lawmakers in Uruguay have approved a bill allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt.

Despite opposition from Uruguay's Roman Catholic Church and some of the political opposition, the 99-seat Chamber or Representatives on Thursday passed the bill 40-13, with the remaining members absent.

It goes next to the Senate, which approved an earlier version of the bill in July but must now vote again on modifications.

If it becomes law, Uruguay would be the first country in Latin American to allow adoption by gay and lesbian couples.

The law supported by socialist President Tabare Vazquez's Broad Front coalition, which has already legalized gay civil unions and ended a ban on homosexuals in the armed forces....(Original.)

Mr. "Crucially in Need of a Battery Acid Enema" Beck, Attack Obama by Spelling "Oligarh"

The Obese Oxy-Moron Calls Health Care Reform "Fascism"

KS Repiglickin Lynn Jenkins Says GOP Struggling to Find "Great White Hope"

By Logan Murphy
Crooks and Liars

ABC's John Stossel whined recently about critics of President Obama being labeled as racists. This gem from Kansas Republican Lynn Jenkins is a perfect example of why that happens so frequently:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins offered encouragement to conservatives at a town hall forum that the Republican Party would embrace a "great white hope" capable of thwarting the political agenda endorsed by Democrats who control Congress and President Barack Obama.

In response to inquiries by The Topeka Capital-Journal, a Jenkins spokeswoman said Wednesday the congresswoman wanted to apologize for her word choice and to emphasize she had no intention of expressing herself in an offensive manner.

Of course not! She has nothing against black people and in fact, she probably even knows a few of them so she can't possibly be a racist. This is the kind of veiled racism that permeates the GOP and it's a big reason why they are hemorrhaging membership. A Jenkins spokesperson says she was really just talking about a bright future for the Republican Party. I'm not buying it:

Mary Geiger, a spokeswoman for Jenkins, said the reference to a great white hope wasn't meant to denote a preference by Jenkins for politicians of a particular "race, creed or any background." Jenkins was expressing faith fellow GOP representatives in the House would be key players in returning Republicans to a leadership role in Washington, Geiger said.

"There may be some misunderstanding there when she talked about the great white hope," Geiger said. "What she meant by it is they have a bright future. They're bright lights within the party." Read on...

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Glenn Beck Mainstreams Fringe Conspiracy Theories

By Oliver Willis
Media Matters

We're used to Glenn Beck being "out there", but today's show was special. Beck's hour (the second day in a row in which he didn't say a thing about the passing of Sen. Kennedy) was all about the supposed secret army being built by President Obama. This secret army idea, not supported by any facts, though possibly written in invisible ink that Beck can interpret, is a pet cause of fringe radio host Alex Jones.

Jones is something of a leader in the underground 9/11 "truth" movement. They believe that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job and that all the governments of the world are controlled by a cabal of the uber-rich who want to kill 2/3 of the world's population. Really.

Jones has repeatedly alluded to the existence of a secret army being built by Obama, a similar charge to the one leveled by Beck on today's show. The difference of course is that Jones mostly transmits over the internet and shortwave radio. Beck has a show on a cable "news" network. Beck's previous flirtation with the idea that FEMA was building detention camps is also an article of faith with Jones and his followers.

The focus of the Jones/Beck secret army conspiracy theory is the AmeriCorps program, which was created during President Clinton's presidency. AmeriCorps describes itself like this:

Each year, AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. Whether your service makes a community safer, gives a child a second chance, or helps protect the environment, you'll be getting things done through AmeriCorps!

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Conservative Media Attack Dems for Playing "Death Card" Whilst Using Kennedy's Death to Attack Health Care

By Media Matters

Following Sen. Ted Kennedy's death, several conservative media figures -- including Rush Limbaugh -- have attacked Democrats for purportedly attempting to use his passing to stifle debate and enact health care reform legislation. But conservative media figures -- also including Limbaugh -- have used Kennedy's death to attack health care reform, baselessly suggesting that if reform passes, elderly cancer patients -- as Kennedy was -- will be "denied" treatments or that their treatments will be "rationed."

Limbaugh invokes Wellstone memorial -- "a frat party compared to what's going to happen" with Kennedy. On the August 27 edition of his radio program, Limbaugh said that the memorial service following the 2002 death of Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) "was a frat party compared to what's going to happen here," adding that Democrats were going to turn Kennedy's memorial service into "the biggest political rally you've ever seen." As Media Matters for America has noted, the claim that Wellstone's memorial was politicized is a myth based on distortions propagated by the conservative media.

Referencing Wellstone memorial, Beck suggests Democrats "exploit[ing]" Kennedy's death. On the August 27 edition of his radio program, Glenn Beck stated that "to honor Ted Kennedy, they are going to pass health care reform. Yes. To honor, to -- not to exploit, not to capitalize on his death." Beck also referenced "the somber moment of Paul Wellstone."

Ingraham says Dems playing "death card" with Kennedy's passing. Guest-hosting the August 27 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Laura Ingraham accused Democrats of "using" Kennedy's death to "guilt lawmakers and the public into supporting Obamacare." After referencing the "embarrassing and exploitative" Wellstone memorial, Ingraham accused Democrats of "playing the death card again."

Fox News asks: "Are Democrats Using Kennedy's Death To Stifle Town Hall Protesters?" On the August 27 edition of Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox aired the following graphic:

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RNC Chairman Michael Steel Says VA Has Manual that Encourages Vets to Commit Suicide

By Robert Farley
PolitiFact

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele jumped into the so-called VA "death book" debate, calling it just the kind of thing that makes people nervous about the Democrats' health care reform plan.

"If you want an example of bad public policy, just look at the situation with our veterans where you have a manual out there telling our veterans stuff like 'Are you really of value to your community?' You know, encouraging them to commit suicide," Steele said in a Fox News interview on Aug. 25, 2009.

"I mean, this is crazy coming from the government. And this is exactly what concerns people and puts them in fear of what government-controlled health care will look like."

But like the claim about "death panels" in the health care reform bill, we find this is another ridiculous falsehood about an important end-of-life issue.

At issue here is a 10-year-old VA-funded pamphlet on end-of-life issues called "Your Life, Your Choices: Planning for Future Medical Decisions."

The pamphlet entered the national discussion on health care after President George W. Bush's director of Faith-Based Initiatives, Jim Towey, wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 18, 2009, in which he took issue with what he called the "hurry-up-and-die message" of the pamphlet. The issue takes on larger import, of course, due to the heated debate over funding for end-of-life counseling included in the Democrats' health care reform bill.

In his op-ed piece, Towey zeroed in on an exercise in the manual designed to "help you think about and express what really matters to you." The worksheet poses a number of scenarios and asks users to finish the phrase "Life like this would be..." by checking options that include "difficult, but acceptable," "worth living, but just barely" and "not worth living."...(Remainder.)

Fucking Disgusting Neanderthal and Fat Pathetic Bastard, Breitbart, Spits on Ted Kennedy's Grave

By Eric Boehlert
Media Matters

The only thing surprising is that it's not surprising. The unhinged haters cannot restrain themselves. Even now.

Notes Politico:

Andrew Breitbart, a Washington Times columnist who oversees Breitbart.com and BigHollywood.com, tapped into the anti-Kennedy vein in the hours after the senator’s death was announced, posting a series of Twitter messages in which he called Kennedy a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard” and a “prick.”

"I'm more than willing to go off decorum to ensure THIS MAN is not beatified,” Breitbart wrote. “Sorry, he destroyed lives. And he knew it."

Since becoming editor of the WashTimes, John Solomon has been trying to convince people that the Moonie-owned daily is more than a right-wing spin outlet. He's been trying to convince people that it's a serious newspaper run by serious people. Well, it seems to me Breitbart's outlandish hateful screed, coming just hours after Kennedy died, provides Solomon with a perfect opportunity to prove his point.

It provides Solomon with a chance to do something. (Demand Breitbart apologize; cut ties with the columnist, etc.) Solomon can stand up for the kind of newspaper that Times leaders say they wants to be, instead of allowing people like Breitbart to prop it up as a laughing stock....(Remainder.)

<b>WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE<b> Shocking Video Footage from Sri Lanka

By Zahr Janmohamed
Human Rights Now

The Sri Lankan government is facing renewed calls for an investigation into human rights abuses after a graphic video was released showing extra-judicial killings.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which obtained the material, said this video was filmed in January - when the international media were prevented by the Sri Lankan government from covering the conflict zone.

The video shows a uniformed soldier shooting a naked man in the head. Eight dead bodies can be seen in the video as well.

Although Amnesty International is not able to verify the footage on this video, it raises important questions about violations committed during the recent conflict.

And the reaction to the video underscores the precarious situation in Sri Lanka, where tensions remain high. In response to the video, the International Secretariat of Amnesty International repeated its call for “an international, independent and credible investigation into what took place during the final days of the conflict.”...(Remainder.)

Town Halls and the Resurgence of the Radical Right

How the GOP is fueling extremist paranoia.

By James Ridgeway
MotherJones
Photo: theonetruebix (Flickr)

Across the nation this summer, unknown numbers of people are hunkering down and arming up for what they believe is an imminent battle for the soul of America. Town halls and tea parties provide just a small glimpse of the rage, fear, and paranoia fomenting on front porches and in Internet chat rooms, in the conservative heartland and beyond. While the details may vary, the visions in such forums share a common theme: In one way or another, a fight to the death is coming, and coming soon.

These deep-seated fears explain at least some of the vitriol, the violent scuffles, and death threats bubbling up in town hall protests against health care reform. It's all too easy for certain right-wing activists to accept that the president's plan will create death panels or mandate taxpayer-funded abortions. Because some of these people don't just believe that Obama wants to destroy capitalism and kill their granny and their unborn child—they believe he wants to kill them, too.

At a town hall meeting with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 12, one attendee carried a sign that read "Death to Obama," and "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids." Another sign at the same event compared Obama to Hitler. At least some of the Obama-Hitler iconography originates from followers of perennial whack-job Lyndon LaRouche, but the comparison has been disseminated by Rush Limbaugh to a wider audience of hardline conservatives....(Remainder.)

Unions Join Whole Foods Boycott

By Lila Shapiro
The Huffington Post

Two unions have now joined in the growing chorus decrying Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey and suggesting a boycott of the store. Two weeks ago, Mackey penned a controversial op-ed in the Wall Street Journal offering the "Whole Foods alternative to ObamaCare."

"The last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health care system," Mackey wrote, then suggested a neat solution. (Hint: this alternative involves grocery shopping at Whole Foods.)

As the NY Times write-up of "the most unexpected" sideshow to the 2009 Health Care Debate put it: "Reaction from pro-reform Whole Foods shoppers was swift and vociferous." Now the Change To Win Investment Group and United Food And Commercial Workers Union -- both a part of the Change To Win federation of unions representing six million workers -- have put out statements criticizing Mackey and encouraging a boycott of the store.

CtW called for Mackey's removal as chairman of the board and CEO. "Mr. Mackey attempted to capitalize on the brand reputation of Whole Foods to champion his personal political views, but has instead deeply offended a key segment of Whole Foods consumer base," the group's executive director Bill Patterson said in a statement. UFCW has begun handing out pamphlets to Whole Food shoppers. The group said Mackey's op-ed was an "attempt to undermine Obama's health-care reform." (Whole Foods is not unionized.)...(Remainder.)

John Boner Says Study into Effectiveness of Medical Treatments Would be Used by Gov't to Ration

By Robert Farley
PolitiFact

Many opponents of health care plans being considered by Congress have warned they would lead to government rationing of health care services.

To which we say, yes it would. Health care is already rationed. Public and private plans have limited resources, and you can't just get any medical service you want anywhere at any time. That's rationing. It's a reality of health care today and would be a under any of the plans being considered in Congress. And so we gave a False to former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean when he said the plans include no rationing.

But that's not to say many of the claims of rationing by the Republican opponents are right. In fact, many of them are very misleading, or outright wrong. We've weighed in previously on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's claim the bill would create "death panels" that will decide whether Grandma will get health care. It wouldn't.

Here, we'll deal with another popular claim from Republican opponents of the plan that government-sponsored research into medical care would be used to ration services. Most recently, the claim was made in a press release on the Web site for House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Aug. 18, 2009. It states:

"The bill would establish a new tax on every health insurance policy to fund a government board that would be tasked with deciding which treatments are more cost-effective," the release states. "The research findings would be used by the government to ration care."

The press release cites the part of the House bill that deals with establishing a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research within the Agency for Healthcare Research. That's a bureaucratic way of saying the government would do studies to find out which medical treatments and medications work better than others, and which are most cost-effective. The idea is that this would help doctors and patients make better-informed decisions about the most effective treatment strategies. It's also expected to save money over time....(Remainder.)

Keith Olbermann: Next GOP Obsession Could be Zombies!

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane
The Raw Story

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann took a leap into fantasy politics on Tuesday, suggesting that the current Republican obsession with health care reform creating “death panels” could easily lead into an all-out panic over zombies.

A recent spoof (pdf) of academic papers, titled “When Zombies Attack!: Mathematicam Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection,” applies standard epidemiological methods to develop “a basic model for zombie infection” and concludes that “only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.”

Olbermann pointed out that the conservative National Review has already weighed in on the zombie study, writing, “Zombies are cool. That’s just a fact. … Were these jokers European? Well, almost. They were Canadian.”

At the same time, conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has begun describing supporters of health care reform as zombies. “They are having to send out multiple e-mails, war rooms, websites to instruct their brain-dead zombies on how to go out and show support for this abomination!” Limbaugh wrote recently. “It’s the Night of the Living Dead, in the daytime! Obama zombies marching around with little instructions and pamphlets and manuals.”...(Remainder.)

Glenn Beck is a Dirtbag

By The Public Record
The Public Record

On his show Wednesday, Glenn Beck let his viewers know he’s prepared for anything — ad boycott or no ad boycott.

“After I sobered up I admitted I was a dirtbag, man I was a dirtbag! … I have tried my hardest not to be a dirtbag any more. I still make mistakes …

“They can take my job and they can take my wealth but that’s okay….even if the powers to be, right now, succeed in making me poor, drum me out, and I’m just a worthless loser… which I’m just about that much above that now… I will only be stronger for it.

“I will use American ingenuity and my ingenuity to pull myself up, and I will find another way to get my message out on a platform that will be a thousand times more powerful! Because of my faith, I know how this story ends. The truth will set you free! America, you prepare to witness mighty and powerful miracles in your lifetime!”...(Original.)