Bill Maher-Tea Party. The Founding Fathers would have hated your guts, Teabagger mob. Bill Maher nails it! Maher 7-9-11 Michele Bachmann’s husband shares her strong conservative values. “Their career in politics has always been about pursuing a social conservative agenda,” Larry Jacobs, a political scientist and longtime Bachmann watcher at the University of Minnesota, said of the couple. He said that Michele Bachmann’s initial race for the state Senate, in which she ousted a more moderate Republican, was “broadly over gay rights.” “My husband and I,” Bachmann told The Washington Post in March, “are a really good team.”
These days, as Michele Bachmann burns up the campaign trail, attracting big crowds, oodles of media attention and skyrocketing poll numbers, her husband is a constant presence at her side. He is visibly engaged in the campaign, riding the bus and mingling with reporters as team Bachmann hammers its conservative, small-government message. This is something of a change. Michele Bachmann has called gay marriage “probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, 30 years.” Dr. Dr. “I’m a job creator,” she said. Dr. 14 Propaganda Techniques Fox "News" Uses to Brainwash Americans. There is nothing more sacred to the maintenance of democracy than a free press. Access to comprehensive, accurate and quality information is essential to the manifestation of Socratic citizenship - the society characterized by a civically engaged, well-informed and socially invested populace.
Thus, to the degree that access to quality information is willfully or unintentionally obstructed, democracy itself is degraded. It is ironic that in the era of 24-hour cable news networks and "reality" programming, the news-to-fluff ratio and overall veracity of information has declined precipitously. Take the fact Americans now spend on average about 50 hours a week using various forms of media, while at the same time cultural literacy levels hover just above the gutter.
My curiosity about this question compelled me to sit down and document the most oft-used methods by which willful ignorance has been turned into dogma by Fox News and other propagandists disguised as media. 1. Panic Mongering. Life expectancy across the U.S. Jon Stewart LIVE On Fox News, Tells Host 'You're Insane' [UPDATE] - Stewart slammed Fox News on Monday night's episode of 'The Daily Show' for editing his interview with Wallace.
Watch the clip here. [ORIGINAL STORY] - The Daily Show's Jon Stewart entered the proverbial lion's den, appearing live on Fox News Sunday to debate "media bias" with host Chris Wallace. Early in the interview, Wallace flashed a previous quote of Stewart's calling Fox News a "relentless agenda-driven 24 hour news opinion propaganda delivery system," and asked Stewart, "Where do you come up with this stuff? " Stewart responded, "Uh, it's actually quite easy. " Later, when Wallace argued that a clip about Sarah Palin from the Daily Show was political commentary, Stewart told Wallace, "You're insane... Here's the difference between you and I. I'm a comedian first. "Do I want my voice heard? " However, it was in a later exchange that Stewart got actually angry at Wallace, as he talked about what he called the misinformation that Fox News gave its viewers.
Party Politics: How Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality. "Conservatism is true. " That's what George Will told me when I interviewed him as an eager student many years ago. His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will's basic point was intelligent. Conservatism, he explained, was rooted in reality. Unlike the abstract theories of Marxism and socialism, it started not from an imagined society but from the world as it actually exists. Watching this election campaign, one wonders what has happened to that tradition. Consider the debates over the economy.
Many Republican businessmen have told me that the Obama Administration is the most hostile to business in 50 years. In fact, right now any discussion of government involvement in the economy — even to build vital infrastructure — is impossible because it is a cardinal tenet of the new conservatism that such involvement is always and forever bad. Of course, American history suggests that as well. But that history has been forgotten. Report: Obama Administration Rewards Big Donors With Jobs. <br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy President Obama launched his campaign in 2007 promising a change in the way business is done in Washington, D.C., but today a report from the Center for Public Integrity says that when it comes to major campaign donors scoring plum administration positions, it's business as usual.
The report says that 184 out of 556 2008 Obama campaign "bundlers," donors who agreed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for a campaign -- or their spouses -- joined the administration in some role. But the percentages are much higher for the big-dollar bundlers. Nearly "80 percent of those who collected more than $500,000 for Obama took 'key administration posts,' as defined by the White House," the report said. The center pointed out that candidate Obama suggested that big moneyed interests would not have as prominent a role in D.C. during his administration.
"Progressive Hunter. " I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there. And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind. " - Byron Williams Byron Williams, a 45-year-old ex-felon, exploded onto the national stage in the early morning hours of July 18. According to a police investigation, Williams opened fire on California Highway Patrol officers who had stopped him on an Oakland freeway for driving erratically. For 12 frantic minutes, Williams traded shots with the police, employing three firearms and a small arsenal of ammunition, including armor-piercing rounds fired from a .308-caliber rifle.
When the smoke cleared, Williams surrendered; the ballistic body armor he was wearing had saved his life. Miraculously, only two of the 10 CHP officers involved in the shootout were injured. Conspiracy theory-fueled extremism has long been a reaction to progressive government in the United States. "You would hear it echoing through here. " Play Grey Wars TD. Actually, that's not in the Bible. By John Blake, CNN (CNN) - NFL legend Mike Ditka was giving a news conference one day after being fired as the coach of the Chicago Bears when he decided to quote the Bible. “Scripture tells you that all things shall pass,” a choked-up Ditka said after leading his team to only five wins during the previous season.
“This, too, shall pass.” Ditka fumbled his biblical citation, though. Ditka’s biblical blunder is as common as preachers delivering long-winded public prayers. These phantom passages include: “God helps those who help themselves.” “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” And there is this often-cited paraphrase: Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden. None of those passages appear in the Bible, and one is actually anti-biblical, scholars say. But people rarely challenge them because biblical ignorance is so pervasive that it even reaches groups of people who should know better, says Steve Bouma-Prediger, a religion professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Global war on drugs 'has failed' say former leaders. 2 June 2011Last updated at 09:30 Opiate use rose by 35% worldwide from 1998-2008, in spite of anti-drug efforts The global war on drugs has "failed" according to a new report by a group of politicians and former world leaders.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users. The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. The US and Mexican governments have rejected the findings as misguided. The Global Commission's 24-page report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organised crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths. It cites UN estimates that opiate use increased 35% worldwide from 1998 to 2008, cocaine by 27%, and cannabis by 8.5%. Cesar Gaviria said the US came in for criticism 'No harm to others' Continue reading the main story Analysis Adam MynottBBC News. How Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes Failed at Setting Up a Strong Republican Candidate for 2012.
On Monday afternoon, March 28, Fox News chairman Roger Ailes summoned Glenn Beck to a meeting in his office on the second floor of News Corp.’s midtown headquarters to discuss his future at the network. Ailes had spent the better part of the weekend at his Putnam County estate thinking about how to stage-manage Beck’s departure from Fox, which at that point was all but inevitable. But, as with everything concerning Glenn Beck, the situation was a mess, simultaneously a negotiation and a therapy session. Beck had already indicated he was willing to walk away—“I don’t want to do cable news anymore,” he had told Ailes. But moving him out the door without collateral damage was proving difficult. Ailes had hired Beck in October 2008 to reenergize Fox’s audience after Obama’s election, and he’d succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest hopes, tapping deep wells of resentment and igniting them into a vast, national conflagration.
The problem was that it had almost engulfed Fox itself. Birtherism, the debt ceiling, climate change, evolution: Are Republicans losing their grip on reality? - By Jacob Weisberg. At a press conference last week, someone asked Chris Christie for his views on evolution vs. creationism. "That's none of your business," the New Jersey governor barked in response. This minor incident, which barely rated as news for a few political blogs, offers a glimpse of Christie's personality, which seems increasingly grumpy and snappish.
But it says even more about the current state of the national Republican Party, where magical thinking trumps rationality, and even to acknowledge basic realities about the world we live in runs the risk of damaging one's political future. Christie is not part of the natural constituency for Darwin-denial. He's an intelligent man, a lawyer, a fiscal rather than a social conservative. Moments like this point to a growing asymmetry in our politics. Like the White Queen in her youth, the contemporary Republican politician must be capable of believing as many as six impossible things before breakfast. The Serious Implications of Stephen Colbert's FEC Stunt - Entertainment. Stephen Colbert, in full character as the prototypical conservative pundit, appeared at the Federal Election Commission after filing paperwork for his political action committee, the "Colbert Super-PAC.
" As Politico explains, Colbert was there to determine if his airtime on Comedy Central would be considered a campaign contribution from the network's parent company Viacom, or if it would fall under the so-called "media exception" that allows newspapers, blogs, radio show hosts and others considered media to urge votes for or against candidates. It was a typical Colbert stunt. In an address to a crowd of several hundred, he declared he was motivated by the "American dream. " And that dream is simple. That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections. Video of Colbert at the FEC is below. Colbert vs. Kyl and spread of 'misinformation' Avlon: Colbert vs.
Kyl on truth Sen. Jon Kyl incorrectly said 90% of Planned Parenthood's work is abortionsHis office explained that it was "not intended to be a factual statement"John Avlon: Some in politics think it's OK to spread falsehoods to rally supportHe says, "Americans deserve better, and we should demand better" Editor's note: John P. New York (CNN) -- "Not intended to be a factual statement. " This was the sound of the curtain coming back on what passes for political debate too often these days. The now-infamous statement from Sen. It turns out that the actual number is 3%, a mere rounding error of 87%. This has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility and everything to do with the disproportionate influence of social conservative activists. Their most compelling argument is that the American people don't support federal taxpayer money paying for abortions, which is true -- and why federal funding of abortion has been banned since 1976. 2010: Mr.
Explain it to me: 'Birthers' Streisand effect. Defend WikiLeaks or lose free speech - Dan Gillmor. Journalists cover wars by not taking sides. But when the war is on free speech itself, neutrality is no longer an option. The WikiLeaks releases are a pivotal moment in the future of journalism. They raise any number of ethical and legal issues for journalists, but one is becoming paramount.
As I said last week, and feel obliged to say again today, our government — and its allies, willing or coerced, in foreign governments and corporations — are waging a powerful war against freedom of speech. WikiLeaks may well make us uncomfortable in some of what it does, though in general I believe it’s done far more good than harm so far. These are also acts of outright censorship. And, no, the government’s campaign is not fully working.
The political class’ frothing against WikiLeaks is to be expected, even if it’s stirring up the kind of passion that almost always leads to bad outcomes. Two Washington Post columnists, among many others, have been racing to see who can be the more warmongering. George Lakoff: What Conservatives Really Want. --Dedicated to the peaceful protestors in Wisconsin, February 19, 2011. The central issue in our political life is not being discussed. At stake is the moral basis of American democracy. The individual issues are all too real: assaults on unions, public employees, women's rights, immigrants, the environment, health care, voting rights, food safety, pensions, prenatal care, science, public broadcasting, and on and on. Budget deficits are a ruse, as we've seen in Wisconsin, where the governor turned a surplus into a deficit by providing corporate tax breaks, and then used the deficit as a ploy to break the unions, not just in Wisconsin, but seeking to be the first domino in a nationwide conservative movement.
Deficits can be addressed by raising revenue, plugging tax loopholes, putting people to work, and developing the economy long-term in all the ways the president has discussed. The conservative worldview rejects all of that. The market itself is seen in this way. Is there hope? Ten years of the "War on Terror" This September will be the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers: the tenth anniversary of, in effect, the "War on Terror".
Not longer after the 9/11 attacks, there was a Richard Curtis film called Love Actually (2003). This film referenced the post 9/11 environment in many ways, including a populist scene where the ever-so-nice British Prime Minister shows plucker in standing up to the ever-so-beastly US President. (I remember this defiance being clapped in the London cinema.) There is also a vomit-worthy voiceover by the supposed Prime Minister saying how we are all joined together with bonds of love. But it is another scene in that film which I think, all these years later, is more significant for the "War on Terror". And it took place in a film released just two years after 9/11. However, ten years after 9/11, we all know what would happen to such a boy at such an airport. He would be shot dead. Don't we know there is a "War on Terrorism" on? Bias at Fox News? The Bill Sammon memos - latimes.com. Fate of Arms Treaty Tied to Policy on Gays. Republicans, Theodore Roosevelt and the estate tax compromise: The rich get richer - latimes.com.