More Brinkmanship to Come

What a year...

This election year is finally over, a small mercy at best.

Unfortunately, despite the facts that more Americans voted for Democrats for the House, by nearly a million, and Democrats gained in the Senate, and held the White House, our government continues to be held hostage by the radical Right Tea Cult fringe. 

Thanks to their 2010 wins, Republican gerrymandering has insured that the boot heel of the radical Right minority will continue to step on the will of the people for an indefinite time into the future.

And yes, although the corporate media are too cowardly, and of course too corporate, to assert, it is obvious the Republicans are the impediment to a functioning Federal Government. Watch them play the same hostage game again and further degrade our credit rating come debt ceiling time. 

The present Republican-manufactured "fiscal cliff" is just one wave of the brinkmanship mentality of the Radical Right. More shall certainly come this new year.

In the biggest unreported news of the year, two brave souls managed to speak the unspeakable in the Washington Post.

They had the courage to go beyond the lamestream media line, “Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around”.

Here’s a sample from:

“Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.”

By Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, Published: April 27, 2012

Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.

It’s not that the GOP leadership agrees with West; it is that such extreme remarks and views are now taken for granted.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
--

The other significant reality ignored by corporate media is summed up by a Republican:

“...A Republican ideology pitting the “makers” against the “takers” offers nothing. No sympathy for our fellow citizens. No insight into our social challenge. No hope of change. This approach involves a relentless reductionism. Human worth is reduced to economic production. Social problems are reduced to personal vices. Politics is reduced to class warfare on behalf of the upper class."

- Michael Gerson, head speech writer and a senior policy adviser to President George W. Bush.

Some liberals are excited about the demise of the GOP after this election. They’re fooling themselves, of course.

The Republicans are not going anywhere. They are the party of the rich and powerful and will always have the aristocratic Koch brothers' and Adelson type's "free speech" money to undermine democracy and suppress the interests of the American people.

The good news is democracy lingers, as exemplified by the sane and kind folks in Colorado and Washington who understand that having a harmless plant should not be a crime.

The not-so-good news is the Democrats will continue to be the Republican-lite party, as they too serve their Military Industrial Complex and Wall Street bosses.

The war on democracy continues...

Happy New Year!

Two Perspectives

So the Democrats won the White House and gained seats in both the House and Senate... And FOX(R) was wrong. Shocking. And although more Americans voted for Democratic, rather than Republican representation, GOP gerrymandering allowed them to keep control of the House.

This is what Speaker Boehner called a “status quo election”. Yeah, that’s it.

But that’s not even the most unhinged lunacy from Republicans. Not by a long shot.

The brainwashing cult indoctrination of the radical Right is an amazing thing to see. These are some real true believers.

We see Public Policy Polling has some interesting findings. And before anyone denounces them for having “liberal bias”, please note: The Murdoch Wall Street Journal ranked PPP as one of the top swing state pollsters in the country during the last Presidential election.

PublicPolicy Polling reveals the madness:

“Republicans not handling election results well”

PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.

49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found:

 that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.

Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.

One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.

What a country! Turns out half of the Republican voters STILL think ACORN stole the election for Obama, from the grave apparently.

I'm not sure what hope there can be for a nation that is a quarter delusional. The good news is their cult is shrinking.

But they still number in the millions and American has its work cut out if it wishes to be a free and prosperous nation.

Yes, as the pundits and corporate "journalists" say, the polarization in American politics is wider than ever. No wonder. The corporate media stenographers do very little reporting of facts, while the propaganda arm of the Republican Party has duped it’s cult into believing they are “fair and balanced’.

Let’s look at the contrast between the two perspectives of a divided America. One is that of the so-called “conservative” radical Right, aka the Republican Party. The other is the opposite alternative, not necessarily that of the junior corporate Democratic Party.

"In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks." - Spencer Bachus (R) AL

And who can forget:

”There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it....And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Willard (R) the Loser

Now that’s the Right attitude.

In contrast we have:

On taxes:

Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.”

So they brought Him a denarius.

And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”

And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – (Matthew 22:17-21)

On wealth:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.- (Mathew 6:24)

On social justice for the poor:

 “From each according to his ability and to each according to his need.”

What? Too liberal, too compassionate, and too commie?

Well then, there’s this radical view:

 "All whose faith had drawn them together held everything in common: they would sell their property and possessions and make a general distribution as the need of each required."  (Acts 2:44-5) 

Verily I say unto thee, if Jesus were to come to America, he would be called a godless commie by the “real Americans” of the FOX(R) cult. If the Republicans were in power they'd want to toss the radical Leftist into Gitmo.

Cult Deprogramming

Trusting authoritarian personalities has been a disastrous flaw in human nature. Dictators rise and wars are started because people trust the assertiveness of authoritarians. FOX(R) features Right Wing authoritarians more than any other source of information, or misinformation in this case.

In the following video clip we see the emotional pain that comes from realizing that bond of trust is betrayed by the authoritarian person. The woman realizes something more Americans need to understand. FOX(R) is not there to inform, but to propagandize the agenda of the radical Right.

One awakening is a good thing. Let's see more of this.

From Youtube:

A Fox News/O'Reilly climate change denier has her mind changed by the movie 'Chasing Ice', currently in limited release. Visit www.chasingice.com/showtimes for screenings around the country. PLAYING NOW. 

A NOTE from me - @justin_kanew - the guy who shot it:

People have been asking me if this video is set up. I promise it isn't. I was at the theater helping with the release of the movie all weekend, mostly managing the guest list. Many people came out of the movie emotional, but none as emotional as this lady. She started talking to me in a very real way, with tears in her eyes, essentially apologizing to me for her previous position on the subject and letting me know she was a Fox/O'Reilly watcher who just had her mind changed by the movie. It occurred to me that that was a pretty powerful moment, and one you don't see every day, so i asked her if she would mind telling me that on video. She said she wouldn't, so I pulled out my camera, and what you see here happened.

I'm a supporter of the project, and the subject, but I would not call myself a climate change activist... however I do know a powerful moment when I see one, and this was that. There's no editing here, and this woman is not an actress. I would swear to it on the Bible, the constitution, or anything else you put in front of me.

Not Racist

“Another 4 years of this nigger. Maybe he will get assassinated this term.”

Oops. The lily-white California Girl’s sentiments, thought to be shared in private on a social network, were exposed by a former boyfriend.

Can’t a nice blonde girl express her feelings anymore? What’s all the fuss about? She couldn’t possibly be a racist, she's white AND conservative.

The local TV news reporter posed the simple question to the puzzled young woman.

“Are you a racist? It sounds like you’re a racist?”

“It does,” Aryann McBlondie* said, “but I am not. That’s what everyone’s been telling me, ‘You know, what you said sounded so racist,’ and it does, and you know, I take it back. If I could erase what I said, I would.”

Well then, like a shake of Romney's Etch-a-Sketch, she took it back. Nothing to see here folks. It’s all been fixed.
Now she's only hoping the president gets assassinated. No hate, or racism, there, right?

Besides, I’m sure she knows from FOX(R), Limbaugh, and Beck that only the President and his voters can be racists.

That is sadly the lesson from the radical Right.

Let’s hope this other reality based lesson is learned.

Racists never admit to being racists. Just ask one.

Or just ask Limbaugh, Beck and FOX(R).

 
* Name changed to protect the guilty.  


--------

Perhaps we should consider this perspective from an article from the Atlantic:

"Fear of a Black President"

 "Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others." - Ta-Nehisi Coates

It's Called Projection

"The president succeed by suppressing the vote, by saying to people, 'you may not like who I am and I know you can't bring yourself to vote for me, but I'm going to paint this other guy as simply a rich guy who only cares about himself' ... They effectively denigrated Mitt Romney's character, business acumen, experience."

- Karl Rove

What Next?

Now it's time to sit back and enjoy the madness of the FOX(R) comedy channel as they wonder what happened to the "Center-Right America", and Rushbo the Clown's blubbering "explanation" of what went wrong.


Like most of the rest of you, I'm eagerly watching the mail for the new "Obama Socialist Giveaway Package" we were promised if we voted for him. I'm hoping for a new car and enough cash so I never have to work again like the chumps of the 53 percent. ;-)

Romney's Concession Speech

My fellow Real Americans. This is not a concession speech. For I did not lose this election to that godless socialist they call Obama. This is not my fault. I am not to blame. The liberal media have stolen the election, and I have been betrayed by my Party.

Now we can’t take my country back, I mean our country back, from the Marxist liberals.

I am the one entitled to the presidency. It is MY turn.

The American people must be confused. I have money, gosh darn it. And Big Money was on MY side. Why didn’t the American people respect that, and vote for me?

Don’t they know how things are supposed to work in America? More money was spent on this election by my friends than by those democrat bums. The Koch brothers and old man Adelson spent more than Obama’s Hollywood Satanist elites.

Is money not sacred in our elections anymore? Not even after Citizens United? My blue blood thaws at the very notion!

This must surely be the apocalypse that I warned you about if I didn’t win.

I know what happened. I’m a victim of treachery and betrayal from the likes of that brown-nosed Christie, who thinks federal aid for people after a hurricane is more important than ME.

And those turncoat Tea Party idiots have also cost me the election. They were supposed to win this for me. They told me America hates Obama and loves them.

After all my pandering to the Tea Party, look at how the ingrates turned their backs on me. They screwed up, not me.

Their rising stars Akin and Mourdock explained how women won't get pregnant from real rape, and even if she gets pregnant, it's God's will. And they still went and lost to the socialists. Unbelievable! Who can I trust if not the Tea Party?

And what happened to my home state? Massachusetts stabbed me in the back. I never did like those liberal New Englanders anyway.

And my other home state Michigan betrayed me too, and that’s where my birth certificate is!

But the joke is on them. Their trees are not the right height! I just told them that to make them like me.

I’m not buying any more homes in those states again. That'll teach them.

Thanks a lot...for nothing! I’ve taken every possible position on every issue, but was that good enough for you?? Noooo!

None of you are good enough for me now.

You are all now as useless as the other 47% of Americans I don’t like.

No, I will not concede the election to Obama. He didn’t really win.

Americans are too conservative for that to happen.

I said, Americans are too conservative for that to happen...

...Well...where’s the applause after that line from my teleprompter?

Hello?? Are you listening to me??

Anyone?