A Liberal's Hit List: Nov 14, 2009

Chain E-mail Links Supected Fort Hood Shooter to Obama

Saturday, November 14, 2009

By Catharine Richert

PolitiFact

Since the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009, we've been inundated with e-mails about a purported link between President Barack Obama's administration and Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist suspected of the shootings.

Here's a few lines from one of the many versions of the e-mail we received:

"It’s been a pretty incredible week and I don’t mean in a good way. But today we have been given a glimpse into the New World Order and it’s pretty scary," the e-mail begins. After complaining that Obama is pursuing a Muslim agenda, the e-mail says, "Did you know that Major Hassan was an ADVISOR to the Obama Administration? No? Neither did I until my wife found information on line and followed the evidence to the source documents!"

Our friends over at National Public Radio already checked out a version of this claim. The rumor, NPR concluded, started with Jerome Corsi, a writer for World Net Daily, and author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. The e-mails we were sent linked to the Corsi story as well.

"Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in yesterday's massacre at Fort Hood, played a homeland security advisory role in President Barack Obama's transition into the White House, according to a key university policy institute document," Corsi wrote. (We've checked three Corsi claims before and rated two False and one Pants on Fire.)

The story links to a document published by the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., titled "Thinking Anew—Security Priorities for the Next Administration." It is the proceedings from a series of meetings of the organization's Presidential Task Force. On page 29 of the paper, Hasan is listed as a participant; he was one of more than 300 officials, reporters and Capitol Hill aides who signed up for the conference....(Remainder.)

Free to Lose

By Paul Krugman

The New York Times

Consider, for a moment, a tale of two countries. Both have suffered a severe recession and lost jobs as a result — but not on the same scale. In Country A, employment has fallen more than 5 percent, and the unemployment rate has more than doubled. In Country B, employment has fallen only half a percent, and unemployment is only slightly higher than it was before the crisis.

Don’t you think Country A might have something to learn from Country B?

This story isn’t hypothetical. Country A is the United States, where stocks are up, G.D.P. is rising, but the terrible employment situation just keeps getting worse. Country B is Germany, which took a hit to its G.D.P. when world trade collapsed, but has been remarkably successful at avoiding mass job losses. Germany’s jobs miracle hasn’t received much attention in this country — but it’s real, it’s striking, and it raises serious questions about whether the U.S. government is doing the right things to fight unemployment.

Here in America, the philosophy behind jobs policy can be summarized as “if you grow it, they will come.” That is, we don’t really have a jobs policy: we have a G.D.P. policy. The theory is that by stimulating overall spending we can make G.D.P. grow faster, and this will induce companies to stop firing and resume hiring.

The alternative would be policies that address the job issue more directly. We could, for example, have New-Deal-style employment programs. Perhaps such a thing is politically impossible now — Glenn Beck would describe anything like the Works Progress Administration as a plan to recruit pro-Obama brownshirts — but we should note, for the record, that at their peak, the W.P.A. and the Civilian Conservation Corps employed millions of Americans, at relatively low cost to the budget....(Remainder.)

Colin Powell Tells Obama to 'Take His Time on Afghanistan'

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane

The Raw Story

In an interview Wednesday with columnist Roland S. Martin, Gen. Colin Powell said that on the issue of sending additional troops to Afghanistan he had advised President Obama to "take your time" and "not be rushed into a decision."

"This one is the decision that will have consequences for years to come," Powell said he'd told the president. "If you decide to send more troops ... make sure you have good understanding of what those troops are going to be doing and some assurance that the additional troops will be successful."

"You've got to make sure that you are putting this commitment on a solid base," continued Powell, "and the base is a little soft right now. ... Karzai's been told he's got to do something about this [corruption], and he's got to do something about the drug problem, and he's got to start pulling the Afghan people together."

"So Mr. President, don't get pressed by the left to do nothing, don't get pushed by the right to do everything," Powell concluded. :You take your time and you figure it out. You're the commander in chief and this is what you're elected for."

A new CNN poll shows that Americans are almost evenly divided over whether Obama is taking too long to reach a decision on Afghanistan, with men agreeing that he is and women saying he should be given more time. A majority of those polled, however, oppose a buildup and even more are against the war itself....(Remainder.)

Scahill: Obama may be Afraid of Blackwater

By David Edwards and Daniel Tencer

The Raw Story

Despite news reports that the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater has seen its contracts dry up and its influence wane, the company continues to do brisk business in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and the Obama administration may be too afraid of the firm to do anything about it, says investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill.

"You know who's guarding Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan right now? Blackwater," Scahill told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Tuesday night. "You know who guards members of Congress? Blackwater. They have half a billion dollars in contracts in Afghanistan right now. CIA, State Department, Defense Department. Why is President Obama keeping these guys on the payroll? There has never been a company in recent history that made the case that corporations are corrupt, evil organizations [better] than Blackwater."

Scahill was on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing the New York Times' revelation that senior Blackwater executives allegedly arranged for bribes of up to $1 million for Iraqi politicians in a bid to retain its contracts and silence criticism of the company in the wake of the Nissour Square massacre in 2007, in which 17 Iraqi civilians died after Blackwater guards opened fire.

Though the Times report stated that it's unknown if the approved bribes ever reached their targets -- Iraqi politicians -- Scahill drew a connection between the alleged bribes and the fact that, after the Nissour Sqaure massacre, the Iraqi government first decided to bar Blackwater from operating in the country, and then reversed its position.

"You had the Iraqi government saying Blackwater was banned from that country, then suddenly doing an about face, and Blackwater remains in Iraq to this day," Scahill said....(Remainder.)

Don't Let Abortion Destroy Health Reform

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.

The New Republic

WASHINGTON--For some years, Democrats have denounced parodies casting their party as utterly closed to the views of those who oppose abortion. Last weekend, Democrats proved conclusively that they are, indeed, a big tent--and many in the ranks are furious.

From the outraged comments of the abortion rights movement, you'd think that Rep. Bart Stupak's amendment to the House version of the health care bill would all but overturn Roe v. Wade.

No, it wouldn't. The Michigan Democrat's measure--passed 240-194, with 64 Democrats voting "yes"--would prohibit abortion coverage in the public health care option and bar any federal subsidies for plans that included abortion purchased on the new insurance exchanges.

Stupak argues that the federal government has stayed out of the business of financing abortion since passage of the Hyde Amendment in 1976 and that none of the policies available on the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program cover elective abortion. The structures that reform would create, he says, should carry the same restrictions, which do not apply in cases involving rape and incest or when a mother's life is in danger.

Abortion rights supporters counter that, at the very least, individuals who pay part of the cost of their policies should be allowed to choose abortion coverage....(Remainder.)

Sarah Palin says Health Care Reform Will be Costly

By Angie Drobnic Holan

PolitiFact

Sarah Palin may be in the midst of launching her new book, Going Rogue, but she still found time to post a note on her Facebook page criticizing the Democratic plans for health care.

Her note, titled "Pelosi 'Health Plan' Should Be DOA," argued that people shouldn't be compelled by the government to purchase health insurance. She also wrote that the House Democrats' measures for enforcing the new requirement, known as the individual mandate, are overly punitive.

"If you don't buy what the government considers 'acceptable health care coverage,' you’re going to be hit with a tax of at least 2.5% of your income," Palin wrote. "And if you don’t pay that new tax, you could be fined as much as $250,000 and sentenced to up to five years in prison.

"But here’s the thing: they have to make the penalty for opting out very harsh in order to force us to buy coverage. The only way to keep this government run health care plan afloat is for everyone to buy into it – especially young and healthy people. That means that they will have to penalize citizens if we choose not to buy a plan that will cost a minimum of about $15,000 per family per year."

Palin is correct that the Democratic plan requires everyone to buy insurance or face a tax penalty. The fines and jail terms, though, are not part of the health care bill, but rather the tools the Internal Revenue Service uses against tax cheats. (We ruled on a similar statement about jail terms and fines for those who don't buy health insurance and rated it Barely True.)

Here, we wanted to check out whether the plan requires people to buy plans that cost $15,000 per family per year....(Remainder.)

NY Trial for 9/11 Suspects Poses Legal and Political Risks

By Muriel Kane

The Raw Story

The announcement on Friday that the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged September 11 conspirators will be held just blocks from the former site of the Twin Towers has quickly given rise to complications.

One factor is the angry reception they are bound to receive in New York. "Hang them," a construction worker near the "ground zero' site told AFP. "Put them in a bird cage and hang it in the middle of Times Square," another man suggested.

A man who works in the area agreed that "It's the way it should have been from the beginning. This is where the crime happened," but was also concerned about "how they'll handle security."

The trial also poses legal and political risks for the Obama administration. As the Associated Press points out, "The case is likely to force the civilian federal court to confront a host of difficult issues, including rough treatment of detainees, sensitive intelligence gathering and the potential spectacle of defiant terrorists disrupting proceedings. U.S. civilian courts prohibit evidence obtained through coercion, and a number of detainees were questioned using harsh methods some call torture."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has already objected that holding a trial in the United States "puts Americans unnecessarily at risk," and former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey complained that "the plan seems to be to abandon the view that we are at war" and warned that the trial could turn into a circus....(Remainder.)

Violate the Constitution? Christian Right Group Says Yes

By Larry Keller

Hatewatch at SPLC

The American Family Association (AFA) usually frets about homosexuals and pornography, but in the aftermath of the shootings at Fort Hood last week, the ultraconservative religious right group has a new concern: Muslims in the U.S. military. Ban them, urges Bryan Fischer, AFA director of issues analysis.

The day after Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born Muslim, is alleged to have shot and killed 13 people at the Texas army post and wounded more than two dozen others, Fischer posted his anti-Muslim screed on the AFA website.

“It is time, I suggest, to stop the practice of allowing Muslims to serve in the U.S. military,” Fischer wrote. “The reason is simple: the more devout a Muslim is, the more of a threat he is to national security. Devout Muslims, who accept the teachings of the prophet as divinely inspired, believe it is their duty to kill infidels. Yesterday’s massacre is living proof.”

Fischer conceded that most U.S. Muslims don’t shoot their fellow soldiers. No matter, because “the more devout a Muslim is, the more likely he is to lie to you through his teeth,” Fischer writes. “You invent a jihadi-detector that works every time it’s used, and we’ll welcome you back with open arms. This is not Islamophobia. It is Islamo-realism. The barbarians are no longer at the gate. They’re inside the fort, and it’s time for the insanity to stop.”

Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said that barring Muslims from serving in the U.S. military would violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment that ensures equal application of laws among people regardless of their race, faith and the like. “That’s a bigoted, racist, vile position,” Weinstein said of the AFA article. “It’s un-American. It’s inhuman. It violates our Constitution.”...(Remainder.)

Palin Co-Author Lynn Vincent's Inflammatory Record

By Media Matters

On May 21, HarperCollins announced that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had chosen World magazine features editor Lynn Vincent to co-author Palin's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life. Palin's choice of Vincent, however, is not without controversy, as Vincent -- both in her writing for World and her other books -- has a record of false and inflammatory attacks on Democrats and liberals and has stridently attacked the gay community, likening gay people to communists and suggesting that homosexuality is a mental disorder.

Vincent's anti-gay attacks

In her many years writing for World, Vincent has authored several columns on gay rights issues, frequently deriding gay men and lesbians as abnormal and "devian[t]," often trafficking in hackneyed stereotypes of the gay community. Vincent even went so far as to lament the American Psychiatric Association's decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder, and she also wrote that the struggle for gay rights differs from that for African-American civil rights and women's suffrage, in that it will not "benefit[] society at large."

Gay activist seeking to make "deviance" appear "normal." From Vincent's April 25 World column:

Policy-wise, though, the impact of the same-sex marriage boom is more far-reaching than it may appear. As gay activists incrementally shatter their final barrier between deviance and "normal," government bodies are institutionalizing viewpoint discrimination against employees who still object to homosexuality on moral grounds. For example, University of Toledo employee Crystal Dixon, an African-American, was fired in 2008 after she wrote a newspaper op-ed questioning whether homosexuality is a civil-rights issue.

American Psychiatric Association should still call homosexuality a disorder. From her June 15, 2002, World column:

But more than 80 years of clinical research and observation calls into question the notion that the troubles of gay youth are based in discrimination, says Yale psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover, author of Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth. The American Psychiatric Association, under political pressure from a vitriolic internal gay caucus, ignored that science and removed homosexuality from its list of disorders in 1973. But science just wouldn't go away: Researchers have since found causal links between homosexuality and a lack of male role models (Journal of Genetics and Psychology, 1983); parental emotional abandonment (Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1989); and child sexual abuse (Child Abuse and Neglect, 1992).

Gay Marriage & Marijuana

You can't stop either. Why that's good.

By Jacob Weisberg

Newsweek

"I think this would be a good time for a beer," Franklin D. Roosevelt said upon signing a bill that made 3.2 percent lager legal, ahead of the full repeal of Prohibition. I hope Barack Obama will come up with some comparably witty remarks as he presides over the dismantling of our contemporary forms of prohibition—laws that prevent gay marriage, restrict cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance, and ban travel to Cuba. "You may now kiss the groom," perhaps, or a version of the comment he once made about smoking pot: "I inhaled—that was the point."

Prohibition now is different from Prohibition then. When the 18th Amendment went into effect in 1920, it was a radical social experiment challenging a custom as old as civilization. A predictable failure—the insult to individual rights, the impossibility of enforcement, the spawning of organized crime—it came to an end in 1933. Today it is a byword for futile attempts to legislate morality and remake human nature.

Our forms of prohibition are more sins of omission than commission. Rather than trying to take away longstanding rights, they're instances of conservative laws failing to keep pace with a liberalizing society. But like Prohibition in the '20s, these restrictions have become indefensible as well as impractical, and as a result are fading fast. Within 10 years, it seems a reasonable guess that Americans will travel freely to Cuba, that all states will recognize gay unions, and that few will retain criminal penalties for marijuana use by individuals. These reforms are inevitable—not because politics has changed, but because society has.

A few reference points: in April, Obama lifted restrictions on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans. Last month the Justice Department announced that it would no longer prosecute cases involving medical marijuana. Same-sex marriages are recognized in six states and counting. In a larger frame, loosening restrictions and lax enforcement reflect evolving social norms. Gay unions have been celebrated on the New York Times weddings page since 2002. Since George W. Bush left office, American tourists no longer worry about being prosecuted for visiting Havana without a Treasury license. In L.A., you need only tell an on-site doctor at a walk-in pot emporium that you feel anxious to walk out with a legal bag of Captain Kush....(Remainder.)

Conservatives Are Scared of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Liberals Are Not

By Rude One

The Rude Pundit

So it was that in a hangover haze, desperately thirsty, sore, and craving pancakes, the Rude Pundit opened his laptop this morning to see he had received a frantic email from Erick Erickson of the blog RedState. Knowing that he had never subscribed to any spam lists on that creepy fucker's site, the first thing the Rude Pundit did was curse whatever son or daughter of a bitch signed him up. And then he opened the message, which waved its little arms like a crazed Kermit the Frog by being subject-lined, "Stop Obama From Importing Terrorists Stateside" (man, the tariffs have gotta be heavy on that shit).

What did the screechy deacon have to say? "Today Barack Obama is going to announce that the terrorist mastermind of September 11th, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent to New York City for a criminal trial in a civilian court." Huh. Seemed eminently reasonable. If he is the 9/11 masterblastermind, then the city of the crime would be where he has to be tried, no?

If you're Erick Erickson (and if you are, the Rude Pundit says, "Dude, seriously?"), the answer is "Oh, fucking no fucking way, motherfucker." Or, as he wrote, "In that trial, the terrorist will get all the rights afforded an American citizen in a criminal trial, including the right to a fair trial, the right to a taxpayer funded attorney, the right to review all the evidence against him, potentially including classified intelligence matters, the right to exclude evidence against him including, potentially, any confession obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, etc."

Now, the Rude Pundit's no lawyer like Erickson once was, but he's pretty damn sure that the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution says, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial" and then talks about the rights that entails. That really doesn't distinguish between citizen and non-citizen and, indeed, there have been many decisions that allow for fair and speedy trial for immigrants both legal and illegal, as well as for non-Americans extradited to the United States for trial....(Remainder.)

President Obama Speaks on the Future of U.S. Leadership in Asia Pacific Region (FULL VIDEO)

(Via http://www.WhiteHouse.gov ) The President delivers speech on the United State's role in the Asia Pacific region from Tokyo, Japan on November 14, 2009.

Clusterfox Allows John Breaux Talk Blather On About Health Reform Without Acknowledging He's a Health Care Lobbyist

By Media Matters

Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron failed to disclose that former Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), who Cameron said "warns Democratic leaders now that trying too much too fast could backfire and undermine achievable [health care] reforms," has lobbied Congress this year about health reform for the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). This is part of a pattern on Fox: On several occasions, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich has been provided a forum to attack health care reform without disclosing that he reportedly profits from an organization that receives annual membership fees from health insurance companies....(Remainder.)

Clusterfox's "Straight News" Slams Dobbs & Frank in Response to Financial Reform

The Retarded Baby Jesus Shows Anti-Health Care Ad for 2010 Staring the Wig-of-Doom

Dumb-as-a-Sack-of-Hammers Hannity Cites the Toe-Sucking Troll's BS Claims About Jail Time

Bucket of Pig Snot Hannity Complete Ignores Dem House Wins to Say GOP is Taking Back the House

Fucktard O'Reilly Asks Anti-Choice Zealot Her Thoughts on Planned Parenthood is Abortion Mill

The Fucktard Tries to "Clarify" Failed Comedian Miller's Comments About Barney Frank

Reichsführer Beck Suggest that Obama is Giving "Reparations" to Native Americans

Baron of Batshit Claims Obama Job Summit is About Creating a New World Order

Phlegm Speck Wants Moronic Audience to Look to Revelations to "Answer What We Are Doing"

CBS' Nancy Cordes on "Unprecedented" Impact of Stupak Amend.

NOW President, Terry O'Neill, Says She Hopes IRS is Paying Attention to Catholic Bishops Actions

By Heather

Crooks and Liars

Dr. Nancy Snyderman talks to NOW's President Terry O'Neill about how the Stupak amendment caught NOW off guard, but that the issue has galvanized young women. O'Neill said she felt the amendment essentially over rules Roe v Wade. And I agree completely with O'Neill when asked by Dr. Nancy if this was a 'most fundamental violation of church and state' that the Catholic bishops inserted themselves into this political debate.

O'Neill: You know that's the first thing that I said. I don't know where the Internal Revenue Service is, but I hope they're paying attention.

And as Dr. Nancy noted again, it's two white men making policy about women's reproductive decisions.

While we're on the subject, what Digby said...

I have a moral objection to paying for any kind of erectile dysfunction medicine in the new health reform bill and I think men who want to use it should just pay for it out of pocket. After all, I won't ever need such a pill. And anyway, it's no biggie. Just because most of them can get it under their insurance today doesn't mean they shouldn't have it stripped from their coverage in the future because of my moral objections. (I don't think there's even been a Supreme Court ruling making wood a constitutional right. I might be wrong about that.)

Many of the men who are prescribed this medication are on Medicare, so I think it should be stripped out of that coverage as well. And unlike the payments for abortion, which actually lower overall medical costs (pregnancy obviously costs much, much more) banning tax dollars from covering any kind of Viagra would result in a substantial savings.

Continue reading...

Right-Wing Employment Politicies Institute Fearmongers Over Dem Health Reform

Mark "Steaming Bucket of Syphilitic Diarrhea" Levin Thinks Obama is "Aggressively" Destroying the Nation

Flaming Coward Limbaugh Attacks Rep. & Vice Admiral Stestak's Faith in US Justice System

The Pig-Man Ignorantly Claims that '93 WTC Trials Contributed to 9/11

Dylan Ratigan Has Some Fun "Celebrating" Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Denver Post Mocks Lawmaker for Denying He Compared Obama to Terrorists

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane

The Raw Story

Colorado Republican State Senator Dave Schultheis had the dubious honor of being named "Worst Person in the World" on Thursday by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann for his unfortunate use of Twitter.

"Don’t for a second, think Obama wants what is best for U.S.," Schultheis tweeted. "He is flying the U.S. plane right into the ground at full speed. Let’s roll."

"'Let's roll," Olbermann repeated. "The rallying cry from Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, PA on 9/11."

Schultheis has denied that the 911 reference was intentional, telling the Denver Post, "It's a comment people use all the time any more. 'Let's get going. Let's move on. Let's make major changes,' I can see it now. But you're busy doing jillions of things during the day. You sometimes don't analyze every single word."

Schultheis also suggested that his own reputation for controversial statements may have given people the wrong idea. Last winter, he aroused outrage when he was the only member of the Colorado state senate to vote against a bill requiring HIV testing for pregnant women, objecting that it would "remove the negative consequences that take place from poor behavior and unacceptable behavior."...(Remainder.)

Blondie McProstate Tells Harry Smith That Caribou Barbie is an "Authentic American" Unlike the Media

Rep. Blackburn Spreads Her Bullshit Corporate Talking Points to Lie About CER

Ed Schultz Mocks the Pig-Man's Calling Caribou Barbie's Book "Policy-Heavy"

Full-Fledged Coward & False Patriot Phlegm Speck Attacks Commander in Chief for Using Troops as "Props"

Phelgm Speck is the Latest Right-Wing Douche to Push "Jail Time" Canard

Right-Wing Whore, Cupp, Brings Up Fairy Tale About Caribou Barbie's Selling AK Jet on EBay

Clusterfox & Frauds Gives Forum to Homophobic Birther Williams to Promote Next White Power Rallies

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Right-Wing Ass Puppet, Matthew Continetti, Bitches & Whines Like a 2-Year-Old About "Persecution of Palin"

While Bidding "Old Friend" Poo Blobs Goodbye, Imus Calls Him a "Psychopath"

Chickenshit Coward Kristol Attacks the Military

The Fucktard Says that Poo Blobs On-Air Resignation was "Strange"

Fucktard O'Reilly Says Holocaust Museum Shooter, & O'Reilly Book Reader, Isn't a Terrorist Becuase He Didn't Yell "Allah Akbar"

Right-Wing Spooge Hound, Ingraham, Goes on the Fucktard's Show to Defend Her Comments About Peolosi

Pathetic Waste of Skin, Andrew McCarthy Tries to Tell Pawn Manatee Why Homophobia Isn't "Hatred"

Pawn Manatee Apologized to Jon Stewart for "Inadvertanly" Airing Wrong Klan Rally Footage

By Heather

Crooks and Liars

Looks like Jon Stewart got the attention of Fox News with his segment criticizing Sean Hannity for showing footage of Glenn Beck's 9-12 rally and pretending it was crazy-eyes Michele Bachmann's teabagger health care protest. Hannity 'apologized,' if you want to call it that. It was a mistake...honest.

Hannity: He was correct. We screwed up. We aired some video of a rally in September, along with video from the actual event. It was an inadvertent mistake. But a mistake nonetheless.

Sure it was, Sean.

As Media Matters reports, his apology might be taken seriously if Fox News didn't have a record of doing this sort of thing--Hannity video switch-up is only the tip of Fox News' video-doctoring iceberg.

Dave N.: Cable-network producers know exactly what they're doing when they make these edits -- what their sources are, what they're representing. Inadvertent my tookus....(Remainder.)

Frank Gaffney's Bullshit Fearmongering Over KSM Trial Undercut by Previous Success

By Media Matters

Responding to reports that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) and four others accused of being involved in the 9-11 attacks are going to be tried in New York City, Washington Times columnist Frank Gaffney stated during Fox & Friends that Mohammed will "be a rock star in the prison system" who will "use our prisons as incubators for people who they're recruiting to jihad" and speculated that KSM would be "sprung" after being "lawyered up" and given "constitutional rights." In fact, both the Clinton and Bush administrations tried and imprisoned terror suspects in our federal system without incident....(Remainder.)

Faux News & the Pig-Man Can't Agree on a Message Regarding Caribou Barbie's Book

By Media Matters

On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue: An American Experience, is "one of the most substantive policy books I've read." By contrast, later that night, Fox News' Carl Cameron stated that the book "largely steers clear of politics and policy" and that the chapter in which Palin "discusses her brand of populist conservatism" covers "only 13 pages out of more than 400."...(Remainder.)

Neil "Melon of Doom" Cavuto Allows Utterly Failed Politician Giuliani to Fearmonger About KSM Trial

By Media Matters

Fox News' Neil Cavuto allowed Rudy Giuliani to criticize the Obama administration's decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) in the U.S. criminal justice system in New York City as a "terrible, terrible mistake" because KSM "should be prosecuted in a military tribunal." Cavuto did not ask Giuliani to reconcile his statements with his 2006 reported praise of the federal trial of Zacarias Moussaoui -- who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- of which he said: "It does demonstrate that we can give people a fair trial, that we are exactly what we say we are. We are a nation of law."...(Remainder.)

Fox's Mass Leap to Label Ft. Hood Shootings 'Terrorism' is Classic Ethnic/Religious Hysteria

By David Neiwert
Crooks and Liars

The meme had been brewing for a few days among some of the Fox News guests -- particularly Michelle Malkin -- brought on to talk about the Fort Hood shootings, but it was Bill Sammon, during the broadcast of the memorial for the slain soldiers, who apparently made it official at Fox: The Fort Hood shootings were a terrorist attack -- comparable to 9/11 and Oklahoma City -- by a radical Islamist engaged in Muslim "jihad."

Now, it's not only the conventional wisdom at Fox News, it's one of their major attack points -- they're claiming that because President Obama and the rest of the media aren't adopting their presumptuous and hysterical meme, they're being "soft" on terrorism.

The meme gained momentum when Glenn picked up Sammon's ball and ran with it the next day, declaring: "If you don't call [Hasan] a terrorist, it clears a path for ... an extremist terrorist plan." That night, Sean Hannity explored the question at length with Michelle Malkin, as you can see from the video atop this post.

For Malkin and Hannity, "political correctness" -- which they blame for the military's failure to stop Hasan -- is actually code for "the refusal to engage in ethnic and religious profiling". Because such profiling, it's clear, is what they think the military (and the government generally) should do to prevent future such shootings.

The worst offender, though, has been Bill O'Reilly, who -- as you can see below -- not only harangued Sally Quinn for her reluctance to declare Nidal Hasan a "terrorist," but then devoted his leadoff Talking Points Memo segment last night to chastising the president and the rest of the media for their reluctance to embrace the meme....(Remainder.)

In a Rare Moment of Journalistic Integrity, Geraldo Debunks Fox Fearmongering Over KSM Trial

Phlegm Speck Moronically Asks African-Americans why they Identify as Black

America-Hating Droopy McDumbass says Trying KSM in Court is 2nd Half of 9/11 Attack

Baron of Batshit Still Trying to Advance Health Insurance Jail Time Bullshit

Blondie McProstate Tells the Retarded Baby Jesus that Muslims are Playing the Victim

Batshit Crazy Chuck Norris Tells the Manatee That He Wants to Kill Politicians

Conservative Media Attacks of Detainee Trials Undermined by Support from Ret. Military Brass, Conservative Scholars, and Statesmen

By Media Matters

Following Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to hold criminal trials for five Guantánamo detainees, conservative media figures have criticized the decision as a "disaster," "impossible to put into perspective" and -- in the words of Rush Limbaugh -- done only to "satisfy the rabid radical far left that hates this country." However, these conservative media figures are at odds with numerous retired generals, admirals, and legal experts, as well as numerous conservative scholars and officials, including Grover Norquist, Barry Goldwater, and David Keene.

Conservative media criticize criminal trials for Guantánamo detainees

Limbaugh: Criminal trials are a "disgusting travesty." On November 13, Limbaugh opened his nationally syndicated radio show by asserting: "This, my friends, is even more insidious than you know. This is more insidious than you can possibly imagine. I'm talking about bringing these terrorists up from Gitmo and trying them in New York City." Limbaugh later referred to the decision as a "disgusting travesty perpetrated here by Barack Obama." Limbaugh further stated: "All of this is being done to satisfy the rabid radical far left that hates this country, that hates George W Bush, that hates the U.S. military." Limbaugh also said that "your country is going to be on trial and your country will likely be found guilty." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/13/09]

Gaffney: "I think this is a disaster." Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy and a Washington Times columnist, commented that trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in the U.S. justice system would "make this a much more dangerous country than it is today." Gaffney also said: "I think this is a disaster. What the president says is going to be exacting justice I think is going to be anything but, because what will happen, the moment Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators, or fellow travelers, arrive in the United States is they will be imbued with a host of constitutional rights that it's almost unimaginable for most Americans that we're going to be giving to our enemies, people sworn to our destruction." [Fox News' Fox & Friends, 11/13/09]...(Remainder.)

President Obama Meets with Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama

By The White House

The President meets with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan on the first stop of his trip to Asia. Following a private discussion, they speak to the press about issues including climate change, nuclear disarmament, and Afghanistan. November 13, 2009.

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