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I'd forgotten about this; it's an oldie but a goodie.
THE OWLS' NEST - Mostly U.S. Politics
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Colbert "Hijacks" Palin's New TV Channel Website
Sarah Palin has started a new TV channel with an associated website, sarahpalinchannel.com. Unfortunately for her, she didn't buy associated domain names such as thesarahpalinchannel.com -- which was bought by Stephen Colbert.
At Colbert's site, you find that the site bills itself as: "The only Sarah Palin Channel on the internet with a definite article in the address!" It invites you to "Check out today's exclusive content!" -- a link which takes you to a collection of clips of Colbert's many satires of Palin.
Here's how he covered it:
At Colbert's site, you find that the site bills itself as: "The only Sarah Palin Channel on the internet with a definite article in the address!" It invites you to "Check out today's exclusive content!" -- a link which takes you to a collection of clips of Colbert's many satires of Palin.
Here's how he covered it:
"I have always been a huge fan of Sarah Palin. She's a strong leader with a proven history of selflessness. I mean, in the midst of her 2008 campaign, she took the time to help out a struggling senior with severely impaired judgment."
Sarah Palin Is Just Amazing!
She's the best thing that ever happened to American politics! Don't think so? Listen to her introduction from this guy (but you may not want to hear Palin's actual speech):
Taxes Will Keep Democracy On The March! (1943)
Once upon a time, it was considered patriotic to pay your taxes, as shown in this Donald Duck film clip from 1943, "The Spirit of '43," in which Donald is torn between the "thrifty" and the "spendthrift" aspects of his personality. Spend, for the Axis -- or save, for taxes? Guns, guns, all kind of guns -- to blast the aggressors from the seas! Taxes -- to bury the Axis!
Economizing during wartime was the rule until Bush accompanied his invasion of Iraq with enormous tax cuts -- and an exhortation to celebrate freedom by continuing the great American pastime of shopping!
New Rule: Stop The Search For ET
New Rule: Creationist Ken Ham, who runs the Creation Museum and said this week that we should call off the search for extraterrestrial life because aliens haven't heard the word of Jesus, and thus are going to hell anyway, must listen to this alternative point of view from Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson ...
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Paul Ryan's Compassion For The Poors
Click here for an article by xaxnar at Daily Kos entitled "Paul Ryan Poverty Scam Eviscerated."
Paul Ryan, who was the beneficiary of generous social programs when, as a child, the death of his father left his family in difficult circumstances, and who then, once he had become successful, quickly pulled up the ladder behind him, is attempting to portray Republicans as being gravely concerned with the plight of the poor (also known as the 47%, or the looters and moochers).
The article cites Paul Krugman (Krugtron the Invincible!) as follows:
Paul Ryan, who was the beneficiary of generous social programs when, as a child, the death of his father left his family in difficult circumstances, and who then, once he had become successful, quickly pulled up the ladder behind him, is attempting to portray Republicans as being gravely concerned with the plight of the poor (also known as the 47%, or the looters and moochers).
The article cites Paul Krugman (Krugtron the Invincible!) as follows:
...and what the whole Beltway media crowd has done – is to slot Ryan into a role someone is supposed to be playing in their political play, that of the thoughtful, serious conservative wonk. In reality, Ryan is nothing like that; he’s a hard-core conservative, with a voting record as far right as Michelle Bachman’s, who has shown no competence at all on the numbers thing.The Krugman quote is from 2012, and is still golden today.
What Ryan is good at is exploiting the willful gullibility of the Beltway media, using a soft-focus style to play into their desire to have a conservative wonk they can say nice things about. And apparently the trick still works.
Rule By The Elites
Click here for an article by Tim Donovan at AlterNet entitled "Clueless Rich Kids on the Rise: How Millennial Aristocrats Will Destroy Our Future."
The article is about the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and mostly the spiralling trend of inherited wealth. It refers to a recent survey:
The top three are the Walton family (Wal-Mart), with $165 billion; the Koch family (Koch Industries), with $89 billion; and the Mars family, with $60 billion -- Mars bars, Snickers, M&Ms, but also Uncle Ben's rice and pet food brands Pedigree and Whiskas.
But what about the concentration of political power in family dynasties? George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1988; his son, George W. Bush, was president from 2000 to 2008. Bill Clinton was president from 1992 to 2000; his wife, Hillary, is the frontrunner in the race for the presidency in 2016. If she were to be elected and serve two terms, that would mean that the U.S. presidency would have been controlled by members of just two families for 28 years out of 36 (Barack Obama's eight years being the lone outsider intrusion). But let's not forget that brother Jeb Bush has been -- and may be again -- a prominent Republican candidate for 2016. If he can fight off Tea Party attacks, the choice in 2016 may be: Clinton or Bush?
If Hillary or Jeb should be elected in 2016 and serve two terms, what would be the prospects in 2024? Well, by then perhaps the country will be ready for Jeb's son (and W.'s nephew), George Prescott Bush, who recently won an easy victory (75/25) in the Republican primary for the office of Texas land commissioner, and who is strongly favored (in deep red Texas) to defeat his Democrat opponent in November. Or how about Chelsea Clinton? She's active in the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative; with degrees from Stanford (Highest Honors and a B.A. in history), Oxford (Ph.D. in International Relations), and Columbia (Master in Public Health), she sits on a number of boards of corporations and foundations, and has worked at NBC since November 2011. She was born when her father was Governor of Arkansas, and she moved into the White House for eight years at the age of 12; a political future, perhaps?
That's just the Bushes and the Clintons, but there are a number of other prominent American political families.
Al Gore, Clinton's vice-president and winner of the popular vote for the presidency in 2000, spent 16 years in the U.S. Congress and the Tennessee Senate, and he's the son of U.S. Senator Al Gore Sr.
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachussets and Republican candidate for the presidency in 2012, is the son of George Romney, who was chairman of American Motors, Governor of Michigan, and initially a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president in 1968.
Rand Paul (Aqua Buddah), Tea Party darling and Senator from Kentucky, was elected in the Republican wave of 2010, and is a potential candidate (in some polls considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination) in 2016. His father, Ron Paul, was a Texas congressman for 23 years, and ran for president three times.
Jason Carter, a Georgia State Senator, is running for Governor in November; his grandfather is James Earl Carter, better known as Jimmy, U.S. President 39. Michelle Nunn, daughter of the influential Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, is running for the U.S. Senate. Andrew Cuomo is Governor of New York, the position his father, Mario Cuomo, held for three terms, and he is often the subject of speculation about a position in federal politics.
The name "Landrieu" is a prominent one in Louisiana. For eight years, Moon Landrieu was mayor of New Orleans, a position now held by his son Mitch; Mitch's sister Mary is U.S. Senator from Louisiana. Mark Begich, Senator from Alaska, is the son of Nick Begich, who died in a plane crash after serving in the U.S. Senate for eight years -- and who then defeated his opponent, 56/44, in the next election -- posthumously!
Speaking of American political dynasties, has anyone heard the name "Kennedy"?
The article is about the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and mostly the spiralling trend of inherited wealth. It refers to a recent survey:
The survey, which polled 680 Americans holding at least $3 million in investable assets, unearthed a troubling trend — the birth of a new American aristocracy. As the survey notes, “Nearly three-quarters of those over 69, and 61% of Baby Boomers, were the first generation to accumulate significant wealth. Among the younger Millennial generation, inherited wealth is more common. About two-thirds are from families in which they are the second, third or fourth generation to be wealthy.”Click here for an article by Luisa Kroll in Forbes entitled "America's Richest Families: 185 Clans With Billion Dollar Fortunes."
The top three are the Walton family (Wal-Mart), with $165 billion; the Koch family (Koch Industries), with $89 billion; and the Mars family, with $60 billion -- Mars bars, Snickers, M&Ms, but also Uncle Ben's rice and pet food brands Pedigree and Whiskas.
But what about the concentration of political power in family dynasties? George H.W. Bush was elected president in 1988; his son, George W. Bush, was president from 2000 to 2008. Bill Clinton was president from 1992 to 2000; his wife, Hillary, is the frontrunner in the race for the presidency in 2016. If she were to be elected and serve two terms, that would mean that the U.S. presidency would have been controlled by members of just two families for 28 years out of 36 (Barack Obama's eight years being the lone outsider intrusion). But let's not forget that brother Jeb Bush has been -- and may be again -- a prominent Republican candidate for 2016. If he can fight off Tea Party attacks, the choice in 2016 may be: Clinton or Bush?
If Hillary or Jeb should be elected in 2016 and serve two terms, what would be the prospects in 2024? Well, by then perhaps the country will be ready for Jeb's son (and W.'s nephew), George Prescott Bush, who recently won an easy victory (75/25) in the Republican primary for the office of Texas land commissioner, and who is strongly favored (in deep red Texas) to defeat his Democrat opponent in November. Or how about Chelsea Clinton? She's active in the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative; with degrees from Stanford (Highest Honors and a B.A. in history), Oxford (Ph.D. in International Relations), and Columbia (Master in Public Health), she sits on a number of boards of corporations and foundations, and has worked at NBC since November 2011. She was born when her father was Governor of Arkansas, and she moved into the White House for eight years at the age of 12; a political future, perhaps?
That's just the Bushes and the Clintons, but there are a number of other prominent American political families.
Al Gore, Clinton's vice-president and winner of the popular vote for the presidency in 2000, spent 16 years in the U.S. Congress and the Tennessee Senate, and he's the son of U.S. Senator Al Gore Sr.
Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachussets and Republican candidate for the presidency in 2012, is the son of George Romney, who was chairman of American Motors, Governor of Michigan, and initially a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president in 1968.
Rand Paul (Aqua Buddah), Tea Party darling and Senator from Kentucky, was elected in the Republican wave of 2010, and is a potential candidate (in some polls considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination) in 2016. His father, Ron Paul, was a Texas congressman for 23 years, and ran for president three times.
Jason Carter, a Georgia State Senator, is running for Governor in November; his grandfather is James Earl Carter, better known as Jimmy, U.S. President 39. Michelle Nunn, daughter of the influential Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, is running for the U.S. Senate. Andrew Cuomo is Governor of New York, the position his father, Mario Cuomo, held for three terms, and he is often the subject of speculation about a position in federal politics.
The name "Landrieu" is a prominent one in Louisiana. For eight years, Moon Landrieu was mayor of New Orleans, a position now held by his son Mitch; Mitch's sister Mary is U.S. Senator from Louisiana. Mark Begich, Senator from Alaska, is the son of Nick Begich, who died in a plane crash after serving in the U.S. Senate for eight years -- and who then defeated his opponent, 56/44, in the next election -- posthumously!
Speaking of American political dynasties, has anyone heard the name "Kennedy"?
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Under The Right-Wing Rock (Shower After Reading)
Click here for a Digby post at Hullabaloo entitled "Kooky Extremist Cartoon." She says:
After I googled this silly story to get a sense of what this cartoon is I found that it's a series of episodes that are carried all over the internet on Tea party and libertarian web sites. It's a fascinating amalgam of right wing conspiracy theories, libertarian myth and conservative shibboleth. I think it may be the most accurate representation of the ideologically confused, hysterical right I've ever seen.Further:
There are three "seasons" of this thing, more than any normal person could ever watch in a sitting. And perhaps the most hilarious thing about it is the fact that it bills itself this way:Here's another right-wing blog's explanation of the cartoon:Conrad the Constitution. Web series that follows Conrad, the living breathing U.S. Constitution.I'm going to guess they're unaware that the concept of a "living" Constitution is the hallmark of liberal jurisprudence.
"Tim Fox is a graduate of San Diego State University where he studied film and television production. Having worked on many projects since graduation, Tim has focused his talents on exposing the errors in American politics today. Tim, along with his older brother Jay, are the creators of a new animated web series called Conrad the constitution. The series follows Conrad, the friendly constitution next door, as he guards his amendments from frequent molestation;in Washington DC. Meant to educate and entertain its audience, Conrad pulls no punches, and leaves no stone unturned.Not surprisingly, Tim Fox received a visit from the Secret Service. The editors of a sympathetic blog, 21stcenturywire.com, put it this way:
The episode in question depicts the cartoon character, Conrad the Constitution (image, left), after passing out on paint fumes, falls in a dream sequence where he traveled six years into the future only to discover an America in tatters and under Marshal Law [sic] – with Obama still in the White House. Conrad then engineers a plan to set the nation free from dictatorship by assassinating the President. When Conrad finally awakens from his nightmare, he realises it was just a dream after being brought around by friend Ron Paul.After the break, see the complete comment section from that site -- warning: It isn't pretty -- and the animated video itself.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Tyranny!
Jose Antonio Fernandez was given two minutes to address a public meeting of the Miami-Dade County Commission, and he didn't do himself any favors. He ran a plant nursery, and in 2011 was ordered to pay $316,000 in restitution for environmental damage he had caused to wetlands. He hadn't paid any of it, and his house was being seized to help pay. From Wonkette:
And so Fernandez showed up at the commission meeting in his best “No to United Nations Agenda 21″ T-shirt and let the commissioners know that he was not going to stand for being treated like a victim of Castro’s Cuba.
“I dare you to sell my house,” Fernandez told commissioners Tuesday. “You have become tyrants. You have become a corrupted government. You have destroyed my family. And hundreds of families. And I said: enough. I am the people. And the time that you sell the house, my constitution gives me the right to shoot every one of you,” he concluded, pointing at the dais. “Shoot ’em.”However, things have degenerated to such a state of tyranny in Obama's America that he was arrested and is being held on 13 felony counts for threatening public servants. Video below:
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
A Rational Argument From The Right (?)
Jim Gilchrist, right-winger extraordinaire, compares a southern border fence to the D-Day landings. He's a cofounder of the Minuteman Project, and he wants "another major, massive assembly of minutemen and women along the entire border -- not just the Arizona border this time, but the entire 2,000-mile border from San Diego, California, to Brownsville, Texas. I would need 3,500 volunteers to spend 30 days in certain areas, the unprotected areas, along that 2,000-mile border."
By all means, we must defend ourselves against those brown people trying to cross the desert and ford the rivers to join this wonderful free nation, because they'll destroy America as we know it. (He acknowledges that there'll be a 2% cohort of crazies they'll have to deal with; nice call, Jim, but maybe your estimate is a tad low.)
All this is presented on a "news" channel, "The Daily Ledger," the money-making brainchild of a Southern California newscaster named Graham Ledger. He (Ledger) helps along the interview with comments such as "Just to be clear, for detractors, you're not vigilantes, you're not down there to spur on violence; you're down there as red-white-and-blue Americans to try and plug a hole in a sinking ship. Correct?"
Why yes, that is correct, Graham, and furthermore, liberty and freedom.
Ledger: Yadda yadda yadda, complete violation of our sovereignty, lawlessness.
Gilchrist: "Yes that's the conduct du jour of America, a nation that -- well, once, not so long ago, was heralded as a nation governed by the rule of law. It is now a nation that in short order will be governed by mob rule."
Oh, noes. Please save us from the brown hordes, the nannies and gardeners who threaten the existence of our nation.
Click here for a great article in more depth on this subject by David Niewert.
By all means, we must defend ourselves against those brown people trying to cross the desert and ford the rivers to join this wonderful free nation, because they'll destroy America as we know it. (He acknowledges that there'll be a 2% cohort of crazies they'll have to deal with; nice call, Jim, but maybe your estimate is a tad low.)
All this is presented on a "news" channel, "The Daily Ledger," the money-making brainchild of a Southern California newscaster named Graham Ledger. He (Ledger) helps along the interview with comments such as "Just to be clear, for detractors, you're not vigilantes, you're not down there to spur on violence; you're down there as red-white-and-blue Americans to try and plug a hole in a sinking ship. Correct?"
Why yes, that is correct, Graham, and furthermore, liberty and freedom.
Ledger: Yadda yadda yadda, complete violation of our sovereignty, lawlessness.
Gilchrist: "Yes that's the conduct du jour of America, a nation that -- well, once, not so long ago, was heralded as a nation governed by the rule of law. It is now a nation that in short order will be governed by mob rule."
Oh, noes. Please save us from the brown hordes, the nannies and gardeners who threaten the existence of our nation.
Click here for a great article in more depth on this subject by David Niewert.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Rick Santorum On Contraception (Hint: It's Bad!)
Santorum (runner-up to Romney in the 2012 Republican primaries):
One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before [hey, Rick, you're not president quite yet] is what I think is the danger of contraception. The whole sexual libertine idea that many in the Christian faith have said, well, it's ok, contraception's ok. But it's not ok.
It's a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. It is supposed to be within marriage. It is supposed to be for purposes that are yes, conjugal and also unitive but also procreative and that's the perfect way that sexual union should happen. When you take any part of that out, we diminish the act.
If you can take one part out, if it's not for the purpose of procreation, that's not one of the reasons you diminish this very special bond between men and women. So why can't you take other parts of it out? It becomes deconstructed to the point where it's simply pleasure...
I'm not runnning for preacher, I'm not running for pastor. But these are important public policy issues. These have profound impact on the health of our society. I'm not talking about moral health, although clearly moral health, but I'm talking economic health, I'm talking about out of wedlock birth rates, sexually transmitted diseases.
These are profound issues that we only like to talk about from a scientific point of view. Well that's one point of view, but we also need to have the courage to talk about the moral aspects of it and the purpose and rationale for why we do what we do.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Lee Atwater Speaks: The Southern Strategy
According to Wikipedia: "Harvey LeRoy 'Lee' Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist to the Republican Party. He was an advisor to U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee."
Atwater was one of the first ruthless, take-no-prisoners Republican consultants who have done so much to poison political discourse. His "dirty tricks" in Republican political campaigns are legendary. He became a protege to Republican mastermind Ed Rollins, who says Atwater ran a dirty tricks operation against Democratic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro, including publicizing the fact that Ferraro's parents had been indicted on numbers running in the 1940s. Rollins also described Atwater as "ruthless," "Ollie North in civilian clothes," and someone who "just had to drive in one more stake."
As a prelude to the audio clip that follows, Wikipedia claims the interview began:
"Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry S. Dent, Sr. and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now [the new Southern Strategy of Ronald Reagan] doesn't have to do that. All you have to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues he's campaigned on since 1964, and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.
"Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?"
And the Atwater audio follows, with a transcript beneath. In the video, the captioning starts out: "In 1981, the legendarily brutal campaign consultant Lee Atwater was working in Ronald Reagan's White House when he was interviewed by Alexander Lamis."
The second frame says: "In this audio, made public for the first time ever, Atwater lays out how the Republicans can win the vote of racists without sounding racist themselves."
TRANSCRIPT:
"Here's how I would approach that issue as a -- as a statistician or a political scientist -- or, no, as a psychologist, which I'm not, is -- is how abstract you -- you handle the race thing. In other words, you start out -- and now y'all aren't quoting me on this, are you?
"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968, you can’t say 'nigger'; that hurts you. It backfires. So you say stuff like 'forced busing,' 'states’ rights,' and all that stuff. And you’re getting so abstract now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all of these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously, maybe that is part of it; I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract and that coded, that we're -- we're doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me? Because obviously sitting around saying 'We want to cut taxes,' 'We want to cut this,' and 'We want' -- is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'nigger, nigger.' You know.
"So any way you look at it, race is coming on the back burner."
Atwater is believed to have repented of his political sins on his deathbed before succumbing to cancer; others say he was being disingenuous, "spinning to the end."
Interesting guy. May he rest in -- whatever state he deserves.
Atwater was one of the first ruthless, take-no-prisoners Republican consultants who have done so much to poison political discourse. His "dirty tricks" in Republican political campaigns are legendary. He became a protege to Republican mastermind Ed Rollins, who says Atwater ran a dirty tricks operation against Democratic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro, including publicizing the fact that Ferraro's parents had been indicted on numbers running in the 1940s. Rollins also described Atwater as "ruthless," "Ollie North in civilian clothes," and someone who "just had to drive in one more stake."
As a prelude to the audio clip that follows, Wikipedia claims the interview began:
"Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry S. Dent, Sr. and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now [the new Southern Strategy of Ronald Reagan] doesn't have to do that. All you have to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues he's campaigned on since 1964, and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.
"Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?"
And the Atwater audio follows, with a transcript beneath. In the video, the captioning starts out: "In 1981, the legendarily brutal campaign consultant Lee Atwater was working in Ronald Reagan's White House when he was interviewed by Alexander Lamis."
The second frame says: "In this audio, made public for the first time ever, Atwater lays out how the Republicans can win the vote of racists without sounding racist themselves."
TRANSCRIPT:
"Here's how I would approach that issue as a -- as a statistician or a political scientist -- or, no, as a psychologist, which I'm not, is -- is how abstract you -- you handle the race thing. In other words, you start out -- and now y'all aren't quoting me on this, are you?
"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968, you can’t say 'nigger'; that hurts you. It backfires. So you say stuff like 'forced busing,' 'states’ rights,' and all that stuff. And you’re getting so abstract now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all of these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously, maybe that is part of it; I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract and that coded, that we're -- we're doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me? Because obviously sitting around saying 'We want to cut taxes,' 'We want to cut this,' and 'We want' -- is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'nigger, nigger.' You know.
"So any way you look at it, race is coming on the back burner."
Atwater is believed to have repented of his political sins on his deathbed before succumbing to cancer; others say he was being disingenuous, "spinning to the end."
Interesting guy. May he rest in -- whatever state he deserves.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Krugman Hits It Out Of The Park - Again
Click here for Elias Isquith's coverage at Salon -- entitled 'Paul Krugman blasts the GOP’s plutocratic “charlatans and cranks'” -- of Krugman's NYT article. Krugman kicks butt and takes names -- one name being charlatan and crank Art Laffer, a huge purveyor since the Reagan days of junk economics and trickle-down theory, the proponent of the totally discredited Laffer Curve -- see the Wikipedia article here.
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