A Liberal's Hit List: Sep 4, 2009

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Remembers His Uncle Teddy

Friday, September 04, 2009

By Ring of Fire
Air America Radio

While the country mourns the loss of Senator Edward Kennedy, Bobby lost more than just an icon--he lost an uncle, a Godfather, and a friend. In this "Ring of Fire" exclusive, we hear first hand what Senator Kennedy was like outside of Washington, DC.

Even More Glenn Beck Messianic Delusions

By Mark
News Corpse

The rate at which the wheels are coming off of Glenn Beck’s crazy train is dizzying. He must surely be disturbed by the success of the campaign that has resulted in forty-six advertisers (so far) ditching his program. It shows in his obsession over Van Jones, whom Beck still neglects to inform his audience was a co-founder of Color of Change, the group spearheading the advertiser boycott (although Jones has had no affiliation with the group in over two years).

Beck is continuing his practice of taking things out of context and twisting them into ghastly conspiracies. For instance, he played a clip from a speech Jones gave wherein Jones sought to inform people that the environmental movement is not just about solar panels and hybrid cars. It has to be considered more fully to include the broad spectrum of eco-issues, i.e. water safety and availability, endangered species, agricultural reform, etc. Beck played a clipped (three times) of Jones saying…

“This movement is deeper than a solar panel! Deeper than a solar panel! Don’t stop there! Don’t stop there! We’re gonna change the whole system! We’re gonna change the whole thing!”

Obese Piece of Feces Barbour Claims Obama Took Longer to Choose a Dog Than He's Giving Nation to Overhaul Health Care System

By Louis Jacobson
PolitiFact

Republicans have been complaining for weeks that President Obama was trying to rush his health care reform bill through Congress. To make their point now, they've gone to the dogs.

In an Aug. 13 op-ed in the Washington Examiner, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour invoked Bo, the White House dog, to illustrate how quickly Obama has tried to pass the 1,000-page bill. Barbour, who chairs the Republican Governors Association and has been mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential contender, wrote, "It took Obama six months to pick out a family dog. Cramming health care reform down the country's throat in a fraction of that time scares people who have been told, accurately, the various bills contain a billion-dollar combination of tax increases and Medicare spending cuts."

To judge whether Obama tried to pass the bill "in a fraction" of the time it took him to choose the Portuguese water dog requires examining the timeline for both the health care bill and the selection of Bo. And that's not as easy it might sound.

We could choose various dates for the beginning of the dog selection. We could go as far back as Obama's mention of his dog promise in an interview with Men's Health magazine in August 2008, or as recently as his inauguration on Jan. 20, when he and his family moved into the White House. But we believe it's fair to say the process started with the Obama election night celebration on Nov. 4, 2008, when Obama declared that his daughters Sasha and Malia "have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House." It was at that point that speculation began in earnest about what kind of dog they might get.

The end date for the puppy hunt is a little imprecise as well. According to the definitive Washington Post account of the dog search, Bo had a "clandestine White House visit in which he won over the Obama girls and their parents" some time in March or early April. Not knowing exactly when it took place, we'll date the end of the search on April 12, when word of the new pooch became breaking news....(Remainder.)

New Japanese Leadership Causes Discomfort in the U.S.

By Amitabh Pal
The Progressive

The new Japanese leadership is causing palpitations within the U.S. establishment.

There is deep anxiety that the incoming government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is questioning two lodestars of U.S. foreign policy: free-market neoliberalism and its security alliances worldwide.

In an astonishingly strong op-ed penned for the New York Times on the eve of his victory, Hatoyama savaged “market fundamentalism” for the current parlous state of the Japanese economy.

“In the fundamentalist pursuit of capitalism, people are treated not as an end but as a means,” he wrote. “Consequently, human dignity is lost.”

Hatoyama asked, “How can we put an end to unrestrained market fundamentalism and financial capitalism, that are void of morals or moderation, in order to protect the finances and livelihoods of our citizens?” For an answer, he turned to the French Revolution and its ideals of fraternity, liberty, and equality.

Hatoyama’s indication that he won’t bow at the altar of the market has caused apprehension. Western apologists cannot figure out why the Japanese people rejected the free-market turn initiated by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, an Elvis-loving hipster adored abroad.

“Japan is now more reluctant than ever to use market forces to raise productivity,” a New York Times reporter quoted a Britisher at an Australian securities firm (with no counterargument offered). “But these changes are crucial.” ...(Remainder.)

In Colorado, a Sizable Schism on Health Care Reform

By Dan Balz
The Washington Post

WINDSOR, Colo. -- The town hall meeting began with angry protests over an absent congresswoman and a near-confrontation between two men sharply divided over the state of the nation's health-care system. It ended nearly two hours later, with nothing close to a consensus and the challenges for President Obama all the more evident.

The meeting came just as the White House was announcing that Obama will speak to a joint session of Congress next week. The speech is an effort to seize control of a debate that has been sliding away from the president for the past two months. White House officials hope the address will mark a turning point in the debate and act as a spur to Congress to pass a bill by the end of year.

Had the White House sent emissaries to the Windsor Recreation Center on Wednesday afternoon, they would have come away with a deeper belief that the American system of health care is badly in need of repair. From the stories told by those in the audience, there is nothing equitable in the capricious way the current insurance system treats people with similar diseases.

But those White House officials, had they been in Windsor, might also have emerged with something bordering on despair at the schism that now exists over an issue that touches everyone as personally as health care. As one man in the audience put it, without any hyperbole, health care is "probably the most divisive issue in this country since the Vietnam War."...(Remainder.)

Former Assistant Dean at Pat Robertson's Regent University & His Wife Plead Guilty to Child Sex Abuse

By Pam Spaulding
Pam's House Blend

It's getting to be a broken record, isn't it? Yet another member of the pious set proves the far-right judgmental conservative set is populated with a boatload of deviants. In a Virginia Beach Circuit Courtroom in separate hearings, Stephen Lee McPherson, 40, and Melina Ann McPherson, 37 pled guity of taking indecent liberties with a minor -- not one incident, mind you, but several between 1996 and 2000 involving three sisters. It occurred while the McPhersons were house parents at Hope Haven Children’s Home. It makes you sick.

Haven is a Christian-based shelter run by Union Mission Ministries, which was directed by Stephen McPherson’s grandfather, the late Rev. Ted Bashford.

Court records show Stephen McPherson repeatedly molested two of the sisters under his supervision and manipulated them by citing Bible verses that he said justified the abuse. Melina McPherson engaged in sexual acts with the third sister, cited Bible verses to justify her actions and told the victim that “they had a special relationship,” according to court records.

Stephen McPherson already is serving time on related sex abuse charges. He pleaded guilty in January to sexually abusing the two girls in Chesapeake. The McPhersons moved to Chesapeake in 2000 and took the three sisters there after adopting them, records show.

He was ordered to serve 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration charges.

Stephen will serve 3 years. It's not clear how long Melina McPherson will serve. She agreed to serve 40 days in exchange for the guilty plea (the couple has two young kids at home; I don't even want to know what's going on under their roof - she shouldn't be near ANY kids), but the judge has not said yet whether he would accept it....(Original.)

Maine’s Anti-Gay Marriage Campaign Leader is Completely Insane

By Timothy Kincaid
Box Turtle Bulletin

Mark Mutty, Executive Chairman of the Stand for Marriage coalition, made a most interesting to a reporter from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network:

As a longtime public affairs director for the diocese, Mutty views himself and the coaliton as defending the traditional definition of marriage and the role it plays in society. To redefine it by allowing same-sex couples to marry, Mutty says will lead to curriculum changes in the schools.

"And many certainly feel uncomfortable about that, and the fact that children as young as seven or eight years old are going to be taught about gay sex in some detail."

Wait… what?!?

If Maine gets marriage equality then seven year old kids will be taught about gay sex in detail?

OK.

That's completely and entirely irrational. Second graders aren't taught about straight sex and heterosexuals have been getting married in Maine all year long. No one is going to be telling small children the mechanics of sex between anyone in school....(Remainder.)

IBD Editorial Board Claims That Cap-and-Trade is Unpopular in America

By Catharine Richert
PolitiFact

The editorial board of Investor's Business Daily says the supporters of a cap-and-trade bill face an uphill battle.

In a Sept. 2, 2009, op-ed about the European stake in a climate change bill passed by the House of Representatives, the editors wrote that, "Cap-and-trade is wildly unpopular with Americans. No matter how many suave European continentals you send here, it won't change voters' minds."

To support their claim, the board included a June 28-29 Rasmussen poll that shows that 56 percent of Americans said they wouldn't pay more taxes to cut greenhouse gases. The question - and the op-ed - leave out the important fact that the bill doesn't impose new taxes (though it's likely people would see higher utility bills as the result of cap-and-trade, which would raise the cost of energy at least slightly).

But the claim piqued our interest nevertheless, so we decided to check other polls to see how the plan is playing among voters.

The background: Cap-and-trade is a way to slow climate change by reducing carbon emissions. The idea is to cap emissions and require firms to either buy polluting permits or upgrade to cleaner technologies. House lawmakers included such a plan in a bill passed on June 26 that will lower carbon pollution by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.

So let's look at how much support it has. A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on June 25, a day before the bill was passed, showed that 75 percent of Americans think the government should regulate greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming. About 52 percent support a cap-and-trade program to accomplish that. Opposition has grown to 42 percent, up from 34 percent in the summer of 2008....(Remainder.)

Rupert Murdoch's Organization Wants Another 9/11

By Mark
News Corpse

The faux patriots at Fox Nation are continuing to make a habit of exploiting the image of 9/11 and contriving false and negative associations with Democrats. This time Rupert Murdoch and Co. have outdone themselves by accusing President Obama of politicizing the anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and other targets.

It takes a pretty hefty portion of chutzpah for the Fox Nationalists to sell this falsehood. Particularly in light of how brazenly they themselves have been politicizing 9/11:

NewsBusters Wants You to be Afraid of Obama — for the Children

By Simon Maloy
Media Matters

After yesterday's exercise in communist fearmongering about President Obama's upcoming televised speech to students, NewsBusters wants to get some answers. "What Does Obama Want with Our Children?" asks Mithridate Ombud, who is very concerned about Obama's plan "to circumvent parental authority and speak directly to our children in one week." Poor Mithridate just can't see through the fog, but nonetheless knows one thing for certain about Obama's speech: "[L]ike all things Obama does, it's spur of the moment and covert."

Let's consider that statement for a moment -- Obama's speech to students is "spur of the moment and covert." It's so "spur of the moment" that the Secretary of Education sent a letter to teachers on August 26 -- two weeks before the actual speech -- explaining what the speech will entail and the various ways in which their students could watch it. And it's so "covert" that, in addition to a letter from the Secretary of Education, the Department of Education put out a media advisory on the speech -- a media advisory that Ombud linked to just a few sentences earlier. I mean, really, it's a speech by the most recognizable man on the planet that will be televised nationwide on C-SPAN and streamed on the White House website -- Tom Clancy this isn't.

OK, so maybe it's neither "spur of the moment" nor "covert," but that's no reason why you still shouldn't be scared to death for your children's fragile minds. After all, writes Ombud, a bunch of Hollywood actors put together a video pledging to support the president, and that, perhaps, will give us a "flavor" of what "the NEA union that controls our children" will present to the kids. If you don't understand the connection, don't worry, because I don't either....(Remainder.)

Ellis Henican Slams Laura Ingraham: The Most Bogus Outrage I've Ever Heard

By Julie
News Hounds

Laura Ingraham sank to a new batshit crazy (to borrow a phrase from Dan Savage) low on last night’s (9/2/09) O’Reilly Factor in the Unresolved Problem segment when she – hold on to your hats, folks – harped about a post that the Heritage Foundation “discovered” on mybarackobama.com that “invited fellow users to call their senator on September 11th to push for healthcare reform. The posting disparaged Fox News, of course, and called healthcare opponents ‘right-wing domestic terrorists’ and ‘anti-democratic forces of hate . . . the post has since been removed by the DNC, which runs the website.’” Hmmm, I think I’ve heard that phrase “domestic terrorist” somewhere before, and a niggling memory tells me, yes, I’m quite sure the anti-American accusation (pretty much the same sentiment as anti-democratic) has been tossed around . . . let me think really hard . . . I know it wasn’t the left . . . ah, it’ll come to me. With video.

“Is Barack Obama’s team using 9/11 to sell his increasingly unpopular healthcare plan?” Ingraham queried.

Tell me it ain’t true, Laur. You aren’t really wearing fuscia and lemon yellow, are you? Well, don’t worry – the crucifix totally saves the outfit.

But on to more serious things – like this manufactured outrage about some blog post. You’ve got a problem with town hall protesters being called “right wing domestic terrorists”, do you? Where was your outrage, Ingraham, during the election when Palin became a broken “Barack Obama pals around with domestic terrorists” record? You’ve got a problem with protesters being called “anti-democratic forces of hate”? Where was your outrage when Palin called some segments of the country “not pro-America?” Where was your outrage when Palin said of Barack Obama, "This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America." And this unresolved problem you have about “using 9/11” . . . where was your outrage in September 2008, when John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republicans hijacked 9/11 at the RNC, displaying graphic images of the towers falling, to ramp up their “We've Kept You Safe Since Then” agenda and use it to try to win an election? (As Keith Olbermann noted, “Doesn't then count?”)...(Remainder.)

From ‘Do No Harm’ to Torture

By Eugene Robinson
Truthdig

Torture is a delicate business. The aim is to injure but not incapacitate—to inflict precisely enough pain and terror to break a subject's will, but no more. To calibrate the proper degree of abuse, the torturer must have an accurate sense of how much agony the subject's mind and body can tolerate.

In the Bush administration's program of "enhanced interrogation," this expertise was provided by doctors and psychologists—professionals who are supposed to heal and comfort. A new report by Physicians for Human Rights assembles the evidence and reaches a sickening but inescapable conclusion: "Health professionals played central roles in developing, implementing and providing justification for torture."

Dwell on that for a moment, especially if you believe the Bush administration's decision to submit terrorism suspects to medieval interrogation practices was somehow justifiable—or even if you believe that torture was wrong but that now we should "look forward" and pretend it never happened. This is how torture warps a society and distorts its values.

Much of the information cited by Physicians for Human Rights had previously been unearthed, but some new details were disclosed in the CIA inspector general's report released last week—revealing "a level of ethical misconduct that had not previously come to light," in the words of the human rights group.

From sources that include published reports, an inquiry by the International Committee of the Red Cross and various documents pried out of the government by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, here is some of what we know:

The interrogation program—using 11 abusive "enhanced" techniques, including waterboarding—was designed by two Ph.D. psychologists. The techniques, according to a statement released in April by American Psychological Association President James H. Bray, "are tantamount to torture as defined by APA and international law."...(Remainder.)

UN HIV Report: Gay Youth Sex Studies Omitted

By MPetrelis
Daily KOS

The New York Times today is reporting on a controversial United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report on sexuality, and, of course, homosexuals are fodder for critics of the UN's effort proposing better education to reduce infections and death. From the Times:

A set of proposed international sex education guidelines aimed at reducing H.I.V. infections among young people has provoked criticism from conservative groups that say the program would be too explicit for young children and promote access to legal abortion as a right. [...]

A draft issued in June has been attacked by conservative and religious groups, mainly in the United States, for recommending discussions of homosexuality, describing sexual abstinence as "only one of a range of choices available to young people" to prevent disease and unwanted pregnancy, and suggesting a discussion of masturbation with children as young as 5. [...]

The agency has removed the June draft of the guidelines from its Web site, and delayed the release of the final document. [...]

While UNESCO may have taken down the 98-page draft, the Times dutifully saved it and has posted it on the paper's site. Here are the sections that delve into defining LGBT persons, which aren't shocking to us, but surely have upset political conservatives at home and abroad:

Homosexual: is an individual who is sexually and emotionally attracted to a person of the same sex. Homosexual people need not have had a sexual experience at all to identify as homosexual. [...]

Sexual orientation refers to the sex and/or gender of another person to which a person finds themselves emotionally and sexually attracted. The common terms for the variety of sexual orientations are homosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and heterosexual.

Vice-President Biden Says US Economic Stimulus Plan is Working

By Mil Arcega
VOA News

Vice President Joe Biden says the federal government's $787-billion program to reshape and stimulate the U.S. economy is working better than expected. The vice president's remarks on the massive government program come as the U.S. economy might be breaking free of the deepest recession in decades. But, there are deepening concerns about the cost of government intervention in the economy.

Nearly 200 days after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Vice President Joe Biden says the program has changed the "trajectory of our economy".

"Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we're talking about the end of a recession - eight months after taking office," said Vice President Biden.

But the effectiveness of the $787-billion, two-year spending program has been the subject of sharp debate.

A new Gallup public opinion poll shows that 51 percent of Americans believe the government has spent too much, while nearly one-in-four people say the stimulus has made the economy worse.

Opposition Republicans in Congress have also criticized the bill as a collection of scattered programs that often serve special interests.

But Biden says the stimulus program reflects the complexity of the U.S. economy....(Remainder.)

Conservation Group Hammers Rep. Salazar for No Vote on ‘Cap and Trade’

By David O. Williams
The Colorado Independent

The League of Conservation Voters Thursday launched a television ad campaign in Grand Junction, Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver blasting U.S. Rep. John Salazar for voting against the Waxman-Markey climate change bill.

Only two of those cities – Grand Junction and Pueblo – are actually in Salazar's 3rd Congressional District, but the message of the campaign may resonate better with Front Range city dwellers than in blue-collar Pueblo or the Western Slope gas patches around Grand Junction.

The ad features a ranching neighbor of the blue-dog Democrat, Colin Henderson of La Jara: "You can grow just about anything in Colorado sunshine, and these days all our sun and wind are growing something pretty special."

Then a voice over: "Clean energy jobs, all across the state, but when John Salazar voted no on the American Clean Energy and Security Act [aka, Waxman-Markey], he voted no on wind, on solar, and on more clean-energy jobs."

Back to Henderson: "Congressman Salazar, let's work together to give clean-energy jobs a bright future in Colorado."

(Remainder.)

MR Government Wants to Ban Burkha in Belgium

Christine Defraigne has announced a proposal to ban the burkha in Belgium almost five years after a similar text was brought by the MR to parliament, reported Le Soir on Thursday.

By La Dernière Heure
Via Expatica.com

The proposal suggests that wearing a burkha in public in a way that masks or hides the identity of the person under the veil should be prohibited. Violations of this law would result in a penalty charge of EUR 15 to 25 and/or imprisonment of between one and seven days.

Defraigne said that women were under no religious obligation to wear the burkha. “The Qur’an does not mention it. Banning women from wearing these items is not refusing Islam as a religion. The burkha and the niqab personify the subjugation of the individual and social dehumanisation.”

“For the anthropologist Dounia Bouzar, the burkha, which is already prohibited in some Muslim countries, is not a religious symbol but a uniform which signifies self-exclusion, as well as the exclusion of others.”...(Original.)

Hugo Chavez Cements Control of Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is using revenues from the energy sector to bankroll what he calls his "socialism for the 21st century." The charismatic autocrat is trying to cement his hold on power in a bid to silence a growing political opposition.

By Jens Gluesing
Spiegel

A poster proclaiming "fatherland, socialism or death" adorns the military prison in Los Teques, a suburb of the Venezuelan capital Caracas. Relatives of the prisoners throng the stairs that lead to the cell wing. The soldiers poke holes in meat pies, cakes and other small presents, looking for cell phones and weapons.

The most famous prisoner in the country is held in a spacious cell on the third floor. General Raul Isaias Baduel, 54, used to be defense minister and commander-in-chief of the army. Now he eagerly accepts a couple of newspapers that his guards have allowed through. He has no access to telephones or the Internet.

Five months ago, a group of armed men waylaid him near his home. When he tried to use his mobile phone to call for help, one of the assailants pressed a pistol against his forehead. He was driven in an unmarked vehicle to a base where his captors identified themselves as members of the military intelligence agency.

The state prosecutor alleges that after Baduel stepped down as defense minister two years ago, he embezzled the equivalent of $100,000 (€70,000) from state coffers. The soldiers who can allegedly substantiate these accusations have yet to make a statement. A court hearing has been postponed because the judge is allegedly ill. "I'm a political prisoner," says the general. He holds an old friend of his responsible for his arrest: President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias....(Remainder.)

Chris Wallace, a Teenage Girl Interviewing the Jonas Brothers

By Andrew Sullivan
The Daily Dish

Here are the tough and penetrating questions asked by Chris Wallace of a man whose critics accuse of war crimes, and whose administration presided over the death of over a hundred prisoners in interrogation, who authorized torture techniques once trade-marked by the Khmer Rouge:

Why are you so concerned about the idea of one administration reviewing, investigating the actions of another one?

Do you think this was a political move not a law enforcement move?

The attorney general says this is a preliminary review, not a criminal investigation. It is just about CIA officers who went beyond their legal authorization. Why don't you think it's going to stop there?

The inspector general's report which was just released from 2004 details some specific interrogations -- mock executions, one of the detainees threatened with a handgun and with an electric drill, waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times. First of all, did you know that was going on?

So even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you're OK with it?

President Obama has also decided to move interrogations from the CIA to the FBI that's under the supervision of the National Security Council, and the FBI will have to act within the boundaries of the Army Field Manual.

Karl Rove: "Really Only 5 Million Without Health Insurance"

Hannity And Malkin’s Sensitive Widdle Feewings Hurt By MyBarackObama.Com

By Ellen
News Hounds

It would be funny if there weren't a sizable number of conservatives out there who will not see past the rank hypocrisy of Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin, hate mongers extraordinaire, whining about the meany attacks, now scrubbed, against Republicans and Fox News on the website MyBarackObama.com. It's nothing you don't hear about the left every day on Fox but, with the shoe on the other foot, Malkin and Hannity couldn't seem to throw a hissy fit big enough to soothe their widdle feewings. With video.

The stinging boo-boo in question came from a post on the website urging readers to use the day of service on 9/11 to fight for health care reform by fighting back against "our own right-wing domestic terrorists who are subverting the American democratic process, whipped into a frenzy by their Fox propaganda network." According to Hannity, the now-scrubbed statement also referred to the right wing as "heirs to Bin Laden."

True to form, Malkin was on her high horse, and sallying forth sanctimoniously with her one emotion: scorn for her fellow Americans. "It's no surprise," Malkin sneered, as she went on to complain that the Obama administration has called its opponents "every base name that you can think of."

So let's take a look at Ms. Holier-Than-Thou's own words. For starters, there's her latest book, whose subtitle is, "Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies." My, oh my, how respectful is that? A quick look at Malkin's website shows similar "sensitivity." Right on the current homepage, she accuses Democrats of deliberately "using kiddie human shields." Just a few days ago, Malkin posted about the "wackjob" science czar. In a recent Hannity appearance, Malkin called Democrats "true mobsters."...(Remainder.)

The Real Town Hall Story

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.
The Washington Post

Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.

But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong? What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion? What if most of the town halls were populated by citizens who respectfully but firmly expressed a mixture of support, concern and doubt?

There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view "boring") encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

It's also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support. Much as the far left of the antiwar movement commanded wide coverage during the Vietnam years, so now are extremists on the right hogging the media stage -- with the media's complicity.

Over the past week, I've spoken with Democratic House members, most from highly contested districts, about what happened in their town halls. None would deny polls showing that the health-reform cause lost ground last month, but little of the probing civility that characterized so many of their forums was ever seen on television.

"I think the media coverage has done a disservice by falling for a trick that you'd think experienced media hands wouldn't fall for: of allowing loud voices to distort the debate," said Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, whose district includes Columbus, Ohio.

At her town halls, she said, "I got serious questions, I got hostile questions, I got questions about how this would work, I got questions about how much it will cost. I also got a lot of comments from people who said it's important for their families and businesses to get health-care reform."...(Remainder.)

Leaked Neo-Nazi E-mails Show Contacts With Military Personnel

By Sonia Scherr
Hatewatch at SPLC

Hatewatch recently posted a report about private E-mails of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) showing up on the Internet. While that post focused on the infighting that has dogged America’s largest neo-Nazi group, some of the E-mails also shed light on a more serious matter: racial extremists in the military.

The E-mails show that several people who identified themselves as active military personnel contacted NSM over the past two years to express interest in the organization, including at least one soldier who subsequently joined. Their inquiries were among more than 600 NSM E-mails that were posted late last month to the website wikileaks.org, which publishes leaked documents. The E-mails had been sent to a hotmail account maintained by an NSM member whose responsibilities included corresponding with potential recruits.

The NSM E-mails from military personnel provide more evidence that racial extremists are infiltrating the military and that service members are being recruited by hate groups. Since 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center has provided the military with information about white supremacist activity in its ranks. In July, the SPLC asked Congress to investigate the problem and to take steps to ensure that the armed forces are not inadvertently training future domestic terrorists.

Asked if the servicemen who contacted NSM would face consequences if they were still in the military, Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk said department policy prohibits active participation in “supremacist” groups. But enforcement of that policy falls to the individual service branches. “The Department works closely with its criminal investigative agencies and the FBI to ensure that gang or extremist activity in the military is aggressively investigated and appropriately prosecuted,” he wrote in an E-mail, “and that new accessions [recruits] are rigorously screened to deny entry to those who do not renounce participation in criminal gangs and activities.”...(Remainder.)

Fortis Under Investigation for Sudden Demise

Belgium's banking watchdog CBFA has ruled that there are sufficient grounds to warrant a thorough investigation into communication by the Fortis holding last June, when it decided to launch a capital enhancement.

By Expatia.com

At the time Fortis operations included Fortis bank which is now owned by BNP Paribas of France.

By creating new shares Fortis raised EUR 1.5 billion. It also decided not to pay a dividend.

Shareholders were surprised by these decisions, the possibility of which had always been denied.

The following day the Fortis share tumbled 20% on the stock market as confidence in the bank evaporated.

This development signalled the start of the demise of Belgium's largest bank.

The financial watchdog CBFA has now completed a preliminary investigation into this matter and says that there are sufficient grounds for a thorough investigation.

Fortis, if found guilty, could face a hefty fine.

The watchdog is also handing information over to the public prosecutor’s office which will decide whether or not to launch a criminal investigation....(Original.)

In a Stunning Display of Crazy, Beck Compares Obama to Chavez, Then Claims Will Seize Power. He Won the Election You Fucking Whack-Job!

The Douchebag Express Rolls On as the Lying Sack of Mashed Up Crazy Continues to Rant that Van Jones is a Commie

Dan Savage Discusses the Dangers of Pandering to the Christo-Fascist Right with Keith Olberman

By Heather
Crooks and Liars

Keith Olbermann talks to Dan Savage about how dangerous the GOP's strategy for the last thirty years of pandering to the religious right has been, and how they're now left with the bat-shit crazy like Michelle Bachmann speaking for them.

Olbermann: How do they twist the idea of say, just pick a figure out of a hat here that Jesus Christ and the golden rule, taking care of particularly the sick and turn this into opposition to health care? In a sense if they’re trying to emulate Christ, if they can’t personally heal disease in passers-by, should they not be willing to help doctors to do so?

Savage: I’m sure they don’t want to hear this from me because I’m an avowed atheist but my dad was a Roman Catholic deacon and my mom was a minister and I went to the seminary and I was confirmed in the Catholic church. I’ve read the Bible backwards and forwards and there’s a lot in there, a lot that Jesus had to say about taking care of the sick, housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, visiting, not executing the prisoner and nothing about capital gains tax cuts, nothing about denying health care coverage to American families and American children and nothing about this sort of insane opposition to a democratically elected president.

They really have hi-jacked Christianity and are giving it a bad name. The reason we see spikes I think in more and more people who no longer associate themselves with any religious faith or belief is because now to say you’re Christian in America means you are saying I am in the same boat, the same bat crap crazy boat with Michelle Bachmann. And a lot of even nominal Christians don’t want to say that any more or cultural Christians don’t want to say that any more.

The Retarded Baby Jesus Tells Cuntilla Cheney Torture Investigations Are Just Intimidation

By CSPANJunkie
Crooks and Liars

September 01, 2009 News Corp

HANNITY: Now former vice president, Dick Cheney, has made no secret of his disappointment with the current administration. He aired his frustrations with President Obama in perhaps the most explicit terms yet on FOX News this past Sunday. Asked his opinion of the president, he said the following.

    (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I wasn't a fan of his when he got elected, and my views haven't changed any. I have serious doubts about his policies, serious doubts especially about the extent to which he understands and is prepared to do what needs to be done to defend the nation.

    (END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, the White House is not taking that sitting down. National security advisor, Jim Jones, hit back yesterday, telling ABC News that the country is actually safer under President Obama than it was under President Bush. OK. Take a look.

    (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JAMES JONES (RET.), NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We're seeing results that indicate more captures, more deaths of radical leaders, and a kind of a global coming together of the fact that this is -- this is a threat to not only the United States, but to the world at large.

    (END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And joining me now to discuss all of this is former deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, somebody who knows the former vice president very well. Liz Cheney is back to us.

Liz, thanks for being here.

Alan Colmes Ruthlessly Mocks Speech Conspiracy BS and Destroys Stupid Cunt Ingraham

Ed Schultz Calls Out Michele "Jebus Slut" Bachmann on Her Wrist Slitting Insanity

By Heather
Crooks and Liars

Michelle Bachmann is again the subject of Ed Schultz's Psycho Talk for her appearance in Denver CO. From The Colorado Independent-- Bachmann: ‘Slit our wrists, be blood brothers’ to beat health care reform:

In a fiery speech that had her conservative Colorado audience cheering, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann railed against the dangers of health care reform and other Democratic initiatives, warning the proposals “have the strength to destroy this country forever.”

“This cannot pass,” the Minnesota Republican told a crowd at a Denver gathering sponsored by the Independence Institute. “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.”

“Something is way crazy out there,” Bachmann said in her remarks, billed as a “personal legislative briefing” by the Golden-based Independence Institute, which bills itself as a “free market think tank.”

“This is slavery,” Bachmann said after claiming many Americans pay half their income to taxes. “It’s nothing more than slavery.”

In a speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric, Bachmann — who proudly acknowledges she is the country’s “second-most hated Republican woman,” behind only former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – drew a clear line on health care reform.

The Myths of the Retarded Baby Jesus: CBO Says Health Care Will Cost Trillions & Million Will Loose Coverage; also I Like to Fuck Unicorns!

Fox Douche-Nozzle, Jenkins, Loves Teabagging and the Tagging Express

Fox Spokes-Moron, Kelly, Give Hat Tip to Birther/Obama-Hitler Douchebag

By Media Matters

On the September 2 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-host Megyn Kelly gave a "hat tip" to the blog Gateway Pundit, which Kelly said is where "we found" video of "a new effort to silence critics of the Democrats' [health care] plan." The Gateway Pundit blog has frequently pushed the conspiracy theory that President Obama doesn't have a valid birth certificate; speculated that Obama may instead be a Kenyan; and recently compared Obama's September 8 speech about "persisting and succeeding in school" to indoctrinating the Hitler Youth....(Remainder.)

Fucking Nut-Job Beck Lies to His Brain Dead Viewers Again by Comparying Mussolini and Obama

Lunatic Lying Sack of Dog Mess Calls Obama's Stay in School Speech Indoctrination

Anthony Woods Loses Congressional Bid

Anthony Woods, the Iraq war veteran who launched an energetic and historic campaign to become the first openly gay African-American elected to Congress, lost his bid to represent the 10th congressional district in the East Bay area near San Francisco on Tuesday, finishing fourth among Democratic candidates with 8% of the vote.

By Julie Bolcer
Advocate.com

Anthony Woods, the Iraq war veteran who launched an energetic and historic campaign to become the first openly gay African-American elected to Congress, lost his bid to represent the 10th congressional district in the East Bay Area near San Francisco on Tuesday, finishing fourth among Democratic candidates with 8% of the vote.

California lieutenant governor John Garamendi, a front-runner throughout the race, captured the Democratic nomination, according to CQ Politics:

“Garamendi had 26% of the total vote. State senator Mark DeSaulnier, his closest Democratic competitor, took 18%. State assemblywoman Joan Buchanan had 12%, while Iraq war veteran Anthony Woods had 8%.”

Garamendi, who failed to win a majority in the special election primary among 14 candidates from different parties, will face a Republican and minor party opponents in a runoff election November 3.

The candidates competed to replace former congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, who took a position with the State Department.

Woods, a 29-year-old native of Fairfield, Calif., energized liberal groups throughout the campaign. The West Point graduate completed two combat tours in Iraq, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal, and later earned his master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was honorably discharged from the military after publicly coming out during his time at Harvard....(Original.)

With the Intellectual Capacity of a Garden Slug, Beck Tries to Advance Global Cooling Bullshit

Right-Wing Cunt, Ingraham, Includes Clusterfox in List of Cons Fighting Against Health Reform

In Another Display of Rabid Cuntitude, Ingraham Calls Van Jones a Communist

Oh, the Stupid! It Hurts! Fox Warns Dems "Don't Meddle With Our Patriotic Music

By Media Matters

Fox News hosts have recently fixated on the House's decision to terminate a pilot program to -- in the words of Bret Baier -- "kill the patriotic tunes callers hear when they're put on hold." Sean Hannity claimed that it "serves as a lesson to the Democrats: Don't meddle with our patriotic music," while Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said the program is "one of the most boneheaded moves of the summer" and claimed "America wins" because the House is once again playing "patriotic" music....(Remainder.)

Keith Olbermann Gives Lying Sack of Dog Mess WPITW Bronze for Socialism Fearmongering

Dana "Where's Cuba" Perino Advances Health Care Bill-Abortion Bullshit

By Media Matters

Criticizing Democratic health reform bills for allowing federally subsidized health insurance plans to cover abortion, Fox News contributor Dana Perino claimed that the "Hyde Amendment was supposed to protect against" allowing health insurance plans "that get subsidies from the taxpayer dollars" to cover abortion. In fact, the bills do not depart from current law as embodied in the Hyde Amendment -- indeed, many states cover abortions under the federally subsidized Medicaid program, even in circumstances where federal money is prohibited from being spent on abortion by that amendment....(Remainder.)

Northern Racism Alive and Well and Stupid

By Rude One
The Rude Pundit

Here's a fun little story from about ten years ago: the Rude Pundit was once sitting around with a group of professors, and the subject got around to how one defines "white trash." It's one of those charming theoretical discussions you get to have when you're overeducated and proud of it. He sat there for a moment while this circle of Northerners trotted out every trailer-living, tobacco-chewing, hick-talking stereotype (which, to be clear, exists in numbers far too large). And, of course, there was the defining element of these awful people from the South - their racism. Finally, the Rude Pundit spoke up and said, "As the only person here who has actually lived in a trailer in the South, I've gotta say that there's neighborhoods in Brooklyn or Boston where you'll find white trash racists who make the residents of Backwards Ass, Alabama, look like hippies." This was met with blinking and agreement and a change of subject.

It hardly needs to be said, but every once in a while, as all the redneck townhall protesters from the south, the midwest, and the west are paraded out on the airwaves like a barn beauty pageant, we need to be reminded that violent, stupid white people exist all over this devolving nation of ours.

Suffolk County, New York, out on Long Island, is the place where the wealthiest of the wealthy have homes (like, you know, Steven Spielberg), where the Hamptons are, as well as a bunch of towns whose name ends with "gue." Wherever there's a clusterfuck of rich people, there's gonna need to be people who serve them, who build their pools, who make their food, who wipe the sweat off their balls. And in contemporary America, that's gonna be Latinos, many of whom will be illegals, who will live as close to their jobs as they can afford, generally gathering in a few towns. And in contemporary America, whenever there's an influx of cheap labor in that particular demographic group, there will be asshole white people who will do what asshole white people have always done.

So it is that a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center singles out the white people of Suffolk County for a decade's worth of harassment, violence, and, in at least one case, murder, all against the county's Latino population. This includes recent charming seaside village incidents such as notes left at a church in Patchogue that said, "White people rule the church" and a beating and robbery of a Latino man by three white kids who, of course, used racial epithets during the incident. (By the way, in a look-how-far-we've-come incident this year, three black guys also beat a Latino while insulting his race.)...(Remainder.)

Former Top Gitmo Psychiatrist Called For Extermination of “Muslim Zealots”

By Jeffrey Kaye
The Public Record

A Harvard lecturer and former chief of neuropsychiatry at Guantanamo Bay made the shocking claim in a 2004 article that 100,000 "zealots" within the Muslim body politic would have to be exterminated, the way the "treatment of cancer requires killing of the malignant cells."

The article, "Terrorism – The Underlying Causes," appeared in the Winter/Spring 2004 issue of the Intelligencer, Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies, house organ for the American Federation of Intelligence Officers (AFIO), and was written by Dr. William Henry Anderson, who is currently the senior psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Anderson wrote that eliminating "hard-core zealots" is necessary because they have "brains that are structurally and functionally different from us" and there is "no evidence that they can be induced to change their minds."

Anderson's article was met with a stinging protest letter to the editor from psychologist and military ethics expert, Jean Maria Arrigo, but I'm not aware of any other complaint regarding this racist, fascistic article in the pages of a major intelligence services journal.

In fact, when, during her stint on the 2005 Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) task force of the American Psychological Association (APA), Arrigo tried to get the task force membership, stacked with military psychologists from Special Forces, SERE, and the CIA, to discuss the significance of the Anderson article, she was met with indifference and assurances that the matter was of no consequence, since Anderson had by then retired. The record of this can be seen by perusing the PENS listserv, posted by ProPublica a few months ago....(Remainder.)

Prosecutors Resort to Fabrications in Siegelman Case

By Roger Shuler
The Public Record

Federal prosecutors in Alabama apparently felt the need to create a fantasy world in their efforts to prevent a new trial in the Don Siegelman case.

In a document dated August 27, 2009, the government responded to a “Motion for a New Trial Based on Newly Discovered Evidence” that had been filed by Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy.

Prosecutors’ response contains statements that are clearly false related to several critical issues. Specifically, prosecutors make numerous misstatements about Karl Rove’s Congressional testimony. They also mischaracterize the contents of affidavits that were designed to counter the sworn statements of Alabama attorney and whistleblower Jill Simpson.

Regarding Rove, prosecutors state that the former Bush White House adviser denied contacting anyone at the Justice Department regarding the Siegelman case. In fact, Rove did no such thing. He either contradicted himself or used hedge language (”not that I recall,” “not to my knowledge”) in all of his answers to questions about his possible involvement in the Siegelman case.

Early in his testimony, Rove did deny contacting anyone at the Justice Department about the case. But when asked if he had contacted Noel Hillman, then head of the Public Integrity Section (which is part of the Justice Department), Rove hedged: “No, not that I recall.”...(Remainder.)

Researcher Blasts NARTH Official for “Blatant Misquotation”

By Jim Burroway
Box Turtle Bulletin

A researcher has blasted a prominent NARTH official for misrepresenting his work, calling it a "blatant misquotation." That denunciation has led one conservative Christian psychologist and supporter of Sexual Identity Therapy to call for an apology and retraction by the NARTH official.

Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton discovered a lengthy undated book review by NARTH Past President A. Dean Byrd, Brigham Young University Social Work professor, Shirley Cox, and private practitioner, Jeff Robinson for a Mormon apologetics web site. In the book review Byrd and company blasted the book's authors for offering a realistic portrayal of the unlikelihood of changing one's sexual orientation. Never mind that the 2004 book was not in any way gay-affirming — the book was published by LDS publisher Deseret Books and the authors come down squarely on LGBT people conforming to Mormon teachings which condemn same-sex relationships — Byrd was upset that the books authors chose not to distort science in the process similar to what Byrd and his co-authors used in their book review.

The book review itself is a classic anti-gay polemic which not only provides an untenable view of the certainty of "change," but also goes through great lengths to try to demonstrate that homosexuality is a mental illness — a core NARTH position that is in direct odds with professional psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy. In the book review, Byrd and his co-authors assert that gays and lesbians have a much higher incidence of mental illness, and that this incidence is not explainable by stigma:

Activist researcher J. Michael Bailey offered other hypotheses: "homosexuality represents a deviation from normal development and is associated with other such deviations that may lead to mental illness," or "the consequences of lifestyle differences associated with sexual orientation" leads to mental illness or "behavioral risk factors associated with male homosexuality such as receptive anal sex and promiscuity" leads to mental illness.

Pathetic Pussy Mark Steyn Thinks His Homophobic Hatemongering is Funny

Joe Scarborough STILL Spreading $23 Trillion Bailout Lie

By Media Matters

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough falsely claimed that "Congress says that we've gone through -- guaranteed $23 trillion to banks and institutions." In fact, the source of the $23 trillion figure, a report by the inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Plan, clearly states that the number represents the federal government's hypothetical maximum amount of support to the financial system, not the amount of support that has been committed, which is significantly less....(Remainder.)

Mark "Not Fit to Lick Obama's Shoes" Steyn Says Stay-in-School Speech is Part of a Cult

Mark 'Just Flat Out Stupid' Steyn Thinks Obama's Going to Kill the U.S.

Conservative Media Taking a Strong Stance Against Learning?!?

By Jamison Foser
Media Matters

If there is anybody out there who still doesn't believe that the conservative media will attack President Obama no matter what he does, consider this: Right-wingers are telling children to skip school as a protest against Obama's encouragement of students to stay in school.

I know, I know. You think I'm kidding. Or exaggerating. That I'm caricaturing the conservatives' position in order to make them look ridiculous.

Wrong. They defy caricature. There's nothing you can imagine that is too crazy for these people to say. They'll claim Barack Obama was secretly born in Kenya (his birth announcements in Hawaiian newspapers were just one part of an elaborate, decades-long conspiracy involving Kenyans, the media, Hawaii's Republican governor, and the Stonecutters). They'll say he has a diabolical plan to create government "death panels" to kill off the old and the young. They'll claim he is building a secret private army (consisting of -- I swear I am not making this up -- AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteers) that is "just as strong" as the U.S. military so that he can "seize power" and create a "thugocracy."

And when President Obama delivers the least-controversial message you could possibly imagine -- "Stay in school" -- they call it "indoctrination" and an attempt to "get 'em while they're young," warning, "They are capturing your kids" and "your republic is under attack."...(Remainder.)

Fox & Friends Asks is Health Care Reform is “Intentinal [sic] Death Sentence?”

(h/t Media Matters)

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