Another War of Jenkins' Ear

But sadly, this will be my last post. Time to commit blogicide, as it were. I’ve been jobless for too long and this eats up all my time to post anything I’m remotely proud of. I’ve been having a near nervous breakdown today dealing with the pressure, and I just need to make changes. Big changes. I have giant loans to repay and even if I was providing a service no one else was on the internet, there was not instantly enough demand to make this worth my while, unless every visitor here wants to pay me $100 or something. And that model doesn’t work for anyone.

Thanks to everyone for reading. And remember, no matter what happens to look at things from different perspectives. That’s all I’ve tried to do. Maybe some of this stuff will hold up. Maybe not. But for what it’s worth, I put effort into this.

Hopefully this explains why I’ve been so ornery on Twitter today.

Roy Moore, who is a former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, plans on setting up a 2012 presidential exploratory committee in mid-April.

CNN reports:

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who garnered attention and lost his job after building a Ten Commandments monument outside Alabama’s judicial building, is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination, his top aide confirmed to CNN.

[...]

An active member of the tea party movement, Moore received the All-American award from the Central Texas Tea Party in February.

Moore visited Iowa four times last summer, holding rallies against same-sex marriage in the state. Following his April announcement, Moore will travel to the three other key primary states: Nevada, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

The CNN piece leaves out one substantial piece of Moore’s viciously anti-gay history though…

In 2002, Moore filed a concurring opinion in the case Ex Parte H.H.  In it, he called for stripping custody from a parent that engages in homosexual conduct (even if they are the biological parents):

I concur in the opinion of the majority that D.H., the mother of the minor children in this case, did not establish a change of circumstances sufficient to transfer custody to her from H.H., the father of the minor children. I write specially to state that the homosexual conduct of a parent — conduct involving a sexual relationship between two persons of the same gender — creates a strong presumption of unfitness that alone is sufficient justification for denying that parent custody of his or her own children or prohibiting the adoption of the children of others.

Oh, and he also tossed in a little mention about his belief that the state can imprison and even execute homosexuals:

The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle.

Back in February 2010, Moore spoke at the first ever Tea Party Convention – the same convention that Sarah Palin delivered the keynote to.

Moore’s expected entrance in the race also means that he could be debating in Fox News’ GOP primary debate, which is set for May.

• It turns out that all the noise of humans is hurting fish. Chances of that changing: zero.
• Holder announced an official criminal investigation into the Gulf disaster. I’m not optimistic, but we’ll see.
• In a related note, BP had a history of systematically underestimating risk.
• When you know they’ve officially run out of ideas.
• The right to remain silent is apparently more of a suggestion.
• In other court news, a defense of elitism.
• Abdullah Abdullah is not participating in the peace conference in Afghanistan, as if there was a chance it could succeed.
• Google tells its employees not to use Windows.
• A MLB 3b lost sight in one eye while on the field and couldn’t see a ball go by.
• Paul Krugman gives “reason to despair” on the economy: useful to read but desperately close to a great title.

Question: If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a noise?

Answer: Uhh, I don’t fucking care.  We’ve got bigger problems.  Fox News not only remained silent, but is promoting a guests’ call for killing people that wanted healthcare reform as well as undefined White House employees.  Yes, I’m serious…

Jolly O’Neil Cavuto was interviewing Ted ‘I’m a dangerous sociopath‘ Nugent recently.  Nugent’s rant is filled with contrived ambiguity, but Nugent said that we must “kill the pig.” And, two groups he clearly defined as pigs were supporters of health care reform and undefined White House employees.  From the interview (emphasis added):

Nugent: But, I am Ted Nugent, governor of pigland. so I am the expert on the healthcare bill because I kill pigs.  And, I just shot a monster big here in Texas.

And, seeing as how this is a pig bill created by pig bureaucrats to help out American pigs, as I approach this huge pig that looked like a beached sperm whale I was expecting George Costanza to come out of the bushes and extract a Titlelist number 3 ball from his blowhole.

But, as I was about to put a 10mm slug in this pig’s head, the last thing he said was [mimics squealing pig], which is pig for “where is my healthcare?”  They’re pigs Neal.  We gotta kill the pig. And, in November we gotta vote the pigs out of office, because this is a redistribution of wealth.  This is the Communist-Mao-Che agenda of the Communist-Mao-Che fans in the White House.  They’re pigs Neal!

Cavuto: Alright, So I’ll put you down as a no on healthcare.

Nugent’s excessive use of the word pig is subterfuge for the purpose of limiting or avoiding legal liability.  The goal is to create ambiguity.  Ambiguity which in turn is supposed to shroud, for legal purposes, Nugent’s call for violence. And, Cavuto was kind enough to let him rant for over a minute, completely uninterupted, so that Nugent wouldn’t have any obstacles for his legal tap dance.

Fox News’ handling of this matter is irresponsible and dangerous.  Cavuto failed to repudiate or condemn Nugent’s call for violence.  Moreover, Fox News afforded Ted Nugent more uninterrupted time to make his sociopathic point than they offer the President during his interviews. Further, Fox News cuts off people’s mics all the time.  Fox News hosts are constantly taking hard lines against the ‘dangerous’ claims of liberals by cutting their mics.

So, why didn’t Fox News do that here? I don’t know, perhaps for the same reason they’re now promoting this video on their website?

Because, Fox News has decided that being seditious is more profitable and consistent with their political goals than being Fair and Balanced.

In this video General Electric celebrates Ronald Reagan.  Sure, this is shameless pandering to the right-wing.  To the anti-society folk (tea party clan, 912ers, Glenn Beck cultists, and Fox “News” viewers), NBC/MSNBC are odious entities and General Electric is by extension.  So, I imagine GE wants to start ridding itself of the scent of liberalism among those groups.

But, this video is more than just pandering.  General Electric is publicly and proudly endorsing Ronald Reagan’s policies, his impact on society and his legacy.  Isn’t this worthy of debate? Discussion?

I certainly think so. Think about it…

GE benefits from an awful lot of public resources and taxpayer money.  Accordingly, if they are going to be articulating a political viewpoint, it’s worth considering from a public policy perspective.  Also, as consumers, we support this company.  If they are going to use your money to advocate a political ideology, isn’t that worth knowing and considering?

I’m curious.  Why isn’t this endorsement even remotely controversial? If a major corporation came out with such an laudatory video for LBJ or FDR, the right-wing noise machine would be up in arms.

Why aren’t progressives making noise about GE’s controversial decision to offer such high esteem to Reagan?

And celebrating Ronald Reagan is controversial. Even GE of old thought so, seeing as how they fired Reagan as their spokesperson in 1962 due to his incendiary and controversial anti-government positions. So, make no mistake about it, this is controversial…

Ronald Reagan destroyed unions…cut the budgets for education, EPA, poverty programs, etc…engaged in a public policy initiative aimed specifically at screwing over the poor…advanced the prison-industrial complex….hollowed out the Federal government to the best of his ability…ironically espoused the belief that government was the enemy (hello! he was the president *facepalm*)…was reckless and neglectful in responding to HIV/AIDS…tried to cut disabled people from social security rolls (that’s right…disabled people)…HUD grant fraud…Sewergate…

…I could go on and on, but I’ve made my point.  Why is GE celebrating and endorsing Ronald Reagan? And, why are they able to freely get away with such blatant whitewashing of history and shameless political posturing?

Watch the video. (prepare to gag)

Sigh.

If you want to make some noise, feel free to contact GE about this.

—–

Update: I said this was political. And, General Electric helped proved my point as they are now advertising their love for Reagan on Rush Limbaugh’s hate radio program.

As Glenn Beck continues to hemorrhage sponsors, his public relations team is working hard to push back against the notion that Beck is a dangerous willful misinformer of the masses.  One example of this push back is a puff piece that ran in USA Weekend last weekend.

One aspect of the piece is notable in that it reveals just how little regard Glenn Beck has for the truth given how wildly inconsistent it is with previous claims that he has made.

Glenn Beck, noted global warming denier, suddenly “believes in global warming.”

There are countless examples of Glenn Beck trashing the notion of human-caused (or human-influenced) climate change.  Here’s just example: On December 8, 2008, Glenn Beck said about global warming (emphasis added):

Yes. We know that it’s a bunch of bullcrap. How do we know it? Because we’ve engaged in something I like to call common sense. Just when you get really down and you say, “There’s not a single person on Earth that gets it anymore,” know that, yes, Americans know the global warming thing is a scam.

Since Beck is now a global warming believer, does that mean that he’s also a scam artist, who buys into “bullcrap” and fails to use “common sense?” By his own standard, it would appear the answer to this query is yes. And, this seems fitting, because…

We know it’s not about intellectual honesty for Glenn Beck.  If it was, he wouldn’t spend several hours a day willfully distorting current news or history.

We already know it’s about not about bettering society for Glenn Beck.  If it was, he wouldn’t whip his fans up into hysterical frenzies with lies about Obama secretly constructing concentration camps or plotting to put sterilants in drinking water (both of which Glenn Beck has told his audience).

We already know it’s about about his fellow citizens.  If it was, then Glenn Beck wouldn’t mock the poor or consistently say such racist, sexist, bigoted and homophobic statements.

For Glenn Beck, it’s only about one thing: Glenn Beck.  He’ll peddle any distortion or hate nugget so long as he can monetize it.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, Glenn Beck’s selfish sociopathy has consequences. Those being scores of angry, frustrated, woefully misinformed, heavily armed, cult-like fans who now believe (thanks to Glenn Beck) that progressivism is a disease that must be hunted down and “eradicated.”

Glenn Beck’s indecency is in part why the StopBeck effort continues.

Consider…

• 77% of Oklahoma’s high school students did not know who the first President was.
• Only 4 in 10 Americans accept the theory of evolution (aka “believe in evolution”)
• Only one-third of Americans can name all three branches of the federal government.
• 57% of Americans can’t name a single Supreme Court Justice.
• Nearly one-fifth believe the sun revolves around the earth. (Note: old data, but still this isn’t exactly a new scientific revelation)
• Other than Roe v. Wade, the most recent Republican nominee for Vice-President couldn’t name a single Supreme Court decision she disagreed with. [Note: updated to reflect clarification from a commenter.]

Without regard for society, Utah State Sen. Buttars has proposed legislation that would eliminate the 12th grade.

Just what America needs: less learning.

Oh, and Buttars also proposed privatizing the state’s parks.  Parks, be they national or state, play an important functional and symbolic role in a democracy.

They stand as monuments to our egalitarian underpinnings.  Besides, privatizing significant public resources – like state parks – during a painful recession is just an example of the wealthy looting public resources. While most of us financially suffer, the wealthy are able to exploit our society’s weaknesses for their own gain.

On the bright side, like many GOP legislators, it seems Buttars is either willfully ignorant or has absolutely no understanding of his own proposal.  Apparently, it would be very difficult for Utah to privatize some its parks due to legal/financial issues well beyond the scope of this quick post.

Another day. Another sociopathic policy proposal from a conservative legislator.  It’s not that they are completely clueless.  It’s just that they’ve made the political calculation to only serve the wealthiest members of society to the disadvantage of everyone else.

Sigh.

[Photo Credit]

A guy that wants gays executed - yes executed – is one of the leaders in the GOP primary race for Alabama’s Governor.

Of the six candidates vying for the Republican Party’s nomination, Roy ‘Execute Gays‘ Moore is currently polling second:

According to political consulting firm Public Strategy Associates’ poll that was released on Tuesday, [Bradley] Byrne, the former chancellor of Alabama’s two-year college system, claimed 20 percent of likely Republican primary voters. Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Moore received 17 percent of those polled by an Austin, Texas, company hired by the Montgomery-based firm Public Strategy Associates.

It’s unsettling that this man is a leading figure in the Republican Party. And, it’s more unsettling that no one seems to mind that Republicans are at the very least tolerant of Mr. Moore’s position on executing homosexuals and or people that in engage in homosexual conduct.

After Sharing An Office For Only Two Days, This Grizzly Took His Own Life

On balance, I tend to avoid wading into the rhetorical cesspool that is a Sarah Palin speech.  But, one of Palin’s remarks at the American Fascism Rally (aka Tea Party Convention) struck me as noteworthy.

Criticizing the administration’s national security policies and specifically its handling of the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab case (alleged Christmas airplane bomber), Palin asserted:

“Treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at grave risk because that’s not how radical Islamic extremists are looking at this. They know we’re at war. And to win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.”

In this statement Palin provides a disturbing and if it wasn’t so self-destructive, pitiable portrait of the American Fascist worldview: sheer cowardice shamelessly draped in anti-constitutional jingoism.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tea Party. 912ers. “Patriots.”  They can call themselves whatever they like, but it doesn’t change the reality that they’re fascists.  If you look at what they advocate, it’s definitional fascism.  Unlike the corporate media – which is quick to point out extreme leftists – I’m actually going to call these teabaggers what they are: American Fascists.

With that being said, Sarah Palin is speaking tonight.  But, who else is speaking at this event?  Well, one speaker is a former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and current Alabama gubernatorial candidate – Roy Moore.

To put it mildly, Moore is a dangerous lunatic.

In 2002, Moore filed a concurring opinion in the case Ex Parte H.H.  In it, he called for stripping custody from a parent that engages in homosexual conduct (even if they are the biological parents):

I concur in the opinion of the majority that D.H., the mother of the minor children in this case, did not establish a change of circumstances sufficient to transfer custody to her from H.H., the father of the minor children. I write specially to state that the homosexual conduct of a parent — conduct involving a sexual relationship between two persons of the same gender — creates a strong presumption of unfitness that alone is sufficient justification for denying that parent custody of his or her own children or prohibiting the adoption of the children of others.

Oh, and he also tossed in a little mention about his desire for the state to imprison and even execute homosexuals:

The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle.

Of course Moore ranted about homosexuals in his Tea Party speech.  If you’re interested in what he said, you can read a summary here.  But, two takeaways from this.

1. That this man served at such a high level in our judicial system is shameful.
2. Why the fuck is Sarah Palin palling around with people that want to execute homosexuals and/or pull their children away from them? And, more importantly, why is her embrace of such hate being tolerated by the mainstream media – and by us.

What do you think?