Glenn Beck to announce ‘big plan' for 2010

By GottaLaff

Maybe FreedomTCOT can tell his friends to blindly follow Blech's Big Plan!

At a rally Saturday at a massive retirement community in central Florida, Beck is planning to unveil what he has billed as a “big plan” for 2010, which is expected to involve the 9.12 Project [...]

Need a visual reminder about what the 9/12 Project looked like? Why, here's one now! And here's a handy quote from the same post:

"I'm sick of being called Hitler and unpatriotic".

Aww, we're sorry we misunderstood you and your unpatriotic Hitler signs!

Looks like Blech is planning on putting on his superduper XXXL activism hat. I hope it covers his face, but that's wish for another post.

Apparently, he's also actively raising money off of all his followers' grassrootsiness:

Beck's Saturday rally, which is set for 3 p.m., is timed to coincide with the kickoff of a tour promoting his new book, “Arguing with Idiots.”

Speaking of idiots...

The 2010 march — called the “We the People Restore Our Constitution March, Rally and 9/11 Memorial” — is planned for Washington’s National Mall. Its other co-sponsor is an online activism group called ResistNet.com.

ResistNet’s Darla Dawald credited Beck with setting in motion the march, but said he’s not involved in its planning. “Glenn doesn’t want it to be about him – always about the people,” Dawald, who is leading march planning for ResistNet, wrote in an email.

That Glenn, he's so selfless, isn't he? What a shrinking violet.

Here's a list of ResistNet's "partners".

Now see if this rings a bell (Hint: Read the first sentence of this post):

Though Drawdy stressed that Beck “is not the leader of” the 912 movement, she added “all he has to do is say something, and they’ll jump.”

No dictators for them, nosirreebob!

The 912 Project website, which is maintained by Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s production company but hosted by Fox News, lists the march among many other upcoming 912 events, and provides a link for subscribers to sign up.

The FoxNews.com logo adorns the lower right hand corner of the 912 Project homepage, which indicates it is “Brought to you by FOXNews.com” and links to the network’s website.

Big plan, indeed. One might even say corporate.

H/t: Mark Karlin, editor/publisher of BuzzFlash

Where Will It End? Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the very scary, very hostile attitudes and actions that have been way too prevalent in this country lately. I am more than happy to post his essay here.

Take it away, 42bkdodgr:

Where Will It End

I hate to sound like a broken record always writing about the hate I see in the country today. I wrote about it in my very first Special Comment posted on this site on July 30th. At that time I said I hadn’t seen so much hate in this country since the civil rights movement.

In other commentaries I wrote about the beginning of the end of democracy in this country, the growth of hatred since the election (using a tumbling boulder metaphor), racism, McCarthyism. I said I felt the hate will only get worse until some climatic event took place that would bring the country to its senses.

I have no problem with people disagreeing with the policies of President Obama; but the expression of such differences should be done in a civil manner and with respect given to the other side’s point of view. Nothing is accomplished by addressing differences of opinion by the mob rule we saw at Town Hall meetings or by the spiteful placards, banners and T shirts that were on display at the 9/12 Project Rally in Washington D.C. It only hardens each side’s point of view.

I asked in my commentaries: When will the leadership of the Republican party find some backbone and tell the Limbaughs and Becks of this country, enough with the hate words? You are hurting the country. So far they haven’t stepped forward with any great assertiveness.

In the past week we have seen the hanging of a census worker, Limbaugh calling for segregated school buses, and last night the worst of all, on Facebook, from an unknown party, a poll on “Should Obama Be Killed”. The hate-- and now violence-- continues to grow.

In the past 8 years the country has worried about being attacked by terrorists, while at the same time the country maintains a strong defense system to protect us against attacks from other nations. What I’m beginning to realize is, we don’t have to worry about terrorists or outside forces... we are doing job for them. Unless this country gets back to some civility, we are headed for a major civil disturbance that will tear the fabric of this country apart more than any terrorist group could do.

What has to occur, before its too late, is a strong campaign directed at the Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The campaign should urge them to think of country first, asking them to work towards ending the hate in this country by taking a united stand against the hate mongers and groups. Unless something happens soon, this nation is headed for difficult times.

Many thanks again for another relevant, cogent piece, 42bkdodgr. You never disappoint.

Where will it end, indeed...

Papua New Guineans on Obama "witchdoctor" image: "Keep my country out of your foolishness"

By GottaLaff

The wingnuts have finally done it. Now the whole whole world sees what racist ignorami they are:

Papua New Guineans have reacted angrily to an image depicting US President Barack Obama as a witchdoctor [...] but the original image is actually that of a Huli wigman in PNG's southern Highlands.

The National newspaper reports expatriate Papua New Guineans have been voicing their disgust in emails to friends back home.

One blogger called for those responsible to apologise for insulting PNG culture.

Another said "keep my country out of your foolishness".

Way to improve America's image, Rushpublics. And way to show yourselves as the open-minded, inclusive party that you are...n't.

VIDEO: "ACORN" newest substitute for "N word"; 9/12er harasses black teens

By GottaLaff

Nope, no racism here. Yelling "This is the ugly face of ACORN" at African Americans is just some white guy's way of expressing his affection:

One People's Project has the full-length version of this video, taken from the big 912 rally in Washington, D.C., showing a middle-aged white man and his Asian wife chasing after and harassing a trio of black people -- primarily two teenagers and an adult guardian (possibly their mother) who were selling "Don't Tread on Me" flags along the long grassy mall.

As you can see, the man -- who identifies himself as Tim Jones -- shouts after them: "ACORN! These people are ACORN!!! They are frauds!!! ACORN is fraud!!! Obama sucks! This woman sells signs for profit of ACORN!!"

It attracts more harassers, and it verges on the point of an outbreak of violence when the D.C. bicycle police show up and break up the scene.

[...] The older woman tells him flatly they're not from ACORN, but he keeps shouting it anyway. [...]

The bigger question is: Why target African Americans when there are are hundreds of vendors at these things? And why assume that they have anything to do with ACORN?

Because, to the teabaggers, ACORN is synonymous with scary black people. [...]

As Susie says, ACORN is just the new wingnutspeak code for the 'N' word. It's now become an epithet -- one you can chase black people around with and accuse them angrily. Just what America needs right now.

[H/t Max Blumenthal.]

My pal Jason Leopold will be writing in depth about all these ACORN "revelations" very soon. I can't wait for the-- What's it called again? Oh yeah-- truth to start seeping out.

UPDATE: Speaking of truth about ACORN, here's some now! (H/t: FereJohn and Philanthropy)

H/t: Pigboy

McCarthyism: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about something very scary, and sadly, making a comeback: McCarthyism. I am more than happy to post his essay here.

Take it away, 42bkdodgr:

McCarthyism

One thing that is sure to make my blood pressure rise is the mention of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. Recently there have been several mentions of McCarthyism in the news.

At the 9/12 Project Rally, in Washington D.C., the media showed a picture of a young man wearing a tee shirt with “The Cure of Obama Communism, Is A New Era Of McCarthyism” printed on it. What could this young man possibly know about McCarthyism and what it stood for?

I felt it important to write about McCarthyism, as many younger people today have no idea what it was like living in America during that time.... which was one the darkest periods in the history of this nation.

The term McCarthyism is basically associated with the period of late 1940s to late 1950s known as the Second Red Scare period, although the practice of McCarthyism could also be applied to other eras in American history. During this period, a witch hunt took place. The sole purpose was to identify and weed out suspected communists in the entertainment industry and the federal government.

The House Un-American Activity Committee (HUAC) brought people from the entertainment industry before the Committee to answer the question “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of the United States?”; or to name names of those who might be Communists or belong to Communist type organizations. Failure to answer the Committee’s questions, even using the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution, often led to a jail term or banishment from the industry.

In many instances, those who refused to name names, even if they had never been Communists, were added to a blacklist developed by the Hollywood studios. Over 300 people were placed on the blacklist that prevented them from working in the entertainment industry. Such well known names as: Charlie Chaplin, John Garfield, Paul Robeson, Carl Foreman, Arthur Miller, Burl Ives, Orson Welles, Sam Jaffe, Lee Grant were on the blacklist.

Blacklists were also at work in the universities, schools at all levels, the legal profession and television. Being on any of these blacklists had the same effect as those who were on the entertainment industry blacklist.

In some instances the stigma of being on the blacklist, even if you had done nothing wrong, resulted in divorce, financial ruin, leaving the country to earn a living, writing under an assumed name, working in other professions, and in some cases it led to suicide. The overwhelming majority of those put on the Hollywood blacklist never found work in the entertainment industry again.

During the period of McCarthyism, there was the banning of books written by Howard Fast, Dashiell Hammett, Theodore White and others deemed “un-American”, whose books were removed from U.S. Information Service Libraries.

In the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, through his Senate Committee on Government Operations and related sub-committee, began a witch hunt looking for infiltration by Communists or sympathizers into the State Department, other government agencies, and U.S. Army Signal Corp. It was through these witch hunts that the term “McCarthyism” was born.

The witch hunt into the Signal Corp wasn’t very successful, and it eventually led to the Army-McCarthy hearings. It was through the televised public hearings that the true meanness, brutality, and tactics used by Joseph McCarthy was exposed and seen by the American people.

It was during the Army-McCarthy hearings that the famous line "Have You No Sense of Decency?" was spoken by Joseph Welch, the Army‘s attorney. It was said during an exchange between McCarthy and Welch in discussing a young attorney’s controversial background who was working for Welch’s law firm.

The McCarthy-Army hearings were the turning point in Joseph McCarthy’s career and McCarthyism, and he was censured by the Senate in December 1954 for his actions during those hearings.

I don’t ever want to see the rise of McCarthyism in America again in my lifetime; where just knowing someone or innocently belonging to an organization during your youth could cost you the ability to earn a living in your chosen profession, lead to financial ruin, and possibly the loss of your family and friends.

That isn’t America, that’s a Nation of Fear.

To get a sense of what life was like during that period, rent the movies “The Front”, “Guilty by Suspicion” and “Good Night & Good Luck”.

Great thanks again for another relevant, cogent piece, 42bkdodgr.

You not only educated us, you dovetailed two eras, putting today's McCarthyism into perspective, especially for those who may have been unaware of the original.

Post 9/12 Internal Fox News e-mail

By GottaLaff

Keith addressed this last night, I believe. My reaction to the e-mail below from Fox News Vice President of News and Washington managing editor Bill Sammon to the staff of the D.C. bureau:

Hahahaha ::dissolving in tears:: haahaha ::deep breath:: haahahaha ::pounding floor:: hahaaa!

Exhibit A: This video, which debunks nearly every word of the e-mail.

Presenting ::ta daaa!:: The ClusterFox Hypocrisy Memo: (I've highlighted all the lies in red)

From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 2:25 PM
To: 005 -Washington
Subject: standards

For those of us who have only been at Fox for a relatively short period of time, it’s useful to remind ourselves that, as journalists, we must always be careful to cover the story without becoming part of the story. At news events, we’re supposed to function as dispassionate observers, not active participants. We are there to chronicle the news, not create it.

That means we ask questions in a fair, impartial manner. When approaching interviewees, we identify ourselves, by both name and news organization, up front. [Laffy Note: Not sure about this one. Do they do this?] We seek out a variety of voices and views. We take note of the scene in order to bring color and context to our viewers.

We do not cheerlead for one cause or another. We do not rile up a crowd. If a crowd happens to be boisterous when we show it on TV, so be it. If it happens to be quiet, that’s fine, too. It’s not our job to affect the crowd’s behavior one way or the other. Again, we’re journalists, not participants — and certainly not performers.

Indeed, any effort to affect the crowd’s behavior only serves to undermine our legitimate journalistic role as detached eyewitnesses. [Laffy Note: True!] Remember, our viewers are counting on us to be honest brokers when it comes to reporting — not altering –the important events of the day. That is nothing less than a sacred trust. We must always take pains to preserve that trust.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please stop by.

J.O.Ke.

H/t: Gr8RDH

"Fake & Staged" VIDEO: Fox News actually CUED "grassroots" 9/12ers

By GottaLaff

Ooopsies! Looks like it's time to bring back that golden oldie Candid Camera!

Media watchdog MediaMatters has obtained footage "from an anonymous tipster" of what it says is a Fox News producer giving stage directions to a crowd of Tea Party protesters at the 912 event in Washington, DC, last weekend.

That's right, folks, ClusterFox actually felt it necessary to incite (cue) the Tea Tantrumers into a Faux Frenzy in order to get the response they needed to convince America of their enthusiastic support.

Thanks to MediaMatters, we get a little peekaroony at what lengths they feel they have to go to just to get their peeps to holler and bellow and sound all grassrootsy and stuff:



Here's how it looked to the Faux audience:



Faux News manufactures every bit of footage they air, from Glenn Blech's tears to so-called "average citizen" crowd scenes. Lo. S. Ers.

"I guess it wasn't enough for Fox News to promote the hell out of Glenn Beck's 9/12 death march – they also needed to incite the crowd – you know, get them nice and pumped up so they'd looked good for the cameras," Karl Frisch writes at MediaMatters. "Fair & Balanced? More like Fake & Staged."

Dear DC Metro, Why I oughta... Love, Rep. Kevin Brady

By GottaLaff

This is the second page of a "letter" containing some of the best snarkitude I've read in a long time.

The subject matter is the Big 9/12 Do. The letter is not real. I repeat: It is not real:

(click on image to enlarge)

This, however, is real:

For page one and more details, go here.

Poll-itcs: 56/61 beats 9/12

By GottaLaff

Wowee kazowee! Them 9/12ers sure had some big effect!

A new Bloomberg News poll finds President Obama with high marks for his performance -- a 56% approval rating and 61% favorability rating -- "even as Americans express anxiety about his domestic policies. One possible reason: Republicans aren't offering an alternative."

Despite negative sentiment over some of his policies, Republicans aren't benefiting since the survey finds that by about a 2-to-1 margin, Americans say Obama is doing a better job on the economy than his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Respondents also say by 40% to 32% that they would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress in 2010. A slight plurality, 48% to 44% has a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party. In contrast, the Republican Party, by 52% to 38%, gets an unfavorable rating.

I hope the -Ers throw another shindig. It seems to be working... for us.

The Tumbling Boulder of Racism: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the hypocrisy, racism, and outright hostility of the -Ers, and I am more than happy to oblige.

Take it away, 42bkdodgr:

The Boulder

In 2008, many Americans and I pushed a boulder up a steep mountain from a valley to accomplish something that most of us didn’t think we would live to see in our lifetime; the election of a black man to the highest elected office in this Nation, President of the United States.

We thought the country had reached a milestone in race relations with the election, and while we all rejoiced, a small group of Americans who couldn’t accept change, started to push the boulder back down the mountain.

It started with the hateful words spewed by the right wing media following President Obama’s election, such as Rush Limbaugh saying “I hope he fails“.

The speed of the boulder increased with:

*The birther movement.
*"He’s not one of us" statement.

The speed of the boulder increased momentum with:

*Glenn Beck calling President Obama a “racist” and that he “hates white people”.
*Mob rule at Town Hall meetings.
*Open display of firearms at Town Hall meetings.
*Depicting the President as a Nazi.

The boulder continued to gain speed by:

*remarks made by Pastor Steven L. Anderson asking members of his parish to pray for the death of the President.
*Rush Limbaugh saying the Health Care logo is close to a Nazi swastika logo and
*"we want our country back" statements.

The speed of the boulder increased as it went faster down the mountain with:

* Rep. Joe Wilson yelling “you lie” during President Obama’s speech to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care Reform.
*9/12 Protest rally where such banners and placards were on display:
--“Undocumented worker”.
--"bury Obamacare with Kennedy".
--“Hitler gave good speeches too”.
--"Joe Wilson: My hero".
--“Obama for President of Kenya”
--“Obama does Lie”
--a young lad wearing a T shirt “The Cure for Obama Communism, is a New Era of McCarthyism”
--The Zoo has an African Lion and the White House has a Lyin’ African”
--Confederate flag with “bring back we the people”, and
--Comparing Obama to the worst dictators of the 20th century.

As the boulder continues to tumble down the mountain with ever increasing speed, we are faced with a grave situation until the country regains its sanity and accepts Barack Obama as the President of the United States.

If that doesn’t happen the boulder will eventually crash into a house in the valley, dividing the house in two as it had once been before. Then the question will be: How do you put a divided house than can’t stand, back together?

I pray that the boulder crash doesn’t happen.

Great thanks again for another relevant, cogent piece, 42bkdodgr.

You're a gem.

Video- The Daily Show Is Back!: Mad Men

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mad Men
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Wonder how frustrating it was for him to have all this crap going on while they were on vacation.

L.A. Times readers: 9/12ers "take to the streets like -- gasp -- Democrats"

By GottaLaff

The majority of L.A. Times letters to the editor about the 9/12ers were like these:

Let me get this straight. During the Bush administration, Republicans took the position that you were a patriot only if you supported Bush and his policies. Protesters were bad.

Now the same people clamor that you are a patriot only if you denounce Obama and his policies. Protesters are now heroes.

Let me simplify this whole situation: Republicans don't like Democratic politicians; Republicans do like Republican politicians. These protests are a testament to Republicans' waning political influence. Now they are forced to take to the streets like -- gasp -- Democrats.

****

Where were all these angry protesters over the last eight years? We went from a budget surplus to the biggest deficits in U.S. history, and our economy was on the verge of collapse, and yet all these protesters were silent. Now, when our president wants to help the unemployed and the uninsured, the conservatives become "angry."

It seems the only way to annoy a conservative is to care about those other than yourself.

****

Nice tantrum, conservatives. You want freedom and smaller government? How about allowing people to marry who they wish, providing women their own reproductive choices and letting those who are able and willing to serve in the military to do so?

You want fiscal responsibility? Only when it doesn't involve war or impeachments, apparently. You don't want government involved in your healthcare? You have complete faith in big business? Only those who can afford it deserve to be healthy?

When you've calmed down, come meet the rest of the nation to work together to make this country great again.

****

And finally, this one, which mirrors what I've been saying on Twitter and in TPC posts for some time:

The Times featured the angry right-wing crowd in Washington, headlined above the fold with a color shot dominating the front page Sunday.

The Times regularly ignored or downplayed the huge peace marches that filled the streets of Los Angeles before and after the start of the Iraq war. Your bias is showing.

Video- Glenn Beck [Lies]: "1.7 Million People At Washington Tea Party"

How do we get the [Lies] permanently attached to his name?

VIDEO--Billionaires for Wealthcare: Let's Save the Status Quo

By GottaLaff

So excellent:

Brought to you by Billionaires for Wealthcare, a grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system. We'll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to healthcare, if we ain't broke, why fix it?

For more visit: http://www.billionairesforwealthcare.com

VIDEO-- Countdown: The 9/12ers' "fomenting of hatred"

By GottaLaff

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

David Shuster subbed for Keith tonight, and tried to figure out what's left of the Rushpublic party.

Who ARE these 9/12ers and Far Right Subversives?

By GottaLaff

(Photo via trinakt)

I was brought up to be respectful of others, taught never to bully, glorify violence, or exhibit inappropriate hostility. Until relatively recently, I believed that most others followed basic rules of decency and ethics.

Because I was raised to follow the rules, to do unto others, and to listen and respond in a reasonable, logical way, I idealistically hoped I'd get what I gave.

I was wrong.

What is happening? Who are these vicious, seething people? Why do they act as they do?

Frank Schaeffer gives us his take here. Here are a few excerpts, but please follow the link for the details:

• Protecting Your Children From Satan: To protect your children from Satan -- in other words mainstream, open patriotic and pluralistic America -- you either kept them at home where mom and dad could teach the children right from wrong or send them to a cloistered private evangelical/fundamentalist school.
  

• The Anti-American Home Schoolers Come Of Age: If you wonder who it is that's both running and underwriting organizations such as the Family Research Council, Focus On The Family, Freedom Works and other organizers of the 9/12 March and who are most faithful followers the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh or viewers of Fox News your answer is: it's the home school/Christian school generation of men and women now hitting their thirties and even forties who might as well have been raised on a different planet.

• Evangelical Red Guards: Who are Glenn Beck's foot soldiers? In effect what we have is a group of indoctrinated people who have never actually lived in America because they were brought up deliberately cloistered from it by their parents and churches. Because they are legally "Americans" they can move freely around our democracy trying to destroy it working within the United States. Today they are acting like a fifth column, no, they are a fifth column. Some of them have not just seceded metaphorically, there is even a growing movement for states to secede literally.
  
  Today the right wing America haters actually are doing to America what no "illegal" immigrants ever do: work to overthrow our democracy and replace it with a theocracy. The home-schooled, privately educated brainwashed horde are an antidemocratic, fundamentally anti-American political movement. For a start they do not accept the results of the last election.
  

• Liberal/Progressive Wishful Thinking and Blindness: Meanwhile those ordinary Americans including many Democrats, progressives and liberal's who work within the system can hardly imagine that there are people so far outside the lines of what they regard as ordinary decent behavior that the progressives seem psychologically unequipped to deal with this reality.

• Bipartisan Pipe Dream: Because you can't be bipartisan with people who don't play by the same rules--say accepting the will of the people -- as you do. [...] I, as a life-long Republican and former Religious Right activist helped create this situation. But Tanenhaus and others like him just don't get the fact that the far right is resurgent, in fact more dangerous than ever as a wounded animal is dangerous. They don't get it because kindly liberals also live in a bubble.
  

• The Last Chess Game You'll Ever Play: What reasonable people don't understand is this: if one person is playing chess abiding by the rules and their opponent is losing at the chess game it may appear that they have lost the match. But what if one person is willing to change the rules?

• Serial Killers: To understand the Religious Right today and how dangerous they are don't think politics-- think serial killers who "win" by "getting even" with the society they perceive as having disrespected them. It isn't about facts. It isn't about election results. It isn't about truth. It's about victimhood and revenge on the "elite" in other words on everyone not like you. It is about the weird combination of sadism and masochism Blumenthal describes in his book.
  

• New Rules: Anarchy and Scorched Earth: What those who think that the power of the Religious Right and/or the Republicans is ended don't understand is that it's only ended if you believe in the rules. When I say the rules I mean, for instance, that if you lose an election the other side gets to legislate. However if your opponent is not interested in the rules and is, A) waiting for Jesus to return and consume all the "infidels" or, B) you are just waiting to take that "lead pipe" out of your back pocket -- say go to public meetings and intimidate people by carrying loaded weapons to those meetings -- or worse, maybe even use them to shoot down someone -- all polite bets are off!

• Religious Right Growing Again: To the progressives who think that the Religious Right and the right wing has lost its power I say this: You're correct when it comes to political facts (for the moment) of the last election, but you're dead wrong when it comes to the way revolutions work.

• Second American "Tea Party" Revolution: Revolutionaries never have played by the rules. They don't have to win by the rules. They hate the rules. They don't live in a rule based or fact based universe. [...] In order to "win" -- in other words destroy our country as we know it -- the far right merely needs to be true to its own rule which is, to put it very mildly, that coloring outside the lines is not only perfectly okay but required.

• Conclusion: The tactics that progressives develop for actually winning against the right have to involve far more than politics. They have to also involve ceaseless vigilance against an enemy that has now -- literally -- raised up an armed, paranoid and deluded alternative nation within our borders and created a fifth column to undermine the United States and our democracy. They need to be called out by the rest of us in no uncertain terms.
  

There is much more. Please read the rest, but in a nutshell, that's what Schaeffer thinks. What do you think?

H/t: Gr8RDH

Glenn Beck's '9-12' logo based on communist, socialist designs

By GottaLaff

Well now, this is awkward:

But do Beck; the corporate-sponsored astro-turf group, FreedomWorks, headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas); the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights; the private-property group, the National Assn. of Rural Landowners; and the rest of the march sponsors know the symbol's origins?

Unity and resistance are what the fist represented in 1917, when it was first employed by the Industrial Workers of the World, a union organization founded by socialists. And in the 1940s, when it stood for various nations' communist party organizations.

That's also what it meant when it was revived in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol for the SDS, as well as anti-war and feminist movements. It was the basis for the black-power salute given by John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. And today, it's the symbol for the Progressive Labor Party (pictured), a political outfit whose website says it "fights to smash capitalism."

Turnout for the 9-12 Project's Saturday march on Washington was a bust; 30,000 protesters signed up in advance (MSNBC reporter David Shuster tweeted that D.C. park police called that figure "generous"). But even if three times that many actually showed up, the number would fall far short of the hundreds of thousands (and even millions) claimed to be planning to attend.

So much embarrassment, so little time.

Even in that reduced crowd, however, surely someone recognized how odd the right-wing gathering's left-wing logo was.

Next thing you know, they'll acquire this one, too:

One can only hope.

UPDATE: David Shuster listens... again.

Photo-o'-The-Day: Freeper Health Care Hypocrisy edition

By GottaLaff

Great catch by my Twitter pals QueerjohnPA and cbn2:

Socialist!

Video- Griff Jenkins touts diversity of tea party protesters but only white faces visible

When I was watching (on and off) I saw 3 people of color, and two of them were featured speakers (paid?), only one in the crowd.

Photo: Infiltrating the 9/12ers

By GottaLaff

Some-bo-dy is a class clown, and I'm lovin' it!

The best part is, the 9/12ers were oblivious... as usual.

UPDATE, via cbn2:

The original poster is a 9/12 enthusiast - apparently oblivious to wonderful irony.

H/t: cbn2