Left click image to enlarge.Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Tattlesnake – CPAC Proof GOP is Still Doomed Edition
CPAC's Corporate Mythmakers and True Believers Headed for a Hard Fall
"Con artists have a word for the inability of their victims to accept that they've been scammed. They call it the 'True Believer Syndrome.'"
-- Matt Taibbi, "Wall Street's Bailout Hustle," Rolling Stone, Feb. 21, 2010.
You know you're in trouble when your keynote speaker is Glenn Beck, the current Dancing Bear of the Fox Evening Zoo and promulgator of preposterous pompous carnival-clown revisionism of everything from the political thinking of progressive Tom Paine to the nature of Marxism. (Well, at least he left the cry-eye Vick's VapoRub in the dressing room for this event.) Beck, like the rest of the Fox News team, seems to delight in unapologetically getting it wrong, time after time, and he knows his fans never read such authors as Paine or Karl Marx so, with skillful editing, ventriloquist Glenn can plant whatever Bizarro World ideas he desires in the mouths of the departed and defenseless. The most dedicated inhabitants of TV's Beckistan no doubt reject the proof of their own eyes and ears when confronted with any reality that veers from the Ringmaster's teachings, as any mind-locked True Believer does. It's a matter of faith -- in a Republican Jesus, or Roger Ailes' political ads disguised as news, or Frank Luntz's fright-laden euphemisms, or a former beauty queen turned half-term governor from Alaska. It's amazing that they wave the flag of freedom so strenuously – they apparently only want the freedom to follow a leader, and down the narrowest of ideological paths, at that.
Speaking of Gov. Mrs. Palin, she was not in appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference; not only could the organizers not meet her hefty price for speechifying, but she perhaps discerned, with the dumb canniness sometimes given to the vapid, that she wouldn't be welcome in a crowd that voted Mitt Romney first in their last three presidential straw polls.
And then there's the bright-eyed Romney himself; like most of his party, the former Massachusetts governor stopped making any consistent and coherent sense long ago; his speeches are now grab-bags of memorized GOP Talking Points and anti-Obama crowd-pleasers, but he has mostly refrained from the cringe-inducing personal vignettes such as tying incontinent pets to the roof of the family ride for a jaunt on the open highway or his Milquetoast macho-man exploits of gunning down small rodents with a hunting rifle. The things most people would be embarrassed to admit, Mitt banters about airily with a male model's manly grin, which I guess proves he is a Republican to his core.
And speaking of core Republicans, we have Mr. Cheney, Richard the Lyin'-Hearted, a man with no intelligence or military experience (an appointment as Secretary of Defense does not make one an expert on interrogation or confinement), who openly boasts that his unconstitutional torture program worked, believes he competently handled his role as White House counter-terrorism chief prior to 9/11, and has a long, clanking string of wrongheaded predictions following him like a trail of empty cans tied to a cat's tail. Cheney is arguably the most disliked politician in America, but in the upside-down world of CPAC, he is a national champion and was greeted with the garlands of approbation by the assembled worshippers in Washington that he once erroneously said would be thrown at our troops in Iraq. Perhaps as a sign of how far out in the ozone the gathered Republicans and their neoconservative cohorts orbit, many lustily cheered a Cheney run for president in 2012; Bush's superordinate vice president had enough sense to tease and then quickly squelch that notion and spare himself the humiliation of a 50-state landslide victory for President Obama.
Cheney, on cue, availed himself of the opportunity to produce another of his wacky spells of side-splitting clairvoyance – the Republicans would be resurgent in 2010 and Obama would be a one-term president. With his shot-in-the-face record of the exact opposite happening, you'd think he'd bury his cloudy crystal ball and stop making an ass of himself in this way but, then, you don't know Dick – he seems to thrive on being wrong and then denying it. Regardless of the Beltway Conventional Wisdom, three races where the Republican won against miserable Dem candidates does not make a trend and, as the overworked Cocktail Party Punditocracy cliché goes, "in politics, a month is like a year." With Cheney's smug regurgitation of this trite BCW on the glowing prospects for Republicans this year, it's bankable that it won't be quite as bad a year for the Democrats as the GOP would like it to be. And defeating Obama in 2012? Perhaps Dick should have a candidate in mind first to complete that task – none of the current GOP front-runners would come anywhere near to pushing Obama out of the presidency except Ron Paul, and Cheney and the GOP elite loathe him.
There was plenty of other entertainment at CPAC to those with a sardonic sense of humor, including mass booing for 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate and former GOP congressman Bob Barr for denouncing torture, and against some obnoxious knucklehead who was ironically jeered for going after a gay group. Said knucklehead's crime was that the gay group was Republican and the Grand Old Pious party needs every adherent they can get these days as the number of registered voters willing to confess they support the Republican brand continues to dwindle and age, along with the audience for the Right-Wing Disinfotainment Industry. The world turned upside-down indeed.
Of course, our Big Corporate Media that disguises itself as pure and objective did another habitual public disservice in its coverage of CPAC by not pointing out that most of the attendees were not average Conservo-Americans by any stretch – instead they were mostly lobbyists, party hacks, media dipsticks, the big money bags, Republican politicians and staffers, and those who earn their livelihoods by peddling products to this rarified bunch. In other words, these were the high-flying DC insiders who can afford to take off work, or who make their money by bowing and scraping to the GOP elite, which is why Cheney was greeted as a conquering hero, and lightweights such as Mitt Romney were taken seriously – they are both high-flying DC insiders as well.
Perhaps most indicative of the insider bent of the CPAC house of wax was the final results of the presidential straw poll – Ron Paul won it going away with 31 percent of the vote. Distant number two was Mitt Romney at 22 percent, and 'Joan of Dark' Palin wasn't even in double-digits. It was surreally amusing, if predictable, to watch a large portion of the assemblage howl down its own presidential pick: Paul represents the old-line libertarian/conservative Republican who wants to drastically cut the Pentagon's inflated budget, get us out of foreign wars, dissolve the dreams of empire, end the privatization of our military, shut down the ludicrous drug war, and enforce the terms of the Constitution, all items not popular with the DC insiders who reap billions of taxpayer dollars from supporting and advancing that list of misery. Worst of all, to the GOP elite, Paul is sincere – they hate that.
But another alarm bell auguring an unrosy Republican future was sounded by none other than recently elected hero-turned-zero Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who had the temerity to part with the break-Obama GOP leadership and vote for a Dem jobs bill that he thought would be beneficial to the residents of his state. In all the excitement over winning Ted Kennedy's old seat, some of the Republicans apparently forgot to check Brown's record in Mass. state government – he was ranked more liberal than three-fourths of the statehouse Republicans in a state that has the most liberal Republicans in the country. Today he is being condemned by the right for being a 'traitor' and a 'RINO' simply because he thought the government should act in the interest of the people rather than the GOP. In a sweet twist, he may turn out to be a great asset to Obama, and fix the doom of the current Limbaugh-loving fringe-right neocon Republican Party. When scared GOP incumbents begin buying pick-up trucks and start campaigning as independents who will cooperate with Obama to make government work for the citizenry, the nasty Talking Points Choir of the Rove-Luntz Axis of Evil that has dominated the party for over a decade will finally be at an end.
Yes, there's no denying the Democrats have been lame since Obama's election but, compared to the fire-breathing maniacs and corrupt corporatists presently running the GOP, the voters might very well prefer reasonable and lame to racist and insane.
Quoting the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the Tattlesnake reiterates his prediction that for the GOP Elite of the DC Insiders, "the doom comes soon," with an irresolvable spilt between the rational Colin Powell/Ron Paul Libertarian Realists and the babbling-idiot Glenn Beck Regressive Christopublicans, and likely before the 2012 election -- maybe even in 2010, if the Democrats pass real health care reform.
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
"Con artists have a word for the inability of their victims to accept that they've been scammed. They call it the 'True Believer Syndrome.'"
-- Matt Taibbi, "Wall Street's Bailout Hustle," Rolling Stone, Feb. 21, 2010.
You know you're in trouble when your keynote speaker is Glenn Beck, the current Dancing Bear of the Fox Evening Zoo and promulgator of preposterous pompous carnival-clown revisionism of everything from the political thinking of progressive Tom Paine to the nature of Marxism. (Well, at least he left the cry-eye Vick's VapoRub in the dressing room for this event.) Beck, like the rest of the Fox News team, seems to delight in unapologetically getting it wrong, time after time, and he knows his fans never read such authors as Paine or Karl Marx so, with skillful editing, ventriloquist Glenn can plant whatever Bizarro World ideas he desires in the mouths of the departed and defenseless. The most dedicated inhabitants of TV's Beckistan no doubt reject the proof of their own eyes and ears when confronted with any reality that veers from the Ringmaster's teachings, as any mind-locked True Believer does. It's a matter of faith -- in a Republican Jesus, or Roger Ailes' political ads disguised as news, or Frank Luntz's fright-laden euphemisms, or a former beauty queen turned half-term governor from Alaska. It's amazing that they wave the flag of freedom so strenuously – they apparently only want the freedom to follow a leader, and down the narrowest of ideological paths, at that.
Speaking of Gov. Mrs. Palin, she was not in appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference; not only could the organizers not meet her hefty price for speechifying, but she perhaps discerned, with the dumb canniness sometimes given to the vapid, that she wouldn't be welcome in a crowd that voted Mitt Romney first in their last three presidential straw polls.
And then there's the bright-eyed Romney himself; like most of his party, the former Massachusetts governor stopped making any consistent and coherent sense long ago; his speeches are now grab-bags of memorized GOP Talking Points and anti-Obama crowd-pleasers, but he has mostly refrained from the cringe-inducing personal vignettes such as tying incontinent pets to the roof of the family ride for a jaunt on the open highway or his Milquetoast macho-man exploits of gunning down small rodents with a hunting rifle. The things most people would be embarrassed to admit, Mitt banters about airily with a male model's manly grin, which I guess proves he is a Republican to his core.
And speaking of core Republicans, we have Mr. Cheney, Richard the Lyin'-Hearted, a man with no intelligence or military experience (an appointment as Secretary of Defense does not make one an expert on interrogation or confinement), who openly boasts that his unconstitutional torture program worked, believes he competently handled his role as White House counter-terrorism chief prior to 9/11, and has a long, clanking string of wrongheaded predictions following him like a trail of empty cans tied to a cat's tail. Cheney is arguably the most disliked politician in America, but in the upside-down world of CPAC, he is a national champion and was greeted with the garlands of approbation by the assembled worshippers in Washington that he once erroneously said would be thrown at our troops in Iraq. Perhaps as a sign of how far out in the ozone the gathered Republicans and their neoconservative cohorts orbit, many lustily cheered a Cheney run for president in 2012; Bush's superordinate vice president had enough sense to tease and then quickly squelch that notion and spare himself the humiliation of a 50-state landslide victory for President Obama.
Cheney, on cue, availed himself of the opportunity to produce another of his wacky spells of side-splitting clairvoyance – the Republicans would be resurgent in 2010 and Obama would be a one-term president. With his shot-in-the-face record of the exact opposite happening, you'd think he'd bury his cloudy crystal ball and stop making an ass of himself in this way but, then, you don't know Dick – he seems to thrive on being wrong and then denying it. Regardless of the Beltway Conventional Wisdom, three races where the Republican won against miserable Dem candidates does not make a trend and, as the overworked Cocktail Party Punditocracy cliché goes, "in politics, a month is like a year." With Cheney's smug regurgitation of this trite BCW on the glowing prospects for Republicans this year, it's bankable that it won't be quite as bad a year for the Democrats as the GOP would like it to be. And defeating Obama in 2012? Perhaps Dick should have a candidate in mind first to complete that task – none of the current GOP front-runners would come anywhere near to pushing Obama out of the presidency except Ron Paul, and Cheney and the GOP elite loathe him.
There was plenty of other entertainment at CPAC to those with a sardonic sense of humor, including mass booing for 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate and former GOP congressman Bob Barr for denouncing torture, and against some obnoxious knucklehead who was ironically jeered for going after a gay group. Said knucklehead's crime was that the gay group was Republican and the Grand Old Pious party needs every adherent they can get these days as the number of registered voters willing to confess they support the Republican brand continues to dwindle and age, along with the audience for the Right-Wing Disinfotainment Industry. The world turned upside-down indeed.
Of course, our Big Corporate Media that disguises itself as pure and objective did another habitual public disservice in its coverage of CPAC by not pointing out that most of the attendees were not average Conservo-Americans by any stretch – instead they were mostly lobbyists, party hacks, media dipsticks, the big money bags, Republican politicians and staffers, and those who earn their livelihoods by peddling products to this rarified bunch. In other words, these were the high-flying DC insiders who can afford to take off work, or who make their money by bowing and scraping to the GOP elite, which is why Cheney was greeted as a conquering hero, and lightweights such as Mitt Romney were taken seriously – they are both high-flying DC insiders as well.
Perhaps most indicative of the insider bent of the CPAC house of wax was the final results of the presidential straw poll – Ron Paul won it going away with 31 percent of the vote. Distant number two was Mitt Romney at 22 percent, and 'Joan of Dark' Palin wasn't even in double-digits. It was surreally amusing, if predictable, to watch a large portion of the assemblage howl down its own presidential pick: Paul represents the old-line libertarian/conservative Republican who wants to drastically cut the Pentagon's inflated budget, get us out of foreign wars, dissolve the dreams of empire, end the privatization of our military, shut down the ludicrous drug war, and enforce the terms of the Constitution, all items not popular with the DC insiders who reap billions of taxpayer dollars from supporting and advancing that list of misery. Worst of all, to the GOP elite, Paul is sincere – they hate that.
But another alarm bell auguring an unrosy Republican future was sounded by none other than recently elected hero-turned-zero Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who had the temerity to part with the break-Obama GOP leadership and vote for a Dem jobs bill that he thought would be beneficial to the residents of his state. In all the excitement over winning Ted Kennedy's old seat, some of the Republicans apparently forgot to check Brown's record in Mass. state government – he was ranked more liberal than three-fourths of the statehouse Republicans in a state that has the most liberal Republicans in the country. Today he is being condemned by the right for being a 'traitor' and a 'RINO' simply because he thought the government should act in the interest of the people rather than the GOP. In a sweet twist, he may turn out to be a great asset to Obama, and fix the doom of the current Limbaugh-loving fringe-right neocon Republican Party. When scared GOP incumbents begin buying pick-up trucks and start campaigning as independents who will cooperate with Obama to make government work for the citizenry, the nasty Talking Points Choir of the Rove-Luntz Axis of Evil that has dominated the party for over a decade will finally be at an end.
Yes, there's no denying the Democrats have been lame since Obama's election but, compared to the fire-breathing maniacs and corrupt corporatists presently running the GOP, the voters might very well prefer reasonable and lame to racist and insane.
Quoting the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the Tattlesnake reiterates his prediction that for the GOP Elite of the DC Insiders, "the doom comes soon," with an irresolvable spilt between the rational Colin Powell/Ron Paul Libertarian Realists and the babbling-idiot Glenn Beck Regressive Christopublicans, and likely before the 2012 election -- maybe even in 2010, if the Democrats pass real health care reform.
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Tattlesnake – In Defense of Tiger Woods (Sort of) Edition
The Abridged Tiger Woods Apology Speech, After a Quick Spray with the Truth Ray
TIGER WOODS: "Hello to you all. I am here to publicly apologize for cheating on my wife Elin with other women. (Why am I apologizing to the public? I didn't cheat on them. Oh, right, kids look up to me as a role model. Kids are watching golf now? Jeez, can't they look up to someone besides a golfer as a role model? Basketball players, baseball players, football players … okay, never mind.)
"While my publicist and marketing people actually wrote these words, I can assure you they come straight from my heart. (And a billion dollars a year in endorsements.)
"In a sane world, I could just be respected as a great golfer and my private life would be my own business, but you self-righteous hypocrites in the media and you sex-starved moralists in the celebrity-obsessed public need some cheesy scandal to drool over, and right now it's me. (Why don't you all get a life?) You know, you don't make rock stars and movie idols apologize like this – at least I haven't seen Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty pestered endlessly for cheating on their wives, but then I guess you can't play golf and then pose with a car or disposable razor unless you have a spotless personal life. Hey, why don't you ask the CEOs of the corporations that pay me for endorsements to publicly apologize for their marital infidelities? Oh, right, they aren't celebrities. Besides, many of you in the media pull a paycheck from one of those corporations. What amazing courage.
"Okay, sorry, I was told by my handlers not to go off script. So, here, I'm just apologizing all over myself for being a kid and young man who never had much of a life outside golf, with a Domineering Stage Father who forced me to practice all the time so that I could fulfill all of his unrealized dreams, and once I was out from under his influence I went nuts and took advantage of my fame and got laid as often as I could. Every honest man listening to me, if they had grown up the way I did, would have done the same thing. Most of you men would do the same thing even without having a Domineering Stage Father, if you had the chance, especially you sportswriters.
"You know who really owes the public an apology: The media vultures covering this story by obsessing on every minute detail of my personal life. Maybe you should try spending the same amount of time on explaining things to the public that really affects their lives – like health care reform, and the growing power of corporations over our lives, and the reality of war, and who's lying about what in Washington. Oh, but that's too controversial; instead you pick the safe route – go after the golfer. You know, it's not going to put a penny in the public's pocket, or make their lives one bit better if I apologize, but here it is, for what it's worth:
"I apologize completely for anything in my private life that might have ever offended anyone. But I know this mea culpa won't be the end -- my bones haven't been picked entirely clean yet.
"Just to sum up, my adulterous dalliances outside of my marriage, and any apologies I make for them, as I've said, really aren’t and shouldn't be important except to those close to me. The only important thing about this story is how much valuable airtime and empty words of fake outrage the mainstream media are willing to waste to pursue the sordid details of my private life. Let me reiterate: For that, I don't owe you an apology – they do."
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
TIGER WOODS: "Hello to you all. I am here to publicly apologize for cheating on my wife Elin with other women. (Why am I apologizing to the public? I didn't cheat on them. Oh, right, kids look up to me as a role model. Kids are watching golf now? Jeez, can't they look up to someone besides a golfer as a role model? Basketball players, baseball players, football players … okay, never mind.)
"While my publicist and marketing people actually wrote these words, I can assure you they come straight from my heart. (And a billion dollars a year in endorsements.)
"In a sane world, I could just be respected as a great golfer and my private life would be my own business, but you self-righteous hypocrites in the media and you sex-starved moralists in the celebrity-obsessed public need some cheesy scandal to drool over, and right now it's me. (Why don't you all get a life?) You know, you don't make rock stars and movie idols apologize like this – at least I haven't seen Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty pestered endlessly for cheating on their wives, but then I guess you can't play golf and then pose with a car or disposable razor unless you have a spotless personal life. Hey, why don't you ask the CEOs of the corporations that pay me for endorsements to publicly apologize for their marital infidelities? Oh, right, they aren't celebrities. Besides, many of you in the media pull a paycheck from one of those corporations. What amazing courage.
"Okay, sorry, I was told by my handlers not to go off script. So, here, I'm just apologizing all over myself for being a kid and young man who never had much of a life outside golf, with a Domineering Stage Father who forced me to practice all the time so that I could fulfill all of his unrealized dreams, and once I was out from under his influence I went nuts and took advantage of my fame and got laid as often as I could. Every honest man listening to me, if they had grown up the way I did, would have done the same thing. Most of you men would do the same thing even without having a Domineering Stage Father, if you had the chance, especially you sportswriters.
"You know who really owes the public an apology: The media vultures covering this story by obsessing on every minute detail of my personal life. Maybe you should try spending the same amount of time on explaining things to the public that really affects their lives – like health care reform, and the growing power of corporations over our lives, and the reality of war, and who's lying about what in Washington. Oh, but that's too controversial; instead you pick the safe route – go after the golfer. You know, it's not going to put a penny in the public's pocket, or make their lives one bit better if I apologize, but here it is, for what it's worth:
"I apologize completely for anything in my private life that might have ever offended anyone. But I know this mea culpa won't be the end -- my bones haven't been picked entirely clean yet.
"Just to sum up, my adulterous dalliances outside of my marriage, and any apologies I make for them, as I've said, really aren’t and shouldn't be important except to those close to me. The only important thing about this story is how much valuable airtime and empty words of fake outrage the mainstream media are willing to waste to pursue the sordid details of my private life. Let me reiterate: For that, I don't owe you an apology – they do."
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Beck is Just Asking Questions?
Six Dead, Scores Injured at Manhattan Theater
Talk Show Host Glenn Beck Questioned in Wild Riot
By Wendell Swynn
The New York Post-American
February 11, 2010
NEW YORK – Police are still investigating who or what caused a panicked mêlée Wednesday night at The Public Square Theater in downtown Manhattan that killed six and sent at least twenty-five to the hospital, but senior NYPD sources close to the investigation say that Glenn Beck, a Fox News cable channel talk show host, is now a 'person of interest' and undergoing intensive interrogation.
Suspicion has centered on Mr. Beck as several eyewitnesses reported the controversial television host stood up and began shouting 'fire' midway through a showing of the Michael Moore film, "Capitalism: A Love Story."
"I saw him, he was down front," said Mr. Horace Nubbin, a Brooklyn cabdriver, referring to Mr. Beck, "and he jumped up suddenly and started yelling the place was on fire. I just grabbed my kids and ran, along with hundreds of other people."
Venola Gaye, a waitress from Queens, described the ensuing fracas, "People were just trampling each other trying to get to the exits – it was horrible, the theater was packed. Me and my family were lucky – we were in the seats in back, so we got out easy. What was this guy thinking? Did he think this was some big joke or something?"
Before being taken into custody, Mr. Beck admitted to reporters that he shouted 'fire,' but said it was only meant as a question. "You know, it was like, 'are you ready for a fire?' or speculating, 'what if we had a fire started by city inspectors for some reason' or 'what if the management of the theater lit the place on fire for the insurance money?' You know, I'm just a rodeo clown and I say what's on my mind. I can't help it if some people don't get the context or whatever. I was just posing possibilities and asking questions."
But witnesses disagree. Mr. Euell Doonce from Long Island, who was sitting a row behind Mr. Beck, said, "He was mumbling something low and inaudible but when he said 'fire' he screamed it at the top of his lungs, several times." His wife Umelda, also a witness, added, "There's no doubt he started this panic. This wiseacre ought to be thrown in jail."
At press time, authorities had not determined whether Mr. Beck would be charged, but various witnesses reported that Mr. Beck was sitting with two men who were also yelling 'fire' in unison with Mr. Beck. It's been alleged that the pair were radio talker Rush Limbaugh and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Both men are being sought by police for questioning.
Talk Show Host Glenn Beck Questioned in Wild Riot
By Wendell Swynn
The New York Post-American
February 11, 2010
NEW YORK – Police are still investigating who or what caused a panicked mêlée Wednesday night at The Public Square Theater in downtown Manhattan that killed six and sent at least twenty-five to the hospital, but senior NYPD sources close to the investigation say that Glenn Beck, a Fox News cable channel talk show host, is now a 'person of interest' and undergoing intensive interrogation.
Suspicion has centered on Mr. Beck as several eyewitnesses reported the controversial television host stood up and began shouting 'fire' midway through a showing of the Michael Moore film, "Capitalism: A Love Story."
"I saw him, he was down front," said Mr. Horace Nubbin, a Brooklyn cabdriver, referring to Mr. Beck, "and he jumped up suddenly and started yelling the place was on fire. I just grabbed my kids and ran, along with hundreds of other people."
Venola Gaye, a waitress from Queens, described the ensuing fracas, "People were just trampling each other trying to get to the exits – it was horrible, the theater was packed. Me and my family were lucky – we were in the seats in back, so we got out easy. What was this guy thinking? Did he think this was some big joke or something?"
Before being taken into custody, Mr. Beck admitted to reporters that he shouted 'fire,' but said it was only meant as a question. "You know, it was like, 'are you ready for a fire?' or speculating, 'what if we had a fire started by city inspectors for some reason' or 'what if the management of the theater lit the place on fire for the insurance money?' You know, I'm just a rodeo clown and I say what's on my mind. I can't help it if some people don't get the context or whatever. I was just posing possibilities and asking questions."
But witnesses disagree. Mr. Euell Doonce from Long Island, who was sitting a row behind Mr. Beck, said, "He was mumbling something low and inaudible but when he said 'fire' he screamed it at the top of his lungs, several times." His wife Umelda, also a witness, added, "There's no doubt he started this panic. This wiseacre ought to be thrown in jail."
At press time, authorities had not determined whether Mr. Beck would be charged, but various witnesses reported that Mr. Beck was sitting with two men who were also yelling 'fire' in unison with Mr. Beck. It's been alleged that the pair were radio talker Rush Limbaugh and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Both men are being sought by police for questioning.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Tattlesnake – Once Again, Jon Stewart Shows the BM How It's Done Edition
Good on Jon Stewart for showing the 'infotainment' arm of the Big Media, once again, how to do their jobs. Last night on The Daily Show, Stewart's guest was Newt "Like The Reptile" Gingrich and they were discussing trying terrorist suspects under American criminal law. Newt claimed that the 'Christmas Underwear Bomber,' Umar Abdulmutallab, shouldn't be tried in a U.S. court and had no rights since he wasn't an American citizen. (Not true, incidentally -- even foreign nationals have rights when charged with a crime in our country, but a topic for another time.)
At any rate, Stewart sensibly countered that the 'Shoe Bomber' Richard Reid was tried and convicted by the Bush Administration in an American courtroom and then Newtie, as usual, blatantly lied to make his point – he said Reid was a U.S. citizen and Abdulmutallab was not. Stewart let it pass as I yelled in futility at the TV, "Bullshit, Reid was a British subject!"
Following the commercial break, however, after the interview had ended, Stewart came back on to say his staff had checked and Reid was not an American citizen but a British national. This was a simple, unbiased fact, and it made Gingrich look like the horse's ass he is and laid bare his lame argument to the light of day. If every 'real' news show adopted this practice of fact-checking guests and informing the audience where they lied during the show, not only would it better serve the news consumer and the country, but it would have the side benefit of keeping politicians honest – if pols knew that at the end of the show (ideally accompanied by a crawl across the bottom of the screen), their falsehoods would be exposed they might become more circumspect in their habitual dishonesty. BTW, I also think would be good for ratings.
Of course, this will never happen on Fox News, if only because 45-minutes of each hour would be taken up correcting the lies of the first fifteen minutes, and most of the other networks would shy away since it would cost them 'access' to prominent politicians, not to mention discomfit their corporate bosses, but just think – no more Republicans spreading fraud on national TV and fewer quisling Democrats trying to justify their cowardice! No doubt this measure would pass by a massive majority if subjected to a national referendum.
Since that's not going to happen, all you can do is write or call your favorite media outlet and refer them to Jon Stewart's interview with Newt Gingrich on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, but don't expect miracles – the BM will likely change the same day Newtie the Lizard bangs the drum for universal single-payer health care.
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/newt-gingrich-lies-jon-stewart-claim
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
At any rate, Stewart sensibly countered that the 'Shoe Bomber' Richard Reid was tried and convicted by the Bush Administration in an American courtroom and then Newtie, as usual, blatantly lied to make his point – he said Reid was a U.S. citizen and Abdulmutallab was not. Stewart let it pass as I yelled in futility at the TV, "Bullshit, Reid was a British subject!"
Following the commercial break, however, after the interview had ended, Stewart came back on to say his staff had checked and Reid was not an American citizen but a British national. This was a simple, unbiased fact, and it made Gingrich look like the horse's ass he is and laid bare his lame argument to the light of day. If every 'real' news show adopted this practice of fact-checking guests and informing the audience where they lied during the show, not only would it better serve the news consumer and the country, but it would have the side benefit of keeping politicians honest – if pols knew that at the end of the show (ideally accompanied by a crawl across the bottom of the screen), their falsehoods would be exposed they might become more circumspect in their habitual dishonesty. BTW, I also think would be good for ratings.
Of course, this will never happen on Fox News, if only because 45-minutes of each hour would be taken up correcting the lies of the first fifteen minutes, and most of the other networks would shy away since it would cost them 'access' to prominent politicians, not to mention discomfit their corporate bosses, but just think – no more Republicans spreading fraud on national TV and fewer quisling Democrats trying to justify their cowardice! No doubt this measure would pass by a massive majority if subjected to a national referendum.
Since that's not going to happen, all you can do is write or call your favorite media outlet and refer them to Jon Stewart's interview with Newt Gingrich on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, but don't expect miracles – the BM will likely change the same day Newtie the Lizard bangs the drum for universal single-payer health care.
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/newt-gingrich-lies-jon-stewart-claim
© 2010 RS Janes. LTSaloon.org.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Palin to 'Lip Sync' Future Speeches Says Aide
Palin to 'Lip Sync' Future Speeches Says Aide
By E.T. Mandible
Nashville Journal-Advertiser
February 8, 2010
Exclusive to the Journal-Advertiser
NASHVILLE – In the wake of her speech last Saturday to the Tea Party convention held here, an aide to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told this reporter that her future speeches would be lip-synched. (Lip-synching is a technique where the speaker mouths the words live to a pre-recorded tape or CD.)
An aide to the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Gov. Palin was "deeply concerned" that she might make a "boo-boo" that could be exploited by what the aide described as the liberal national news media.
Palin camp spokeswoman Meagan McCurdle, while refusing to confirm the story, dismissed questions by claiming that lip-synching is now a standard practice for anyone who appears before large audiences. "If you want to be heard in the balcony seats, you have to lip synch," Ms. McCurdle said, "and everyone does it."
When asked if those who have paid to hear Gov. Palin speak might be disappointed if she lip-synched instead, Ms. McCurdle offered, "I don't think real Americans care if Gov. Palin actually speaks live. They are there to hear her message of freedom, and to be a part of a movement that is coalescing around her, to be part of the atmosphere of pee-in-your-pants excitement that surrounds Gov. Palin wherever she goes."
Mrs. Mindy Snook, chairwoman of the Memphis Belles for Sarah organization, who attended the Saturday speech, said, "I don't care if she talks standing on her head! She's just so fabulous I can't stand it! Sarah's like doing the whole football team in one night! Who cares if she lip syncs?"
Her husband Ben, who is also the vice chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, added, "Sarah's cutting edge and this is that kind of technology. Soon, all the politicians will be doing it. Anyway, she's the whole package of sexy looks and beauty pageant charm, so what's not to like even if her voice is on tape?"
When reminded of Gov. Palin's criticism of President Obama for using Teleprompters in his speeches, Mrs. Snook replied, "This is an entirely different ballgame, it's mixing apples and zebras with oranges and whiskey. Sarah can talk for hours with just some stuff scribbled on her hand, and I'm sure she won't use a script or anything in the original recording. Let's see that Kenyan Marxist in the White House do that!"
Before leaving Nashville, Gov. Palin is scheduled for a book signing at the Dixie Dog Breakfast Hut and Book Nook, Route 5 at Forrest Rd., tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. to noon, where she is slated to be joined by local favorite Dickles the Singing Cat.
By E.T. Mandible
Nashville Journal-Advertiser
February 8, 2010
Exclusive to the Journal-Advertiser
NASHVILLE – In the wake of her speech last Saturday to the Tea Party convention held here, an aide to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told this reporter that her future speeches would be lip-synched. (Lip-synching is a technique where the speaker mouths the words live to a pre-recorded tape or CD.)
An aide to the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Gov. Palin was "deeply concerned" that she might make a "boo-boo" that could be exploited by what the aide described as the liberal national news media.
Palin camp spokeswoman Meagan McCurdle, while refusing to confirm the story, dismissed questions by claiming that lip-synching is now a standard practice for anyone who appears before large audiences. "If you want to be heard in the balcony seats, you have to lip synch," Ms. McCurdle said, "and everyone does it."
When asked if those who have paid to hear Gov. Palin speak might be disappointed if she lip-synched instead, Ms. McCurdle offered, "I don't think real Americans care if Gov. Palin actually speaks live. They are there to hear her message of freedom, and to be a part of a movement that is coalescing around her, to be part of the atmosphere of pee-in-your-pants excitement that surrounds Gov. Palin wherever she goes."
Mrs. Mindy Snook, chairwoman of the Memphis Belles for Sarah organization, who attended the Saturday speech, said, "I don't care if she talks standing on her head! She's just so fabulous I can't stand it! Sarah's like doing the whole football team in one night! Who cares if she lip syncs?"
Her husband Ben, who is also the vice chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, added, "Sarah's cutting edge and this is that kind of technology. Soon, all the politicians will be doing it. Anyway, she's the whole package of sexy looks and beauty pageant charm, so what's not to like even if her voice is on tape?"
When reminded of Gov. Palin's criticism of President Obama for using Teleprompters in his speeches, Mrs. Snook replied, "This is an entirely different ballgame, it's mixing apples and zebras with oranges and whiskey. Sarah can talk for hours with just some stuff scribbled on her hand, and I'm sure she won't use a script or anything in the original recording. Let's see that Kenyan Marxist in the White House do that!"
Before leaving Nashville, Gov. Palin is scheduled for a book signing at the Dixie Dog Breakfast Hut and Book Nook, Route 5 at Forrest Rd., tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. to noon, where she is slated to be joined by local favorite Dickles the Singing Cat.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Palin: She's Only In It For The Money
Left click image to enlarge. At her for-profit National Tea Party Convention speech in Nashville, TN, on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010, Sarah Palin said the T.P. movement is "a ground-up call to action," and, for once, she's right: It was 'ground up' in the meat grinder of Fox News, wealthy commodities trader and CNBC personality Rick Santelli, lobbyist and FreedomWorks head Dick Armey, and the legions of anonymous employees of the Corporate Astroturf world. BTW, the former Czarina of Russia East said she was donating her $100K speaking fee to a 'cause,' without specifying what cause that might be. Could it be her future 2012 presidential campaign, or just to buy up some more of her own books?
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Telling the Truth About the Blue Dog Democrats
Think President Obama had a 60-vote majority in the Senate that was spoiled by the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts? Think again. Aside from 'Independent' (McCain Republican) Joe Lieberman, There are ten die-hard 'ConservaDem' Blue Dog Democrats, as well as another five senators who tend toward Blue Doggerel. That means progressives would have had trouble getting even fifty votes on any important reform legislation.
Left click on image to enlarge.
Left click on image to enlarge.Watch a clip from The Rachel Maddow Show, March 18, 2009:
The finance/insurance/real estate sector, responsible for the devastation of the economy is especially close to [Indiana 'Democratic' Sen. Evan] Bayh and many of the members of his ['ConservaDem'] bloc. These industries have donated more legalized bribes to members of Congress than any other sector -- $2.2 billion since 1990. [A]nd while most of the money has gone to actual Republicans (55%), take a look how some of the very worst Democrats have raked in the tainted money in return for voting against their constituents' interests (the 10 worst listed in order from corrupt to even more corrupt):
Jeanne Shaheen ($997,310)
Mark Udall ($1,669,706)
Blanche Lincoln ($1,671,292)
Tom Carper ($2,160,628)
Mary Landieu ($2,399,134)
Mark Warner ($2,431,066)
Ben Nelson ($2,667,406)
Bill Nelson ($3,056,968)
Evan Bayh ($3,987,896)
Joe Lieberman ($9,981,924)
-- From "The ConservaDems -- Evan Bayh's New Anti-Obama Bloc," Down With Tyranny blog, March 19, 2009.
-- From "The ConservaDems -- Evan Bayh's New Anti-Obama Bloc," Down With Tyranny blog, March 19, 2009.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
President Scott 'W.' Brown in 2012?
Left click image to enlarge."A couple of things are striking about the pro-[Scott] Brown spending. It's always entertaining to watch someone self-described as an independent, political free operator getting so much support from national conservative groups. And it's especially entertaining given that while many of these groups support ideological purges from their party, Brown is ... a liberal, according political scientist Boris Shor. He is in fact more liberal than Dede Scozzafava, the unfortunate, erstwhile GOP nominee in the special House election in New York a few months back. Shor writes:
'Brown’s score puts him at the 34th percentile of his party in Massachusetts over the 1995-2006 time period. In other words, two thirds of other Massachusetts Republican state legislators were more conservative than he was. This is evidence for my claim that he’s a liberal even in his own party. What’s remarkable about this is the fact that Massachusetts Republicans are the most, or nearly the most, liberal Republicans in the entire country.'"
-- Robert Schlesinger, "Scott Brown Benefits From Late National Republican Money," US News, Jan. 17, 2010.
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