Tag Archives: george-bush

Rep. Mike Castle: The ‘Lies’ Of Hannity And Limbaugh Were ‘Significant’ Reasons I Lost To Christine O’Donnell (VIDEO)

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

In an interview with Fox News Wednesday, Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) said that a “significant” reason for his Senate primary loss to Christine O'Donnell was because of “misrepresentations” about his record by conservative radio personalities like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Hannity highlighted the comments on his show Wednesday night: CASTLE: I think the misrepresentations and the lies of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh on the air were another very significant part of all of this. I think some of the misrepresentations in my opponent's race were a part of it as well. How they ever came up with the theory that I voted to impeach George Bush, I'll never know. That was the news for a couple days right around the election time — by, I think, Mr. Limbaugh. But those are the kinds of things that make politics very difficult. “He sounds like a liberal, blaming other people!” Hannity responded. His guest for the segment was O'Donnell, who praised the Fox News host for all the work he did in the race: O'DONNELL: You guys brought his voting record to the public, so I thank you! I kind of agree with him. I wouldn't call it blame, I would call it credit. You were the leader of the band in saying, “We have got to stand on our principles. We cannot sell out anymore. Selling out on our principles is what has brought us to the brink of bankruptcy.” … I do thank you for that. added by: TimALoftis

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Hot Stuff

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Amazing: AP Writers Obsess Over Negative Electoral Impact Of Upcoming Census Bureau Poverty Stats

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It seems reasonable from their coverage in anticipation of the Census Bureua’s release of income and poverty statistics this week that Hope Yen and Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press have a roof over their heads and aren’t particularly worried about where their next meal is coming from. If so, good for them; may those circumstances continue. What’s remarkable, though, is how a government report that the media, especially the AP, has traditionally treated as an indicator of society’s alleged failure to take care of its neediest –with the blame often directly aimed at Republicans and conservatives — is now primarily a political problem for the party in power. Yen and Sidoti engage in a presidential pity party, and in the process come off as indifferent about what the numbers, for all their imperfections (and they are substantial), might mean in human terms — again, something the press normally obsesses over, especially when a Republican or conservative is president. This time, it seems that if Ms. Yen and Ms. Sidoti had their way, this unfortunate information would be held until at least November 3. What follows are graphic capture’s of the pair’s first four paragraphs, followed by paragraphs 12-16: Comments: This report comes out each September, but this one is suddently “unfortunate timing” and “another blow” for the president and his party. The AP didn’t seem to handle things the same way eight years ago, the last time a new president and his Congressional majority party faced mid-term elections. Even though George W. Bush’s administration was dealing with the aftermath of an official “recession” and the poverty rate rose, you’ll see in this unbylined AP item in the September 24, 2002 Gainesville Sun published after the release of that year’s report that there was no reference to how unfortunate the timing or the news might be for W. The AP did find the time to get a quote from Democrat Paul Sarbanes, who, in AP’s paraphrasing, said that “the Bush administration had focused too much attention on tax cuts and not enough on the needs of the most vulnerable citizens.” “Rightly or wrongly, Republicans could cite a higher poverty rate as evidence” that “Obama’s economic fixes are hindering the sluggish economic recovery.” It would have been interesting to see Yen and Sidoti try to find someone to quote on this topic. It seems only fair, given that they gave Paul Sarbanes a chance to say why George Bush was allegedly wrong. Yen and Sidoti automatically assume that blacks and Hispanics will respond to the reported rise in their poverty rate by voting as they usually do or staying home during the midterm elections. Isn’t it just a little bit possible that some of them will decide that voting for the other team might make more sense after almost two years of not so benign neglect at the hands of the party they have traditionally favored? Oh, and am I supposed to believe that the Essential Global News Network doesn’t have a homelessness-related photo dated later than the April 13, 2009 article-accompanying item seen at the top right of this post? Why, you’d think AP might be trying to imply that homelessness hasn’t gotten any worse in the intervening 17 months. But  it has .  Really . As is seemingly typical at AP, in unexcerpted material the report quoted and labeled one allegedly “conservative” political science professor at New York University while later quoting an economist from far-left American Prospect co-founder Robert Kuttner’s Economic Policy Institute (board members, including Kuttner, are listed and described  here ). Of course, the EPI “somehow” went unlabeled. Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com .

See the original post:
Amazing: AP Writers Obsess Over Negative Electoral Impact Of Upcoming Census Bureau Poverty Stats

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gainor Column: Nine Years After September 11 — United We Stood, Divided We Now Stand

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Nine years and it still seems like we just woke from a nightmare. September 11, 2001, is seared into the national consciousness like Pearl Harbor 60 years before – only worse because we watched it on television as it happened. A nation was transfixed while 3,000 of our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our classmates and our family members perished in violence and fire. They were killed in the Twin Towers, in a field in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon itself. Police officers and fire fighters fell by the hundreds trying to save as many as they could. All were victims of the kind of terror Americans had grown used to hearing about elsewhere. But not here. A grieving America turned to images of the Statue of Liberty to find solace. Artists from around the world depicted the statue as sad or proud or a mother defending her child. Our nation rallied under the motto: “United We Stand.” Now we know we were never all that united. Soon after fire fighters raised a flag in the ruins of New York, the fingerpointing began. George Bush was to blame, though he only recently had taken office. America was to blame because of its longstanding friendship with Israel. Everyone was to blame it seemed, except the monsters driven by hate to harm the innocent. Not long after the Twin Towers fell, the crazy conspiracies rose in their place. The attack was an inside job we were told as the 9/11 truther industry spread like the plague it is. By 2004, “half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of New York citizens overall say that some of our leaders ‘knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act,'” according to a Zogby International poll. Nearly a decade after these attacks, many crazies still believe America was involved or knew they were going to happen. A poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion from March 2010 claims 15 percent “think claims that the collapse of the World Trade Center was the result of a controlled demolition are credible.” Millions around the globe believe this garbage – blaming the U.S. or even Israel for the attacks. Journalism, the supposed “first draft of history,” has failed in one of the most important events in recent memory. It’s no wonder. Many of today’s talking heads have pushed this hurtful nonsense as a way to bash Bush. Hollywood’s own Rosie O’Donnell told “The View” that, while she didn’t blame government for the World Trade Center attack, one of the buildings fell in a way that “defies physics.” O’Donnell went on to say “it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved.” The same show also devoted some of its airtime to the equally despicable truther fantasies of former Minnesota Gov. and pro wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura. It wasn’t just the news. The FX show “Rescue Me” even included claims that a 9/11 conspiracy was part of of “a massive neo-conservative government effort.” Whether it’s former green jobs czar Van Jones signing a truther petition or loose cannon Florida Rep. Alan Grayson who said Bush “let it happen,” too many fringe elements have capitalized on our national misery. Just scant days before this year’s 9/11 anniversary, ABC’s “Nightline” profiled a talk radio truther who said the attacks were “an inside job” and “a staged event to launch the Iraq war.” Some crazies are laughing all the way to the bank. Search Amazon.com for “9/11 truth” and there are more than 200 items from books and DVDs to T-shirts with the slogan “9/11 was an inside job!” and a picture of the buildings burning with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld laughing nearby. Far too many on the left and right believe such insanity. Their theories have thousands of their fellow Americans complicit in the evil scheme, because it would have taken a cast of thousands to accomplish such evil. They believe nonetheless. Others chastise us for responding at all. Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria recently blasted America’s response to the attacks. According to Zakaria, who will soon be moving his tripe to Time magazine, “September 11 was a shock to the American psyche and the American system. As a result, we overreacted.” Somehow I doubt Zakaria overreacted. It’s also unclear what would have satisfied him. Did Minute Men overreact after Lexington and Concord? We certainly could have tried harder to find peace with Britain rather than fight. Should we have forgiven Santa Anna his attack on the Alamo? I doubt those who died there would have wanted that. Did we overreact after Pearl Harbor? Perhaps America should have tried to find peace with Imperial Japan instead of fighting for freedom. That’s the kind of 20/20 hindsight easy for those in the media who think themselves so above the pain and anguish that they remove flags and patriotism from their broadcasts. This year, journalists will once again try to understand the lingering wound that is 9/11. And once again they will fail. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans want more. Nine years later and we are still seeking justice. Perhaps Bin Laden is already dead or we might never find him. One day he will answer for his crimes. The Bible tells us: ” Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.” This 9/11, perhaps that’s all is the comfort we can find. Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture . He writes frequently for the Fox Forum. Gainor can also be contacted on Facebook and Twitter as dangainor.

Read more:
Gainor Column: Nine Years After September 11 — United We Stood, Divided We Now Stand

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

On Today: CAIR Spokesman Equates Ground Zero Mosque Protest to Japanese Internment and Slavery

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

NBC’s Meredith Vieira, on Thursday’s Today show, invited on New York Republican Congressman Peter King and CAIR’s Zead Ramadan to discuss the potential burning of Korans by Pastor Terry Jones and the furor over the Ground Zero mosque, but it was only King that was pressed by the Today anchor, as Vieira let Ramadan go unchallenged even when he equated opposition to the mosque to internment of  Japanese-Americans in World War II and even slavery. First up, Vieira, after playing a clip of Feisal Abdul-Rauf, recited the Imam’s concerns to King that if he moved the location of the mosque now it “would just be fueling the radicals” to which the New York Congressman shot back that “he seems to be equating the 71 percent of Americans who oppose this as being radicals.” Then Vieira let CAIR’s Ramadan go on, uninterrupted, as he proceeded to compare the protest surrounding the Ground Zero mosque to some of America’s worst moments of intolerance as he went on to say: “The issue with the public sentiment is that when an issue is related to bigotry, unfortunately our history has shown that sometimes we’re on the wrong side. For example we interred Japanese during World War II, we segregated our military, our schools, and it took on Executive Order to undo that. And we also enslaved our fellow Americans. So I mean when it comes to bigotry we’ve got to be careful about the public sentiment.” The following is the full segment as it was aired on the September 9 Today show: MEREDITH VIEIRA: Let’s get more on this now from Representative Peter King of New York who has been a vocal opponent of the plan to build an Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero, and Zead Ramadan, who is with the Council on American Islamic Relations. Gentlemen, good morning to you both. [On screen headline: “Islam Under Fire, Are Muslims Being Treated Unfairly In America?”] REP. PETER KING: Good morning. ZEAD RAMADAN: Good morning. VIEIRA: Let’s start with this notion, you know Pastor Jones, who’s now said, who plans to burn the Koran on 9/11, on September 11th, on this Saturday- RAMADAN: Right. VIEIRA: -that if somebody were to call from the White House or the State Department or the Pentagon, it is something that would not be ignored. So do you believe that someone from the White House, maybe even the President himself, should call this man and encourage him not to burn the Koran? I’ll start with you? KING: First of all, this is insane, it’s dangerous, there’s absolutely no place in American debate for what this, this mad man is talking about. My only concern if it’s someone like the President calling him is that you give him status, you give him stature. We can have real issues to debate here this morning. It has nothing to do with the Koran, nothing to do with the New Testament, nothing to do with the Old Testament. We have political, diplomatic issues and it’s insanity that a person like this is tying up the country. VIEIRA: Do you think a call should be placed? RAMADAN: I think if General Petraeus was to say, “Look we think that American lives would be at stake here, that you’re gonna flick on the switch for radicals and extremists to act,” I’d rather save American lives. That would be my perspective. Even though he did say a couple of weeks ago that the person he respected was George Bush, and they asked him if George Bush called would you stop, he said no. But I really hope that if he had a change of heart that we would do something about that and- VIEIRA: What do you think is going to happen, if he does go ahead with this? RAMADAN: Well, you know, you never know what triggers psychotics. And I’d hate to think that people are turned on, you know, just like that flick the switch analogy and someone becomes an extremist and they go from rhetoric to action. And that would concern me in America, and outside of America. You know I, we don’t want anybody else threatening American lives. And I think that’s what’s most important to us. VIEIRA: But, but since this whole controversy erupted we have seen the American flag burned by Muslims around the world, we’ve heard people scream “Death to America,” but no one, or I would say most people do not believe that all Muslims hate the U.S. or wish it harm. So why is so much weight and legitimacy given to this pastor and his relatively small congregation? We’re talking maybe 50 members. KING: I think it’s a sign of the times. If a person speaks loudly enough and says something crazy enough the media is gonna cover it and people are gonna respond. I think we all do ourselves a favor if we could somehow ignore him. It adds, not only adds nothing to the debate, it brings the debate down and brings it to a level where no one wants to be at. It’s wrong… VIEIRA: Should the media not cover it, which is what the Secretary of State has suggested? RAMADAN: I think so, personally. I think that you’re giving him a forum and I think that if people never listened to him, he might think that this is not something that’s worth his while at the end of the day. You know an organization called Right Wing Extreme said they initially planned to protect him while he does this. And they said that after a lot of praying and thinking they just didn’t realize how this would bring people closer to Jesus. Some people are saying – so they backed down last week. And maybe this a little bit too right wing and too extreme for them. VIEIRA: Let’s talk about the controversy surrounding the construction of this Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero. Last night on CNN, the man behind that proposal Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf said that had he realized how much controversy this was gonna cause he never would have decided to build it there, but at this point he has a responsibility. Listen to what he told CNN. FEISAL ABDUL-RAUF: If we move from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse. VIEIRA: I know Congressman that you’re opposed to that mosque being put there. KING: Right. VIEIRA: But is he right, that he would just be fueling the radicals if he moved that cultural center, at this point? KING: Well my problem with what he’s saying, he seems to be equating the 71 percent of Americans who oppose this as being radicals. He’s talking about the radicals who are opposed to the mosque which, to me is 71 percent of the American people and comparing that to al Qaeda or radical elements in the Muslim community. And that, to me, is a, it’s a totally wrong equation. And it’s, to me, that is – he is almost – to me it’s like a threat to the United States. What he’s saying is that if somehow this mosque is not approved, that the radical elements of the Muslim world are going to be against us. I don’t think we have to prove ourselves to anyone. I mean Muslims in this country as well as Catholics and Jews and Protestants are treated better here than anywhere else in the world. And I would say Muslims probably have more freedom in this country than any of their own countries. VIEIRA: Mr. Ramadan? RAMADAN: Yeah the, the issue with the public sentiment is that when an issue is related to bigotry, unfortunately our history has shown that sometimes we’re on the wrong side. For example we interred Japanese during World War II, we segregated our military, our schools, and it took on Executive Order to undo that. And we also enslaved our fellow Americans. So I mean when it comes to bigotry we’ve got to be careful about the public sentiment. What’s really important is that our public officials and our, and our congressmen have to come out and tell people, this is not what, this is not what America represents, these are not the ideals that our nation was founded on and we have to be better than that. KING: Yeah but what I disagree with there, is why do we say, what am I saying, as a Congressman, that in any way violates American ideals? I have raised real questions about the Muslim leadership in this country. For instance, I don’t think the Muslim leadership speaks out enough against terrorism. I can tell you that there are mosques in this country where imams tell their congregants not to cooperate with the, with law enforcement. And if you talk to law enforcement people they will tell you that very seldom, do they get cooperation from the Muslim leadership. And that to me is the real issue. VIEIRA: But the imam might, but the imam might say to you, as he said on CNN last night, this story broke last December, the front page of the New York Times. Nobody complained about it then. It wasn’t until about two months ago. He thinks that it’s politicians who’ve grabbed onto it for political reasons. Even the mayor himself said, come November 3rd this won’t be an issue anymore. KING: I disagree with that completely. RAMADAN: This is, it is the midterm, it is the midterm elections and people like Newt Gingrich who’ve equated Islam to, you know Nazism. I mean we need to condemn people like that and say this, these are, these, you know these sentiments are absolutely wrong. And if you don’t think that people are listening to Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin or Rick Lazio who hasn’t talked about anything else and he’s running for the governorship of New York state, you know except for the mosque. You know he’s basically driving all attention and driving the public sentiment against the development of a religious institution which is protected by our Constitution. VIEIRA: You have about 15 seconds left… KING: Okay, okay no one says that there is not an absolute right to build a mosque, but because you have the right doesn’t make it right. And I think it’s a very legitimate issue to talk about this mosque to be barely 500 feet from Ground zero, to have a 13 story, $100 million edifice where 3,000 Americans were killed that day, it’s wrong. And I think it’s wrong to say that it’s somehow un-American to raise that as an issue because- RAMADAN: No, no. I don’t think that’s it. I think, I think that you know- KING: Free speech is also an American principle. RAMADAN: But Timothy McVeigh, but Timothy McVeigh blows up a federal building and we don’t say you can’t build any churches around there. You know- VIEIRA: This is, you know gentlemen- RAMADAN: That, that’s it… VIEIRA: -this is a discussion that’s gonna go on for quite awhile. KING: That, that- RAMADAN: …blame it on Christianity. You know? KING: -is a totally unfair comparison. The fact is- RAMADAN: Why is it unfair? KING: Because the Muslim leadership in this country does not cooperate with law enforcement… RAMADAN: What Muslim leadership? Let me ask you about that. Because there’s no Jewish leadership or Muslim leadership who talk on behalf of- VIEIRA: And what, you know what, this is, this is, this- KING: I’m concerned with imams, I’m talking about imams in mosques which are being investigated. VIEIRA: This is why, this is, gentlemen- RAMADAN: You can’t just make a judgement… VIEIRA: -I’m gonna have to cut it off there. I understand but, but my point is- RAMADAN: I’m against, I’m against all terrorism. I’m against all extremism no matter where it’s from. VIEIRA: -this is because, this is why this is such a controversy because it is so heated, on both sides and it’s not gonna end today or tomorrow. I’m have to stop it there. Thank you so much, Congressman King. KING: Okay. RAMADAN: Thank you very much. KING: You’re a peacemaker. VIEIRA: I’m a peacemaker, exactly.

Read the rest here:
On Today: CAIR Spokesman Equates Ground Zero Mosque Protest to Japanese Internment and Slavery

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Kanye West Apologizes To Taylor Swift For 2009 VMA Interruption

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘I’m sorry, Taylor,’ West wrote on Twitter Saturday morning. By Paul Cantor Kanye West and Taylor Swift at the 2009 Video Music Awards Photo: Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic Kanye West took to his Twitter account Saturday morning (September 4) to readdress the 2009 Video Music Awards , when he fatefully interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech . “I’m sorry, Taylor,” he wrote. “We’re both artists, and the media and managers are trying to get between us. She deserves the apology more than anyone. Thank you [Twitter co-founders] Biz Stone and Evan Williams for creating a platform where we can communicate directly.” Expounding on the backlash he received, he wrote, “If you Google a–hole my face may very well pop up 2 pages into the search. … There are people who don’t dislike me … they absolutely hate me. People tweeted that they wish I was dead … No listen. They wanted me to die, people. I carry that.” Kanye went on to say that the media vilified him. He alluded to his claim during a 2005 NBC telethon for Hurricane Katrina that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” as a point for which the media was looking to pay him back. He noted that in the VMA aftermath, the media played the race card and turned it into an angry black man versus innocent white girl issue. “Even though the NBC telethon was widely praised y’all didn’t think they was just gone let me get away with that did y’all???!!!” he questioned, rhetorically. “The media has successfully diminished the ‘receptive’ audience of… KANYE WEST. …taking a 15 second blip the media have successfully painted the image of the ‘ANGRY BLACK MAN.’ The King Kong theory. With the help of strong will, a lack of empathy, a lil alcohol and extremely distasteful & bad timing … I became George Bush over night.” Kanye also said that he had a song he’d written for Taylor. Should she not be receptive to that idea, he said he’d perform it for her. “She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows,” he wrote. “She had no idea what hit her. She’s justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. Beyonc

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kanye West Bashes Bush While Apologizing To Taylor Swift On Twitter

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Rap star Kanye West bashed former President George W. Bush on Saturday while apologizing to country singer Taylor Swift for his appalling behavior at last year’s MTV Video Awards. Our story begins with West making a fool of himself – again! – when he interrupted Swift last September during her acceptance speech for best female music video of 2009 (right). With the 2010 Awards quickly approaching, West must have felt it necessary to make amends. As People.com reported moments ago, West took to Twitter early Saturday morning issuing a bizarre stream of consciousness apology: “I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that’s so beautiful and I want her to have it,” he said on his Twitter Saturday morning. “If she won’t take it then I’ll perform it for her.” West’s actual Twitter account doesn’t show any of these tweets. However, the People links do indicate the activity being reported suggesting West has since taken them down: Nearly a year since he first apologized to Swift, the hip-hop artist is still offering up I’m sorries, calling her “justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us” on his Twitter . “She deserves the apology more than anyone,” he Tweeted , before thanking the creators of Twitter for making a public platform for expression.   ” We’re both artist[s] and the media and managers are trying to get between us. Everyone wants to capitalize off this [in] some way.”  Maybe even more delicious, MTV.com reported some other tweets People missed: Expounding on the backlash he received, he wrote, “If you Google a–hole my face may very well pop up 2 pages into the search. … There are people who don’t dislike me … they absolutely hate me. People tweeted that they wish I was dead … No listen. They wanted me to die, people. I carry that.” I was indeed hoping his face would appear in such a Google search. Unfortunately, no. But I digress: Kanye went on to say that the media vilified him. He alluded to his claim during a 2005 NBC telethon for Hurricane Katrina that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” as a point for which the media was looking to pay him back. He noted that in the VMA aftermath, the media played the race card and turned it into an angry black man versus innocent white girl issue. “Even though the NBC telethon was widely praised y’all didn’t think they was just gone let me get away with that did y’all???!!!” he questioned, rhetorically. “The media has successfully diminished the ‘receptive’ audience of… KANYE WEST. …taking a 15 second blip the media have successfully painted the image of the ‘ANGRY BLACK MAN.’ The King Kong theory. With the help of strong will, a lack of empathy, a lil alcohol and extremely distasteful & bad timing … I became George Bush over night.” I was wondering when he’d take to bashing Bush. For those that have forgotten, this was West during the aforementioned Hurricane Katrina telethon in September 2005: I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they’re looting. See a white family, it says they’re looking for food. And you know that it’s been five days because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV, because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before I’ve even given a donation. So now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help with the set up the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way, and they have given them permission to go down and shoot us…George Bush doesn’t care about black people. Makes one wonder how much alcohol and “extremely distasteful & bad timing” it took for West to again make an “a–hole” of himself. Actually, it should now be apparent that this isn’t that difficult for him. 

See the original post here:
Kanye West Bashes Bush While Apologizing To Taylor Swift On Twitter

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Olbermann Sarcastically ‘Thanks’ Bush for Starting Troop Withdrawal, ‘Neocons Lied to Get Us in There’

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Wednesday’s Countdown show, responding to conservatives who wanted President Obama to give more credit to President Bush for apparent successes in Iraq, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann sarcastically thanked the former President and charged that the war in Iraq was Bush’s “false war.” He went on to claim that, “The neocons lied about Iraq to get us in there.” Guest Jeremy Scahill of the left-wing “The Nation” magazine joined in slamming President Bush and “neocons” for the Iraq war, claimed the troop surge did not play a significant role in stabilizing the country, and ended up asserting that Bush administration members who supported the invasion “shouldn’t be able to leave their houses without being confronted with the death and destruction that their lies caused.” And, even though various news outlets reported on the presence of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in the country years before the 2003 invasion, Scahill claimed that “it was the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq that created an al-Qaeda presence in that country.” But, as previously documented by NewsBusters , back in January 2003 and again in March 2004, the NBC Nightly News relayed claims that the Bush administration had “passed up several opportunities to take [Zarqawi] out well before the Iraq war began.” Below is a complete transcript of the segment with Jeremy Scahill from the Wednesday, September 1, Countdown show on MSNBC: KEITH OLBERMANN: But praising Mr. Bush was not enough for those war supporters, unrealistic even by Bill Kristol’s standards. Former Bush National Security Advisor Steven Hadley told the Wall Street Journal, quote, “I thought I owed it to the former President that somewhere out there, somebody gives him some credit and points out that he is the one actually that started withdrawing U.S. troops.” Okay, I’ll do it. I, Keith Olbermann, do hereby give former U.S. President George Walker Bush some credit for starting to withdraw U.S. troops, except for those who were withdrawn because they were already dead – 4,427 of them – for whose presence in that nation I also credit President Bush. So, thank you, Mr. Bush, for starting to withdraw those troops lucky enough not to die in your false war. Thank you, Mr. Bush, for starting to withdraw those troops lucky enough to leave before they joined the ranks of the 31,000 whose bodies and lives and futures were shattered by your false war. Thank you for starting to withdraw after bankrupting our nation for your war after it became clear even Iraq would no longer let you stay, and just in time for America to try to accomplish something in Afghanistan, nine years after you let Osama bin Laden get away so you could fight the war for which America, we are told, should now thank you. Adding his thanks tonight, the national security reporter for the Nation magazine, Jeremy Scahill, also the author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Jeremy, thanks for your time tonight. JEREMY SCAHILL, THE NATION: Thank you. OLBEMRANN: All right, go ahead. Share your thanks to President Bush while we’re on this. SCAHILL: Well, Keith, you know who should be thanking President Bush tonight? The Iranian government. They have a much greater influence in Iraq now than they ever have had. Russian and Chinese oil companies that have gotten a lot of the oil contracts there. Anyone who likes to kill Americans should thank President Bush. And also among those that should thank President Bush are the people in possession of the billions of missing dollars that went missing in George Bush`s Iraq. The people who don’t have any obligation to thank President Bush are the families of the thousands of U.S. servicemen and women that died in that country, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians that died, the millions of Iraqis that are displaced as a result of this illegal, immoral war that unfortunately, Keith, and we have to say this, was supported by Hillary Clinton when she was a Senator, and Joe Biden when he was a Senator. So the blame should be shared across the board. But George Bush is number one responsible for this, and deserves no thanks from anyone except people what could be described as enemies of this country and of security in the world. OLBERMANN: The former coalition spokesman, Dan Senor, said that the tone of the speech last night was fine. As I mentioned, Bill Kristol called the speech commendable, even impressive. Why are the others so insistent on the President praising Bush, without getting too deeply into the psychology of mass hypnosis and other things that might be relevant. Just the basics. SCAHILL: Right, well, these people have a PhD in lying, and a master’s degree in manipulating intelligence. And it’s really sobering to see this kind of brass historical revisionism happening in real time. The idea that these people want to post some kind of false flag of victory on the corpses of all who have died in Iraq because of their decisions. These people destabilized Iraq. They destabilized the Middle East with their neocon vision of redrawing maps. And they didn’t even succeed in their own stated mission. This is a special kind of pathological sickness that these individuals collectively are plagued with. OLBERMANN: The neocons lied about Iraq to get us in there, and now, as you point out, they’re lying about how we got out. Since they were not paying attention, we assume deliberately, it’s not that complicated, but can you explain the factors that actually led to the reduction of violence there, the ones that they erroneously credit to the surge? SCAHILL: Right, pardon me for introducing a little bit of fact onto cable news over these 24 hours. But the reality is there was no success of the surge. The fact is that Bush’s policy in Iraq caused massive destabilization, led to a civil war that killed upwards of a million Iraqis. There were ethnic cleansing campaigns. When the surge troops went in there, Baghdad was a walled off city. The Sunnis had been pushed out and sided with the United States. Muqtada al-Sadr responded to the announced time table for withdrawal that the neocons so opposed by saying he considered it a truce with the Americans and pulled his forces off the streets. So the entire surge myth permeates to this day. And it’s actually one big lie. OLBERMANN: The Hadley crediting of the Obama Iraq policies goes with it, arguing that Iraq was worth it. But he says that al-Qaeda in Iraq is, quote, “still capable of spectacular terrorist attacks.” And he simply asserts that somehow those are not a strategic threat anymore. Iraq’s not a threat because the Republicans don’t have the White House? Is that what it boils down to? SCAHILL: Well, let’s remember, and I’d like to remind Mr. Hadley, I’m sure he watches your show every night, Keith, that it was the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq that created an al-Qaeda presence in that country. It was their policies that destabilized that country and caused the deaths of so many Americans and so many Iraqi civilians. Steven Hadley probably sees Osama bin Laden at his corner store or hiding in his bathroom somewhere. So these people have zero credibility and have no business in public life anymore. They shouldn’t be able to leave their houses without being confronted with the death and destruction that their lies caused. OLBERMANN: Jeremy Scahill of the Nation, as always, a pleasure. Thank you, Jeremy. SCAHILL: Thank you.

Read more:
Olbermann Sarcastically ‘Thanks’ Bush for Starting Troop Withdrawal, ‘Neocons Lied to Get Us in There’

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Civil Rights Groups Challenge Obama’s Assassination List

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Civil liberties groups have long objected that President Barack Obama has continued and even expanded on many of George Bush’s abuses in the area of national security, including blocking any investigation into the torture program. Now, civil liberties groups are targeting Obama’s continued use of an assassination list and his assertion that he can simply kill a U.S. citizen without any criminal charge or trial. The lawsuit focuses on the reported kill order targeting U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who is reportedly hiding in Yemen. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed this interesting action, naming the President of the United States, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the secretary of the Department of Defense. This could make for a very interesting case if the groups can establish standing, which is likely to be challenged by Attorney General Eric Holder. As usual, Congress has done little to explore the constitutionality of a president who claims the unilateral power to kill U.S. citizens upon sight. If a President can unilaterally kill a U.S. citizens on his own authority, our court system (and indeed our constitutional rights) become entirely discretionary. The position of the Administration contains no substantial limitations on such authority other than its own promise to make such decisions with care. Here is the complaint: http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/al-aulaqi-v-obama-complaint.pd… added by: Radical_Centrist

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Hot Stuff

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

JFK Assassination Cover-Up Blown Sky High

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It is a story the corporate media, with the notable exception of one lone Fox News affiliate, refuses to report. A former FBI agent, Don Adams, has compelling evidence Lee Harvey Oswald did not assassinate president John F. Kennedy. Adams was assigned to an FBI office in Thomasville, Georgia, on November 22, 1963. Adams was responsible for investigating Joseph Adams Milteer, described as a radical with connections to the States Rights Party and KKK. Milteer, according to Adams, was involved in Kennedy’s assassination. As revealed by the Church Committee in the mid-70s and according to internal FBI documents the agency controlled the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists beginning in the 1960s. More recently, it was revealed that racist radio talk show host Hal Turner operated as a “national security intelligence” asset for the FBI, thus demonstrating the agency still has its hooks in the lunatic fringe movement. The racist Milteer “was reportedly one of most violent men in the country,” Adams told Fox 8 News. Years later, Adams discovered that Milteer had threatened to kill Kennedy on November 9, 1963, and the FBI had lied about Milteer whereabouts. In order to make his case, Adams played an audio recording of Milteer for Fox News. In the recording, Milteer tells an informant the best way to get the president “is from an office building with a high powered rifle.” Asked if he was sincere about a plot of kill Kennedy, Milteer responded: “Oh yes. It’s in the works.” Despite the threat and possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the president, the FBI and Secret Service allowed Kennedy to travel to Dallas. “[They] should have stopped the President from traveling instantly,” said Adams. “You thought I was kidding when I said he would be killed from a window with a high powered rifle,” a “jubilant” Milteer” told the informant following the murder. Adams points out that Milteer was in Dallas on the day of the assassination and has a photograph to prove it. In the photo, Milteer stands near the presidential limousine prior to the shooting. Adams notes this fact was not mentioned in the Warren Commission report. Other, more well-known personages were also photographed in Dealy Plaza on that fateful day, in particular George Bush Senior. The future CIA director and president was photographed standing outside the Texas Book Depository building where it was said Oswald single-handedly shot the president from the sixth floor. Gerald Ford appointed Bush to head-up the agency when the House Select Committee on Assassinations was investigating CIA-FBI links to the murders of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. During Gerald Ford’s funeral in 2007, the elder Bush attacked theories straying from the official version. “After a deluded gunman assassinated President Kennedy, our nation turned to Gerald Ford and a select handful of others to make sense of that madness,” said Bush. “And the conspiracy theorists can say what they will, but the Warren Commission report will always have the final definitive say on this tragic matter. Why? Because Jerry Ford put his name on it and Jerry Ford’s word was always good.” After Adams told the FBI he believed it was impossible for Oswald to have fired three shots with a bolt-action rifle in seven-and-a-half seconds while taking aim through a scope, he was warned by his superiors not to pursue his findings. “Don, be careful what you say and how you say it,” an agent told him. Mr. Adams’ assertions contribute to a huge body of evidence revealing that Kennedy was not murdered by Oswald in the fashion described by the government. In 2007, a study conducted by a former FBI scientist put to rest the Oswald-as-lone-gunman theory. William A. Tobin, a former FBI lab metallurgist, and colleagues published a study the Annals of Applied Statistics demonstrating that at least one other shooter was involved in the assassination. Also in 2007, former CIA agent and Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt admitted in an audio recording that he was approached to be part of a CIA assassination team to kill JFK. The tape was released by the late Hunt’s son, Saint John Hunt, and aired on the Coast to Coast radio show in April, 2007. “E. Howard Hunt names numerous individuals with both direct and indirect CIA connections as having played a role in the assassination of Kennedy, while describing himself as a ‘bench warmer’ in the plot. Saint John Hunt agreed that the use of this term indicates that Hunt was willing to play a larger role in the murder conspiracy had he been required,” writes Paul Joseph Watson. uite predictably, the corporate media all but ignored Hunt’s revelations and continues to peddle the ludicrous theory that Oswald was alone responsible for the assassination. Saint John Hunt said that his father indeed resembled one of three “bums” arrested and photographed in Dealy Plaza following the assassination. The elder Hunt told his son he was “deeply conflicted and deeply remorseful” that he didn’t blow the whistle on the plot at the time and prevent the assassination. At the time Kennedy was hated by many government officials, especially officials at the CIA. Following the disastrous Bay of Pigs operation and his failure to support military action in Cuba, Kennedy had promised to “shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter the remnants to the wind.” Kennedy’s enemies in the CIA and the FBI are well documented. He fired the Chief Executive of the CIA, Charles Cabell, and among his enemies were Richard Helms, former CIA director Allen Dulles, and Gerald Ford, who would later become the default president of the United States. Ford, who was a member of the Warren Commission, implicated the CIA in a cover-up of the assassination from his deathbed, according to a publisher of a book on the subject. In May of 2007, Saint John Hunt went on the Alex Jones Show and revealed that his father would have “finish[ed] the job” and killed Teddy Kennedy. “In the context that JFK had already been removed, RFK was gone and his motto was ‘let’s finish the job,’” Hunt told Jones. He said his father was pleased when Robert Kennedy was assassinated. In 2008, the BBC aired a documentary offering evidence that the CIA was responsible for Robert Kennedy’s assassination. Three men were positively identified as senior officers who worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA’s Miami base for its Secret War on Castro. “I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard,” David Sanchez Morales, aka “El Indio,” who was involved in CIA efforts against Castro and the CIA’s 1954 overthrow of the Guatemalan government, reportedly bragged after the RFK assassination. In his audio confession, the late E. Howard Hunt said Morales and Lyndon Johnson were involved in the plot to kill JFK. Hunt said the code name for the assassination operation was “The Big Event.” Johnson’s former mistress, Madeleine Duncan Brown, told author Robert Gaylon Ross prior to her death in 2002 that Johnson was involved in the murder, a plot that had its origins in the 1960 Democratic Convention, where John F. Kennedy was elected as presidential candidate with Johnson as his running mate. Johnson, according to Brown, colluded with oil tycoon H. L. Hunt to have Kennedy eliminated. “It was a total political crime and H.L. Hunt really controlled what actually happened to John Kennedy — he and Lyndon Johnson,” said Brown. “It was a political crime for political power.” Johnson had allegedly said on the night before the assassination: “Those SOBs will never embarrass me again.” added by: im1mjrpain

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Hot Stuff

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

‘Face the Nation’: Supreme Court Upholding Same-sex Marriage ‘Enormous Stretch’

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Analysts that spend their time critiquing the media normally don’t have very good things to say about what they observe these days, but the final segment of Sunday’s “Face the Nation” on CBS was a marvelous exception. Substitute host John Dickerson invited on the network’s chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford and the Washington Post’s Dan Balz for a refreshingly open and honest discussion of two pivotal legal issues facing our nation: a judge’s decision to overturn California’s controversial Proposition 8 which banned same-sex marriages, and; whether or not the 14th Amendment should be revised to address illegal immigration. What ensued was a tremendously informative seven minute report about these two issues without any cheer-leading or accusatory finger-pointing: Crawford gave the facts about both legal matters as she saw them; Balz addressed the political ramifications for both parties as well as the White House, and; Dickerson asked great questions to keep the conversation moving. With that as pretext, sit back and watch – or read if you’re so inclined – the way these kinds of issues should be discussed on a television news program (video follows with transcript and commentary):  JOHN DICKERSON, HOST: We’re back with more on same-sex marriage with Dan Balz of the Washington Post, and our chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford. Jan, I want to start with you. And the question I asked David Boies. This is a big leap for the Supreme Court when it finally gets there, isn’t it? JAN CRAWFORD (CBS News Chief Legal Correspondent): Well, David Boies said it was not. But clearly it is. I mean they are asking the Supreme Court to set aside, essentially, the laws of forty-four states. So that is an enormous stretch. Now, of course, the Supreme Court has taken up issues of gay rights in the past. Justice Kennedy, the key swing vote in 2003, said that states could not criminalize homosexual sex in the privacy of your bedroom. So– but that is an entirely different matter than saying there’s a federal constitutional right to– to same-sex marriage. JOHN DICKERSON: In this case, Judge Walker, quoted Anthony Kennedy fifteen times or so. It was a letter to him. Wasn’t it? And is that going to work writing directly to Kennedy, basically, trying to use his own words to say hey, you’ve go to vote with me. JAN CRAWFORD: No. I mean clearly this decision was written with an eye on appeal. And it’s going to be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court. The court is so narrowly divided right now in these key social issues, you know, you’ve got your four liberals, your four conservatives and then that man in the middle, Anthony Kennedy, who is kind of like this, you know, human jump ball. And what they are asking Justice Kennedy to do, in this case, is not only, I mean, he’s got to grab the ball, take it down the court, slam it in the basket, and shatter the backboard. I mean this is something that Anthony Kennedy doesn’t do. He’s a very cautious justice. He doesn’t like to get ahead. Like I said, the same-sex ruling that he wrote in 2003, that struck down laws that criminalized homosexual sex. No one was enforcing these laws. This would change the law of the nation. They would be so far ahead of public opinion and that is why this case was controversial from the beginning. Remember, the traditional gay rights groups did not want David Boies and his conservative counterpart, Ted Olsen, to file this case because they think the Supreme Court is not ready. They wanted to see more states pass laws allowing same-sex marriage and then take it to the court and not put that onus and that pressure on the Supreme Court. And I would not be so confident if I were David Boies. JOHN DICKERSON: Dan, let’s talk about the politics of this. It does seem like from the Republican side, you know, George Bush when a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled on– in favor of same-sex marriage, immediately he came out with a constitutional amendment to ban it. This time pretty quiet from Republicans. DAN BALZ (Washington Post): Yes. And I think that– there’s a good reason for that. In 2004, the Republicans needed to do everything they could to motivate their base. Their base this year is highly motivated. They don’t need to do more to crank up the anger, the energy that’s there on the right. The second, I think, and more important reason, is they have very good issues to deal with in this midterm–the economy, the size and scope of government, debt and deficit. Those are issues that unify their entire coalition and also reach out to independents to introduce in a significant and loud way same-sex marriage would threaten to pull away from that– pull that coalition apart. JOHN DICKERSON: Distract. Okay. If it’s going to keep the Republicans quiet on this issue, what about the Democrats? How do they handle this? DAN BALZ: Well, the Democrats are equally conflicted or– or quiet on this. Because while much of the Democratic base favors same-sex marriage, the truth is most elected officials including President Obama are opposed to it. And so, there is conflict within their base. They don’t want to really get into this at this point and stir things up. The President has stayed away from this issue for the most part, as have most other Democrats. So I don’t think you’re– going to see Democrats trying to leap to make this into an issue in the fall. Even in– even in some districts. I think where this will play is in some conservative districts in some red states. Individual Republicans will use it, particularly, through micro-targeting. They will reach to voters not with broad messaging but by direct mail or phone calls things like that. JOHN DICKERSON (overlapping): That’s it. Go on. JAN CRAWFORD: And– keep in mind, though, too. I mean, this is the first ruling by one federal judge and it’s going to be appealed. This case is going to get to the Supreme Court pretty close to 2012. So, you know whether or not it’s an issue in this year’s midterm or not it’s going to be an issue in the presidential election. DAN BALZ (overlapping): I think that’s right. And I think– JAN CRAWFORD: And President Obama is going to have to s– I mean, what does he do? DAN BALZ: And– and I think, as you said, the question is public opinion is changing on this, and fairly dramatically over the last four or five years. But it’s not at the point where there’s majority opinion in a majority of the states in favor of same-sex marriage. The court may end up ruling on this long before public opinion reaches to the conclusion a majority favors same-sex marriage. JOHN DICKERSON: Jan, I want to ask you about another legal issue. The same-sex case is about the 14th Amendment. There’s also been some Republicans talking about the 14th Amendment in another context, in terms of this automatic birthright citizenship in the United States. What’s happening on that front? JAN CRAWFORD: Well, I had about an hour-long talk about this actually on Friday with Senator Lindsey Graham. And this is really kind of one component of what he sees and is pushing is some broader immigration reform. And it– he believes that it is a real problem that people are coming to this country illegally, having babies, and then they’re automatically U.S. citizens. And then they kind of piggy-back, the parents can piggy-back on those kids to stay here in this country illegally. He has all these figures. There’s been a fifty-three-percent increase in births to foreign people, who’ve come here to have their babies in the last four years alone. So, this is a way he wants to look at the 14th Amendment and say maybe it’s time for us to rethink that. Remember the 14th Amendment which is sacrosanct I think to– to so many people was passed to give citizenship rights to the freed slaves. Because obviously the Southern States weren’t going to be doing that unless the federal government stepped in. So he’s saying it’s time to rethink this. When we’re really looking at immigration reform as part of a broader package, securing the borders, giving a path to citizenship for the twelve million people who are here legally now, having some kind of worker ID card, and then also stopping this practice where people can come here illegally or not, have children here, and those children be U.S. citizens. JOHN DICKERSON: Dan, this is an issue, Republicans want to talk about as opposed to the same-sex marriage. DAN BALZ: Absolutely. I mean I think what you’re seeing is that almost all of the elements of the immigration debate that are being discussed now, public opinion tends to be on the side of where the Republicans stand. The Arizona Immigration Law–there are a lot of Democrats particularly, in the west, who are very unhappy that Justice Department and the President decided to step in on that case, feeling that this was a moment that they didn’t want to get into an issue like that that the administration needed to stay focused on the economy. The 14th Amendment issue is another one. I mean we are a long way away from any serious legislating on immigration reform. It died this year. It will– it may come back next year, but we’re a long way away from that. Nonetheless, this discussion is lively right now. And it is helping the Republicans. JOHN DICKERSON: Okay. Dan Balz, thanks so much. We’re going to have to go, Jan. thanks. Bravo, folks. This really was one of the most interesting and informative segments concerning these two issues I saw all week. If television news outlets reported like this more often, I wouldn’t have much to write about. 

See the article here:
‘Face the Nation’: Supreme Court Upholding Same-sex Marriage ‘Enormous Stretch’

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,