My distaste for Fox News knows no bounds....but.... whoever you are (including you Mr. President) are wrong in not including Fox any debate, etc..
Yes, Fox has a right wing point of view, to put it mildly, but there are networks (going unnamed right now) that are unabashedly left. So what, I say.
Let's get in the ring together and bash it out. Let no one be excluded; if they are; we go the way of the Soviet Union. And, I, for one, would not want the South to succeed again; I'd likely be sentenced to death by Country Music.
AHHHH!
The title says all you need to know about this "prez'dint's" commitment to "bipartisanship".But bipartisanship doesn't matter anyway…the Democrats have the votes to ram this crap through without a single Republican committing political suici, "joining them"…The only reason obama or the Democrats want Republican participation in the upcoming disaster is so that they'll have someone to blame when the American people turn on them!!!
BY Chisco on 09/09/2009 at 12:03
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/57859-boehner-gop-leaders-havent-met-obama-for-health-talks-since-april
The ball is in President Obama's court to reach out to Republicans if he wants a bipartisan bill on healthcare reform, House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said Monday morning.Boehner told reporters that the president has not invited House GOP leaders to the White House for meetings on healthcare reform since the end of April.Earlier this year, GOP leaders sent a letter to the president in May stating that they would like to work with the administration to find "common ground" on healthcare reform.But the administration responded with a tersely worded letter indicating that they had healthcare reform under control.
Update 9-5-09 Obama/Biden Administration is showing WEAKNESS and the right-wing predators have NOTICED!Obama/Biden accepts the resignation from Van Jones? Are you kidding me? WHAT… are we putting down people who happen to have the COURAGE (balls) to be honest and speak their minds? The Republicans ARE assholes! (but most people are AFRAID to say it)So Van Jones made comments and statements that the Conservatives don’t like… well boo #*~/’n hoo. I can’t think of a Bush/Cheney Administration official or appointee that DIDN’T say things that made me want to put my boot into a TV screen. How come they never had to walk on eggshells or resign? I’ve been to protest rallies/marches all over the nation and at every one of them I've met a communist or socialist somewhere in the crowd. DOES THAT MAKE ME A bad guy?
I got copies of The Militant, People’s Weekly World, The Grassroots Press and the War Crimes Times in my files. (I think history has shown quite clearly that those who use the uncomplimentary communist label to destroy others are the worst kind of CONTROL by AUTHORITY FASCISTS)Speaking of War Crimes, WHO on the Left hasn’t thought or considered that 9/11 wasn’t an inside job? (Anyone’s who watched the movie “Zeitgeist”) Look into George W. Bush‘s eyes as he was sitting in that class room on 9/11. COME ON! One has GOT TO ADMIT something stinks. Especially with guys like Cheney and Rumsfeld in power and all that super secret, black op, highly paid military contractor, Neo-Con bullshit going on…Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that if Van Jones was a highly knowledgeable, right man for the job… WHY THE #*~/ SHOULD WE CARE WHAT THE MEDIA OR THE RIGHT-WING THINKS? Is this what Obama/Biden are all about… IMAGE rather than accomplishment?If Obama/Biden needs help with controlling BULLIES then I’m still open to an offer $… On the other hand maybe I should quit politics because I’m starting to dislike Democrats almost as much as the Republicans. if you don't have the ciones to fight... YOU SHOULD NOT BE IN POWER! (At the very least hire someone who does)
I’m going to give ONE more FREE example how hiring Conscious Man Consultants will solve the Conservative/Republican problem. We can put a specialized, personalized plan of action in motion that will keep the right-wing occupied attacking US instead of Obama/Biden Administration officials… (just in case you people actually want to do all those things Obama has been speaking about since 2007) PREMISE:Conservatives seemed to have LOST THEIR MINDS! From the local level to national spokespersons, even in the Halls of Congress, it’s nothing but FEAR and SMEAR. No new ideas, nothing good to say, nothing good to do. Only rabid hate and criticism of Obama/Biden, Democrats, Progressives and Liberals. Like a mad dog ready to attack anything that gets in it’s way.NOTE: This whole mad, hoo-hah paranoia Conservatives are making about Obama’s speech to elementary kids is the straw that broke the camels back. These people are f*~/'n INSANE!People in the age group have told me that when they were in school classes were stopped for the OJ trial verdict, aggghhhhhhagggg! AND YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS ARE upset about President Obama addressing the children in the beginning of their school year, ENCOURAGING the youth to make the best of their education?Many of these Conservative nutcases are on the verge of violent acts against all us COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS IN THE TRENCHES doing all the organizing legwork for Obama/Biden and the Democrats. WE NEED YOUR PROTECTION AND LOVE! (or at least let us defend ourselves WITHOUT law enforcement interference and criminal prosecution)The Obama Justice Department needs to (GROW A PAIR) draw the line and INVESTIGATE! Barack Obama getting elected President was NOTHING SHORT OF A REVOLUTION and the Obama people BETTER START TO REALIZE IT! CHANGE is not just a word in a speech to us, IT’S OUR LIVES! If YOU Democrats can't provide IT, then there's going to be a for real revolution... AND IT WON'T BE PRETTY!
I warned you #*!~/s a year ago what would happen how you should come out of the starting gate STRONG… (READ MY OLD POSTS)
You should of held Bush/Cheney ACCOUNTABLE for their incompetent/criminal foreign, domestic and reckless economic polices from the start. BUT Noooooo… you pussies had to play NICE, all that bullshit about compromise and working with the Republicans. BAIL THEM OUT!Now look at the pitiful, mindless bullshit we have to deal with everyday. The very people who’s legacies Obama and the Democrats saved by voting for the Bush/Paulson Bailout are now using some of that money to work AGAINST the Obama administration. GETTING IN THE WAY OF OUR HOPES, OUR DREAMS, OUR CHANGE! motherfuckers! You cowards AVOIDED the FIGHT that would have made Obama/Biden GREAT!I can’t take this vile nonsense anymore. While Barack and Michele Obama are looking good for the media AND Ivory Tower crowd.. out here in the REAL WORLD the bullshit is almost unbearable and the economy REALLY SUCKS. It’s comes at me from all sides…EXAMPLE:I was doing some consulting work for a friend recently. While completing the job at the house of our customers, I noticed the dart board out on their back patio with a picture of Nancy Pelosi attached over the bulls eye. I asked the couple about it and they started on a rant about how much they despised Rep. Pelosi.Mind you this is NOT in California, so the couple knew only what the Conservative propagandists told them. No facts, no statistics, no legislative content, no legitimate cases or concrete examples… they just hated Nancy Pelosi and that was all there was to it. The lady of the house told me she just hates that stupid look on Nancy Pelosi’s face every time she talks to the media. (yea, stupid look) I was looking into the lady's smiling blank eyes… (it reminded me of Sarah Palin)Now these people are not some ignorant, southern state rubes. He was an engineer and she a retired teacher. They lived in a million dollar home on a hilltop with a priceless view and 5 expensive vehicles in the driveway… So I couldn’t UNDERSTAND their thought processes. When the woman said “Glenn Beck is god in this house”, it took my #*~/'n breath away.While we completed the final details of the job I was talking business but in the back of my mind I was screaming at the couple:“Why should I take ANYTHING you people say seriously? Glenn Beck is god? ARE YOU #*~/’n CRAZY? Beck/Limbaugh/Hannity/etc… are your way to justify the SHAMELESS HYPOCRISY and unrelenting guilt.(Or what the intelligence community calls “psychological warfare”)You morons voted for Bush/Cheney NOT ONCE but 2 TIMES… YEA, I’ll listen to what you suckers have to say when one, JUST ONE of your Republican leaders stands up and takes RESPONSIBILITY for 8 years of Bush/Cheney waste, fraud, abuse, incompetence, scandal, corruption, reckless economics, war profiteering, constitutional violations…”The man told me how the NEW and improved Republican Party had nothing to do with Bush/Cheney, whom he thought strayed from Conservative principles… (I didn't know they had any...)If it wasn’t that my friend had a lot of money riding on this deal, I would have grabbed the man of the house and tried to slap some sense into him.You can’t just separate yourselves from the elected officials YOU VOTED into power. Especially since your Republican Party isn’t offering ANYTHING different from the past mistakes and collusions. You brainwashed motherfuckers need to STOP, take a step BACK and re-think your situation. YOU CAN’T WIN! Right-wing assholes can shoot and blow up every Democrat/Liberal/Progressive you pious peons come across and WE’LL STILL BE THE MAJORITY! NO matter WHAT that asshole Glenn Beck tells you…“all politics is local politics” Tip O’Neil No one can save the Republican Party from itself… NOT the 20% of idiots that STILL support them, NOT the bought off media/news, NOT Radio Free Conservative or FOX News, NOT the police state, NOT the skinheads, NOT all the wealth YOUR LEADERS LET SLIP AWAY!Maybe Conservatives should just stick to local politics for now (get rid of your mayor or something small time like that. Remember what Frankie Sinatra said: “if you can make it there you make it anywhere”, lol) and stay the f*~/ out of national picture until the LEFT-WING (once again) FIXES THE MESS REPUBLICANS IRRESPONSIBLY LEFT FOR THEM!
as posted on blog: Comedy for Organizers, boatrockers....
jinnbad.blogspot.com
Have you finally had it with all of the absolutely unbelievable political maneuverings by the fringe right, the lies, the distortions, the twisting of facts, the outright hatred towards our President simply because a minority (yes it's a minority, remember they lost) of our society are unhappy he is our President?
If so, it's time to do something about it.
Remember, when we were "all one" working hard for the would-be-President, to get him elected because we felt for once we had an intelligent person who was running? Well, we were right. He was the best person running. He is the best President we've had in a long time and we're lucky such an honest, caring individual with vision for our future is in office. Given our world situation, we need him now more than ever. Our future depends on him.
But we are no longer supporting him with the fervor as we did, nor are the same numbers of people supporting him.
Can you believe, his poll numbers are dropping? Yes I understand, post the honeymoon period numbers drop. But to this degree and while he's saving our country, maybe our world? The man that inherited the worst our country has ever seen in terms of war, finance, enviornment and more, who is helping us drag ourselves out of this recession and fight two wars he didn't even want - his poll numbers are dropping? The man who has accomplished more in months than others before him accomplished in lifetimes, his poll numbers are dropping? It's ludicrous. It's like Lincoln's or Roosevelt's poll numbers dropping as they were saving our country. But I must remember, we live in a world where Lincoln was assassinated.
I wear my Obama hat and my wife at times tells me to "take it off Steve, you might anger people" Wow, what a world. I might anger people that I support our President. That is the times of our current times, little by little, it's less acceptable to support our President because the fringe right has made it seem so.
As we fall off in numbers, the extreme fringe right takes advantage by spreading hatred and lies. And there seems to be no limit to how crazy of a story that can be spewed and believed by those who want to believe it and spew it. If I wrote such stories in a screenplay, I'd be told to modify my words because it would be unrealistic that the public would believe such nonsense. But apparently, the public's benchmark for naivety knows no bounds when fueled by hatred.
For instance (one tiny example) think about the outrage (yes outrage) regarding President Obama speaking to school children this Tuesday (as though that's a new idea).
President Obama is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He is the mentor of our country the image of our country to the world. He is doing what millions have done before him, speaking to school children. He was elected to lead our country. Get over it fringe right, he gets to lead. You lost.
The cynicism and hatred that drives those who dislike President Obama so much, so as to try to make speaking to school children seem as anything more than what it is, an attempt to inspire and lead our children, is beyond my understanding.
People say, is President Obama's speech to children "political?" Well, he is a politician, he is the President of the United States and yes he will weigh the pros and cons of his every action (as will the world), so I guess he'll weigh the politics of his actions, but that doesn't mean that everything he does, because it's weighed, is a sham or diabolical as some are actually seriously suggesting.
The fringe right who are the strategic architects of the nonsense we hear every day on so called "news" have lost all credibility to argue against anything. Even if they had a legitimate complaint, it's lost in the shuffle of their ludicrous positions and lies.
So, let's start writing, talking, doing - not taking this anymore.
And by the way, I hate to say, "I told you so", but my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4srDYEPoqo
"Yes We Can (Change our Destiny), which I produced for the inaugural, was written because I feared that we'd lose the spirit of optimism, that phenomenon of involvement that occurred during the election. To some degree, we have. So be re-inspired. Pass the link on
and get others re-inspired.
Don't take this anymore, because as the famous phrase says,
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”
Well since I have been labeled a right wing terrorist, I just want to see what all the hype was about.
Healthcare reform? Laughable at best, until you control the high cost of prescription drugs by the Manufacturers, you will never get any type of reform. Also, the tier system for insurance companies is absolutly a farce. And my favorite stupid idea is to cut the payments to the physicians...and instead give money to new students to become general practice physicians. Why would they want to be general practice when speciality is such huge pay difference?
No, I don't like being labeled a terrorist anymore than the left wing wants to be called HITLER.
Yet, this site has called me a terrorist...and mixed it in with Patriot Day (9/11). Just what are you people thinking?
I do not like the idea of healthcare ran by the government, especially with it trying to be pushed out at record pace. Mr. Obama took over 6 months to pick a dog for his family, yet I am supposed to be happy with a "imperfect bill" on healthcare that was ram-rodded through? HELL NO!!
And why did you pick Sebelius to be over healthcare...she could hardly run the state of Kansas when she was Gov., now we are suppose to trust her based on what qualifications? ABSURD!!
The coastal cities need to ask the central United States what we want... yes, us in the middle of the U.S.. Doing so, you will find the majority in no way shape or form wants your idea of healthcare reform. While I agree we need to reform healthcare, the Democratic plan is not the correct way to go. Mr. Obama... just BUTT OUT.
Afterall, you staffers have already called republicans assholes... We get the point, you are surrounding yourself with racist people...so where the hell is MY BEER... isn't that what we do for a man that refuses to obey a uniformed officers orders... cover it up, never apologize for your comment and buy them all a beer?
Waiting til the next election...~Darrin Green
Stephen Views the News April 21, 2009
http://stephenviewsthenews.blogspot.com/
Tea and Torture on a Spring Day
* The prestidigitation of the political right – There was much ado about very little with last week’s tax day Tea-Bagging protests about taxes and an assortment of sometimes hate-filled accusations. Although it was billed as a populist movement of significant proportions it was neither populist nor populous.
The event was repeatedly promoted by FOX News. While some consider FOX News a news station what it has demonstrated over the last 10 years is that it is the public relations arm of the Republican Party. FOX silence was telling on the subject of federal spending during the years that Bush and Republicans blew through the Clinton budget surplus and proceeded to build huge deficits. Who were the other movers and shakers behind Tea-Bagging?
Americans for Prosperity – a right wing think tank funded by billionaire David Koch. Koch Industries was fined $35 million dollars in 2000 for oil spills resulting from eroded and broken pipelines. “During the 1990s, the firm's faulty pipelines were responsible for more than 300 oil spills in five states, prompting a penalty of $35 million. In 1996, a flawed pipeline caused an explosion outside of Dallas in which two teenagers were killed. In a lawsuit related to the deaths, a trial court returned a judgment of $376.69 million against the company. Now there is a populist face to put on your tea bag tag.
The Independence Institute – This very conservative think tank is funded by the Coors Foundation’s Castle Rock Foundation both of whom advocate for the wealthy interests and their privileged needs. Just because they supply beer to the masses does not mean they are interested in the masses beyond the purchase of the next six-pack.
FreedomWorks – An organization that supports and promotes the interests of lobbyist Dick Armey. Those interests include Bristol-Myers Squibb, the insurance industry, and oil interests. Armey opposes health reform that would cut into the profits of branded drugs, works for deregulated life insurance reform and supports the status quo reliance on fossil fuels. Not to go unnoticed, none of these issues are in the interests of the American people.
The funders of the Tea-Bagging movement are to populism what the Republican Party was to the religious right. It is the illusion of representing the interests of a broad segment of the citizenry while in fact representing the interests of a select few. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had the appropriate response to the Tea-Bagging magical mystery tour. “The president, he stressed, had just recently passed a ‘tax cut that covers the most people in the history of this country’…The president promised significant tax relief for working families of this country, and in the first month of the administration delivered that to the American people.”
What are the facts concerning U.S. tax policy? A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “Federal Tax Burdens for Most Near Their Lowest Levels in Decades” concludes: Overall Federal Tax Burdens Are Low by Historical Standards; Federal Individual Income Tax Burdens Have Fallen Significantly; and Tax Burdens Have Dropped Most Sharply for the Highest-Income Households. I would suggest that this is what the Tea-Bagging rallies were about. It involved the wealthiest of society protecting their privileged tax concessions which they manipulated through congress in recent decades. And the sly shysters at FOX carried their water. What is being touted as a grassroots movement is little more than an assroots movement ensconced in deception and illusion.
John Perr at Crooks and Liars compiled a list of 10 Republican Tax Day Lies. They are listed below and the link provides fuller explanations:
1. President Obama will raise taxes on small businesses.
2. The estate tax devastates small businesses and family farms.
3. 40% of Americans pay no taxes.
4. Tax cuts always increase revenue.
5. The GOP is the party of fiscal discipline.
6. Ronald Reagan was the greatest tax cutter of all time.
7. FDR caused the Great Depression, or at least made it worse.
8. Obama's cap-and-trade plan will cost each American family $3,100 a year.
9. Obama's tax proposals will undermine charitable giving.
10. The rich pay too much in taxes already.
* The Torture Memos –Obama’s release of Bush’s Justice Department torture memos showed courage and at the same time focused attention once again on some of the moral and legal issues these memos engender. It required courage to go against the national security community, some of his advisors and the bulk of the political right. These memos broke laws and their release exposes the shrewd but amoral reasoning used by the Bush appointees who concocted these “justifications.” And make no mistake! U.S. laws and international laws were broken, as pointed out by constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com. How many times in the last two decades have we heard conservatives lecture about the rule of law, at least until the law is an inconvenient truth? Our laws, including international treaties, exist apart from political party or political perspective. They exist regardless of issue or circumstance.
My ambiguity about the CIA interrogators empowered by these memos uncomfortably surfaced when Obama said that CIA operatives would not be prosecuted for committing torture. This is a difficult subject to embrace from either side. From one standpoint if one thought that they were following the law they should be free of prosecution. And yet, the Nuremburg trials concluded that this was not a satisfactory defense. This is not an attempt to equate the widespread inhuman acts of the Nazi regime against innocent and defenseless people to what occurred at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and secret prison sites. It is a question of where one draws the line. It is my strong feeling that the line must not be subject to situational ethics. It is also a matter that these operatives were burdened with directives that stemmed from the Bush administration’s strained attempts to circumvent the law. It is interesting that when Obama said that CIA personnel involved in these interrogations would not be prosecuted there was no mention of a pass for the people that designed and authorized these programs. Perhaps there will be consequences but in either case we are at least addressing this difficult and challenging subject. Democracy and morality are not always easy and the fact that we question our actions in an open forum only adds gravitas to the proud claims we proclaim as a nation.
* Quotes of the Week:
~ Richard Armitage, second in command at the State Department under George W. Bush, said in an interview (about the torture of detainees), "I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would've had the courage to resign,"
~ “The image of the United States of America throughout the world (committing torture) is a recruiting tool for Islamic extremists.” John McCain 4/20/09
* “The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers”Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) Swiss psychiatrist
Beginning with the Democratic Primaries I assigned myself this task: stay abreast of the conservative and right-leaning media's take on this presidential election. This endeavor was more enlightening and uplifting than I could ever have imagined, with the word "onerous" applying only to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
One night close to the end of the ongoing Barack-Hillary battle I was watching a panel of Fox Cable News pundits weigh in (read "whine") about the probability of an Obama candidacy. You remember when the prevailing thought was that a Republican could more easily defeat Hillary. I'll never forget hyperconservative Bill Cristol's comment: "If Obama gets it and if he's elected, he needs to pick Hillary for Secretary of State. She's TOUGH."
I agree whole-heartedly with Cristol, for whom I developed much comparative respect during my sojurns into FCN and (shudder) talk radio programs. Plus, you get a bonus, if you need one, with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State:
the rest of the world LOVES Bill. She doesn't NEED him, but what an asset he can be.
Although we know whomever Barack chooses will be outstanding, my suggestion is Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State.
Fox News chairman Roger Ailes describes his mission in life:
“I stand up for what I believe. I don’t back off. I’ve been that way for 40 years. That’s the secret to my success. I have thick skin. I don’t care what people say about me,” he said.“I defend the United States, Israel and the Constitution.”
“I stand up for what I believe. I don’t back off. I’ve been that way for 40 years. That’s the secret to my success. I have thick skin. I don’t care what people say about me,” he said.
“I defend the United States, Israel and the Constitution.”
No word on whether Ailes listed those in order of priority.
Powerful Network Coverage from the Moment We Made History ...
June 12, 2008 - The Pew Global Project Attitudes [Complete Report ]
“Mad about The One. The US media have been captivated by Obama, at the expense of their curiosity and scepticism.”
This is the title of an article by Harold Evans in The Guardian on November 1, 2008. He resorts to the bias he decries in his one-sided column. I have reproduced it below in its entirety, along with my annotations {…} . Phrases that I comment upon are in boldface.
It's fitting that the cynicism "vote early and vote often" is commonly attributed to Chicago's Democratic boss, mayor Richard Daley, who famously voted the graveyards in 1960 to help put John Kennedy in the White House. In this 2008 race, it's the American media that have voted very early and often. They long ago elected the star graduate of Chicago's Democratic machine, Barack Obama. {Obama is a hardly a “graduate“ of the machine. What about Harvard Law, Columbia, etc.?}
I am not talking of editorials in newspapers, though Obama has the preponderance of the endorsements over John McCain. Obama certainly deserves the credit for recruiting impressive advisers and running a more efficient campaign machine than any one in the US's political history.
What's troubling to anyone old-fashioned enough to care about standards in journalism is the news coverage in mainstream media. Forget the old notions of objectivity, fairness, thoroughness, and so on. The nastiest rumours on both sides haven't been published, but the coverage has been slavishly on the side of "the one". {“Slavish”? Evans’s description.}
I was listening to CNN this afternoon (Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008) when the anchor gave a reason for not accepting Sen. Obama's 30-minute message. The claim was that since they are a news organization it wasn't fair to agree to air the message. Then an ad came on for Larry King Live right after this claim. The ad stated that Sen. McCain would be on at 9:00 PM to give his take on Sen. Obama's message.
So on the one hand they wouldn't let the Obama campaign buy a 30-minute time slot, and on the other CNN will provide Sen. McCain with free time to discuss the message they wouldn't carry. Some impartial news organization! Gee I think I'll watch Fox News.
In this election cycle, there has been a remarkable synergy between The Drudge Report, conservative talk radio, Fox News, and the McCain Campaign. The subject of the outrage of the day shifts in tandem inside the right-wing noise machine. Whether it’s Bill Ayers, ACORN, the progressive-income-tax-is-socialist meme, Ashley Todd’s allegations, or today’s distorted interpretation of Barack Obama’s conservative views of the role of the judiciary in effecting social change, the daily talking points are quite similar in all corners of the echo chamber.Barack has been critical of Fox News’s slanted reporting several times during this campaign. In last week's New York Times magazine, Matt Bai quoted him:
“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?"
Today, campaign spokesman Bill Burton, who has been following the advice Billy Joel dispenses at the end of his concerts, took it one step further. His press release is below the fold:
We know Sarah Palin is completely out of her league as McCain's vice presidential candidate. Yet she's out there in front of the cameras every day, her poll numbers waaaaay down in the dumps, happy, smiling, jabbing Barack and Joe, and showing up on SNL to preen around in front of the cameras.
There's Trooper-gate, and the concerns she's charged the State of Alaska for spending nights in her own home, as well as for unauthorized travel for her children. There's the nepotism in hiring her friends, the censorship of library books, and the fact that the builder of that huge sports arena in Wasilla also built the Palin family home. Nothing seems to faze this woman while in the national limelight. Nothing at all.
What is Sarah Palin auditioning for? Is it politics or something else entirely? Someone close to me insists she simply wants to be president, and it's really an early run for 2012. I don't buy it. She'll never develop enough education or worldliness to undo the impression she's made on America. Maybe she doesn't realize that. Or maybe she's got her eye on Hollywood or maybe it's Fox News.
Thoughts, anyone?
Dear Friends/family/acquaintances,
I wrote this with many of you in mind, and I am sharing it with as many other people as I can find. I am not mentioning any names here. Those of you who watch Fox national "news" will recognize I am talking to you, and those of you who don't, will recognize my public warning to all.
I am so worried about this country, I don't know what else to do.
I know that the vast majority of my friends, and millions of people like me, would never take Fox national "news" seriously (I am not talking about the local stations here, but the national one on cable). We know that it is entertainment, and we know that the Fairness in Media act does not apply to it because it is cable. With the deregulation of the airwaves and media these last eight years, anything goes. We know that Fox "news" is deliberately extremely biassed to the right, and that its content is designed to get people to support the interests of big business and to to be brainwashed against their own self-interests. We know that they deliberately slander anyone who advocates for the "little guy", because that undercuts the profits of the corporations who pay them to throw their mud. We know no intelligent person would ever think it is "fair and balanced". How could they possibly???????
But they do. Millions and millions of millions of Americans, who still have not gotten the memo that it is merely "entertainment" rather than real news. Millions and millions and millions of people who actually think that because they say the words, "fair and balanced", they actually aspire to be so. I am concerned that if the large corporate interests that give the world Fox news ever wanted to commit a Holocaust, or witch trials, or massive public lynchings, or something as evil as these things, they could seriously get away with it.
I sometimes make myself watch Fox "news", although I know that I will get upset watching it after a very short time. I make myself watch it because I firmly believe I should "keep my friends close, and my enemies closer". So, I force myself to watch it, and I imagine myself getting all of my "News" from this station. If I did, I would probably become very paranoid. I would think liberals and unions were nuts, and minority members were evil. Every "news" story is presented, edited, and exaggerated from that angle. Every story, twenty-four hours a day (I know that because I have watched it all night at times.) The same corporate lies are presented all night long, just like they are during the day.
Lately, I have been sickened by the whole ACORN story, for example, because it is so heavily sensationalized. The lies are fantastic. There were 8 or 9 "news" stories about this, or mentions of it, every hour on Fox "news". Never mind that every credible, sane, unbiassed agency has said that this story is not accurate, and that the lies have been hugely distorted. Fox "news" says it is true, so millions of Americans think it is true.
I recently shared my concerns with an intelligent male friend of our family. This man is a college graduate, has a job with a great deal of responsibillity, and has a great family with several children. He is a mildly religious person, pays his taxes, and is a good all-around citizen. Even though this man in intelligent, I was the first person who told him Fox "news" is not real news. Two weeks later, he said to me, "I have to admit, I did start to notice after awhile that what you are saying is true. Fox is the only "news" station that perpetuates the "stories" they report. All of the other stations are very different. I did not realize that until you pointed it out to me.
What do we do? Imagine if Hitler owned a tv station on cable, and used "news" anchors that were always emotionally charged like the ones on Fox "news". Psychological research shows that when information is presented in ways that evoke emotion, it is remembered more easily, and people are more inclined to act on that information. Fox "news" does this in every segment. If Hitler wanted to motivate people to kill others, he would certainly have started using Fox "news" had it been available to him. Their method of delivering lies and distortions would have made the job easy and effiicient.
"People are too smart for that", some of my friends tell me. These are the same friends who say they do not understand where all of the irrational sentiment is coming from about Barack Obama, or why people bring monkey dolls to McCain/Palin rallies. They don't understand why people are falsely being accused of being "terrorists", and why violent racist acts are increasing all over this country.
But I do understand it, because I have many dear friends and relatives who watch Fox "news", and watch it regularly. They cannot be the only fifteen or twenty people who do. They are religious and secular people alike, peopje who have jobs and families, pay their bills, and are otherwise good citizens, and great people. Not only do they watch it, they believe it, and they don't even question what they are watching. They truly believe that watch they are watching is "news".
I am very worried about this country. I am worried that millions of Americans are psychologically addicted to a "news" source that constantly plays on their emotions, brainwashes them, and feeds them lies about the world. I am worried that if Fox news had any other agenda than their current one of getting people to vote against their own economic best interests, they have enough believers, and they could do pretty much anything they wanted to do, and a sizeable minority of the population would simply follow their suggestion. This is how Hitler attempted to take over the world. Who is the next Hitler? Does he watch Sean Hannity?
There is a saying, "If we don't know history, we are destined to repeat it". One of the most significant events that led up to the Holocaust was the German economy collapsing. Germans needed a scapegoat for their fear.
You may laugh at this suggestion, however, let me remind you of two recent news stories. In one, a man who regularly watched Fox news (books written by some of their frequent guests and anchors were in his home in prominent places), walked into a Unitarian church during a children's pagaent, and murdered a number of people, wounding many more. He said he did it because he hated liberals, gays and black people. This man left a letter saying he had just lost his job and needed a scapegoat.
A month later, a similar story happened when an unemployed man shot the leader of the Democrats in Arkansas.
Even more concerning than just the occasional crazy people who are pushed into acting on their impulses, I am worried about the complacency of the majority. Most of the people who read other newspapers and who know how insanely biassed Fox "news" is, don't recognize the danger in ignoring them. They are not remembering the lessons of the Holocaust. They do not do anything about the daily brainwashing by Fox "news", except to shrug it off and say with a smile, "Come on, people are smarter than that".
Smart people killed millions of Jews, gypsies, academics, homosexuals, developmentally disabled people and others in the Holocaust, too, and not that long ago. Other smart, decent people saw it coming and did nothing.
Pass this on if you care about this country. Or don't. The choice is yours. I hope we don't regret our complacency later.
~ Nancy Cronk
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
