U.S. Politics, 10

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

Only bigots put a 1 in a pack of exclamation points. How do you think that 1 feels, all threatened around those easily excitable word terrorists?

THAT ONE32 IDS A MOTHER FUKCIN BASTARD. FUIKC IT . IT'S A FUCKING BIGONRTY RACIOTST.

Switching gears for a moment, this is an incredibly interesting little piece suggesting that the Clinton White House temporarily lost the codes necessary for nukes. It's like something out of a Tom Clancy novel or a Bond film or something. Food for thought.

Tormund - You win at the internets.

:rofl:

I WIN YOUR MOM

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/odonnell-campaign-cash-pay-rent/

I DONT'A REMEMBER WAT I WAS GOING TO [OST. YOU WOUDL HAVE SEX WITH CHRISTINE OLDONNEL .IIKE DOGS. ADGMOIT IT. OU WPOULD FUCK LIKE GODS.

[lokisnow]

where was all the conservative ashes and sackcloth over Octavia Nasr? or any of the other myriad journalists fired for expressing views distasteful to the conservative extremists that control the media.

I likeGlenn Greenwald's take

And anyone doubting that there is a double standard when it comes to anti-Muslim speech should just compare the wailing backlash from most quarters over Williams' firing to the muted acquiescence or widespread approval of those other firings.

But there's one point from all of this I really want to highlight. The principal reason the Williams firing resonated so much and provoked so much fury is that it threatens the preservation of one of the most important American mythologies: that Muslims are a Serious Threat to America and Americans. That fact is illustrated by a Washington Post Op-Ed today from Reuel Marc Gerecht, who is as standard and pure a neocon as exists: an Israel-centric, Iran-threatening, Weekly Standard and TNR writer, former CIA Middle East analyst, former American Enterprise Institute and current Defense of Democracies "scholar," torture advocate, etc. etc. Gerecht hails Williams as a courageous "dissident" for expressing this "truth":

[W]hile his manner may have been clumsy, Williams was right to suggest that there is a troubling nexus between the modern Islamic identity and the embrace of terrorism as a holy act.

Above all else, this fear-generating "nexus" is what must be protected at all costs. This is the "troubling" connection -- between Muslims and terrorism -- that Williams lent his "liberal," NPR-sanctioned voice to legitimizing. And it is this fear-sustaining, anti-Muslim slander that NPR's firing of Williams threatened to delegitimize. That is why NPR's firing of Williams must be attacked with such force: because if it were allowed to stand, it would be an important step toward stigmatizing anti-Muslim animus in the same way that other forms of bigotry are now off-limits, and that, above all else, is what cannot happen, because anti-Muslim animus is too important to too many factions to allow it to be delegitimized.

The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins explained the real significance of NPR's actions, the real reason it had to be attacked:

Yesterday, NPR cashiered correspondent Juan Williams for doing something that had hitherto never been considered an offense in media circles: defaming Muslims. Up until now, you could lose your job for saying intemperate things about Jews and about Christians and about Matt Drudge. You could even lose a job for failing to defame Muslims. But we seem to be in undiscovered country at the moment.

a much more stupid firing for right wingers to get (legitimately) worked up about.

Gotta love those peace loving Christian leaders: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/102210dnmetbroden.1b2338185.html

In a rambling exchange during a TV interview, Broden, a South Dallas pastor, said a violent uprising "is not the first option," but it is "on the table." That drew a quick denunciation from the head of the Dallas County GOP, who called the remarks "inappropriate."

Clinton is kicking ass and taking names:

Bill Clinton is baffled. The former president's friends say he is in disbelief that in the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns Democrats have failed to articulate a coherent message on the economy and, worse, have allowed themselves to become "human pinatas."

"To hear the Republicans tell it, from the second President Obama took his hand off the Bible taking the oath of office, everything that happened after that was his fault," Clinton said this week at a campaign rally for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). "I'd like to see any of you get behind a locomotive going straight downhill at 200 miles an hour and stop it in 10 seconds."

"Look, folks, I've seen this movie before, in 1994," Clinton said at the rally in Everett, Wash. "I called the president the other day, and I said: 'Relax. They haven't said anything about you they didn't say about me. The only reason they're being nice to me right now is because I can't run for anything any more.' "

Unfortunately for Clinton, Republicans are claiming it won't be like 1994, they won't ever ever work with a black president, (working for clinton a 'black' president was bad enough, it seems)

Republicans aren't interested in compromising with President Obama on major issues if they retake the House or Senate, a senior GOP lawmaker said.

"Look, the time to go along and get along is over," said Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference. "House Republicans know that. We’ve taken firm and principled stands against their big government plans throughout this Congress, and we’ve got, if the American people will send them, we’ve got a cavalry of men and women headed to Washington, D.C. that are going to stand with us."

Pence said his party wouldn't compromise on issues like spending or healthcare reform, two of the weightiest items on Congress's agenda next year, when the Republicans could control one or both chambers.

The wind industry is ticked at Republicans, apparently they've been airing ads that say that wind farms built in the united states with stimulus funds, in places like kansas, I imagine, somehow ship American wind farm jobs to China because the stimulus is bad, mmmkay?

AWEA — the industry’s main trade group — is defending the grant program. It enables renewable energy project developers to access federal grants in lieu of traditional tax credit financing, which has become much less attractive during the economic downturn.

The program “has been one of the most effective public policies in existence for saving American jobs instead of surrendering them all to China,” states AWEA CEO Denise Bode in the letter to the Senate and House political committees. The letter cites a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study that found the program supported enough projects to save tens of thousands of jobs.

Someone broke down how much UNDISCLOSED money is being spent this election by the left and by the right:

What I've done here is an informal comparison of only undisclosed money, which is at the heart of the searing national debate over whether our elections are being swamped by secret cash.

When you compare the two lists of groups -- which you can see after the jump -- the disparity is almost comical. As you can see from the lists, the undisclosed cash flowing from the right goes far beyond what's coming from Karl Rove's groups or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Around a dozen conservative groups with very anodyne names have also kicked in big six- and seven-figure sums.

The total on the right: $74,733,356. On the left: $9,868,057. And the groups on the left, unlike on the right, consist of well-known names like the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife.

Oh, and finally, George W Bush reveals his cleverness yet again by naming his inability to privatize Social Security (THANK GOD! how much worse would the recession be if he'd succeeded?) as his greatest failure, not starting two utterly useless, stupid and corrupt wars that destroyed our country, our international standing and made Americans as bad as North Korea, Germany, Japan and the USSR in terms of inhumanity and torture.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/george-w-bush-reveals-his_n_772209.html

[WhiteHaven]

Please vote for this man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_192775&v=x4o-TeMHys0&feature=iv

Thank you.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

Wikileaks Iraq War documents help to map all of the deaths in Iraq. Absolutely mind blowing.

[lokisnow]

the number 100,000 does not begin to surprise or shock me (other than that the number is low), This American Life: What's in a Number 100,000 has been reported FIVE years ago but despite such high numbers being the result of the most scientifically valid methodology it has been scoffed at and ignored in the United States because well, the number was in stark contradiction to the rosier happy-feel-good numbers officially reported.

Turns out that 100,000 is the minimum number that the military found easy to count. Just think how much higher the ACTUAL number of casualties is? in 2006, the high estimate was 650,000, and that was BEFORE the surge, BEFORE Fallujah etc.

[Swordfish]

Look Scot, he's not simply telling O Reilly about the knee jerk reaction he had. He is saying that political correctness (not profiling Muslims) leads to inadequate interpretations of reality (the reality where people in "Muslim garb" blow up airplanes).

I don't think that's the same as saying "We should screen everyone dressed as Muslims", but shit, I don't even know what you can conclude from that statement because it's so carefully constructed that you can go any way you want with it.

How does that jibe with this:

UPDATE: In 1986, Juan Williams participated in a forum in The New Republic regarding a column by The Washington Post's Richard Cohen, who had justified the practice of D.C. jewelry store owners who would "admit customers only through a buzzer system, and [] some store owners use this system to exclude young black males on the grounds that these people are most likely to commit a robbery" (h/t). Defending this race-based exclusion, Cohen argued that "young black males commit an inordinate amount of urban crime," and that "black potential victims as well as white ones often act on this awareness, and that under certain circumstances, the mere recognition of race as a factor . . . is not in itself racism."

Responding to Cohen's argument, Williams said: "In this situation and all others, common sense in my constant guard. Common sense becomes racism when skin color becomes a formula for figuring out who is a danger to me."

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/10/22/muslims/index.html

And where are the local hypocrite police who are often so present in these threads?

[Tempra]

Oh, and finally, George W Bush reveals his cleverness yet again by naming his inability to privatize Social Security (THANK GOD! how much worse would the recession be if he'd succeeded?) as his greatest failure, not starting two utterly useless, stupid and corrupt wars that destroyed our country, our international standing and made Americans as bad as North Korea, Germany, Japan and the USSR in terms of inhumanity and torture.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/george-w-bush-reveals-his_n_772209.html

This type of hyperbole does nothing but make you look bad.

[Dinsdale!]

The firing of Juan Williams is about bigotry. That bigotry is NPR's. Juan Williams has been their analyst on Civil Rights affairs for many years, and they have not been happy with his opinions. They have taken this opportunity to fire him so they can find somebody who will toe their line. This is another example of a white controlled institution attempting to usurp the narrative of the civil rights movement from an African-American. They wanted a token black. They got somebody with his own opinions. As Malcolm X pointed out decades ago, their preference is for a house negro who will parrot their lines. In this way they hope to legitimize their position by only legitimizing Blacks who agree with it.

The firing is ironic. Juan Williams, a man who has surely thought about race and bigotry in great depth, is fired for explaining his racist emotional reaction to a situation and his conscious overcoming it. His bosses sound like Stephen Colbert's character saying, "I don't see race." There is nobody who doesn't have instinctive bigoted reactions. There are many people who claim they don't have these reactions while consciously or unconsciously avoiding certain neighborhoods.

[Swordfish]

The firing of Juan Williams is about bigotry. That bigotry is NPR's. Juan Williams has been their analyst on Civil Rights affairs for many years, and they have not been happy with his opinions. They have taken this opportunity to fire him so they can find somebody who will toe their line. This is another example of a white controlled institution attempting to usurp the narrative of the civil rights movement from an African-American. They wanted a token black. They got somebody with his own opinions. As Malcolm X pointed out decades ago, their preference is for a house negro who will parrot their lines. In this way they hope to legitimize their position by only legitimizing Blacks who agree with it.

The firing is ironic. Juan Williams, a man who has surely thought about race and bigotry in great depth, is fired for explaining his racist emotional reaction to a situation and his conscious overcoming it. His bosses sound like Stephen Colbert's character saying, "I don't see race." There is nobody who doesn't have instinctive bigoted reactions. There are many people who claim they don't have these reactions while consciously or unconsciously avoiding certain neighborhoods.

Wow.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Triskele,

His emotion was bigoted. His views are not racist unless he acts on those emotions or desires that others act on his emotion.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Triskele,

So, seeing someone and having an emotional reaction you acknowledge as irrational is the same as acting on that irrational emotion by barring youn black men from your establishment with a buzzer system?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Triskele,

My apologies it was my mistaken impression that you were sugesting NPR acted properly in firing Juan Williams. I was attempting to point out the context of Williams 1986 statement as compaired with the context of his statement on O'Reilly's show.

[Swordfish]

Triskele,

His emotion was bigoted. His views are not racist unless he acts on those emotions or desires that others act on his emotion.

Huh? A person can;t be racist unless they act on their racist views? That's utterly nonsensical.

I don't think willians is racist and I don't think his comments were that big of a deal, but this post is ridiculous.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

It's so nice to see the dog and pony side show is still so effective at keeping people distracted.

[ThinkerX]

Looks like the Health Care Reform Fraud is getting set to collapse...again:

http://www.msnbc.msn...lth-health_care

WASHINGTON — The new health care law wasn't supposed to undercut employer plans that have provided most people in the U.S. with coverage for generations.

But last week a leading manufacturer told workers their costs will jump partly because of the law. Also, a Democratic governor laid out a scheme for employers to get out of health care by shifting workers into taxpayer-subsidized insurance markets that open in 2014.

While it's too early to proclaim the demise of job-based coverage, corporate number crunchers are looking at options that could lead to major changes "The economics of dropping existing coverage is about to become very attractive to many employers, both public and private," said Gov. Phil Bredesen, D-Tenn.

That's just not going to happen, White House officials say.

"The absolute certainty about the Affordable Care Act is that for many, many employers who cover millions of people, it increases the incentives for them to offer coverage," said Jason Furman, an economic adviser to President Barack Obama.

Employers weigh sending workers on their own <BR itxtvisited="1">Yet at least one major employer has shifted a greater share of plan costs to workers, and others are weighing the pros and cons of eventually forcing employees to strike out on their own.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Swordfish,

Huh? A person can;t be racist unless they act on their racist views? That's utterly nonsensical.

I don't think willians is racist and I don't think his comments were that big of a deal, but this post is ridiculous.

Then, perhaps I'm not making myself clear. Someone can have a visceral emotional reaction without believing the emotion is a good one or taking action based upon that emotion. However, they can then allow their intellect to override their emotion. Where someone has that sort of reaction but goes with their head and not their heart I would assert that they are not racist despite the emotion they have felt. Make any sense? Emotions are very difficult to control, actions based upon emotion are easier to deal with.

Tormund,

Good point.

Triskele,

I do see what you mean. That's part of the reason I said Williams statement was irrational from the first moment I heard about it. The emotional reaction simply doesn't follow logically. It was a bigoted emotion.

[alguien]

Some interesting articles I read this morning:

How Rappers Are Like Republicans

Thomas Chatterton Williams--who's wagged his finger at President Obama's iPod and may or may not listen closely to hip-hop--writes in The Root this week that rappers have more in common with Republicans than the casual observer might think. "The message coming out of hip-hop is decidedly right of center," Williams writes. As evidence, he notes that many rappers are "pro-gun rights," "atavistically homophobic," and "unquestioningly God-fearing"--all points, he says, that might resonate with the American right wing.

Eight False Things the Public "Knows" Prior to Election Day

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.

Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.

Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.

Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.

Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.

Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.

Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.

Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.

Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

Poll: Democratic Enthusiasm Surges as Election Day Approaches

A new Newsweek poll released today provided more evidence that Democrats are not going lie down and let Republicans take control of Congress without a fight. The much discussed enthusiasm gap has been virtually closed. In fact, both registered and likely voters expressed a preference that Democrats keep control of Congress.

...

It would be misreading this data to assume that the Democrats have suddenly become more popular. Instead, a more likely explanation is that the Democratic base is finally engaged and paying attention. They have awakened from their 2008 Obama victory hangover, and are understanding the importance of 2010. It is no coincidence that their great awakening occurred after President Obama went back out on the campaign trail. No one else in the party inspires and rallies Democrats like Obama.

Is the tide about to turn? Republicans fight rising panic as polls suggest Democrats are closing the gap - thanks to the Tea Party

A bit encouraging.

[The Progressive]

Triskele,

My apologies it was my mistaken impression that you were sugesting NPR acted properly in firing Juan Williams. I was attempting to point out the context of Williams 1986 statement as compaired with the context of his statement on O'Reilly's show.

Scot,

You don't think that NPR was right to discharge an employer who repeatedly violated its code of ethic?

His emotion was bigoted. His views are not racist unless he acts on those emotions or desires that others act on his emotion.

You didn't seem to have this much problem when Sanchez expressed his bigotry against Jews (but did not action) and was discharged for that.

Is bigotry against Muslims still fair game as some here have wondered, Scot?

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.

Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/03/21/GR2009032100104.html

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.

Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

Bit of sophistry there eh? It still costs the same, if not as much as other things.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.

Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

So it is going broke, there are fewer workers per retiree, and more people are living to reach retirement age. They confirmed the opinion while appearing to refute it. Very clever.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.

Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

Except all that money that gets taken over to the middle east and exploded. And all the money that goes to interest on the debt.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Lev,

No, bigotry against Muslims is not okay.

The difference, in my opinion, is Sanchez made a bizarre statement about Jews owing the media in the U.S. That this cabal of Jewish control was why Stewart was always making fun of him.

Williams didn't make a statement of fact. He expressed an emotion he sometimes feels, that he appears to understand is a bigoted emotion, in the course of a discussion where Williams was saying we shouldn't treat Muslims differently from everyone else.

In my opinion that's an important distinction between the two circumstances.