American independence = 236 years.
X = 35 years.
Who would’ve thought it possible?
Take a walk outside.
Fox News Promotes Desecration Of The American Flag For 4th Of July
Typical of the pseudo-patriots who robotically chant “We’re number one,” shout the loudest about heartland values, and canonize the founding fathers, they don’t know anything about the country and it’s traditions. That ignorance is what produces some of the most repugnant, jingoistic expressions of supremacy and it leads to exploitation by manipulative media whores like Fox News.
So it is not surprising that Fox Nation would post this titillating glamor shot of a teenage singer with the suggestion that you “take a tip” from her on how to show your patriotism. The only problem is that this method of showing patriotism violates the standards of respect for the flag as stated in U.S. Code Title 4 › Chapter 1 › § 8:
“(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.”
Ironically, in the past Fox News has exploited this issue to criticize others for disrespecting the flag. But even in those incidents they exhibited selective outrage that only reflected on people they intended to malign. They conveniently ignore flag descrators like these:
And then there’s also this:
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R.I.P. Andy Griffith. Not Just A Face In The Crowd
Lonesome Rhodes: Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers – everybody that’s got to jump when somebody else blows the whistle. […] They’re mine! I own ’em! They think like I do. Only they’re even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for ’em.
If you haven’t seen this movie, now would be good time. An amazingly prescient take on the then-new medium of television, and one of the best screen performances of all time.
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Bill O’Reilly Is An Idiot Whether Apologizes Or Not
Back in March, Bill O’Reilly had a contentious debate with Caroline Fredrickson, the president of the American Constitution Society, on the potential outcome of the Supreme Court’s hearing on ObamaCare. Ms. Fredrickson presciently predicted that the bill would be upheld as constitutional and even noted specifically that the justification would come from the Constitution’s taxing authority. However, O’Reilly disagreed and concluded the segment by saying this:
“Ms. Frederickson, you’re going to lose, and your argument is specious. We appreciate you coming on. But this is absolutely a mandate. It’s absolutely a force. It’s absolutely police powers from the federal government, and it’s going to be 5 to 4. And if I’m wrong I will come on, and I will play — I will play your clip. And I will apologize for being an idiot. But I think you’re desperately wrong.”
Last week, following the Court’s decision, O’Reilly was on vacation, but he did call into his program and spoke with guest host Laura Ingraham. He said nothing about himself having been so desperately wrong. Today he returned and brought up the the incident in March, however, he did not apologize. Just prior to a disingenuous pseudo-apology, he declared that he is “not really sorry,” which cancels out anything he said afterwards. You don’t get credit for an apology if you precede it by saying that you’re not really sorry.
Rather, O’Reilly spent several minutes blaming CNN’s Howard Kurtz and Media Matters for – well, I couldn’t really figure what he was blaming them for. Apparently they were somehow responsible for his being a complete moron, and therefore he had nothing for which to apologize. He alleged that Kurtz was empowering Media Matters in some respect, and that…
“Kurtz does the bidding of Media Matters, and, I don’t know, maybe I should just ignore that and, as you say, move along down the highway, but it certainly disturbs me a little bit.”
And that was it. No actual apology. No admission that he was an idiot. No integrity in keeping his word. Just an obvious and pathetic dodge. He pointed fingers at others who had nothing to do with any of this and pretended that he never made a spectacularly stupid promise in support of his ill-informed prediction. It was a display of dishonesty and cowardice that befits someone like – well, like Bill O’Reilly. So I thought I’d help Billo out by saying what he is to chickenshit to say:
I think that about covers it.
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Rupert Murdoch Proves That A Fish Stinks From The Head
The CEO of News Corp, parent company of Fox News, has been tweeting up a storm lately. Much of it was silliness about Tom Cruise’s marital troubles and his view of Scientology as “creepy, maybe evil.” But some of it was revealing and noteworthy.
The first tweet above is interesting because it is so openly disparaging of Mitt Romney’s campaign team. He does not disguise his opinion that they are amateurs who came to their posts by being Romney cronies. More interesting is the vague introduction wherein he says that he “Met Romney last week.” That’s a news bite that had not previously been disclosed.
As it turns out, Romney met with 40 to 50 fatcat supporters at a secret meeting in Manhattan including Murdoch, investment banker Ken Langone, Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein, and other business barons and political operatives. It’s somewhat disturbing that a meeting with this kind of firepower went unreported until after Murdoch let it slip on Twitter. One thing we learned from the meeting was why Romney has been so hesitant to take an actual position on immigration. He told the group that…
“I know I took some positions in the primary that are” hard to contend with in a general, Romney said, according to two sources. “I am not going to be a flip-flopper,”
He is admitting that, were he to take a position, it would be contrary to what he told conservative audiences during the GOP primaries, so he says nothing instead. The Etch-a-Sketch has spoken. He believes that he can get by with Latino voters by relying on surrogate Marco Rubio and one of his sons who speaks Spanish. Yeah, right.
The second Tweet above is even more revealing. It was Murdoch’s response to all of the flack he got after criticizing Romney. It’s bad enough that he openly states that he wants Romney to win, but what goes farther over the line is his reasoning. He says that he wants Romney to “save us from socialism.”
After years of hearing Fox News anchors and guests making delusional comments about President Obama being a socialist, you sort of grow accustomed it. It’s easy to dismiss (and ridicule) wingnuts like Eric Bolling, Sean Hannity, and Sarah Palin. But now we know where they get their marching orders. Rupert Murdoch himself believes that Obama is a Manchurian candidate bent on delivering America into the arms of our commie adversaries. The conspiracy obsessed right-wing media has a leader and a hero in Murdoch. That little tweet explains a lot.
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Fox Nation vs. Reality: Cherry Picking Poll Data
The top-of-page headline at Fox Nation today is a report that falsely declares that “Obama Poll Numbers Drop After Court Upholds His Law.”
The poll to which the Fox Nationalists refer is from the notoriously GOP-slanted Rasmussen Reports. Rassmussen is best known as a Republican shill. He attends GOP conferences and is a fixture on Fox News. His findings invariably favor right-wing politicians and policies.
As a demonstration of just how far afield he is, take a look at the most recent polls posted on RealClearPolitics:
Notice that Rasmussen is the only one that shows Romney in the lead. What’s more, in every poll taken since the the Supreme Court’s ruling on the health care bill, Obama’s numbers have gone up – not down. And that includes the poll from Fox News.
So Fox News promotes the results of a poll by Rasmussen even over their own poll. That’s how committed they are to deceiving the blockheads who watch their network of lies.
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Even Fox Nation’s Vacation Coverage Is Blatantly Biased
The Republican Press Release Agency known as Fox News can’t even report trivial side issues without resorting to pathetic and insulting misrepresentations. Here is how Fox Nation is portraying the news that both President Obama and Mitt Romney are taking a few days of R & R:
Notice that the President is characterized as a shiftless slacker who “Takes the Week Off,” insinuating that he is neglecting his obligations. The Fox Nationalists accompany this headline with a photo of a tropical paradise suitable for sunbathing and luaus, despite the fact that Obama is actually going to Camp David. Furthermore, he is only spending two days there, where he will also be working. This news is viewed as “Obnoxious” by the Fox Nation community.
Romney, on the other hand, is described “Recharging” at his own personal resort destination on Lake Winnipesaukee, where he has his own vacation home. His holiday is seen as a well-deserved respite from the stress of the campaign trail (which everyone knows is much more severe than being the leader of the free world). This news is viewed as “Cool” by the Fox Nation community.
Imagine for a moment if Obama had been photographed in the manner Romney is above. It would immediately have revived memories of John Kerry windsurfing, wherein he was savaged by the media for engaging in a sport that was reserved for upper-crusters (as opposed to dancing show horses). Put Obama on the back of a jet ski with his wife driving and there would be endless mockery of him as a pussy-whipped wimp. And add to that the fact that the jet ski is stalled in mid-lake and Romney is helplessly throwing up his hands, and you have the makings of a story about a clueless and out-of-touch elitist who can’t even get his jet ski started.
These sort of visuals are subtle, but they are also effective and deliberate. The problem with them appearing on Fox Nation is that they will only be seen by people who already share the puerile views of the emotionally-stunted editors at Fox Nation. So the exercise is a waste of time except for the degree to which they validate every criticism of Fox News as a brazenly biased mouthpiece for the GOP.
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LMFAO: Sarah Palin Calls Nancy Pelosi A ‘Dingbat’ – No, Really!
Sarah Palin’s Friday appearance on Sean Hannity may have produced the funniest moment of the year. In response to a question about how Congress and Mitt Romney should deal with the Supreme Court’s ruling that ObamaCare is constitutional, Palin took a bit of a detour:
Hannity: Politically speaking, how should Congress deal with this, and how should the Romney campaign deal with it if you were to give advice?
Palin: Well, first off, Nancy Pelosi is a dingbat. And she is the perfect spokesperson for this whole agenda of the far-left running the Democrat Party.
Really? A former Miss America runner-up who quit her job as governor mid-term, failed at both presidential politics and reality TV, is calling the first woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives a dingbat? That’s a little bit like Charles Manson calling Mother Theresa a mentally deranged butcher.
And if that weren’t bad enough, Palin also made a disparaging, phallus-related insult directed at President Obama:
“About the 15% of Americans who aren’t paying taxes and are feeding from President Obama’s hands, perhaps they will vote for such a tool.”
I’m not sure where Palin is getting that 15% number, considering that the latest national polls show Obama well ahead of Romney, and the state-by-state electoral college surveys put Obama just shy of victory. But even more disturbing than her made up statistics, and her profane insults, is her characterization of America’s poor as akin to animals “feeding” out of the President’s hands. That’s pretty much how she and the Tea Party/GOP view the less fortunate in our society. And paraphrasing Palin: She is the perfect spokesperson for this whole agenda of the far-right running the Republic Party. And in this interview with Hannity she sounds like she’s … er … medicated. Which may explain her endorsement of radio wingnut Mark Levin for vice-president.
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Fox News Covers Up Mitt Romney’s Lies As Exposed By PolitiFact
Another example of the myriad means by which Fox News distorts reality on behalf of Republicans are the choices they make in what not to report as well as what to report dishonestly (which are the only two options considered by Fox reporters).
The truth detectors at PolitiFact are a favorite source of newsmaker evaluations to the folks at Fox Nation. In the past few months they have referenced the site repeatedly when seeking to defend the right and bash the left. After reading a few of the articles post by the Fox Nationalists, it would be fair to conclude that they hold PolitiFact in high regard:
- Politifact Annihilates Harry Reid
- Fact Check Destroys Pres. Obama’s Claim He Didn’t Raise Taxes
- Fact Check Nails Maddow…Again
- Pelosi Jobs Claim Skewered by Truth-o-Meter
- PolitiFact Rates Jon Stewart’s Fox News Claims … False!
- PolitiFact: Perry Did NOT Say Texas Wanted to Secede
- Politifact: Perry Was NOT Al Gore’s TX Campaign Manager
- Watchdog: Obama’s List of Kept Promises Is a Stretch
- Politifact’s Lie of the Year 2011: ‘Republicans Voted to End Medicare’
- Politifact Shreds MSNBC ‘Lean Forward’ Ad
- PolitiFact: Debbie Wasserman Schultz Is a Liar
Like many things in the political realm, the conclusions reached in some of those articles were debatable. PolitiFact has made its share of tortured appraisals that miss the mark. But, if nothing else, the list above proves that they are not the sort of knee-jerk leftists that conservatives think dominate the media.
Nevertheless, the Fox Nationalists are shamelessly selective in their use of material from PolitiFact. The day after the Supreme Court ruled that ObamaCare is constitutional, Mitt Romney spoke out against the decision in a litany of lies. PolitiFact posted reviews of a couple of points in Romney’s remarks and rated them both as false.
So despite a long track record of publishing PolitiFact’s findings, for some reason the Fox Nationalists declined to report on these obvious and deliberate falsehoods. It’s probably the same reason they have neglected to inform their audience of dimwits that Romney has been rated as untruthful 54 times by PolitiFact, and 13 of those were “Pants-on-Fire” lies. In fact, 40% of PolitiFact’s findings on statements by Romney are rated as untruthful.
If Fox actually had even a hint of aspiration to be fair and balanced, they would be reporting that Romney is as close to a pathological liar as anyone who has ever run for president. However, there is nothing stopping the rest of the media from reporting the truth about Romney’s compulsive dishonesty. But that’s another problem altogether (Liberal media my ass).
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Fast And Spurious: The Phony Outrage Linking Eric Holder To Brian Terry
Yesterday a sharply divided House of Representatives held a politically motivated vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for allegedly refusing to cooperate with a highly partisan investigation of the Fast and Furious so-called scandal.
Never mind the fact that Holder appeared before eleven congressional panels and produced about 8,000 documents. And set aside the Fortune Magazine investigation that shatters the GOP’s justifications for the hearings in the first place. The obsession by Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is so fierce that he has forever stained the House’s reputation by orchestrating the first ever contempt charges against a member of a presidential cabinet, without a whisper of evidence of wrongdoing.
Perhaps the worst part of this, however, is the overt and distasteful manipulation of the family of a murdered border patrol agent. Brian Terry was shot by suspected drug traffickers in an Arizona desert. There is no evidence linking any gun from Fast and Furious to his killing, although there may have been a weapon found at the scene that was purchased during the botched operation. But all of this is beside the point.
Conservatives have long defended their position in opposition to almost any type of gun control by chanting the bumpersticker mantra that “guns don’t kill people. People kill people”. But in this affair they are adamant that it was not a person who pulled the trigger of the weapon that killed Terry, it was the gun itself. They seem to think that absent Fast and Furious drug cartels would have been armed with switchblades and slingshots. Of course, the truth is that these criminal enterprises have had abundant armories before Fast and Furious, and they are no less lethal now that the operation has been dormant for years.
This hypocrisy has been used to incite outrage over Fast and Furious as being responsible for Terry’s death. It wasn’t. Terry was killed as a result of the inherent risks of his job, by criminals who would have been armed with or without Fast and Furious. The cry amongst Republicans that they want to get to the bottom of Terry’s murder is a cynical act of deceit and politics. There is nothing that Congress can learn about Fast and Furious that would reveal anything new about Terry’s murder. Yet somehow, Issa and Company have managed to recruit Terry’s family in this witch hunt.
The family of Brian Terry knows exactly how and why he was killed. Knowing the source of the weapon is no more important than knowing where they bought the car that they drove to the crime scene. So it is wholly inappropriate for them to castigate AG Holder, call for his resignation, or advocate the contempt charge. Whether they know it or not, they are being used by Issa for his partisan political purposes.
Ironically, if they (and the GOP) were really interested in reducing gun violence and the proliferation of illegal firearms, they would support programs that seek to identify gun traffickers who provide weapons to the sort of people who killed Terry. That means programs like Fast and Furious – except far better planned and executed.
It isn’t surprising that politicians like Issa exploit tragedies to advance their agenda. They know the media will sop it up like a blood-soaked sponge. And therein lies the problem. If the media were doing their job professionally and ethically, they would resist these tabloid manipulations and focus on what is truly newsworthy. It’s just too bad that the families in these affairs are sometimes exploited as well. In their grief they may not recognize the signs, but the crocodile tears of self-serving politicians are not a substitute for honest sympathy. And it is heartbreaking to see these families being made fools of while they are still in mourning.