Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
How Right-Wing Cult Leader Sun Myung Moon Bought Washington
From Alternet:
With money, media and promotion of a conservative political agenda, a self-styled Messiah and convicted felon became a frequent guest at the White House.
“Moon looked on the media as almost the nervous system for a global empire. Moon was the brain, and the media are to be, or were to be, the communications vehicle for his body politic surrounding the globe.”
In January 1992, PBS Frontline broadcast a film I directed that documented the amazing rise, fall and subsequent resurrection of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church movement. The documentary showed how, through an adroit combination of money, media and the consistent promotion of a conservative political agenda, a self-styled Messiah and convicted felon had rapidly reinvented himself and was soon hailed at the White House.
At the time, few Americans paid…
No, It’s not Elitist to Think the Tea-Baggers Are Idiots
From Alternet:
A post over at the Seminal is taking “liberal elitism” to task for not taking the Tea Party people seriously, and that that will lead to the election of Sarah Palin and other such ilk.
To quote our vice president, malarkey.
While I have long argued that there is too much elitism on the left for my tastes, there’s a wide gulf between holding your nose in the air for no good reason and dumbing yourself down in order to appeal to the lowest common idiotic denominator. Suck is the case with the Tea Party group and their leaders like Palin.
Far from the liberals in the ’70s who were clearly not responsive enough to the middle class, leading to the rise of Nixon and resentment politics, today’s left has gone to great…
In House Record, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists?
By Robert Pear for the NY Times:
WASHINGTON — In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress.
Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points…
The Real Deficit Hawks: Where’s the Outrage Over the Defense Budget?
David Sirota writes on Salon:
Let’s say you’re a congressperson or “tea party” leader looking to champion deficit reduction — a cause 38 percent of Americans tell pollsters they support. And let’s say you’re deciding whether to back two pieces of imminent legislation.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the first bill’s spending provisions cost $100 billion annually and its tax and budget-cutting provisions recoup $111 billion annually, thus reducing total federal expenditures by $11 billion each year. The second bill proposes $636 billion in annual spending and recoups nothing. Over 10 years, the first bill would spend $1 trillion and recover $1.11 trillion — a fantastic return on taxpayer investment. Meanwhile, the second bill puts us on a path to spend $6.3 trillion in the same time.
Save $110 billion, or…
Neo-Nazi in Western Australia’s Parliament Cites Hitler
Ultra Conservative (read: Neo-Nazi) MP Peter Abetz cited Hitler in a speech he gave in Western Australia’s Legislative Assembly, trying to bolster support for new stop and search laws. From Australia’s ABC News:
There has been fiery debate in State Parliament over the government’s legislation proposing greater stop and search powers for police, with comparisons made to Nazi Germany.
The legislation would allow police to search people for weapons and drugs in areas such as Northbridge without having to prove grounds of suspicion.
Last night Liberal backbencher Peter Abetz spoke in support of the legislation and used the example of Hitler.
He said the dictator gained support because he provided people security in a time of anarchy.
The Opposition’s Mark McGowan today seized on the comments in State Parliament.
But Mr Abetz says he was not…
237 Millionaires in U.S. Congress
Brian Montopoli writes in CBS News’ Political Hotsheet:
Even in tough times, it’s good to be a lawmaker: According to a report released by the Center for Responsive Politics, there are 237 millionaires serving in Congress, according to 2008 figures.
That’s a slight decline from the previous year, when there were 239 millionaires in the House and Senate. But it still reflects the fact that the average lawmaker is far wealthier than his or her typical constituent. While about one percent of Americans are millionaires, 44 percent of those serving in Congress can claim as much.
“The biggest takeaway from all of this is that even thought the collective wealth of members of congress appears to have declined, members of Congress are still so much more wealthy than the average American — and…
Republican Councilman Explains his Paganism
The GOP must be really confused by this. Score one for freedom of religion!
Last week, Councilman-elect Dan Halloran (R-Bayside) narrowly defeated a Democratic candidate in one of the nation’s most liberal cities. Now comes the hard part: explaining his religious beliefs to the press. For the past two decades, the cop-turned-lawyer has been a devout believer in Theodism, a pre-Christian faith rooted in Celtic and Germanic tribal religions. “Understanding my theology is a little difficult for mainstreamers,” admits Halloran, who serves as the “First Atheling,” or king, of a local tribe of 120 followers called New Normandy.
The incoming Councilman tells the Post that his faith is a “cousin religion” to Hinduism, and downplays the role of “humane” animal sacrifices as nothing more than “processing food in a specific way.” “If a Christian goes to a Greek Orthodox lamb roast for Easter, there is nothing considered wrong with that. If a Jewish person decides to keep kosher, [it's similar],” he said. “To say ‘animal sacrifice’ makes it sound like you’re killing an animal willy-nilly.”
The Great Foreclosure Robbery Of The 21st Century
By Robert Singer
The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that there have now been 1,000,000 foreclosures filed so far in 2009 and the group expects the foreclosure number to double before the end of the year.
U.S. Home Vacancies Hit 18.7 Million on Bank Seizures (Update2) [1]
Thanks to our controlled and uncontrolled media, we know when you take the derivative of the foreclosure crisis you get those greedy predatory lenders at AIG, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America plotting to steal our tacky (I mean tract-y) houses.
Conventional wisdumb and the media always blame the usual suspects and FOX News wraps it up: “It’s the age-old Wall Street vs. Main Street smackdown again”
Is this foreclosure for profit?
Read the rest at the Marketoracle
The Great U.S. Housing Market Foreclosure Robbery Of The 21st Century
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GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
From Think Progress:
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
[Read more at Think Progress]
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House Passes Health Care Reform Bill
Michael Mcauliff writes in the New York Daily News:
The biggest overhaul of America’s medical system since Medicare passed with a tight vote in the House of Representatives Saturday night. The bill passed with a vote of 220 to 215, with only one single Republican — Joseph Cao from Louisana — choose “Yea.”
The health reform bill included a controversial amendment to restrict coverage of abortion.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to bring up the abortion amendment after a deal with conservative Democrats collapsed and they threatened to sink the whole bill.
The move enraged liberals, but most agreed to stay onboard and President Obama traveled to the House to make a personal appeal and seal the deal.
Pelosi hailed the progress as delivering on the promise of Obama’s election. “President Obama’s leadership gives…
Breckenridge Votes to Legalize Pot
From CBS:
Breckenridge made pot legal, Denver rejected a get-tough proposal on unlicensed drivers, and tax hikes were turned back around the state Tuesday in municipal elections that appeared to show a public in an anti-government mood.
In Breckenridge, 72 percent of voters in early returns voted to make up to 1 ounce of marijuana legal for adults over 21. The measure is largely symbolic — pot possession is still against state law — but supporters said they wanted to send a message to local law enforcement to stop busting small-time pot smokers.
[Read more at CBS]
Reverend Billy Is Glad He Ran (And I’m glad I voted for him)
In local politics, as well as national, we needs third party voices to be heard. Now more than ever.
November 3, 2009
I feel closer to solving the riddle of activism in 2009. We’ve known how conservative the Democrat/Working Families and the Republican/Independence Parties are. It’s Coke and Pepsi, it’s McDonalds and Burger King. The two party system enforces a strict censorship. We had to experience first-hand the harsh silence of it.The hundreds upon hundreds of articles in the New York Times that never mention a third party… we had to experience this first-hand. It goes hand in hand with the arresting of people in small groups, such as peace vigils in the parks, surrounded by police and surveillance. The criminalizing of dissent goes hand in hand with the $50 million built environment of electronic ads. The imitation of democracy continues on our televisions and computers, but you can’t practice it yourself in public space…
Is ‘V’ Anti-Obama Propaganda?
Didn’t have a chance to see the premiere, but sure do remember the original series, it was creepy TV for a kid to watch. Last I checked David Icke wasn’t running ABC, but then again, that’s the rub, we can’t tell who the lizard people are, only he can…
Jason Linkins writes on Huffington Post:
Tonight, on the teevee, ABC will relaunch the V franchise, because it sure beats having a new idea! The series’s first incarnation — which debuted on NBC as a mini-series back in 1983, spinning into a regular series that ran until 1985 — told the story of alien visitors, who arrived on our planet talking a good game about goodwill and peace, but were actually hamster-devouring creatures bent on stealing the Earth’s water, eating people, and reminding people of Nazis. By a stroke of luck, the Visitors came to Earth in uniforms with precisely the sort of epaulets and hairstyles that they needed to earn our early-1980s trust.
Now, this new series is set to launch, and with it comes the enormous fear that somehow, ABC intends it as covert anti-Obama propaganda. YES, THIS IS A TRUE THING, HAPPENING IN OUR LIVES.
