Tag Archives: conservative

Cutting Spending is Sexist! WaPo Headline: ‘British Women to Bear Budget Pain’

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Liberal Democratic strategists reading today’s Washington Post are probably taking notes, preparing talking points for a future which may hold a Republican Congress in the cards. “British women to bear budget pain” cried the page A6 headline. “Report says austerity plan mostly cuts into women’s livelihoods,” added the subheader for London-based Post staffer Anthony Faiola’s  story. Faiola noted that “[t]he Fawcett Society, a leading women’s rights group here, filed an unprecedented complaint with the nation’s high court this month, arguing that the government failed to consider the effect on women of its leaner ’emergency budget.'” At no point did Faiola find a critic to allege that the social welfare system in Britain itself was “sexist” or at least that it victimizes poor Britons, particularly women, by creating a culture of dependency on the state. Indeed, among his 19 paragraphs, Faiola quickly dispatched the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition’s defense with a brief quote from finance minister George Osborne in paragraph 13. Faiola quickly got back on track two paragraphs later by noting that “[s]ome Britons… see the cuts as anything but fair,” and then turning to the lament of one Joanne Morgan “a divorced mother of three teenagers” who works for the state and “is set to lose $285 a month in child-assistance payments.” Of course, Faiola failed to balance out Morgan’s tale of woe by finding an average bloke in a pub to dismiss as poppycock the argument that budget cuts are sexist.

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WaPo Front Page Implies Beck Can’t Lead Christian Right: He’s Not Really a Christian

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Washington Post put Glenn Beck on the front page again Tuesday with the headline “Beck’s marriage of politics and religion raising questions: Commentator may be unlikely leader for conservative Christians.” Post religion correspondent Michelle Boorstein underlined why: Beck’s Mormonism. He sounded like an evangelist at his rally, and “Yet the Mormon convert seems an unlikely leader for conservative Christians, many of whom don’t regard Mormonism as part of their faith.” It’s clear that the Post editors are furious that Beck questioned Barack Obama’s claim to “committed” Christianity, so they are turning the tables. That theme runs through the whole Boorstein story, which raised the question if Beck had “seized the mantle of the religious right.” Salem Radio hosts and executives clearly aren’t a stable of Beck fans: “Politically, everyone is with it, but theologically, when he says the country should turn back to God, the question is: Which God?” said Tom Tradup, vice president for news and talk at Salem Radio Network, which serves more than 2,000 mostly Christian stations. “How much of this is turning to God? How much is religious revival and how much is a snake oil medicine show?” Boorstein also quoted Salem host Janet Mefferd, who was just picked up nationally by Salem in March. (Beck’s radio show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks.) Boorstein left the Salem affiliation out of the Mefferd quote. She didn’t like his talk of divine destiny: “I’m a little nervous about that kind of talk,” said Janet Mefferd, a nationally syndicated Christian talk show host who said most callers Monday wanted to talk about Beck. “I know he means well and loves this country, but he doesn’t know enough about theology to know what kind of effect he’s having. Christians are hearing something different than what he thinks he’s saying.” Mefferd’s website also links to an article insisting if Beck truly embraces Mormonism, he is not a Christian. The Post’s On Faith blog was explicit in a headline: Is Obama a Christian? Is Beck?  Glenn Beck, a Mormon, says Obama is not a Christian. It’s not uncommon for Christians to question Mormon theology. What’s uncommon is a liberal newspaper like The Washington Post suggesting someone’s not Christian enough for the Christian right. It’s like letting abortion advocates pick who leads the pro-life movement. The first Christian leader featured in the story was Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who found Beck’s attempt to get the blessings of religious-right leaders “extraordinary…I’ve never heard a cultural figure of that popularity taking that overtly about his faith. He sounded like Billy Graham.” Boorstein later added: Although he doesn’t consider Mormons to be Christians, Land said he agrees with Beck’s basic premise that American society must be “rebuilt from the bottom up.” Land accepted an invitation to be part of a group of more than 200 clergy members whom Beck calls his “Black Robed Regiment,” a reference to pastors from the Revolutionary War who stirred up opposition to colonial rule. Asked who would be considered conservative Christian leaders today – with Graham in his 90s and the recent death of Jerry Falwell – Land said that “leaders are leaders because people follow them. Obviously, Glenn Beck is a leader. He’s in a category by himself. He’s not a minister, he’s not a politician.” The most ridiculous sentence in Boorstein’s story is yet another lame definition of “liberation” theology: To those who embrace it, liberation theology is a means to empower the poor, the weak and politically oppressed. The term became politicized during the 2008 presidential campaign because it is used by Obama’s controversial former pastor, Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. As Stanley Kurtz noted, “Theologically,” Wright’s theological hero James Cone affirms, “Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man ‘the devil.'” Cone also wrote : “If God is not for us and against White people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of Black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the Black community … Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy.” But The Washington Post thinks all the religious controversy belongs with Beck, not Barack Obama’s longtime pastor.

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Overwhelmingly White Media Criticize Conservative Rallies as ‘Overwhelmingly White’

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

If you thought media coverage of the Aug. 28 “Restoring Honor” rally hosted in Washington D.C. by Fox News host Glenn Beck seemed like just another attack on conservatives, you’re not alone. As noted by the Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher , much of the coverage had a common thread: describing the crowd as “overwhelmingly white.” While the term was certainly used in coverage of Beck’s rally, it’s not a new label. “Overwhelmingly white” is a prime example of the media’s groupthink on Beck, Tea Parties, and the conservative movement in general. Virtually every major “mainstream” media outlet has used the phrase in just the past year to describe conservative events. But even as the media criticize Tea Party and other conservative rallies for an apparent lack of diversity, they struggle to bring minority voices into their own operations. All three broadcast networks have described the Tea Parties as “overwhelmingly white.” So have CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the Agence France Presse, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Journal and US News & World Report. Many of those organizations are the very ones the news industry discusses as having failed to make diversity goals for staff.   Here are a few examples.  “The crowds turning out for the Tea Party Express rallies are overwhelmingly white.” – Ed Lavandera, CNN “American Morning” March 31, 2010. “The crowd is still overwhelmingly white.” – Jessica Yellin, CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” April 15, 2010. “The crowd that greeted Palin did nothing to contradict the common description of Tea Party supporters as overwhelmingly white and mostly older.” – Ina Jaffe, NPR “Weekend Edition Sunday” March 28, 2010. “They are overwhelmingly white and Anglo …” – USA Today July 2, 2010. That doesn’t take into account other ways to say the same thing. In coverage of Beck’s rally, some outlets opted for the less aggressive “predominantly white” label, while others described the crowd as “nearly all-white.” As Brad Wilmouth reported on NewsBusters , ABC’s Tahman Bradley called the crowd “almost all white,” and suggested that presence of Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, as a speaker was “an obvious effort to try to show inclusion.” The charge leveled at conservative demonstrators is especially ironic given the accusers. The media are notoriously “overwhelmingly white.” The American Society of Newspaper Editors reported in April 2010 that minorities total only 13.26 percent of newsroom staff, a decline from the previous year. The report found 465 newspapers have no minorities on their full-time staffs, a number that “has been growing since 2006.” The organization launched a program in 1978 that “challenged the newspaper industry to achieve racial parity by 2000 or sooner.” It failed. That goal has since been moved to 2025 because, “Over three decades, the annual survey has shown that while there has been progress, the racial diversity of newsrooms does not come close to the fast-growing diversity in the U.S. population as a whole.” Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander in March reported on internal criticism of the newspaper’s diversity. “All told, journalists of color comprise about 24 percent of the newsroom, comfortably above the ASNE census average of roughly 13 percent in recent years.” However, he added, “Minorities are 43 percent of The Post’s circulation area, and a large part of the region is edging toward ‘majority minority’ status.” So how has the diversity-challenge Post handled the Tea Party? “But, [Tea Party rally attendee Jeff Link] says, looking at the crowd, which is overwhelmingly white and middle-aged, ‘it saddens me not to see this gathering more diverse.'” – Feb. 6, 2010. “The new poll offers a portrait of tea party supporters as overwhelmingly white, mostly conservative and generally disapproving of Obama.” – Feb. 11, 2010 “They are overwhelming white (94 percent) and conservative (73 percent).”- April 2, 2010 “Tea Party activists, like Perot voters, are overwhelmingly white.” – April 18, 2010 The New York Times reported in January that minority journalists appear to be suffering the most from newsroom cutbacks. But the report on journalism’s diversity issues wasn’t nearly as smug as a Feb. 16 report about Tea Parties: “Gazing out at his overwhelmingly white audience, Mr. Mack felt the need to say, ‘This meeting is not racist.'” Newspapers aren’t alone. The third annual Television Newsroom Management Diversity Census found that “persons of color” only make up 12.6 percent of staff in TV newsrooms. A 2007 survey by the Radio Television Digital News Association found that minorities make up 21.5 percent of the television news workforce – higher than print but still short of the 34.5 percent of the population. Only 10.2 percent of broadcast news directors are minorities. But that didn’t stop broadcast outlets from pointing the finger at conservatives.  “Do you have any concerns when you look out at the crowds and they’re mostly, well, overwhelmingly white people?” – Terry Moran, ABC “Nightline” Nov. 2, 2009. “You know, one thing to keep in mind about the Tea Party is that it is an overwhelmingly white movement.” – Ron Brownstein, NBC “Meet the Press” April 18, 2010. The long-running discussion over how to include more minorities in the news media, from introspective articles to industry-insider analysis and advice , seems to have produced less-than-impressive results. Maybe members of the media should recall the old adage about glass houses. Like this article? Sign up for “Culture Links,” CMI’s weekly e-mail newsletter, by clicking here.

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Billionaire Who Denies Connection to Tea Parties Bankrolls Tea-Partying Glenn Beck Fans

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

David Koch, billionaire backer of the Tea Party movement, says he's never been to a Tea Party event. So, what do you call the conference full of Tea Partiers he just convened? August 29, 2010|WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a darkened hotel ballroom, on the eve of Glenn Beck's burlesque of self-righteousness at the Lincoln Memorial, some 2,500 activists listened politely to the tall, impeccably dressed elder at the podium as he stumbled through his introduction of the evening's guest of honor, the conservative columnist George Will. The speaker was introduced simply as chairman of the board of the Americans For Prosperity Foundation, the organization that sponsored the event. Few among the rank-and-file recognized the billionaire David Koch — heir to the fortunes of Koch Industries — or knew him as the man who bankrolls their activism, whose largess subsidized many of their trips to the nation's capital to take part in AFPF's organizing conference, and the Beck rally the following day. Beck, you'll recall, is in the employ of the billionaire Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation (the parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) has been in cahoots, as AlterNet reported( http://www.alternet.org/news/142068/utilizing_public_airwaves,_media_mogul_murdo… ), with Kochs' AFPF since the inception of the Tea Party movement. Koch's halting public speaking style befits his usual reluctance in recent years to interact with the public. He prefers to be known as the philanthropic presence behind the great institutions of New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the New York City Ballet. Indeed, he made his entrance to the stage at the AFPF banquet to the strains of “New York, New York,” which seemed a bit out of place in a room filled with the sounds of Southern drawls and Midwestern twangs. But over the course of the past year, Koch has earned a new reputation, one he's not keen to have: the Daddy Warbucks of the Tea Party movement. As AlterNet first reported last year, the two main astroturf groups responsible for organizing Tea Party supporters into a national movement were both founded by Koch: Americans For Prosperity, presided over by Tim Phillips, the former business partner of Ralph Reed; and FreedomWorks, which is chaired by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Both FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity have their roots in a now-defunct Koch-funded group, Citizens for a Sound Economy. While Koch is actively involved in Americans For Prosperity, his spokesperson claims no current relationship with FreedomWorks, or, incredibly, with the Tea Party movement. Last spring, on the eve of the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party protests, Koch Industries spokesperson Melissa Cohlmia sent an unsolicited statement( http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/right-wing_backers_koch_indust… ) to reporters and bloggers, asserting that “Koch companies, the Koch foundations, Charles Koch and David Koch have no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks. In addition, no funding has been provided by Koch companies, the Koch foundations, Charles Koch or David Koch specifically to support the tea parties. Thanks for your consideration.” “I’ve never been to a Tea Party event,” David Koch told New York magazine's Andrew Goldman( http://nymag.com/news/features/67285/ ) earlier this year. “No one representing the Tea Party has ever even approached me.” added by: toyotabedzrock

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NBC’s Today Show Invites on Two Liberals To Analyze Glenn Beck Rally

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

NBC’s Matt Lauer, on Monday’s Today show, invited on the not-so balanced panel of the Reverend Al Sharpton and the NAACP’s Ben Jealous to analyze Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally that took place on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech” with Jealous proclaiming that “if Dr. King stood up there” the conservatives in attendance would not have “responded well” to him. Jealous went on to say Dr. King’s “last campaign” was the “poor people’s campaign. To make sure that all people…can find a good job, all kids can go to a great school. And Mr. Beck, that’s not what he talks about. And that’s not, that doesn’t seem to be what he actually wants.” This led Lauer, ignoring the fact that rally attendees also want those things, that they just differ on the methods to get there, to observe: “It seems like you guys are saying, without saying, that you’re looking at what happened and you’re looking at Glenn Beck as somewhat of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” The following Kelly O’Donnell set-up piece and Lauer interview with Sharpton and Jealous was aired on the August 30 Today show: ANN CURRY: As Brian mentioned, talk show host Glenn Beck drew a big crowd at the National Mall in Washington this weekend including guest speaker Sarah Palin for a controversial rally he called “Restoring Honor.” NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell has a wrap-up now. Kelly, good morning. [On screen headline: “Rallying The Faithful, Glenn Beck ‘Restoring Honor’ Rally Draws Thousands”] KELLY O’DONNELL: Hi, Ann. There is still so much to debate this morning. From the size of the crowd — was it 80,000 or as Brian mentioned, more than 300,000 — to the motives behind calling the rally for this place on a very famous anniversary. Now Glenn Beck did try to set one rumor straight. He says he and Sarah Palin won’t be running for anything. Beck says he has zero political aspirations. GLENN BECK: It has nothing to do with politics! It has everything to do with God! O’DONNELL: Conservative media star Glenn Beck insisted on that “no politics” distinction. Still, the massive rally easily looked like a political event. SARAH PALIN: We must restore America and restore her honor! O’DONNELL: Beck did not criticize President Obama from the stage but has been harsh, even calling Mr. Obama racist last year. BECK: This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. O’DONNELL: Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Beck said he now regrets that comment. BECK: It shouldn’t have been said. It was poorly said, and it was not accurate. O’DONNELL: Back at the rally, many who came from around the country did criticize the President’s politics. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I believe in our Constitution, and this administration doesn’t. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I, I cannot disagree with our president more. I believe he’s leading this country in the wrong direction. O’DONNELL: Others criticized the time and place, held on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. Beck called that timing a coincidence. He and Palin praised King. PALIN: We feel the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. O’DONNELL: But civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton led a smaller, competing rally. REVEREND AL SHARPTON: They want to disgrace this day! And we’re not giving them this day! This is our day, and we ain’t giving it away! O’DONNELL: The context is full of tension. Beck also said his rally would reclaim the civil rights movement. BECK: Meaning people of faith that look at equal justice and look at every man the same. That’s who needs to reclaim it, not the politicians. Not the parties. Not white people or black people. O’DONNELL: And Beck tried to sort of shape some of the imagery here. He had asked some of the followers not to bring signs and often signs at these sort of events, if they have controversial images or words attract a lot of negative attention. And interestingly Beck said he regretted those words calling the President a racist but said he was not retracting them, simply amending them. Matt? LAUER: Kelly O’Donnell, Kelly thanks very much. As you just heard the Reverend Al Sharpton led his own rally this weekend. Ben Jealous is the president of the NAACP. Guys, good morning to both of you. AL SHARPTON: Good morning. BEN JEALOUS: Good morning. LAUER: So much talk leading up to this rally, Reverend Sharpton, and now so much analysis afterward, people worried about the timing, the date, the location, the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s speech, thinking it was some kind of political rally masquerading as a non-partisan rally for patriotism and responsibility. In the end, wasn’t it fairly uneventful? SHARPTON: Yeah and, and you wonder whether that was designed that way because, just remember now it was Mr. Beck himself that was saying this is gonna be to “reclaim civil rights. I’m gonna do this and that,” attacking the President. And then he comes and does none of that. So I don’t know if it was his promotion or whether we’re seeing the true political strategy. LAUER: But when I, but when I saw you speaking there at your own rally saying “we’re not gonna let him have this day, this is our day,” in the end is it a case of “never mind?” I mean was there no offense? SHARPTON: No, what the offense is to try and cast that as civil rights. Blacks, whites, we had many speakers of all races that are legitimately in civil rights, union leaders, the Secretary of Education, people that are trying to deal with the inequality in this country. We’re not talking about the day didn’t belong to blacks or whites. The day does belong to those that believe in what Dr. King’s dream was about. LAUER: Mr. Jealous there were many people at that rally who said we need to honor the legacy of Dr. King. When you watched and listened to what happened on the Mall there, what was your gut reaction? JEALOUS: My gut reaction was that if Dr. King stood up there, if he came back or somebody read his speech, that, that crowd wouldn’t have responded well to the full text of his speech. You know we are here to finish Dr. King’s last campaign, the poor people’s campaign. To make sure that all people in this country can find a good job, all kids can go to a great school. And Mr. Beck, that’s not what he talks about. And that’s not, that doesn’t seem to be what he actually wants. LAUER: Here’s from an op-ed in the New York Times this morning: “One could also call the day a strange, unlooked for fulfillment of King’s prophecies. Forty-seven years after the “I have a dream” speech here were tens of thousands of white conservatives roaring their approval of its author.” SHARPTON: But not applauding the content, because it was never discussed. Because in the speech Dr. King addressed unemployment and the plight of the poor, police brutality. And when we have an America where we can applaud where everyone is treated the same, that is the fulfillment of Dr. King. LAUER: It seems like you guys are saying, without saying, that you’re looking at what happened and you’re looking at Glenn Beck as somewhat of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. SHARPTON: No I think it’s a political strategy, possibly. I think every time we see the right wing, when we get in an election, they bring out God and country. Jerry Falwell did it one era. We had to deal with it, with same-sex marriage with George Bush. So I think now we see – Barry Goldwater did it in Dr. King’s day. Now I think Mr. Beck has started the, what we’re seeing in the midterm, that they’re going to again, try to use religion rather than really deal with the real issues. I’m a minister, I want us to turn to God- LAUER: Right. SHARPTON: -but I want us to turn to God but I want us to turn to God in a fair and equal way. LAUER: Is perhaps the most disappointing thing, Mr. Jealous, that we have two rallies, same city, same day, and one is predominantly white and the other is predominantly African-American? Would that not disappoint Dr. King? JEALOUS: You know we are, on October 2nd, we’ll have a rally called “One Nation.” It’ll be a large rally. It will be there at the Lincoln and you’ll see people of all faiths coming. We have 3000 buses confirmed right now and you can look at who’s gonna be driving those buses and you will see Dr. King’s dream made manifest. But let’s not forget that, that the rally was in D.C. and our crowd is very much a local crowd. You saw from the speakers there at, you know Gianette Margia, Secretary Duncan, a wide range of people, and those are the folks who are coming together for the “One Nation” rally and will be leading their folks there. SHARPTON: But I think Matt- LAUER: Quickly if you will. SHARPTON: -you’ve got to remember Dr. King was also criticized so criticized in ’63 for having mostly blacks there. We are trying to transform the country to make it one. The difference between Al Roker and an Al Sharpton, he gives the climate. I try to help change the climate. LAUER: You saved up for that one, didn’t you? SHARPTON: I always save one for you. LAUER: Nice. Appreciate it. Guys, good to have you here.

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NBC’s Today Show Invites on Two Liberals To Analyze Glenn Beck Rally

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Huffington Poster Offers $100,000 for Nonexistent Glenn Beck Sex Tape

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

A Huffington Post contributor and former editor of the failed liberal radio network Air America is offering $100,000 for a nonexistent sex tape featuring Glenn Beck. “Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers are happy to throw money at the rising tide of right wing lunacy,” wrote Beau Friedlander Monday. “Breitbart offered $100,000 for JournoList, the email listserve that brought down WaPo blogger Dave Weigel this June,” he continued. “Why did they do it?” he asked. His answer was as offensive as his despicable offer (h/t @MelissaTweets aka Melissa Clouthier): Because they stand to make a lot of money off the anti-black president movement, and they are rich enough to imprint their beliefs on the American sheeple.  The bio for this miscreant reads : Beau Friedlander is a writer living in Brooklyn. He was the editor-in-chief of Air America until it closed in 2010, and is the former publisher of Context Books, an award-winning small press. He is currently working on a book proposal called The Bunker Mentality, which takes on the conservative movement with lessons learned from his time at Air America, and as the publisher of War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know by former UNSCOM inspector Scott Ritter and William Rivers Pitt. His work can be found in the Los Angeles Times, The Paris Review, and other publications. His piece predictably went after “Tea Baggers”: In cultural terms, the original neoconservatives who birthed the baggers were way more frightened by the Broadway musical “Hair” than the film “Rosemary’s Baby” (both from 1968). A mock ad might go like this: “Afraid your daughter might hook up with a black guy (or the nation may choose one to be president)? Have a problem with that homosexual and or promiscuous son or daughter? Does your son need a haircut? Do you often find biblical characters charred into your toast? Then do we have the movement for you!”  Then, to the typical liberal attack on Beck: Glenn Beck is also a Mormon. It matters. His religion typifies the noble lie that the neocons originally set out to defend against the counterculture–Archie Bunker’s America–where a woman’s place was in the home and with baby, and an African American’s place was in a ghetto. (Mormons revere women much like Hindis do the cow, and they didn’t accept African Americans in their ranks at all till 1978–draw whatever inferences you like). It is time to pop the tea baggers’ favorite balloon (so what if it will be replaced by another?), and with that in mind I hereby offer to negotiate a $100,000 payday to the person who will come forward with a sex tape or phone records or anything else that succeeds in removing Glenn Beck from the public eye forever. I am not offering the cash myself, but I will broker the deal and/or raise the money for what you bring to the table. (And it better be good.) If you have the goods, or if you want to contribute to a slush fund to buy more takedowns (probably not tax deductible), please contact me at: glennbecksextape@gmail.com. Welcome to modern day liberalism: if you can’t beat ’em, smear ’em! 

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Huffington Poster Offers $100,000 for Nonexistent Glenn Beck Sex Tape

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Olbermann Distorts Conservative Adage as a ‘Screw the Poor’ Attack

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Friday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann either showed his ignorance of conservative ideology, or he made his latest deliberate distortion to attack conservatives as he suggested that a Republican candidate for Oklahoma governor expressed a negative attitude toward the poor, referred to by Olbermann as “screw the poor,” when, in reality, she was making the case that the wealthy are important to the economy because they are the wage payers for many people. As she spoke out against raising taxes, Rep. Mary Fallin alluded to the conservative argument that a tax increase on the wealthy would be bad for their employees. Olbermann quoted her version of the common conservative saying that conveys this point. Fallin: “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been offered a job by a poor person.” The MSNBC host, apparently not getting the point, concluded that her words were meant as an attack on the poor as being useless to her, and tagged her with the top dishonor of “Worst Person in the World.” Olbermann: At a recent tub thumping for the conservative cause, she insisted government spending needs to be cut and tax breaks be given to the wealthy. And then she added this: “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been offered a job by a poor person.” She did not add, “So screw’em.” That was merely implied. Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, August 27, Countdown show on MSNBC: KEITH OLBERMANN: But our winner, Representative Mary Fallon, who is inexplicably running for governor of Oklahoma. At a recent tub thumping for the conservative cause, she insisted government spending needs to be cut and tax breaks be given to the wealthy. And then she added this: “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been offered a job by a poor person.” She did not add, “So screw’em.” That was merely implied. But, of course, Miss Fallon is factually mistaken. She’s been elected to public office six times since 1990, and if some poor people didn’t vote for her and offer her her job, then the party she belongs to must necessarily be the rich people’s party. Mary “Screw the Poor” Fallon, Republican candidate for governor of Oklahoma, today’s “Worst Person in the World”!

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Olbermann Distorts Conservative Adage as a ‘Screw the Poor’ Attack

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Glenn Beck compares ABC report to Nazi propaganda

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Glenn Beck apparently doesn't buy into the adage that all press is good press. On Friday, the conservative host described a “Good Morning America” segment on the Lincoln Memorial rally he's holding Saturday — on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” address at the same site — as a “hatchet job” and compared it to Nazi propaganda. ABC's Claire Shipman is one of many journalists who have reported on the criticism of Beck holding his “Restoring Honor” rally on the anniversary of the King speech. Beck says the timing is coincidental. Civil rights leaders and activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a countermarch and demonstration in Washington on the same day. Beck, along with his radio cohorts, took issue with a few parts of Shipman's report, including her saying that it “wasn't so long ago” that Beck called President Obama “a racist” on Fox News. (Beck made the inflammatory comment in late July 2009. Beck also later apologized for the comment.) Beck, who has criticized the rally backlash, was also bothered by ABC quoting him as saying that “blacks don't own Martin Luther King.” Beck says ABC edited the quote selectively, failing to mention he also said that “whites don't own Abraham Lincoln” and that both men are “American icons.” “That's what Goebbels did,” Beck said, referring to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. “The truth didn't matter.” (A transcript of Beck's criticism is on his website.) Beck, like other cable news and talk radio hosts, gets paid millions while making over-the-top statements. But Beck is more likely than most to reach immediately for a Nazi comparison when trying to prove a point. The Washington Post noted in July that Beck often refers to the Third Reich on his Fox News show, counting 202 times since Obama's inauguration that Beck had referred to Nazis or Nazism and 147 references to Hitler. And he mentioned Goebbels 24 times during that period. Beck says that his rally, which will feature Sarah Palin and raise funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, is nonpolitical. The Restoring Honor website describes the event as a chance to pay tribute to service personnel and individuals who “embody our nation's founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” added by: onemalefla

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Bikini-clad strippers protest church in rural Ohio

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

WARSAW, Ohio (AP) — Strippers dressed in bikinis sunbathe in lawn chairs, their backs turned toward the gray clapboard church where men in ties and women in full-length skirts flock to Sunday morning services. The strippers, fueled by Cheetos and nicotine, are protesting a fundamentalist Christian church whose Bible-brandishing congregants have picketed the club where they work. The dancers roll up with signs carrying messages adapted from Scripture, such as “Do unto others as you would have done unto you,” to counter church members who for four years have photographed license plates of patrons and asked them if their mothers and wives know their whereabouts. The dueling demonstrations play out in central Ohio, where nine miles of cornfields and Amish-buggy crossing signs separate The Fox Hole strip club from New Beginnings Ministries. Club owner Tommy George met with the preacher and offered to call off his not-quite-nude crew from their three-month-long protest if the church responds in kind. But pastor Bill Dunfee believes that a higher power has tasked him with shutting down the strip club. “As a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil,” Dunfee said. “Light and darkness cannot exist together, so The Fox Hole has got to go.” New Beginnings is one of four churches in this one-traffic-light village of 900 people, 60 miles outside Columbus. There's one gas station and a sit-down restaurant that serves country staples like mashed potatoes with gravy and Salisbury steak. On Sunday, four of The Fox Hole's seven strippers and more than a dozen supporters garnered both scorn and compassion from churchgoers – and quite a few honks from pickup trucks and other passing vehicles. video: http://video.ap.org/?f=AP&pid=5c3B5_OIrCCUghPEx_qmGNGJstrAJz_G story: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_STRIPPERS_PROTEST_CHURCH?SITE=AP&S… added by: onemalefla

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Pro-War Conservatives Are A Walking Contradiction

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It is a testament to the power of government propaganda that several generations of self-described conservatives have held as their core belief that war and militarism are consistent with limited, constitutional government. These conservatives think they are “defending freedom” by supporting every military adventure that the state concocts. They are not. Even just, defensive wars inevitably empower the state far beyond anything any strict constructionist would approve of. Prowar conservatives, in other words, are walking contradictions. They may pay lip service to limited constitutional government, but their prowar positions belie their rhetoric. “War is the health of the state,” as Randolph Bourne said in his famous essay of that title. Statism, moreover, means central planning, heavy taxation, fascist or socialist economics, attacks on free speech and other civil liberties, and the suffocation and destruction of private enterprise. Classical liberals have always understood this, but conservatives never have. (Neoconservatives either don't understand it or don't care.) Thus, you have the celebrated neoconservative writer Victor Davis Hanson writing in the December 2, 2009, issue of Imprimis that antiwar activism and other “factors” that make people “reluctant” to resort to war are “lethal combinations” that supposedly threaten the existence of society. Hanson was merely repeating the conservative party line first enunciated by the self-proclaimed founder of the modern conservative (really neoconservative) movement, William F. Buckley Jr. Murray Rothbard quoted Buckley as saying in the January 25, 1952 issue of Commonweal magazine that the Cold War required that we have got to accept Big Government for the duration — for neither an offensive nor a defensive war can be waged … except through the instrumentality of a totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores. … [We must support] large armies and air forces, atomic energy, central intelligence, war production boards and the attendant centralization of power in Washington. “We” must advocate the destruction of the free society in the name of defending the free society, said “Mr. Conservative,” a former CIA employee. In reality, antiwar “factors” are a threat only to the military/industrial/congressional complex, which profits from war; they are not a threat to society as a whole. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Seeing through the dense murk of such war propaganda is one of the purposes of my ten-week, online Mises Academy course on “The Political Economy of War,” which begins on September 21. Students will learn about the economics and politics of war from some of the giants of classical liberalism, such as Ludwig von Mises, Frederic Bastiat, Lionell Robbins, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, Robert Higgs, and others. Among the topics to be discussed are * Why capitalism is the very opposite of war * The economic causes of war * Why nationalism is always a threat to peace and prosperity * Why Marx was wrong about war and imperialism, but the Austrian economists got it right * Why and how war is the health of the state, always ratcheting up governmental power at the expense of individual liberty and prosperity * The role of free trade in deterring war * The evils of military conscription * How war cripples a nation's economy, benefiting only a small group of war profiteers in the process * How the state employs the Fed to hide and disguise the costs of war * The role of statist intellectuals in promoting war precisely because they, too, understand that war is the health of the state * Why conservatives love war and the state * The dangerous myth that democracy promotes peace * Private alternatives to a massive “national-defense” establishment * What is a just war? Each class will consist of a 45–50 minute lecture followed by 45 minutes of Q&A with students. My lectures will cover the topics listed on the syllabus for the course, but will be more than rehashes of the readings that are listed — I will concentrate on both my understanding of the readings (and other literature) and my own research and writings. The importance of understanding the political economy of war is perhaps illustrated by this passage from Randolph Bourne's famous essay: War is a vast complex of life-destroying and life-crippling forces. If the State's chief function is war, then it is chiefly concerned with coordinating and developing the powers and techniques which make for destruction. And this means not only the actual and potential destruction of the enemy, but of the nation at home as well. For the very existence of a State in a system of States means that the nation lies always under a risk of war and invasion, and the calling away of energy into military pursuits means a crippling of the productive and life-enhancing processes of the national life. Ludwig von Mises expressed a similar sentiment in Human Action, when he wrote, Mises Academy: Tom DiLorenzo teaches The Political Economy of War What distinguishes man from animals is the insight into the advantages that can be derived from cooperation under the division of labor. Man curbs his innate instinct of aggression in order to cooperate with other human beings. The more he wants to improve his material well-being, the more he must expand the system of the division of labor. Concomitantly he must more and more restrict the sphere in which he resorts to military action. The emergence of the international division of labor requires the total abolition of war. … This philosophy is, of course, incompatible with statolatry.[1] These two quotes give one an indication of why those individuals who help the public to become reluctant to support war are more likely to be heroes of society as opposed to the “lethal combinations” of neoconservative folklore. http://mises.org/daily/4659 added by: shanklinmike

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