Slate Writer Repeats Iran Lie

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it's safe to say, is currently incubating several nuclear weapons.....-Jack Shafer, Slate.Com
I'm an old conspiracy theorist, which I may have gotten from my father, who was a member of the John Birch Society, and would have regular meetings at our house showing films painting the Beatles as a communist plot to undermine America's youth by introducing them to wild negro music, effeminate long hair, and recreational drugs. Later, in the seventies, he received newsletters connecting then President Jimmy Carter to Phil Walden and cocaine trafficking. You might say I was born with a tin foil hat on my head.
My latest conspiracy theory is that the US media is running a psyop on the American people, much as it did in the run up to our illegal invasion of Iraq, with the target this time being, of course, Iran. This follows the same pattern of disinformation, designed to create a justification in the mind of television watchers, to garner support for an all out attack against a regime, while not my favorite on Earth, still has not been found to be doing the things that the US government and corporate media are accusing them of doing.
Many conspiracy theories start out from facts, as an instance, the fact that then Congressman Gerald Ford admittedly moved a bullet wound on JFK's official autopsy report to fit the single-shooter "magic bullet" story is the jumping off point for many theorists much the same way that kerosene (jet fuel) and asbestos (which lined much of the World Trade Centers)do not burn hot enough to melt steel frames is the jumping off point for a lot of Truthers who do not believe the "official" conspiracy presented by the government. This is the same government which then used these attacks as an excuse to invade Iraq using the lie that country was somehow involved, all the while aided by a compliant corporate media that, rather investigate any claims put forth, instead repeated them verbatim ad nauseum. But if you see any kind of conspiracy there, you're some kind of whacko!

Which Side Is Naomi Wolf On?

"Their views of liberals are just as distorted as ours are of conservatives."-Naomi Wolf
Gulp! Did author Naomi Wolf just admit to sympathy with the Teabaggers? How can the bastion of liberal journalism, lauded by the left for her book, The End of America, which describes the US's fall into Fascism under the Bush administration, be on the same page as the knuckle-dragging cavemen of the Patriot movement who only know two buttons on their television remotes?
There is also a deliberate building up of two camps that benefits from whipping up home team spirit and demonizing the opposition. With the Internet there is even more fractioning since we are in echo chambers. With so much propaganda it is hard to calm down enough to listen. Of course, you can't talk to a wingtard; They all watch and believe Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. They never had a problem with the Patriot Act, or Guantanamo Bay, or 'enhanced interrogation' techniques under Bush, it's only when President Obama continues them that they worry about Fascism. Besides, I feel much better with my Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, thank you very much.
And they call Obamacare Socialism! Don't they know that the individual mandate is actually a Republican giveaway to corporations (Only right wingers think the reason people don't have health insurance is because they don't want it, not because they can't afford it) Sure the bill is flawed, but a step towards a more corporate union is better when it's initiated by the Democrats, right?
I was basically saying don’t sit around waiting for the two corrupted established parties to restore the Constitution or the Republic. The founding generation was birthed by the rabble of all walks of life that got fed up and did risky things because they were captivated by the breath of liberty. There is a looming oligarchy and it is up to the people to organize a grassroots movement and push back. Wait a minute! Aren't DINOs better than Republicans, because without them, we wouldn't have our majority and the capacity to fix things, or at least the things that our rich corporate masters will allow us to fix, as long as they get to squeeze us for every penny in our pocket?
Sure, it's feels better to point the finger at the other team while the whole country is losing, but unless people realize that our government has been stolen from us by large corporations who don't care about anything but stock prices and year end bonuses. By using wedge issues in the corporate media, as well as polarizing politicians, they keep people not voting for things, but against things, including, our own best interests.

Just What Are You Trying To Say?

This must be a good time to be pharmacist, what with all those tightly wound right wing nuts living in a state of constant fear, I'm sure they need a myriad of prescriptions. There's the anxiety caused by socialized medicine, the fear of rising tax rates, sleepless nights caused by illegal immigration, and now the awful truth of Muslims moving in and taking over.
Well, thank goodness for the red, white and blue, that's how you can tell a super patriot from just an "American". Wearing the stars and stripes on everything means you really, really, really, really, love this country, even though you can't stand half the people living in it. I would really be interested in hearing their solution to the "Muslim" problem.
Another thing I don't understand is what exactly these protests are against, or what they hope to accomplish with them. As someone who stood against the war in Iraq before it began, let me tell you, protesting doesn't really accomplish anything, except maybe giving the corporate media an opportunity to make protests look ridiculous. So are they protesting the Wall Street bailouts? No, because they started with Bush, and none of these people were angry about it then. Are they protesting the out-of-control spending by our government? NO, because if they were really concerned they would have opposed the out of control spending by our government for the war in Iraq. So what are they against? Non-existent "death panels"?
No, simply put, these are people who haven't gotten over that so many "Americans" would betray the country and elect Barack Hussein Obama president because "He's running this country into the ground".
Where have these idiots been for the last eight years? Watching Fox News!

(Once again, picture poached from Born At The Crest Of The Empire Thanks Mike!)

Ketchup America

It seems so long ago.
back when I started this blog, when many of us started blogging much of mainstream America and it's media were cowering in fear, sure that there were terrorists lurking everywhere, and if we didn't invade Iraq, they would surely kill us all.
In the blogosphere, however, things were different. It almost felt like borderline treason, passing along nuggets of information amongst ourselves that for whatever reason, wasn't made public to the people.
Remember the Downing Street Memo? The official British document that stated US intelligence was being 'fixed' around an invasion of Iraq? I can still remember having to email a link to the local paper's editor about it because they hadn't heard of it.
I also remember a pervasive feeling that Bush and Cheney, who were setting themselves up with near-dictatorial powers, would never step down from the presidency.
So when the Obama Justice department released nine of the Bush administration Office of Legal Counsel terror memos no one was surprised that nearly every legal expert has denounced them strongly as being tyrannical . They can do that now because Bush and Cheney have gone away.
But this is not news. Many people have known that the Bush regime was over the line on many things. Some have suggested a >Truth Commission, and I for one agree. We cannot really move forward waiting for the rest of the American people to catch up on what's been going on these past eight years.

A-Wah, A-Wah, A-Wah

Pity poor Kathleen Parker. Having made the suggestion that maybe Sarah Palin should step down, now she's crying about the hurtful things "conservatives" are saying to her because of it.

I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

They're called trolls, Ms. Parker, and those of us who have been in the blogosphere long enough know that they are maladjusted cretins who lack the capacity for conscious thought outside the parameters of their own twisted and highly brainwashed worldview. While she boldly defends her right to free speech, in the past she has defended censorship
Speaking of public discourse having been deteriorated, how about some kind words from Ms. Parker about those of us in the blogosphere?

There's something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the Blogosphere...
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality...most babble, buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation's inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive...
they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi....Plenty smart but lacking in wisdom, they possess the power of a forum, but neither the maturity nor humility that years of experience impose...what we're witnessing as the Blogosphere's offspring multiply — is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement.

Following the events on 9/11, Parker boldly stated Truth is back in vogue, then went on later to condemn those who opposed the illegal invasion of Iraq as "clueless". And yet when someone does speak the truth, as Cynthia McKinney did, "We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11th,What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?" This of course led professional propagandist Parker to ridicule McKinney with Likewise, every time I hear Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., speak, I think: There ought to be an award. We could call it The McKinney Award - for people too stupid to serve in public office. So much for truth being in vogue, or her lamentations on the deterioration of public discourse.
She also tried to defend George Allen's "macaca" statement as non-racist, and criticized Hillary Clinton for claiming that believing George Bush's claim of WMD in Iraq was her biggest mistake, and then goes on to say it was all Bill Clinton's fault that everyone believed Saddam had those nasty weapons.
Perhaps Parker put Palin on the spot because she hadn't learned the true conservative art of deflecting all questions into a criticism of Democratic policies. All I know is someone so thin skinned should not be throwing poison darts at others.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

On the weekends, I usually arise early, while my kids are still sleeping, and spend a little quiet time reading the news. As a holdover from my net-less days, I still turn on the television and watch those weekend "news" programs, the one where crowds gathered in front of the television studio scream on cue in hopes that the folks watching back home might be able to see them on the TV.
But the show hardly qualifies as news, because, in between segments about how to make the most out of life by buying some great new product that is more than likely manufactured in China, or some where else with out our stringent environmental and labor protection laws, recaps of the weather (because looking out the window is so boring), the show runs short segments of news where Britney Spears latest attention grabbing escapade garners as much, if not more, air time as the possibility that the nation's economy is heading for a recession.
It doesn't help when our leader is in denial despite the growing evidence to the contrary. But even so more resoundingly, the politicians grubbing to be our next leader don't mention it either. The Republicans seem fixated on "fighting terrorism", "strengthening Families" (by scapegoating gays, and not by offering any semblance of economic stability), and the age-old refrain of "lowering taxes" (which ends up lowering taxes for the wealthy, not for anyone else), while the Democrats seem fixated on the vagueness of "change" (which got them pretty far in the last election) with out being too explicit about what they intend to change. No one mentions it because they all know that they were the ones holding the dog while the corpocracy screwed the pooch.
So, not being much of a believer at all, I take this news as a sign that there is justice in the universe.

Lern Two Spel

Looking at this picture, it's easy to see why the President, or even the Republicans still have support in this country: the people who still do are a bunch of morons (that's morons, not morans). These people, who I'm sure lots of tax payer dollars were spent to give them an education, decided that looking intelligent wasn't as important as looking cool. How hard is it to spell "momma"? There are two preferential spellings, the previous example I gave, or Mama as evidenced in Mama's Family, or in the myriad of "Mama____" Italian food/pizza restaurants that dot the country.
What's even worse than having a bunch of of window-lickers proudly displaying their ignorance is the politicians who exploit the spell-challenged to garner votes for themselves. These are the same people who believe Saddam had something to do with 9/11, the war in Iraq is winnable, or Rudy Ghouliani is "America's Mayor". Basically all you have to do is tap into their fear factor, and they'll respond in kind, which is why they have somehow linked "Osama" to Obama, even though the two have nothing to with each other (and the fact that Osama has been dead quite a while surely is lost on them ).
Now I'm not advocating a literacy test for voters, as that would be a violation of the Voting Rights Acts, nor I do I think we need to spend more on public education, since this person went through the system and didn't gain any rudimentary skills so it's too late for them anyway. Maybe if the media did a better job of informing people, instead of acting like the propaganda branch of the government, there might be hope for our society.