Former Secretary of State Condi Rice and Aretha Franklin teamed up for charity.
Condoleezza Rice is no stranger to the whims of royalty. So when the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin, decided the two should get together to play a song or two for charity, it was decreed.
The former U.S. secretary of state and Franklin took the stage Tuesday evening at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Center in a rare duet for Rice, the classically trained pianist, and Franklin, the divalicious voice of a generation. Their aim was to raise money for inner-city youth of Philadelphia and Detroit and awareness for music and the arts.
But these are the same jackasses who love to tout their patriotism and love to throw 9/11 around when they are cheerleading for more war...all while claiming to support the heroes. In fact, the images and memories of 9/11 have been at the core of the Republican brand since September 11th, 2001. They have turned that disaster into slogans for their campaigns...time and time again. There were several years where you couldn't get them to stop campaigning on 9/11.... you couldn't avoid it if you were at a Republican event. Oh the irony.
I bet these lying, hypocritical pieces of scum sleep well at night. I don't know how they do it... but I bet they do.
The bill was the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Read more from Huffpo.
Congressman Anthony Weiner lashed out at Republicans. (This man should be Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, or Whip - with all due respect to Hoyer & Clyburn).
Loved his response...where he basically told a Republican to sit _______ down. Most of the Dems in Congress are spineless...can't say I have seen this much passion before out of any of them. They are far too passive.
Shirley Sherrod, the fired and subsequently vindicated Department of Agriculture employee, said today she will sue the conservative blogger who posted edited video on the Internet last week that made her appear racist.
The posted video resulted in Sherrod being fired by the Obama administration, which was followed by public apologies from President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for dismissing her without learning the whole story. Even Fox News Host Bill O'Reilly apologized when it became apparent that the video he aired on his show was incomplete and that Sherrod was telling a story of personal growth, not bigotry.
But Andrew Breitbart, the blogger who posted the spliced video of Sherrod in the first place, has remained unapologetic, despite the fact that the full video features Sherrod telling an NAACP meeting how she became a better person and overcame her biases.
As originally posted, Sherrod spoke about not helping a white farmer as much as she could have. But the instance occurred a quarter century ago. The point of Sherrod's story was that she had been wrong. And the farmer in question jumped to her defense.
I hope she sues the hell out of that jackass. Hopefully she can find a way to garnish his future earnings.
I initially supported the idea of a surge in troops for Afghanistan because it was sold as part of a comprehensive strategy to make sure that the U.S. would get out or reduce its presence in a reasonable amount of time. But as I have read more, and observed the situation...it is becoming clear that this is not the case. So, for me, the pendulum is swinging the other way. I actually had doubts about Afghanistan as far back as 2005, when it became clear that it was becoming a misguided quagmire. Without a comprehensive approach and not enough troops, the situation was allowed to get out of control under the Bush Administration. Without addressing the economic situation, the dire poverty of the people, education, the poppy farming (a huge problem), failing to win the support of the people, and not having enough troops to hold ground... it was bound to turn into an ugly stalemate. But I also understood from the beginning - a belief that is now reaffirmed- that trying to build a nation out of a part of the world where the ingredients for such a task simply don't exist in any practical sense. In Afghanistan there is generally no sense of nationalism, a fractious & heterogeneous population with verious different tribal and ethnic groups, life being driven at the local level, and thus no sense of collective national pride to motivate men to want to stand up an Army and fight for their own Country. In other words, the whole mission is built on a false premise.
It is clear that corruption is strangling efforts there. Furthermore, it is clear that the Afghans are not taking responsibility for their own security... at least the enthusiasm just doesn't seem to be there. So if they aren't willing to fight... we certainly shouldn't have our soldiers fighting and dying there. In order to gain control of Afghanistan, it would require at least 500,000 American/NATO troops. I (and others) have said that for years. There is no way that the U.S. or its NATO allies will ever send that many troops into this war. Hell, the U.S., with its military stretched so thin...and with its hunger to maintain some sort of empire with troops all over the world, doesn't have the troops to send. So what are we doing? Furthermore, we have to consider the fact that the nation is broke. We can't afford it. With no clear definition of what success is...what winning is.... and no clear, achievable goals... this war (with an initial attack that I believed was warranted back in 2002, although dubious) has changed over the last 9 years into something that no longer makes sense. So my view of this war has changed quite a bit, especially over the last 18 months.
But it is clear that the Obama Administration has no plans to get out of Afghanistan anytime soon. Americans were sold fools gold with the promise of a troop drawdown...as I suspected. President Obama can't leave & is planning to have our troops there for a number of years down the road (I will go into that a little more in a separate commentary). Although I think the crap about terrorists attacking us from Afghanistan...and it will be doomsday if we leave... we must stay there so they don't hit us at home...is all a bunch of BS.
We are looking at 3-5 more years of this madness (at a minimum). Hard to understand...and getting harder everyday. I will write more on that in a future post.
As the war in Afghanistan enters its final chapter, Sean Smith's brutal, uncompromising film from the Helmand frontline shows the horrific chaos of a stalemate that is taking its toll in blood. Warning: contains distressing scenes and strong language
More examples of how the Right makes things up. I have been trying to tell you all... they're crazy. But they are crazy and organized...which is what bugs the hell out of me.
The View is a daytime talkshow on American TV. It features a panel of women discussing current events and conducting interviews. US President Barack Obama appeared on this show today. The Guardian's Richard Adams blogged on the episode as he watched. In the course of the interview with the panelists, President Obama made a number of statements concerning race that I find to be both bold and honest. Is that the sound of a little nuke going off in the offices of Fox I can hear?
11.20am ET: "Your mother was white," asks Barbara, "why don't you describe yourself as bi-racial?" "When I was young, I wrote a whole book about this," says Obama, gently.
"The thing about African Americans in this country, we are actually a mongrel people," says Obama. "Yeah," says Whoopi in agreement. "And that's true of white people in this country too," says Obama.
11.16am: Sherri now raises racial problems in America, specifically the Shirley Sherrod controversy. "Do you think America is still racist?" she asks.
Again, Obama blames the media for "generating a phony controversy. A lot of people overacted, including in my administration".
Whoopi now brings up a scene from Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, and quotes a line. "Who are we?" asks Whoopi. "We are Americans," says Obama, "Everyone here is connected."
But "there's a reptilian side of our brain" says Obama, and we have to fight against that. "There's nobody in America who doesn't have to think about their own racial attitudes."
Anyone who has read this blog long enough should know how I feel about the NAACP. I think the time for this organization has come and gone. It's a relic of history.
This isn't Dubois' NAACP. This is a group that is trying to hang on to its glorious past, while looking for something to do in the present to appear relevant. That might explain why they tried to take on the Tea Party.... a complete 180 for an organization that had been dead for many years on the political front. Their rustiness might explain why they chose their issue, without realizing that they were going up against the most powerful PR/Political machine in modern American history (the Republican Right wing media). In other words, they should have had their **** together. It's as if the NAACP arrived here from another planet...and didn't know how the game was played. That's why NAACP President Ben Jealous (who was one of the first "leaders" to throw Shirley Sherrod under the bus without checking the story) ended up being...in his words... "Snookered". I mean.. they discarded Mrs. Sherrod like a dirty diaper. Yet another stain on an already mud soaked organization.
Statement from Ben Jealous (in his effort to stay in front of whatever Faux News and others may have had planned).
“Since our founding in 1909, the NAACP has been a multi-racial, multi-faith organization that– while generally rooted in African American communities– fights to end racial discrimination against all Americans. We concur with US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack in accepting the resignation of Shirley Sherrod for her remarks at a local NAACP Freedom Fund banquet. Racism is about the abuse of power. Sherrod had it in her position at USDA. According to her remarks, she mistreated a white farmer in need of assistance because of his race. We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers. Her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man. The reaction from many in the audience is disturbing. We will be looking into the behavior of NAACP representatives at this local event and take any appropriate action. We thank those who brought this to our national office’s attention, as there are hundreds of local fundraising dinners each year. Sherrod’s behavior is even more intolerable in light of the US Department of Agriculture’s well documented history of denying opportunities to African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American farmers, as well as female farmers of all races. Currently, justice for many of these farmers is being held up by Congress. We would hope all who share our outrage at Sherrod’s statements would join us in pushing for these cases to be remedied. The NAACP will continue to advance the ideals of America and fight for freedom, justice and fairness for all Americans.”
Ben Jealous failed to get his facts together before making such an important statement. The result? He came away looking like a clown. The President of an organization with a legacy like that of the NAACP can't afford to be that sloppy. Even Mrs. Sherrod could not believe the way she had been discarded.
The NAACP is an embarrassment. This is a group that gives "image" awards to child molesters, rappers, & criminals....and holds them up as pillars of the "Black Community" who others should emulate. Disgusting. They don't represent me. It seems as if I am saying this to myself (and to others) more and more often these days - "they don't represent me". It comes to mind whenever there is an issue of race, where one group or leader is acting on behalf of Black people, or being perceived as speaking for an entire group. This situation makes me say the same thing once again - "they don't represent me". I always find myself explaining this to co-workers, as well as the fact that Blacks aren't a monolith.
The way that the NAACP President treated Sherrod only reinforces my view of the organization. On top of everything else, they have shown themselves to be sloppy & incompetent, at best. I am glad the group at least made an attempt to take on the Tea Party.... but it is clear that they were ill equipped for the mission. This is an organization that is stuck in the 20th Century. It's not ready for a multimedia war with the PR/Media behemoth of Right wing media. The NAACP's failure was a result of the fact that the organization is run by a bloated board of dozens of people (mostly old folks) who have held the group back for years....preventing modernization.
Enter Amy Alexander... a former writer for Ben Jealous himself. Alexander recently wrote a revealing piece describing her experiences at the NAACP. She wrote the piece in response to the Sherrod fiasco. Her story provides an inside look at the organization and confirms what I suspected for years. It's a sad reflection of an organization that was once relevant and respected. But did I also mention that the story is hilarious? Alexander doesn't disappoint when it comes to keeping the reader's attention.
Republicans successfully filibustered the Disclose Act this week. Once again, they have shown themselves to be hypocrites. On one hand they criticize the corrupt insider deal-making nature of Washington D.C. yet they don't want the public to know who is bankrolling Republican political ads. That would screw up their entire program of deceiving the American people.
But the bill isn't completely dead yet. It could come back for consideration later in the year. However, passing this legislation will be an uphill climb.
The Obama Administration is under serious pressure to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Insiders have been suggesting over the past week, that Obama & Co. is flirting with the idea of caving. Extending these tax cuts would dig the nation into an even bigger debt hole. Once again Republicans - who claim to be concerned about annual deficits & the national debt - are saying one thing and doing another, as is normal for them.
The Republican media has carefully framed the expiration of the tax cut as a tax increase by Obama. The way that they manipulate the public through the media is just uncanny. They are making the Bush tax policy appear as if it was a permanent law and the evil Democrats are going to radically change tax policy. Of course this is all BS. The tax policy was never permanent...which is why the legislation is sun shining to be reconsidered by Congress. The cuts were temporary. This misconception (that Republicans purposely created) has allowed them to frame the scheduled expiration as an increase. This has been another textbook example of the power & influence of Conservative right wing media.
Ahhh... nothing like the sights and sounds of Racist Republican policies falling apart. And so it begins. Round one goes to the sane & rational. But the Right vows to fight on.
PHOENIX — A federal judge stepped into the fight over Arizona's immigration law at the last minute Wednesday, blocking the heart of the measure and defusing a confrontation between police and thousands of activists that had been building for months.
Coming just hours before the law was to take effect, the ruling isn't the end.
It sets up a lengthy legal battle that could end up before the Supreme Court — ensuring that a law that reignited the immigration debate, inspired similar measures nationwide, created fodder for political campaigns and raised tensions with Mexico will stay in the spotlight.
Protesters who gathered at the state Capitol and outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City cheered when they heard the news. The governor, the law's authors and anti-illegal immigration groups vowed to fight on.
"It's a temporary bump in the road," Gov. Jan Brewer said.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton will now have to decide a question as old as the nation itself: Does federal law trump state law? She indicated in her ruling that the federal government's case has a good chance at succeeding.
The Clinton appointee said the controversial sections should be put on hold until the courts resolve the issues, including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.
Key points
Bolton delayed provisions that required immigrants to carry their papers and banned illegal immigrants from soliciting employment in public places — a move aimed at day laborers. In addition, she blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants for crimes that can lead to deportation.
"Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked," Bolton wrote.
It looks like this will drag on for quite some time, and will eventually be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was full of problems and had measures that were unconstitutional, even after the Arizona legislature tried to clean up their own mess by changing the text.
Related Links
See our previous postings on the Arizona Immigration Law here and here.
A recent piece in the New York Times, by writer Louis Uchitelle, highlights the difficulties faced by the millennial generation, also called Generation Y. But it hasn't been much better for my generation (Generation X).
From the pieceAmerican Dream Is Elusive for New Generation:
The Great Depression damaged the self-confidence of the young, and that is beginning to happen now, according to pollsters, sociologists and economists. Young men in particular lost a sense of direction, Glen H. Elder Jr., a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, found in his study, “Children of the Great Depression.” In some cases they were forced into work they did not want — the issue for Scott Nicholson.
Military service in World War II, along with the G.I. Bill and a booming economy, restored well-being; by the 1970s, when Mr. Elder did his retrospective study, the hardships of the Depression were more a memory than an open sore. “They came out of the war with purpose in their lives, and by age 40 most of them were doing well,” he said, speaking of his study in a recent interview.
The outlook this time is not so clear. Starved for jobs at adequate pay, the millennials tend to seek refuge in college and in the military and to put off marriage and child-bearing. Those who are working often stay with the jobs they have rather than jump to better paying but less secure ones, as young people seeking advancement normally do. And they are increasingly willing to forgo raises, or to settle for small ones.
I gave up on the American Dream some years ago. Now I am just seeking survival. I realized the Dream had become an empty slogan.... that the chances of achieving it were slim to none. I almost feel as if I have been lied to all this time. I started to feel this way at age 27 or 28, when I had begun to run-in-place. I just wasn't achieving, even though I was working everyday and studying hard. The last 5-10 years pretty much confirmed the doubts going through my mind at the time.
Now I am about $80,000.00 in debt with no prospects for meaningful employment. The chances that I will be able to pay this money back is pretty close to zero. Over the last year I have been engaging in all sorts of maneuvers (including going back to school and making matters worse with more debt) to keep creditors at bay just a little while longer. But at some point in the next year or two, I will be looking at default. Once I run out of options and default, I will be ineligible for many....well.... basically all jobs in the Government sector...where I want to work. American Dream? Where?
And the thought of finding a mate, developing relationships, and starting a family have been out of the question. Not even an option for me.... never has been. Men, of course, are damn near exclusively defined by what they do....how much money they earn, their ability to support a family, yadda yadda yadda. This is how women rate men. This is especially the case in the U.S., where women are shallow & materialistic to the extreme.
If a man can't meet certain professional/financial expectations...if you don't have a job with a respectable salary, if you can't support a family.... then you aren't considered a man at all. Chances for actually attracting a decent mate under such circumstances are remote. So in the last decade (really more than that) I have actually never bothered to try with any serious effort. All due to this elusive "American Dream".... trying to hold out for a meaningful job opportunity. The lost decade has really worn me down.
(btw... I think one of the next bubbles to pop will be student loans....as students who leave college end up like me... stuck in BS service jobs earning less than $30,000 a year....or can't find work at all).
Needless to say I really hate my life...and the prospects for the future are bleak. With the incompetence of the Obama Administration....not having a clue of what the Hell to do to stimulate the economy...and with all the wars, the misguided foreign policy, and the financial mess (global and personal), I believe things will get worse.
An Xavier University survey seems to support my angst about the future. From the Atlantic:
When asked if it is now harder or easier to attain "the American Dream" than it was for their parents' generation, 60 percent of Xavier's 1,022 respondents said it's getting harder; 68 percent, meanwhile, said it will be even harder for their children than it is for them.
The poll was conducted Feb. 14-21 by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) for Xavier's Institute for Politics and the American Dream, reaching respondents over 18 years old via land lines and cell phones. Margin of error was +/-3.1 percent. Xavier plans to release a similar poll every year.
Even as people think it's getting harder to achieve the dream, Xavier found, they still believe--more or less--that it's possible with hard work: 35 percent said the American dream is "entirely" dependent on hard work, while 53 percent said it's roughly an even mix of hard work and good luck/circumstances. And 67 percent think they can achieve it in their lifetimes.
Fifty-eight percent, meanwhile, said America itself is in decline.
I actually am a little more pessimistic about the "hard work" theme in the Xavier survey, because even with hard work, the Dream seems out of reach. And more important than that was the belief by the majority of respondents that the U.S. was in decline. (Something I have been saying for years).
What's causing a storm in a cup in the news today?
China throws teddy out of the pram and argues that the other children in the sandpit are ganging up on it. I'd have some sympathy if they didn't claim to be playing harmoniously with the other kids whilst further moving the line in the sand that marks what part of the box is their sole concern and area of jurisdiction.
DPP leader Tsai on the defensive and offensive against Presidential Office attempts to paint her as vacillating on ECFA.
That NT$3600 vote-buying scam economic stimulus measure? Verdict: Epic Fail. Except that it was also Epic Success in that it a) raised public confidence b) increased benefits to low-income families and c) generated a higher international visibility for the country. How to turn bad news into pseudo good news all in one quickly sidelined and forgotten piece of copy.
“The sad fact is that without China signing off on any of those agreements (FTAs), they would never get to the bargaining table — not without China’s tacit agreement. We all pretend that there is no elephant in the room, but there is an elephant in the room and if we ignore it, it will hit us with its trunk”
“Clearly, the United States has for years been sending signals to Taiwan that it would prefer greater economic integration between [China] and Taiwan for reasons of its own”
Charles Freeman - academic at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington contributing his own mixed signals to the general morass of non-policy on the Taiwan Strait situation.
E.J. Dionne posted a great commentary today on Truthdig.
The Politics of Stupidity Strikes Again
Can a nation remain a superpower if its internal politics are incorrigibly stupid?
Start with taxes. In every other serious democracy, conservative political parties feel at least some obligation to match their tax policies with their spending plans. David Cameron, the new Conservative prime minister in Britain, is a leading example.
He recently offered a rather brutal budget that includes severe cutbacks. I have doubts about some of them, but at least Cameron cared enough about reducing his country’s deficit that alongside the cuts, he also proposed an increase in the value-added tax from 17.5 percent to 20 percent. Imagine: a fiscal conservative who really is a fiscal conservative.
That could never happen here because the fairy tale of supply-side economics insists that taxes are always too high, especially on the rich.
This is why Democrats will be fools if they don’t try to turn the Republicans’ refusal to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year into an election issue. If Democrats go into a headlong retreat on this, they will have no standing to govern.
The simple truth is that the wealthy in the United States—the people who have made almost all the income gains in recent years—are undertaxed compared with everyone else.
Consider two reports from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. One, issued last month, highlighted findings from the Congressional Budget Office showing that “the gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled between 1979 and 2007,” the period for which figures are available.
The other, from February, used Internal Revenue Service data to show that the effective federal income tax rate for the 400 taxpayers with the very highest incomes declined by nearly half in just over a decade, even as their pre-tax incomes have grown five times larger.
The study found that the top 400 households “paid 16.6 percent of their income in federal individual income taxes in 2007, down from 30 percent in 1995.” We are talking here about truly rich people: Using 2007 dollars, it took an adjusted gross income of at least $35 million to get into the top 400 in 1992, and $139 million in 2007.
A front page article in today's Taipei Times has found a legislative report warning about the growing self-censorship of Taiwan's media, which is in turn increasingly under the sway of influence from Chinese investors. In support of this argument I refer to article of evidence 'A', A-gu's blog post on a recent Central Daily News (an openly KMT supporting newspaper) editorial.
The report in question, which will not be publically released, is A Study on Mainland China’s Post-ECFA Political and Economic Strategy Toward Taiwan. MT has more on its findings.
Convicted felon Byron Williams loaded up his mother's Toyota Tundra with guns, strapped on his body armor and headed to San Francisco late Saturday night with one thing in mind: to kill workers at the American Civil Liberties Union and an environmental foundation, prosecutors say.
Williams, an anti-government zealot on parole for bank robbery, had hoped to "start a revolution" with the bloodshed at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco, authorities said.
But before he made it to the city, Williams was stopped at early Sunday by California Highway Patrol officers for speeding and driving erratically on westbound Interstate 580 west of Grand Avenue in Oakland.  Police say he then initiated a chaotic, 12-minute gunbattle with officers, firing a 9mm handgun, a .308-caliber rifle and a shotgun. He reloaded his weapons when he ran out of ammunition and stopped only after officers shot him in areas of his body not covered by his bullet-resistant vest, authorities said. On Tuesday, Williams, 45, of Groveland (Tuolumne County) appeared in an Oakland courtroom on charges that he tried to murder four CHP officers. Authorities described him as a heavily armed man determined not to return to prison. Bullets from the suspect's rifle could penetrate ballistic body armor and vehicles, police said.
After he was wounded and taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, Williams told investigators "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg wrote in a court affidavit.
The Tides Foundation is a liberal not for profit that supports Progressive causes. The otherwise obscure group is often the subject of attacks by Glenn Beck.
Williams was upset about "Left-wing agenda" of Congress. From TPM: (note: His mother, Janice Williams, seems to be as much of a Tea Party nut as her son is).
The man, identified by local news reports as Byron Williams of Groveland, was allegedly pulled over for driving erratically by the California Highway Patrol. As the officers approached his truck, they saw several guns and ammunition, according to police, and they saw the suspect reach for a handgun.
The officers ran back to their car and called for backup as the man allegedly opened fire. Officers reported seeing a handgun, a shotgun and a rifle, and that the shooter fired at least two of the weapons. The shootout -- which according to CHP involved 10 police officers and lasted about eight minutes -- left the suspect, who was wearing body armor, seriously wounded. He was taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition.
Two officers were hurt by broken glass, but none were shot.
"There is no doubt in our mind, given the body armor and the extensive amount of ammunition he had, that he was on his way to do a very serious crime against either someone or a group of people," CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said.
Officers discovered a binder labeled "California" in the truck. It has so far been described only as a "list."
When local reporters called the truck's registrant, Janice Williams, she realized her truck, and her guns, were gone.
Williams told the San Francisco Chronicle that Byron, her 45-year-old son, was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."
"He hasn't been able to get a job because he's an ex-felon and nobody will hire him," she said, adding that he was angry about his unemployment and about "what's happening to our country."
"I have no doubt it is him," Williams said. "He's been upset with the direction the country is going. ... He feels the people of this country are being raped by our government and politicians."
Janice Williams said she kept the guns, which were locked in safe, because "eventually, I think we're going to be caught up in a revolution." She also told the Chronicle that she had warned Byron that "he didn't have to be on the front lines."
It's ironic that he was angry about unemployment, but was too much of an idiot to understand how the economy works and how Republicans sent the nation over a cliff. He didn't understand that the Recession officially started in 2007 and the fiscal crisis and job losses started in the Fall of 2008, caused by the failed policies of his Republican President. Nor did he understand that employment is a lagging economic indicator and will take years to recover. And it appears that he was also clueless about the fact that Republicans (for weeks) were trying to block any unemployment benefits that he may or may not have been entitled to.
The irony is amazing. And it's not just with this nut. We see this ignorance flowing all throughout the Tea Party crowd.
Columnist Ted Rall recently made the following observation when describing the Tea Party... and he describes it perfectly:
So much anger. It’s too bad that the (justifiable) rage of the white male middle-class is directed against their fellow victims. It’s worse that they’re playing into the blood-soaked hands of their own oppressors.
In another display of stunning hypocrisy, congressional Republicans continue their fight to reward the rich during the recession. During the upcoming campaigns, Republicans will claim to represent every American, but that’s hardly the case when it comes to tax policy. This time the battle is over whether Congress should extend Bush’s 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and the GOP is siding with the rich over the middle-class.
This will come as no surprise to observant court watchers. Under John Roberts, but not necessarily because of John Roberts, is the most conservative it has been in decades. The general rightward shift will continue for the foreseeable future until one of the five conservative justices leaves (Kagan is replacing a liberal in John Paul Stevens). This is unlikely to happen anytime soon as one conservative justice, Anthony Kennedy has indicated he'd like to wait out Obama.
This excellent article shows some people can envision a world in which dealing with China does not have to entail sacrificing the core values of democracy, freedom and human rights.
Live News. This just in. Greenpeace has launched an action today against BP by picketing 46 BP petrol stations in London and forcing them to (temporarily) turn off their pumps:
Forty-six BP petrol station's in central London were shut down today and re-branded with signs announcing: 'Closed. Moving beyond petroleum' and featuring the new, 'oilier' BP logo.
It's time for BP to make a real move beyond petroleum and end their involvement in environmentally destructive oil sources like Arctic oil exploration, deepwater drilling and the Canadian tar sands.
Let's make it clear that the time to move towards clean, renewable energy is now.
Our activists are literally turning off the pumps at BP's stations to make it clear that the risks of exploiting dangerous oil sources are too high - as the Deepwater Horizon disaster has made clear. Join them in demanding an Energy [R]evolution now!
Taiwan News has two articles related to land grabs for economic development.
In the first, Changhua farmers are set to protest against being forced to sell their land to allow the construction of a road for the a new science park.
In the second, now utterly discredited KMT Miaoli Magistrate Liu Cheng-hung is under suspicion of profiting illegally from land speculation and avoiding taxes top pay off family debt. Interestingly, his house is in the area of the proposed HSR Miaoli station in which priceless historic pottery kilns were destroyed extra-legally, thus eradicating a superb potential tourist revenue generator. That destruction was also quite politically sensitive at the time. Never mind that the kilns were an important part of Hakka culture in the area and featured in the 2004 Kilns and More Kilns Art Festival—Miaoli History of Ceramic Kilns and Modern Art Exhibition in which "The Kiln Culture Civic Center, Classroom and Theater (Huataoyao) Dirctor-General Jhang Yunhui has said that the theme of this festival is “five historic kilns and five painters".
Extra: Is it me, or is there a little trend going on of those people rounded up along with former president Chen in a 'crack down on corruption' finding that the cases against them weren't so airtight after all? Could it be that the slew of prosecutions against Chen and his associates may have been motivated by something other than combating crime and cleaning politics?
Meanwhile, yet another pan-blue politician has lost his seat to vote-buying. Lin Cheng-er, the only remaining Legislator for James Soong's People First Party (Taoyuan district), lost his seat Tuesday as the Taiwan High Court declared his election invalid. Lin was a member of the KMT legislative caucus, which will be reduced to 74 seats in the 113-member Legislative Yuan after his departure. I don't expect the DPP to win the by-election but this news is not going to please KMT election maverik King who must be praying for local factions and pan blue politicians to stop getting caught before the KMT end up losing 3 or maybe 4 mayoral elections.
A little thought: Would it make more sense for the DPP to throw all their effort into winning as many mayor-ships and legislative seats as possible rather than spend valuable cash trying to win the presidency? If Ma gets reelected, something China will surely try their best to manifest, he would be a lame duck without a legislative majority and surrounded by mayors run by the opposition. Better than the DPP winning another presidency only to be scuppered by another KMT legislative / mayoral majority?
Next segment of Reliable Sources had 3 African Americans, a new world record? Toward the end they got around to Sherrod but they discussed the overall dearth of black faces in MSM, a much better discussion IMO. Intro & snippet:
KURTZ: Something really striking happened when I tried to book the segment you're about to see about minorities and the media.
I talked to several very prominent African-American journalists who said they would love to come on the program but the subject was just too sensitive to discuss publicly, or their bosses did not want them speaking out in public.
Look at the people who have gotten the latest primetime hosting jobs in cable news: Lawrence O'Donnell at MSNBC; Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker at CNN. They join people like Sean and Bill and Keith and Rachel and Anderson. They join the Sunday show hosts and the evening news anchors and the principal network morning hosts. Not an African-American face among them except for GMA's Robin Roberts.
If you were 77-years-old, your spouse recently died and you faced two separate bouts of cancer would you continue working, or would you kick back and relax? This is the decision facing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Keith Olbermann nailed it with this commentary. Definitely one of the best he has ever done.
As I mentioned in my earlier comments, this is not just an issue of race. Race, in my view, should not necessarily be the focus of discussion. We don't need another race dabate. To be honest, they just don't do much. We have had that debate half a dozen times (or more) since Obama announced his run for the Presidency. What the nation should really be focused on is the obscene level of power held by Republican right wing media. This is something that I have blogged/written about probably dozens of times and it is the focus of my sidebar commentary, written a couple of years ago. I tried to warn people about just how big of a threat right wing media is.
The right wing media is simply the communications department for the Republican political machine. They have a very specific political agenda. Telling the truth and presenting actual news is not part of their program. It is a behemoth that is so powerful that when they tell Democrats - especially the Obama Administration - to jump, the Obama Administration asks how high? In my warning about Conservative media, I explain what their aims are... and that the playbook is an open secret.
The national mainstream media seems to ignore this information imbalance. No one wants to look into why Republican right wing media is allowed to control so much of the national debate. No one wants to look deeper into how Faux news (Radio Rwanda) is allowed to set the tone... by creating a certain narrative, and why mainstream media accepts their narrative as a legitimate starting point for their own reporting. Basically they take the Fox News narrative and they run with it...often without verifying information. Keep in mind, Fox News is, for all practical purposes, a propaganda operation. Fox News is so far removed from legitimate journalism that it's like night and day. In other words, legitimate news organizations have little reason to trust Fox News the way that they have been. Fox hasn't done the kind of reporting that deserves such a high level of trust. So the way that other networks parrot Fox (and other right wing outlets) is just incomprehensible to me. Furthermore, it's equally troubling how other networks fall over themselves to provide a platform for Republican right wing propaganda pundits, many of whom have little to no credibility. To make matters worse, these pundits are often unchallenged when they appear on the more legitimate networks. So what we have today is a situation where mainstream media is complicit in the misinforming and dumbing down of Americans. They have been co-opted by Republicans and used for propaganda purposes. This leaves a social/political environment where it is very difficult for a robust countervailing view to grow and challenge Conservative opinion.
I have been sounding the alarm on this for a few years now. The dangers of Conservative media are real. We just had another domestic terrorist attack thwarted this week, this time in California... although it didn't make it as a top story on most networks (perhaps because this has become so common). But the suspect was another Terrorist & Tea Party nut angry about left-leaning politics. Read more here, here and here. He opened fire on police on a California freeway after realizing he was caught. Luckily this terrorist was stopped after a long shootout before he could carry out any mass killings. But can you guess what fueled him? (Check the links above).
What we are in the midst of right now is an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. It's a fight for the soul of the Country. Within that war is an information/PR battle. While President Obama shut down his campaign and his communications/PR war room... the Republicans never did. Republicans never ended their campaign after 2008, they simply changed its focus. Instead of running on a platform (as if they ever had one) or asking for votes, they shifted the focus to discrediting Obama, delegitimizing his Presidency, framing him as un-American, as an outsider, as dangerous, weak on security, etc. Republican/right wing media is in an all out war against President Obama, on two fronts. One is an information/image war... the other focuses on Policy (political obstruction, so that he is seen as a failure).
The kind of misinformation campaigns being waged right now... are, in many respects, similar to the kind of nonsense the CIA was doing 30 years ago in Countries around the world to confuse/mislead local populations, by putting out media stories favorable to the U.S., etc. The corporate PR companies today use some of those same strategies. The only difference now is that the tactics are being used against American citizens.
Progressives are at a disadvantage, because they have no media infrastructure that can match what is coming out of Conservative media. The right is just too powerful when it comes to media dominance. It's just not a fair fight. And this is occurring at a time when we have a President who has become synonymous with the term 'PR disaster'. If the White House had a strong war room, had strong PR people, a President who was more engaged and in tune with what is happening on Main Street, someone controlling his image...who has his back, a team of brilliant advisors providing the best guidance & information, then the Democrats and this President would be in a better position to combat the right wing media. But none of these things exist in this White House in my opinion. There is no PR/media war room. If there is one.. they are incompetent...and those running it should be fired immediately. There are no strong PR people. If he has them, they should be fired tomorrow. If the President is engaged...and in tune with the Country, then I don't see it. I have been a serious observer of politics for 20 years...this is one of the worst Administrations in recent memory when it comes to basic situational awareness. How in the Hell do you go to Maine for vacation while the folks in the Gulf are still suffering and are struggling to keep their hotels and restaurants open, struggling to make their rent, struggling to save their livelihoods -and AFTER you encouraged Americans to go and spend money? Yeah.... we all need a vacation every now and then, but sometimes the Captain of the ship has to lead... especially on a ship that is taking on water. If you can't vacation in the Gulf, at least put off your vacation until things settle down....just out of respect for those who are suffering. If you must have a vacation... send the First Lady and the kids.... while you stay in Washington. This is about leadership folks. A walking PR disaster indeed.
If he has someone in charge of image... they should be fired forthwith. If President Obama has brilliant advisors... they have been giving the him terrible advice, at least on the image/PR front. We have had 747's flying over Manhattan for photo ops scaring the daylights out of New Yorkers (beyond comprehension in a post 9/11 World), the White House not responding to attacks from the right (even ridiculous lies), Van Jones & others being forced out, the President commenting on issues that he should not have commented on..at least without knowing all the facts, the lack of a clear plan...and the huge absence of at least the image of the President attempting to create jobs & alleviate the problem of unemployment....instead he is out playing Golf, the bungling of the PR response to the Gulf oil spill, the bungling of Gitmo, using horrible strategy in the Healthcare debate, allowing the right to dictate his foreign policy, reaching out to Republicans...even working to water down legislation for them just to be fooled in the end with the knowledge that they were never going to sign on to his policies, and generally looking weak as a man and as a President. Now enter Shirley Sherrod. This is perhaps the most breathtaking of all of the PR debacles thus far. This is one for the history books. It will take me quite a while to wrap my brain around this. But it basically encapsulates, in one event, all of these PR weaknesses...and all the examples of incompetence.
This whole situation is a perfect example of why Progressives need to establish their own PR/media infrastructure. If they don't, they will continue to struggle with Conservative media for years. The right will continue to poison the airwaves and threaten livelihoods, and they will continue to win elections when they shouldn't.
But Progressives have been slow to respond. This week, for the first time, I heard at least two major Progressive commentators acknowledge what I stated years ago... that we are in the midst of an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. There has finally been an acknowledgment that there is an ongoing, well orchestrated PR war against President Obama and Progressive politics. Maybe this incident was the wake-up call that Progressives needed. It took years just to get to a point where this could be acknowledged. Unfortunately I didn't hear many calls for the establishment of a robust Progressive media infrastructure to rival the Republican machine (not by telling lies...but simply by telling the truth...doing real journalism). And yes, I support bringing back the Fairness Doctrine.
The most effective antidote for the madness that we are seeing today in the U.S., is a well informed electorate. There are other things that I believe must be done as well as part of reaching that goal.... such as requiring a certain amount of civics education, global education, geography, World history, political science, constitutional studies, etc... in all schools, public and private. It should be Federal Law. But the end goal should be a well informed electorate. This is what new media could help to accomplish.
The sooner Americans wake up to what KO, I & others are saying on this... the better.
China wants to get on with political talks asap - including doing away with the MAC/SEF-ARATS platform for dialogue. Only problem is that Taiwanese don't want any part of this. How will the KMT try to convince the Taiwanese that relations between Taiwan and China, currently handled by non-governmental and non-accountable bodies, should be transferred away to even more unaccountable bodies or committees?
Stung by the public revulsion at the Miaoli land grab, KMT Premier Wu has been desperately trying to make it up with the farmers, this time by offering them 5 hectares of land elsewhere. Luckily, the farmers so far want nothing to do with his empty promises. Perhaps they remember his promise to sign ECFA when 60% of the public supported it.
You know the pan-blue camp are worried when even the United Daily News shows concern that the land-grab will affect the KMT's chances in the November elections. Of course, this being election season, no stunt too artificial or contemptuous will be left unused in order to beguile voters into voting for 'more of the same' corrupt politics. Lien and Soong kissing the ground springs to mind ...
Taichung unificationist Mayor Hu says he wont run for president in 2012. That clears the way for Ma to run again. Additionally, he came out with this pearl: "Hu also said that cross-Taiwan Strait unification was "a remote issue" unless Taiwan's living standards are fully guaranteed." - That is likely to be the KMT's bottom line in political talks on annexation - Taiwanese will only go calmly into the abattoir if they feel the reassuring clink clink of spare change in their pockets and the client networks keep the cash flowing down. Hu clearly thinks Taiwanese care about only a few core issues: convenience, immediacy of all services and economic opportunities, being financially and materially comfortable. democracy and political choice doesn't come into it.
Premier Wu begs China to let Taiwan participate in even non-political international NGOs. By his own admission, despite the modus vivendi, win win and diplomatic truce, China have failed to play ball and instead continue to marginalise and block Taiwan in the international community and continue to increase the number of missiles pointing at the country. So much for a mutually respectful relationship.
The KMT regularly accuse the DPP of releasing dubious poll results to boost the image of their popularity. Taiwan News has a great editorial bursting the bubble of these accusations by highlighting the government's use of the RDEC to do exactly the same.
Many media organizations are rushing to seek repudiations of Shirley Sherrod from African-American leaders such as the NAACP’s Ben Jealous who quickly renounced Sherrod.
Before throwing Ms. Sherrod completely “under a bus,” I hope that they will consider the following remarks from the wife of the farmer whom Sherrod was supposedly “half-heartedly” helping.
The video in question originally shown on Fox turns out to be a FRAUD.
In case you want to see the videos in the Shirley Sharrod scam/fraud.
whiterosebuddy had a suggestion:
Here's Tom Vilsack's phone number at the USDA. Perhaps we should politely call and tell him what we think:
202-720-3631 Dept. of Agriculture: (202) 720-2791 I called, pressed 8, and then left a voicemail.
some more phone numbers suggested by WordSmith: White House Ph. #s: Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461
Get the entire Sherrod speech, hear comments from the White farmer, and see other videos under the fold.
