As I began my evening of news trolling (yet another sign of old age creeping in) I was impressed and heartened by a news story on ABC.  In it, Charles Gibson attempts to debunk the myth that Health Care Reform will result in “Death Panels” and that the government will come and kill grandma.  It continued a story that I saw earlier on Good Morning America (this is why I watch ABC in the mornings, not MSNBC).

For starters, the so-called “Death Panel” is simply a provision that allows you, the patient, to discuss end-of-life issues with your doctor.  The conversation is initiated by you, and the decisions are made by you.  Whether you want to die at home in peace, or have the hospital hook you up, sit you in a corner and decorate you for Christmas, it’s totally your decision.  This is the link to the GMA video.  Watch it and make your own judgments.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8291397

Now of course this isn’t going to do anything to satisfy the ignorant masses on the right.  Their vitriol goes way beyond health care, and I don’t have to explain where it’s really coming from.  However, it always kind of frustrates me when our MSM allows lies like “euthanasia”, “rationing”, and “government decisions” to run rampant without even an attempt at fact-checking.  The problem is that truth just isn’t a “sexy” enough story.  The media can spend endless weeks speculating on what killed Michael Jackson, but can’t be bother to debunk the lies coming from right-wing extremist like Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich.  They’ll spend 5 days fact-checking President Obama when he says C-A-T spells cat, yet can’t spend 5 minutes fact-checking Silly Sarah’s claim of “Obama Death Panels”.  Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world, while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”  It doesn’t help when the MSM hides the shoes.

At a June 22 town-hall style event, Representative Tim Bishop (D – NY) had to be escorted out of his own meeting in the face of angry sign carrying mobs who oppose his positions on health care, energy, and the bailout of the auto industry.

Representative Allen Boyd (D – FL) was greeted by about 100 angry sign carrying protesters when he attended a community college small business forum in
Panama City in late June.

Last week, teabaggers claimed they were denied the chance to ask questions at a town-hall event in Danville, VA run by Representative Thomas Perriello (D – VA), and escorted off the property when attempted to hold up signs.

And moderate Republican Representative Mike Castle (R – DE) hit a wall of right wingnuttery at a meeting which was a part of his health-care listening tour.  This is the meeting that was ultimately disrupted by a “Birther” asking why he hasn’t pursued the question of Obama’s birth certificate, ending with the audience reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

This, folks, is “teabagging” in action, right-wingnuttery in an all out attack against health-care reform (not to mention any other form of common sense).  With congress about to take its August recess with no vote on health-care legislation, the “teabaggers”, “birthers”, “dittoheads”, and other right-wing groups have launched a blitz of “grass-roots” opposition designed to disrupt, rattle, and shout down any attempt to inform the public about Health Care Reform.

Of course, as with the original “teabagging” protests, if you look at the grass close enough, you’ll see its roots lie in the usual political self interests groups.  In this case, Americans for Prosperity, and Freedomworks.

According to thinkprogress.org, a memo leaked by one of the groups volunteers, Bob MacGuffie, outlines specific steps that are designed to disrupt pro health care town-hall meetings, and stifle any intelligent debate.  Some particulars from the memo…

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

–        Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down.  Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

It gets worse.  Patients United, a front group for Americans for Prosperity, is bussing people to meetings all over the country to protest at Democratic town-halls.  NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (R – TX) has even endorsed this strategy.  Telling Politico…

“The days of you having a town hall meeting where maybe 15 or 20 of your friends show up — they’re over. You’ve now got real people who are showing up — and that’s going to be a factor.”

So it would appear that the gauntlet has been thrown down and the battle lines have been drawn.  If we’ve learned anything at all from the 2000 elections (which began the 8 year long nightmare of Cheney/Bush), we know that the politics of disruption and destruction are a fine art to the right-wing.  This means that for the left, it is time for us to put our greater numbers to use.

–        If there is a town-hall meeting in your area, ATTEND IT.  The wingnuts are hoping for the illusion of greater numbers to “rattle” speakers.  We need to show them that ours are not only “bigger”, but we also know how to use them.

–        If righties start shouting, SHOUT LOUDER!  Along with numbers, the wingnuts are also hoping to intimidate everyone else.  After all, when you’re small, you have to act big and bad in order to get attention.  Ever notice how bullies in the schoolyard back down when confronted?  Same principle here.  These people are hoping to bully the country into their point of view.  If we send a message to the Republicans and their insurance benefactors that we’re willing to stand up to them, they’ll back down easily enough.

–        Contact your congressperson.  By snail-mail, by e-mail, by phone (works best).  Let you congressperson know that you are for REAL Health Care Reform (WITH the Public Option).  If your congressperson is for reform, thank them and tell them to keep fighting for you.  If your congressperson is a Republican or Blue Dog Democrat opposing reform, confront them.  Tell them your story.  Make them explain to you why they are against something that the majority of the country wants, why millions of Americans should go bankrupt, or die, for lack of affordable health care while they continue to take big bucks from the insurance industry and lobbyists.  Most of all, remind them that you voted them into office, and you can just as easily vote them out.

These are our marching orders, people.  The right-wing is willing to pull out all the stops to “make Obama fail”.  We cannot allow that to happen.  On this issue there is too much at stake to leave it up to the politicians and media to do all the heavy lifting.  This time it’s on us.  We need to make a stand against the fear and intimidation which is the trademark of the radical right wing (because it’s all they have).  If we want real reform, we’re going to have to man up (or woman up) and fight for it ourselves.

Politico – Town Halls Gone Wild

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25646.html

Think Progress – Right Wing Harassment Strategy

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/recess-harassment-memo/

 
Think Progress - From ‘Socialized Medicine’ to ‘Dead Baby Juice’
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/21/castle-townhall/

So in a little less than two weeks Sarah Palin will resign as Governor of Alaska.  On that day, I will truly be in mourning.  Say whatever else you will about her, but no other politician has been such an endless source of excitement, speculation, interest, and entertainment.  Needless to say, it’s the entertainment that I’ll miss the most.  Whatever speculation I may have personally about her future ambitions (hint: Palin 2012), for now one can only take her at her word that she’s out of the political arena.  So under the assumption that we won’t be “palin’ around” with Palin anymore, here are some of my favorite Palin moments.

Let’s start with her foreign policy expertise:

Of course we must not blink.  We also must not get that glazed-over look when asked about a basic tenant of the previous administration’s foreign policy.  But this was only the beginning of a series of embarrassing and amusing revelations about just who the McCain campaign chose to be a heartbeat away from the White House.  Then there were the Katie Couric disasters.

Yeah, ok.  So because you can see Russia from your back yard, that gives you foreign policy experience to be Vice President of the United States.  By that logic, I can see
Camden, New Jersey from the roof of my apartment building, so that qualifies me to be governor of New Jersey (and I’m GAY too!).

One other thing that our fair Sarah didn’t seem to realize is that when a presidential candidate picks you to be his VP and you say “yes” (with or without blinking), it kinda helps to know something about his record.

SORRY, WRONG ANSWER!  If this were a job interview, she’d be getting the “don’t call us, we’ll call you” letter.  What was most telling to me is not so much what these interviews revealed about her lack of policy experience outside of Alaska, but what they revealed about her lack of interview skills.  Case in point, the newspaper question.

Oh good Lord, woman!  You could have just rattled off a couple of names like USA Today, Newsweek, Time, etc.  Hell, even Ebony, Jet, or Watchtower would have at least let us know that you had something up there besides moose-blubber for brains.  It’s not like Couric was going to go behind you can actually check to see if you’ve read them.  It was a throwaway question and you blew it.  Then you blamed the media for you blowing it.

But I digress.  Not all of Palin’s hits came from the campaign trail.  The end of the campaign was certainly not the end of Sarah Palin.  Who could forget “TURKEYGATE”?  Rather than explain this one, I’ll give you Keith Olberman’s reaction as he sees it for the first time, which only adds to the comedy.

Like the Couric interviews and the Gibson interview, the media was to blame for this wacky foul-up as well.  This revealed a rather glaring character flaw.  When it comes to Sarah Palin, nothing is ever her fault as far as she is concerned.  Since the campaign she has blamed the media, the democrats, the blogsphere, Obama, Caroline Kennedy, the McCain campaign, Tina Fey, and Keith Olbermann for her downfall.  Or as she would call him, Keith the Evil!

Of course all of the above would be mere political idiosyncrasies were it not for the spot-on masterful portrayal of her by Tina Fey, a portrayal which earned Saturday Night Live 13 Emmy nominations.  Here are three of my favorites.

Ah yes.  If this is indeed the end, then we shall truly miss our fair Sarah.  Her smile, her wink, her inability to pronounce the letter “g”, the endless family squabbles, the $150,000.00 wardrobe.  Most of all what we’ll miss is her ability to clearly define our opinion of her.  It seems, based on blogs, comments, etc., that there is truly no gray area regarding our view of her.  We either think of her as the most dim-witted, addle-brained, ditz ever to break into the political arena, or we think of her much as Rich Lowry of the National Review does…

A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.

Yeah.  Just hope you don’t get any of it on you.  Of course, those on the right who feel the same as Rich “somebody get me a towel” Lowry think that we on the left are afraid of Palin.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sarah Palin is the best thing to happen to the Democrats and liberalism since the ACLU.  What righties don’t seem to understand is that we WANT Palin to stay in the spotlight.  We want her to keep talking and making a complete fool of herself.  Most of all, we want her to run in 2012.  If anyone is afraid of her, it’s Republicans.  She is a shining example of what happens to conservatism when the nut-bag lunatic fringe of the movement becomes its representative.  So, Sarah, if you’re reading this, I wish you all the best in all of your future endeavors.  And just for me, and liberals everywhere…RUN SARAH, RUN.

Palin/Plumber 2012

The most recent NBC/WSJ Polling shows President Obama’s overall approval rating dropping 5 points since April.  Pundits will no doubt spend the next week pouring over the numbers while righties will have a brief moment of orgasmic joy.  Not surprisingly, much of the loss comes from among independents.  However, another sector that he should be concerned with is the LGBT community, especially after this weeks brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act and his lack of action in overturning “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”.

Mr. President, among other things, you campaigned on a promise of equality for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation.  Yet your DOJ brief defending DOMA, and your inaction regarding DADT, represents thus far the same slap in the face logic that the community received from your Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton, when he enacted both policies into law.  And while your recent granting of benefits to federal employees is indeed a step in the right direction, it is little more than a token gesture to those who’ve lived through 8 years of the most homophobic administration imaginable.

The LGBT community and its supporters understand that there are issues that are seemingly far more pressing to
America as a whole.  You’ve inherited an economy in shambles, two wars, international strife which threatens our national security, and the unenviable task of re-establishing our credibility abroad.  But as an African-American, who supports this nation’s first African-American president, I can think of no more pressing issue than human rights.  At the heart of the matter, this is what it all boils down to – the right of same-sex couples to enjoy the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples - including the designation of “marriage”, the right of Gays and Lesbians to serve their country openly and honestly without being subject to disciplinary action merely because of their sexual orientation, the right of the LGBT community not to be relegated to second-class status by the country they love as much as all other Americans.  There are some who feel that the LGBT community should be patient, that change of this magnitude should come slowly if at all.  However, your very presidency belies that line of reasoning.  After all, if Blacks in this country were to simply remain patient in the struggle for Civil Rights, you sir would probably not now be president.  Indeed, you would probably not have had the right to vote, nor would your parents not have the right to be married.  To expect that the LGBT community should “wait their turn” smacks of Civil Rights hypocrisy, and this should not be allowed in this administration.  It is within your power, Mr. President, to rectify the situation facing sexual minorities in this country with very minimal effort.  A moratorium can easily be placed on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to prevent further discharges of Gays and Lesbians from the military, and you have the votes and the desire in Congress to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act with minimum effort, or need for GOP input.

Know this, Mr. President.  The LGBT community is hardly monolithic, nor are they like the sheep-like dittoheads that listen to Rush Limbaugh and do whatever he says.  It is very much an independent community that votes its interests.  And if it feels that the current administration is working against its interests, they will vote against it.  The LGBT community does support you for now, but it will not for long if it feels as though you are throwing it under the bus.  As a basketball fan, I’m sure you recognize when the ball is in your court.  Mr. President, the ball is now in your court.

NBC/WSJ Poll

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/090617_NBC-WSJ_poll_Full.pdf

Justice Defends DOMA

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid89851.asp

DOJ Brief Defending DOMA

http://www.advocate.com/images/motion_memo.pdf

So now after two weeks of sanctimonious ranting from Sarah Palin, David Letterman issues a second apology for an admittedly tasteless joke told at her daughters’ expense.  In his apology he offers that the intent of the joke, which was supposedly about baby-mama
Bristol and not the 14 year old Willow, was irrelevant.  What was relevant was the perception that he was speaking about Willow when he made the joke about A-Rod knocking her up while attending a Yankees game. 

Ok.  Fine.  Cool.  Perception, not intent.  I’m good with that.  So let’s look at perception, and how people perceive words regardless of what their intent.  On an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, President Obama made an offhand comment about his bowling game, comparing his bowling score to that of the Special Olympics.  Fortunately, his people got out in front of this issue before the episode aired and apologized to the organization.  Of course this wasn’t enough to keep sanctimonious right-wingers from picking over it for two weeks.  So we have perceptions of insults from a sitting president and a late night comic, followed by subsequent mea culpas.  If we are really talking about perception being the rule as to whether or not one should be insulted, offended, or outraged, then I submit that there are a lot of apologies owed to a lot of people.  Let’s just look at a few.

Sarah Palin

Speaking of perception, she is hardly an innocent victim.  Her rallies during the McCain campaign included some of the most vitriolic and hateful language ever hurled against a presidential candidate.  Her comment, “this is a man who doesn’t see America as you and I see America” was called out by the Associated Press as a backdoor way of slipping racism into the campaign (a neat way of saying, “Hey, White People.  Barack Obama’s BLACK”).  And the resulting jeers of “kill him”, not to mention the assault of an African-American soundman working a rally in Clearwater, FL, are absolutely her responsibility.  Even if she did not intend her statements to be blatantly racist, the perception among her supporters and detractors is clear.  She owes an apology not only to the McCain campaign and the Obama family, but to every African-American in the country for fueling racial animosity at her rallies.

Rush Limbaugh

OMFG!  Where do I begin?  I could do an entire blog on just him alone.  Rather than go through the laundry list of offenses, let me offer a link to his greatest hits (http://newsone.blackplanet.com/elections/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/).  This is just the stuff he’s said before Obama was elected.  Since then his spewings have become more and more vile and bigoted.  And every time the explanation has been something akin to “I’m not racist, some of my best friends are Black.”  Whether you’re trying to explain away “Barack the Magic Negro” or the “I want him to fail” statement as something innocent in its intent (yeah, right), the perception is clear.   Rush Limbaugh is a RACIST.  He, and the corporate shills who give him his platform to spew his bigoted bile (Clear Channel) owe this country an apology not only for his remarks, but for every racist act that has been influenced by his words.  Most recently, the shooting of a Black security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum by White Supremacist James Von Brunn.

Operation Rescue

This radical anti-abortion group has a reputation for harassing abortion doctors and patients at clinics where the procedure is performed.  Their belief that abortion is murder and those who have and perform them should be punished was THE influence behind the murder of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roder.  Mr. Roder has also implied that there are more acts of murder yet to come by people who believe as he does.  While they’ve tried to step away from this heinous act, they’ve simultaneously cheered its result, the closing of one of only three clinics that perform rare late term abortions.  Again, if we are to hold up perception as the litmus test here, then this group not only owes women an apology, they should be charged as an accessory to murder.

Sean “punk-azz” Hannity

In April, Hannity offered to have himself waterboarded to prove that it wasn’t torture.  He said that he’d do it to raise money for the families of soldiers, and invited waterboarding opponent Charles Grodin to do the honors.  Keith Olbermann of MSNBC’s Countdown offered $1000 to the families for every second Hannity lasted.  To date, two months later, no waterboarding of Hannity has taken place.  Chicago radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller had himself waterboarded in an effort to prove the same thing.  The result, Mancow now admits that waterboarding is torture.  Mancow has since received tons of hate mail, along with accusations from right wing blogs that the incident was fake.  Nonetheless, Olberman donated the $1000 to the charity Valor for Veterans based on Mancow’s waterboarding time (6 seconds).  As for Hannity, he owes those soldiers’ families an apology for being a punk-azz beeyotch.

FOX News

Between Hannity, Bill O’Riley, Glenn Beck, and the rest of the models there, this organization should be ashamed to have the word “news” in its title.  Despite its slogan, “Fair and Balanced”, it’s perception is anything but.  This is nothing more than a right-wing propaganda organization run solely to provide talking points to the radical fringes that listen to them.  While leftist MSNBC at least makes an attempt at objectivity, FOX has long since given up any pretense and had gone full right-wing.  This organization owes an apology to all other legitimate news organizations.  FOX News is anything but “fair”, and caters to the totally unbalanced.

I could go on and on, but I think my point is made.  If we want to talk intent vs. perception, if we want to talk about what people think and believe vs. reality, then let’s hold everyone accountable to what they say, not just the people with whom you disagree.  As for me and this blog, judging by the comments here, many of you readers perceive me to be biased, leftist, and perhaps more than a bit mean spirited.  Some of you may feel that I shoud apologize for it.  Well, for those of you who happen to feel this way, those who feel that I’ve been too harsh on neo-conservatism…SUCK IT, RIGHTIES.  IT’S MY BLOG AND I’LL WRITE WHAT I WANT, SO THERE!

The David Letterman Apology Show

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/06/16/david_letterman/

Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pitbull Look Tame

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602935.html

Man charged with murder in Holocaust Museum Shooting

http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=224814&format=html

Waterboarding Sean Hannity

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/95799/Waterboarding_Sean_Hannity

I was checking out Real Time with Bill Maher this weekend.  Among his guests were former UN Ambassador John Bolton and former House Rep. Heather Wilson, both Republicans.  Bill had asked about the rift within the Republican party between moderates such as Colin Powell and the hard-core right led by Rush Limbaugh.  Their response was typical Republican denial.  To wit, there is no rift and the public should stop focusing on personalities and identities and focus on issues.  A sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree, and my proposal to the Republican party is simply this…you first.

Face it.  Your side started this game of personality/identity politics when you decided to prop up Joe the Plumber as representative of blue collar working class
America (a ploy which backfired on you miserably).  You use President Obama’s nebulous association with William Ayers to paint him as a terrorist.  You use his membership in Rev. Jerimiah Wright’s church to paint him as racist.  You still claim he’s a Muslim, not born in this country, a socialist, a communist, a fascist, a Marxist, and a Black separatist.  All code for, “Hey y’all, HE’S BLACK!”  You claim his pick of Sonia Sotomayor for SCOTUS was an “Affirmative Action” pick, even though the only two reasons that your side picked Sarah Palin as your VP candidate were the ones sitting on her chest.  You take a couple of statements she (Sotomayor) made in a speech she gave 8 years ago out of context to paint her as a racist, even though judge Samuel Alito made similar statements during his confirmation.  You compare the organization she once belonged to, La Raza, to the KKK, which is like comparing the NAACP to the Aryan Nation.  The buffoon you have running the RNC (talk about an Affirmative Action pick) wants to retool your party’s message to “urban-suburban hip-hop”, and says you can oppose same-sex marriage on economic grounds, even though same-sex marriage has the potential of bringing in 16.8 billion dollars to the economy.  Your party tries to re-brand the Democratic party as “The Democrat-Socialists Party,” and the Republican governor of Texas, and several other Republicans, are now using the word “secession” as your paty’s rallying cry.

And now that this game of personality-identity politics has come back to bite you in the ass in the form of Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, etc., you suddenly want to have a “civil” discussion on the issues.  I’m all for it.  You want to talk about politics instead of personalities?  Take the personalities out of the politics.  You want to talk issues without the innuendo?  Stop introducing innuendo into every issue.  You want us on the left to stop characterizing Rush, Newt, and Dick as the de-facto leaders of your party?  We’ll be happy to do so, once the REAL leaders of your party tell these clowns to STFU.  If you want to have an adult conversation about policy, then GROW UP and start acting like adults instead of a bunch of spoiled brats holding their breath until they get their way (i.e. waiting for Obama to fail).  Nothing would please me more that to have a civil discourse and real discussion on the issues pro and con, as I believe that both sides have much to offer.  I’m ready when you are.

For those of you who claim that I don’t criticize Democrats on this blog, here’s something for you.  Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced legislation called the Performance Rights Act (HR-848).  This legislation, if passed, would require radio stations to pay a performance fee to everyone who performs on a song played on the radio.  EVERYONE!  That means everyone from the singers to background vocalist to the drummer to the guy who plays the little triangle would be entitled to payment from radio stations.  Proponents of the bill claim they simply want to level the playing field in which digital services (internet, satellite) already pay the fee while broadcast radio does not.  Opponents say that this could at best force radio stations to avoid introducing new music as they will not want to pay for unproven artists, and at worst force smaller radio stations that don’t make a huge profit (namely R&B and Gospel formats) out of business completely.  Further, they argue that 50% of these “performance royalties” would go to the record labels, not the artists.  See where this is going?

This isn’t about the artists at all, but the mega record corporations.  Labels which have been losing money hand over fist for years to downloading and other digital media.  Essentially, this is their way of punishing radio listeners, and Conyers is playing the hatchet man (and probably getting paid for it).  It’s also part of the labels’ continuing effort to stifle music creativity to only a few established genres and artist so they can keep producing the same cookie-cutter crap that passes for music today.  Strangely enough, I see the record industry moving along the same path as the auto industry.  Keep making crap that the public isn’t buying anymore, and get the government to bail you out when you get into trouble.  I can imagine that a music industry bailout won’t be far behind.  We can probably look for Conyers’ hand in that as well.

Proposed Performance Tax Could Be Black Radio’s Death Knell

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_state_of_black_america_news/9299/1

So here we are.  That fabled point in every American presidency that seems to mean more to our 24-hour news cycle than to any thinking American.  The President’s first 100 days in office.

To say that this president has had to face serious challenges is a galactic understatement.  President Obama has had to face challenges that no other president has faced since…well, maybe Kennedy, maybe FDR.  Hell, maybe
Washington.  He came into office with an economy in shambles, mounting job loss, mounting deficits, and two wars.  On top of all of that, he now has to deal with a possible pandemic.  So what has he done in those 100 days?

• Relaxed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
• Ordered the closing of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Ordered most U.S. troops out of Iraq and more U.S. troops into Afghanistan.
• Pushed through his economic stimulus plan, a mortgage relief plan, a second Wall Street bailout and his plan to redeem so-called toxic assets.
• Approved massive lending to struggling Detroit automakers.

And this is just a small sample.  Regardless of what you think of the results (or if there have been any), the truth is that this president has done more in the first 100 days of his presidency than the previous president has done in the first 9 months (before 9/11).  Meanwhile, what have we gotten from the Republican party?  One hundred days of endless entertainment.  The Dopes of Nope, the Generally Obsolete and Pathetic party, the Party of NO, they have given us some of the most side-splitting, wet-your-pants laugh inducing rantings, ravings, and everything else, that we have EVER seen.  And I mean EVER.  Let’s go through this cast of “Should Have Long Since Been Canceled from Prime Time Players”.

Sarah Palin

The gift that keeps on giving (or simply, THE GIFT).  When I say my prayers at night, I thank God that John McCain gave us this reject from the Hee-Haw cornfield and her family.  Her own campaign was comic gold itself, with her disastrous news interviews (I can’t believe she couldn’t name ONE newspaper), her lack of knowledge of foreign policy, her lack of knowledge of the constitution as it applies to the Vice Presidency, her own troubles at home (Troopergate, anyone?).  Then there’s the family, particularly the Baby-Daddy drama playing out with daughter Bristol and her one-time fiancé Levi Johnson.  This drama is playing out more like an episode of Jerry Springer.  Forget VP, can you imagine her as President.  Comparing this family to the Obamas is like comparing the Beverly Hillbillies to the Huxtables.

John Boehner, Eric Cantor

Along with senator Mitch McConnell, they make up The Three Stooges of the GOP.  When Obama called them out on the issue of the budget, they took up the challenge…well, kinda.  First they came up with what Boehner would call “the budget”.  Except that, much to the surprise to the press corps present at the time, it contained absolutely no numbers.  Well, it did have one number regarding (drumroll please) tax cuts.  Boehner’s explanation was that it was merely a budget blueprint, again to the surprise and chagrin of the press, liberal and conservative, that was present.  A week later, they came back with another budget.  This time with numbers, numbers that equated to just one thing, MORE TAX CUTS FOR RICH PEOPLE.  In fact, an even bigger tax cut than Bush gave them.  What would transpire next is a study in guffaw- inducing irony.  Not only was this budget rejected by Democrats, 38 Republicans said NO to it.  It would appear that the GOP is nothing if not consistent.

Michelle Bachman

She’s the Crazy Cat Lady of the GOP.  The rantings coming from her are nothing short of legendary.  Here’s the short list from the Bachman paranoid hit parade.

• She said on national TV during the campaign that members of congress should be investigated and exposed as un-American (she would spend the rest of the campaign thereafter denying she even said it). 
• ACORN was under federal investigation (it isn’t).
• The stimulus bill would ration health care and direct funds away from Republican districts (it doesn’t).
• The president plans to use the census to keep Democrats in power for up to 40 years (at the rate the GOP is imploding, he won’t need the census for that).
• Carbon Dioxide is harmless because it occurs naturally (so does a yeast infection), and it makes up 4% of the Earth’s atmosphere (it actually makes up .0384%).
• Obama wants to force kids into liberal “re-education” camps.
• While trying to blame Obama for the Swine Flu epidemic (What?!  Not the homosexuals?!  I’m insulted!) she claims that the last Swine Flu epidemic occurred under President Jimmy Carter, when it actually occurred under President Ford. 
• She blamed FDR for bringing on the depression through the Hoot-Smalley tariffs, which are actually called the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, authored by Republicans Reed Smoot of UT, and Willis Hawley of OR, and signed into law by previous president Herbert Hoover, also a Republican. 

That this woman is allowed to roam freely without adult supervision, operate motor vehicles, carry a firearm, author and vote on legislation is terrifying enough.  What’s more terrifying is that there are people in MN who ACTUALLY VOTED HER INTO OFFICE.

Michael Steele

Elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, he has been pretty much the Steppin-Fetchit of the GOP.  This buffoon has yet to fail in putting his foot into his mouth up to his knee whenever he opens it.  Since becoming chair he has…

• Announced an “off the hook” PR offensive to attract young African-American and Hispanic voters (and one-armed midgets) by applying the party’s principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings”.
• Become one of three Republicans to apologize to Rush Limbaugh after pissing him off.
• Had to back track on a GQ interview where he indicated that abortion was a “choice” while homosexuality was not.
• Claim that global warming was a myth based on the “fact” that Greenland was once “green”.

And the result of this brilliant leadership?  The Republicans lose a special election they should have won (NY-20), he’s had one high-profile defection from the party (welcome aboard, Senator Spector), and no less than 3 people have called for his resignation.  Not a very auspicious beginning for the party’s first African-American chair.

Virginia Foxx

While the rantings of others on this list are merely stupid and amusing, the pure ignorance and subsequent non-apology coming from the NC Representative is just plain cruel.  According to the Associated Press, Representative Foxx, while debating a hate crimes bill in the House, called the Matthew Shepard beating a hoax.

Matthew Shepard was a Wyoming college student who, in 1998, was lured from a gay bar, robbed and beaten, then tied to a post and left for dead.  The suspects who are now serving time for this crime admitted to prosecutors that he was targeted because he was gay, although no motive was ever determined during their trial.  However, here is the representative’s take on this.

“We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay,” Foxx said during debate. “The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

What was worse was that Matthew Shepard’s mother was in the chamber when all of this was being said.  Later when called on this, she issued the standard non-apology apology.

“The term ‘hoax’ was a poor choice of words used in the discussion of the hate crimes bill,” Foxx said in a statement. “Mr. Shepard’s death was nothing less than a tragedy, and those responsible for his death certainly deserved the punishment they received.”

She further goes on to blame her misstatements on a 2004 ABC News story, which emphasized Shepard’s robbery rather than the motive.  By the way, the Hate Crimes bill that she was arguing against passed in the House.

Talking Heads

Then there are the right-wing pundits and self-proclaimed prognosticators who fill our televisions and airwaves with their idiocy, paranoia, and general nonsense.  You have the GOP Al-Jezera network, otherwise known as FOX News, featuring Bill O’Rielly, Sean “I promised to waterboard myself but I’m too punk-assed to do it” Hannity, Glenn “Tammy Faye” Beck.  And on the airwaves we have the Dark Lord of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh.

Such fealty and loyalty this Oxy-Cottin addicted blowhard demands from his subjects (called “dittoheads”) that he is feared even by the GOP itself.  So much so that three of its prominent members actually apologized for criticizing him.  Take these “before and after” statements from GA Congressman Phil Gingrey, SC Governor Mark Sanford, and RNC Chair Michael Steele.

Steele before:

Rush is not the head of the Republican Party. He’s an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele after:

“My intent was not to go after Rush - I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh…”
“I was maybe a little bit inarticulate… There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”
“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking…”

Gingrey before:

“I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. “

Gingrey after:

“I clearly ended up putting my foot in my mouth on some of those comments and I just wanted to tell you, Rush, [...] that I regret those stupid comments.”

Sanford before:

“Anybody who wants [President Obama] to fail is an idiot, because it means we’re all in trouble…”

Sanford’s Communications Director after:

“the governor was not referring to anyone “ in particular…””

His “I hope [Obama] fails” campaign has become the rallying cry for the right-wing.  He claims over 20 million people listen to his show daily.  All of them to hear his blind unreasoning tirades against Obama, against Democrats, against liberalisim, against…well, whatever gets his drawers in a knot that day.  However, like the rest of the right-wing talking-asses, he is merely a stone thrower.  He has no real ideas, and contributes nothing meaningful to the political discussion, only anger and vitriol, which is like manna for the right-wing nutjobs who listen to him.

21 Percenters

Finally there are the right-wing nutjobs themselves, the 21% of the country (according to latest polling) who still openly admit to being Republican.  While the rest of the country is concerned with the economy, the environment, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and rule of law, these so-called “real Americans” are concerned with fist-bumps, handshakes, bows to Saudi royalty, birth certificates, and teleprompters.  Oh, I almost forgot…and teabagging.

The ridiculous Obama hate-fest which, according to organizers, was attended by 260,000 raging righties across the country (a number which, given the organizers propensity towards exaggeration, should probably be taken with a grain of salt), was supposedly about tax increases.  That would be tax increases that wouldn’t take effect until 2011 (when the Bush tax cuts expire), and wouldn’t effect any of the protesters (who, in fact, would see a tax cut and are now receiving tax credits).  Instead, it was a regurgitation of every right-wing talking point from teleprompters to birth certificates, socialism to communism to fascism.  You name it, they bitched about it.  It was also billed as a “grass roots” movement.  However, several groups tied to prominent Republicans like Newt Gringrich and Dick Armey have sponsored some of these so-called “tea-party” events, and they were heavily promoted by FOX News.

So there you have it.  One hundred days of wacky GOP antics.  While various commentators and pundits give Obama grades ranging anywhere from A- to maybe a C, I’ll personally give the Generally Obsolete and Pathetic party an A+ for sheer entertainment.  Don’t ever change, righties.  Keep on playing the obstructionists.  Keep harping on non-issue issues like teleprompters and sleeveless dresses.  Keep pushing people like Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal as the new faces of your party.  Keep electing asylum escapees and bigots like Michelle Bachmann and Virginia Foxx.  Keep trying to divide the country with “culture war” issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.  Keep letting people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck  be the representatives of your ideology.  Keep clinging to your guns and your bibles, remaining blind to the world around you.  And most of all, keep saying NO to every thing Obama proposes, and hoping that Obama fails, and throwing mega-tantrums when he succeeds.  While the rest of the country moves on to the important issues, you’ll have another 1360 days (or perhaps 2820) to do what it seems the only thing you are capable of doing nowadays, keeping us entertained.

Michelle Bachmann Blames “Hoot-Smalley” for Great Depression
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/historian-michele-bachmann-blames-fdrs-hoot-smalley-tariffs-for-great-depression.php

Rep. Virginia Foxx retracts word “hoax” in Matthew Sheppard murder
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/04/matthew-shepard-virginia-foxx-gay.html

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
          - William Shakespeare (Macbeth)

Ok.  I’m going to dispense with the jokes and the innuendo associated with today’s “tea party” protests (or as coined by FOX News, “teabagging”).  As I’ve been reading about the goings on in various cities, which depending on who you ask number from a few to a few hundred, I’m left with just one question.  What the hell was the point of all of this?

First of all, it was impossible to find any real information regarding locations or numbers because the protests were so disorganized, which when you look at it is quite convenient since it allows organizers (and FOX News) to make up whatever number they want with impunity.  I did manage to find what seemed like the “Official Teabagging Site” http://taxdayteaparty.com/ (don’t worry, your kids can look at it with you) which seemed to rely mostly on bloggers for its various teabagging headcounts.  Looking over the numbers and the locations I’m inclined to dismiss any estimate over 5,000 for logistical reasons (and that’s being generous).  But if I was to average all of the locations on the site, of which I would estimate at about 500, and put the number of people at each location at maybe 500 each (again, being very generous), that number would still be mercilessly dwarfed by the number of people who watched (in person and on TV) then candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 DNC acceptance speech (250,000 vs 38 million according to Neilson).  But putting aside real or fake numbers for now, I’m still left with the question of why.  If this was only about taxes, then I could muster a modicum of respect for the protesters.  After all, who wants to pay more taxes?  But from reading the various blogs on this, I get the feeling that this goes way beyond that issue.  These people are protesting everything from socialism to gun control to abortion rights to Obama’s birth certificate (which as I’ve pointed out is irrelevant), to Obama himself.  In other words, this was far less a protest than it was a gathering of disgruntled McCain (and Hillary) supporter in an Obama hate-fest.  There was no real theme to the protests, no logical message, and worst of all, no plan.  It was simply a chaotic mish-mosh of right-wing axes to grind, spoon fed by rightie talk radio and FOX News.  If all they wanted to do was to get together for some 1984-esque “two minutes of hate”, then why all of the trouble to make it seem like more? 

The disturbing answer to all of this is that this wasn’t for the protesters at all.  Oh, the protesters may think it’s all about them, which is exactly what Limbaugh, Gingrich, Dick Armey, FOX News, and the corporate bigwigs with their off-shore tax havens want them to think.  But the truth is, the people providing the bananas for these trained monkeys who still claim membership in what is left of the GOP are merely trying to cover their own asses, and using their constituents to do it.  These are the people, Limbaugh, FOX News, et al, who really stand to lose from Obama’s tax proposals.  They and anyone else making more than $250k/yr.  These people, not the protesters, are the real “victims”.  They are the shepherds with the dog in this pasture.  The protesters are merely the sheep being herded to the slaughter by politicians, corporate interests, and well paid right-wing talking heads looking to protect their interest, and further pad their own bank accounts.  The sad fact of the matter is that these “teabagging” protests are yet another example of how the GOP plays upon their base’s fear, insecurity, lack of sophistication, and misguided sense of “patriotism” to achieve its own ends.  To the Republican party, their constituents are merely tools, a means to a goal.  “Country First” to them means manipulating basically good, innocent, well meaning people into working against their own best interests for the good of the party, and for individual politicians.  Call it the desperation of a losing party, or the psychological makeup of a group of individuals, but one thing is clear.  Despite what the so-called “organizers” will tell you, this is not a “grass-roots” movement at all, but a pathetic attempt by a political party at regaining relevance at the expense of it’s most vulnerable.  Essentially, the tea parties were merely a tale told by idiots.  Full of sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing.
 

HAPPY TEABAGGING!

Obama’s Speech Draws 38 Million

http://blogs.suntimes.com/conventions/2008/08/ap_reports_obama_dnc_speech_ou.html