Fear-mongers never change

In 1860, conservatives accused Lincoln of being Catholic
In 1940, conservatives accused Roosevelt of being Jewish
Now, conservatives accuse Obama of being Muslim

Dangerous ideas

You can just feel the conservative hatred for liberals and their dangerous ideas building with each word uttered...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS4Qw4lIckg

Screw the unemployed

Hypocrisy At It's Worst: 40 Senate Republicans Who Filibustered $25 Billion In Benefits For The Unemployed Because It Was "Fiscally Irresponsible" All Voted For Bush Tax Cuts That Will Cost America Over $2 Trillion

www.prosebeforehos.com

It's not just Nevada

The nutcase running for the Senate in Nevada is getting a lot of press for being the most fringe GOPper out there, but she doesn't have a monopoly on unqualified candidate lunacy. Here in 'sconsin, the gazillionaire that got the Republican nod because he pledged to spend his entire fortune to buy Russ's Senate seat actually claims that global climate change exists (what, I thought they weren't allowed to say that) because of ... get this ... sunspots.

http://blog.russfeingold.org/?p=595

Seriously, how deep to the conservatives have to dig to find pieces of work like this?

Drop the tac-nukes now

So, let me get this straight. Bush's appointment to the UN, John Bolton, was an unmitigated disaster. Now fox "news" is reporting, as news, his proclamation that we must have all-out war in the Middle East in a way that would pull Russia into the frey RIGHT NOW.

Yes, John, I know that elections are near and your political masters would like to see ANOTHER disaster launched, but you and your ilk are not in charge now. The world does not need more death and destruction just because it suits a conservative political agenda.

www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/17/israel-weeks-end-strike-iran-nuclear-facility-bolton-says

BTW, just in case there's anyone left out there that somehow things that fox is actually a news organization, they just publicly donated a MILLION dollars to Republican gubernatorial candidates. That's in addition to all the propaganda that they push promoting the conservative agenda.

Primer on trickle down

www.ourfuture.org

What's even worse than the effect of conservative economics on a country is when they combine it with their nation-building habit.

Iraq Reconstruction money: $8,700,000,000 of $9,100,000,000 (8.7 of 9.1 billion dollars) is unaccounted for by Dept of Defense. (see report 10-020)

www.sigir.mil/directorates/audits/auditReports.html

Remember when the Republicans said one of the good parts about bombing the Iraqi people is that it would be free, because they would give us their oil money to pay for the war and reconstruction?

Back to the "religious war" to stir the base

Interesting how the proposed Islamic center near the WTC site went by for months, with not a hint of disapproval from conservatives. But once we started getting closer to the election cycle, and the Republican edict was to stir race and religious intolerance, all of a sudden they're outraged.
www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zero_mosque_origins

So, Republicans are all of a sudden against an Islamic center. OK, well what does the "family values" party approve of in that space?
www.politicususa.com/en/ground-zero-strip-club

Then again, this is the party that says the US border with Mexico in Arizona is Arizona's business, and the rest of us should ignore it. While they micromanage NYC after letting the actual ground zero remain a pit for Bush's entire administration.

Personally, I'm still trying to understand how former Burlington Coat Factory
locations became "sacred ground". Jon?
tv.gawker.com/5609824/jon-stewart-calls-out-those-blindly-opposed-to-ground-zero-mosque

oh yea, we did that

Just a reminder - the chief demand of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda was met by the Commander in Chief of the United States. But it's OK, but it was Bush that gave in to their demand.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm

Another thing that al Qaeda has as its goals is to create divisiveness using religion. Way to support the terrorists, conservatives.

mediamatters.org/research/201008160028

The problem with always blaming Obama

The problem with blaming Obama for everything you don't like ... the truth can be difficult to assimilate


http://cagle.com/working/100807/plante.jpg

Another shill, looking for a big fox contract?

Dr. Laura - race fires fanned, following the plan. Good job, shill.
mediamatters.org/blog/201008120045

www.thegrio.com/politics/dr-lauras-n-word-nonsense-the-latest-in-string-of-slurs.php

I suppose next she'll take the "not a shred of evidence" tack to say she never said what she said. Always a popular option.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/08/rachel-maddow-takes-on-bi_n_674794.html

Actually address illegal immigration?

Immigration - if we were serious about addressing the problem, instead of making it political theater and finding scapegoat outlets in racism

www.contracostatimes.com/tom-barnidge/ci_15745802?nclick_check=1

We already have a way to stop illegal immigration: "[T]he Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ... prohibits employers from knowingly hiring or recruiting illegal immigrants. Why this portion of the bill has not been fully enforced is a riddle for the age."

Bob Burnett

Just another whack-a-loon from the working poor, nobody that any conservative has to bother listening to. Oh wait, Bob Burnett fits the stereotypical Conservative description to a tee: an uber-rich, retired executive and founder of a large, successful corporation. Well, dang, how do we spin this? Perhaps they'll just label him as a Socialist - that seems to be very trendy.

www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/13-6

The world's largest tidal turbine about to be installed in Scotland

www.boingboing.net/2010/08/13/the-worlds-largest-t.html

It's not 1981 any more, we don't have to let conservatism set the national agenda. Can we please get out of the "me, me, me, grab what I can" mindset that caused the US to transition from global leadership to a shell of its former self. The US should be leading the world in moving to renewable and clean sources of energy, not watching others do it.

Up next in the crosshairs...

...teachers, police and firefighters. Did your representative vote in favor of them, or did they want them laid off?

http://www.opencongress.org/vote/2010/h/518

What does a loyal Republican do when faced with a bill that will reduce the deficit? You guessed it - whatever the party tells him to do. And since their #1 mission is to obstruct the workings of government to make the President look bad, they'll vote against fiscal conservancy and prefer to throw 300,000 teachers, police and firefighters off the job.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/state-aid-clears-senate-h_n_670440.html

While it seems nonsensical to be anti-teacher, anti-police and anti-firefighter as a political stance, these are the folk with all the anti-science and anti-smarts rhetoric to get their base excited.

http://thechapel.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/the-war-on-brains/

Before Bush came into office, nearly every single state had record surpluses and their budgets were balanced. After The Bush Recession, nearly every single state ran a deficit (other possible titles: "why do the Republicans hate Firefighters and Teachers", "when trickle-down becomes pour-down").

donklephant.com/2010/08/11/teachers-cops-firefighters-the-new-welfare-queens/

========================
Also, since it's an election year, another old enemy gets attacked: science.
This time the character assassination target for conservatives is ... none other than Albert Einstein.

Yes, in their inexplicable "war on science", they are turning some of their propaganda cannons against perhaps the greatest scientific mind of the 20th century. If you can't understand something, it must be the work of the devil. Yea, stay classy, conservatives.

conservapedia.com/Counterexamples_to_Relativity

Jon Stewart

Strong wit, easy targets. To channel Will Rogers: There is no credit to being a comedian, when you have the whole Government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don't even have to exaggerate.

tv.gawker.com/5610818/jon-stewart-exposes-the-financial-idiocy-of-sarah-palin-john-boehner-and-other-republicans

A couple of simple graphs

Although conservative media likes to blame President Obama for the job losses and economic stagnation of the entire Bush Administration, here's a simple graph to illustrate the issue of job losses.



from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/who_can_we_blame_for_job_losse.html

We also averted 3,000,000+ job losses by preventing GM and Chrysler from disappearing, as the Republicans called for. We also just saved 300,000 teachers, police and firefighters from losing their jobs, again, as Republicans called for.

I know that very high rates of unemployment are good for those wishing to cheaply employ workers who will be so happy to have a job that benefits and vacations can be greatly reduced or eliminated, but this strikes be as very bad for the overall health of the United States.

More good change. Speaking of which - tax cuts. Where do you fall? Which side cares about which people?



from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/the_bush_tax_plan_vs_the_obama.html

bomb, bomb, bomb Iran

Interesting article. Sounds like we must start dropping bombs on Iran immediately, or at least join in when Israel starts doing so.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/09/the-point-of-no-return/8186/1/

Wait a minute, that author's name sounds familiar. Glenn, can you refresh my memory, please?

www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/12/goldberg/index.html

America hating alert

Alert fox, Rush and the rest of the hate-speakers! The President has good things to say about an Imam at a meeting with Muslim leaders. He even betrayed his country by accepting a Koran from the Imam and then thanking him. He even went to far as to say "the teachings of Islam are the teachings of peace and good". This is proof-positive that the President is on the side of terrorists and hates America.

Oh wait, that was President Bush, never mind.

www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/12/892420/-Republicans-are-now-worse-than-Bush

A trickle-down insider speaks

Refreshing when an insider dares to speak what they all know

www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-insider-gop-destroyed-us-economy-2010-08-10

Success of the conservative media - revising history

Poll: Voters Think TARP Passed Under Obama

www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2010/08/11/poll-voters-think-tarp-passed-under-obama.aspx

Facts - the Troubled (Toxic) Asset Relief Program was a Republican initiative passed by President George W. Bush. The plan was to spread $700B across the banking industry to avert an economic meltdown in the United States. As Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explained, the number needed to be sufficiently large, there must be no rules about where it should go, and all people involved in distributing the funds must be made exempted from any investigation or prosecution for wrongdoing in the future. The money must be given with no strings attached, for the good of the economy.

The compromise was to allow Bush to distribute the first $350B, and incoming President Obama to distribute the second half. Bush burned through his $350 before leaving office and asked to distribute the rest. The Democratically controlled Congress did not allow that.

When President Obama distributed the remaining funds, it came with strings attached. Under Obama, the new TARP rule was that any financial institution that received TARP funds had to limit executive bonuses until the US government was repaid the money. The results were quite predictable. Instead of TARP being a $700B taxpayer bailout as originally planned, it became a loan that was mostly REPAID WITH INTEREST back to the US government. This SAVED taxpayers from the financial hardship of the original Big Bush Bailout plan.

Still trying to justify more tax subsidies for the rich

The Republican plan: massive increases to the national debt by continuing tax subsidies for the wealthiest, because it will help the economy and small business, even though we know for a fact that it will not help the economy or small business.

Well, at least it keeps the corporate masters happy...

www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/08/11/republicans-intellectual-dishonesty-regarding-bush-tax-cuts.html

Why Raising Taxes on the Wealthy Helps Everyone, Including the Rich:
America prospered from WWII through the '60s with tax rates on the rich of between 75% and 92%. Not just the rich, but everyone got richer.

www.laprogressive.com/economic-equality/raising-taxes-on-wealthy/

Instead of returning to a tax structure that provided wide-spread prosperity, we're having an argument as to whether or not we should continue a tax subsidy program for the very rich that has proven to be disastrous to the economy. Stop this brainless argument and return to prosperity.

Wells caught

IMHO, when it comes to the big banks, Wells Fargo is by far the most upstanding and customer-focused of the bunch. Yet they still used deceptive practices to bilk their customers with excessive and undeserved fees.

money.cnn.com/2010/08/11/news/companies/wells_fargo_overdraft/index.htm

Just a couple of years ago, practices like this where welcomed by the White House as "the magic of the free market at work". The theory was, if all of the big banks squeezed surprise fees from their customers to increase their profits, then that's what the market wanted, and as a consequence that's what was best for the country. Now we have a White House that is willing to go after the big banks when they break the rules and screw over their customers. Change is good, because banks regulating themselves has been proven to be disastrous.

Speaking of good change, I never understood why it was considered perfectly acceptable for drug kingpins to run their operations while incarcerated.

www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/10/obama.prison.phone.ban/index.html

the conservative internet?

A preview of one aspect of a conservative takeover of the internet: we know best what you should be able to read, so we're in charge of censorship

alternet.org

Still in charge of South Carolina

Approve of deficit spending to fund tax subsidies to the very rich and launch a war on phony pretenses? Check!

Publicly rails against the economic stimulus designed to save the economy? Check!

Pledge to turn down stimulus money? Check!

Wait for the news cycle to look somewhere else, then accept all the stimulus money you can get? Check!

No wonder Sanford is such a star in the Republican Party. He doesn't even need to jet down to Argentina on taxpayer money to have sex with his mistress to be a standout "family values" conservative.

thinkprogress.org/2010/08/11/sanford-stimulus-jobless-benefits
www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/us/politics/11carolina.html?_r=2&hp

Yet more great change - being under budget

Talk about great change. Add some efficiency, cut some waste, and now instead of habitually adding to the deficit without a thought like the last administration, we SAVED $1.6 billion!

www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/10/census.under.budget/index.html

While the previous method was far more profitable for crony contractors, as a taxpayer I much prefer the current mindset. This change is good.

Want more change to believe in? How about supporting education.
www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/09/obama.education/index.html

The conservative long-term goal of firing every public school teacher and completely disbanding the Department of Education would be a boon for the folk who would be given the physical assets of public education for pennies on the dollar. Privatization of public education would have that initial profit, plus in the long run they would only have to focus on quarterly profits, instead of providing quality education. Personally, I don't just think that's a bad plan, I think it would be utterly disastrous for the long-term ability of America to compete on the global stage. Education should not just be for those of ample means, it should be available to all.

Big win for Democrats, big loss for Republicans

300,000 teachers, police and firefighters will NOT be fired. Two Republicans defected, and that allowed a vote to take place.

tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/house-passes-state-aid-bill-to-help-teachers-gop-freaks.php

Republican leaders are already decrying this as needless, wasteful spending. Personally, I think the US is better off having teachers, police and firefighters that work for the good of the people, rather than privatizing such functions so profit can be squeezed out.

We need more vacation time at your expense

So, with 2 wars, umemployment, the economy, healthcare, education, oil dependency, aging infrastructure, and a myriad of big issues facing this country, what has risen to the top of the Republican agenda? Time off, of course.

"Republicans Demand Two-Month, Taxpayer-Funded Recess After Election"

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/gop-to-introduce-lame-duc_n_675630.html

Well, they are just following the lead of their conservative icon. Bush made 77 trips to Crawford, costing the taxpayers a quarter million bucks each time - just for the flight.

www.dailykos.com

Has corruption been eliminated?

Are there still corrupt Congresspeople? Yup, no change.

But are their ethics violations still being ignored (or rewarded) like they were under Bush, if they're loyal to the party? Nope.

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-maxine-waters-20100810,0,6980293.story

Sorry Maxine, that was indeed a conflict of interests, and that's not OK with Dems.

foxy logic

fox "news" logic - because I can call you names and our viewers believe what we say, that makes everything we say fact, and everything you say a lie. Do not, under any circumstances, rebut with actual facts...

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/08/rachel-maddow-takes-on-bi_n_674794.html

more great change, another inherited mess cleaned up

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4TUDX0gek0

The Bush Administration created a "donut hole" in Medicare that cost seniors millions of dollars if they wanted their prescriptions filled. On top of that, they declared the system as failing and wanted to cut back on healthcare to seniors.

In one move, Dems just expanded coverage to 32 million more people, ended the most unethical practices by insurance companies, and reduced the deficit in comparison with previous policy.

Instead of staying the course, the Obama Administration, against strong opposition from Republicans, has closed this coverage hole created by Medicare Part D. In another great change, instead of simply piling on more debt like the previous administration, a buildup of waste and fraud is being eliminated to pay for it. Republicans, for their part, are so enamored with the person who perpetuated the greatest case of Medicare fraud ever, that they've made him the party choice for governor of Florida.

More great change, and another inherited mess cleaned up.

Dammit, you're supposed to be a dittohead

So, they brought on a Bush lawyer, assuming he'd be another dittohead following the anti-gay edict of the GOP. Instead, he talked common sense, cited actual facts and rulings and exposed ridiculous analogies for what they are. You can just feel Wallace's blood pressure rising as he's unable to put incendiary words into Olson's mouth.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJwSprkiInE&

"Most people use the term 'judicial activism' to describe something they don't like". SNAP. There's fox's buzzword gameplan in a nutshell.

Shouldn't there be protests?

Iraq Veteran Will Be First to Get Adult Stem Cell Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury in FDA Trial

www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/studying-stem-cells

Where's the conservative outrage? Isn't it disrespectful to our troops to try to heal them with medical research that involves the word "stem"? They beat it into the heads of their base in 2000 and 2004 that this was absolutely evil...