Chickenhawk Slime O'Reilly Smears Genuine Patriot

Read the disgusting details here.

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1919

Conservatives in Omaha, Nebraska lynched, shot, and then burned a local African-American named Will Brown despite attempts by the mayor and police to guarantee due process. Conservatives lynched more than 2,500 blacks between the 1890s and 1920s.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1963

Peaceful, non-violent civil rights marchers are blasted with fire hoses by conservatives in Birmingham, Alabama. Other demonstrators were attacked with dogs, and four little girls were killed in a church bombing in this same bastion of white conservatism.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

Great Moments in Conservative History: 1924

Some 4 million conservatives were in the Klan at its height in the 1920s.

This has been another...GREAT MOMENT IN CONSERVATIVE HISTORY!

An AC/DC Song As You've Never Heard It

Right here.

Gawd, I love it.

Devastating New Commentary from Bill Maher

In which traitors are called out by name. See it here.

(Thanks to Al Rodgers)

A Study in Absurdity

The more lethal drugs are near the bottom of this chart. (Notice where alcohol ranks.) The least lethal, least dangerous one is at the top.

Guess which one is illegal.

And this makes sense to you?

(Graphic from Sully)

The Right Wing Strategy for 2008: FNB

Click here to find out exactly what the term FNB refers to. Let's just say it's going to be the heart of the Republican strategy in 2008. It involves attacking the sexual orientation, ethnic background, and gender of the leading Democratic candidates. Expect Coulter and Fox "News" to trot it out often.

Interesting.

Piece of Human Garbage Limbaugh Attacks John and Elizabeth Edwards

It says something bad about the right wingers that so many of them listen to Rush Limbaugh and buy into his lying bullshit so fervently. What kind of cretin takes someone like this seriously? What kind of moral degenerate thinks Limbaugh is right about everything? But evidently a lot of these wretched people do. Now their hero continues to plunge new depths: he's ridiculing and questioning the sincerity and bravery of John and Elizabeth Edwards, who are dealing with a diagnosis that could be a death sentence for Elizabeth. MediaMatters has the story here.

Slime. Absolute slime. And think about all the other sick perverts who are part of the Noise Machine that is pouring out right wing filth 24/7--Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter, Savage, Hume, Cavuto, Gibson, Kristol, Gigot, and all of their acolytes. Think of the way they have ruined and distorted political discourse in America.

And think of who the heroes of the Republican Right are. It tells you all you need to know about why the conservatives need to suffer such utter and total electoral defeat in 2008--and for decades beyond.

Christians for Cannabis

No joke. Check it out here.

A small voice of sanity.

It's Beginning to Look Grim for the Right Wingers

From the most recent Pew Poll (via Kevin Drum):




Heh heh heh.

DeLay Can't Even Tell the Truth About His Own Freaking Book

This is just weird. What a pathetic, lying little weasel this bastard is.

Tom DeLay: Ooohh, He's Wuff and He's Tuff!

Ah me. Who doesn't remember and cherish the halcyon days when Tom DeLay was riding high, running the Abramoff fueled K Street project, blocking the regulation of his little forced labor/forced abortions nightmare in the Marianas, (scroll down) and spitting out accusations of treason against anyone who dared to criticize Dear Leader? Now this self same Tom DeLay (also affectionately known in these parts as Cockroach Man) has a new book out. (Oh joy!) And he's being aggressive, by golly! Chris Kelly at Huff Po has a bead on it:

Actually, the full title of the DeLay book - which came out Wednesday -- is No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight. Yes, it's a story so bellicose, even the subtitle is scrappy.

And he's earned the right to talk tough, too. Not just because of his own student deferments, but also by the student deferments of Rush Limbaugh (who wrote the forward) and the "other priorities" of Sean Hannity (who wrote the preface) and the book's co-author, Stephen Mansfield.

Four fightin' Americans. Zero seconds in uniform. $25.95 at bookstores everywhere.

No retreat. No surrender. No shame.

(Stephen Mansfield is a truly special case, by the way. His avoidance of military service - -not that there's anything wrong with that -- hasn't stopped him from writing The Faith of the American Soldier, or American Heroes: Stories of Faith, Courage and Sacrifice from the Front Lines or an open letter to Cindy Sheehan where he tells her she's threatening to "dishonor Casey's heroism.")

(How did he get to be on a first name basis with Casey Sheehan? He certainly didn't run into him in combat.)

(It's almost like he's an asswipe.)

HA HA HA! Great stuff! Why is it that all these draft dodging little right punks always talk so tough but never seem to do any of the bleeding and dying? It's almost as if they're trying to compensate for something.

Maybe gutless cowardice?

End the Horror of Female Genital Mutilation

This barbarism is still being inflicted on millions of young girls all over the world. I warn you, though: the information on this site is only for the strongest of you. It's pretty appalling.

When, when, when, will humans be fully civilized?

To HELL With the Damned Drug Warriors

This is just f---ing wrong.

My GOD do I hate these "anti-drug" bastards who are willing to let people die in agony just so they can have the satisfaction of forcing their "morality" on everybody else. They are the real criminals in this situation.

LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA RIGHT NOW

The Truth About Opinion Concerning a Libby Pardon

Andrea Mitchell of NBC recently asserted that the majority of Americans think "Scooter" Libby deserves a pardon.

From CNN's poll on the matter:


28. As you may know, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney's former top aide, was recently found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the CIA leak investigation. Do you think George W. Bush should or should not give a presidential pardon to Libby?


Mar. 9-11
2007

Should pardon 18%
Should not pardon 69%
No opinion 13%

Andrea, honey, do you know what the hell you're talking about? Or are you too busy spouting White House propaganda to find out?

Fox "News": Right Wing Propaganda Cesspool

Larry Johnson has assembled this appalling and enraging set of screen captures from Fox "News" that will convince you (if you still needed convincing) that Fox is nothing more than a vomitorium of Right wing slander, lies, distortions, smears, and perverted "reporting" that echoes everything, and I mean everything, so many of us have come to hate about the "movement" conservatives who have done such horrendous damage to our country. It's all here, folks, especially the despicable cheerleading for torture that so many wingnuts love to hear.

Fox is a sickening nest of radical right sewer rats and liars--Hannity, O'Reilly, Barnes, Gibson, Hume, Cavuto, all of the scum that we have come to know and despise so well. We need someone richer than Rupert Murdoch to buy or squeeze Fox out of his control and clean out the whole rotten operation--and shut down the network that exists only for one reason: to push the rejected, minority agenda of the wingnuts.

Democrats, boycott Fox. When a Democrat becomes president on 20 January 2009, his or her first act should be to suspend Fox's White House press credentials. It makes no sense to legitimize this organization that has less shame than the old Pravda. To borrow from Cato the Elder, Delende Est Fox News--Fox News Must Be Destroyed.

UPDATE: Cenk Uygur weighs in here.

What I'm Looking at Tonight

This outstanding letter on Sullivan's website.

This thoughtful article from The New English Review.

All about Flaming Carrot.

The Edge.

The very cool Earth from Space.

I love the internet.

Union, YES!

Eric Alterman has done a tremendous job documenting the significance of union membership for the economic health of American workers and the political health of the Democratic Party. (Scroll up for whole post.) The radical Right that runs so much of America is doing its utmost to reduce the typical American worker to indebted peonage, and the weakening and eventual destruction of labor unions is a top rightwing goal. Well folks, the facts speak loudly and clearly. From the article:

Union workers' median weekly earnings: $781

Nonunion workers' median weekly earnings: $612

Union wage advantage: 28%

Union women's median weekly earnings: $723

Nonunion women's median weekly earnings: $541

Union wage advantage for women: 34%

Union workers with access to guaranteed (defined-benefit) pension: 73%

Nonunion workers with access to guaranteed (defined-benefit) pension: 16%

Union pension advantage: 356%

Union workers whose jobs provide access to health insurance: 92%

Nonunion workers whose jobs provide access to health insurance: 68%

Union health insurance advantage: 35%

Union workers without health insurance coverage: 2.5%

Nonunion workers without health insurance coverage: 15%

Union advantage: 500%

[Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]

Union members stand with us for a reason: we Democrats, liberals, moderates, and progressives, stand with them. Surveys show that almost 50% of Americans would join a union if they were allowed to. The conservatives have had great success in killing off unions and crowding all but corporate interests from the national discussion. They've also had great success intimidating union organizers among workers.

But we're about to change that. See if we don't.

The Double Standard: Giving the Psychotic Right a Free Pass

This piece by Digby says it all: the savages of the radical Right can say anything, can utter any smear, can advocate butchering their political opponents, can spread any lie, and they will still be treated respectfully by the mainstream media. This is the same MSM that will wildly exaggerate any misstep by a Democrat and scream and shout about how "unhinged" the political left is in America.

The depth of the Right's viciousness is almost beyond belief. Digby--and I--take them seriously. Some of his examples:

When Limbaugh said, "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for," we didn't doubt him anymore.

When Ann Coulter said "we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors," to rapturous applause at the 2002 CPAC, we knew she wasn't just kidding.

**********

It continues today. Dinesh D'Souza just published a book saying that liberals are the cause of terrorism. Ramesh Ponneru calls us "The Party of Death." And when Michele Malkin then creates a career out of calling the left "unhinged" the Washington Post treats her like she's discovered the Holy Grail.

This is why it is so shocking to us when we see people like Howard Kurtz and various others call for the smelling salts when some members of the left have reacted in kind by saying hateful, violent things about Dick Cheney's assassination attempt. (These anonymous commenters, by the way, are not best selling authors making a personal televised appearance at a gathering that includes most of the Republican presidential candidates, members of congress and even the Vice President himself.)

I certainly agree that such appalling comments are not to be accepted. Indeed, I recall how my stomach turned when when I read what Coulter had to say at CPAC last year:

On Democrats: "Someday they will find a way to abort all future Boy Scouts." College professors: "sissified, pussified." Harvard: "the Soviet Union." John Kerry: the other "dominant woman in Democratic politics." Her post-9/11 motto: "Rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences." For good measure, she threw in a joke about having Muslims burn down the Supreme Court -- with the liberal justices inside.

Then came questions. A young woman asked Coulter to describe the most difficult ethical decision she ever made. "There was one time I had a shot at Bill Clinton," Coulter said.

And yet, vile scum like Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, Kristol, Savage, Beck, Cavuto, Gibson, D'Souza, Malkin, and all of their poisonous offspring continue to be feted by their friends in the so-called "mainstream media". Democrats in general and liberals specifically are ridiculed and attacked relentlessly while Right wingers advocate genocide and war. Al Gore, WHO HAS BEEN 100% RIGHT ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE, is called mentally unbalanced by sneering little bastards like Chris Matthews while Bill Kristol, WHO HAS BEEN 100% WRONG ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE is promoted and given increasingly broad platforms from which to brand anyone who disagrees with his lunatic neocon agenda a traitor.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ann Coulter is wildly popular with the hardcore Right that runs the Republican Party. These people hate anyone who disagrees with them, and would sincerely like to see people like me either killed or intimidated into silence. They routinely speak out for mass murder, as when Coulter suggested carpet bombing Iran, and yet continue to get a free pass by our media "watchdogs". We need to call these "watchdogs" on this loud and clear.

There can be NO COMPROMISE with the radical Right. There can be NO DIALOGUE with them. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be talked to, they cannot change. These are the delusional 29% of the American people who actually think Bush is doing a good job as president. They cannot be engaged; they can only be utterly and totally opposed, crushed, and defeated. The murderous radical Right commentators are not at the fringe of the Republican party--they are the Republican Party. The sooner those of us in the sane, reality based part of America grasp this, the sooner these people will be politically destroyed for all time.

I Have a Book for Sale!

I've been a teacher for 33 years and in that time I like to think I've learned something about what it takes to be good at it. If you're so inclined, check out my book on the art of teaching at the high school level here. Preview it and see what you think. (I'll also keep a link on my blogroll.)

Thanks mucho!

The Shocking, Ranting Insanity of John Hagee

This item should frighten the hell out of you. John Hagee is a prominent member of the ultra right wing of the so-called Christian Right. He is best known as a "Christian Zionist" who sees Israel's establishment as the precursor to Armageddon. (For real. I wish I was joking.) He is now openly advocating a pre-emptive war against Iran. Talk to Action has the story:

In a recent Charisma Magazine issue John Hagee, in a piece entitled "The Coming Holy War", wrote : "Israel and America must confront Iran's nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons."

On July 19, 2006, at a CUFI sponsored Washington DC event called "A Night to Honor Israel", with GOP Party head Ken Mehlman and US GOP Senators Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum (President George W. Bush sent recorded greetings to the event) , Pastor John Hagee declared :

"The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation [...] and [the] Second Coming of Christ."

Hagee's beliefs are actually part of mainstream Christian Zionist thought, which tends to hold that, after Christians are "Raptured" bodily up to heaven, most Jews ( 2/3 to be precise ) will die in a subsequent terrible conflict centered around Israel.

Hagee is an influential and powerful member of the ruling circles of the Republican Party. He is a dangerous, completely delusional fanatic who is doing his utmost to push this country and, indeed, the entire world, into disaster. He is every bit as deranged as any Islamic jihadist. His thinking is respected in the Republican Party. If his views prevail, there will be very little left of the world. He, and the neoconservative lunatics in sympathy with him, must be stopped, if only for the sake of our unborn children and grandchildren--not to mention the ones who are already here.

The Indispensable Daily Howler

Is there a better political site on the Internet than Bob Somerby's Daily Howler? No one does a better job of ripping into the blatantly anti-Democratic lies and idiocy of the mass media better than Somerby. He has been particularly piercing and brilliant in exposing the vicious smears that ruined Al Gore's attempt to win the White House, and the lies that are still being spread about him. His wonderful, scathing contempt is a joy to behold. He is also a meticulous gatherer of evidence, and he has a long and unforgiving memory. Want to find out what's really happening in American politics and in the river of puke we laughingly call our national political "discourse"? Latch on to Somerby. You'll learn something new every time you do.

Right Wing Coke Whore Strikes Again

Unbelievable. Un-freaking believable.

If a Democrat had said something like that, it would be the lead story on the f---king national news.

Some "liberal" media.

International Crisis!

I'm shakin'--and I'm shaken!