Month: June 2014

Where’s The Outrage? On The Tenth Anniversary Of Ronald Reagan’s Death

Posted by on June 5, 2014 at 3:41 pm. 1 Comments :

Ten years ago, on June 5, 2004, former president Ronald Reagan died after a long illness including severe Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a curious fluke of timing that this anniversary should occur just as some prominent events have sprung up in the news that parallel notable capstones of his term in office. And while many of these affairs have erupted into frenzied allegations of high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of President Obama, they generated a far more sedate reaction from Republicans of that era.

Ronald Reagan

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Embassy Attacks

For almost two years now, the GOP has been furiously scratching at the walls to find something incriminating with regard to the tragic attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. In all that time, and after numerous congressional hearings and independent investigations, they have turned up nothing. So of course they decided to launch a new Select Committee on the Politicization of Benghazi in order to continue their fruitless and frivolous charade.

Perhaps on this day of remembrance, Republicans might take into consideration the fact that there were more embassy attacks, with greater loss of life, during the Reagan administration. And yet, there was never the degree of vitriol directed at Reagan for such deadly serious incidents as this:

“In April 1983, radical Shiite suicide bombers blew up the US embassy in Beirut, killing 63. Reagan did nothing to prevent this attack, and his ultimate response to it and a later deadly attack on US Marines in Beirut was to quietly withdraw from Lebanon.”

Climate Change

Last week President Obama announced an initiative to address the persistent problem of Climate Change that threatens to cause profound damage to our environment and our economy, while triggering profound national security risks. The Republican response to that was typically hostile, with rants about unlawfully overstepping his authority and deliberately attempting to sabotage the economy. However, no such rants were ever issued when Reagan said this in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate requesting increased funding of nearly $500 million:

“Because changes in the earth’s natural systems can have tremendous economic and social effects, global climate change is becoming a critical concern.”

Voting Rights

A constant burr in the right’s britches has been their faulty analysis of alleged election fraud. Despite years of complaints, they have failed to turn up anything but trivial evidence of a handful of infractions, which they use to deny voting rights to tens of millions of citizens. Obama’s support for reform has yielded accusations of tyranny and advocacy of fraud. Recently the conservative-dominated Supreme Court drastically scaled back the scope of the seminal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Reagan opposed the legislation at the time, but during his presidency he had a somewhat different view that failed to garner the insults that Obama has suffered:

“To protect all our citizens, I believe the Voting Rights Act should and must be extended. […] The Voting Rights Act is important to the sense of trust many Americans place in their government’s commitment to equal rights.”

Veterans Administration

Another hot topic on the GOP outrage agenda is the news that some of the Veterans Administration facilities have badly failed the soldiers they are intended to serve. While most of the veteran community report that they are “highly satisfied” with the service they receive, the disclosures of malfeasance are serious and unforgivable. The problems appear to be locally based, yet that hasn’t stopped Republicans from placing the blame directly at the feet of the President. Funny, they never did that to Reagan when these VA fiascoes plagued his term:

In 1981 a former Marine committed suicide after claiming the VA had failed to attend to his service-related disabilities. In 1982 VA director Robert Nimmo was “criticized for wasteful spending, including use of a chauffeured car and an expensive office redecorating project,” after failing to address veterans problems with Agent Orange. in 1984 “Congressional investigators find evidence that VA officials had diverted or refused to spend more than $40 million that Congress approved to help Vietnam veterans with readjustment problems.”

Negotiating With Terrorists

More recently, Obama’s decision to rescue Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from five years of captivity by agreeing to release some aging former Taliban leaders has resulted in political attacks against the soldier, his family, and calls for Obama’s impeachment. Right-wingers complain that there is no justification for negotiating with terrorists and that Obama has violated a long-standing policy not to do so. That, however, is totally false, as proven by Reagan himself. The notorious Iran-Contra scandal was centered around Reagan’s initiative to free hostages in Iran by agreeing to sell the terrorist nation over 1,500 missiles. The proceeds from that deal were then illegally funneled to anti-Sandinista death squads in Nicaragua. Reagan’s surreal confession to these acts continues to strain credulity:

“A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.”

2016

Special Bonus Outrage: Setting up a future political battle, Republicans are going after presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Their fear of her is palpable as they struggle to bring down her popularity with the American people. A new survey shows her handily beating every GOP candidate she is matched against. Consequently, the right has gone all in to cast Clinton as “old and stale” (as Karl Rove said). Rove also suggested that Clinton was suffering from brain damage. Then the Drudge Report hilariously misinterpreted a People Magazine cover of Clinton leaning on a chair, which Drudge imagined was a walker.

All of this ignores the reality that Clinton is, by all credible accounts, in good health. But more to the point, she would be younger at inauguration than GOP pols like John McCain, Bob Dole, and, yes, you guessed it, Ronald Reagan, who still stands as the nation’s oldest president. This might be a good time to recall Reagan’s retort to rival Walter Mondale, who made some sly references to Reagan’s age:

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

While remembering the legacy of Ronald Reagan, which is fraught with disagreement and controversy, on this, the anniversary of his death, it would worthwhile to recognize the hypocrisy of contemporary Republicans who seem to have forgotten history entirely.

Late Additions

Immigration: Reagan granted amnesty to three million undocumented residents.
Al Qaeda: Reagan funded the Mujaheddin, from whom sprung the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden.
Gun Control: Reagan signed the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act that banned fully automatic rifles.

Obama Rescued Bergdahl As A Distraction From (Choose One From Below)

Posted by on June 4, 2014 at 5:48 pm. 5 Comments :

Did President Obama devise the Bergdahl prisoner swap as a distraction from:

  • A) The EPA’s new carbon emission regulations
  • B) The Veterans Administration backlogs
  • C) The missing Nigerian schoolgirls
  • D) The missing Malaysian plane
  • E) Benghazi

Send your answers to…..Oh forget it. This started out to be a satirical article intended to illustrate the absurdity of the conservative mindset that is hyper-fixated on finding covert schemes and nefarious intent behind everything that President Obama does. However, as I researched it, it became clear once again that satire can never keep up with the ludicrous reality of America’s right-wing, to whom everything is a scandal or a distraction from one.

Sarah Palin

Consequently, this attempt at a humorous presentation of possible justifications for the Bergdahl prisoner swap has produced actual allegations of a deliberate effort to distract the public and the media from other pseudo-scandals. For instance:

  • Glenn Beck: The only reason why this happened is because the president is trying to get the VA off of the front page of the newspapers.
  • Manny Alvarez (Fox News): Don’t let Bergdahl’s rescue make you forget about the VA scandal.
  • John Hayward (Breitbart): Obama’s gambit to distract America from the VA scandal is turning into the most devastating scandal of his crime-riddled presidency.
  • Erick Erickson: The Administration is focusing on this and distracting the press, most likely willingly, from a few issues that require focus.
  • Ben Shapiro (Breitbart): Disastrous Bergdahl Deal Attempt To Distract From VA.
  • Herman Cain: The administration did this to create a major distraction. I hope that many of the Republican leaders are listening: Don’t chase this rabbit.
  • Rick Perry: Is it just, whatever we need to do to move a press story a day to get something off the front page of the papers?
  • Matt Lewis (Daily Caller): This was meant to distract from the VA scandal.
  • Allen West: [A distraction from] all the scandals facing the Obama administration, especially Benghazi.

Never mind that the very suggestion that the Bergdahl affair would be a useful distraction makes no sense whatsoever. The administration surely knew that the exchange would be controversial and that the resulting clamor by anti-Obama politicians and press would be no better than the preexisting clamor over everything else the right is outraged by. Why would the President simply add another log to the already flaming inferno burning in the hearts of wingnuts everywhere?

There is so much wrong with the logic behind this that it would boggle the mind, if it weren’t for the fact that Teabagger logic is always preposterous. Everything about the complaints by the President’s critics fails the test of rationality.

First of all, the frenzied assertions that the five Gitmo detainees are the “worst-of-the-worst” is refuted by every expert. They were all captured at the beginning of the Afghanistan war and were never alleged to have American blood on their hands. Twelve years later, most of those they knew back home are either dead or dispersed to the hills. And they know full well that if they reengage in any hostilities, they will be leveled by drones. In all likelihood, they would have been released in the next year or so anyway, but without the benefit of securing the release of an American captive.

Secondly, the claim that Obama broke precedent by negotiating with terrorists is easily refuted. Many presidents have done the same thing, including the sainted Ronald Reagan. Sen. John McCain returned home after seven years in a POW camp as a result of a prisoner exchange. And those who suggest that Obama’s deal will result in making Americans targets for further abductions obviously don’t know our enemies very well. Do they think that Al Qaeda needs this incentive to harm Americans and without it they won’t do so?

Finally, the assertion that Obama broke the law by not consulting with congress prior to making the deal is undercut by the precedents of his predecessor, George W. Bush. I don’t happen to like it when any president relies on signing statements as a justification for dismissing otherwise effective laws. But if Republicans are going to allow it for Bush, then they have to allow for Obama as well. Further undercutting the law-breaking argument is that even Fox News stalwart Charles Krauthammer has declared that the President has the legal authority to conduct this sort of activity.

In a few days the news wheel of fortune will spin onto something else, or reload a handy calamity from the past (probably Benghazi). But the residue of these events will metastasize in the cells of rightists and Fox News viewers who are already forming conspiracy theories, smearing the innocent, and calling for Obama’s impeachment. The rest of the country will be satisfied with the actual facts and distance themselves from the right-wing nut cases. And this carousel will go round and round until responsible members of the media decide to do their jobs as journalists, rather than scandal mongers.

Would You Trade Bergdahl To The Taliban To Get The Gitmo Prisoners Back?

Posted by on June 3, 2014 at 1:40 pm. 10 Comments :

Conservative pundits and politicians are making another fuss over President Obama’s leadership, this time due to his successfully securing the freedom of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl who was a captive of the Taliban. Critics are complaining about everything from the legality of the operation, to the wisdom of releasing a few Taliban detainees, to the value of retrieving a soldier who has been accused of desertion.

All of these complaints can be resolved by requiring the critics to answer a simple question: Knowing what we know now, would you favor trading Bergdahl back to the Taliban in exchange for the former prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay?

If the answer is yes, then you have a perverse notion of patriotism. No citizen should consider the captivity of an American to be acceptable. Even if that captive is suspected of criminal behavior, it is the responsibility of our country to adjudicate his fate, not some foreign nation or military faction.

If the answer is no, then, like it or not, you agree with the actions of the President. It would be foolish and inhumane to even consider trading an American away to our enemies in exchange for some of their operatives.

In almost every commentary on this exchange, the conservative critic prefaced his remarks by saying that he was glad that Bergdahl was free and heading home. Then, just as predictably, he would say that it was unconscionable that such hardened terrorists were allowed to leave the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Of course the former would not have been possible without the latter. But what none of them are saying is that the former prisoners do not have much to look forward to. Their movements are being monitored closely by officials in Qatar and, very likely, various U.S. intelligence agencies as well. With regard to the prospect of them returning to a life of terrorism, Obama said…

“Is there a possibility of some of them trying to return to activities that are detrimental to us? Absolutely. But I wouldn’t be doing it if I thought it was contrary to American national security, and we have confidence that we will be in a position to go after them if in fact they are engaging in activities to threaten our defenses.”

In other words, the detainees swapped a life of leisure in the Caribbean for one of constantly looking over their shoulders for drones. Should they choose to rejoin their former comrades on the battlefield, they are most likely going to join more than two hundred of them in the place where they now call home – the graveyard.

Club Gitmo Limbaugh

It’s more than a little curious that so many right-wingers are now lambasting the release of the Gitmo Five when not so long ago they complained that the detention center was more like a luxury spa than a prison. For example:

  • Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX): Gitmo is lap of luxury for detainees. […] The accommodations had a freshness and newness about them. Some of the rooms afforded waterfront views.
  • Charles Krauthammer (Fox News): How do I get two weeks at Gitmo? Sounds really good. The weather’s good. I get eighteen channels. A lot of exercise and I don’t have to work.
  • Rush Limbaugh (Loudmouth): There’s no better place than Gitmo. Club Gitmo, the Muslim resort. […] It’s a tropical paradise down there where Muslim extremists and terrorist wannabes can get together for rest and relaxation.

You might think that these witty whiners would be happy to see some bad guys evicted from such enviable quarters. Now they are sweating in the desert, dodging bullets, and having to work for a living. Under the circumstances, the implausible hypothetical question posed above might actually offer an appealing alternative to the now “free” Taliban operatives. But all of a sudden, the wingnuts who once thought that Gitmo was coddling their guests, now think they should have remained there to suffer.

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The one common thread that runs through this affair is that conservatives, who like to fancy themselves as Constitutionalists, are all too happy to abandon that document when it suits them. That’s why they have no problem holding enemy combatants for indeterminate periods without ever charging or trying them. And they also don’t object to trying Americans like Bergdahl as a deserter (which carries a penalty of death) without ever conducting an investigation or even getting his testimony.

Right-Wing Media Attacks Twelve Year Old Musicians Because Their Parents Are Democrats

Posted by on June 2, 2014 at 5:14 pm. 10 Comments :

The true conservative ethic is once again on display as a prominent rightist media organization launches a vile attack on twelve year old children who formed a rock band. The impetus for the attack was simply that their parents are Democrats. For the Family Values set, that’s reason enough to go after kids.

Twenty/20

The Washington Free Beacon is a Republican operation with ties to the Koch brothers. An article by Sonny Bunch, the managing editor, sports the headline “Awful Children Release Awful Song.” While nobody cares what this lunkhead thinks of their music, it is utterly deplorable that he calls the kids, whom he certainly has never met, “awful.” If Bunch has a problem with the politics of their parents, he ought not to resort to the cowardice of attacking the kids. What sort of sick pervert does that?

The group, Twenty/20, was featured in a brief profile in the New York Daily News when they released a video of a new song (video below). The young players met at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, which they all attend. Their parents are some of President Obama’s top advisers: Jay Carney’s 12-year-old son, Hugo, is the lead singer. U.S. Trade Rep. Mike Froman’s son Ben plays guitar. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan’s son Lucas plays bass. And Obama campaign adviser Patti Solis Doyle’s son Joey is the drummer.

Those familial relationships was all it took for Bunch to dish dirt on these kids. He described them as being kids “who can kinda hold a guitar or prance around the stage while whinily singing nonsense.” Then he predicts that the “little twerps” will “probably have a keynote gig at the Democratic convention.”

But Bunch isn’t through with his juvenile insults. After inviting you to listen to their “caterwauling” he expects you to agree that “we can reach bipartisan consensus that this song is utter shite, right? “ Then he reviews young Hugo’s singing saying that he “sounds like the whiny, nasally, prepubescent whelp that he is.” Remember, these are twelve year olds he’s talking about. Yet he sounds more like a whiny whelp than they do.

Finally, Bunch attempts to preempt criticism of his craven child abuse by mocking those (like myself) who find it disgusting to take out your political aggression on innocent children. But he defends his immorality by suggesting that because Carney’s kids were part of a magazine’s family profile a few weeks ago, they are now fair game to be maligned by the allegedly mature editor of a puerile rightist rag. I only hope that if he has any kids they don’t suffer the same sort of depravity that he is shoveling here. But then again, they are likely already suffering from having such a dipshit for a dad.

Here is the video of Twenty/20’s song “Heart Thief.” It may not be U2, or even The Ramones, but it shows promise and eagerness. They are clearly having a good time and demonstrating a commitment to something more creative than video games. They should be encouraged to continue to express themselves – as should all kids. As for Bunch, he should be encouraged to shut his fat, ignorant, hateful mouth.

John Oliver Explains “Preventing Cable Company Fuckery” (aka Net Neutrality)

Posted by on June 2, 2014 at 10:06 am. 2 Comments :

In a hilarious rant on Network Neutrality, HBO’s John Oliver delivers about as good an explanation of the concept as I’ve ever heard (video below). Even better, he calls out the corporations and special interests who are trying to co-opt the Internet for their nefarious purposes.

Oliver hits on every bullet point in the debate including how businesses are already deliberately obstructing access; how the FCC is headed by a former cable lobbyist; how our current system is delivering worse service than third world nations; and how the cable cabal is a working monopoly.

Oliver also notes that the public discussion on the issue is impeded by the inherently dull and technical subject matter, and how opponents of Net Neutrality are exploiting that by having figured out that “the way to do something evil is to put it inside something boring.” So Oliver has a suggestion about how to frame the debate, at least in terms of the yawn-inducing identifier “Net Neutrality.”

John Oliver Net Neutrality

That’s right. “Preventing Cable Company Fuckery.” Now that’s something that can get people riled up to actually do something productive like send comments to the FCC to demand that they protect Net Neutr…er…I mean Preventing Cable Company Fuckery.

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So please take this simple step to change the world and free yourself from the shackles of corporations who are working against you and your principles. You’ll feel great for having done so. And send this video (and this link) along to your friends and family as well. We can have a huge effect if we join together for something positive, rather than submitting to the corporate masters.

D’Souza On Young Clinton And Obama: The Hippie And The Street Thug

Posted by on June 1, 2014 at 3:47 pm. 10 Comments :

The arch conservative author and filmmaker, Dinesh D’Souza, has a shameful reputation characterized by dishonesty and immorality. He was forced to resign as the dean of a Catholic university due to his marital infidelity. More recently, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of election finance fraud. As a veteran of right-wing punditry, D’Souza is a frequent guest on Fox News and is the writer and producer of the acidly anti-Obama crocumentary, “2016: Obama’s America,” based on his own widely debunked book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage.”

On the eve of the publication of his new book, “America – Imagine a World Without Her,” D’Souza is once again demonstrating his affinity for the scum stuck to the bottom of the barrels he is scraping. The Washington Examiner posted some choice excerpts from a pre-release copy. While pitching the tome as “a passionate and sharply reasoned defense of America,” D’Souza has actually produced another tunnel-blind screed attacking his political enemies as villains on a mission to “finish off” America.

Lacking utterly in originality, D’Souza seizes on the old canard famously hyped by Glenn Beck, that that all contemporary liberals were weaned on Saul Alinsky. And like Beck and his diseased spawn, D’Souza casts Alinsky as some sort of horned demon sent by from Hades to destroy mankind. Consequently, the picture D’Souza paints of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is slathered with absurd invective that says more about D’Souza than it does the targets of his animus.

Dinesh D'Souza

D’Souza: “If you see early pictures and video of Hillary, she looks and sounds like a former hippie. Overtime, however, Hillary started dressing like a respectable middle-class mother and speaking in a clipped, moderate sounding voice. Young Barack Obama, too, looked like a bit of a street thug — in his own words, he could have been Trayvon Martin. Over time, however, Obama started dressing impeccably and even practiced modulating his voice.”

It’s called growing up. Let’s set aside the repugnant and racist association of both Obama and Martin to thuggery. That’s standard rightist rhetoric. More revealing is that D’Souza is flabbergasted by the notion that American youths might conform to the fashion trends favored by their generation, but later mature and adapt to conventional styles more appropriate for business and public service. That evolution, in D’Souza’s mind, is not a natural part of growing up that millions of Americans experienced. He thinks it is an organized conspiracy to conceal subversive intentions beneath a veneer of respectability.

D’Souza: “Hillary and Obama both adopted Alinsky’s strategic counsel to sound mainstream, even when you aren’t. These are the ways in which our two Alinskyites make themselves palatable to the American middle class, which to this day has no idea how hostile Hillary and Obama are to middle-class values.”

So hidden under the pant suits and business attire are tie-dye, headbands, love beads and, of course, radical plans to replace the Constitution with the Communist Manifesto. And the fact that under Obama the economy has soared, Wall Street has hit new highs, corporations are earning record profits, and taxes are lower, the Tea Party contingent still believes that this administration is anti-capitalist.

The Hippie & The Street Thug

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Finally, if anyone is hostile to middle-class values, it’s D’Souza and his confederacy of wingnuts who are opposed to universal health care, raising the minimum wage, unions, student debt relief, clean air and water, banking reforms, and virtually every other significant initiative that benefits average Americans.