Charleston Shoot: How Conservatives Cope

The conservative reaction to the black church shooting in Charleston has been an odd one. I'm used to "it's not a terrorist so it's a crazy person" defense of the singularity of the events despite the singularity of some of what they call terrorist events. But this is different.

Dylan Roof walked into a church after a Bible study and killed nine people.

If Roof had done this and claimed he was an atheist and hated the religious, that would take top billing. "Oh, the persecution! Religion isn't safe in America today!" If he had done this and was a Muslim, he would be an assumed terrorist and been taken very seriously if he'd said he did it to harm Christians in the name of Allah. "The outrage! Terrorism and Sharia Law is taking over America! Christians aren't safe!"

But he took up a flag as his symbol and claimed he was a racist and his intent was to kill black people. He openly said racist things during the shooting. And we get instead lulz about flags killing people, outrage over stores ceasing to sell it, and Hannity saying it's not about race because "how can you take the words of a psychopath seriously?"

Hay, we're not racists cause that guy's nuts and hey what about this innocent flag!?

Why? Because whenever racism rears its ugly head, conservatives don't deal with it, don't discuss it. They blame everyone else like it wasn't them who farted. Fox had some goons on the other day saying it was the fault of the Democrats that this happened. Why? Democrats race-bait and Democrats were racist back in the day. (They conveniently forget basic history and that the racists in the Democratic Party went Republican about 60 years ago.)

But when a racist psychopath is NOT in the news? Fox is rife with commentary in racist code on "urban," "freeloaders," "Obamaphones," "welfare queens," the abundance of black-on-white crimes, and the need to drug test those on public assistance.

And what was our shooter mumbling about when he was filling people with bullets? Blacks raping whites and the free ride they get in our country.

I wonder where he heard that.

Fox Guest: Fox Acting as "Wing of the Republican Party"

I think we're starting to see some reason seep into the cracks and fissures of the Right that Obama's election has created. Excellent video of the exchange here:

Trayvon Martin & The Racist Gun Nuts

You might as well just embrace the rage now. It's okay. Let it come.



If you have not read about the tragedy of Trayvon Martin, an innocent 17-year old African American kid, and the racist, gun-toting nut who took his life, please take a minute to brush up on some of the bullet points of this horrible event - and the deplorable way it was handled.

Now, take into account the fact that this story, while not discussed or featured in any way by Fox, did appear on its website. Now imagine all those Fox commenters goin' buck nutty over this story and making their missives known to the whole of the internets. I know, it's an ugly mental image.

Little Green Footballs did the painful digging, and has come up with a grotesque pile of the worst of the worst of the comments from the Fox posting of that story. If you have the stomach, head on over there. Either way, here's a sampling:

What a shame—a tragedy, really— because the dead lil’ gangsta could’ve used “‘A-FIRM-TIV AK-SHUN” to go to kollige an play footballz and make lotsa cash munny!”

[…]

Let’s find out why the “po’ baby” was REALLY there!

[…]

The little thug ghetto monkey should have been home doing his homework, not out gang bangin.

[…]

I’m just glad Zimmerman didnt miss and hit an innocent bystander.

[…]

Whenever a prominent conservative is confronted with the idea that anyone conservative is racist or bigoted in any way, the first line of defense is that it is a liberal lie. Remember racist signs at the Tea Party rallies? Plants. Besides, Blacks would be better off in the Republican Party. Right?

I really don't have anything else but seething frustration to offer on this topic - it sums itself up, and Little Green Footballs has the long form.

Good luck and don't explode.

What Did FOX Say About Gas Prices in 2008?

Warning: this will make you angry.



Spoiler alert! They say politicians are helpless to affect the market :)

Hannity Hypocrisy Cain Sources AAAHHHH!

Today I got a few minutes in the car with my good friend on the AM band, Sean Hannity. And as I've learned in the past few months, with the level of batshit crazy floating out there, a few minutes is enough. To make my head explode.

Can We Discuss the Ladies!?

Just late last week, Sean Hannity was decrying the claims of sexual harassment against Herman Cain, saying that it was categorically false and using it as a Standing Ovation to Conservative Values. Why? Did you see how Liberals attacked those ladies in the Clinton scandal? What OUTRAGE! Liberals are the anti-feminists, of course!

Today? (and I paraphrase) "And so now we've got these women and it looks like this latest one has a troubled history, looks like she's been often switching jobs. I'm not saying that this means anything, I'm just putting these women up to the level of scrutiny that liberals put the Clinton women up to. So what does it really mean she's switching jobs?"

*facepalm*

Out-Sourcing?

So just before I was listening to this drivel from Sean, I was catching up on Gawker posts and saw this one with a lovely clip from The Daily Show exemplifying the foolishness that occurs when the robo-dolls at Fox & Friends attempt to think. Click for the clip, but they decry the validity of the original complaints against Cain because of the anonymous source - followed immediately by an anonymous source backing Cain.

So then I hear Sean saying (and I paraphrase) "So CNN is now saying that the anonymous source is being backed by an anonymous source, her friend. This is reporting nowadays. Anonymous sources? What kind of schleppy news organization calls this journalism?"

Yours, Sean. Yours.


And then my head popped. But then it came back together when I got to vote down Issue 2 this evening. w00t! Suck it Kasich!

Leave Fox News Alone!

I'm serious, folks. Murdoch is in some heavy shit across the pond and looking like the US is coming down the pike after him for hacking into 9/11 victim cell phones (despite his "Oh my, what's going on? Where's my pickles?" bullshit feigning senility).

Now I'm hearing some clamoring from the left: make Fox old news, knock down Fox, bring it to an end. Like hyenas circling the wounded zebra, some of us smell blood - we note the chink in Achilles' heel and feel the need to strike, to kill the stinking, hulking monstrosity while we are able to.


M'f'ing Shadow of the Colossus style!

No.
Stop.
I'm goddamned serious.


Success?

IF there is a groundswell grassroots push to knock down Fox, to take out the network, that would be a bad thing. Please: follow every legal outlet to investigate and prosecute to the fullest of the law should wrongdoing be found. But if there is a serious rising of liberals with online petitions and firey blog posts decrying Fox as an attachment to Murdoch and a call to tear down the beast, all we will garner is ridicule. With good reason. We will truly be hypocrites.


What is Fox?

Fox is a tool (in both senses), something that Sean Hannity this week referred to as a "weapon" of conservatives. It is right-wing machinations donning a mask of "news." This is a heavily-weighted propaganda machine that uses "Fair and Balanced" as their primary slogan.

But because of all that, Fox is a joke. Fox is a news station that exemplifies conservatives in humor by launching and immediately killing their answer to The Daily Show (they don't get humor). Fox is conservatism manifest, an aggregator in that Rush Limbaugh today said Heat Index was invented by the government and has never been passed off as a real temperature and Fox stressed the heat index (for rational, safety reasons), and tomorrow, somewhere, Fox will show duress over this clash. Manifest in the multiple personality hydra it sometimes seems to be in attempting to cater to conservatives and tea party and Republicans and RINOs with a reach-around for the Libertarians.



So What Do We Lose?

Fox is our beacon, our early warning sign for the pulse of stupid, our klaxon, our open playbook. Fox is a tool in a third way: our periscope.

If this goes away, we'll still have some spastic jolts of conservative reality in AM radio with the classic nutters like Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, and that asshat they call the Great One, but nothing like the heart monitor we have now.

It's the monster we know, the nooks and crannies we're accustomed to, the madness we've accepted. And what do we lose? Exactly that. And Murdoch will get over his temporary insanity and bring something to life even more malicious. The devil you know and all that?


Right now we have a speaking template of how stupid the right can be. It's been limbering around since the Tea Party popped their heads out from another universe, but they're trying. And this Murdoch horror has brought red, steaming blood to the party.

Ignore the blood.

Let it stand, let it stumble, let it rant, let it mumble.

You can both be not a hypocrite and help the liberal cause. Woohoo!

Leave Fox alone.

Srsly.



Ignore it.

Fox & William Tucker Say "Meh" to Nuclear Danger

Ahhhhhh! When will I learn? Ten minutes of Fox News is enough to give a thinking / informed person a terrible headache.

Last night I stayed up kind of late watching coverage of the tragedy in Japan and much of that coverage was on the danger of the nuclear situation there. After a few shows and many an animated graphic, I had a solid grasp. Here's the gist:

• Each of the 6 (!) reactors have an inner containment casing surrounding the reactor core, and an outer reactor casing.
• 3 of the reactors were offline for maintenance and contained no reactor cores.
• The remaining went offline with quake for safety.
• ALL six of the reactor buildings contain spent nuclear fuel rods, cooled by water, contained only by the outer walls.
• Because of quake damage, maintaining water levels has been a problem.
• Due to 2 explosions and 2 fires, outer walls of 3 reactors are severely breached (like the whole roof and most of the walls of #3)
• ALL 6 of the reactors pose varying levels of problems and concern.
• The local utility company TEPCO has a jaded history of not quite reporting the severity of situations.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

So imagine my surprise (and gag reflex) when I switched on Fox News for less than five minutes to see Doocy talking to William Tucker, author:



I paraphrase, but his assertion was thus: "Basically one reactor has a crack in it and might vent some steam, but it'll just dissipate. We've got 6000 miles of ocean between us and there's no reason for anyone in the US to panic or even be worried."

Wha-what?

Take all that exposition above along with the fact that the closest point between Japan and Sarah Palin's Alaska is 660 miles and, well, you wonder why Fox News viewers operate like barely-functional vegetables.

FOX News Aaaah! Angry! Yelling! Stuff!

All the world's news agencies had about the same story going earlier today:

BAIL MADE: Assange granted bail, but Swedish authorities have since appealed the bail, and Assange must remain behind bars until he returns to court on Thursday.

Okay, not so crazy, not wacky or nutty. Ah, but then there was FOX News' headline this morning on "Fox and Friends":

AMERICANS HATING AMERICA: Michael Moore offering bail money to Wikileaks perpetrator Assange.


Note to FOX: Assange, as much as it makes you so shake-your-fist squint-your-eyes clench-your-firearm angry, is not in jail for anything having to do with Wikileaks, nor has he been charged, censured, censored, or spanked on the bottom because of Wikileaks.

"But he's gots a Fernch-soundin' name and pretty hair and he's givin' away our sekrets on a Wiki and ...what's a Wiki anyways?!"

Second note to FOX: Even Secretary of Defense Gates doesn't think the whole "leaks" issue is anything to worry about. At all:

Now, I’ve heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and so on. I think – I think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwrought. The fact is, governments deal with the United States because it’s in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us, and not because they believe we can keep secrets.

"Woll, then Michael Moore likes doughnuts ...cause he's fat and Assaounnnge's a fag and Obama's a stupid ni-- naughty stupid head and that makes you a fat gay dummy."

Yeah, that's kinda where the arguments always end up, isn't it?

In Short: Haiti ...WHA?

Right now CNN, MSNBC, HLN, etc. are talking about and extensively covering the earthquake that has rocked Haiti to its roots and killed hundreds - if not thousands - of locals.

Fox News is focused on Bill O'Reilly interviewing Sarah Palin and proving she's not retarded. No breaks for real news.

Fox itself must be retarded in its coverage of reality.

Case in point.

For Fox Sake!

Jon Stewart puts down Fox like the dogs they are.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
For Fox Sake!
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

FOX on Technology: Um...Durrr

I was clicking through the channels and came across FOX and Bill Sammon jizzing all over themselves saying that their reporting is why the White House pulled the plug on the flag@whitehouse.gov and is posturing on pulling the public option out of the health care bill (more on that later), but Bill Sammon needs to do a little research.

Bill, apparently pulling the headline off of Drudge, kept talking about how the White House had disabled the "flag" website. Problem is: there is no flag website. Never was. Just an email that is now apparently auto-responding with "no longer valid" or whatever.

I think the snitch email was a stupid move and am glad it's gone (or tells you it's gone), but if you're going to report about technology, get your shit together.

In Short: Silly CEO, It's Free!

That silly rabbit, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch (Fox News?), was talking about how he plans to be paid for all digital content. For those of you new to the internet, digital content is generally free and news digital content is ubiquitously free, so he's having some 2 girls 1 cup wet dream that he's going to change the paradigm of the interwebs.

"Quality journalism is not cheap," he said.

My immediate thought was: Okay, so how much is your kind of journalism then?

Greta Van Susteren: Sucker

In one of my Yahoo groups, someone sent me this link to Fox News's Greta Van Susteren's blog. It is entitled "Did you know this?" and begins like this:

** LIFE IN THE 1500′S ***

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

For those of you who have been visiting the internets for more than fifteen minutes, you might recognize this bit of misinformation, almost 10 years old now, that has been circulating through uninformed emails and blog posts.

To be clear: here is the Snopes page declaring this to be foolishness.

This tells me two things:

1. Greta Van Susteren is gullible and does not put much faith in even basic research.
2. If it wasn't for the remedial modicum of fact-checking and integrity that does exist in the bowels of Fox News, it would be an even more absurd network and viewing experience.

Hidden gem: check out Greta's blog comment by RU4REAL a little ways down. Seems retired teachers who are fans of Fox News are also susceptible to repeating emails.

Libby Dole: Hatin' n Lyin' on Kay Hagan

Having spent a few years in North Carolina, I almost puked when I saw this video:



Even if I had not spent any time in North Carolina, I would have almost puked.

The implication, obviously, is that Kay Hagan is an atheist and that is her voice at the end of the commercial.

So Hagan asked Dole to pull the offensive ad and Libby said "go pound salt." And now Kay Hagan is filing suit to have the ad forcibly removed: defamation of character, et. al. And good for her. Perhaps she could ad "socking Libby Dole in the kisser" to the resolution of the suit.

When conservatives conflate stories and imply false charges, it's "everything is factual," but if liberals skew the smallest detail: "Absurdist fabulist socialist Marxist Communist Nazi tofu-eating propaganda!"

I cannot wait to see the egg on the face of every Fox News troll next Wednesday.

[Side note: maybe it's the visual or a consistency issue, but the phrase "egg on the face" always reminded me of blowjob aftermath in a cheap porno. Anyone else?]

[Side note 2: did I just only now add hypocrisy as a label? Think it would come up more often...]

Talk Radio Hiatus

I'm a little tired of listening to Alex Bennett and Lynn Samuels on the left whack at Obama like a piñata. I'm tired of Wilkow's constant naming of Barack as a Marxist, Mike Church's dude spittle shitting The Messiah, Rush's drug-confused logic, Hannity's Stop Obama Express, and Levin shouting like chipmunk on crack. I'm not even going into O'Reilly or Gibson. Or Savage.

There are problems with Obama's candidacy, but if not him, then McCain, and holy shit that cannot happen.

So since no one is going to talk about anything except how much they don't like Obama (or in a few cases like him), my Sirius lovin' on talk radio is going to take a pause from Left and Fox and Patriot which generally makes up 90% of my listening day.

So what am I listening to instead? Right now, it's energie2, a French pop station (I'm also fond of Rock Velours and Bandeapart). Other favorites are CBC Radio 3, Iceberg, and Left of Center (indie), Chill, Area 38, and Boombox (electronic/dance).

So I'm sorry, but no talk radio means no talk radio rants for about a week. But I think we can both use a break.

Earth Day Makes Me Angry

Well, not Earth Day per se. It's the satellite radio and right wing blogs that make me angry. They're all railing about being inundated with Earth Day and how bad and bullshit it all is. Right now I'm listening to Fox Across America with Spencer Hughes and he's crapping himself about what "brainwashing" his kids are going to come home with because they might have discussed Earth Day in school, because the War Against Global Warming is "war against capitalism" and "war against Western Civilization."



The far right wing has gone from questioning popular and well-accepted science to abject quackery. Many believe the following:

• At the top tier of batshit crazy is those folks who refuse to believe that global warming is even real, often citing the ignorance of Global Cooling in the 1970's and claiming we are going to be looking at more cooling to come. None of them acknowledge that a piece of Antarctica four times the size of Manhattan collapsed into the ocean a couple weeks ago.


• If they do believe that Global Warming is a reality, it is not because of humans, but a long-disputed idea that it is solely because of a complex variety of the Earth's tilt and proximity to the sun. Wingnuts say it is insane liberal egomania to think that little ol' us humans could affect the environment, could affect the planet as a whole. These folks ignore well-established theories, basic scientific understanding, and anything any liberal has to say.


• Not only is Earth Day a horror and brainwashing, but because of alternative and bio-fuel research, we have food riots (and that is the sole reason, of course). This is a first: because of a generalized liberal focus on Global Warming, we've got Conservatives to give a shit about poor people - in other countries.


• Global Warming is a hoax and liberals are purposefully misleading the world in order to make themselves rich, damage American industry/jobs, and institute Socialism. No mention is made of conservatives beginning wars in order to make themselves rich, damage American industry/jobs, and institute a Police State.


• The obviously pagan Liberals treat the Gospel of Al Gore as their Religion.

No, this is not a joke.

And Al Gore is to blame! Understand that most people who think that Global Warming is a hoax are Conservative Republicans. Right Wing whackjobs hate liberals so damned much and, by association, Al Gore. Al Gore has made the world more aware of the problems we face with "An Inconvenient Truth." So at the detriment of the entire planet Earth, conservatives will refuse to agree with a liberal, because to do so might somehow, indirectly lead to admitting that Al Gore should have been the president, legally, about eight years ago.

Wingnuts are not only sadly attacking liberals and science, but their own. The attacks have gone from "try the science" to "I'm throwin' my shoe at the stupid train because it's stupid. Trains 'r' stupid. Trains." Bush recently announced a focus on climate change and then there's Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, sitting on a couch with - gasp! - Nancy Pelosi addressing - GASP! - Climate Change. Take a look:



And then there's NewsBusters, the self-proclaimed Right Wing equivalent to Media Matters. Unfortunately for them and as is par for all direct comparisons between Liberals and Conservatives on the internet, we're piloting advanced aircraft and they're wearing a shit grin over the two pence kite they just bought. But we're on Global Warming on Earth Day today, so let's address Brent Baker's "NBC 'Green with Envy' Over Swedes for 'Showing Kindness to Planet'."

Let that title sink in for a second, because that's the meat and potatoes of it. Brent Baker is apparently outraged that NBC turned Earth Day into "Earth Week," changed their logo to green to signify something to pay attention to, and did a story on how Sweden pays attention to the planet by lauding and providing an accessible public transportation system, is trying to be fossil fuel (an admittedly-limited fuel source) free by 2020, and keeping the environment clean.

Thank God for Brent Baker for exposing "the network's activist agenda." Earth Day - or Week - is about understanding and trying to eliminate the horrible things us human beings are doing to our environment, an environment that we need to support us: plant trees, stop pollution, etc. You know, the basics.

Based on this outrage for keeping our planet habitable, Mr. Baker is ostensibly shitting on his dining room table, eating from the rim of his toilet, or both.

Athletes are fearing going to China for the 2008 Olympics because of what the Chinese have done to the environment. Of course, it's pure hubris to think that we can affect the planet.

This is the politics of Global Warming. Here's the reality: no matter what you believe, dumping tons and tons and tons of waste into the environment in the form of solid, liquid, and gas is going to affect the environment. Lil ol' us nothin'. No, even if we fired every nuclear weapon in every arsenal we would not "destroy the Earth," but we would make life as we know it impossible. We can affect the planet. We are affecting the planet. And should our houses not be in order very soon, it shall be a plague on both them, Conservative and Liberal alike.

FOX Attacks: Obama (Part II)

FOX Attack Obama? C'mon!

From Brave New Films.

Montel Williams Puts It to FOX On FOX

Montel Williams was brought on FOX as a consultant to jabber about Health Ledger, but that's not what was on his mind. Something was bothering him, like jabbering about Heath Ledger when a couple hundred people died in America yesterday naturally, and that 28 troops have died in Iraq since January 1 (it's actually 41) - with no mention from FOX:



Since March 2003, 3,945 American troops have died in Iraq (4,252 throughout Coalition). 5 troops died from wounds sustained while in Iraq but go unacknowledged by the DoD in the count.

I just hope that when we hit 4,000 someone who gets some television face time takes a deep breath and has the balls to remind us that George Bush has officially killed more Americans than 9/11 in a war that had nothing to do with 9/11, even if it's still being occasionally touted as such.

FOX Attacks: Veterans

Do something.

Notes on the FOX News Republican South Carolina Debate

Ugh, *gasp*, ...burnout - 2 more Republican Debates, 3 more Democratic Debates before the conventions. This is getting tired.

So for those of you who don't want to dig down into the bullet points, here's the short short version: McCain drones racist, Thompson whips Huckabee, Huckabee says "gates of hell," Romney can't say "Ahmadinejad," everybody laughs at Ron Paul, no one will acknowledge what a benchmark in Iraq is, and the flashy background lights and Wendell Goler's tie distracted viewers from all of it.

Oh, and Ronald Reagan.



...and here's those witty bullet points you all so love:

• While I'm glad to see that they haven't shut out Ron Paul for good, I'm disturbed by the recent reports of decades of racist newsletters published under his name.


• The anti-Huckabee ad never showed. :(


• McCain's tone is so droning that he rendered 30% of the FOX audience comatose and paramedics lined up stage left should he slip into a coma himself.


• Note to Giuliani: "oversuing" is not a word or a reality - the only people who want tort reform are the medical insurance companies and the tools who are wrapped around their various appendages.


• Thompson with the big guns, goes down the line on why Huckabee's version of the Reagan Coalition is the policy of the Democratic Party. Ooh, snap. Too bad he's about 4 months too late in gaining a pulse.


• Huckabee on Iran pseudo-scuffle: The enemy should set their sites on the American ship, then know that the next thing they will see "will be the gates of Hell." Did you really just...yes you did.


• Distractions - Stop the twinkle lights in the background and tell Wendell Goler to tone down the Zebra Stripe Gum tie. I'm trying to watch a debate, not slip into an epileptic fit. Granted, with McCain's monotone, it was one of the few things keeping me conscious.


• Ron Paul points out the Bush Administration's saber-rattling, how they were disappointed in the NIE, and how we need to be way careful before pushing the Iran Go button. Hume makes snide comment about direct question he had asked another candidate and everyone has a laugh at Ron Paul. Ron Paul is apparently not in the Ronald Reagan Club.


• Note to Romney: If you want to be The Leader of the Free World, you might want to practice the names of other leaders in the world, like "Ahmadinejad."


• Note to McCain as old-fashioned sexist: it's not 1953 anymore. Time appoints a "Person of the Year," not "Man of the Year."


• Note McCain as new-world racist: Saying you don't want to trade with Al Qaeda because they only want to trade burqas, and don't want to travel with them because they only buy one-way tickets might be seen as inflammatory to anyone with a sense for such things. Ass.


• McCain has "the greatest respect and affection for" Giuliani. Did you mean "admiration" or can we look forward to a the McCain/Giuliani version of Madonna/Britney. Pop culture nuance note: McCain will also French kiss Thompson; no one will remember.


• Carl Cameron to Ron Paul: "Electability...do you have any?" Carl Cameron is a dick.


• Nitpicking Huckabee on referencing Hispanics as "some of the ones." Some might see that as dehumanizing minorities. Non-whites are people too.


• Thompson's post interview summed up the overall view of how the Iraq Surge is a winner: "The only benchmark is success." I would've gone with the 9/18 benchmarks; at least there you get 50%.

So another debate dies and we breathe deeply before January 15th's Democratic debate, if it's aired. I guess I'll figure that out by then. Cheers!