Lieberman's Remarks: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about Joe Lieberman's recent comments about stripping people of their U.S. citizenship and more. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Lieberman’s Remarks

As an American, I am furious and greatly upset by the remarks made Tuesday by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, that an American citizen should automatically lose their citizenship if accused of participating in a terrorist attack against our country on behalf of another country.

Sen. Lieberman, you seem to have forgotten that in the 1930s Jewish citizens of Germany were stripped of their citizenship because the Nazis considered them enemies of the state. Why is what you are proposing any different from what Hitler and the Nazis did?

Sen. Lieberman, when sworn in as Senator, you took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States; yet here you are willing to tear the basic fabric of the Constitution apart by your proposal. Our legal system was founded on the basis “innocent until proven guilty”, are you now proposing that it be like many other countries in the world “guilty until proven innocent”?

Sen. Lieberman by your actions, you are unknowingly giving aid and comfort to our enemies; they will see your proposal as our country is beginning to lose its moral values.

It is times like these, that our faith in the Constitution is tested, yet you and many conservatives in the country are willing to sacrifice the basic principles on which this country was founded, by trampling the Constitution.

Sen. Lieberman your remarks and recent remarks made by Senators McCain and Graham regarding the reading of Miranda Rights and Second Amendment Rights for those on the terrorists watch list boggles the mind.

What I see happening in this country, is a group of people wanting to take this country back to the 18th Century when the rights that many Americans currently enjoy didn’t exist.

I sincerely hope you have time to rethink your position and not try to present a bill to Congress based on your remarks.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

VIDEO: Arizona deputy shot by alleged undocumented immigrant, officials say

By GottaLaff



Things are bound to get worse now. This is not a good sign:

A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona was shot Friday afternoon by an alleged illegal immigrant, authorities said. [...]

The Pinal County deputy, who was not immediately identified, contacted authorities after being wounded in the desert, saying he had been shot by an illegal immigrant with an AK-47, said Lt. Tammy Villar, a sheriff's spokeswoman. [...]

The shooting is sure to heat up the debate around the new Arizona law.

Watch the supporters of the Papers Please law use this as justification for racial profiling. Nobody is defending the bad guys, but even an event as horrible as this one does not provide an excuse to arrest someone for Breathing While Mexican.

Un-American: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the Arizona "Papers Please" law and comparisons to Nazi Germany. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Un-American

Chris Matthews in his segment “Let Me Finish” on April 28, spoke about the use of such words as Nazism and Hitlerism by liberals and conservatives when objecting to laws and policies adopted by the federal or state governments they believe to be un-American.

One of the examples Chris used was the recent law enacted by Arizona relating to illegal immigrants. Chris stated that there is a big difference between what Arizona is trying to do-- preventing people from entering America illegally-- and what Hitler did, killing people who were trying to flee Germany.

There is one basic item that is the same in both policies.

The Arizona police may stop anyone for reasonable suspicion who they believe may be in the country illegally. That is the same tactic used by the Gestapo in Germany, by asking people for their papers, with no reasonable cause, only to see if they had proper identification papers to be where they were.

German citizens had to carry their identification papers with them at all times, which is the same requirement under the Arizona law for its citizens.

There are two other examples I believe come under Nazi type tactics.

A GOP congressional candidate proposes installing microchips on illegal immigrants. Doing something like that, would be a modern day version of Hitler requiring patches to be worn on clothing to identify those Germans who were Jewish, Communists, homosexuals or political opponents.

Then we have Duncan Hunter Jr., who stated at a tea party rally in California, that children born in the United States whose parents came to this country illegally should be deported.

In the 1930s, Hitler passed laws that natural born Jewish Germans weren’t considered citizens of Nazi Germany, and among other things, couldn’t hold public office, be a judge, a doctor or teach in the public school system or universities.

The scary part is Duncan Hunter favors deporting natural born citizens of the United States, even though promoting such a policy is in direct violation of the Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution.

Conservative Republicans, like Duncan Hunter, love to say the Constitution is the law of the land and it should be obeyed, but they sure like to tear it apart when it gets in the way of their ideology.

While the policies enacted and those being advocated are in no way as evil as those used in Nazi Germany, I just feel the basic foundation of those policies are the same used in Germany.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

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

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the increasingly worrisome (read: scary) and very frustrating events of late. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Disheartened

I sit hear before my computer a very sad, frustrated, discouraged and disheartened person as I write this Special Comment.

I feel this way and it makes me shudder, when I think about the craziness that has been going on in our nation in the last couple of months, such as:

* Texas Board of Education rewriting history books.
* Virginia making April Confederate History Month.
* Passage of Arizona Immigration Law.
* The open carry guns rally in a National park.
* Nebraska setting limits on abortion.
* GOP Congressional candidate proposes installing microchips on illegal immigrants.
* Candidate for Governor in Nevada suggesting that the barter system be used to pay doctors for medical services.

Then we have the Party of NO blocking bills from coming to the Senate floor for debate by using the Cloture Rule on almost everything that is presented by the Democrats. Republicans did it with Healthcare Reform, extension of Unemployment Insurance, and now they are doing it with Financial Reform.

When fighting the Health Care Bill, Republicans said the bill shouldn’t be passed because over 60% of Americans were against the bill. Now they are against the Financial Reform Bill, even though over 60% of Americans want the passage of the bill.

During the healthcare debate, Republicans complained about the lack of transparency, because of the closed door deals made to get the necessary Democratic Committee votes.

Now, the Republicans want all Committee discussions on Financial Reform to be done behind close door and not seen on CSPAN. I guess they are afraid the public will see how weak their arguments are against the passage of the bill.

Time and time again Republicans prove they don’t care about the common man. With health care their masters were the health insurance companies, and now for financial reform they serve at the foot of the banking and brokerage industry.

Republicans are truly “HYPOCRITES”.

I think we will continue to see more odd laws, policies and outrageous statements being adopted by other states and made by politicians; and the Republicans will not stop being the Party of No and Obstructionism.

It is quite possible that the manner in which Congress is currently operating will continue for many years to come, no matter which party controls Congress or the White House.

All this makes me disheartened because, when I take into consideration all of the above plus the hatred in this country, I feel the wheels are coming off in America.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Country: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the increasingly worrisome (read: scary) events of late. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad Country

The last time I had such fear about what might happen to this country was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That fear came from dealings with a foreign entity, the current fear is coming from sources within the country, which is far worse and scarier.

For almost the past two years we have heard and have had events such as “ He isn’t one of us”, He is un-American”, “There are members of Congress who are un-American”, “Death Panels”; “no terrorist attacks under Bush administration”, “ I want my country back”, Mob Rule at Town Hall meetings, Tea Party rallies with hateful signs and banners, the re-writing of history, words of nullification and many more incendiary remarks and events.

But, when I think things can’t get any scarier or crazier, they do.

During the last couple of weeks we have seen the following:

* The Governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell declare April to be Confederate History Month. In his proclamation, he made no mention of slavery as a being one of the causes for the Civil War.

This is like Germany declaring April is Third Reich History Month and omitting any reference to the Holocaust.

While Gov. McDonnell amended his proclamation to include the slavery issue, the damage was done. Once said, the intent of what was in the original proclamation said is hard to take back.

*On April 13th the Oklahoma Tea Party announced, with support from State Senator Randy Brogdon, the possibility of creating a volunteer militia to be used to oppose the federal government and to protect against any infringements of state sovereignty.

Sen. Brogdon has since taken back that the militia would be used to oppose the government, but now says it will be used as a state force to support the National Guard during emergencies.

Again what was originally stated and its initial intent is hard to take back or how Oklahomans may relate to it.

* On April 13th, the Arizona house of Representatives passed a tough immigration law. The bill is expected to be passed by the State Senate and signed by the Governor.

The law when enacted would allow police to question anyone without cause who they believe may be an illegal alien. Sounds like the start of a police state to me.

What next Arizona, require citizens to wear a badge on their clothing to identify whether they are a U.S. citizen, registered alien, or here on a work visas?

* On April 19th, “Restore the Constitution”, an open carry-firearms rally, will be held in Virginia. The Oath Keepers-- an organization I’ve written about before-- which is made up of police officers and military personnel, announced it is withdrawing from the rally because of the events confrontational stance against the government. Their withdrawal should give one a moment of concern of what possibly could happen.

When you take all these events into consideration, we are truly becoming a Mad Mad Mad Mad Country; but its not like the movie “It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World”. In the movie there was mad car chase to find buried treasure, but what we have here is a mad chase to an abyss, from which this country will never get out of, should it ever fall into it.

The Republican leadership, (Boehner, Bachmann, and Palin) and the Right Wing Media ( Rush, Beck, Hannity, FOX News) let the teabagger genie out of the bottle and it's too late to be put back in. They all promoted the Teabaggers/Tea Party and they own it and are responsible for all the hate and violence that comes from it.

Its like the sign in a China Shop “ You broke it, you own it.”

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

VIDEO- Lawrence O'Donnell: "The Republicans... really like scaring you."

By GottaLaff

Lawrence O'Donnell takes Jim DeMint down... and out... with facts:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"The penalty for not paying the tax penalty... is nothing... There isn't a real individual mandate in this bill, because there isn't a real penalty for violating an individual mandate.

The Republicans.... reeeaallly like scaring you."

Wham.

H/t: Susie May

The Fuse Is Burning: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about something very worrisome (read: scary) that he feels is happening to America before our very eyes. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

The Fuse Is Burning

Over the past few months I wrote several Special Comments about the growing hate in the United States:

Beginning of the End
It Can’t Happen Here
We’re Sitting on a Powder Keg
The Tumbling Boulder of Racism
The Mob Has Taken Over
It’s Happening Here

In The Mob Has Taken Over, I wrote:

“Until the moderates regain control of the Republican Party and denounce the antics, words and actions of the tea baggers, Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Palin and Bachmann the hatred will continue and the division in the country will only get wider.”

In The Beginning of the End, I concluded with the following sentence:

“I hope it doesn’t take a climatic event to bring this great country back to its senses”.

In It Can’t Happen Here, I stated:

“If HCR is passed, the hatred will intensify; if it is defeated the haters will become bolder in their action.”

After watching cable and network news this week, I believe the above statements are even more relevant today than they were a few months ago.

It's not a good sign when in one news day you have :

* the former Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain stating to the effect he has no intention of cooperating in any way for the rest of the year.

* the former Republican Vice President candidate Sarah Palin uses the word “reload” and the rifle “cross hair” symbol to identify those Democratic candidates who voted in favor health care reform as targets in the forth coming November election.

* Rep. Louie Gohmert proposing to eliminate the right of U.S. citizens to elect Senators.

* Reports of numerous Democratic offices, from N.Y. to Arizona, having their windows broken from thrown rocks or gun shots.

* A Militia leader telling his followers to get their rifles cleaned and ready.

These statements and acts are intended to rile the far right base of the Republican Party, and at the same time it moves the lit fuse closer to the powder keg.

I know if the powder keg should ever explode, the Republican leadership will react in the same manner as the police captain in the movie Casablanca, “I’m shocked" that there is so much hatred in the country.

I find it somewhat ironic that members of the Republican Party, who like to promote themselves as the party of law and order, always like to use words that can incite fear and violence.

So I beseech you Michael Steele, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell as leaders of the Republican Party, if you consider yourselves patriotic Americans, now is the time for you to denounce the hate and rhetoric coming from within your own party, the Tea Party movement, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the far right media of our country, as time is running out before the powder keg explodes.

Its time to move your party in a different direction, not only for the safety of American citizens because the future of our nation may rest in your hands.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective

It's Happening Here: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff


My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about something very worrisome (read: scary) that he feels is happening to America before our very eyes. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

It Is Happening Here

Several months ago I wrote a Special Comment (“ It Can’t Happen Here”) about the growing hate I saw emerging at the Town Hall meetings and whether the foundation for a fascist type movement has begun in this country.

I’m sorry to report that the hate and militia groups are in full force and growing. Recently, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published a report (Rage on the Right) that stated there was a 244% increase in the number of active Patriot Groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 in 2009, with 363 new groups in the past year.

There are 512 Patriots Groups in the country located in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, with the largest number being in Texas (52) and Michigan (47).

Those organizations in the Patriot Group include, The John Birch Society, Oath Keepers, Constitution Party, We The People, and We Are Change. Besides these groups, we have seen the re-emergence of the KKK, Skin Heads and other white supremacists groups.

We all know what drives the Birchers, KKK and skin heads: their hatred of African Americans, Catholics, Jews, gays, immigrants, and minorities in general.

The Oath Keepers is quite different from the other groups.

According to their internet site, Oath Keepers, consists of those currently serving in the military, reservists, National Guard, veterans and peace officers. Their oath is to defend the constitution, but they will not obey orders they believe are unconstitutional and therefore unlawful.

They have identified 10 orders they have deemed as being unlawful and will not obey, such orders as: (1) to disarm the American people, (2) to conduct wireless searches of the American people, (3) to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and (4) to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

All of the above, sounds to me as fears of conspiracies and paranoia all rolled into one.

The SPLC states what makes this era different from the 1990s rise of hate groups is “the movements central ideas are being promoted by people with large audiences, such as Fox News Glenn Beck and U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann. You can also include Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs who have praised the Oath Keepers organization.

In other disturbing news, this week the Texas Board of Education, in their attempt to rewrite history, has endorsed many changes to the states’ school textbooks. Their recommendations will not only affect students in Texas, but students in many other states whose Board of Education use their textbooks.

The lasting effect of the textbook changes will not be felt for many years, until those in first grade being taught under the new curriculum graduate from high school and enter college.

In October, I wrote an article titled "Separation of Church and State", in which I stated that one of the goals of the right wing conservatives was to become heavily involved with school boards. We are now seeing the effect of them controlling educational school boards.

Among the changes recommended by the Texas Board are :

(a) removal of Thomas Jefferson ( author of the Declaration of Independence) from the Texas curriculum on Enlightenment thinking and replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin

(b) that students not be required to learn the Constitution (which prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others) and that the founding fathers had not sought a separation of state and church

( c) a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class

(d) to replace the word “capitalism” (because it has a negative connotation) with “free enterprise system”

When you consider that David Barton of WallBuilders is a Texas Board of Education member, you start to get a sense of what is going on here.

David Barton believes the “separation of church and state is a myth” and that our founding fathers wanted this country to be a theocracy governed by Christian principles.

What we are seeing is the Texas form of book burning, by its rewriting the history of our country in their school textbooks. One has to wonder what will be next: eliminating certain authors from the school libraries, not allowing discussions of contrary points of view, the possible censorship of non-pornography internet sites in school libraries and workshops?

We are in very frightening times, and when you take into consideration the growth of hate groups and the action taken Texas Board of Education and the effect they are having and will have on this country, you begin to see we are heading down a very slippery slope toward a militant theocracy.

It is time for the majority of Americans to wake up and see who is truly stealing the country from us, and I want it back.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective

Frank Rich: The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality

By GottaLaff

Barry Blitt

Frank Rich:

Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary, declared that “we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” Rudy Giuliani upped the ante on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in January. “We had no domestic attacks under Bush,” he said. “We’ve had one under Obama.” (He apparently meant the Fort Hood shootings.)

Now the revisionist floodgates have opened with the simultaneous arrival of Karl Rove’s memoir and Keep America Safe, a new right-wing noise machine invented by Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz and the inevitable William Kristol. This gang’s rewriting of history knows few bounds. [...]

[S]omeone will have to remind our amnesia-prone nation who really enabled America’s enemies in the run-up to 9/11 and in its aftermath. [...]

Rove and his book are yesterday. Keep America Safe is on the march. Liz Cheney’s crackpot hit squad achieved instant notoriety with its viral video demanding the names of Obama Justice Department officials who had served as pro bono defense lawyers for Guantánamo Bay detainees. [...] As if to underline the McCarthyism implicit in this smear campaign, the Cheney ally Marc Thiessen (one of the two former Bush speechwriters now serving as Washington Post columnists) started spreading these charges on television with a giggly, repressed hysteria uncannily reminiscent of the snide Joe McCarthy henchman Roy Cohn. [...]

When even the relentless pursuer of Monicagate is moved to call a right-wing jihad “out of bounds,” as Starr did in this case, that’s a fairly good indicator that it’s way off in crazyland. [...]

In this spectrum, the Keep America Safe crowd is a fringe. But it still must be challenged. As we’ve learned the hard way, little fictions, whether about “death panels” or “uranium from Africa,” can grow mighty fast in the 24/7 media echo chamber. [...]

What could yet give some traction to the Keep America Safe revisionism is the backdrop against which it is unfolding: an Iraq election with an uncertain and possibly tumultuous outcome; the escalation of the war in Afghanistan; and an increasingly cavalier Iran. If any of these national security theaters goes south, those in the Rove-Cheney cohort will claim vindication in their campaign to pin their own failings on their successors.

Obama may well make — or is already making — his own mistakes. And he will bear responsibility for them. But they must be seen in the context of the larger narrative that the revisionists are now working so hard to obscure. The most devastating terrorist attack on American soil did happen during Bush’s term [...] The ensuing Iraq war allowed those who did attack us on 9/11 to regroup in Afghanistan and beyond — and emboldened Iran, an adversary with an actual nuclear program. [...]

If we are really to keep America safe, it’s essential we remember exactly which American politicians empowered Iran, Al Qaeda and the Taliban from 2001 to 2008, and why. History will be repeated not only if we forget it, but also if we let it be rewritten by those whose ideological zealotry and boneheaded decisions have made America less safe to this day.

Much more here.

Fear Factor: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the way the fear mongering and hypocrisy of the GOP. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Fear Factor

Liz Cheney, who branded lawyers who defended accused terrorists before the Supreme Court, as Al Qaeda sympathizers, seems to have forgotten the fundamental principle of our judicial system “innocent until proven guilty”. Attorneys are taught to defend their clients no matter what their own personal opinion may be.

The fact that the Justice Department hired some of the attorneys that represented terrorists during the Bush Administration didn’t seem to matter or occur to her.

Liz, like her father, loves to use fear words and tactics to rile their base and promote their right wing agenda. If one were to use Liz’s logic, Dick Cheney who believes in torturing terrorists, or as he calls it “enhanced interrogation“, is no different than Saddam Hussein.

Liz Cheney is receiving a lot of heat for her remarks, and rightfully so, even from conservatives within the Republican party; yet the use of fear seems to be in the Cheney’s genes and that of the Republican Party.

The “fear factor” has been part of the Republican strategy since 9/11, but now we have seen that this policy is officially part of their platform to get Republicans elected in 2010, from a Power Point presentation that was made by the Republican National Committee, in Boca Grande, Florida.

Bush and the GOP have used the “fear factor” to (a) get us into an un-necessary war in Iraq, (b) re-elect Bush in 2004, (c) fight Health Care reform, (d) fight the closing Guantanamo, and (d) fight the trying of terrorists in civilian courts.

This use of the “fear factor” since the election of Barack Obama, by the Republican Party and the right wing media, I believe, is one of the factors that has led to a significant increase in American hate groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published a report (Rage on the Right) this week that disclosed there was a 244% increase in the number of active Patriot Groups (militias and other extremist organizations) in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 in 2009. On March 5th we learned that the Obama Administration is considering trying the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) in a military court instead of a civilian court in NYC.

For months the Republican Party and right wing media have been using the “fear factor” on the American public against having civilian trial for KHM. Like Liz Cheney’s undermining one of our basic legal principles, so is the Republican Party undermining the due process provision of our Constitution.

The fact that civilian trials were used to try terrorists during the Bush Administration doesn’t seem to matter to the GOP. The simple fact is, if Obama wants to do it, is enough reason for them to object. Hypocrisy at its highest level.

I beseech President Obama to support your Justice Department and bring KHM before an American civilian court to be tried for his accused crimes against humanity. To do otherwise is to play into the “fear factor” of the Republican Party and the right wing media, which will only embolden them and their supporters to continue their fear mongering methods.

Its time Mr. President to show Republicans and the right wing media that the “fear factor” doesn’t belong in American politics.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

VIDEO: Retired Air Force General Suggests Strip Searching All Young Muslim Men

By GottaLaff

Hey everyone, remember civil rights? The days when the word "profiling" was whispered, because it had such a negative connotation? Well, folks, say good-bye to yesteryear. Now a retired Air Force general says the P Word right out loud, with the gusto of a... very scared man:



He's into younger guys? Who'd a thunk it?

To quote KagroX (David Waldman):

Gen. McInerney wants the weenie, and I celebrate him for it. He Fondles for America.

One might call it "reaching out", if one were feeling especially generous. Or rather, reaching around.

Okay, you're right. I'll stop now.

VIDEO- Ed Schultz nails Rep. Joe Barton's flawed talking points re: Supermax prison

By GottaLaff

Ed stymied Not Joe Lieberman, and he went all deer in the headlights. Talking points much, Other Joe?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, explains why many GOP members of Congress oppose the Obama administration’s decision to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to a detention facility in Illinois.

Note: It's wise to stock up on facts before appearing on national television.

And why again does Texas have a different view of terrorists than the rest of the United States? They haven't even seceded yet.

AP source: Feds are considering a NY trial for Gitmo suspect

By GottaLaff

More Rushpublic heads will explode, because, as you all know, our legal system is too inferior to handle something like this.

Oh, and just as a reminder: Our legal system is American. That would be "American", as in, "What every self-serving Tea Baggy Wingnutty Rightie Hatriot Claims They Are":

Federal prosecutors are considering sending a Guantanamo Bay detainee named Majid Khan - who grew up in Maryland before allegedly enlisting with al-Qaida - to face trial in New York, a person familiar with the discussions said Monday. [...]

The Justice Department is weighing whether to put him on trial in federal court in Brooklyn, but no final decision has been made, according to a person speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the deliberations.

He's one of those senior member of al-Qaida, or at least someone with extensive knowledge of their evilness. Of course, per the GOP, he'll also be more powerful than our entire justice system and will single-handedly outwit Homeland Security.

"In the battle of wits, our enemy is only half-armed"

By GottaLaff

I posted about the article in question. Here's an L.A. Times letter responding to original piece. I especially love the last line:

Politics as religion

Re “Armageddon politics,” Opinion, Oct. 2

Gabler could use some Prozac. I agreed with everything he wrote except his abysmal conclusion.

Enlightenment has always defeated the forces of ignorance and darkness, and this time is no exception. Despair is our enemy, and it is exactly what the opposition would like us to succumb to. We won't.

So buck up, Neal. In the battle of wits, our enemy is only half-armed.

Politics as religion in America

By GottaLaff

Neal Gabler has an op-ed in today's L.A. Times that he titled, "Armageddon politics". Take a look:

Perhaps the single most profound change in our political culture over the last 30 years has been the transformation of conservatism from a political movement, with all the limitations, hedges and forbearances of politics, into a kind of fundamentalist religious movement, with the absolute certainty of religious belief. [...]

The tea-baggers who hate President Obama with a fervor that is beyond politics; the fear-mongers who warn that Obama is another Hitler or Stalin; the wannabe storm troopers who brandish their guns and warn darkly of the president's demise; the cable and talk-radio blowhards who make a living out of demonizing Obama and tarring liberals as America-haters -- these people are not just exercising their rights within the political system. They honestly believe that the political system -- a system that elected Obama -- is broken and only can be fixed by substituting their certainty for the uncertainties of American politics.

As we are sadly discovering, this minority cannot be headed off, which is most likely why conservatism transmogrified from politics to a religion in the first place. [...]

Rationality won't work because their arguments are faith-based rather than evidence-based. Better message control won't work. Improved strategies won't work. Grass-roots organizing won't work. Nothing will work because you cannot convince religious fanatics of anything other than what they already believe, even if their religion is political dogma.

And therein lies the problem, not only for liberals but for mainstream conservatives who think of conservatism as an ideology, not an orthodoxy. You cannot beat religion with politics, which is why the extreme right "wins" so many battles. The fundamentalist political fanatics will always be more zealous than mainstream conservatives or liberals. They will always be louder, more adamant, more aggrieved, more threatening, more willing to do anything to win. Losing is inconceivable. For them, every battle is a crusade -- or a jihad -- a matter of good and evil.

There is something terrifying in this. The media have certainly been cowed; they treat intolerance as if it were legitimate political activity. So have many politicians, and not just the conservative ones who know that if they don't fall in line, they will be run over. This political fundamentalism has also invaded the general culture in deleterious ways. The ugly incivility of recent months is partly the result of political fundamentalists who have nothing but contempt for opposing viewpoints, which gives them license to shout down opponents or threaten them, just as jihadis everywhere do.

Those who oppose the religification of politics may think all they have to do is change tactics, but they are sadly, tragically mistaken. They can never win, because for the political fundamentalists, this isn't political jousting, this is Armageddon.

With stakes like that, they will not lose, and there is nothing democrats -- small 'd' and capital "D" -- can do about it.

Please follow the link to read the rest.

Be afraid! Sarah Palin: Government wants to 'control the people'!

By GottaLaff

Sarah Louise may think that the government wants to control the people, but who's going to control her and her inept mouth?

In a speech introducing Michael Reagan — the son of former President Ronald Reagan — to an audience in Anchorage, Palin warned that the government is planning to "bail out debt ridden states" so it can "get in there and control the people."

Hit the Panic Button! Find your Safe Room! Obama wants to turn us all into BarackBots!

"We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people."

Wait. Wait. "We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers..." by-- Oh, what's that phrase again? Oh yeah-- fear mongering? Election 2008 comes to mind. So do Palin's own words, "then government gets to get in there and control the people". Way to sound credible, Sarah Louise.

Let me put it this way: You're a hypocrite. Mark my words.

"Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord," she said. "Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here."

Mark my four words: Look in the mirror. Oh, sorry. That might create fear.

She told the crowd that "the terrorists are still dead set against us" and that her son Track is still deployed in Iraq.

There's that fear thing again. Sarah Louise, will you ever learn?

"It is war over there, so it will not be war over here," she said. "And it had better still be our mission that we win, they lose."

Who let Boy Georgie in here?! Oh, was that you again, Sarah Louise? My bad.

She also pointed to the recent dismissal of another ethics complaint against her, one that accused the governor of having a conflict of interest for wearing a jacket to the opening of the Tesoro Iron Dog race in February that feautured the logo of the sponsor of her husband's team. Palin has been forced to set up a legal defense fund to help pay for fees related to an onslaught of ethic complaints.

Palin said of the people who have filed the complaints: "Those are the folks who want to tell me, they want to tell you, to sit down and shut up. We will not do that. I just can't, because I love my state. I love my country."

Sit down and shut up. Why? Because I love my country, too.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

The GOP's McCarthy gene

By GottaLaff

Neal Gabler has a really interesting piece in the L.A. Times today. I'm posting several excerpts, so this will be long, but well-worth it. You should really read the whole thing:

[T]here is another rendition of the story of modern conservatism, one that doesn't begin with Goldwater and doesn't celebrate his libertarian orientation. It is a less heroic story, and one that may go a much longer way toward really explaining the Republican Party's past electoral fortunes and its future. In this tale, the real father of modern Republicanism is Sen. Joe McCarthy, and the line doesn't run from Goldwater to Reagan to George W. Bush; it runs from McCarthy to Nixon to Bush and possibly now to Sarah Palin. It centralizes what one might call the McCarthy gene, something deep in the DNA of the Republican Party that determines how Republicans run for office, and because it is genetic, it isn't likely to be expunged any time soon.

The basic problem with the Goldwater tale is that it focuses on ideology and movement building, which few voters have ever really cared about, while the McCarthy tale focuses on electoral strategy, which is where Republicans have excelled.

McCarthy, Wisconsin's junior senator, was the man who first energized conservatism and made it a force to reckon with. [...]

What he lacked in ideology -- and he was no ideologue at all -- he made up for in aggression. Establishment Republicans, even conservatives, were disdainful of his tactics, but when those same conservatives saw the support he elicited from the grass-roots and the press attention he got, many of them were impressed. [...] Henceforth, conservatism would be as much about electoral slash-and-burn as it would be about a policy agenda.

For the polite conservatives, McCarthy was useful. That's because he wasn't only attacking alleged communists and the Democrats whom he accused of shielding them. He was also attacking the entire centrist American establishment, the Eastern intellectuals and the power class, many of whom were Republicans themselves, albeit moderate ones. [...]

McCarthyism is usually considered a virulent form of Red-baiting and character assassination. But it is much more than that. As historian Richard Hofstadter described it in his famous essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," McCarthyism is a way to build support by playing on the anxieties of Americans, actively convincing them of danger and conspiracy even where these don't exist. [...]

He stumbled onto the fact that many of these people in postwar America were frightened and looking for scapegoats. [...]

McCarthy's real heir was Nixon, who mainstreamed McCarthyism in 1968 by substituting liberals, youth and minorities for communists and intellectuals, and fueling resentments as McCarthy had. [...]

Today, these former liberals are known as Reagan Democrats, but they were Nixon voters before they were Reagan voters, and they were McCarthy supporters before they were either. [...] Nixon simply mastered what McCarthy had authored. You demonize the opposition and polarize the electorate to win. [...]

Reaganism as an electoral device was unique to Reagan and essentially died with the end of his presidency. McCarthyism, on the other hand, which could be deployed by anyone, thrived. McCarthyism was how Republicans won. George H.W. Bush used it to get himself elected, terrifying voters with Willie Horton. And his son, under the tutelage of strategist Karl Rove, not only got himself reelected by convincing voters that John Kerry was a coward and a liar and would hand the nation over to terrorists, which was pure McCarthyism, he governed by rousing McCarthyite resentments among his base.

Republicans continue to push the idea that this is a center-right country and that Americans have swooned for GOP anti-government posturing all these years, but the real electoral bait has been anger, recrimination and scapegoating. That's why John McCain kept describing Barack Obama as some sort of alien and why Palin, taking a page right out of the McCarthy playbook, kept pushing Obama's relationship with onetime radical William Ayers.

And that is also why the Republican Party, despite the recent failure of McCarthyism, is likely to keep moving rightward, appeasing its more extreme elements and stoking their grievances for some time to come. [...] The party belongs to McCarthy and his heirs -- Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Palin. It's in the genes.

He makes some good points, some which were, at least to me, a little reminiscent of those made in The Shock Doctrine vis a vis playing on people's fears.

How'd That Fear Mongering With The Jews Work For Ya?

I heard someone on MJ say that that this was the end of the "politics of fear" . Snort.

For all the ink and money spilled on McCain's hopes of making inroads into the Jewish vote, exit polls suggest Obama won the demographic by a margin even higher than John Kerry's, and like Al Gore's and Bill Clinton's.

The exits currently have it at 78 percent to 21 percent.

Yep, that Joe Lieberman sure was indispensable.

Right-Wing Group Distributing Hundreds Of Thousands Of DVDs Attacking Obama In Swing-State Newspapers

When did newspapers decide that whoring themselves out for political fearmongering was their journalistic duty? Remember, this isn't the first time. Via TPM, more at the link.

Citizens United, the conservative group headed by notorious Whitewater scandalmonger David Bossie, is distributing hundreds of thousands of DVDs attacking Barack Obama's associations with Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers in newspapers in Ohio, Nevada, and Florida this week, a group spokesperson confirms to us.

A reader in Ohio reports to us that she received a copy of the DVD, called "Hype: The Obama Effect," in her copy of the Columbus Dispatch this morning.

We checked in with Citizens United spokesperson Will Holley, who confirmed to us that the DVD was distributed in the Dispatch today, and will be disseminated in copies of the Cincinatti Enquirer and Plain Dealer tomorrow, followed by the Palm Beach Post and the Los Vegas Review Journal on Friday.