October 17, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
DEPRAVED RIGHT-WINGERS
For years, faithful Rush Limbaugh fans have called themselves "Ditto Heads." They let Limbaugh do their thinking and their talking for them. So it's probably fair to assume that the Ditto Heads believe veterans of the Iraq war are "phony soldiers," or that Michael J. Fox was just faking his Parkinson's disease. After all, that's what Rush said. Limbaugh and others of his ilk just keeping sinking lower and lower into the muck. They can't talk about legitimate issues because the American people and people around the world don't support their hideous view of the world. So now they attack injured twelve year kids who get government health care assistance, or they foam at the mouth that Al Gore got awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe they're in such a frenzy because their time is quickly approaching its end. Let Limbaugh and O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter go off into that place reserved for the vilest of the vile. This commentary by Eric Boehlert is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
The examples of depravity were everywhere last week, with virtually every robotic right-wing blogger dutifully dumping on the Frost family, and often doing it with a demented sense of glee. Go here to read Weekly Standard blogger Samantha Sault's take on the Frost story and count the number of falsehoods she passed along, while making fun ("just for laughs") of the working family with two seriously injured children. Also note that when the right-wing lies about the Frosts were quickly disproved (i.e. they do not pay $20,000 a year to send their kids to private schools), Sault failed to acknowledge the litany of smears she helped spread about a 12-year-old boy who survived a coma. (No wonder so few people take the Weekly Standard seriously when it lectures The New Republic about journalism ethics; the Standard appears to have none of its own.)
But the whole messy slime offensive against the Frost family came as no surprise to anyone who follows Malkin and her army of true believers. As I detailed last winter and spring, they're most dangerous when they accidentally bump into some facts and suddenly think they're Woodward and Bernstein.
Showing posts with label right-wingers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label right-wingers. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
June 05, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
RIGHT WINGERS THEN AND NOW
There was a plot to overthrow FDR when he was president. When Earl Warren was Chief Justice right-wingers worked themselves into a froth about removing Warren from the Supreme Court. We remember Hillary Clinton's statement about "a vast right-wing conspiracy" to bring down the Clinton administration. There is considerable evidence there was such a conspiracy. Back in JFK's administration right-wingers were also crawling from under their rocks. I've been reading David Talbot's fascinating book Brothers about the JFK assassination and Robert Kennedy's search for the truth. On page 77 Talbot talks about JFK responding to the lunatic John Birch Society:
"In periods of high tension like the Cold War, Kennedy told his audience, 'there have always been those on the fringes of our society who have fought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan, or a convenient scapegoat.' In the current 'period of heightened peril,' with the world held hostage by the constant threat of nuclear war, this paranoid strain in American politics was flourishing, Kennedy observed. 'Men who are unwilling to face up to the danger from without are convinced the danger is from within. They look suspiciously on their neighbors and their leaders. They call for a 'man on horseback' because they do not trust the people. They find treason in our churches, in our highest court, and even in the treatment of our water.' The last twist of the presidential knife was directed at the colorful theory, popular in far-right circles at the time, that the fluoridation of water was a Communist plot."
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
RIGHT WINGERS THEN AND NOW
There was a plot to overthrow FDR when he was president. When Earl Warren was Chief Justice right-wingers worked themselves into a froth about removing Warren from the Supreme Court. We remember Hillary Clinton's statement about "a vast right-wing conspiracy" to bring down the Clinton administration. There is considerable evidence there was such a conspiracy. Back in JFK's administration right-wingers were also crawling from under their rocks. I've been reading David Talbot's fascinating book Brothers about the JFK assassination and Robert Kennedy's search for the truth. On page 77 Talbot talks about JFK responding to the lunatic John Birch Society:
"In periods of high tension like the Cold War, Kennedy told his audience, 'there have always been those on the fringes of our society who have fought to escape their own responsibility by finding a simple solution, an appealing slogan, or a convenient scapegoat.' In the current 'period of heightened peril,' with the world held hostage by the constant threat of nuclear war, this paranoid strain in American politics was flourishing, Kennedy observed. 'Men who are unwilling to face up to the danger from without are convinced the danger is from within. They look suspiciously on their neighbors and their leaders. They call for a 'man on horseback' because they do not trust the people. They find treason in our churches, in our highest court, and even in the treatment of our water.' The last twist of the presidential knife was directed at the colorful theory, popular in far-right circles at the time, that the fluoridation of water was a Communist plot."
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
March 07, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
RIGHT-WINGERS ARE ALWAYS WRONG
I've come to the conclusion that right-wing rhetoric is a little like an algebraic equation. Everything works in inverse proportion. The more right-wingers advocate something (tax cuts for the rich, privatizing Social Security, school vouchers) the worse it is. The more they demonize something (the progressive income tax, action against global warming, ending the war in Iraq) the better it is. We've had all kinds of hot air, appropriately, from right-wingers about global warming. It's cyclical, they claim. The earth has undergone warming and cooling cycles throughout its history. Alas, there's nothing to be done. Or it's a conspiracy to kill the U. S. economy. If we can't pollute to our heart's content, it's the death knell for good old Americanism. Now right-wingers are saying that technology will save us in a few years. We can just keep doing what we're doing now. That's ironic coming from people who oppose technology like stem cell research, but that's a separate issue. In this column David Roberts looks at the pontifications of right-wing gas bag Jonah Goldberg. The column is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
Add it all up, and you've got the new conventional wisdom of the conservative commentariat on global warming: we can't do anything about it now, but we'll be able to magically lick it in 10 years, so let's just wait. Let's do nothing.
Thus has a movement that once promised us morning in America been reduced to timidity and defeatism. Thus has a profoundly entitled legacy hire in the Republican pundit class, like so many of his prep-school comrades, gotten it diametrically wrong on the two signal issues of our generation: the neoconservative military reshaping of the Middle East, and degradation of the planet's life-support systems. In both cases, their mistakes are driven by fear -- fear and its offspring: selfishness, paranoia, and myopia.
For the record, and briefly:
* While environmental degradation frequently provides local, short-term environmental stimulus, those benefits pale before the collective long-term costs. In virtually every case, environmental health and remediation redound to the common good.
* We did not simply adopt the cost of global warming in exchange for our wealth. We Westerners imposed the costs of global warming on the world, primarily parts of the world that have received little wealth in exchange. Though we face only a small fraction of the costs, we bear primary moral and economic responsibility for this externality of our extraordinary blessings.
* The corporatist party has been screeching like Chicken Little at every proposed regulation for the last century; American entrepreneurial ingenuity always renders the doom-mongering moot. They really think the vaunted American economy could not adapt to Kyoto?
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
RIGHT-WINGERS ARE ALWAYS WRONG
I've come to the conclusion that right-wing rhetoric is a little like an algebraic equation. Everything works in inverse proportion. The more right-wingers advocate something (tax cuts for the rich, privatizing Social Security, school vouchers) the worse it is. The more they demonize something (the progressive income tax, action against global warming, ending the war in Iraq) the better it is. We've had all kinds of hot air, appropriately, from right-wingers about global warming. It's cyclical, they claim. The earth has undergone warming and cooling cycles throughout its history. Alas, there's nothing to be done. Or it's a conspiracy to kill the U. S. economy. If we can't pollute to our heart's content, it's the death knell for good old Americanism. Now right-wingers are saying that technology will save us in a few years. We can just keep doing what we're doing now. That's ironic coming from people who oppose technology like stem cell research, but that's a separate issue. In this column David Roberts looks at the pontifications of right-wing gas bag Jonah Goldberg. The column is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
Add it all up, and you've got the new conventional wisdom of the conservative commentariat on global warming: we can't do anything about it now, but we'll be able to magically lick it in 10 years, so let's just wait. Let's do nothing.
Thus has a movement that once promised us morning in America been reduced to timidity and defeatism. Thus has a profoundly entitled legacy hire in the Republican pundit class, like so many of his prep-school comrades, gotten it diametrically wrong on the two signal issues of our generation: the neoconservative military reshaping of the Middle East, and degradation of the planet's life-support systems. In both cases, their mistakes are driven by fear -- fear and its offspring: selfishness, paranoia, and myopia.
For the record, and briefly:
* While environmental degradation frequently provides local, short-term environmental stimulus, those benefits pale before the collective long-term costs. In virtually every case, environmental health and remediation redound to the common good.
* We did not simply adopt the cost of global warming in exchange for our wealth. We Westerners imposed the costs of global warming on the world, primarily parts of the world that have received little wealth in exchange. Though we face only a small fraction of the costs, we bear primary moral and economic responsibility for this externality of our extraordinary blessings.
* The corporatist party has been screeching like Chicken Little at every proposed regulation for the last century; American entrepreneurial ingenuity always renders the doom-mongering moot. They really think the vaunted American economy could not adapt to Kyoto?
Friday, February 16, 2007
February 16, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
"AMERICA HATER"
If you don't buy into the demented "logic" of right-wingers, you're an "America hater." If you detest the policies of George W. Bush, it's not because you hate the policies; it's because you hate Bush. That's the recurrent theme in letters to the editor in The Fresno Bee from the right-wingers in the Central Valley. Today's letter was about global climate change, which our man doesn't believe is real, of course. You see, someone gave him a book years ago predicting bad things by the 1990's. Didn't happen, he said, so that proves you don't have to worry now. He didn't cite the scientific credentials of the author, or the specific predictions. Probably just an oversight.
What is truly amazing is how these cretins think the effort to stop global warming is a diabolical plot against the United States. This guy said the United States had done a lot to improve the environment. The Bush administration didn't even agree to the Kyoto accords. Bush and company keep subverting the legitimate science that proves global warming. The oil companies buy off people who could tell us the truth and effect policy changes so we'll keep using their oil.
Even if you could dismiss global climate change, oil is a finite resource. It's going to run out. It's prudent to look for alternative energy sources now. Oil was the energy of the industrial age. We are leaving the industrial age for something new. The people who claim that global climate change isn't a concern are the same people who once claimed the earth is flat. They are the same people who believed demons caused people to get sick. They should be given their meds and put in a safe place where they can't hurt themselves or anyone else.
EVEN EXXON-MOBIL ADMITS GLOBAL WARMING
I wonder if the wingnut I mentioned above will read the story about Exxon-Mobil's chairman admitting that global warming is a reality. Rex Tillerson said "there is no question" that the world is getting warmer. I wonder if Mr. Tillerson is an America hater. This story by Dan Piller is at www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/16689019.htm:
Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told a world energy conference today that "there is no question that the world's climate is getting warmer," and said that technological advances and a global strategy will be needed to combat the rise in carbon emissions.
"It is foolish for individual countries to engage in their own actions because it won't do much more than make them feel good," Tillerson said. "It is particularly important for the emerging economies of the Pacific Rim, where the biggest increases in carbon emissions will occur, to take part in the discussions."
Tillerson's remarks, to the annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference, marked a continuation of Exxon Mobil's growing strategy to make itself part of the global climate debate rather than denying that the problem exists. More than 2,000 people from 44 countries are attending the CERA conference.
Tillerson also said Exxon doesn't feel threatened by the rising interest in alternative or renewable energy.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
"AMERICA HATER"
If you don't buy into the demented "logic" of right-wingers, you're an "America hater." If you detest the policies of George W. Bush, it's not because you hate the policies; it's because you hate Bush. That's the recurrent theme in letters to the editor in The Fresno Bee from the right-wingers in the Central Valley. Today's letter was about global climate change, which our man doesn't believe is real, of course. You see, someone gave him a book years ago predicting bad things by the 1990's. Didn't happen, he said, so that proves you don't have to worry now. He didn't cite the scientific credentials of the author, or the specific predictions. Probably just an oversight.
What is truly amazing is how these cretins think the effort to stop global warming is a diabolical plot against the United States. This guy said the United States had done a lot to improve the environment. The Bush administration didn't even agree to the Kyoto accords. Bush and company keep subverting the legitimate science that proves global warming. The oil companies buy off people who could tell us the truth and effect policy changes so we'll keep using their oil.
Even if you could dismiss global climate change, oil is a finite resource. It's going to run out. It's prudent to look for alternative energy sources now. Oil was the energy of the industrial age. We are leaving the industrial age for something new. The people who claim that global climate change isn't a concern are the same people who once claimed the earth is flat. They are the same people who believed demons caused people to get sick. They should be given their meds and put in a safe place where they can't hurt themselves or anyone else.
EVEN EXXON-MOBIL ADMITS GLOBAL WARMING
I wonder if the wingnut I mentioned above will read the story about Exxon-Mobil's chairman admitting that global warming is a reality. Rex Tillerson said "there is no question" that the world is getting warmer. I wonder if Mr. Tillerson is an America hater. This story by Dan Piller is at www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/16689019.htm:
Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told a world energy conference today that "there is no question that the world's climate is getting warmer," and said that technological advances and a global strategy will be needed to combat the rise in carbon emissions.
"It is foolish for individual countries to engage in their own actions because it won't do much more than make them feel good," Tillerson said. "It is particularly important for the emerging economies of the Pacific Rim, where the biggest increases in carbon emissions will occur, to take part in the discussions."
Tillerson's remarks, to the annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference, marked a continuation of Exxon Mobil's growing strategy to make itself part of the global climate debate rather than denying that the problem exists. More than 2,000 people from 44 countries are attending the CERA conference.
Tillerson also said Exxon doesn't feel threatened by the rising interest in alternative or renewable energy.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
February 15, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
WINGNUTS ON PARADE
Today's Fresno Bee had the predictable right-wing meme attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi for wanting a big airplane, even though the story has already been debunked. I'm surprised these people can even write a letter (maybe it's in crayon) because they don't inform themselves before they shoot their mouths off. They listen to Limbaugh or Hannity and take that for gospel.
We've also had some defenders of Exxon-Mobil and other oil giants responding to the oil companies' obscene profits. One guy ranted that the government "steals" our money. Never mind all the services the government provides like roads, police, fire protection, clean water, safe drugs, and on and on. Another guy said that Exxon-Mobil was a well-managed company with high productivity. Exxon-Mobil is a huge beneficiary of government. Who is it who supplies the military to procure or protect those far-flung oil fields? Right-wingers don't care about the poor or working people, but they work themselves into hysterics to defend big business.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
WINGNUTS ON PARADE
Today's Fresno Bee had the predictable right-wing meme attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi for wanting a big airplane, even though the story has already been debunked. I'm surprised these people can even write a letter (maybe it's in crayon) because they don't inform themselves before they shoot their mouths off. They listen to Limbaugh or Hannity and take that for gospel.
We've also had some defenders of Exxon-Mobil and other oil giants responding to the oil companies' obscene profits. One guy ranted that the government "steals" our money. Never mind all the services the government provides like roads, police, fire protection, clean water, safe drugs, and on and on. Another guy said that Exxon-Mobil was a well-managed company with high productivity. Exxon-Mobil is a huge beneficiary of government. Who is it who supplies the military to procure or protect those far-flung oil fields? Right-wingers don't care about the poor or working people, but they work themselves into hysterics to defend big business.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
December 28, 2006
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
INSANITY SQUARED
When Senator Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964 many people in the country considered him an extremist. It was said of Goldwater "In your heart you know he's nuts." Now Barry Goldwater seems the epitome of rationality. Right-wingers put forth a flurry of ideas that are nothing short of insane. We've resisted some of them, such as privatizing Social Security, but the insane ideas keep coming. The solution to violence in the schools, according to the lunatics, is to arm the teachers. The bigots on the right would have gay people wear arm bands denoting their sexual orientation, much like the Nazis made Jews wear the Star of David. Fascism is never dead. It only needs the right stimulus to grow again. This article by A. Alexander is at www.progressivedailybeacon.com:
It isn't by accident that Newt Gingrich has suddenly championed the anti-American concept of censoring the internet and limiting free speech. They weren't joking when the neo-theocratic-wing of the Republican Party suggested that, perhaps, gay people should wear armbands denoting their sexual preference. There isn't a smirk on any Republicans' faces when they say the so-called "war on terror" has morphed into a "Third World War." And the jackboots in the GOP, those who are championing the absurd idea that school teachers should be armed, are deadly serious.
Censorship, limiting free speech, Nazi-like Star of David armbands for gay people, a world at war, and sending our children into schools with authoritarian figures armed to the teeth - kind of makes Terry Schiavo and warrantless wiretapping seem almost benign. But it does highlight the way in which extremism escalates - how, in order to survive and thrive, it must become increasingly radicalized.
The vast majority of the Republican Party platform isn't based upon sound and meaningful political ideas and policies, but rather it has been predicated upon fear-based wedge issues. Republicans have never tried to win-over converts to their way of thinking, they've only tried to find a way to use the peoples' fears in order to peel or "wedge" support away from the Democrats. And, of course, the cornerstone of the Republican "wedge" campaign has been, as a whole, to make the Democratic Party appear scary and demonic.
NO TEARS FOR FORD
It seems almost obligatory to offer praise for the dead, especially if they occupied places of power or wealth. So now we will hear the praise for Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States. Ford assumed office upon the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974. We'll hear that Ford helped "heal the nation" after the Watergate scandal. Ford pardoned Nixon rather than allow the legal process to take its course. He paved the way for the right-wing monstrosity we have now. His foreign policy featured aid to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and giving a green light to Indonesian dictator Suharto to slaughter 200,000 Timorese. This column by Matthew Rothschild is at www.commondreams.org:
On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.
He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing to that vicious strongman.
And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him a green light to invade East Timor.
According to a declassified State Department cable, here was part of their conversation.
Suharto to Ford and Kissinger: “We want your understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid or drastic action.”
Ford: “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem you have and the intentions you have.”
Kissinger: “We understand your problem and the need to move quickly, but I am only saying that it would be better if it were done after we returned.”
Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, and Suharto launched his invasion hours later.
Suharto’s invasion and occupation cost the lives of 200,000 Timorese.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
INSANITY SQUARED
When Senator Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964 many people in the country considered him an extremist. It was said of Goldwater "In your heart you know he's nuts." Now Barry Goldwater seems the epitome of rationality. Right-wingers put forth a flurry of ideas that are nothing short of insane. We've resisted some of them, such as privatizing Social Security, but the insane ideas keep coming. The solution to violence in the schools, according to the lunatics, is to arm the teachers. The bigots on the right would have gay people wear arm bands denoting their sexual orientation, much like the Nazis made Jews wear the Star of David. Fascism is never dead. It only needs the right stimulus to grow again. This article by A. Alexander is at www.progressivedailybeacon.com:
It isn't by accident that Newt Gingrich has suddenly championed the anti-American concept of censoring the internet and limiting free speech. They weren't joking when the neo-theocratic-wing of the Republican Party suggested that, perhaps, gay people should wear armbands denoting their sexual preference. There isn't a smirk on any Republicans' faces when they say the so-called "war on terror" has morphed into a "Third World War." And the jackboots in the GOP, those who are championing the absurd idea that school teachers should be armed, are deadly serious.
Censorship, limiting free speech, Nazi-like Star of David armbands for gay people, a world at war, and sending our children into schools with authoritarian figures armed to the teeth - kind of makes Terry Schiavo and warrantless wiretapping seem almost benign. But it does highlight the way in which extremism escalates - how, in order to survive and thrive, it must become increasingly radicalized.
The vast majority of the Republican Party platform isn't based upon sound and meaningful political ideas and policies, but rather it has been predicated upon fear-based wedge issues. Republicans have never tried to win-over converts to their way of thinking, they've only tried to find a way to use the peoples' fears in order to peel or "wedge" support away from the Democrats. And, of course, the cornerstone of the Republican "wedge" campaign has been, as a whole, to make the Democratic Party appear scary and demonic.
NO TEARS FOR FORD
It seems almost obligatory to offer praise for the dead, especially if they occupied places of power or wealth. So now we will hear the praise for Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States. Ford assumed office upon the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974. We'll hear that Ford helped "heal the nation" after the Watergate scandal. Ford pardoned Nixon rather than allow the legal process to take its course. He paved the way for the right-wing monstrosity we have now. His foreign policy featured aid to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and giving a green light to Indonesian dictator Suharto to slaughter 200,000 Timorese. This column by Matthew Rothschild is at www.commondreams.org:
On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.
He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing to that vicious strongman.
And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him a green light to invade East Timor.
According to a declassified State Department cable, here was part of their conversation.
Suharto to Ford and Kissinger: “We want your understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid or drastic action.”
Ford: “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem you have and the intentions you have.”
Kissinger: “We understand your problem and the need to move quickly, but I am only saying that it would be better if it were done after we returned.”
Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, and Suharto launched his invasion hours later.
Suharto’s invasion and occupation cost the lives of 200,000 Timorese.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)