Help Stop Glen Beck

I don't watch FoxNews.  The gym I was a member of always had it on, but there was also ESPN, and other channels on also, so I wasn't stuck watching it. Watching Beck.  The couple of times I ended up on a bike right in front of him, the lies that rolled off of his tongue made me sick, but not as sick as those who seemed glued to the screen.

I don't watch, so I don't have a lot of power with the advertisers on Fox or Beck's show. But I signed the Petition that you can find over at The Swash Zone.  Excellent post, very well written. Beck needs to go. Will you help?

Only Questions

How?
What?
Why?
Who?

At this point all we know is that as many as 18 were shot in a parking lot of a Safeway in Arizona. At least 5 are dead, including a 9 year old child and a federal judge. Representative Gabriel Giffords has survived a gunshot to her head and surgery, but she is still in critical condition.

I pray (and I don't use that word lightly) that this was not politically motivated, but if it was, I hope each and every one of the victims or their families sues the shit out of the person who placed a BULLSEYE on Congresswoman Giffords. I hope Sarah Palin loses everything.

A Call to Arms

Really.
For my class on Political Theory (very interesting class!) I have to write a paper (which is not going well) and I have chosen to do so on Capitalism, Anarchism and Fascism. It is due in 2 weeks, I have plenty of notes and about half of 1 paragraph actually written.

But while looking for books on the above topics I found "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," by Chris Hedges and it is scaring the crap out of me. My issue with alleged Christians is that they never seem to actually be Christ-like, but apparently I have not being paying attention, and many of my blog pals have not either. At heart is the fact that, as liberals, we have a 'live and let live' policy. I know I do and most of the 'blogs I read seem to espouse the same idea. According to Mr. Hedges, that is what is going to get us into trouble. The TEAbaggers and their ilk, Cheney, Romney, Falwell, Palin, etc are sucking in new members daily and assuming that people are smart enough to think for themselves will definitely make an ASS of U and ME.

According to this book (easy read of just over 200 pages) liberalism will be our downfall, just as it was Germany's in the 1930s. It isn't that the book says liberalism is bad, it is just that we are (normally) pacifists and we expect the same out of others. So while we may laugh at the stupid that comes out of Alaska (or Delaware, or Nevada, or Florida) we think that this is a small group of crazy fringeness that has a lot of TV time, but what is actually happening is that the rich are doing everything in their power to recruit more goons to their side in the upcoming Holy Wars and we are busy living our lives ("the busy majority") and assuming that others are like us. They aren't. They are scared and crazy and they think we hate them, so they are going to strike at us first.
Read the book. Let's chat.

So Says the Prez.. So says me!

More tomorrow on the "Rally to Bring Back Sanity" or whatever it is called and the fact that I have BOUGHT PLANE TICKETS!!!!!!!

Do You Think Stupidity Caused the Fall of Rome?

A recent weekly quiz in my Political Theory class (AWESOME CLASS, btw) had a question about what I felt was the biggest threat to democracy* in this country. I took a full paragragh to answer a question that I could have answered with one word.

Stupid.

I even included a theory a research psychologist friend of mine shared with me a couple of years ago on WHY our collective IQ is dropping, but I won't bore you with it here.

As I sit in my office listening to a highly educated medical doctor babble bullshit about how the President is bankrupting our country.

Stupid is running amuck.



This is long, just over 13 minutes. Please watch it. Glen Beck and Sarah Palin are NOT part of this video. This is a video of a young man at the rally speaking to every day people who attended. People who believe television commercials, entertainment shows, and those emails which contain nothing but lies but spread like wildfire. You have a right in this great country to believe whatever you want to believe, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE figure out WHY you believe the way you do. Learn to defend your beliefs so that we (Americans) can have a real dialogue and stop pointing fingers and calling names. And Please don't call anyone names if you don't know what they mean!!

H/T to The Swash Zone. Spread this video. Show the world our stupid.

Crazy Magnet, Indeed!

The President of the AFL-CIO, speaking yesterday from Alaska, blasted Sarah Palin in a very impressive speech that is probably better than anything on late night TV.

My favorite part?

What is this crazy magnet that’s pulling people to the right?
I mean, look at your former governor….
Who is she, anyway?
Sarah Palin?
She used to have a job, your governor…. You knew her…. Or
thought you did…. I know I thought I did. She seemed like a decent person, an
outdoorswoman. Her husband’s a steelworker. She seemed to take some OK stands
for working families.
And then things got weird. After she tied herself to
John McCain and they lost, she blew off Alaska. I guess she figured she’d trade
up…shoot for a national stage. Alaska was too far from the FOX TV spotlight.
I bet most of you, on a clear day, can see her hypocrisy from your house.

Can.See.Her.Hypocrisy.From.Your.House.
I think I love him.

He also says nice things about what the Obama administration is trying to do and how they are being stopped at every turn. It was an interesting read, you should check out the entire thing on CNN.

H/T to The Immoral Minority.

I Wish This Was Good-bye!

Sarah Palin is stepping down on July 26th as Governor of Alaska. Why? Why knows?

I was thrilled when I first heard this; I thought that maybe she had realized that she was way out her league and over her head and that she would serve Alaska, this country, and the world better if she returned to car pooling and hockey momming and putting lipstick on her pit bull. Alas, I am probably wrong.

Most likely she is stepping down to stick her nose into the rest of the business of the country and possibly get more coverage for her 2012 campaign.

Hey, more power and press coverage to her, I say. The more she appears publicly; the more stupid she appears.

And, part of me felt sorry for the people of Alaska, but the other part was, "You were stupid enough to elect her, you deserve what you get."

Say It Ain't So!

According to a report by CBS news, Sarah Palin is, are you ready for it? A liar!

The entire point of this article seems to be showing that ol' Sarah and the McCain staff didn't get a long very well. But what I got out of it was the fact that she was trying to cover up her husband's involvement in the Alaskan Independence Party. He was a member. He wanted Alaska to be its own country and his wife was a candidate for Vice-President of the very country he no longer wanted to be a part of. And she wants to run for President in 2012.

And the Republican party does not seem to think this is an issue?

I think it is an issue.