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2010 Elections

Lady Gaga Ends Target Partnership, Reportedly Over LGBT Stance. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/lady-gaga-ends-target-lgbt_n_833209.html

Target Corp. was ordered Thursday to pay $22.5 million in penalties and costs to counties and cities throughout California -- including San Diego -- for improperly disposing hazardous products. "This settlement is only the first step in Target's obligation to clean up its act," said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. "A permanent injunction, signed by the court, will hold Target accountable for any failures to follow the letter of the law down the road, even after the civil penalties and costs are paid," she said. Dumanis said Target was more concerned about its bottom line than following the law. "A corporate giant has been held accountable for its actions," she said. http://www.sandiego6.com/news/state/story/Target-settles-lawsuit-over-Calif-waste-disposal/09REx-xZ0E6AU35VwkTxzg.cspx

Target apologizes for giving to group backing Emmer. http://www.startribune.com/local/100051999.html

e-mail from Target:

Dear Smith,

Target has long believed that engaging in civic activities is an important and necessary element of operating a national retail business. What's more important than any one candidate's stance on a particular issue is how we nurture thoughtful, long-term growth in the state of Minnesota.

Our support of causes and candidates is based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business objectives. To continue to grow and create jobs and opportunity in our home state, we believe it is imperative to be engaged in public policy and the political process. That is why we are members of organizations like the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Chamber of Commerce and many others. And that is why we decided to contribute to MN Forward.

MN Forward's objective is to elect candidates from both parties who will make job creation and economic growth a top priority. We operate best when working collaboratively with legislators on both sides of the aisle. In fact, if you look at our Federal PAC contributions year to date, you will see that they are very balanced between Republicans and Democrats. For more information please visit www.target.com/company, and view the Civic Activity page.

Target has a large stake in Minnesota's future, which is why it is so important to be able to provide jobs, serve guests, support communities and deliver on our commitment to shareholders. As an international business that is proud to call Minnesota home, it is critical that we have a business environment that allows us to be competitive. Our guests, team members, communities and shareholders depend on Target to remain competitive.

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hanson Target Executive Offices [THREAD ID:1-7HR7U4]

Basil Marceaux Sr. http://politics.freesitenow.com/basilmarceauxforgovernor/

Target — the high-style discount chain — helped to pay for a TV ad endorsing a candidate for governor. Word of that is causing the retailer some problems. The ad, which you can see below and online here, gives a full-throated endorsement to Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. "Working to grow jobs. Getting government out of the way. Tom Emmer, the fighter Minnesota needs," the narrator declares. The group behind the ad is called Minnesota Forward. And the main money behind Minnesota Forward comes from seven companies — $100,000 from each of them. Target is on that donor list. It also gave Minnesota Forward $50,000 worth of help with branding. The consultant behind Minnesota Forward is Brian McClung. He tells NPR that the group was made possible by the Supreme Court decision to allow corporate political spending. And, says McClung, companies weigh their priorities when they give money for ads such as that aired by Minnesota Forward. "Some decisions might upset some folks," McClung says, "but they have to make a decision overall on what they think is the right direction for their business and the community that they're in." And that's how Target got in a jam. Emmer is well known as a hardline conservative on social issues. For instance; he opposes gay marriage — a stance that angers some of Target's employees and customers. The company has been known for its gay-friendly employment policies. http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2010/07/27/128802661/

The political team at MSNBC, including Chuck Todd, are quick to admit that Democrats stand to lose a lot in November's elections, but they predict that outright control of the House won't be one of the casualties. Here are four reasons why they say Democrats will keep the House in their hands: 1) Unlike in '94, the Republican Party has a [favorable/unfavorable] score that's no better (and sometimes even worse) than the Dem Party's. 2) Unlike in '94, the GOP isn't necessarily running on new ideas or even with many new faces. 3) The National Republican Congressional Committee has a HUGE financial disadvantage compared with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the RNC's political/fundraising troubles won't be able to make up the difference. # 4) Winning 39 seats is a tall order. After all, when Democrats won back the House in 2006 -- during the height of violence in Iraq and after Hurricane Katrina -- they picked up 30 House seats. The GOP will need almost 10 more than that. One thing that's truly amazing about this cycle, historically: The fact we're headed for a third-straight cycle where more than 20 seats change hands. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/eric-cantor-says-republic_n_643306.html

Republicans, who were unified in opposition to President Barack Obama's expansive approach to government power, now find the gulf oil spill complicating their message. A small chorus of conservative voices insisting that Obama went too far in forcing oil giant BP to set aside $20 billion for oil spill damage claims is in step with the anti-government fervor of the Tea Party movement, but it's potentially out of sync with a public that's clamoring for action and Republican leaders who want that public's favor. At the same time, Democrats are split over spending: Liberals and unions are pressing for more spending to stimulate the economy, but moderate Democrats fear that voters in swing districts are balking, saying the federal government is already too deep in debt. http://www.freep.com/article/20100620/NEWS15/6200433/1322/Oil-spill-highlights-rifts-within-parties

Critics call the Oath Keepers a dangerous anti-government "patriot" group recruiting on the edges of the militia movement and taking advantage of the anger and fear-mongering in some tea party circles. The Southern Poverty Law Center is lumping the "particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival" in with the hate groups it tracks. The group issued a report last year saying a new miliita movement is on the rise, and was concerned about the Oath Keepers making inroads into law enforcement. The Oath Keepers are similar to the tea party crowd in that they often disagree what their movement represents. While bred from the libertarian spirit that courses through the West, the Oath Keepers don't have a formal structure beyond the vague principles outlined in the 10 orders. They say the sheriff is at the top primarily because he is the highest elected law enforcement agent in the land, directly responsible to the voters, and argue the Tenth Amendment gives the voters all power not expressly given the federal government under the Constitution. The movement has gained traction, including in dozen or more sheriff's races around the West from Orange County, Calif., to the northern border. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/31/oath-keepers-want-to-rest_n_595374.html

Liberals

E-mails reveal Post reporter savaging conservatives, rooting for Democrats. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/25/emails-reveal-post-reporter-savaging-conservatives-rooting-for-democrats/#ixzz0sfgSUB9V

Last week, the Right’s panic about the designs of the “mainstream media” and its desire to exploit that fear got a little personal for me. For several years, I was a happy member of Journolist—a closed, strictly off-the-record listserv of several hundred progressive journalists and academics set up by Ezra Klein, a talented young writer about politics and policy who now blogs for the Washington Post. We discussed anything newsworthy, from World Cup soccer to John Edwards’s sex life, in sometimes rational, sometimes angry, sometimes hilarious ways. But last week, Klein decided to close down the operation. Some anonymous killjoy had leaked derisive comments Dave Weigel, who blogged for the Post about all things conservative, had made about Rush Limbaugh and a few other figures on the Right. The Post fired Weigel, and Ezra feared other leaks that would harm the careers of other reporters. Fortunately, Weigel soon got a new job at MSNBC. Then Andrew Breitbart, one of the Right’s leading cyber-impresarios, leaped into the fray: “I’ve had $100,000 burning in my pocket for the last three months,” he wrote on Tuesday, “and I’d really like to spend it on a worthy cause. So how about this: in the interests of journalistic transparency, and to offer the American public a unique insight in [sic] the workings of the Democrat-Media Complex, I’m offering $100,000 for the full ‘JournoList’ archive, source fully protected. Now there’s an offer somebody can’t refuse.” Consider the premise: Breitbart assumes a bunch of left-leaning writers letting off steam in random ways was actually key to the Complex conspiracy “at the heart of contemporary American political journalism.” Exposing this cabal would free the citizenry from the lies and distortions that have shackled their minds for decades. One can view this as evidence of how ignorant conservative activists are about how the media really works. Or one can view it, more cynically, as yet another attempt to throw progressives on the defensive, afraid that the Right truly represents “the people.” At least, Breitbart won’t find his rat. The Journolist archive has been deleted. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=196

Cindy Sheehan links wars to nation's woes. Wars have spread thin the resources of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee National Guard, which prevented them from responding better to the Nashville flood, said anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. "Resources of communities are being sucked dry by the industrial military complexes. They are locked up in wars of aggression as our infrastructure in the United State is literally crumbling," Sheehan told The Tennessean before giving a speech Saturday at the Nashville Peace Fest. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100627/NEWS01/6270334/Cindy+Sheehan+links+wars+to+nation+s+woes

Force or Fringe: United States Social Forum Vs. Tea Party. http://movementvision.org/rants-polemics/force-or-fringe/

Dems

Anthony Weiner Rips GOP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEplP2Fl0e8

The smearing of Shirley Sherrod ought to be a turning point in American politics. This is not, as the now trivialized phrase has it, a “teachable moment.” It is a time for action. The mainstream media and the Obama administration alike must stop cowering before a right wing that has persistently forced its own propaganda to be accepted as news by persuading traditional journalists that “fairness” requires treating extremist rants as “one side of the story.” And there can be no more shilly-shallying about the fact that racial backlash politics is becoming an important component of the campaign against President Obama, and against progressives in this year’s election. The administration’s response to the doctored video pushed by right-wing hit man Andrew Breitbart was shameful. The obsession with “protecting” the president turned out to be the least protective approach of all. http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_end_of_the_fox_news_era_20100725/

Surprise U.S. Senate nominee Alvin Greene frequently mentions his 13 years of military service, but records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press show that the veteran who has called himself an "American hero" was considered a lackluster service member at best. The records, which document his superiors' decisions to pass over Greene for promotion, cite mistakes as severe as improperly uploading sensitive intelligence information to a military server, and as basic as an overall inability to clearly express his thoughts and perform basic tasks. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/alvin-greenes-military-re_n_656176.html

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb called for ending government-run diversity programs in a newspaper column Friday, saying they have disadvantaged struggling whites and hurt the cause of racial harmony. Webb wrote an op-ed column in Friday's Wall Street Journal that said a "plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future." http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100724/D9H55TP00.html

Vice President Joe Biden has a warning for the pundits: Democrats are going to shock everybody with how well they do in the November election. And he's paraphrasing Mark Twain in saying reports of the Democrats' demise "are premature." "We're going to win the House and we're going to win the Senate," Biden told ABC's "This Week" in an interview that aired Sunday. "I don't think the losses are going to be bad at all. ... We're going to be in great shape." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100718/ap_on_el_ge/us_fall_election_predictions

Carter, Obama, and the Left-Center Divide. WHEN SENATOR Ted Kennedy walked onto the podium at the 1980 Democratic Convention, the crowd erupted. The senator raised his fist to the Massachusetts delegation. Then he quickly shook President Carter’s hand and walked away without lifting Carter’s arm—the traditional sign of unity at the end of a primary battle. After Kennedy left, the crowd shouted, “We want Ted!” so vigorously that he returned for an encore. At that point, it looked like Carter had to chase Kennedy down to get his attention. Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee, took close notice of what had happened. “If that’s the best they can do in unity, they have a long way to go….” Six months later, Reagan trounced him in the election with 489 Electoral College votes. The awkward scene between Carter and Kennedy culminated four years of tense relations between these two men and, more importantly, between the White House and liberal Democrats in Congress. The fallout was devastating to the party, especially as the conservative movement was gaining steam in the 1970s. Since Carter’s presidency, the relationship between centrist and liberal Democrats has been characterized by mistrust and suspicion. President Obama has a historic opportunity to restore an alliance that was crucial to the success of twentieth-century liberalism. The 2008 election depended on a broad Democratic coalition that bridged left and center, and there was a considerable amount of goodwill between congressional liberals and the White House. Thus far, however, Obama has repeated some of the mistakes that Carter made. With each month, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve the kind of partnership that eluded Carter and Kennedy. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=361

Alvin Greene Details Emerge, But Much Remains Murky About South Carolina Senate Candidate. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/alvin-greene-details-emer_n_635953.html

Campaign and Vote Fraud

Target Corp. Tuesday defended the use of its new freedom to spend money on political campaigns as employees and gay organizations criticized a $150,000 donation that will help a Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage. Chief Executive Officer Gregg Steinhafel assured employees at the company's Minneapolis headquarters in an e-mail that the discount retailer's support of the gay community is "unwavering." He said employees, some gay, raised concerns that the money is helping state Rep. Tom Emmer, a fiery conservative who is his party's likely nominee for governor. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H7MBB80.htm

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli is setting aside $55,000 in campaign contributions from the director of a veterans organization that is under investigation. Regulators in a handful of states are investigating fundraising and spending by Bobby Thompson and the United States Navy Veterans Association. In Virginia, the investigation is being handled by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Charitable organizations that raise money in Virginia are required to register with the department. Cuccinelli’s campaign committee says if it is determined funds were misappropriated from the veterans group to Thompson, the contributions will be donated to military support organizations. http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_navy_virginia_ag_donations_061810/

A group that claims to represent Navy veterans but is under investigation over its fundraising and spending gave Virginia politicians $67,500 last year, and recently got a law passed exempting its money raising activities from state regulations. After protests from Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the Veterans Administration removed a link for the group from its website Wednesday. The U.S. Navy Veterans Association and Bobby Thompson, its former director and chief financial officer, are being investigated by regulators in New Mexico, Florida and Missouri. Virginia is not conducting investigations. http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/05/ap_navy_vets_group_051910/

Corruption and Incompetence

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex) featured an article on his own website Wednesday morning, in which a conservative author defends the Texas Republican for apologizing to BP for the "shakedown" it received from the Obama White House. Normally, lawmakers are all in the business of promoting their positions. So a flattering piece on the Barton site wouldn't be out of order -- except for the fact that Barton has since apologized for making the remarks. In fact, just minutes before the article was posted the Texas Republican was reportedly groveling in front of a House GOP gathering, acknowledging that his comment was dumb and asking to retain his position as ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The piece highlighted on Barton's website was penned by Peter Habbaford of the American Spectator, a conservative publication which ran the article under the headline "Joe Barton Was Right." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/23/joe-barton-touts-a-defens_n_622582.html

Politicized Military

The solution to a less politicized military can be accomplished via dilution, but for this to happen more political centrists and liberals would have to join the military. I doubt this will happen. According to tens of thousands of surveys conducted by University of Virginia social psychology professor Jonathan Haidt, politically conservative individuals disproportionately value both respect for authority and loyalty — values that perfectly align with military culture. By contrast, those on the political left disproportionally value caring for others and fairness. These are admirable preferences, but they don't immediately comport with a military career. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-0625-slayton-20100625,0,817468.story

An increasingly politicized military. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's criticism of Obama administration officials symbolizes an accelerated partisanship of the officer corps. It is tempting to compare Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's criticism of Obama administration officials to Gen. Douglas MacArthur's defiance of President Truman during the Korean War. But something important has changed over the last 60 years. Although MacArthur challenged Truman, the larger officer corps was then thoroughly committed to principles of civilian control. But today, McChrystal's actions are symptomatic of a broader politicization of the military command. During the early 20th century, strict nonpartisanship was the professional norm. The overwhelming majority of officers even refused to vote since this required them to think of themselves as partisans for the time it took to cast a secret ballot. As late as 1976, 55% of the higher ranks (majors and above) continued to identify as independents. Vietnam marked a decisive change. With leading Democrats challenging the Cold War consensus, party politics began to threaten key military interests, and many officers began abandoning their detached stance. With the political rise of Ronald Reagan, the top rank of the officer corps moved from 33% Republican in 1976 to 53% in 1984. By 1996, 67% of the senior officer corps were Republicans, and only 7% were Democrats — the basic pattern continued through 2004. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ackerman-mcchrystal-20100623,0,7659730.story

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/indust.html

Christians

Extremist Christians Aim to Create Armed Militias Against "Godless" Federal Government. Christian Reconstructionists believe civil government should be reformed according to the dictates of biblical law. Some advocate for followers to take up arms. http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/147453/extremist_christians_aim_to_create_armed_militias_against_%22godless%22_federal_government/

Tea Party Jesus http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/tea-party-jesus-blog-puts_n_630753.html

The Libertarian enshrinement of individual choice is not the pre-eminent Christian virtue. Emphasizing individual rights at the expense of others violates the common good, a central Christian teaching and tradition. The Christian answer to the question "Are we our brother's keeper?" is decidedly "Yes." Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor. Loving your neighbor is a better Christian response than telling your neighbor to leave you alone. Both compassion and social justice are fundamental Christian commitments, and while the Christian community is responsible for living out both, government is also held accountable to the requirements of justice and mercy. Both Christians on the Right and the Left have raised questions about Libertarian abandonment of the most vulnerable -- whether that means unborn lives or the poor. Just look at the biblical prophets in their condemnation of injustice to the poor, and how they frequently follow those statements by requiring the king (the government) to act justly (these requirements applied both to the kings of Israel and to foreign potentates). Jeremiah, speaking of King Josiah, said, "He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well."(Jeremiah 22:16). Amos instructs the courts (the government) to "Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts" (Amos 5:15). The prophets hold kings, rulers, judges, and employers accountable to the demands of justice and mercy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/how-christian-is-tea-part_b_592170.html

Functionally speaking, then, our separation of church and state translates into a respect for individual opinions formed by a variety of religious consciences and an abhorrence of political agendas formulated by religious denominations out of their particular revelations or dogma. In other words, our public square includes a place for religious belief but excludes confessional politics. That's what makes the presence of what amounts to a religious slate on next week's primary ballot in San Diego such a disturbing prospect. There, four sitting judges are being challenged by candidates hand-picked by an organization called Better Courts Now and backed by a coalition of evangelical pastors, an El Cajon gun store and opponents of reproductive choice and marriage equality. The organization was established by the late Rev. Don Hamer, who until his death two months ago was pastor of San Diego's Zion Christian Fellowship. He took a particularly active role in the campaign for Proposition 8 and, during the presidential election, produced a series of videos purporting to prove that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim. Three of the four incumbent judges have been given the highest possible rating, "well qualified," by the local bar association. The fourth, a veteran judge, was given a lesser ranking, apparently because she's suing her colleagues in a dispute over probation policy. The bar found three of the four challengers unqualified; the fourth had too spotty a legal record to permit a rating. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0602-rutten-20100602,0,7718272.column

ACORN

ACORN set up by vidiots: DA. The video that unleashed a firestorm of criticism on the activist group ACORN was a "heavily edited" splice job that only made it appear as though the organization's workers were advising a pimp and prostitute on how to get a mortgage, sources said yesterday. The findings by the Brooklyn DA, following a 5½-month probe into the video, secretly recorded by conservative provocateurs James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, means that no charges will be filed. Many of the seemingly crime-encouraging answers were taken out of context so as to appear more sinister, sources said. Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/acorn_set_up_by_vidiots_da_x16IroTf4AsXCI19nttFLL#ixzz0pwvMP9T0

Climate Change

Inhofe Still Insists 'We're In A Cold Spell': Is The Heat Getting To The Senator? (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/inhofe-still-insists-were_n_657722.html

Tea Baggers

News

Newt Gingrich's Ex-Wife Goes Public: Messy Relationship Life, Meltdowns, And 2012. http://www.esquire.com/print-this/newt-gingrich-0910?page=all

She called a minister they both trusted. He came over to the house the next day and worked with them the whole weekend, but Gingrich just kept saying she was a Jaguar and all he wanted was a Chevrolet. "'I can't handle a Jaguar right now.' He said that many times. 'All I want is a Chevrolet.'" He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused. He'd just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he'd given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values. The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, "How do you give that speech and do what you're doing?" "It doesn't matter what I do," he answered. "People need to hear what I have to say. There's no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn't matter what I live." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/newt-gingrichs-ex-wife-go_n_676834.html

If that sounds different than the high-decibel Tea Party rants about Big Government breaking into your house to steal your Freedom under the dark of night, you're right. But then again, Tea Partiers did abysmally in Michigan Tuesday night and they haven't fared much better across the country. http://blog.mlive.com/capitolchronicles/2010/08/post_7.html

In carrying 75 of Tennessee's 95 counties in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Bill Haslam apparently reaffirmed the value of speaking softly and carrying a big financial stick - even when the GOP electorate is said to be turning more conservative. During the primary campaign, key blocs of Republican voters - gun-rights advocates, anti-abortion activists and Tea Party adherents - appeared to line up with one or the other of the Knoxville mayor's opponents, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp. Wamp called Haslam "an elitist, establishment, moderate-to-liberal Republican." Ramsey said Haslam was a "country club Republican" who could not relate well to "grassroots, Tea Party Republicans" such as himself. But today, Ramsey and Wamp are expected at a Republican unity rally, basically to declare that such commentary in the primary past doesn't matter now that Haslam faces Democrat Mike McWherter in the November general election. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/aug/06/mcwherter-targeting-dissatisfied-gop-voters/

One uses taxpayer money to rail against taxes, another’s tainted by Medicaid fraud, a third secretly pocketed thousands from a government contract. John Avlon on three candidates making a mockery of the movement’s message. Hypocrisy, the unforgivable sin in politics, is threatening to cast a shadow over the Tea Party. The movement built its momentum by rallying citizens against out-of-control government spending. But now a handful of self-funded gubernatorial candidates are undercutting its message because they got rich off government programs. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-05/tea-partiers-who-got-rich-off-big-government

From neocons to crazy-cons. Once the conservative movement was about finding meaning in private life and public service. But it has undergone a shift toward demagoguery and hucksterism. Once, the iconic figures on the political right were urbane visionaries and builders of institutions — like William F. Buckley Jr., Irving Kristol and Father Richard John Neuhaus, all dead now. Today, far more representative is potty-mouthed Internet entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart, whose news and opinion website, Breitbart.com, is read by millions. In his most recent triumph, Breitbart got a U.S. Department of Agriculture official pushed out of her job after he released a deceptively edited video clip of her supposedly endorsing racism against white people. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-klinghoffer-conservatism-20100801,0,3905768.story

Looking around the United States in the summer of 2010, hysterical moral panic seems an apt description of our fevered political condition. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0731-rutten-20100731,0,3912589.column

The Palin endorsement may well be playing a role in this. 51% of voters in the state say they're less likely to back a Palin endorsed candidate to only 26% who say that support would make them more inclined to vote for someone. Among moderates that widens to 65% who say a Palin endorsement would turn them off to 14% who it would make more supportive. The polling organization notes that 47 percent of New Hampshire voters identify as moderates -- comprising the largest voting bloc in the state: [Democratic candidate Paul] Hodes' lead with them has expanded from just 8 points at 47-39 in April to now 21 points at 51-30. Ayotte's favorability with them has gone from +5 at 32/27 to -19 at 27/46. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/27/sarah-palins-endorsement_n_660741.html

House Tea Party Caucus leader Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) agree: If Republicans win back control the House in November, they'll embark on an agenda of issuing subpoenas, repealing legislation, and holding hearings to investigate the Obama administration. "I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on," Bachmann said Thursday at the GOP Youth Convention in Washington. Boehner said Wednesday that if he became Speaker of the House he would immediately repeal health care reform as it "not only ruined the best health care system in the world, it'll bankrupt the country." And last week, minutes after the Wall Street reform bill passed, Boehner said, "it ought to be repealed." Republicans must win 39 seats in November to take back the House, which White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has acknowleged is possible, but Democratic leaders have since insisted it's not going to happen. If they won back the House in November, Republicans would be granted the power to issue subpoenas by controlling the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Bachmann is not a member of the committee, but Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is its ranking member. Issa has already demonstrated his eagerness to invoke the power of subpoena, which he could use to cause legislative headaches and political paralysis for the administration. The California Republican has vowed to pursue a wide array of charges, should the Republicans win back the House. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/republicans-threaten-repe_n_657132.html

Once Williams was disowned by other Tea Partiers, Breitbart posted the bogus Sherrod video as revenge under the headline “Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism.” To portray whites as the victims of racist blacks has been a weapon of the right from the moment desegregation started to empower previously subjugated minorities in the 1960s. But its deployment has accelerated with the ascent of a black president. The pace is set by right-wing stars like Glenn Beck, who on Fox branded Barack Obama a racist with “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” and the ever-opportunistic Newt Gingrich, who on Twitter maligned Sonia Sotomayor as a “Latina woman racist.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/opinion/25rich.html

The GOP takes its tea. The grass-roots tea party movement's agenda and that of the Republican Party are increasingly the same. For Republicans who want to broaden their party's appeal, the good news is that tea party activists are concerned mostly about fiscal issues, not the social and religious issues that drove some independents away from the GOP in earlier days. The bad news is that they rank unemployment well below the deficit on their list of concerns — the opposite of most voters. Tea party candidates Sharron Angle in Nevada and Rand Paul in Kentucky have both derided the unemployed as victims of their own laziness, a position that doesn't play well beyond the Ayn Rand right. And, of course, the tea party, like any grass-roots movement, includes its share of racists, xenophobes and extremists, which is one reason Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus attracted only 40 of the 115 members of the House's existing conservative caucus, the Republican Study Committee. Others, speaking privately, said they'd rather do without the headache of wondering what some tea party activist would do next. (Among California's 19 Republicans, only two, Tom McClintock of Granite Bay and Gary Miller of Diamond Bar, signed up.) http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0725-mcmanus-column-tea-party-20100725,0,5747330.column

None of this bodes well for the prospects of another huge tea party march in DC this fall. Nor does the evidence that tea partiers may be rallied out. Tea Party Nation, which made headlines earlier this year for landing Sarah Palin as a keynote speaker for a convention in Tennessee, was supposed to hold another "unity" event in Las Vegas this month. The event was cancelled at the last minute, presumably for lack of interest. But there's another reason to believe turnout for the September rallies could be underwhelming. Part of last year's success stemmed from heavy promotion by Glenn Beck. This year, though, he's lending his star power to promote his "Restoring Honor" show with Sarah Palin . Rather than working with the group he helped spawn, he may well help suck the wind out of the "March on DC" weekend. "Some folks just can't afford to go [to DC] twice," says South Florida 9.12 Project member Fred Scheibl. Many conservative activists may have to choose: Dick Armey, UIA, and a bunch of conservative moms or Beck and Sarah Palin? That seems like an easy one. http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/tea-partys-march-madness

Tony Blankley is a raging Racist. http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/lr/lr100723sherrod_new_media_an

The mayor of an upstate New York village resigned Tuesday because he was secretly recorded using a racial slur that mocked President Barack Obama's campaign slogan. Nadeau, a white Republican, can be heard on the recording using the slur in a sarcastic play on the Obama slogan "Change." Another town official, a white Democrat, can be heard using the slur to deride Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Protesters gathered in front of the fire department before the meeting, some carrying signs that read "Simply, morally, ethically wrong" and "Free Speech Does Not Justify Hate Speech." The audience applauded when Nadeau quit. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/mark-nadeau-cobleskill-ma_n_654841.html

two former top Bush strategists have formed a spinoff organization to dig up dirt on Congressional Democrats before the 2010 elections has reignited a debate about how the Obama administration has structured the Democratic Party's own political operations. On Wednesday morning, Politico reported that American Crossroads GPS, the organization formed by operatives hate monger Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, hauled in an impressive $5.1 million in June. A separate legal entity from its parent shop, American Crossroads (a distinction that allows it to hide the names of its donors), GPS was poised to use that money for the ostensible purpose of wreaking havoc on behalf of Republican candidates. It's the type of secretive electioneering that has Democrats publicly crying foul -- the Democratic National Committee sent out the story on Wednesday morning. In private, however, party operatives expressed anxiety with the development. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/american-crossroads-gps-n_n_654407.html

Fired Ag worker mulls job offer after WH apology. The White House did a sudden about-face Wednesday and begged for forgiveness from the black Agriculture Department employee whose ouster ignited an embarrassing political firestorm over race. She was offered a "unique opportunity" for a new job and said she was thinking it over. With lightning speed, the controversy moved from Monday's forced resignation of a minor U.S. Ag official in Georgia to Tuesday's urgent discussions at the White House amid a rising public outcry and then to Wednesday's repeated apologies and pleas for Shirley Sherrod to come back. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_usda_racism_resignation

White House Apologizes To Shirley Sherrod. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/21/gibbs-apologizes-to-shirl_n_654623.html

Tea party tea bagger republican leader Breitbart is an ass.

Breitbart bigot racist

The full video is here. The segment in question starts at 16:30 and goes for about five minutes. "You know," she starts, "God will show you things, and can put things in your path, so that you realize that the struggle is really about poor people." Then, after telling the story of Roger Spooner, she ends with this: "Working with him made me see that it's really about those who have versus those who don't. And they could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic." http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/07/our-summer-race-war-heats

Teabagger Breitbart escalates race-baiting. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/0720/Shirley-Sherrod-casualty-of-escalating-tea-party-NAACP-race-spat

A television ad launched against Harry Reid late last week underscores an obvious tension, if not outright duplicity, that exists within the Republican Party with respect to the economic stimulus package passed by Democrats last year. On Thursday evening, the new conservative group American Crossroads -- conceived of by veteran GOP operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie -- released a TV advertisement attacking the Senate Majority Leader for, of all things, not bringing enough stimulus dollars back to Nevada. It's bad enough that Nevada has the highest unemployment in the nation. And Harry Reid claims to be helping the jobs situation? Really Harry? Recent data show Nevada ranks 50th in the money received from Harry's stimulus bill. That's right -- Senate leader Harry Reid has gotten his own state less help than every other state but one. And along with bailouts, deficits, and Obamacare, that's what Harry Reid's done for Nevada. Really Harry? That's not the kinda help Nevada needs. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/18/anti-stimulus-group-attac_n_650386.html

Teabaggers on this your saddest day: I am going to make a couple very simple remarks-I think that they are inarguable-but try anyway. 1.We call the teaparty racist-because we saw on camera with our own eyes black congressman being spit on and called Nig@#$%'s. period- 2.G.W. Bush went to war and financed it with borrowed money from the Chinese so he could give tax cuts. 3. That trillion for the war is just gone-NOTHING in return-what the contractors didn't steal outright-was literally blown up. We didn't have that trillion we borrowed it-AND REMEMBER the war was "specially funded" it was not in the budget-so Bush's deficit figures don't reflect that money, making his deficit's what? twice as much? three times? who knows anymore? 5.The Neocon's hated government-they stated it as fact-so what they could not deregulate they staffed with incompetents, or simply didn't fund it -as in "no child left behind". It was called "the law of Intended consequence" started under Reagan. It works like this; if you want to get rid of say? -Social Security; but can't do so politically, you just rob it until it becomes insolvent; if you don't want public education-you simply don't fund it until the schools become so bad that EVERYBODY wants their child in a Charter school; and they expect tax breaks to send them to one. 4.. Liberals and democrats don't like paying taxes ONE bit more than you-we just want our taxes spent differently-the right believes in pre emptive war the left believes in pre school. Conservatives believe that for the economy to thrive we must have the full military industrial complex running full speed ahead. Liberals think that all those scientist and engineers who build the newer and better weapons could be put to better use for the betterment of mankind. The same companies too-General Dynamics could build high speed trains as well as the M1A1 main battle tank don't you think? 5.You think our compassion for our fellow man makes us weak-and/ or naive-you are mistaken. The Japanese and Germans once thought a liberal freely elected President made America weak. Nikita Khrushchev repeated that mistake later. 6. Despite the fact that Obama was elected by an overwhelming majority the teaparty thinks it can still get it's agenda enacted by being-what? LOUD? outrageous? You really think that candidates like Palin and Angle and Rand can take you back to the 50's? You are mistaken if you think the American people will elect people like them. One last observation: whenever a teapart'r is called out. it's really funny how suddenly you get all defensive and claim OH the teaparty isn't racist, the teaparty isn't a far right fringe group we are just fiscally responsible. Ya right ; you are just average people it's ALL the rest of us who are commie pinko Marxist liberal socialist hippies that are the problem. You have destroyed the GOP; you have let Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity and Fox propagandize you into hatred of your fellow Americans. http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/ralstons-flash/2010/jul/16/angle-learning-be-us-senate-candidate-stays-script/

With Angle’s hot air balloon leaking helium about as rapidly as oil left that Gulf well — 45 days and counting and the GOP Senate nominee still has not plugged it — the question is whether she can survive the fall to earth. At least three polls I know of show Angle trailing Harry Reid, including Friday’s Mason-Dixon survey that has the Senate majority leader ahead, 44-37, outside the margin of error. Even if you don’t believe one of the polls, the trend is inescapable and the race’s dynamic is fundamentally altered. Coming up on the 100-day mark until the election — and only three months until early voting starts — Reid remains manifestly unpopular, with more than half of those surveyed indicating they will not vote for him. But his strategy of driving people away from Angle and into either a “none of the above” posture or a oh-how-it-pains-me-to-vote-for-him stance has worked to perfection. Make no mistake: I doubt the Reid folks are unfurling a “Mission Accomplished” banner in their headquarters. There may be one that says, “It’s about Angle, stupid.” Or: “Duct tape his mouth, stupid.” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul/18/how-race-has-turned-sour-sharron-angle/

Sharron Angle’s take on separation of church and state. Candidate insists that founders intended for religion to guide policy. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jul/18/angle-tries-erase-line/

Tea Party and Racism – Lovers and Friends Part II http://mokellyreport.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/tea-party-and-racism-lovers-and-friends-part-ii/

Tea Party: It's Not Just Taxes, It's The Constitution. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128517427

When even Ann Coulter is calling you a warmonger, it tends to frighten people. The war in Afghanistan is being debated as never before. And Ms. Coulter is being defended and seconded by many staunchly conservative bloggers, right-leaning pundits, and readers of hard-right publications. As a result, observers are wondering whether her column “may have officially kicked off the next great schism within the conservative movement,” as Politics Daily columnist Matt Lewis put it. “Until now, there has been somewhat of an unspoken rule, adhered to by most on the right, that conservative Republicans would vigorously oppose Obama's liberal domestic policies while supporting his efforts to win in Afghanistan.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-12/ann-coulter-provokes-conservative-afghan-war-debate/?

Leaders of the country's largest civil rights organization accused tea party activists on Tuesday of tolerating bigotry and approved a resolution condemning racism within the political movement. The resolution was adopted during the annual convention in Kansas City of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spokesman Chris Fleming said. Tea party organizers disputed claims of racism and called on the NAACP to withdraw the resolution. Debate was mostly closed to the public, but the final version of the resolution "calls on the tea party and all people of good will to repudiate the racist element and activities within the tea party," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "I hope it will empower the tea party to actually look at itself and see that there are those who are noticing things that I think most tea partiers don't want," he said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/naacp-tea-party-racism-re_n_644832.html

Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous "demagoguery" that threatens the party's long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina's primary last month. While not naming names, 12-year incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis suggested in interviews with The Associated Press that tea party favorites such as former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck are the culprits. He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create "death panels" to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care. "There were no death panels in the bill ... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery," said Inglis, one of three Republican incumbents who have lost their seats in Congress to primary and state party convention challengers this year. Inglis said voters eventually will discover that you're "preying on their fears" and turn away. http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0709/Glenn-Beck-s-demagoguery-threatening-Republican-party-says-veteran-GOP-lawmaker

GOP's false talking point: Jones Act crimps cleanup. From former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to Arizona Sen. John McCain to junior members of the House, conservative Republicans have accused President Obama of failing to do all he can to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because he hasn't waived a U.S. maritime law called the Jones Act. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012259755_oiljones02.html

Warning that tea party "mischief" may be aiding Democrats this election season, defeated Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett says that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likely will keep his seat and that the GOP may not win hotly contested Senate races in Colorado or Kentucky either. In an interview in his home state with The Associated Press, Bennett also suggested that Republicans may not have a clear plan to govern even if they do take control of the Senate this year. Weighing in on election season, Bennett expressed concern over the fiercely contested GOP primary in Colorado and said that, in Nevada, Reid appears to be a shoo-in to defeat Sharon Angle, a tea party candidate who won the Republican nomination last month. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100709/D9GRRCO01.html

Three top GOP senators on Sunday sharply criticized the chairman of the Republican National Committee, increasing the pressure on him to step down for his recent remarks that the war in Afghanistan was "a lost cause. The Republican senators, led by John McCain of Arizona, the party's presidential nominee in 2008, stopped short of calling for his resignation. But collectively their comments on the Sunday-morning TV talk shows signal a unified agreement that many in the GOP leadership no longer support the embattled chairman. Michael Steele, speaking at a Connecticut fundraiser on Thursday, also called the nine-year war in Afghanistan begun under President George W. Bush one of President's Obama's "choosing. He has since sought to clarify his remarks but has not apologized. Instead he has maintained his comments were justified because Obama is focusing more on Afghanistan than the war in Iraq. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-republicans-steele-20100705,0,727849.story

What’s behind the enthusiasm? Simply put: anger and fear. Nine in 10 are unhappy with the country’s direction and see the federal debt as an “ominous threat” to its future. Almost as many believe President Obama and most members of Congress deserve to lose their jobs. A longer analysis from USA Today’s Susan Page and Naomi Jagoda goes deeper into what tea party candidates actually believe, in particular about racial issues. Among their findings: Tea party supporters are far more skeptical about claims of discrimination than are Americans in general. More than three-quarters of tea party backers believe racial minorities have “equal job opportunities.” By comparison, half of Americans overall agree with that sentiment. Tea party supporters also overwhelmingly reject the idea that racial discrimination has stoked economic disparities between blacks and whites. Nearly half of tea party supporters polled say blacks lag in jobs, income and housing “because most African Americans just don’t have the motivation or willpower to pull themselves up out of poverty.” Only a third of all Americans agree. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100702/pl_ynews/ynews_pl3027_2

So here's the real redneck joke: You know you're a redneck when you're mad as hell and you just want to spread it around. Especially in the midterm elections of 2010. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez-rednecks-20100628,0,5315395.column

Republicans Object To Bill For Homeless Veterans (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/29/republicans-object-to-bil_n_629332.html

Treason! Secret Video Reveals Tea Party’s Anti-American Agenda. http://movementvision.org/videoblog/treason/ http://movementvision.org/rants-polemics/response-from-tea-party-leader/

'Tea party' is not a shoo-in. Despite the passion of its followers, the movement has as many losses as victories at the ballot box. The key test will come in the fall when candidates test their appeal beyond a GOP primary. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tea-party-20100625,0,4975074.story

'Party of Parasites' author took $1M in farm subsidies. Jungerman said he put up the sign to protest people who pay no taxes, but, “Always have their hand out for whatever the government will give them” in social programs. Crop subsidies are different, he said. When crop prices dip below a certain point, the federal government makes up the difference with a subsidy payment. According to a farm subsidy data base, Jungerman received $1,095,101 in the past 15 years, including $224,763 in 2000. Last year, he received $34,303. Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/21/2033746/party-of-parasites-author-took.html

The rivalry between different Tea Party groups is real, and the leaders in Odom’s group don’t care much for the other leaders. Other groups are spending political capital fighting to lead a movement. My guys see it more as a fight to help reshape the debate and protect future generations from creeping socialism and unimaginable debt. One of my people puts it better: "There’s room for lots of organizations. There’s room to focus on different races. Eric Odom’s group is more traditional. We’re a little more edgy. We use dirty words." A large number of people in our group have military backgrounds. Whenever squabbles erupt, their catchphrase is "Remember, guys, the enemy is to the left." Then their eyes literally drift to the left. http://www.playboy.com/articles/rogues-of-k-street/index.html?page=3

Enter James O’Keefe, Stan Dai and Joe Basel, who were arrested this past January for allegedly plotting to tamper with Democratic senator Mary Landrieu’s office in New Orleans. Their arrest touched a nerve in the Tea Party community. Put in context, they are more like Tyler Durden than G. Gordon Liddy. MSNBC called it "Watergate Jr." Basel called it one of his weaker pranks. They don’t seem to mind getting busted and are truly willing to take one for the team. They travel the country, causing mayhem, giving speeches and crashing with wealthy benefactors. Saul Alinsky is their hero. They are as talented at destroying liberal institutions as they are at picking up cougars. I don’t mean 30-year-old mothers; I’m talking about tired 50-year-olds. With wrinkles. http://www.playboy.com/articles/rogues-of-k-street/index.html?page=6

Tea Party Confessional Runs In Playboy. Strategists deliberately try to stir up rage among average Americans, calculating that it's much easier to push a political movement if it's deeply frightened than if it's entirely hopeful. "We're playing to the reptilian brain rather than the logic centers, so we look for key words and images to leverage the intense rage and anxiety of white working-class conservatives," the consultant writes. "In other words, I talk to the same part of your brain that causes road rage." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/18/tea-party-confessional-ru_n_617418.html

David is multi­talented. In addition to being one of the best directors I’ve seen, he took the stage before Sarah Palin at the Nashville Tea Party convention to sing his song "American Heart," which is like Lee Greenwood’s "God Bless the USA" only better. David’s song makes you want to waterboard a terrorist and then fuck a bald eagle. Under a cherry tree, on an American flag blanket. And by the way, his name isn’t really Jon David. He uses a pseudonym because he would lose his job in Hollywood if it were known he uses his free time to play the beautiful intro ballad for Michele Bachmann speeches. http://www.playboy.com/articles/rogues-of-k-street/index.html?page=1

Wurzelbacher said he considers principles of individual responsibility and accountability as most important when deciding which candidates get his vote. Continuing his theme of less-intrusive government, Wurzelbacher said he drove his pickup from Ohio to Missouri to stump for Icet and left his “carbon footprint all the way.” “I don’t want that green shoved down my throat,” he said. “That’s not the government’s responsibility; it’s the private individual.” He urged people to get involved and campaign, citing the empty seats in the banquet room. http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1174305387/-Joe-the-Plumber-stumps-for-state-auditor-candidate

'Tea party' candidates hurt by lack of organization in movement. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/11/AR2010061105726.html?hpid=topnews

Racism and Bigotry

When Chris Barrett read about a Pennsylvania carnival game featuring President Obama's likeness, he remembered seeing something similar at another carnival in New Jersey. So Barrett returned to Seaside Heights, home of Snooki and the rest of the "Jersey Shore" crew, hoping to grab some video evidence of the attraction. Sure enough the faux-Obama remains, flanked on either side by what looks to be Osama bin Laden and a generic Red Sox player (this being Yankees/Phillies territory, after all). But perhaps the most disturbing part of the video? The winner's prize is a beer bong -- as if every Jersey Shore kid didn't already have one. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/obama-likeness-used-as-ta_n_676049.html

Church carnival "Alien Attack" game invites you to shoot President Obama (bonus: bank-robbing she-clown!) http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/09/church-carnival-alie.html

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision, and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting. In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby. In Sheboygan, Wis., a few Christian ministers led a noisy fight against a Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store bought by a Muslim doctor. At one time, neighbors who did not want mosques in their backyards said their concerns were over traffic, parking and noise — the same reasons they might object to a church or a synagogue. But now the gloves are off. In all of the recent conflicts, opponents have said their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran and argue that even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with Islamic Shariah law. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08mosque.html

Tea partiers and other anti-Islam activists are freaking out about a Muslim Family Day planned for several Six Flags parks around the country on Sept. 12, the day after the World Trade Center attacks. The event, sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), offers Muslim families a chance to hang at the amusement park and be catered to by modestly dressed employees and halal food vendors.

While Six Flags has been holding these events since 2000 for the 42-year-old Muslim nonprofit, apparently this year, it's getting more attention, both because it falls on the weekend of Sept. 11 and also because of the ongoing controversy about the Muslim center planned a few blocks away from Ground Zero in New York. Naturally Glenn Beck, who mocked the event on his show last week, and Fox News have stoked the paranoia and opposition, giving the day ample coverage. Last week, Fox hosted guests who have suggested that the ICNA is a front for Hamas and other terrorist groups. Now, tea partiers are in a full froth about the event and there are already calls to boycott the bankrupt amusement park chain. On the Tea Party Patriots website, a member posted an item entitled, "Stop Six Flags Muslim Family Day" which includes a missive from Annie Hamilton, an L.A. woman leading the charge against the park. She writes: Muslim Day at Six Flags is inappropriate for a multitude of reasons and I'm saddened and shocked by the ignorance of the Corporate folks and by the action that now must be taken by the rest of us. First, Islam is NOT a religion, it is an ideology - the religious portion only encompasses 11 % (the qur'an) the rest is the Sira and Hadith and the closest parallel to Islam is the Ku Klux Klan - if that is Six Flag's idea of 'appropriate' then by all means, hold your day on September 12th but don't plan on expanding any time soon because not only will we ensure that you don't grow, we'll make sure that your parks become a thing of the past... STOP THE SILENCE. STOP THE NONSENCE. STOP THE MUSLIM DAY - THEY ARE NOT AMERICANS. THEY DO NOT ABIDE BY OUR CONSTITUTION - THEY ARE NOT ONE OF US - YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US - MAKE YOUR DECISION. http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/07/muslim-day-six-flags

A group that plans to protest a proposed new mosque in Temecula by holding a rally outside the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley during Friday prayers was harshly denounced by a Southern California Islamic organization on Tuesday. Organizers of the rally, which appears to be organized with a Southwest Riverside County political group affiliated with the "tea party" movement, encouraged protesters to bring their dogs -- considered an insult to Muslims. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/islamic-group-denounces-planned-protest-against-temecula-mosque.html

REPORT: Fox News has hyped phony New Black Panthers scandal at least 95 times. Fox devoted more than 8 hours of airtime to discussion of New Black Panthers. Six Fox News shows have discussed the phony New Black Panthers scandal during a total of 95 segments since Megyn Kelly's June 30 interview hyping the unsubstantiated allegations of right-wing activist J. Christian Adams. In all, these Fox shows have devoted more than eight hours of airtime to discussing the New Black Panthers. http://mediamatters.org/research/201007160038

I think LATimes missed the point when saying that NAACP was just playing a political attack against the Tea Party. The point was not whether there are racists in either group, or in any of the other groups this piece listed, but the timing and overall "acceptance" of the racism. The idea of the Tea Party itself is a great idea on paper. Much like how socialism can also be a great idea on paper. But the reality is far from it. As a black person, I get increasingly uncomfortable with the mob mentality displayed by some people at tea parties. Most blacks I know are uncomfortable right now. When you have David Duke, Stormfront.org, and The National Vanguard show up at the same rallies, you might have to reevaluate your message. You also might want to look at the others around you. Confederate flags, hanging effigies of Obama, and signs painting minorities stealing from "real Americans" do not help. The spread of misinformation is more dangerous than anything. Let us not forget the man who crashed his plane into an IRS office building was a Tea Party member. What makes the Tea Party different is their visibility. They are crying over two obscure NBPP members; imagine being subjected to images picturing your group as dumb, lazy criminals stealing from whites every night on the evening news. EVERY NIGHT. Blacks and Latinos don't have to imagine. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-sherrod-20100723,0,2894014.story

Attacks on Business

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent the White House an "open letter" laying out a proposed roadmap to economic recovery, coinciding with the organization's "Jobs Summit" underway in Washington. The Chamber is an ultra-conservative political operation primarily funded by a handful of large companies. It plans to spend more than $50 million electing Republicans to Congress in 2010. The Chamber's four-page letter offers a variety of suggestions for job creation, though it doesn't appear that they flipped past the first few pages of the free-market playbook when brainstorming the proposal. The ideas include deregulation of business, tax cuts for the wealthy, free trade agreements, a reduced corporate income tax, expanded offshore drilling and logging in national forests and the privatization of waterways and roads. Specifically, the Chamber urges the president to extend Bush-era tax cuts in full and provide tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas. The Chamber simultaneously calls for a reduction in the deficit -- a gap caused largely by the tax cuts the Chamber wants extended, which are projected to add $3.4 trillion to the debt between 2009 and 2019. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/chamber-of-commerces-jobs_n_646337.html

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Wednesday that Republicans want the economy to tank and hope jobs legislation fails so that Democrats will lose the midterm elections. "They're betting on failure," Reid said of Republicans at a press conference Wednesday focused on measures to help small businesses. "They think that the worse the economy is come November, the better they are going to do election-wise." Reid says the Republican approach "was indicated very loudly in the health care bill when one Republican Senator said that he wanted this to be Obama's Waterloo -- another Senator said he hoped somebody died during the night so that we couldn't get our 60 votes." Whether the small business jobs bill passes is in the hands of the Republican party, said Reid, and so far negotiations have been strained. "We are not getting a lot of cooperation," said Reid. "I had a conversation on the floor this morning with Senator McConnell and I hope they are willing to support us. The initial amendments they've got have nothing to do with small business." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/harry-reid-republicans-wa_n_646090.html

Right-wing media launch bizarre attack on electric truck company Obama visited. http://mediamatters.org/research/201007090025

War on Hippies

Colbert On Tree-Hugging Hippies (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/26/colbert-on-tree-hugging-h_n_655860.html

The one that I focus on in the greatest detail in "The Backlash" -- Russ Murphy of the Delaware 9-12 Patriots -- is an ex-Marine who was in Vietnam even before the 1965 escalation of the war; he says that hippies in Swarthmore, Pa., actually spit on him when he returned from the war, and anger over his treatment still burns inside him today. http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005260001#865976

‘Hands Across the Sand’ attracts SD hippies against BP oil spill. Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-06-27/local-county-news/hands-across-the-sand-attracts-sd-hippies-against-bp-oil-spill

Beck to veterans: Come out of retirement to fight "the same damn hippies" who "have our country by the throat". http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201006210016

Hannity features documentary blaming lack of corporate responsibility on the hippies. http://mediamatters.org/blog/201002230054

Newt Gingrich 2012

if what you’re looking for in a Republican presidential nominee is someone who holds views no less odd, and yet whose twisted personal history puts Sarah Palin’s silly saga to shame, the great Republican hope of the left can be none other than Newt Gingrich. One day before John H. Richardson’s boffo 8,300-word Gingrich profile, in which his ex-wife, Marianne, spills all for the first time, CNN was reporting that Gingrich was enjoying “plenty of presidential buzz,” what with his sixth recent visit to Iowa, his headlining of two fundraisers, on his way to having out-raised Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee combined. He was doing so while at the same time posing as the leader of America’s forces of religious intolerance, long ago having left Palin in the dust in that category. Finding role models where few American politicians have gone before him, Gingrich thinks the Saudis apparently have things right when it comes to tolerance. “There should be no mosque near ground zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia,” he pronounces. In any halfway normal country, such xenophobic sentiments might disqualify the speaker from being spoken of as a future president, at least by its political class. Not here, however. After all, Newt has been saying this kind of thing for his entire political career. And though he has not held any elective position since 1998, and has never been elected anywhere outside his deeply conservative district in suburban Georgia, somehow Meet the Press chose Newt as its single most frequently invited guest in 2009. Pundits and politicians alike treat the man as a serious contender for 2012; a more moderate, seasoned version of what Palin offers, if you will. But one wonders: Are Americans really ready to elect as president a man who believes that the country is threatened by “a gay and secular fascism” that, he explained, “is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it?” What about one who felt it necessary to tweet—from Auschwitz no less, that Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a “racist,” whose views revealed “a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system—that everyone is equal before the law.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-10/liberals-should-root-for-newt-gingrich-in-2012/?cid=hp:vertical:r

Palin Angle 2012

Sure, Sarah and Bristol and Levi would be a lot of fun on a campaign trail. But if we liberal elitists have any sense, they will immediately refudiate that idea and jump on the Newt bandwagon. After all, people, we control everything. We can make this happen. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-10/liberals-should-root-for-newt-gingrich-in-2012/2/

In the video, the woman brandishing the banner criticizes Palin for resigning before completing her first term as governor. The two then conduct a spirited exchange about each other's political beliefs. When the protester says she's a teacher, Palin looks over at her daughter and other folks with whom she's traveling. Critics say she then makes a facial expression denigrating teachers. "The LSM has now decided to use this brief encounter for another one of their spin operations. They claim I — wait for it — 'appear to roll my eyes' when the lady tells me she's a teacher. Yes, it's come to this: the media is now trying to turn my eyebrow movements into story lines. (Maybe that's why Botox is all the rage — if you can't move your eyebrows, your 'eye rolling' can't be misinterpreted!)" http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100810/pl_yblog_upshot/palin-pushes-back-on-video-of-testy-exchange

Risking accusations of being all "Wee-Wee'd Up", one Homer woman made a sign in her shed. She then took the 30-foot-by-3-foot banner out to the boat harbor. It said "WORST GOVERNOR EVER". Kathleen Gustafson is a teacher married to a local commercial fisherman. She felt like Sarah Palin had let the state down by becoming a dollar-chasing celebrity and ignoring the oath of office she'd sworn on a Bible. Kathleen was motivated by the fact Palin was using the very place where her family makes a living to fortify the Palin personality cult -- pretending to do the very thing they worked so hard to sustain. Initially, Kathleen just wanted to waste a little of the camera crew's time, since Palin wasted so much of her time purporting to represent Alaska's interests. She didn't imagine Palin would be so easy to draw out. Saturday morning, Billy Sullivan helped Kathleen tape the banner up on his place of business at the top of the boat ramp. Then here she came. Sarah. She couldn't just walk by. Only a few fishermen and tourists would have seen the banner, but Sarah had to stop and protest. I spoke with Kathleen. She said she wanted Palin to know how she felt, but never dreamed she'd get the chance to say to her face, "You're not a leader, you're a climber!" Early in the conversation, Sarah actually winked at Kathleen in what seemed to be a case of eyelid Tourette's Syndrome. At one point, a Palin daughter chanted, "You're just jealous". Kathleen told Sarah she was disappointed that she dropped her responsibility to the state to became a celebrity. Palin said incredulously, "I'm honored. No, she thinks I'm a celebrity!" Really? So the camera crew wasn't an indicator? How many times do you have to be on magazine covers to gain celebrity status? Something about camping with Kate Plus Eight in rain slickers seems, well, a little celebrity. Billy Sullivan caught much of the interchange on his cell phone camera. The back of her security guard's head and Todd Palin attempted to block Billy's view, continually rotating like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. What were they afraid of? I guess that's what happens when you're filming a "celebrity". He was even told by one of the Palin daughters, "You're an A-hole". Charming family values. I asked both Billy and Kathleen which Palin daughter said what. Neither knew. They don't have televisions and aren't interested in Palin's personal life and dramas. In what has become typical tragic irony, Sarah initially claimed to support Kathleen's First Amendment Rights. But as soon as Billy Sullivan walked toward the dock, one of Palin's entourage tore down the sign to great applause from her group. Todd Palin approached Billy (who owns a business called Dockside Fish and buys halibut on that dock) and asked him to get out of the Discovery crew's shot. "You just can't get enough of her, can you?" he asked. An Alaska State Trooper told Billy he should call the Homer Police Department and report the trespassing and destruction of property. What the Palin folks don't seem to understand is simple; if Fred Phelps gets to hold his hateful signs up at military funerals, Billy should be able to put Kathleen's "WORST GOVERNOR EVER" banner on his building and not have a Palin goon tear it down. The First Amendment only matters when you say or write something someone else doesn't like. For someone who doesn't hold elected office and denies being a celebrity, Sarah Palin may want to get a "Constitutional Handler". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/sarah-palins-homer-moment_b_675198.html

palin thugs and goons

its fundamentally accurate diagnosis of Palin as bullshit artist. Palin's exuberant incoherence testifies to an unusually wide gulf between confidence and ability. She is proud of what she doesn't know and contemptuous of those "experts" and "elitists" who are too knowledgeable to be trusted. This curious self-regard echoes through her book, Going Rogue, described by the critic Jonathan Raban as "a four-hundred-page paean to virtuous ignorance." http://www.slate.com/id/2262822/

Angle would oppose making sexual orientation a protected minority in civil rights laws. In a section on school prayer, she affirms that students and teachers should be able to talk openly about religion in schools, including the right to "publicly acknowledge the Creator." The federal government bans churches from participating in political campaigns on behalf of candidates, but Angle said clergy should be able to express views on candidates from the pulpit. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/05/sharron-angle-make-gay-ad_n_672549.html

Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle has long seen religious meaning behind her candidacy, going so far as to tell supporters that God was behind her rise from political obscurity, guiding her path to Congress. On Wednesday, the celestial threads took another turn towards the bizarre, as Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston uncovered an interview in which the Tea Party favorite said that actions of the federal government were a "violation of the First Commandment" -- not amendment, commandment. "I know people are very frightened about what's going on in this country," Angle said in an interview that originally aired on April 21 with TruNews Christian Radio's Rick Wile. "And these programs that you mentioned -- that Obama has going with Reid and Pelosi pushing them forward -- are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And that's really what's happening in this country is a violation of the First Commandment. We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We're supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government. And you've just identified the real crux of the problem." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/sharron-angle-says-democr_n_670833.html

What about Sarah Palin? Inglis pauses for a moment: "I think that there are people who seem to think that ignorance is strength." And he says of her: "If I choose to remain ignorant and uninformed and encourage people to follow me while I celebrate my lack of information," that's not responsible. http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/bob-inglis-tea-party-casualty?page=1

PALIN: This is a temporary suspension of some of the key elements of the law that Gov. Jan Brewer pushed hard for Arizonans and the rest of the country to be -- have the result of us being more secure. So that's unfortunate that the judge chose those steps. But it is temporary and Jan Brewer, bless her heart, she's going to do all that she can to continue down the litigation paths to allow secure borders because she's -- Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans. Not just Arizonans but all Americans in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country as was the purpose of immigration laws. If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer and 44 other states who are in line to help support Jan Brewer in state laws, state efforts to do what our president won't do. http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008020025

Palin Says Family Changing Behavior to Avoid Writer Next Door in Wasilla. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/01/palin-says-writer-living-door-wasilla-needs-life/

Sarah Palin's fashion. http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Sarah-Palin-s-fashion

PBS Ombudsman Defends Palin Joke: 'Fair Game' (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/30/pbs-ombudsman-defends-pal_n_664819.html

Mavericky Mama http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/20/sarah-palin-refudiate-twi_n_653100.html

mama wee-wee'd up her pants http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-much-stupid-can-governor-dumbass.html

Echoing the bigoted and right-wing contortions of the National Republican Trust PAC and disgraced Tea Party leader Mark Williams, Sarah Palin has sent the world of Twitter on fire this afternoon, with a series of Tweets about the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. She pulled down one of them after concocting the word "refudiate" and then used the word "refute" incorrectly. "Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/palins-bigoted-twitter-cal_b_650562.html

Annoy Sarah: take the trolley to work.

Mama Manchurian

Now Angle has tried to clarify these comments in an interview with the local Fox affiliate. She said: "What I said on the radio is that I would not have voted for the stimulus for the City Center. And the reason is because what happened there was Harry Reid rewarded some friends at the expense of other businesses in town. Stimulus does not work and we've seen that with the unemployment rate going up." But this project wasn't collecting any stimulus dollars. "There were no public dollars used for City Center," the Fox reporter rejoined, adding that what Reid "actually did was just pick up the phone and ask the banks to go ahead and loan some money that was needed in order to finish the construction [with] 22,000 jobs on the line." http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/sharron_angle_flummoxes_report.html

“Our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason, and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government,” Angle told conservative talk show host Lars Larson in January. “In fact, Thomas Jefferson said it’s good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope that’s not where we’re going, but you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies.” http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/17/senate-race-armed-revolt-angles-rhetoric-candidate/

Does Sharron Angle want to set up her own death panel? Angle, a tea party-backed ultraconservative who's taking on Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada, tried mightily to avoid media scrutiny. But journalists dug up her extreme views and statements anyway. Last week, The Huffington Post found her suggesting that a 13-year-old girl who had been raped by her father make "a lemon situation into lemonade" instead of getting an abortion. Her latest is a real doozy: [Angle] claimed last night that [77-year-old] Senator Robert Bennett, who was ousted by the Tea Partiers last month, had "outlived his usefulness." http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/07/sharron-angle-death-panel

Dueling Definitions of "Palinize". Sarah Palin is quickly becoming a figure of speech as well as a figure of fun. Definitions of "Palin" words are still evolving, but here are two contenders from DailyKos and National Review: 1) Palinize, from DailyKos: "Palinizing is above all the art of distraction, with the goal of diverting attention away from a fault (in Palin's case, ignorance) and towards the glittering veneer of hollow talking points which dazzle but do nothing in terms of answering the question presented." and, 2) Palinize, from National Review: "Palinize: to slander and caricature a working-class female public figure for the noble advancement of liberalism." Could Palin, like Gerry (of "gerrymandering" fame), someday make it into dictionaries? http://motherjones.com/riff/2008/10/dueling-definitions-palinize

Sharron Angle On Her Campaign: 'God Has Been In This From The Beginning' http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/sharron-angle-on-her-camp_n_644823.html

Sarah Palin We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous "demagoguery" that threatens the party's long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina's primary last month. While not naming names, 12-year incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis suggested in interviews with The Associated Press that tea party favorites such as former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck are the culprits. He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create "death panels" to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care. "There were no death panels in the bill ... and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It's not leadership. It's demagoguery," said Inglis, one of three Republican incumbents who have lost their seats in Congress to primary and state party convention challengers this year. Inglis said voters eventually will discover that you're "preying on their fears" and turn away. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100709/D9GRHQGO3.html

"When President Obama came into office, he inherited a military that was winning in Iraq. He inherited loyal allies and strong alliances. And thanks to the lamestream media pawing and purring over him, he had the benefit of unparalleled global popularity. What an advantage! So their basic foreign policy outlines should have been clear. Commit to the War on Terror. Commit to winning – not ending, but winning the war in Afghanistan. Commit to the fight against violent Islamic extremism wherever it finds sanctuary. Work with our allies. Be resolute with our adversaries. Promote liberty, not least because it enhances our security. Unfortunately, these basic principles seem to have been discarded by Washington." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/04/sarah-palins-foreign-poli_n_632808.html#s109220

Keith Olbermann Mocks Sarah Palin's 'Imbecility,' 'Stupidity' (VIDEO) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/29/keith-olbermann-mocks-sar_n_629066.html

Sarah Palin Endorses Op-Ed Comparing Obama To Hitler, Suggesting BP Escrow Fund Could Lead To Nazi-Like Dictatorship. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/25/sarah-palin-endorses-op-e_n_625449.html

Palin's California State University Speech Rails Against 'Dumpster Divers' Officials have refused to divulge the terms of her contract or her speaking fee, and some details only came to light after students fished part of what appeared to be Palin's contract from a rubbish bin. "Students who spent their valuable, precious time diving through dumpsters before this event in order to silence someone ... what a wasted resource," she told the crowd dining in the campus cafeteria. "A suggestion for those Dumpster divers: Instead of trying to tell people to sit down and shut up ... spend some time telling people like our president to finally stand up," she said. The material recovered by the students, which detailed perks such as first-class airfare for two and deluxe hotel accommodations, prompted California Attorney General Jerry Brown to launch an investigation into the finances of the university's foundation arm and allegations that the nonprofit violated public disclosure laws. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/26/palins-california-state-u_n_626688.html

Palin comes off as such a phony. She scorns the students who exposed her contract demands but praises the hooker and pimp act of James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles.

On former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, he said the following: "She has got the fire, the energy and I think there are a lot of Republicans who love her, would support her, and she would be a very strong presence in a presidential primary." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/27/huckabee-romney-palin-2012_n_626994.html

Palin Guilty of Major Ethics Act Violation: Must Return $386,000 in Contributions. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/palin-guilty-of-major-eth_b_624863.html

Thug America

"She's playing her cards, and trying to set herself up" for making a push, should she run, said Dante Scala, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire who is watching to see who, or whether, Palin endorses in his state. Palin also backed former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina in last Tuesday's California Senate primary, and got a backlash on Facebook, a preferred way for Palin to communicate with supporters. To critics who said Fiorina was a Republican in name only, Palin countered: "Most importantly, Carly is the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer. That's no RINO. That's a winner." For some conservatives, that's also a problem. Shelby Blakely, executive director of the Tea Party Patriots' online publication, New Patriot Journal, said Palin's endorsement has become "so undependable, it's marginalized itself." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/13/sarah-palin-endorsements-2012_n_610454.html

With [environmentalists'] nonsensical efforts to lock up safer drilling areas, all you're doing is outsourcing energy development, which makes us more controlled by foreign countries, less safe, and less prosperous on a dirtier planet. Your hypocrisy is showing. You're not preventing environmental hazards; you're outsourcing them and making drilling more dangerous. Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas. It's catching up with you. The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it. Spill Baby Spill! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/03/sarah-palin-blames-enviro_n_598977.html

Maybe we’re out of step here, but the unanimous consensus of the newsroom is that we don’t really care if the Palins want some privacy from what they worry might be prying eyes. Fences have been known to make good neighbors and everybody knows we could use a lot more of those around here. So if the fence keeps McGinnis on one side and the Palins content, why would the “Today” show or ABC care? Finally, those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn’t already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property. Editor's Note: While you don’t see my name at the bottom of our editorials, I routinely write them, and I wrote the one that ran Saturday – the one about Joe McGinnis and the Palins’ new fence. In an effort to find a catchy ending, I was a bit too creative with the last paragraph. If I had it to do over again, I would have left off the last sentence of the editorial. It doesn’t add to my point, which was that there is nothing particularly newsworthy about someone moving in next door nor about a new fence going up to protect the privacy of neighbors. I certainly did not mean to suggest that McGinnis would or should be the victim of violence. For that matter, I didn’t mean to suggest the Palins would do such a thing. All of which points to the power of words. I misused them on Saturday. I’ll try to have more respect for that power next time around. http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2010/06/01/opinion/editorials/doc4c01d2ece4e8e697201491.txt

Randal Paul

The strangest episode of Paul's time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 ... when he and a [brother in his liberal secret society] paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul's teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot." After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. "They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him," the woman recalls. "They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha' in the creek. I had to say, 'I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.' At Baylor, there were people actively going around trying to save you and we had to go to chapel, so worshiping idols was a big no-no." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/rand-paul-abducted-female_n_675766.html

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul says the poor in America are "enormously better off than the rest of the world," citing an old Cold War film that showed even impoverished homes had color televisions. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQVREKmjiAG7r_74Bs--OoD5dyugD9GTR6Q80

Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul's campaign chairman has quit in order to manage the race of a Tea Party-favored candidate for governor. David Adams said Tuesday he would become campaign manager for a conservative gubernatorial ticket that is being formed, The Associated Press reported. Adams did not name the candidate for governor, or say in what state the new campaign would be mounted. http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/13/rand-pauls-campaign-chairman-david-adams-quits/

On Tuesday, Racist Tea Party candidate Rand Paul was the outsider of the moment. On Friday, he was out in the cold. Few Republicans jumped to the aid of their party's Kentucky U.S. Senate candidate as he took heat Friday for questioning tenets of civil rights legislation and, later, defending the oil company at the center of the epic spill in the Gulf of Mexico by saying "accidents happen." http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/22/nation/la-na-rand-paul-20100522

Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Cry Baby Rand Paul continued his media tour Monday, talking to Fox News' Neil Cavuto about the fracas created by his recent statements on the Civil Rights Act and Obama's handling of the BP oil spill. Paul said he was "vilified" by the liberal media, which he maintained had mischaracterized his views on a variety of issues, most notably the Civil Rights Act, in order to try to destroy the Tea Party. "It's been really a concerted effort by people who want to damage the tea party, people who want to make the tea party something it's not, people who want to characterize me as someone who I'm not," Paul said. "I take great pride in presenting myself as someone who is thoughtful, someone who is respectful and I see more of an intolerance on the left in the sense that they won't discuss the ideas in a sane way, other than to call me names and call me hateful things that really doesn't further the discussions of any of these problems in our country." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/08/rand-paul-complains-of-in_n_604185.html

The Kentucky Senate, reacting to a divisive comment by Republican Rand Paul, has adopted a resolution declaring any form of discrimination to be inconsistent with American values. Louisville Democratic Sen. Gerald Neal introduced the resolution Friday during a special session on the state budget. It was adopted without objection in the predominantly Republican chamber. Neal, Kentucky's only black state senator, said he took personal offense at the comment made last week by Paul, a U.S. Senate candidate, who was criticizing the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Paul said in an MSNBC interview that the federal government shouldn't have the power to force restaurants to serve minorities if business owners don't want to. Neal said Paul's "extreme belief" has made Kentucky "a laughingstock." http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/28/1284255/ky-senate-adopts-civil-rights.html

Birthers

Tea Party candidate Vitter said at Sunday's event that the only direct information he has about the issue is what he's learned through the news media “filter.” His spokesman did not respond to a question Monday about whether the senator questions Obama's citizenship. A spokesman for Rep. Charlie Melancon of Louisiana, a Democrat challenging Vitter, called the birth certificate issue “nonsense.” “While Louisiana families are suffering from the biggest man-made disaster in history, David Vitter is trying to score political points by perpetuating a completely debunked conspiracy theory,” spokesman Jeff Giertz said. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/gops-sen-vitter-supports-challenge-of-obamas-citizenship.html

Hate Obama

Beck has at times spoken against violence, but he more often forecasts it, warning that "it is only a matter of time before an actual crazy person really does something stupid." Most every broadcast has some violent imagery: "The clock is ticking. . . . The war is just beginning. . . . Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government. . . . You have to be prepared to take rocks to the head. . . . The other side is attacking. . . . There is a coup going on. . . . Grab a torch! . . . Drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers. . . . They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. . . . They are putting a gun to America's head. . . . Hold these people responsible." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073003254.html

North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson said he and other leaders agreed with supporters that the image of Obama between Hitler and Lenin was not offensive. He said the images reinforced the intended message of anti-socialism. “They are absolutely right because the image of Hitler just totally represents the tea party movement,” Johnson said. “They were right from the standpoint that the image is an accurate reflection on the tea people and our values.” http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/07/iowa-tea-party-group-removes-billboard-likening-obama-to-hitler-lenin.html#more

North Iowa Tea Party displays billboard comparing Obama to Hitler. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/13/north-iowa-tea-party-displays-billboard-comparing-obama-to-hitler/

Job creation has been disappointing, but first-quarter corporate profits were up 44 percent from a year earlier. Consumers are nervous, but the Dow, which was below 8,000 on the day President Obama was inaugurated, is now over 10,000. In a rational universe, American business would be very happy with Mr. Obama. But no. All the buzz lately is that the Obama administration is “antibusiness.” And there are widespread claims that fears about taxes, regulation and budget deficits are holding down business spending and blocking economic recovery. How much truth is there to these claims? None. Business spending is indeed low, but no lower than one would have expected given widespread overcapacity and weak consumer spending. Business leaders are feeling unloved, but giving them a group hug won’t cure what ails the economy. Ask the Obama-is-scaring-business crowd for some actual evidence supporting their claim, and they’ll tell you that business spending on plant and equipment is at its lowest level, as a share of G.D.P., in 40 years. What they don’t mention is the fact that business investment always falls sharply when the economy is depressed. After all, why should businesses expand their production capacity when they’re not selling enough to use the capacity they already have? And in case you haven’t noticed, we still have a deeply depressed economy. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=1&dbk

Conservative media ratchet up anti-government speech. http://mediamatters.org/research/201007010060

Ten reasons why Aaron Klein's The Manchurian President is "ridiculous crap" http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005050034

At a Republican fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday, Steele was videotaped while criticizing Obama's decision to bolster the Afghanistan war effort. The comments contradicted the stance of the party, which has consistently pushed for more troops and funding in Afghanistan. "This was a war of Obama's choosing," said Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee. "This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." Steele also called the recent resignation of Afghan war commander General Stanley McChrystal "comical" and made fun of Obama for deciding to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. "If he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?" Steele asked the crowd in a video promptly distributed by Democrats and posted on YouTube. "Because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed," he said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_politics_steele

The forum is a hootenanny of pinkos, environuts, peaceniks, Luddites, old hippies, Robin Hoods and urban hunters and gatherers. In other words, a microcosm of the Obama administration. Up to 20,000 of them are expected in Detroit, although the actual count is hard to pinpoint since they'll be sleeping in tents and 14 to a hotel room. Their mission is to tear down Wall Street and use the bricks to pave a Main Street where everyone lives in racial and social harmony, nobody has too little or too much, and food, shelter, transportation, education, clothing and cell phones are inalienable rights provided by a benevolent government and funded by -- well, they'll let someone else worry about paying the bills. From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100620/OPINION03/6200314/Commentary--Detroit-hosts-leftist-cavalcade#ixzz0rPgdd97Z

Compare the link above to this description of the same event: Activist stands ready to be part of big movement. http://www.freep.com/article/20100620/COL10/6200520/1318/Up-to-20000-people-expected-for-US-Social-Forum-opening-Tuesday

Eastman: Obama is causing an environmental disaster. http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-06-03/blog/a-more-perfect-union/eastman-obama-is-causing-an-environmental-disaster

Fiorina

Say what you will about Carley Fiorina, at least she made the trains run on time.

Fiorina, a marketing and sales expert, took over HP in 1999, as the tech boom was ending. Her solution to the company's many problems at the time was engineering a $19 billion acquisition of Compaq—a move opposed by many HP stockholders and that ultimately was not widely regarded as a slam-dunk. On her watch, HP downsized and canned almost 18,000 employees—as Fiorina joined with other corporate execs to defend outsourcing and oppose measures that would limit this practice. After six years in the job, she was pushed out, but her departure was eased by a $21 million severance package. On the day she was dumped, the company's stock price went up 7 percent. CBS News technology analyst Larry Magin noted, There is plenty to criticize about Fiorina's tenure at HP. At this point, the changes that Fiorina made didn't turn out so well for the thousands of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq employees that were laid off and the millions of HP stockholders who lost equity since she took over. HP stock is worth less today than it was in 1999. Dell and IBM stock has increased in value. Fiorina ended up symbolizing not one but three excesses of the corporate elite: mergers-and-acquisition mania, outsourcing, and golden parachutes. Yet during the Republican Senate campaign, this former corporate insider re-marketed herself as an anti-establishment Tea Partier, even though one of her foes in the primary contest, Assemblyman Chuck Devore, had a stronger claim on the Tea Party label. (Fiorina was helped in the who’s-the-Tea-Partiest-of-them-all competition when Palin endorsed her.) http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/06/fiorina-wins-will-she-remain-far-right-tea-party-corporate-insider

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