The World is Really One Place

Desmond Tutu – 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner has shared a few thoughts.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all thought like this man?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/god-is-not-a-christian_b_869947.html

Oops, they have done it again…

Seems there are questions of possible editing mishaps in that NPR tape.  Hmmm…..let’s see – it is the work of a well-known conservative activist who has already been involved in some questionable activities.  

Unfortunately, the damage has been done – so the truth is no longer required.  Or is it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/npr-sting-tape-analysis-editing_n_835384.html

Bomb Targets MLK Parade in Spokane

Now for more news you won’t hear on FOX. A backpack bomb was discovered along the parade route of residents celebrating Martin Luther King Day.

AP reports
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110118/AP09/301189781

“The bomb had a remote detonator and the ability to cause mass casualties, according to an official familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information about the investigation.

“The bomb was defused without incident Monday but unnerved residents of Spokane, especially those who took part in a parade whose theme was steeped in peace and nonviolence.

“The attempt on the day set aside to honor the slain civil rights leader raised the possibility of a racial motive in a region that has been home to the white supremacist group Aryan Nations.

“‘The confluence of the holiday, the march and the device is inescapable, but we are not at the point where we can draw any particular motive,’ Harrill said.”

*****

Another bomb was found a few weeks earlier near a court-house.

Remember when Janet Napolitano announced the finding that right-wing extremists posed the greatest threat of domestic terrorism, and the right-wing erupted in OUTRAGE!

Well . . . she was right.

And on the media front, this event got about as much coverage as the mosque bombings, e.g., hardly any.

Could the “Tea Party” take over Congress?

This gathering of libertarians, conservatives, and others just plain fed up with business as usual in Washington has some prominent figureheads – Fox News broadcasters and political pot-stirrers Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck –and, is clearly having a major impact on the midterm elections — putting a significant number of more conventional Republicans as well as Democrats into a cold sweat as they look over their shoulders at tea-party backed candidates with a real possibility of winning.  Some of these candidates should scare the hell out of most voters — these are not your average run-of-the-mill politicians, in fact, they’re worse.

Which tea-party-backed candidates do you think will be elected this fall, and why? Which ones are most off center, maybe even off the far edge of ‘right?’

David Koch is steaming

The Koch Brothers have been bankrolling the Far Right for decades, including Tea Party and anti-science front groups. Now that the monster they’ve created is burning books and slandering Muslim Americans, they’re not so keen on taking credit.

“It’s hateful. It’s ludicrous. And it’s plain wrong,” says David Koch as he begins the defense of he and his brother against recent articles that have said the two men are spending a fortune to secretly fund an anti-Obama insurgency.

Read more here.

The Tea Parties’ Billionaire Backers

The Koch Brothers -- Charles and David

The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, both lifelong libertarians, have given more than $100 million to rightwing causes, funding so many campaigns against Obama administration policies that their ideological framework has become known as the Kochtopus. The Kochs, who run the Kansas-based company Koch Industries—which maintains oil refineries in Alaska and owns Brawny paper towels, Stainmaster carpet, Dixie cups, and Lycra, among other products—have given to other causes, including $100 million to the Lincoln Center and $20 million to the American Museum of Natural History. But their political causes in particular have gotten the most attention. As Charles Lewis, founder of the Center for Public Integrity, told The New Yorker, “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”

Read more in The New Yorker article titled, “Covert Operations — The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.

fnord

Hypocrisy of the right-leaning media

David Frum makes a smart observation: When Dan Rather fell for a hoax about Bush’s war record in 2004, CBS kicked him to the curb. Now that Andrew Breitbart has published doctored videos that make a Department of Agriculture employee appear racist—and cost her her job—will he have to do the same? “Breitbart is the conservative Dan Rather,” Frum writes, “but there will be no discredit, no resignation for him.” Indeed, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other conservatives are actually blaming President Obama and the NAACP for the whole brouhaha while neglecting to mention that Breitbart is the one who disseminated the video in the first place. Frum draws a connection to the right’s fury over leaked emails from Journolist, an email list-serve for several liberal journalists, that showed a few journalists expressing a wish to quash stories about Jeremiah Wright during the 2008 election. “Only, of course, the Wright story was not quashed—unlike the story of Breitbart’s role in Sherrod’s firing, which has been, at least among conservatives.”

Read more here.

Run Sarah Run, See Sarah Run

This newly released SarahPAC video has already had almost 400,000 views.  As of June 30, SarahPAC had more than $1 million cash on hand.  It all hints that Palin plans to run for POTUS in 2012.

She stands a good chance of winning the nomination of the GOP.  Can she win the general election?  If she decides to run and doesn’t win the nomination, will her fervent fans support another nominee?  If Palin runs, wins the nomination and then loses the general election, she could leave the Republican brand in pieces.

If Palin is smarter than she is ambitious, she will not run in 2012 — she has fame, fortune, and multiple platforms to leverage for years to come.  Who wants to speculate on whether she is more ambitious than smart?

fnord

ANYTHING, as long as Obama fails

If America fails too.  So what?  GOP goal is to make sure Obama fails!

In a 57-41 vote, Senate Republicans successfully killed a “tax-extenders bill” that includes tax cuts, aid to states, an extension of unemployment relief, and a delay in a cut to Medicare payments to doctors. Republicans, joined by Democrat Ben Nelson and Independent Joe Lieberman, complained that the spending is not offset with other spending cuts or tax hikes; Democrats, in order to satisfy them, offset all the spending except for the unemployment relief, but it still wasn’t enough.

The Man Who Changed Glenn Beck’s Life (via The Glenn Beck Review)

I’m just checking out WordPress’ new “reblogging” feature.
I’ve always maintained that I’m not “anti” anything, but rather “pro” other things.
Sooo….this is my disclaimer. I’m not anti-Glenn Beck, I’m PRO-REALITY and TRUTH!

Cleon Skousen was a right-wing crank whom even conservatives despised. Then Beck discovered him. W. Cleon Skousen By Alexander Zaitchik (reprinted here with permission of the author) On Saturday, I spent the afternoon with America’s new breed of angry conservative. Up to 75,000 protesters had gathered in Washington on Sept. 12, the day after the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, sporting the now familiar tea-bagger accoutremen … Read More

via The Glenn Beck Review

All Evangelicals Are Not Alike

This article from Mother Jones suggests there is a difference of opinion  between Evangelicals when it comes to giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.  And to think there is a man from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University that is joining this group.  This could become very interesting.  How will this play in the structure of the GOP?  Will these opposing Evangelicals bring more moderates back to the GOP or will the Radical Evangelicals still  flex their muscle and keep their control?

Indypendent

http://herjones.com/politics/2010/05/right-wing-clash-over-immigration-reform

What Rand Paul said…

It was a terrible example that Rand Paul used but his point has merit.  I will use this example to explain what he was really trying to point out and the point he was trying to make.

It is the picnic to celebrate Steven and it has been said that anyone wanting to celebrate knowing Steven and his life is invited to come to the picnic.  As we are joining together, there is a knock at the door.  It is George Walker Bush!  Along with him is a Federal attorney and they have a copy of a federal law that states that you can not refuse G.W. Bush to come in and join you.  You can not refuse to allow him to eat any of the food even.  It is not a matter of Bush being hungry and there is no where else for him to eat.  It is that he simply wants to eat at your house and you have no right to deny him or refuse to allow him to come in.

Does the Federal Government, and should it have, the power to tell you who or what you can not refuse to allow into your private property?  Do they have a right to tell you who you have to be tolerant to?

Where does your civil rights ends and those of everyone else start?

It could be argued that your bias toward Bush is not based on real and factual issues, that you hate him enough to deny him access because of your perceptions of what he has done. What kind of person he is and what he may do while on your property.

That is the kind of issue that Paul was trying to point to as being Government intrusion into your property and life.

This is focusing only on one issue but Woolworths was not refusing to feed blacks when they were hungry and there was no where else they could go eat.  If the Federal Government has not funded the lunch counter or the food being served should they have a say on who is served or not served?  Likewise if the Government is not paying for the picnic or the food there do they have the right to tell you that G.W. Bush should be allowed to come?

These issues are a part of the Libertarian believe system and is a reason I am not a Libertarian though have some leaning towards its stances.

New Newt or GOP’s Waterloo?

Jim DeMint Rise Upends GOP Order

WASHINGTON — Jim DeMint is becoming something of a tea party hero, even a potential conservative kingmaker, a status that is not making the freshman senator many friends among fellow Republicans in Congress.

A backbencher known for his eagerness to challenge the Republican establishment, DeMint is becoming one of the most influential voices of the conservative rebellion that’s shaking up GOP primaries. Tapping an anti-incumbent fervor, the South Carolina lawmaker is a coveted – and feared – endorsement, funneling money and grass-roots energy to long-shot candidates who threaten Washington’s GOP favorites.

His efforts, highly unusual for a freshman, have upset senators on Capitol Hill, where he’s viewed by many as an ideologue willing to purge centrist veterans.

“I feel a sense of urgency that some of my colleagues don’t,” he said in an interview. “The Republican Party, at least a segment of it within Washington, has increasingly joined the big-government, big-spending, earmarking ranks.”

GOP No-mentum

On Wall Street Reform

“Look, there’s no rush right now. We need to get it right.”
– Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), 4/21/10

“Start over please, Mr. President.”
– Fox News’ Steve Doocy, Karl Rove, 4/19/10

Rather than engage in substantive debate over reform, Republicans decided early on that they would lie about the legislation and slow down its progress. Instead of trying to fix the mess created by their own Party, Republicans are using a rhetorical ploy to confuse the public and kill reform. Over and over again.

Ultimately, Republican efforts to stall, slow, and stop progress on the stimulus and health care reform failed. Hopefully, history repeats itself in the course of Wall Street reform debate.

Bring Your Guns To Washington Rally! April 19, 2010