John Boehner Ignites Tea Party Brain Blowout In 3…2…1…

Posted by on April 25, 2014 at 1:38 pm. 1 Comments :

Ever since Republican John Boehner took the Speaker’s gavel in the House of Representatives, he has presided over the most ineffectual Congress in history. It has managed to produce fewer bills, and work fewer days, than any Congress in modern times. And while achieving that dubious honor, they also held more than fifty votes attempting (unsuccessfully) to repeal or otherwise cripple the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). But despite bending over backwards to mollify the crackpots in his party, Boehner is already being attacked by fellow Republicans such as this one that mocked the Speaker in a campaign ad.

John Boehner Electile Dysfunction

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Today it appears that Boehner has decided that pandering to the extremist Tea Party minority in the GOP caucus is no longer as appealing as fulfilling his duty as a congressional leader and rescuing his legacy, and that of the institution which is floundering at record low approval ratings.

Boehner delivered a speech in his Ohio district where he made some remarks that are sure to rile up the right-wing fringe contingent in his party. The first of which will be received with a resounding thud by Teabaggers everywhere:

“[To] repeal Obamacare … isn’t the answer. The answer is repeal and replace. The challenge is that Obamacare is the law of the land. It is there and it has driven all types of changes in our health care delivery system. You can’t recreate an insurance market overnight. […] Those kinds of changes can’t be redone.”

This may be the first time that the GOP leadership has acknowledged that “Obamacare is the law of the land.” But Boehner went further to recognize the obvious fact that it is too late to simply undo the law. The health insurance marketplace, and the federal and state infrastructure that supports it, has undergone a transformation that cannot be unwound without creating administrative havoc and unnecessary harm to the eight million plus Americans who are now enjoying coverage that is comprehensive and inexpensive.

Boehner also addressed immigration reform, an issue that has been swirling around Congress for years. There has even been a bill that was passed by a bipartisan majority in the Senate that Boehner has refused to allow his chamber to vote on. However, his new comments suggest that he is ready to press ahead in some fashion to bring an immigration bill to the floor and get it passed. Although he still has to contend with the intransigent Tea-publicans about whom he said…

“We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it’s remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don’t want to. They’ll take the path of least resistance.”

That’s a pretty harsh indictment of his fellow Republicans who he is calling out as obstructionists. Although in this case, he alone is obstructing progress on immigration reform which he could advance by simply scheduling a vote. But clearly he has been cowed by conservatives who oppose a resolution. As for Boehner’s description of the path they are on, in truth it is the path of MOST resistance. That’s the hallmark of the Tea Party’s anti-everything agenda.

Boehner was far from through taking direct swipes at the Tea Party that has made his speakership a nightmare. The divide within the GOP has deep fissures between the Tea Party and the so-called establishment Republicans. Competing factions of SuperPACS and lobbyists are battling for position in fundraising and primaries. And now Boehner is taking sides:

“There’s the tea party and then there are people who purport to represent the tea party. […] I don’t have any issue with the tea party. I have issues with organizations in Washington who raise money purporting to represent the tea party, those organizations who are against a budget deal the president and I cut that will save $2.4 trillion over 10 years. They probably don’t know that total federal spending in each of the last two years has been reduced, the first time since 1950. […] There are organizations in Washington that exist for the sheer purpose of raising money to line their own pockets.”

Without mentioning any names, Boehner is plainly referring to Koch brothers vehicles like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, as well as other notable Tea Party promoters like the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Tea Party Patriots PAC. All of these groups have been instrumental in pushing fringe candidates in primaries that often have no chance of winning a general election. Boehner is understandably concerned about that trend as it could lead to restoring a Democratic majority in the House and the end of his reign as speaker (which may end anyway if the Tea Party members revolt and back one of their own in the next session).

In addition to the damage Boehner has caused by widening the gap between the far-right and the establishment, he also committed the sacrilege of acknowledging that something positive occurred during the Obama administration with regard to the economy. Boehner correctly pointed out that the deficit has been declining, a fact that wingnuts refuse to accept. Other economic good news like the stock market recovery and the creation of millions of jobs are similarly ignored – or lied abaout – by Republican politicians and pundits. So Boehner isn’t helping himself with this crowd by carelessly trafficking in reality.

Look for the Tea Party and their benefactors to wield a rhetorical shovel at the Speaker’s head. Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. will shortly commence to battering Boehner and demanding that he recant, repent, or step down. Boehner can count on Karl Rove and, perhaps, RNC chair Reince Priebus to provide some cover, but it won’t stop the bloody battle that is about to engulf the party.

If the Democrats are smart they will sit back and watch with bemused expressions and only contribute when they have some fuel to throw on the fire. Republicans are certain to provide that if Democrats are patient. The latent Cliven Bundys and Todd Akins are lurking beneath the surface of the GOP and they will emerge on their won in short order.

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Fox News Wants IRS To Strip Media Matters Of Its Tax-Exempt Status

Posted by on April 24, 2014 at 4:31 pm. 2 Comments :

For much of the past year Fox News has devoted huge chunks of airtime to a phony scandal alleging that the IRS improperly targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny with regard to their applications for tax-exempt status. In fact, recent discoveries prove that progressive groups actually received an even greater amount of scrutiny. But for Fox News to then turn around and solicit scrutiny from the IRS in order to strip tax-exempt status from Media Matters, an organization that Fox viscerally hates, is more than a little hypocritical and unethical.

Fox News

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Nearly three years ago, News Corpse documented the obsession Fox News has had with Media Matters and the well orchestrated campaign to destroy them. Fox spent countless hours across multiple programs lambasting Media Matters and its founder David Brock. They alleged that Brock was insane, and a drug addict, and dishonest, and corrupt, and not very nice either. During that offensive, Fox News tried desperately to get the IRS to revoke Media Matters’ tax-exempt status, even enlisting their viewers into a campaign to file false complaints with the agency. Fox anchor Steve Doocy made several announcements on his morning show Fox & Friends like this one:

“Somebody has set up a web site and we have linked it, actually, at FoxNation.com. If you go down about half way down you’ll see that logo. If you want to file a complaint with the IRS against Media Matters because you feel they have gone political, they have abandoned their initial quest, then go to that site and go ahead.”

Now Fox is reviving that campaign with a new thrust at their perceived enemies at Media Matters. Once again Steve Doocy took to the airwaves to ask if it is “Time To Revoke Media Matters’ Tax-Exempt Status?” During the course of this segment Doocy interviewed Fox contributor, and bitter subject of Media Matters ciriticisms, Juan Williams. Both of them blasted Media Matters for having the audacity to actually document what they say. And both were incredulous that Media Matters managed to maintain their tax-exempt status despite the best efforts of sabotage executed by Fox. Doocy summarized his displeasure saying…

“Media Matters, which famously declared war on Fox News, continues to keep their tax exempt status. Media Matters CEO, David Brock, makes no attempt to hide his political views, even calling himself a Democratic political activist on his official Twitter profile. So should Media Matters tax exempt status be revoked just like a conservative group?”

What makes this reprise of their assault particularly disturbing is that just last night Sean Hannity hosted Brent Bozell, the president of the extremist right-wing media smear outfit, NewsBusters. During his segment Bozell angrily demanded that anyone who appears on a television news program must disclose their political leanings or recuse themselves. Apparently caught off guard, Hannity had to interrupt and insert an exception for himself:

“Well, you do and you don’t. As long as you identify – – I would argue I am the only conservative that says he’s a conservative that has a nightly news cable show.”

Pfew. That was close. So Hannity established that it’s OK to engage in commentary and analysis if you reveal your political biases. However, when Media Matters’ Brock did so it was characterized by Doocy as justification for punishment by the IRS. Note that Brock’s admission that he is a Democratic activist applies only to his personal activity on Twitter and not to his work at Media Matters. He says so explicitly on his Twitter profile. So when Brock discloses his Democratic activism he is confessing to a crime, but when Hannity discloses his conservative activism he is exhibiting an honorable honesty.

The main topic of discussion for the Hannity/Bozell segment was the contention that there were numerous people who cycled in and out of media and the Obama administration. That’s actually true, but it is also true of every administration. Hannity and Bozell chose to highlight the person they regarded as the worst of the lot, Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, about whom Bozell said…

“When Barack Obama needed a press secretary in 2011 he also chose Jay Carney, who was the Washington bureau chief of ‘TIME’ magazine. What does that tell you about the politics of ‘TIME’ magazine?”

Indeed! What does that tell you? And does it tell you anything similar about the time when George W. Bush needed a press secretary and he chose Tony Snow, an anchor on Fox News? What does that tell you about the politics of Fox News? Does it tell you what Steve Doocy actually told viewers during his segment with Juan Williams when he said that at Fox…

“We’re simply in the business of showing the other side. We balance out mainstream media.”

That’s a pretty straight forward admission that Fox is not a news network at all, but a partisan mouthpiece for Republican politics. Not that that wasn’t already apparent to anyone paying attention. In fact, the whole argument that Media Matters should lose its tax-exempt status due to the positions it takes on Fox News is an admission that Fox is a political enterprise. That’s because the laws governing tax status state that…

“…501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”

Therefore, Fox is admitting that they are a political operation since the IRS rules only apply to political organizations. If Fox were a media company Media Matters would not be in violation of any rules. But none of these facts and associated logic will have any impact on the efforts of Fox News to get the IRS to do something to Media Matters that, for most of the last year, Fox has insisted was not proper for the IRS to do. Like everything else though, it’s outrageous for the IRS to scrutinize conservative groups for political behavior, but it’s perfectly OK to do it to liberals (IOKIYAR).


Cliven Bundy’s Racist (On Video) Rant Is Nothing New For Conservatives Who Praise Slavery

Posted by on April 24, 2014 at 11:22 am. 9 Comments :

America’s most notorious welfare rancher and domestic terrorist, Cliven Bundy, has revealed more about himself and his repugnant ideology. In an interview with the New York Times (video below), Bundy volunteers a bit of his prairie wisdom concerning the plight of “the negro”:

“I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Exactly! Because who wouldn’t prefer being chained up and forced to work for no pay while being beaten, raped, and traded like the cattle that Bundy grazes illegally on land upon which he is trespassing?

Cliven Bundy

Ever since the Bundy affair became a cause celebre for conservative politicians and pundits, Tea Party and militia types have been heralding Bundy as a patriot and a hero for threatening to shoot fellow Americans who were performing their duties as law enforcement officers. It was only a matter of time before his revolt revealed just how revolting he really is. As a result, many of the people who were lauding him yesterday are backpedaling as fast as they can to disassociate themselves from Bundy today.

Rand Paul called Bundy’s remarks “offensive.” Nevada Sen. Dean Heller condemned them as “appalling and racist.” Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said it was “beyond the pale” and “100% wrong on race.” Not surprisingly, Bundy’s BFF, Sean Hannity, has yet to comment on this turn of events. While it is commendable that some Republican leaders found the moral gumption to denounce this overt expression of racism, it’s interesting that they had no problem with any of this when it was merely an articulated threat to kill federal agents while using women and children as human shields.

Unfortunately, this newly discovered discomfort with hate speech rings hollow when viewed in the totality of the conservative mindset. In October of 2012, I wrote an article on “American Conservatives Who Still Think That Slavery Was A Good Thing.” It unveiled ten prominent right-wingers who feel exactly the way Bundy does. The list includes conservative icons like Pat Buchanan, Michele Bachmann, and Ann Coulter, explaining why African-Americans were better off as slaves. Nobody was denouncing these racists for their hateful outbursts at the time. So it’s hard to accept that they are genuinely disturbed by these recent comments when the same rancid bigotry is so much a part of their political character. Here are the ten slavery advocates from the article:

1) Pat Buchanan
In his essay “A Brief for Whitey,” Buchanan agreed that slavery was a net positive saying that, “America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.”

2 & 3) Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum
Bob Vander Plaats, the leader of the arch-conservative Family Leader, a religious organization that opposes same-sex marriage, got GOP presidential candidates Bachmann and Santorum to sign his pledge asserting that life for African-Americans was better during the era of slavery: “A child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”

4) Art Robinson
Robinson was a publisher and a GOP candidate for congress in Oregon. One of the books he published included this evaluation of life under slavery: “The negroes on a well-ordered estate, under kind masters, were probably a happier class of people than the laborers upon any estate in Europe.”

5) Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
Peterson is a conservative preacher who articulated this bit of gratitude: “Thank God for slavery, because if not, the blacks who are here would have been stuck in Africa.”

6) David Horowitz
Horowitz is the president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and edits the ultra-conservative FrontPage Magazine. In a diatribe against reparations for slavery, Horowitz thought this argument celebrating the luxurious life of blacks in America would bolster his case: “If slave labor created wealth for Americans, then obviously it has created wealth for black Americans as well, including the descendants of slaves.”

7) Wes Riddle
Riddle was a GOP congressional candidate in Texas with some peculiar conspiracy theories on a variety of subjects. His appreciation for what slavery did for African-Americans was captured in this comment: “Are the descendants of slaves really worse off? Would Jesse Jackson be better off living in Uganda?”

8) Trent Franks
Franks is the sitting congressman for the 2nd congressional district in Arizona. As shown here, he believes that a comparison of the tribulations of African-Americans today to those of their ancestors in the Confederacy would favor a life in bondage: “Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery.”

9) Ann Coulter
Known for her incendiary rhetoric and hate speech, Coulter was right in character telling Megyn Kelly of Fox News that, “The worst thing that was done to black people since slavery was the great society programs.”

10) Rep. Loy Mauch
This Arkansas GOP state legislator has found biblical support for his pro-slavery position. He wrote to the Democrat-Gazette to inquire, “If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?”

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That was two years ago. Since then Tea Party types like Ted Nugent, Ben Carson, and Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson have joined their ranks. For Cliven Bundy to criticize African-Americans as lazy moochers on government subsidies while he is exploiting government subsidized land that he refuses to pay for, is monumentally hypocritical. And the right-wing enablers of his criminality should be ashamed of ever having supported him.

[Update] On his radio program today, Hannity finally weighed in saying that Bundy’s “comments are beyond repugnant to me. They are beyond despicable to me. They are beyond ignorant to me. […] People who, for the right reasons, saw this as government overreach are now branded because of the ignorant, racist, repugnant, despicable comments by Cliven Bundy.”

So Hannity is more “pissed off” for the poor branded wingnuts (i.e. himself) who encourage terrorism, rather than the actual victims of racial hatred. What’s more, Hannity spent more time condemning liberals for a false equivalency on racism than he did rebuking Bundy.

Also, Bundy held a press conference of sorts wherein he actually doubled down on his offensive views regarding African-Americans and whether they might have been happier as slaves.


Koch Brothers Front Group Feeds Fox News Phony Figures On Voter Fraud

Posted by on April 23, 2014 at 1:49 pm. 12 Comments :

A report by Fox News alleges that “Over 40,000 voters are registered in both Virginia and Maryland.” It’s a shocking statistic that stirs fears of massive election fraud that could sway the results of pivotal campaigns and upset the balance of power in Congress.

Koch/Fox News

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There’s just one problem with this report: There is no evidence that any of it is true. Fox News cites as their source an organization (Watchdog.org) that purports to be a news enterprise, but is actually a strand of the tangled web of political and media affiliates funded by the notorious Koch brothers.

Watchdog.org provided Fox News with a story about voter registration in Virginia that implies that thousands of Virginia voters are illegally voting twice in Maryland, saying that…

“A crosscheck of voter rolls in Virginia and Maryland turned up 44,000 people registered in both states, a vote-integrity group reported Wednesday.”

In fact, the data referenced in the report only identifies registrations with similar names, but it does not assert that they are the same people. In addition, it would not be unusual to find numerous cases where people re-registered after having moved from Virginia to Maryland, which is perfectly legal so long as they do not cast votes in both precincts. Even the president of the group that provided the data acknowledges that…

“…the number of voters who actually cast multiple ballots is relatively small. In the case of Maryland and Virginia, he revealed that 164 people voted in both states during the 2012 election.”

So 164 people, out of 44,000 registered voters, are alleged to have voted in both states, although they were more than likely different people with similar names. Yet this utterly insignificant and unfounded assertion of election fraud was elevated by Fox News to a scandal of huge proportions. And this isn’t the first time. Just last week Bill O’Reilly offered a slightly different version of the same story. In his broadcast he referred to allegedly duplicate voter registrations in North Carolina and other states, but his story had the same flaws as the Virginia story.

As for Watchdog.org, News Corpse reported on their propaganda wire service last year finding that…

“Watchdog.org is actually a right-wing, propaganda-spewing project that is funded by the Koch brothers through their Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. It is an unabashedly partisan source of slanted opinions and attack pieces. […] A quick Google search on Fox News, and their related Fib Factory Fox Nation, turned up dozens of previous Watchdog-sourced articles that were published by Fox. Many of these articles are hit pieces on unions and environmental science, two issues that deeply interest the Koch brothers whose businesses have fought workers rights and have contributed to dirtying the air and water of every place they have a presence. In none of the articles did Fox provide disclosure of the Koch affiliation to the reporting.”

This is one of the great advantages of being a billionaire who can bankroll a phony news service and funnel the fictional propaganda to friendly media. And by taking the tainted stories from a biased source with vested interests, Fox News proves again that it is nothing more than a PR agency for Republicans and the conservative agenda.


Jon Stewart Nails Cliven Bundy: A Welfare Rancher Trying To Pull Off The World’s Largest Cattle Dine-And-Dash

Posted by on April 22, 2014 at 10:09 am. 1 Comments :

The Daily Show returned from a week-long hiatus Monday to deliver an epic smackdown on the deadbeat cattleman in Nevada. Cliven Bundy has been widely rebuked for failing to pay customary grazing fees and declaring that he doesn’t “recognize the United States government as even existing.” The roots of his extremism was exposed here on News Corpse Sunday. The only people who support Bundy’s greedy, self-serving, churlishness are fellow terrorist militiamen and Fox News hosts. But Jon Stewart, as usual, provides one of the best perspectives on the situation that captures the absurdity of the affair in an honest and hilarious manner (video below). He sums it all up by observing that…

“The law isn’t on Bundy’s side. The court isn’t on Bundy’s side. Even the Nevada state constitution, which Bundy claims to abide, isn’t on Bundy’s side. Who the hell is on this guy’s side? […Cue Sean Hannity video montage…] How out there is Hannity on this issue? Sean Hannity has now made Glenn Beck the voice of reason.”

Apocalypse Cow

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Stewart’s take thoroughly demolishes any defense of Bundy that could be mustered within the bounds or reason. And his graphic depiction of “Apocalypse Cow” perfectly conveys the radical theo-con leanings of Bundy & Company. However, in searching for the Daily Show video there were some unexpected discoveries that Stewart may not have been aware of:

  • Apocalypse Cow: The Simpsons: Season 19, Episode 17
    Bart tries to save the cow he raised for his 4-H club from the slaughterhouse, and in the process winds up getting accidentally engaged to one of Cletus’s daughters.
  • Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan
    If you think you’ve seen it all — WORLD WAR Z, THE WALKING DEAD– you haven’t seen anything like this. From the twisted brain of Michael Logan comes Apocalypse Cow, a story about three unlikely heroes who must save Britain . . . from a rampaging horde of ZOMBIE COWS!
  • Apocalypse Cow – Three Floyds Brewing Co. & Brewpub
    This complex, double India Pale Ale has an intense citrus and floral hop aroma balanced by a velvety malt body which has been augmented with lactose milk sugar. With this different take on an IPA we have brewed an ale that is both pleasing to drink and, once again, “not normal.” Cheers!

Cletus, zombies and beer. How appropriate. And who knew this was such a popular theme? Anyway, here is Stewart’s version for your viewing pleasure.

And in honor of the Heifer joke above, please give to Heifer International: Together we have the power over hunger and poverty.


Disgraced CBS Reporter Demonstrates Why She Is Disgraced

Posted by on April 21, 2014 at 5:25 pm. 5 Comments :

Last month Sharyl Attkisson resigned from her job as an investigative reporter for CBS News. She blamed the departure on what she perceived as a liberal bias by the network’s brass that kept her stories off the air. But that excuse has little support behind it considering the fact that the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes, a former executive at Fox News who presided over the most brazenly biased right-wing propaganda that ever masqueraded as news.

CBS News David Rhodes

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This weekend Attkisson appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources and was subjected, for the first time, to some pushback regarding her version of the events that led to her separation from CBS. In the course of the interview Attkisson made an irresponsible accusation for which she failed to offer any evidence. She alleged that Media Matters may have been paid (by some mysterious entity she declined to name) to attack her and her reporting:

“I clearly at some point became a target. I don’t know if someone paid them to do it or they just took it on their own. […] I think that’s what some of these groups do, absolutely.”

Media Matters responded with a prompt denial saying that their coverage of her was “based only on her shoddy reporting.” And Attkisson’s wild claim about Media Matters is an excellent example of such shoddiness. Without a scintilla of proof, Attkisson went on a national news program and made an accusation of the worst sort of journalistic malfeasance. If that’s the kind of reporting she brought to CBS it’s no wonder they spiked her stories. And it is strikingly lazy, unethical, and self-serving to invent and disseminate an unsupported charge against Media Matters.

For the record, this is not the first time that Atkisson has been caught in an embarrassing breach of ethics. She has produced reports on issues like Benghazi and green energy that were riddled with flaws and omissions. But she seems most prone to crossing the line when the story is about her.

Last year she revealed that her computer was hacked by an unknown intruder. She appeared on Fox News with Bill O’Reilly and implied that the only plausible purpose for the hacking was to intimidate her due to her investigations on Fast and Furious and Benghazi. That put the suspicion squarely on somebody in the administration that didn’t like her snooping into those matters.

However, just as with her smearing of Media Matters, she offered zero evidence of her charges. She dismissed out of hand any possibility that she may just have been one of millions of victims of criminal hacking that goes on every day. At one point O’Reilly asked if she knew who the hacker might be and she said “Well, I think I know. But I am just not prepared to go into that.” This all happened nearly a year ago and Attkisson has still not told us what she allegedly “knows” about the identity of the hacker. What she did say was that she would proceed with her investigations and that she had the full support of CBS:

“We’re continuing to move forward aggressively, CBS News takes this very seriously, as do I.”

What’s interesting about that is that she is admitting that CBS was supportive of her efforts, contrary to her new story that they are hopelessly liberal and were holding her back. She described her relationship with Rhodes, the right-wing former Fox News exec, as being one where they had a “meeting of the minds.” That was her opinion at the time she was actually doing the work. Now that she has left CBS, and is preparing to publish a book that is critical of the Obama administration, her view has flipped 180 degrees, just in time to generate some controversy that might raise interest in her book (which is being published by Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins). But I’m sure all of that is just a coincidence.

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There is, however, a clear pattern of sloppy journalism and wild claims when Attkisson spouts off about computer hackers, liberal bias at CBS, and paid attacks from Media Matters, none of which is backed up by any proof. Her tendency to fling unsupported allegations at her perceived enemies shows that the disgrace with which she is now viewed by responsible journalists is well deserved. Lucky for her, Fox News regards that sort of bias and unprofessionalism as an asset, so her future employment prospects look good.

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EXPOSED: The Source Of Cliven Bundy’s Crackpot Constitutionalism

Posted by on April 20, 2014 at 8:54 am. 117 Comments :

The unfolding drama in the Nevada desert over a deadbeat cattle rancher’s refusal to pay customary grazing fees like every other rancher, continues to excite the Tea Party pseudo-patriots who believe that threatening a range war in defense of personal greed is a mark of virtue. However, Cliven Bundy’s domestic terrorism serves nothing more than his own selfish financial interests, and the crusade he purports to lead is rooted in the worst sort of perversion of constitutional principles.

Bundy has resisted paying to graze his cattle on federal land because he doesn’t recognize the authority of the government to assess those fees. In fact, he doesn’t even “recognize the United States government as even existing.” His argument has lost repeatedly in court, but he continues to ignore his responsibility and to defy the law. His malfeasance amounts to the theft of over a million dollars from the American people. Ironically, if his argument prevailed he would be subject to paying the state of Nevada for grazing rights at $15.50 per head of cattle, rather than the federal rate of $1.35. But simple math, like simple logic, is too complicated for these cretins. So instead, they take up arms against their fellow Americans and pretend to defend their twisted misinterpretation of the Constitution.

Now we have evidence of where Bundy may have picked up his constitutional delusions. In a recent media appearance, Bundy was proudly displaying a copy of the Constitution in his shirt pocket.

Cliven Bundy

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After searching for the distinctive cover of the document in Bundy’s pocket, the publisher turned out to be the innocuously named National Center for Constitutional Studies (NCCS). However, the NCCS is not the commendable educational organization it purports to be. It began life as the Freemen Institute, a vehicle for the far-right, Mormon, anti-commie, history revisionist, W. Cleon Skousen. Skousen taught that the Constitution was inspired by a God who intended America to be a Christian nation. He also professed the canon of white supremicism that Anglo-Saxons are descended from a lost tribe of Israel. The Southern Poverty Law Center chronicled the NCCS curriculum based on Skousen’s philosophy saying that he…

“…demonized the federal regulatory agencies, arguing for the abolition of everything from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to the Environmental Protection Agency. He wanted to repeal the minimum wage, smash unions, nullify anti-discrimination laws, sell off public lands and national parks, end the direct election of senators, kill the income tax and the estate tax, knock down state-level walls separating church and state, and, of course, raze the Federal Reserve System.”

Sound familiar? Skousen’s warped ideology syncs up perfectly with the Tea Party and other purveyors of fringe fear mongering like politi-vangelist Glenn Beck, who literally begged his audience to read Skousen’s book, “The 5000 Year Leap,” which Beck said was “divinely inspired.” The conspiracy-obsessed NCCS shares with Beck and Bundy an animosity toward government that exceeds the boundaries of common sense. Along with Skousen’s books, the NCCS website features anti-UN screeds (“Confronting Agenda 21”), treatises on wingnut electoral reforms (“Repeal 17 Now!”), harbingers of one-world government (“The Rise of Global Governance”), and appeals for institutionalized theocracy (“America’s God & Country”). No wonder Bundy was sporting a version of the Constitution that was distributed by the NCCS, an organization that advances ultra-conservative conspiracy theories and promotes anti-government hostility.

The threatening hysteria and deception emanating from Bundy, and the armed militias that came to his defense, are emblematic of the apocalyptic doctrine of the NCCS. It is no accident that Bundy’s Constitution was provided by a group whose teachings have been denounced by historians and constitutional scholars. But it does explain the extremism and advocacy of violence that Bundy et al have espoused. All of this makes it all the more inappropriate and irresponsible for Bundy to be hailed as hero by conservative media outlets like the National Review and Fox News who, just last week, compared Bundy to Gandhi in a feat of epic cognitive collapse.


Stupid And Dangerous: Fox News Proposes Arming Ukrainian Jews

Posted by on April 17, 2014 at 4:12 pm. 8 Comments :

Fox News has given out some monumentally idiotic advice over the years. They advised people not to fill out their census forms (which is a violation of law). They counseled young people not to sign up for health insurance (which could lead to medical and financial disaster). They have beat the drums for every potential war that has come along (Syria, Iran, North Korea, etc.) But now they are making a suggestion that far surpasses their prior imbecility by light years.

Fox News Todd Starnes

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Todd Starnes is the resident Fox News theocracy advocate. His reports are almost entirely concerned with what he regards as the oppression of Christians in America and elsewhere. He is a religious zealot who favors replacing science with Christian dogma in schools, business, and government.

His latest screed is titled “Maybe It’s Time to Arm Ukrainian Jews.” Starnes is responding to reports that Jews in Ukraine were allegedly asked to identify themselves and to register as Jews. If true, that is indeed a repugnant development that recalls the practices of the Nazis and other anti-Semitic regimes. Certainly such a move should be condemned and resisted. However, Starnes is proposing a response that can only make things far worse:

“In the spirit of diplomacy, it’s time for our Commander-in-Chief to grow a backbone.

“And if the reports are true — at the very least – we should send every Ukrainian Jew — man, woman and child – a gun and a box of ammo.

“The last thing the country wants is to be dragged into another war. But we cannot – and must not — stand by and allow our Jewish friends to be targeted.”

What exactly does Starnes think this would accomplish? Does he think that the Jewish minority in Ukraine would be able to defeat the forces of the majority? Does he think that they could also fight off the Russian army? Is he so desperately stupid that he believes putting guns in the hands of a few people would result in their more numerous and better armed oppressors surrendering to them? Starnes complains that President Obama is lacking a backbone, but there is surely no evidence of one in Starnes. His vision of Jewish children parading around with “a gun and a box of ammo” would be comical if not for the tragic consequences. And his claim to not wanting to be dragged into another war is transparently disingenuous. That’s precisely what he wants, and it’s what his proposal would achieve.

The Jewish people of Ukraine do deserve protection from bigots in their nation and their government. But the the method of providing that protection is not to pit them against a mightier force that would slaughter them. The proper response is to pressure the Ukraine dissidents, and their Russian benefactors, to back off with a threat of [international diplomatic] force greater than that which they can muster. You do not send ten people into a frenzied crowd of ten thousand and wish them luck.

Starnes and his bosses at Fox News would like nothing better than to instigate a massacre about which they can then fulminate and use to advance their lust for war. And if some Jews have to get killed in the process, that’s just too bad. If Starnes is so concerned about the welfare of Ukrainian Jews, then he should hop on a plane to Crimea and put himself in the line of fire, rather than suggesting that others risk their lives from the comfort of his American studio.

The only positive part of this disgusting story is that Starnes is a well known douchebag whose advice is not likely to be taken up by anyone with any authority. He is just another in a long line of conservative chickenhawks who are only too happy to put other people’s lives in danger. If he ever did go to Ukraine, or any other hot spot, you know exactly where you can find him: Cowering under the nearest rock with soggy pants and whimpering for someone to rescue his sorry ass.


Just Like Gandhi? Fox News Supports Domestic Terrorists In Nevada

Posted by on April 16, 2014 at 3:30 pm. 5 Comments :

The pseudo-patriots at Fox News have made it a staple of their programming to accuse President Obama of being a lawless president. This is usually in response to something that is perfectly legal like the issuance of an executive order (of which Obama has produced fewer than any two-term president in at least one hundred years). But when it comes to bona fide lawbreakers, Fox is fully supportive, so long as it can be used against Obama or the administration he leads.

Fox Nation

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Cliven Bundy is cattle rancher in Nevada who doesn’t recognize the federal government’s authority to manage the land that it owns. So rather than pay customary grazing fees for his cattle, like all other ranchers do, he has defied the law and exploited public lands for his own private financial benefit. In the process he has threatened violence against law enforcement personnel and implied a readiness to engage in hostile activities that would put innocent members of the public in danger.

If a Republican were currently serving as president, Fox News would surely denounce Bundy as an outlaw who was stealing from the American people. That’s if they bothered to report on it at all. In fact, a similar case involving the Colvin Cattle Company of Nevada was resolved in federal court in 2006, during the Bush administration, with a judgement in favor of the Bureau of Land Management. There was no wailing about big government or tyranny. There was no outcry from Republicans, militias, or Fox News.

However, since the government that Bundy is defying is run by a Democratic chief executive (and a black one at that), Fox News has elevated Bundy to hero status. They broadcast frequent remotes from the Nevada desert with fawning interviews of the Bundy clan. They completely ignore his threats to public safety. Sean Hannity even lauds their efforts and has promised to join them on the battle lines (yeah, sure he will). They also misrepresent the nature of the dispute as one that involves environmental issues rather than the failure to pay grazing fees as the law requires.

Now Fox News has crossed a line in their reporting that suggests that they are in favor of violent insurrection. On their Fox Nation website they have featured an article sourced to National Review with the title “The Case for a Little Sedition.” Apparently Fox News is comfortable with advocating treason in small amounts. But the twisted reasoning they use is both absurd and offensive:

“Mohandas Gandhi and George Washington both were British subjects who believed that their legal situation was at odds with something deeper and more meaningful, and that the British were a legal authority but an alien power.”

What makes this article especially reprehensible is that it seeks to compare Bundy with Gandhi. To be clear, Gandhi was a man who sacrificed his life for the benefit of his people so that they could be free of a foreign oppressor. And Gandhi was committed to achieving that goal with non-violence. Bundy, on the other hand, is a man who has openly expressed his intention to cause violence against his fellow Americans in pursuit of his private financial self-interest. See? They are exactly the same.

Likewise, the comparison to George Washington is unfathomably ludicrous. Washington led a revolutionary army aimed at untethering the British colonies from a monarchy that ruled them while neglecting their interests. But Bundy is leading a personal criminal enterprise in order to enrich himself at the expense of the nation.

For Fox News to support this criminal behavior is unconscionable and grossly inappropriate for an alleged journalistic organization. Any hostilities that may ensue as a result can be directly attributable to Fox News and their affiliated wingnut media like National Review. Should violence breakout the victims would have legal standing to pursue Fox News criminally and civilly.

Fox’s viewers also have a responsibility related to this. If they continue watch and support a network that has openly called for sedition against the government, then they bear a symbolic culpability as well. And they certainly cannot portray themselves as patriots going forward.


Bill O’Reilly Is Scare Mongering Over Millions Of Imaginary Illegal Aliens Voters

Posted by on April 15, 2014 at 9:11 pm. 8 Comments :

One of Bill O’Reilly’s favorite new attack themes is something that he calls the “Grievance Industry.” Apparently it is any person or group who registers a complaint against something that O’Reilly likes. For instance, racial discrimination or tax policies that favor the rich. It’s curious, though, that he would invent a disparaging way of looking at something that is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution: “…to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” And the larger irony is that no one is more of a complainer than O’Reilly himself.

Bill O'Reilly

Take his latest Talking Points Memo segment wherein he makes a case for voter suppression via voter ID laws that do not address any actual problem. He begins with his boilerplate whining about how “the grievance industry believes that requiring an ID to vote is a right-wing plot to deny some Americans their voting rights.” He asserts that the push for voter ID is because of voter fraud, but like everyone else on the right who has beaten this path, he provides no evidence of the fraud that he alleges.

In an effort to belittle his opponents, O’Reilly says that the left denies that there is any voter fraud. That’s a lie. In fact the left acknowledges that there is voter fraud, but that it is on such a small scale as to be insignificant. And it doesn’t come close to justifying the imposition of obstacles to voting for millions of legitimate citizens.

Attempting to introduce some substance, O’Reilly cites an “investigation” into voter fraud in the state of North Carolina. The only problem with that is that it has produced precisely zero examples of any unlawful activity. The project was so flawed that when Dick Morris made the same reference to it as O’Reilly, PolitiFact slapped him down with a rating of “False.” They further pointed out that the data used was previously shown to be utterly unreliable. In Kansas they bragged that they had uncovered 185,000 potential cases of voter fraud. But all that came of it was fourteen referrals for prosecution and zero convictions.

O’Reilly then specifically made an allegation, which he portrayed as a fact, that “at least 81 North Carolinians voted in 2013 after they died.” But there is no evidence to support that claim either. In previous similar incidents there was always a simple explanation such as that the voters had cast absentee ballots and then died prior to election day.

O’Reilly then endorses a plan to put photos on Social Security cards and use those as voter identification. Critics of this proposal note that it would introduce serious privacy risks, a complaint that O’Reilly casually dismisses. However, Social Security cards have a unique purpose in our society and the prospect of making them a universal form of identification does expose people to a greater risk of identity fraud. Your Social Security number was never intended to a form of identification.

Perhaps the most outlandish assertion in O’Reilly’s rant was that “There are about 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S. who could vote without proper ID in place.” Oh my. That’s twice the margin by which President Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012. So where all of these illegal aliens plotting to corrupt the American electoral system? There certainly isn’t any evidence of them having voted. And they’ve been around for many election cycles. It doesn’t even make any sense that people who are here without documentation would risk jail and deportation in order to cast a ballot for candidates who will not represent them.

The only reason that O’Reilly would even raise this phony issue is to fan the flames of bigotry that are already burning in the souls of his audience and much of the extremist right-wing that he represents. It is a reprehensible and irresponsible appeal to people who are predisposed to hate anyone different from themselves. And sadly, it is an appeal that will find agreement by viewers of Fox News despite the irrationality of the argument.

O’Reilly invented the “grievance industry” concept so that he could dismissively waive off any allegation of prejudice as something unwarranted, trivial, and/or fabricated. It’s his way of belittling those who make observations about the racism that still infects our society. But he is the best example that bigotry, in all its hateful glory, continues to be a problem that the goodhearted American people need to redouble their efforts to eradicate. And we could start with Bill O’Reilly.