Attack of the Dingbats
Lately I have been suffering from a severe case of writer's block. And an unusual case it is. It's not that I am at a loss what to write about - au contraire! My problem is the fact that there's just so much material out there I literally don't know where to begin. Don'cha just hate when that happens? I sure do. The disintegration of the United States of America is a dreadful, horrible thing to contemplate - but it sure is a lot of fun to watch. It really is! So much comedy. C-SPAN long ago replaced Comedy Central as the funniest place on the tube. I laugh at the morning papers and television news almost as much as I used to laugh at Lenny Bruce, Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. Hooray for Captain Spaulding.
DEJA VU
A year ago - almost to the day - the right wing scream machine was having a positive hissy fit over the fact that Barack Obama was scheduled to deliver a traditional presidential address to America's school children. So what the hell was the big deal? This was a ritual that had been performed by every president going all-the-way back to Herbert Hoover! As I wrote on this site on September 7, 2009:
"So just sit back and relax, folks. Barack Obama is only performing a routine presidential duty that has been performed by presidents for generations. There is nothing to be afraid of. He is not trying to turn your babies into mini Marxists. This isn't the Trotsky for Toddlers program. The president of the United States merely wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with the children of America about the importance of a good education....Chill out!"
Indeed, when the day was over there was not a single report of any kid feeling compelled to sing the Internationale. None of them were chanting, "Workers of the world unite!" I honestly believed at the time that the controversy had subsided and that would be the end of it. What was I thinking? When the president repeated this harmless little ritual yesterday morning, the right wing had their annual national freak out. Go figure.
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH NEWT?
Newt Gingrich wants to be president of the United States. Could it happen? Of course it can. You refuse to believe it? Three words:
GEORGE WALKER BUSH.
Lately old Newt has been sounding even more twisted than usual - and with damned good reason. You see, in order to appeal to "the base" of the Republican party, a candidate needs to say a lot of really idiotic things - and Newt is delivering the goods. In recent days he has been making really weird statements about the president and his "Kenyan" philosophies. What does it all mean? Who the hell knows. I suspect he'll be saying more and more stupid things as the months transpire. That is the only way to get the GOP nod these days. In order for him to have any hope of getting nominated in 2012, it is essential that he moves even further to the right of Sarah Palin. He's got an uphill battle, for sure. That's pretty far right.JAMMIN' WITH THE BECKSTER
Glenn Beck: The louse that roared. Does the FCC have any rules about incitement to violence? If they don't they really should. That's exactly what Beck was doing the other day on his nationally syndicated radio program when he made the claim that America can expect violence in the very-near future from American Liberals - and that the president of the United States will be the instigator!
Damn! You're onto us, Glenn. On December 24, 2010 - Christmas Eve to be precise - we Progressives are planning a violent, nationwide, revolutionary uprising. And we have you in our sites, Glenn. We're gonna git'cha...
[Cue the jingle bells]
'Twas the night before Christmas and all 'round the place
Them Liberals was planin' to attack us with mace
The children were nestled, all snug in their beds
While visions of Rand Paul stomped on their heads
And Mama with her Demerol, and I with my booze
Had just settled down for a long winter's snooze
When out on the rooftop there rose such a ruckus
I sprang from my bead to see
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN' ON UP THERE???"
A whole gang of Liberals, all armed to the teeth
Were doing rude things to our poor Christmas wreath
They spoke not a word but were vile, and we shook
As they ripped up our copy of Ms. Palin's book
They poured gas on the kiddies and set them aflame
And to our pet gerbil they did just the same
And I heard them exclaim as they drove out of sitey
"Happy Kringle to all - AND GO SCREW YOURSELF, WHITEY!"
Beware, Glenn. There's gonna be hell to pay, Buster. We're gonna kill your sons and force your daughters to marry communist Negroes. This is going to get ugly, Glenn. Really, really ugly. You can run but you can't hide, pardner. The trillion dollar shit hammer is about to hit the fan - and it's got your name on it. Oh yeah. You will bow to Islam. Be afraid, Glenn. Be very afraid. We will bury you. But seriously, folks....
TEA PARTYING
Well now! The Tea Party had one heck of a night, didn't they? No doubt about it, the rascals ran away with the show. I am of two minds about this:
On the one hand, I think it's just grand that so many of them will be on the ballot in November. They're only going to drag the "party of Lincoln" even further into the gutter. Don't deceive yourselves into believing that they will be on the peripherals of the Republican party. These assholes are now running the show. When the RNC embraced these people last year it was the political equivalent of french kissing a rattle snake. This can only mean glad tidings for the Democrats.
On the other hand, the idea of Tea Partiers getting the nomination in such "enlightened" states as New York and Delaware is an ominous thing to be sure. I have to believe (hope) that this revolution of knuckleheads is going to backfire on the grand old party in the end; that Election Day will prove to be the biggest upset since Harry Truman defeated Thomas Dewey in 1948. If the people who are responsible for most of our economic woes are put back in charge in January, it will prove only one thing: the jaw dropping stupidity of the American people. There will be no other explanation for it. None.
For a political junkie such as I, these are heady times in which to live. Just when you think things couldn't possibly get any stranger, these halfwits cheerfully prove you wrong. Yesterday, all across America, comparatively moderate Republicans were given the boot. That party has been overtaken by an extremism too warped to adequately describe. The crazies have taken over the crazy house. The pimps are no longer running the whore house. The whores are now calling the shots. The wag is now tailing the dog. It's all too weird - and wonderful.
"Don't ever underestimate the power of we the people."
-Christine O'Donnell
Tea Party winner in the Delaware senate primary
Nice quote! I have one that's even better than that:
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
-H.L. Mencken
That's more like it.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTE
D READING:The Three Roosevelts
by James MacGregor Burns and Susan DunnA real page-turning study of the political and personal evolutions of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
posted by Tom Degan @ 4:55 AM
50 comments
50 Comments:
Is Nov 2 and the impending wrath of those pesky voters making you less prolific?
Open season on Rinos and Progressives.
T-47 days.
It's making me feel like breaking a cardinal rule of my own-- donating money to candidates in states who have the the kind of voters who respond to a Wizard of Oz ad or talking wolves disguised as sheep. Although what would influence people in states like that? If they will vote for someone like O'Donnell, who has no experience, can't even balance her own check-book but simply is pretty and has Sarah Palin (see above) to vouch for her, then what kind of ad would that have to be? Maybe Barbie dolls?
I think some of the righties, like your commenter above me here, they just want revenge and they don't know for what or care they will get. I don't find it humorous. I wish I did. Laughing is good. This doesn't make me feel like laughing. I remember what happened to Germany when the people eventually lost all options because of leadership it chose and that leadership has always been on the right in this country as it uses the tactics of fascism.
Boltok is hilarious. He typifies the Conservative mind, one of
"fear and aggression, dogmatism and the intolerance of ambiguity"
Incredibly sad people like him still exist.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox
Tom,
Newt wants to be the Dick to Palin's Bush. He knows he could never win the general election, but he is betting that he will be able to run the show like Cheney did for Shrub.
And that is a scary scenario.
Brother Jeff
Mining humor from the farce that American politics has become is like mining sand from the beach.
Hello, brother Jeff! Kiss those three extraordinary ladies for me.
Tom
Anon:
Not only do people like me exist, but they exist in large numbers. It will be abundantly clear who the majority is on November 3.
You should do your best to enjoy the mad liberal experiment over the next few weeks. You may never see it again.
Rain:
Germans lost their options because the German government began printing money. In part because of WWI reparations, Germany couldn't finance its debt. Money printing led to hyperinflation. Hyperinflation collapses the economic system. Your beloved president and his ilk lie the NYTimes/Nobel/Economics columnist are comfortable with this path.
When liberals are faced with any form of opposition, the default reaction is to disparage with Holocaust and discrimination accusations. Maybe you should spend more time learning math and economics.
They are just a good example of how a people can lose control when they buy into fascism which is using religion and patriotism to gain power. Sound familiar? When it comes to politics, history can be a bigger help than 'statistics which is often distorted to show whatever anybody wants to show. The point with the tea party is they don't even know what they don't like. You ask one of them to list it off and the list contradicts itself. So they vote for someone like O'Donnell whose personal life shows no proof she can do anything about what they claim they want to change but she talks good and she looks pretty. Arguing it with a tea partier does no good either as I have tried. Logic is never a factor. (oh and the printing of money is decided by the Federal Reserve which is not under Obama's control nor was it under Bush's at least not directly unless both of them take their orders from somebody else).
Wrong. Its what happens when a wheelbarrow full of money cant buy a loaf of bread. Or maybe, to you, that's a good thing.
I pressed enter too early. Money comes from two places:
1. Monetary base which is a direct by product of the Federal Reserve buying and selling securities and capital requirements imposed on the banks (it call a multiplier).
2. The treasury. The treasury can actually print the stuff without the Fed. The Fed takes money in circulation into account when it performs open market operations. That is the buying and selling of securities I mentioned.
Money is also created in a way by borrowing and spending by the federal government. The Federal reserve is assisting through something called quantitative easing. That is they are "buying" treasuries and in a sense creating money. The Fed also bought $1 TRILLION of mortgages in the last couple years. That is money creation.
If you have an interest, that should give you some areas to research the parallels between the US and your most fondly remembered European country.
There was a lot more that went wrong with Germany than their monetary system or you think that was all, ignoring what they did to those they decided were unfit? You think money truly is the root of all that evil or rather somebody rich not having enough of it?
You really think the tea party will address any of your concerns? Do you recall who was in power when most of this happened? Obviously you must not think it's going to be Republicans to fix it; so you need a whole lot of Christine O'Donnells
When Obama did the stimulus (the last trillion added to our deficit), remember that 1/3 went to the states to use directly. 1/3 went to tax cuts on the middle class and only 1/3 was part of what you might say was federal discretionary spending. Not saying i agree with what he did as I don't think the states were the best way to go with handing over money but the tea partiers supposedly don't like federal control; so that should have been popular with them.
I have seen this kind of argument go nowhere before; so this is my last post trying to debate it to no avail.
If you get the tea party in control, which won't happen in November but could someday probably if enough people think like you, it'll be interesting to see if you still like the direction it goes. My feeling is it'll be a disaster. I hope you are the one who is right... if it happens.
In the meantime, November isn't over yet and it will take drawing moderates to vote for people like O'Donnell. Extremism (especially of the religious sort) has less appeal to them.
I may have misunderestimated your knowledge of the economy. Explain to me how this will resolve itself?
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
"Not only do people like me exist, but they exist in large numbers. It will be abundantly clear who the majority is on November 3" -boltok
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." -John Kenneth Galbraith
Hopefully, the 'gains' the Teabaggers made in the primaries will translate into a loss for the GOP, emboldening moderate Republicans (I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but they actually exist) to take control of their party back from the wingnuts, because the current experiment in hysteria and extremism typified by the Tea Party failed.
I hope.
I see the debt as the same problem you do but don't see how the tea party solution will fix it. Lower taxes, quit spending on anything except the wars that they espouse? The issue I have with the tea party is they want to lower the deficit. Sounds good to me too but how? End Social Security? Stop medicare and maybe medicaid? How about no more welfare for poor kids? What do we do with those poor kids? Some of how we got here was that war that the right wanted but didn't want to pay for. If we had raised taxes to pay for it, how many would have supported it? Right now Iraq is in better shape financially than we are. Who got us there? And do you really believe someone like Sharron Angle or Christie O'Donnell will do anything to get us out? O'Donnell has no record of even managing her own money other than running for offices to pay her bills and what does she really stand for other than a religious agenda?
A lot of people who call themselves moderate, and shocking though that might be to you, I consider myself one because of my stand on gun rights and border issues among other things, but we might also like a new party one that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal but that is NOT the tea party. It's not people like O'Donnell or New Gingrich with his sly racist slam to get the tea party people to think he's one of them. That is what the right is likely to offer though and their candidate can't be socially liberal or they are knocked out of it by innuendos that they are secretly gay. Horrors of horrors. It's not going to be the tea party with their costumes and openly carrying guns to threaten others, not for moderates even though they are sucking all of the energy out of the room right now as the media loves that they are there-- right and left.
And yes, I've seen the debt clock. Know that 1/4 of our tax dollars right now only pays interest on that debt. What party got us there?
Unfortunately for you, I will be away from my computer for about a week.
I will leave you with something to mull until I return. Out of everything that can be argued, you folks always go running to race, religion, and completely untenable associations with holocaust, nuclear armageddon, and murderous dictators (Mao exculeded). Try arguing the problems of the day without those crutches.
Remember to enjoy the last days of this unmitigated madness.
"Out of everything that can be argued, you folks always go running to race, religion, and completely untenable associations with holocaust, nuclear armageddon, and murderous dictators (Mao exculeded). Try arguing the problems of the day without those crutches."
I'm confused, was boltok referring to liberals, or Glenn Beck and his fans? I remember when moveon.org ran a single ad comparing Bush to Hitler, and they were roundly criticized by the Left.
On the Right, you get people with professionally printed signs showing Obama as the Joker, Hitler, and a witch doctor, and no one on the Right says anything about it.
For the record, Bill, I think it is wrong to compare Obama to Hitler. I think when anyone starts down that road (typically) they’ve admitted that have no real argument and are resorting to empty ad hominem attacks. The right and left engage in this regularly. But, you have to realize, when the epistemological basis for the average person is a 20 second sound-bite, that’s about all you have time for. That’s why we now elect people based on TV commercials that say absolutely nothing and staged “debates” that are media setups.
I agree with your point, Harley. Inarticulate rage is always easier to convey than reason, and appeals directly the atavism of the fringe groups.
With all the people being sucked into the madness of the Tea Party and as the Koch Brothers are funding so much of the madness perhaps they should change the name from the Tea Party to The Koch Suckers!
Den from Oz
You are a sick and twisted individual and I love reading your stuff! Cheers!
Jason Vincent
www.blogofirreverence.blogspot.com
Den from Oz is absolutely right. Those fools in the Tea Party think they are a spontaneous group of dissatisfied people who are 'mad as hell and not going to take it anymore' when, in fact, they are a mob created by, and carefully started by two of the richest men in the country, the Koch brothers.
The Koch Bros. pay to have busloads of people transported to the rallies and pay for the printing of signs, T-shirts and other propaganda junk, etc. Add to that, a disgruntled ex Congressman who organizes these things and opportunistic shills like Sarah Palin who fronts their movement with lies. The icing on the cake is Rupert Murdoch, as far right as your can get, who owns faux TV and other media and has his toadies, his paid staff, disseminate lies and stir up the masses of non-thinkers to anger and violence. This is not a populist movement, but is a carefully crafted operation to get easily manipulated people to carry out the Koch agenda of 'no taxation and no regulation' by the government. The rest of it is pure malarky to appeal to disgruntled whiners and get them to wear their silly hats and carry their misspelled signs.
Tom, your satire gets better and better. You make me laugh, but the TP's sure don't.
Tom,
When I heard Newt using that phrase "Kenyan agenda" I had a sudden realization that he was using code for "black agenda". But they are not racists! No siree, bub!
TTFN
I laughed so hard at this...turned around a completely shitty day! Thanks, friend.
I'm glad I could bring a twisted smile to your day, Nance. Thank you so much!
Love and Peace,
Tom Degan
Tea Partiers speak. Watch this video. It should scare the bejesus out of you as much as it did me. It's 13 minutes of mind-boggling stupidity, lies and insanity but watch it all the way through. Interviews with participants at Beck's "honor" preach-a-thon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht8PmEjxUfg&feature=player_embedded
When I was in high school I had a problem in my physics class: what is the speed of light? I answered, "It depends." I got an F. But as I explained to the teacher, if light is passing through a near vacuum it will travel @ about 186,000 miles/sec, but if it is being bombarded by lasers and being held in a magnetic field it might be traveling at near to zero miles/sec. It depends. The teacher acknowledged that i was right, but he said that his answer was the one required because the rest of the class "didn't know that yet." That is the state of our politics. People like "Boltok" have a little bit of information like "Germany had a massive inflation" but without any details about the society in which this inflation occurred they reach the conclusion that this wheelbarrow of money is how everything went to shit. They forget the number of psychotics in the German government, including Hitler. They fail to mention the collusion of corporations, religion, and government which made the fascist agenda possible. That means they miss the same configuration in Republican/Tea Party politics. Then they blame the Kenyan in the White House with his big mambo lips and frizzy hair and wide white eyes...he likes chicken and wattymelon... but they aren't bigots, oh no that would be bad.
Didn't you wonder how in Hell the Germans could have been so stupid and so blind as to allow Hitler and the boys to do what they did? Well we are experiencing the exact same formula. Let's see if all our theories on how to stop the fascists from exploding into a world war actually work. I suspect we are going to see the dissolution of the Republic and if we are lucky, really lucky, we will get a Federation of those states which reject fringe politics and embrace humanity. This could get really bloody, BUT maybe if we light those candles and pray the right wing fanatics will eat their own children and only last one generation.
I expect phase two of the occupation will consist of fanatics copying the Iraqi insurgents and distributing IEDs in our cities and roadways. Expect random acts of violence and video announcements from Timmy Mc Veighs descendants.
Good one, Will....
And tnlib! Thank for that video link! That was a hoot!
Tom
I don't think our situation is as dire as Will says. FOR NOW.
There will always be an extreme fringe element in any society, and especially in a free one. In fact, they are less of a threat in a free society than any other, because they are free to express their lunacy, which gives them a safety valve.
The problem is, the GOP has spent a generation (at least)catering to them and giving them a false legitimacy, to the point that even those portions not given to a decided right wing bent are confused about what they really mean.
Now, the GOP is paying the price, and ALL of us may suffer for it. I think 2010 and 2012 will be the defining elections that tell us whether this is the high point in the tide of the current Rightwing extremist craziness, or is this just the beginning?
The sad part is, it's up to the sane people in the Republican party to marginalize the wingnuts, and it's anyone's guess if there are enough of them left.
Hi Tom,
I read your post on the NYT and I would like to explain something to you and to our fellow-citizens about what is happening in our great Republic.
Basically, we have a political party who owns a cabled television network -or, if you like, the other way around.
The only places where a political party decides to use 'systematically' a television platform as its main propaganda instrument are:
all dictatorships since the invention of television -communist ones, fascist ones, secular ones, religious ones, hard ones, soft ones.
Why?
Because television is the most powerful instrument ever invented for influencing the public opinion. Have you read 1984 -especially where Orwell describes what happens in the morning when the citizens wake up, take breakfast in their dining room and the first messages comes through the tube?
Does someone really believe that it is possible to have a democracy with a political party controlling a television network?
No, it's not.
So the real questions here are:
1) who have decided to set up a television platform for influencing the public opinion and create a political party a?
2) and why?
The answers are:
1) Murdoch and some other multi-billionaires with a quite explicit fascist ideology, a lot of money and the expertise on how to use communication strategic tools in an effective way
2) in order to organize a fascist plot, infiltrate the Great Old Party, control the Congress -with a majority or through intimidation- and, eventually, the White House
We won't stop this. We can watch it coming, but we cannot stop this.
It's the most perfect Republic against the most powerful weapon aimed at destroying it.
I make my bet: technology trumps ideas. This time for sure.
Unless the fascist plot is stopped. But we don't have in our Constitution a procedure called "ostracism" -neither we can dismantle a television platform without destroying the principles of human freedom on which our Republic has been founded.
Dear Boltok,
well, vote for whoever you want,
but don't try to justify yourself writing something you are remotely sure of.
Open market operations are made by central banks, not by the Federal government nor by any government.
Basically the Fed asks private banks to buy Treasury Bonds or other asset in the secondary markets -that means, from the ones who already bought bonds before and have actually bonds in their portfolio.
The Federal Reserve don't write checks to the banks, but banks can take the money from their reserve accounts and keep as reserves the bonds they bought from the public.
The public -the ones who sold the bonds to the banks- will have now new liquidity. They will use the new liquidity either for spending -buying goods and service- or investing in some other financial assets.
If they spend the new liquidity, aggregate demand rises and, eventually, production rises.
But, usually, they buy other financial assets which means that the demand for financial assets rise and, eventually, interest rates fall.
Naturally, the Federal government plays indirectly a role because it prints Treasury Bonds to finance the budget deficit.
In this way, we have financed two wars and two reconstruction programs in Iraq and Afgahanistan in the first decade of the 21st century.
But I must assume the 21st century began two years ago at Inauguration Day.
Tom,
Concerning the coming violence from the Left. Our secret plan has been 'outed' by Christine O'Donnell. As you may know, we planned to use those tiny leftist, human-mouse hybrids with fully functioning human brains to infiltrate the halls of power and stage a murine coup. This is unlikely to be successful now that O'Donnell is on to our plan. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can now use our mouse-human hybrid army more effectively?
From HarleyA (couldn't get my sign in to work)
Ok - enough of the crying about Fox News being a right-owned network. Of course it is - so what? Do you folks not understand that the 3 major networks, not to mention most newspapers and high-profile "news" magazines are leftist owned? Give me a break! The right only wishes it had half the propaganda production capability as the left. As for me, I don't pay attention to any of the corporatist drivel. But at least quit dealing in half-truths and implying that the left is some squeaky clean altruistic movement. It's laughable.
I vacillate between anger at the stupidity of anyone who supports these loons and amusement at the antics of said loons. O'Donnell has been a treasure trove of hilarity, bless her little witchy, non-diddlin' heart!
Harley - how about telling us more about the leftist owners of the 3 major networks. You calling Viacomm, Disney and GE leftist now? Seriously?
If these companies and their owners are so leftist why do you want them to have unlimited influence on elections? Why do you want to give their rich owners tax cuts?
How is asking some loony tea bagger to defend their positions liberal? Don't Americans deserve to know where exactly these people plan to make budget cuts?
Tom, many thanks for giving me a really good laugh! Your poetic talent is admirable and I am so looking forward to December 24 and the attack on Glenn's house.
I agree. There is so much insanity in the news that it's difficult to decide where to turn one's focus. Some days I just want to wail loudly and then climb back in bed and pull the covers up over my head. I really needed a laugh. There's too much that needs to be done for me to take to my bed with the vapors.
stearm
Please explain quantitative easing.
How exactly did 1 TRILLION dollars of mortgage securities find their way to the Federal Reserve balance sheet. Osmosis, I guess.
The federal government buys its own debt with regard to social security. The US government is the largest US Treasury holder in the world. US gov owns around $4 trillion of the stuff. If I could lend money to myself from nowhere and not worry about paying it back, I would consider that money creation.
You know November 2nd is my birthday, right? I must tell you that I think all the yippee-ai-oh-kai-yaying Dems have been doing over the Tea Party nominations are decidedly premature. These people could surprise everyone and pull off some big wins. The base of American voters - not just right, but right-leaning independents, too -- are not much up on politics. They're just voting against the Democrats in general, and the black guy in the White House in particular. Public, unrepentant, unapologetic racism has come back into fashion, and much like a vintage Valentino gown, it seems everyone just dying to show theirs off.
I have no faith in America anymore. I have no faith in the American voter. I have faith only in the fact that every two years, there will be an election, and someone is going to restructure the government of the United States. While there's comfort in that, the unwinding of the culture, intellect and financial wellbeing of the American public is hard for me to watch. (C-SPAN has been banned in our house, for -- and I quote -- "your own good, Mom.")
~A~
These people wouldn't usually be affecting me here in Toronto... except that Rob Ford is going to potentially be mayor of Toronto come October (here's the info on him:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Ford)
Any idea on what we Torontonians should do?
boltok "You should do your best to enjoy the mad liberal experiment over the next few weeks. You may never see it again."
We saw it before? We got Single Payer? DOMA got repealed? DADT is gone? We got a post-oil economy? Competently taught comprenhsive sex-ed is standard in schools? When was this, and why didn't somebody tell me?
Bill_in_DE "I remember when moveon.org ran a single ad comparing Bush to Hitler, and they were roundly criticized by the Left.
On the Right, you get people with professionally printed signs showing Obama as the Joker, Hitler, and a witch doctor, and no one on the Right says anything about it."
It's okay when Republicans do it. Besides, Obama wrote a book. Do you know who else wrote a book? That's right: Hitler.
HarleyA "Ok - enough of the crying about Fox News being a right-owned network. Of course it is - so what? Do you folks not understand that the 3 major networks, not to mention most newspapers and high-profile 'news' magazines are leftist owned?"
Incorrect. While they have some "leftist" employees, the primary fiduciary duty of the networks/papers/et al is to maximize profit. News isn't viewed as a public service anymore. It, like an episode of 2 & 1/2 Men, is primarily there to fill in the blank spots between commercials. In addition, the Right's repeated hail of "liberal media!" has the media terrified of being accused of the thing they'll be accused of anyway, leading them to confuse "two talking heads disagreeing with each other, with little to no fact checking or analysis" as news. Handily, it's also cheap. Research staff is expensive. Cut them, announce the cuts, and the share price pops up a fraction. It's win-win! (Except for the public, who loses).
To wit:
Notice how little coverage the anti-war protests got compared to the Teabaggers. Notice how little analysis Heathcare Reform got compared to the Right's smears of it. Notice how little coverage Obama's continued overreach of Executive Power gets (and how little his predecessor's got). Notice how much "anti-incumbency" is the media's theme, while how little they focus on the policies of those running.
"Give me a break!"
You're not the boss of me!
"The right only wishes it had half the propaganda production capability as the left."
Yeah! Then, in addition to the juggernaut it's already got, it'd have a tiny fraction more!
"As for me, I don't pay attention to any of the corporatist drivel."
Yes you do. Going by your talking points, your uncorporatist drivel is simply corporatist drivel that's radiated out via the Wingnut-O-Sphere.
Modusoperandi –
My point is that the major networks and CNN are very “left” in what they choose to report – for whatever reason. Whether the corporate owners are or not is irrelevant – so, touché – a poor choice of words on my part. And, no, I do not pay attention to the 6 PM drivel. And, I am not a “tea bagger” and I don’t affiliate myself with a party. What bugs me is the uncritical lapping up of the nonsense that is regularly spouted on this blog. So, you might hold off on telling me what I do and do not do. Say what you want – but check yourself. You don’t know me so don’t pretend that you do.
Modusoperandi....
Thank you for your comments and please feel fee to keep them coming.
My only argument is the fact that I am always being accused of spouting "nonsense". The problem is that most of my accusers are never able to give any examples.
Sincerely,
Tom Degan
I was in a grumpy mood and don’t like being labeled. I’m not a Republican, I don’t know enough about the Tea Party movement to say I’m a supporter, although it is refreshing to see someone (anyone) pushing back against the machine. I’m not a fan of the corporate-politico we have in place with its control of our politicians and the press. I simply don’t think the policies of the left, in general, are the answer. To quote Thomas Jefferson, "When once the republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil".
Though I don’t agree with a lot of what you say, to label it as nonsense was over the top. My apologies to Modusoperandi and to you…
Harley A, don't be so introspective, you are light years ahead of this board. You clearly try to be objective. These people have an agenda.
As for the Modusop character, he has clearly blown a gasket.
These people will be ready for an asylum in a few weeks.
Your brilliant post w/poem and all these rich comments might not be what I should have chosen to read just before bed. I think it will become more and more difficult to get a good night's sleep the closer we get to the election. This makes your satire key to my sanity in the months ahead.
Catherine's comments mirror my thinking.
Boltok -
Thanks for the encouragement. I try to take the high road. I find it's not very crowded up here.
Tom Degan "My only argument is the fact that I am always being accused of spouting 'nonsense'. The problem is that most of my accusers are never able to give any examples."
Oh really? Voila:
Modusoperandi....Thank you for your comments and please feel fee to keep them coming.
The nonsensical rantings of a madman. Obviously.
boltok "As for the Modusop character, he has clearly blown a gasket."
The only thing I've blown is too much money on this haircut.
A difficulty in trying to converse with the Right is that their definitions are designed to produce but one conclusion. Somehow they have re-defined the 2nd Amendment not to describe how we should have state militias in the absence of a standing army and navy, but that everybody should have fully automatic weapons around so when the Soviets, Muslims or Liberals come they can fight attack helicopters and bunker-buster bombs with rifles.
And yes, it sounds like they want vengeance but they actually want murder. They want license to murder Others, like gays, Roma, liberals, intelligent people, Muslims and me. I remember in high school an incident with a future Tea Partier and I was telling him that the Constitution was totally okay with the electorate voting in a Communist government, if the majority wanted it. And Clarence said "Then I'll have to shoot you all!" to save democracy...
If the "Tea Party" was in the majority and wanted to be real to their ancient fascist values, they would form their own damn party instead of slowly taking over an established party so they can claim to be in the millions. Form your own party and start registering Tea Party members. Then and only then will you be able to say you are in the majority. And remember that you claim a love of democracy so if you are but a 10% minority you must agree to stop threatening the majority with armed insurrection, or admit that you are anti-democratic, Fascist, and ignorant, all of which is curable.
Boltok like to believe he has some sense, more than the rest of us. He's tired of being stupid, ignorant and angry, he wants to hit someone, to shoot an innocent being...and he will someday, out of frustration and encouraged by Beck, he will kill a handful and then choose suicide over capture. He is fast on the road to martyrdom and we will miss his enthusiasm.
The country needs to split up so Beck and crew can have their two or three states to fuck up. They will fail as a society and blame some random minority for their failure, just as they blame democrats for the failure of republicans to manage a country without having to borrow trillions from the communist Chinese.
What was the proportion of fascist to liberal in pre-war Germany? It might be significant.
What a wonderful discovery I made tonight when I found your blog. I'm a fan and a follower from now on. I write a weekly column for a local newspaper in my hometown. I post my columns to my blog every week. I hope you take a look. I love your sense of humor and its application to the American political carnival underway today. I'll be quoting you from time to time with proper attribution of course.
Bob!
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'll be sure to have a look at your site.
Thank you! You made my day!
Tom
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