I've never been a big fan of Glenn Beck. His hate-filled rhetoric is reminiscent of people such as Father Coughlin and the ramblings of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Now, Beck is claiming that it is the Anti-Defamation League is at fault for the rise in anti-Semitism.
Just as Father Couglin spread lies and half-truths in the 1930's and Senator Mccarthy did in the 1950"s, so too is Fox News when it allows people like Glenn Beck to have air time.
For the past several months, I've been reluctant to click on some of the blogs I used to read on a daily basis. When Bush was president, many claimed there was a Bush derangement syndrome among centrists and leftists. This pales in comparison to the moronic derangement of some bloggers and a lot of others out there who seem to think that Obama is a Marxist, Socialist, Communist, and Fascist.
It's been quite a few months since I've clicked on Likelihood of Success. I'm glad that he sees the rampant stupidity as well.
A few months ago, I dared to click on Little Green Footballs site. I'm glad to see he isn't suffering from derangement either.
I've watched this video of Jon Stewart several times. I agree with him. This country is bigger than one president. It will be able to overcome and set right all the legislation passed by President Reagan and President Bush that infringes on our 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Amendments. I too believe this country is big enough to handle health care for all.
It had been 25 years since I last read 1984 by George Orwell. The first time I read it, I couldn't really visualize the description of the Two Minute Hate and people becoming riled up to the extent they were in the book. But now that I see the hour long hate-fest by Glenn Beck, the moronic writings of Pat Buchanan, and the hate Rush Limbaugh spews, I can understand a little better.
One of the big talking points opponents of health care reform bring up is the fear of rationing. They claim health care rationing exists in Britain's and Canada's health care system. A British doctor speaks out:
Among the inflammatory charges, Sen. Edward Kennedy wouldn't have received state-of-the-art care for his brain tumor in a place like Great Britain because health overseers would have found extending the life of the 77-year-old unworthy of the expense.
"Well, I'm sorry to say that's the most ludicrous thing that I've heard," Ara Darzi, a surgeon and former minister of health, tells Steve Inskeep on Tuesday's Morning Edition. It's an example, Darzi says, of the "lies that have been used to set fear against reform." ... "Americans fear that countries such as Britain and Canada ration care -- and that such rationing could and should never be tolerated in the United States," the Post editorial says. "Yet 47 million uninsured is quite an extreme form of rationing. So at this moment, the burden of proof falls upon those who oppose change -- for they stand in defense of fear.
Our founders were not godlike men. They had their faults like everybody. Most of the Southerners who signed the Declaration of Independence were heavily in debt. Thomas Jefferson eventually lost his beloved Monticello because of his debt. Benjamin Franklin was the 1770's Bill Clinton.
When the American Revolution was fought, we were in heavy debt. It was to the point that many other countries thought for sure the new country would totter over the brink and exist no more. France was our China back then. We borrowed mostly from them in the 1770's just as we borrow heavily from China today.
Our Founders had a great deal of courage. Throughout our country's history, we've met hardships before. There have been wars, recessions, depressions, natural disasters, and other obstacles to struggle through.
And even as our country struggled through this, we still welcomed our doors to the poor wretched huddled masses yearning to be free. Today, we tend to try to slam the doors.
Are we to be frightened of helping our neighbors? In the video, Ms. Abram states their insurance deductible if $5,000. Her family is lucky to have any coverage at all. But like many Americans, their family is going to be struggling with mounting debt as her son goes through his surgeries. Health care reform is to help her and yet she fears it because of the bugaboo word socialism.
Her and so many others should be directing their rage at the real culprits in this mess: The insurance companies.
Health care reform is needed and badly. Premiums have gone up and along side those premium increases, deductibles have gone up as have co-pays. People are being dropped from insurance as soon as they become sick.
Insurance reform is not just needed in health care. It is also needed in property insurance. I'm hoping Congressman Gene Taylor supports health care reform. By doing so, he can garner interest in the insurance reforms he has been proposing since Hurricane Katrina.
We need debate on this issue not blind rage. Screaming at your Congressman and throwing a temper tantrum doesn't alleviate the problem.
I used to feel good about our justice system. It seemed it used to be the best in the world as far as having a level playing field for those who have been charged with a crime. But since Reagan's War on Drugs and Bush's War on Terror, more and more laws are being passed that give almost unlimited power to prosecutors. Laws have been passed out of fear. Some of these laws encroach too heavily on our 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendment rights.
Too often, I hear people say that as long as you don't do anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from these laws. The thing is that far too many people are being caught up in these laws. The three strikes and you're out laws now give the same level of punishment to those who pass bad checks to those who murder.
A law passed two years ago, the Adam Walsh Act, was meant to protect society from sexual predators. It was meant so that no other parents had to go through what Adam Walsh's parents had to go through. The sad thing is because of all the new rules implemented with the Adam Walsh Act, the system is becoming so overloaded that the police can no longer keep track of the true sexual predators.
We see teenagers being charged for child pornography when they take a picture of themselves and email and send it via cell phone to their boyfriend/girlfriend. These kids, if convicted, will have to register as sex offenders for at least ten years.
We see ten year olds having to register as sex offenders for playing doctor with an eight year old.
We see young adults younger than 21 who inadvertently download child pornography, having to register as sex offenders for 10 years or more. Is it justice when 9 child porn photos are found out of hundreds of thousands of files on a person's computer and that person is charged with a felony and will have to register as a sex offender if convicted?
We see 17 year olds having to register as sex offenders after being charged for statutory rape for having sex with their year old boyfriend/girlfriends. Is this justice? Does it really keep us safe? Does it really keep our children safe?
The Supreme Court has made another infamous ruling. It further erodes the protections against excesses and abuses of our rights. Each one of us, those who have never committed a crime and those who have, need to be worried.
The new ruling affects our 6th Amendment rights:
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
At stake is the right to the accused to be represented by counsel. The case involves a man who was appointed a public defender:
At a preliminary hearing, a judge ordered that a public defender be appointed. The timing is in dispute, but at some point Mr. Montejo was read his Miranda rights again and agreed to accompany detectives to locate the murder weapon, which he had indicated that he had thrown into a lake.
During the trip, he wrote a letter of apology to the victim’s widow, using paper and pen provided by the detectives. Only upon his return did Mr. Montejo meet with his lawyer, who was furious that his client had been questioned in his absence, and was further incensed when the letter was admitted as evidence at trial.
This descision also infringes upon our 5th Amendment rights. There are numerous laws, such as the PATRIOT Act, certain laws passed during the war on drugs, and another passed a couple of years ago which infringe upon our 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendment rights. These are not rights that are there just to protect those who have been accused of crimes. They are there to protect everyone's rights. They were framed into our Constitution because of the excesses of British colonial rule. Are we willing to give up those precious rights which protected us from the excesses of a power-hungry government?
Justice Stevens sums it up best:
Mr. Montejo’s Sixth Amendment right to legal representation, as well as his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, were damaged by the ruling, Justice Stevens said.
“Such a decision can only diminish the public’s confidence in the reliability and fairness of our system of justice,”he said.
I disagree with Justice Scalia:
That 1986 ruling has not only proved “unworkable,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority, but its “marginal benefits are dwarfed by its substantial costs” in that some guilty defendants go free.
I tend to think like John Adams:
"The reason is because it's of more importance to the community, that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished".
Durban II is going to have fewer attendees this year. More countries are making the same choice as the US, Canada, and Israel and not attending. The Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia are opting out this year. The first Durban conference on racism turned out to be a hate campaign against Israel. Durban II is on the same track.
Yom HaShoah begins tomorrow and Durban II chose to let Ahmadinejad speak:
Israeli leaders reacted with deep dismay to the presence of Mr. Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a myth and advocated the destruction of the Jewish state. In remarks at a cabinet meeting on Monday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Six million of our brethren were massacred during the Holocaust. Sadly, not everyone learned the lesson.”
“While we gather to honor their memory, in Switzerland there will assemble a conference allegedly aimed against racism,” he said. “Its guest of honor is a racist Holocaust-denier who does not hide his intentions to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”
Referring to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s role at the conference, Mr. Peres said Monday: “There must be a limit, even to the neutrality of Switzerland. Today is the day? This is the man to speak? This is the outlook for the future?”
Many delegates walked out. Is this enough? Why was he even allowed to speak to begin with? Why was he made a guest of honor?
While people are being hacked to death in the Congo, while the military dictatorship in Burma suppresses its people, while people are starving under the Communist dictatorship in North Korea, while those in the Darfur refugee camps are still being raped and murdered, the UN Human Rights Commission can seem only to censure one country: Israel.
Tomorrow, wear a blue Star of David in support of Israel.
Glenn Beck is a dangerous nut and one that happens to have his own television show. Why so many people give him any credence is beyond me. He sort of reminds me of this fellow:
Orator A great deal of the Fuhrer's appeal lay in his inflammatory speeches attacking Jews, social democrats, capitalists and communists. His comments often evoked a sense of wounded national pride caused by the losses imposed on Germany by the allies at the end of World War I.
Notice how Beck sneers out the words “jazz musician,” as if they were some kind of mortal insult — as if being an alcoholic, weeping, ranting, creationist talk show host who idolizes John Birchers and Ron Paul is a real accomplishment, but practicing diligently for years, earning several gold records, and touring and recording with some of the world’s top musicians is worthy of derision and scorn.
Since last year's presidential race, I've noticed a rabid growth of populism. Back in February, Beck held up Henry Ford's opposition to the New Deal in glowing terms.
Perhaps Beck never saw this photo of Henry Ford from 1938 when he received the German's highest medal to non-Germans :
Speaking of Hitler, here's what he had to say about the speculation in 1923 that Ford might run for president:
I wish I could send some of my shock troops to Chicago and other big American cities to help in the elections ... We look to Heinrich Ford as the leader of the growing fascist movement in America ... We have just had his anti-Jewish articles translated and published. The book is being circulated in millions throughout Germany."
..... And his view of the New Deal was decidedly wrapped up in all this. As Neil Baldwin's Henry Ford and the Jews describes, his "private jottings reflected [Ford's] dislike of bankers, Jews, the New Deal and labor unions, and his major competitors, General Motors and Chrysler."
Occasionally, Ford merged these components together into an imagined conspiracy against the Ford Motor Company, losing ground in a competitive consumer marketplace. "Our competitors are behind all tax and N.R.A. plans, with the bankers' international, and they are running all the governments in the world," Ford free-associated. "Unions are created by finance and industry." In another place, he scrawled, as if reminding himself, "The Jew is out to enslave you."
So Glenn Beck wants us to heed the wise words of the Nazis' best friend in America? But isn't that heading us down the path of ... ?
In your response to President Obama's address to Congress, you displayed some ignorance. You decried that $140 million had been earmarked for 'volcano monitoring'. If you had studied a bit more, you might have seen that only a fraction of the $140 million was allocated for volcano monitoring. What I find must troubling about your comment is that you know the value of being able to predict natural disasters accurately. Funding for science was severely cut under former President Bush.
Advances in science can help all prepare for natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast just 3 1/2 years ago. Better weather satellites may have been able to offer better predictions. Alas, our weather satellites are in a sad state of affairs. Wouldn't it be nice if more funding for those satellites, river gages, and other tools necessary to predict natural disasters could be made available?
In the stimulus package was also money allocated to help restore and preserve coastal marsh lands. Much of it will probably go to Louisiana to help rebuild the marshes that have been lost due to hurricanes and other factors. These marshes provide a natural buffer to protect New Orleans and Hancock County Mississippi. Those funds are close to a billion. Due you consider that a waste?
There are people in Hawai'i and Alaska whose lives can be and are impacted by volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. They and we, should not be denied the tools to keep our lives safe.
I was going to write about the stupidity of my governor, Haley Barbour, and other Republican governors who are considering not accepting the money from the stimulus package just passed. Never mind the fact that Mississippi received billions in federal aid after Katrina and those monies helped stimulate recovery and benefitted our state's economy. Republicans are quickly becoming the modern-day do nothing Hoovers.
The picture below is of one Marc Chagall's paintings. To me, it reflects the chaos going on in the world. And yet, to me, there is an aura of hope in it.
I'm disappointed in the newest stimulus bill. Too much was cut from the proposed spending in two areas vital to our country's future: Education and renewable energy.
I've never understood the appeal of Rush Limbaugh. He spews garbage and his fans proudly call themselves ditto heads. How many of those ditto heads hope as well as Limbaugh does that Obama will fail?
Leonard Pitts writes eloquently about the statement Limbaugh made:
'I hope he fails.'' -- Limbaugh
It is, of course, a calculated outrage.
Meaning, it was spewed by a clown in the media circus to kick a familiar sequence into motion: angry denunciation by bloggers, pundits and supporters of President Barack Obama (the ''he'' whose failure is hoped), followed by Rush Limbaugh refusing to retract a word, a courageous truth teller who will not be moved. And, trailing behind, like the folks with brooms trail the elephants in the circus parade, Limbaugh's devotees, complaining that their hero has been misquoted, misunderstood or otherwise mistreated. "What Rush meant was . . . yadda yadda yadda.''
A calculated outrage.
And knowing this, knowing how frequently and adroitly media are manipulated by self-promoting media clowns who defame conservatism by calling themselves conservative, one is tempted to let the statement pass, to make its way unimpeded to the dustbin like so many other manufactured controversies. But occasionally, it's necessary to intercept one of them and hold it up to the light.
This is one of those times. Not because what Limbaugh said on his radio program a few days before the inauguration was an outrage -- outrage is the point, remember? -- but rather, because of what the thing he said says about him and his fellow clowns.
"I hope he fails.''
Do you ever say that about your president if you are an American who loves your country? Would you say it about George W. Bush, who was disastrous; about Bill Clinton, who was slimy; about Jimmy Carter, who was inept; about Richard Nixon, who was crooked? You may think he's going to fail, yes. You may warn he's going to fail, yes.
But do you ever hope he fails? Knowing his failure is the country's failure? Isn't that, well . . . disloyal?
Limbaugh seems to lust for the prospect of President Obama failing. At a time when our country needs to pull together like never before, Limbuagh wants failure. He wants President Obama's plans of better education, job creation, moving the country toward sustainable and clean fuel, and other plans to fail.
On the radio yesterday, people were calling in and stating how job applicants cannot add, subtract, spell, or count back change. President Bush's No Child Left Behind has left many children behind. The focus in schools today isn't about teaching. It's about teaching so students can pass benchmark tests so schools can prove they are teaching. They may be teaching the tests but there is little learning going on.
I didn't vote for President Bush in 2000. I didn't like him but never hoped he would fail. I voted for him in 2004 largely because of fear of another 9-11. Fear is the currency President Bush spread around like icicles.
Limbaugh and others like him want to cling to that fear. Fear is the message Limbaugh, Palin, and others trumpeted. Hope is the message Obama heralded.
I would rather live in hope than fear. Fear holds you back. Hope makes you nearly fearless and able to handle the task of rebuilding.
The Republican party has been in some sort of weird denial since losing the presidential election. Many prominent conservatives have been increasingly stating that there is something very wrong with the Republican party. They are being ostracized by their fellow Republicans. I expect some to soon be calling on Kathleen Parker not only to be ostracized but tar and feathered for the column she wrote today. She nails it for the reason so many like me fled to the Democrats after McCain chose Palin as his running mate:
It isn't that culture doesn't matter. It does. But preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs.
Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they've had something to do with the GOP's erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University's Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.
It was not only Palin's lack of qualifications which drove many people away. McCain had a chance to be a real maverick and bring the Republican party closer to the center. Instead, he selected Palin as his running mate. She was not qualified and if you do a Youtube search, you can find Palin and some sort of preacher in an odd show of trying to cast out any witchy behavior.
There were so many things wrong with the idea of Palin being vice-president. If she is the Republicans nominee in the 2012 or 2016 presidential races, the death knell of the Republican party will be complete.
During McCain's campaign, we saw their campaign looking toward Joe the Plumber. It times, it seemed good ole Joe was the face of McCain's economic policy. We saw Palin talking about little pockets of what she calls 'real' America. We saw attacks on elites, liberals, and the news media. In short, they attacked everything.
McCain had a real chance to move the Republican party toward the center and away from those who want to ruin our schools by placing Intelligent Design in the curriculum. He had a real chance to move away from the perception that the Republican party is just for evangelical Christians.
If the Republicans keep choosing people such as Huckabee and Palin as leading contenders for presidential nominees, they will lose more and more to either the Democrats or a third party.
There have been many brave conservative voices, such as Kathleen Parker, speaking out about the direction the Republican party is going. I expect some like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to start calling for Kathleen Parker to be symbolically(if not actually) to be tarred and feathered. An speaking of Glenn Beck, what exactly does he mean by "thinning out the herd"?
After listening to that exchange, this Sinclair Lewis' quote comes to mind:
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
Tuesday, the United States averted a disaster. McCain had many great selections to choose from for his choice for Vice-president. Instead of putting country first, he kowtowed to the far religious right and selected Palin. One of the controversies in this years race had to do with NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. According to McCain insiders, Palin couldn't even name all the countries in North America. Maybe she was too busy looking at Russia from her front porch to notice all those other countries. You bethca!