Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Incites Massive Criminal Tax Evasion

Posted by on May 30, 2009 at 3:27 pm. 14 Comments :

Yesterday, on his wildly popular Fox News Acute Paranoia Revue, Glenn Beck laid out a plan to make millions of his viewers criminals. The fact that Beck spewed a tsunami of idiocy is not exactly a revelation. It is, in fact, what Fox pays him for. But now he may have scaled a new plateau that deliberately puts his audience at risk and further demonstrates his own hypocrisy and cowardice.

At issue is the commentary with which he opens his show, “The One Thing.” In yesterday’s installment he overtly made the case to his viewers that they should stop paying their taxes. He prefaced his remarks by referencing his guest from the day before. Craig T. Nelson (of Coach fame) confided to Beck that he is considering not paying his taxes anymore. Despite the fact that Nelson is just the sort of wealthy Hollywood elitist that Beck loves to dismiss as traitors, Beck was inspired by Nelson’s prospective felonious selfishness and believes that it touched a nerve with his audience. So Beck commences to reveal his scheme that he says is just “for argument’s sake.”

“I want to be clear on one thing, I am not advocating that people should not pay their income tax. This is a spooky, spooky area. […] But what, if for argument’s sake, a million Americans intentionally did not pay their taxes?”

Fox News lawyers were probably responsible for the disclaimer with which Beck began this rant. As you’ll see, the remainder leaves little doubt as to where Beck’s intentions really lie. Regular viewers already know that he despises the denizens of Washington, whom he regards as irresponsible and corrupt (at least since the Republicans were voted out). His disciples are keenly aware of his position on deficits and bailouts (except for those implemented prior to Obama’s election). With that in mind, he starts to lay the groundwork for a criminal conspiracy that he hopes will take the nation by storm. And first on the agenda is a courageous stand against the Internal Revenue Service:

“Right now the IRS is already able to go through over 150 million tax returns and punish those (believe you me) harshly, who fail to pay, you know, their income tax. They fine them between 20-25 percent. They’ll collect about $30 billion in back taxes. And going forward, the Obama administration is preparing. They are devoting an additional $400 million of your money to get more money from you.”

Here we see Beck griping that the IRS is engaged in collecting tax revenue from people who failed to pay their taxes. Presumably he thinks that the IRS should just let them be. If they don’t want to pay their taxes, so what? Leave them alone. Unless, of course, you are Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, or anyone associated with President Obama. In which case you’re a sleazeball and the IRS should throw the book at you.

As for Beck’s complaint that the current administration is budgeting $400 million to recover $30 billion in unpaid tax revenue, I’m not sure what his problem is with that. Is he dissatisfied with a 7,500 percent return on investment? Not exactly. The truth is, he is setting up the argument that deliberately withholding tax payment would not present any risk because the government couldn’t prosecute or punish the offenders if there were enough of them. Beck literally advises his audience not to worry about the consequences:

“Still, most tax evaders don’t end up in jail. […] Let’s just say a million people don’t pay – not because they’re cheap – but because they believe the principles that we were founded on have been violated. And they think this is wrong and they try to do something that they think is the only thing they can.”

Then Beck tells them to…

“Put aside the fact America’s federal, state, and local prisons are already overcrowded. They are packed 36% beyond their rated capacity. Overcrowded to the maximum. […] All in all, it’s probably not worth the government’s time to toss you in jail.”

There you have it. Feel free to cease all payments to the government. Nothing’s going to happen to you if you do it. Well, at least you won’t go to jail. Beck doesn’t address whether or not you would have to go through the inconvenience of an audit. He doesn’t raise the possibility of your home, or other assets, being seized. It must not have occurred to him that your wages might be garnished. Even a conviction with a fine and probation, with no jail time, would still leave you with a criminal record.

But never mind any of that. Beck says that this sort of tax evasion would make you like Gandhi. Beck even quotes the famous spiritual and political leader who was fighting to secure India’s freedom from the English imperialists. Gandhi said: “Withholding payment of taxes is one of the quickest methods of overthrowing a government.” Of course, in our case we are not struggling against a foreign tyrant who is imposing their will on us. In fact, for better or worse, we voted for the people who drafted our tax laws. Beck’s battle is more like that of the Fox News Tea Partiers than Gandhi’s Swaraj. But that doesn’t stop Beck from overtly advocating mass criminality. Referring to Gandhi’s fight for independence, Beck says…

“And it makes common sense. Starving them out of trillions of your hard-earned dollars would literally put them out of business. But do Americans want to do that? Do Americans who want to do that have the guts to follow Gandhi’s example, in order to save children, our grandchildren, our great, great, great, great, great-grandchildren from all of this insane debt?”

It seems that after a challenge like that, Beck’s earlier disclaimer is irrelevant. He is virtually daring you to walk up the steps of the IRS and announce your defiance of their authority. Do you have the guts to do it? Do you love your great-grandchildren?

Here’s “The One Thing” (if I may borrow that from Beck): I don’t see Beck doing any of that. I don’t see him withholding his taxes, or even threatening to do so. I don’t see him making any sort of sacrifice on behalf of his great-grandchildren. Gandhi suffered every bit as much as the people he aspired to lead. The only thing I see Beck doing is giving dangerous advice that will bring great distress to anyone stupid enough to take it (and we are talking about Glenn Beck viewers here, so…).

Glenn Beck is proving himself to be a supreme coward and a hypocrite. He won’t for a minute consider assuming the hardships that he so cavalierly counsels for others. This is a man who begins every show with the exhortation of a cult leader to “Come on, follow me.” But he is leading from the rear where it’s safer. He is happy to let his devotees be slaughtered while he takes the limo back to his security-gated estate. Then he’ll go on TV the following day and weep for their loss. He will make martyrs of his legion of tax resisters and profit from their pain.

If you believe this country is great, but people like Beck make a mockery of leadership and integrity, come on, follow me.

Is Glenn Beck Suicidal or Paranoid?

Posted by on May 14, 2009 at 1:19 am. 9 Comments :

Well, actually, he may be both.

On his Fox News program Tuesday, Glenn Beck revealed that he suspects some nefarious, unspecified, malicious entity has it out for him. He beseeched his audience to be vigilant on his behalf, lest some dreaded fate befall him:

“If I’m ever in a weird car accident, or I commit suicide or something, after the media stops celebrating my death, could they check into it? Because I’m not suicidal. And I’m a pretty good driver.”

Apparently Beck thinks that assassins are stalking him, and they plan to disguise his murder as an accident or a suicide. That demonstration of classic paranoia might be sufficient to raise concerns about his mental well being (such as it is). The problem is that part of his comment was not entirely truthful – and I’m not talking about his driving skills.

Beck has written about his suicidal tendencies wherein he threatened to snuff himself out on more than one occasion. He even recorded a rambling video that included a confession that he was “full-fledged suicidal.” Beck is a recovering alcoholic and there is a history of mental illness in his family. His mother committed suicide when he was thirteen. His brother also committed suicide.

Given this background, I think that upon hearing that Beck was in a car accident, or that he committed suicide, I’m not sure that my first thoughts would be of some Illuminati-inspired murder conspiracy.

Or maybe that’s just what they want me to think…..

ACORN And Burger King And Glenn Beck, Oh My

Posted by on May 7, 2009 at 1:53 am. 8 Comments :

Glenn Beck - BleckoGlenn Beck’s program on Fox News is a daily cavalcade of crazy and yesterday was no exception. Beck’s guest was Scott Levenson, the national spokesman for ACORN. As ACORN is a perennial target of Fox News paranoiacs like Beck, there was bound to be a major train wreck looming. And Beck didn’t disappoint (video).

The occasion for the visit was a recent report that ACORN employees in Nevada had been charged with violations related to voter registration. This is where panicky right wingers rush to mischaracterize such charges as voter fraud, when in fact, none occurred. So Beck was true to form as he asserted the same old tired lies in his signature juvenile style – substituting funny faces and noises for rational debate.

The real comedy came when Beck attempted to offer an analogy that was ludicrous on its face. Levenson defended ACORN as a victim of employees who failed to comply with the organization’s standards. Beck sought to argue that ACORN was responsible for the misbehavior of their employees and ran a tape of the infamous Burger King bather (who had his buddies shoot a video of him bathing in the restaurant’s sink) to make a point that must have made sense somewhere in his cartoon brain.

Actually, Beck’s point had something to do with ACORN’s management being deficient because fourteen or so ACORN employees, out of some 13,000, were alleged to have submitted fake registration forms. Beck contended that this proves it was not a case of a rogue employee, but an unacceptable pattern of malfeasance. And after telling Levenson to “pipe down” and cutting off his mic, Beck said:

“If you had that many employees at Burger King bathing in the sink, would you ever eat a burger there? Ever? No. This is unreasonable to believe he had that many bad employees.”

Well, I did a quick Google search looking for criminally wayward Burger King employees and found this:

  • Burger King employee arrested in homicide
  • Burger King employee arrested for giving away free meals, stealing
  • Burger King Employee Arrested After Jumping Through Drive-Up Window to Attack a Customer
  • Burger King employee arrested for serving pot
  • Burger King employee arrested for alleged identity theft
  • Ex-Employee, Pal Arrested in Burger King Kidnap Case
  • Burger King employees arrested for faking robbery
  • Coke Being Sold At Burger King
  • Burger King Franchise Pays $400,000 for Alleged Sexual Harassment of teens
  • 27 illegal aliens working at seven Delaware Burger Kings

Granted murder, drugs, robbery, etc., are not exactly in the same league as unlawful bathing, but some people might consider those to be serious offenses too. It should also be noted that the Burger King violators represent only those with the sort of criminal profile likely to be written up in the news. There are surely corporate personnel who have engaged in more mundane activities ranging from pilfering office supplies to extortion or other financial improprieties.

Returning from a commercial, Beck announced that Levenson said that Beck was afraid of black people. So Beck, says he, threw Levenson out of the studio. That’s a bit difficult to believe and, conveniently, there was no video (in a television studio?). But considering the facts enumerated above, Beck may want to reassess the situation. Compared to Burger King, ACORN actually looks pretty good. So I presume that Beck will either apologize to Mr. Levenson or do a show about the BK gang for balance.

There is, however, a much bigger picture within which to view this affair. While Beck and his ilk get so worked up about an organization working to help low income communities – even though the things they allege produce no harm except to ACORN itself – these same guardians of virtue don’t seem to care much about the criminal behavior of defense contractors who have been responsible for outfitting our soldiers with faulty gear, electrocuting them in their showers, and bilking American taxpayers for billions of dollars. In a congressional hearing in 2007 it was reported that…

“…a panel of senior defense acquisition and investigative officials attributed the rampant errors and abuse in contracting — which have resulted in 10 convictions, 78 criminal indictments and audits into $88 billion in questionable contracts — on lack of controls, poor leadership and an undermanned and untrained work force operating in a combat zone.”

That far exceeds anything ACORN has been accused of. And yet, I have not heard Beck take Halliburton to task for a record of gross mismanagement. I haven’t heard him declare that we should never buy anything from KBR again. And we aren’t talking about about a few forms filled out in the name of Mickey Mouse (who has yet to turn up at the polls to vote). These legal breaches cost lives and drain our nation of scarce resources. The perpetrators are generally punished with a severe slap on the wrist and a spanking new contract for more inferior products and services.

While it is unlikely that Beck will turn his attention to these serious matters with such dire consequences, we can at least count on him to spend another few hours railing against ACORN and guys who bathe at Burger King – two stories that have about the same impact on the problems of ordinary Americans.

Even Conservatives Think Glenn Beck Is Nuts

Posted by on April 17, 2009 at 8:54 pm. NO Comments :

To most liberals and Democrats (and Americans), it goes without saying that Glenn Beck left sanity behind a very long time ago. His Acute Paranoia Revue, now daily fare on Fox News, is a testament to just how damaged the human brain can become when not given proper care.

Beck has distinguished himself by fantasizing about strangling Michael Moore and calling everyone who believes in global warming a socialist. But that just skims the surface of his sickness. Since landing at Fox he has devolved further into that bleak void of mindlessness than experts thought possible. Earlier this week a guest on his show lost consciousness on the air. Perhaps he was afraid that Beck might douse him gasoline and set him on fire, as he pretended to do to a guest last week.

Now, the master of the “Fear Chamber” is starting to arouse alarm in his fellow conservatives. Beck’s fixation on imagery that associates President Obama with Communism and Fascism (an ideological impossibility), along with his exhortations to rise up, fight back, and put a stake through the heart of the vampires in government, is making some devoted right-wingers decidedly nervous.

Charles Johnson runs a website called Little Green Footballs. For many years it has been regarded as one of the Internet’s most rabidly rightist destinations. But here is what Johnson is saying about Beck and Fox News now:

April 7: This turn toward the extreme right on the part of Fox News is troubling, and will achieve nothing in the long run except further marginalization of the GOP-unless people start behaving like adults instead of angry kids throwing tantrums and ranting about conspiracies and revolution.

April 15: They’ve taken a real turn to the hard right, and Glenn Beck, I think, is kind of riding that wave. I don’t know if he’s necessarily going to incite violence, but I do think it’s irresponsible. It kind of drags down the discourse to a level that I, for one, am not comfortable with.”

April 16: [re: Beck] as if being an alcoholic, weeping, ranting, creationist talk show host who idolizes John Birchers and Ron Paul is a real accomplishment […] Glenn Beck is a punk.

Beck seems to be getting spooked by his own rhetoric. He has begun making plaintive pleas to his viewers to dissuade them from acting out violently. He even held up a photo of Martin Luther King as he called for a peaceful overthrowing of the tyrants that are bent on destroying America.

What do you suppose gave him the impression that he needed to dial down the crazy on his audience? Do you think he is the sort of fellow who would succumb to criticism from lefties that he has been to reckless? Do you think he is afraid that the Department of Homeland Security might label him an extremist? Or is it more likely that he was admonished by his bosses who, while in agreement with his rants, are more worried about civil liability should the network be linked to a McVeigh-ish loner who shares Beck’s delusions?

Whatever. You know that when the proprietor of Little Green Footballs gets twitchy standing next to you, it is fairly certain that you have exceeded your quota of cuckoo.

Some Tea Party Tidbits You May Have Missed

Posted by on April 15, 2009 at 4:43 pm. 8 Comments :

The Tea Baggers must be proud of their little parties. Even though attendance has fallen far short of their expectations, they were able to get their message out thanks to their media sponsor, Fox News. Media Matters has compiled a nice little montage of videos from various Tea Vee sources:

But there was so much more. For instance, Joe the (fake) Plumber had this to say at a Michigan TP:

“Let me give you another extremist view, ‘In God We Trust.’ Say that too loud in some parts of America and you will be shot. It’s terrible.”

Joey the P didn’t bother to specify what part of the country that would be. I can’t think of any place where militant atheists are knocking off folks who quote from currency. However, I can think of whole regions (I’m looking at you southerners) where fanatical gun enthusiasts revel in making violent threats directed at liberals, minorities, or anyone they view as different. Amongst those southerners is Texas governor Rick Perry, whose tea party address sounded more like a call for a new Confederacy:

“We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”

If Texas wants out of America, I say let them go – and take the rest of the south with them. I’m sure they’ll be very happy in their theocratic utopia, railing against imagined threats of Socialism – or worse, as Cody Willard from Fox Business News demonstrates by urging us to fight the Fascism that’s permeating the country:

Glenn Beck’s Acute Paranoia Revue took to the road to host the Alamo’s tea fest. The entire hour featured musical accompaniment from the Motor City Jackass, Ted Nugent, who famously taunted Hillary Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Barack Obama to “suck on” the end of his assault rifle.

Neil Cavuto attended a lame rally in Sacramento, CA, where he interviewed a girl who appeared to be about nine years old. He tried valiantly to put words in her mouth to the effect that she was there as a committed protester, not because her parents made her be there. But she defiantly refused and, at the end of the segment, she shouted at him that she was really there because she got to cut school. Nice try, Neil.

Cavuto and Beck devoted two full hours of live programming to the Tea Bagging. That’s a huge chunk of broadcast real estate. And it isn’t over. Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Greta Van Susteren have yet to air. Hannity and Van Susteren previously announced that their programs would be live with the TPers.

I’m sure there are going to be an untold bounty of both comical and disturbing episodes erupting in the hours and days to come. But these were a few that I didn’t want to let get away. Fox News will begin spinning the days events into a fantastical misrepresentation of reality this evening. At least the truth about Fox’s role as the PR agency for the Republican Party (and the Tea Party) is becoming better understood by more people. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has summoned the courage to honestly portray today’s events:

“[W]e call call it astroturf, it’s not really a grassroots movement. It’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.”

That’s it in a wingnut shell.

Glenn Beck Gives Guest The Vapors

Posted by on April 13, 2009 at 4:48 pm. NO Comments :

On today’s Glenn Beck show, a guest was stricken and, after warning Beck three times that he was about to pass out, he fell to the ground. The alert director made sure to take a wide camera shot so that the audience could see the poor man prostrate on the studio floor. David Buckner, professor of organizational leadership at Columbia University, was discussing the economy with Beck when he wobbled and fell.

Shortly after the incident, Beck announced that Buckner was OK. But, not one to waste a catastrophe, Beck made a point of cheerfully describing how this was a good thing for his show:

“Everybody thought it was part of the show because this show, you never know what to expect. [Buckner] apologizes, and I’m like ‘are you kidding me, the ratings will be through the roof!'”

How thoughtful. It appears Beck has gone the full Howard Beale. Either that, or this is a preview of his just announced Comedy Tour:

This makes perfect sense. What’s funnier than a guy who goes on TV everyday crying like a baby about the impending end of western civilization? He’s a natural. Here’s a sample joke from Beck’s show:

A priest, a minister and a rabbi go into a bar – and they are all killed by Soros-backed ACORN protesters bused in from FEMA camps where they were re-educated by the mainstream media to worship Obama and Islam.

Funny stuff. I can’t wait.

If You Believe This Country Is Great, But…

Posted by on March 31, 2009 at 11:48 am. 6 Comments :

Glenn Beck, who has been reduced to tears more often than Tammy Faye Bakker, says that it’s because he loves this country – and fears for it. Apparently he feels that the country he loves is dangerously weak and will collapse, but for his weepy entreaties.

However, his expression of that love always seems to have a disclaimer attached to it. He only loves America if it conforms to his delusive vision. And it isn’t just a few principles or values. In fact, he adds new criteria every day. Here is how he opens every episode of his Fox News program, along with some of his qualifications for loving his country:

If you believe this country is great, but…

  • …progressive fascists are trying to destroy it, this is your wake-up call!
  • …you believe these weasels are really only as trustworthy as far as you can throw ’em — then your voice needs to be heard.
  • …you feel like the government is trying to steer us to mob rule lately, then it’s time to get back on the road.
  • …our government is trying to demolish everything that our founders stood for, it’s time to take our country back.
  • …fear the tyranny that’s starting to take hold, don’t stay silent.
  • …the government is clamping down on your freedom, now’s the time to throw the shackles off.
  • …the government’s solutions are the problem, what do you say we get the government out of the way.
  • …the government is putting our lives, liberty and fortunes in jeopardy, it’s time to say enough is enough.

That’s just a sampling of the many flaming hoops America must jump through to earn Beck’s affection. And it is no coincidence that most of them express an overt antagonism and require some sort of adversarial activism on the part of Beck’s disciples.

So what does Beck love about America? Well, on his program yesterday he hosted Burton Folsom Jr., a revisionist historian who believes that robber barons were beneficial to the country, and that FDR exacerbated the Depression. In the course of the dialogue, Folsom and Beck praised Henry Ford for opposing labor unions and refusing to participate in FDR’s National Recovery Administration. Of course, it was the labor movement that rescued America’s work force, and FDR’s recovery program that restored economic stability.

What Beck didn’t mention is that, at the very same time, Ford was helping to finance Hitler’s rise to power. While American workers were desperate for jobs, Ford opened a new plant in Germany. His anti-Semitic tract “The International Jew” was a Hitler favorite. And the Nazi regime awarded him the highest honor that a civilian can receive.

What, then, is the message that Beck intends to convey? Is it that we should turn to corporatist (i.e. Fascist) policies to allow the robber barons to return and save the nation? You would think so by his defense of AIG executives’ salaries and bonuses. Beck’s personal interest in this was obvious. Despite the fact that he makes tens of millions of dollars a year, he likes to pretend he’s a man of the people, and he had the gall to articulate this stuporously insensitive complaint:

“As a small businessman, I don’t know what they’re going to do next. I don’t if they are going try to come after me, if they are going to raise my taxes, if all of a sudden I’ve got to pay a new carbon tax, or I’m an unpopular… So you don’t know.”

That’s right, Glenn. You’re a small businessman, they’re all out to get you, and you’re an unpopular…(?). Thanks for enlightening us.

After all that, all I can say is … if you believe this country is great, but wealthy blowhards who produce nothing but hostility and division are distorting American values with their self-centered griping … Come on, follow me.

The Fox Nation Launches A Dud

Posted by on March 30, 2009 at 2:16 pm. 7 Comments :

This morning there was a disturbance in the Force. The Fox Nation debuted amidst fanfare and the gnashing of teeth at tea parties everywhere. However, reports of the Fox News secession movement appear to have been a little overblown (by me, mostly). The reality of the Fox Nation is significantly less substantial than previously predicted.

The Fox Nation is apparently not an attempt to abandon the Union (although my satirical representation of it as such was actually taken seriously by some right-wing conspiracy theorists across the InterTubes). It is merely a low grade, right-wing, knockoff of the Huffington Post. The partisan character of its Fox News parentage, however, is plainly visible. The “fair and balanced “ collection of articles featured at the top of its page (see picture above) present the President as “scary” and promote the rightist triumvirate of Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and Beck (oh my). Digging down further we find a plethora of partisanship in reporting:

  • Chris Dodd’s cavalcade of scandal
  • Lobbyist scandal to ensnare Murtha?
  • Dick Morris: Obama soft on terror, hard on charities
  • Daily Beast: Who did Pelosi’s face?
  • Affirmative Action for Muslims in the White House?
  • Stacked!! Obama fills town hall with supporters
  • Hannity holding Tea Party on Tax Day
  • WaPo interrogation story ‘rife with misinformation’
  • Video: Bill Maher smears US troops
  • Limbaugh ratings skyrocket after Democrat attacks

Of course the headlines on Fox Nation must not be taken too seriously. For instance, the article about Obama stacking his town hall with supporters doesn’t actually produce any evidence of that being done. In fact, it reports that invitations were sent to many groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. With regard to the Huffington Post, Fox Nation takes a swipe at them as well, with an article derogatorily titled, “Huffington Post to rummage through your trash.” The actual article is about a new investigative journalism venture by HuffPo, not some dumpster diving sensationalism. We’ll leave that to Fox. Recall also that O’Reilly has compared Arianna Huffington to Nazis. I don’t expect it will be long before he and the rest of the Fox lineup will escalate their war against HuffPo as a competitor the way they have with NBC.

Obviously the intent of Fox Nation is to inject a negative tone whether or not anyone ever clicks through to the articles. And it’s revealing to take a look at the heavily right-weighted array of news sources employed on Fox Nation – including four owned by Rupert Murdoch:

  • New York Post (Murdoch)
  • Wall Street Journal (Murdoch)
  • Fox Business Network (Murdoch)
  • The Sun (Murdoch)
  • Townhall.com
  • Michele Malkin
  • Andrew Breitbart
  • Washington Times
  • NewsBusters
  • National Review
  • Conservative Express
  • NewsMax
  • Matt Drudge

In the end, the Fox Nation is nothing more than a dressed up version of the Fox Forums that already pollute the web. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a potential threat to civil discourse and domestic tranquility. Fox Nation aggregates the Fox audience under a single banner that gives them an identity and a flag to fly. The comments section is as ideologically monochromatic as you would expect from the Fox stable of so-called “news” enterprises. It is also overtly hostile to anyone not sufficiently attuned to neo-Dark-Age conservatism. The community, hyped as “a place to call home,” is as rabidly anti-Obama as it is bewitched by Beck.

It’s still early, and perhaps this is just the first phase of the eventual division of America. It goes without saying that Fox has as its purpose to be divisive and that Fox Nation is in alignment with purpose. It just remains to be seen how far they will go. And for this reason it remains important to keep an eye on future developments.

This just in: Fox News Senior VP Bill Shine says of Fox Nation, “We’re calling it a mix between the Huffington Post and Drudge.” Hmmm.

Fox News Secedes From America

Posted by on March 27, 2009 at 4:14 pm. 74 Comments :

Fox NationIt was just a matter of time. With all of the white-hot, ultra-hyperbolic invective radiating from Fox News screens across the land, there was really no escaping the obvious end game. The usual suspects in the Fox Confederacy have been so filled with revulsion by the neo-Socialist path that they believe the country is on, that they can no longer abide nor accept it. So now Fox News is preparing to depart from the union with a fanfare, a blast of light, a loud swoosh and gong. And an advertising campaign.

See also the update to this article:
The Fox Nation Launches A Dud

On first viewing of this ad I thought it may have been a joke akin to the Colbert Nation. It begins by declaring that “It’s time to say ‘NO’ to biased media.” Was Fox News coming clean and denouncing itself? No such luck. It was just that old “fair and balanced” Foxian doublespeak. Instead, Fox was announcing the birth of a nation – The Fox Nation.

This should not come as a surprise. There has been much foreshadowing of this inevitable outcome. Glenn Beck proclaimed his intentions last month when he said:

“…don’t get me wrong. I am against the government, and I think that they have just been horrible, and I do think they are betraying the principles of our founders every day they’re in office.”

Not to be outdone, Bill O’Reilly joins in with his view of a nation that is coming apart:

“We’d love to see America become more unified, but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon. There’s a struggle going on to redefine America. And in 2009, that struggle will become even more intense.”

Beck, O’Reilly, and others at Fox News and across the conservative landscape, have been employing their airtime to turn Fox into a rallying point for rightist revolutionaries. They are recruiting “Culture Warriors” who will be dispatched to “Tea Parties” until they can shout victoriously that “We Surround Them.” The battle lines are drawn and the broadcast brigades are deployed and armed for combat.

This is an unprecedented, and frightening, initiative to use a major television network as an organizing tool for political activism. The sort of advocacy work normally done by independent organizations like MoveOn or Freedom’s Watch is now being conducted by a billion dollar media enterprise with a well known partisan agenda. No matter how much the right wallows in their delusions of NBC or the New York Times being mouthpieces for the left, those institutions have never set themselves up as coordinating committees for social movements.

But this goes far beyond conventional interest group pandering. There is a strain of hostility that runs through the conservative ranks that borders on the violent. Just last April, Rush Limbaugh was encouraging riots in Denver at the Democratic Convention. Now the Fox Nation invites viewers to…

“Be a part of the REAL NEWS of America and join in the online community that believes in the right to express your views, your values, your voice.”

Indeed, the Fox Nation will be a “community that believes in the right.” For a taste of what to expect, just take a look at the community that Fox already provides on their Fox Forums:

Tom BB: America’s enemies rejoice now around the world and in the US. Obama the terrorist is in charge.

Steven: Hell No! Obama is of the devil!

drwoo: MAY OBAMA’S WIFE AND KIDS BE THE FIRST TO BE BLOWN UP, BURNED ALIVE OR HAVE TO JUMP OUT OF A WINDOW ON THE 88TH FLOOR (SPLAT). MAY OBAMA REAP WHAT HE HAS SOWN> AMEN!!!

Jim: The Antichrist has arrived and is doing well in the White House. Say goodbye to what we all know as a free and God loving America.

Jim P: WHEN THE BOYS FROM GITMO GET HERE OBAMA WILL GIVE THEM WELFARE,SECTION 8 HOUSING AND EVERYTHING ELSE THE STUPID ASS PEOPLE WHO PUT HIM IN OFFICE GET. LET THEM LIVE IN DC. THEY WILL BLEND IN WITH THE REST OF THE DC RESIDENTS! HOPE ALL THE LOW LIFE AND WELFARE PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA ARE HAPPY. BY THE WAY, WHEN WILL THE TICKETS TO THE FORD THEATER GO ON SALE?

Don Brown: Obama needs to be checked to see if he has a 666 somewhere on his body.

It is not presently known exactly what form the Fox Nation will take (We’ll find out on Monday, March 30). As a self-described “online community” it could be modeled on MySpace, which is also owned by Fox News’ parent company, News Corp. But the purpose of the Fox Nation is not hard to surmise. It is just another brick in the great wall dividing Americans from one another. It will likely tap in to existing movements like Beck’s 912 Project and the Tea Partiers. Then these fanatics will be able to accumulate friends and form alliances. One thing is known for sure: There has never been anything like it from a social movement perspective.

Fox News has a large and faithful following. Their daily exhortations to rise up against the Socialist hordes they imagine are occupying Washington could be channeled into an army that is loyal only to the hallucinatory paranoia of the Foxian mindset. Beck, O’Reilly, and Hannity, don’t view themselves as commentators so much as they do as saviors. O’Reilly has confessed that he believes that he was “blessed with talent” and that he is “here for a reason.” Beck beseeches his viewers at the start of every program to “Come on, follow me.” Hannity leads into his All-Star Panel sermonizing with a preachy “Let not your heart be troubled.” An evangelical fervor literally drips from these would-be prophets like a poisonous sap.

So now Fox wants to start a new nation populated with believers and disciples. The nation that the rest of us inhabit is far too corrupt and sinful. It is infested with Secular-Progressives and far-left loons. There is no course left for the righteous, but to secede. The mysterious video that Fox is airing to promote the launch of the Fox Nation ends with this comforting enticement that seems deliberately crafted to appeal to lost souls:“Finally, a place to call home.”

Fox News Fires Up Financial Fear

Posted by on March 6, 2009 at 3:01 pm. 2 Comments :

It’s been going on for months. Conservatives have been pointing their fat finger of blame at Barack Obama. Somehow, perhaps by mystical Voodoo spells, Obama managed to cause a global economic collapse even before he was elected President. Earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh declared that…

“Barack Obama has been the controlling political authority on the economy for six months.”

Sean Hannity places Obama’s omnipotent dominance back even further, to May 2008. Never mind that in the first half of 2008, Republicans were insisting that the economy was in swell shape thanks to the financial acumen of their beloved George W. Bush. But all of that must now be swept aside because a new culprit must be found guilty of having soured what everyone now concedes is a disastrous economic meltdown.

To further that end, Fox News conducted a poll (pdf) to ascertain the mood of the public and their views on the leadership of the new President. Unfortunately for Fox, the poll revealed that broad majorities of the people support Obama and his policies. Democrats and Independents are distinctly separating themselves from Republicans, who are the lonely naysayers of the nation.

One question in particular stood out as I was studying the results:

Do you think all the doom and gloom talk and constant focus on the economy is actually making the economy worse, or is the talk not making much of a difference?

Making
economy worse		 Not making
a difference
Total 55% 38%
Democrats 44% 47%
Republicans 69% 28%
Independents 57% 36%

You’ve got to hand it to Fox, the domain of doom and gloom, for asking a question about “all the doom and gloom talk.” Their incessant chatter bemoaning the Obama administration and agenda is the core of their programming. No wonder Republicans in the poll are so far removed from other respondents. It is well documented that Fox has a disproportionately large majority of Republican viewers. But if Fox is truly interested in an inquiry into economic gloominess, they need look no further than themselves and their own on-air propaganda spewers:

Rupert Murdoch: …the downturn is more severe and likely longer-lasting than previously thought.

Bill O’Reilly: …our financial system is rigged and Americans should be very wary about buying stocks in this environment.

Glenn Beck: Be wary of anyone who says you should just leave your money in the stock market, because they are proving themselves incapable of seeing a real worst-case scenario.

And for good measure, Rush Limbaugh: The market is plunging. Investors are shorting it. They’re not putting money in the market. The economy is getting worse. This is being done on purpose, I believe, just as they are trying to sink the stock market.

Add to this list the names of Neil Cavuto, Sean Hannity, Dick Morris, Ann Coulter, Steve Doocy, Bill Sammon, Megyn Kelly, Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer, Karl Rove, etc. Virtually every Fox News contributor is contributing to the doom and gloom. And what’s more, the hard times ahead are all the fault of Obama, who has only been president for six weeks.

At a deeper level, it needs to be noted that the main thesis that these pundits peddle is simply wrong by any objective standard. They are promulgating the falsehood that Wall Street is an indicator of the nation’s economic health. It’s not! The stock market is a facility within which to assign value to shares of corporations and commodities. That value is the result of traders negotiating with one another with the purpose of generating profits for themselves. Anyone who tells you that the price of a stock at any given moment is an actual representation of a company’s worth is a liar. The only thing it represents is what a broker was able to get for that stock at that moment. If you have any doubt, just consider whether you believe that General Motors is actually worth less than $1 billion today, but was worth over $9 billion just six months ago – with the same products, the same people, and the same plants.

Wall Street isn’t tanking because of some random chatter in Washington, DC. If that were possible than Fox News is more at fault than Obama. Stocks are declining for the reason they always decline: dismal corporate earnings, collapsing markets domestically and internationally, and four million Americans unemployed and not consuming.

So let’s get this straight once and for all. The interests of Wall Street are unique and distinct from the public interest. The manic volatility of the Dow Jones index is no more an indicator of the state of the national economy than an eBay auction for a Hummel figurine. And Obama didn’t cause the decline on Wall Street by articulating a vision for improving the real fundamentals of the economy – productivity, consumption, and jobs. Progress in those areas is what will lead to the recovery that Wall Street needs.