Students Chant "Assassinate Obama" on School Bus
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Have we become a liability?
| Have we become a liability? | for everyone |
And I watched CNN yesterday while some of the GOP apologists ignored questions about the hateful rhetoric going on. Larry Elders leading the pack, being the 'Uncle Clarence' that he is refuses to acknowledge racism exists and is into blaming the victim... but I digress... if these folks expect to be taken seriously, they have to at least denounce those who are making those hateful and derrogatory expressions, otherwise, we are left to believe they agree with it. Why is Michael Steele so afraid to speak out against Rush Limbaugh... who is the 'real' leader of the Republican Party? I don't remember hearing any of them speak out against what Glen Beck said either.
UGH! I'm just praying that all this comes to a good end for all of us. We need universal health care! We need a public option!!!!! We need to stop obscene raping of economy by Wall St and private insurers. We need honesty in government. Is that too much to ask?)
Have we become a liability?
In an email message sent to me my friend in Pennsylvania said the following:
Monday, September 14, 2009
Frank Schaeffer: Glenn Beck and The 9/12 Marchers: Subversives From Within
Who are these people?! Where do they come from?! Ordinary Americans might wonder why anyone would stoop so low as to follow Glenn Beck, Fox News and Dick Armey (and their corporate sponsors masquerading as "FreedomWorks") as they organize their "9/12 March On Washington" to cynically exploit the 9/11 attack.
Patriotic Americans might question the organizer's aim to provide a media forum for dimwitted right wingers to scream "Liar!" "Socialist!" "Antichrist!" "Muslim!" "Death Panels!" "He's not an American!" and so on and on and on about the commander in chief charged with defending us from further attacks. And some people might even cry "shame on you!" to the more mainstream Republicans participating that include Dick Armey of FreedomWorks, as well as GOP Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Pence of Indiana, Tom Price of Georgia, and South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint.
Ordinary folks from Planet Earth may ask why the Republican Party, right-wing activists and members of the Religious Right seem so unreachable with mere facts let alone decency and decorum. (As the proud father of a US Marine who fought in Afghanistan, I'm particularly outraged that these people would exploit the 9/11 attacks after my son and others were prepared to give their lives in response to our enemies.)
As a former Religious Right leader, who was raised (and home-schooled by my Evangelical-leader parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer) in the movement, let me explain just why the ordinary rules of decency don't apply to the right these days.
Let me also answer this question: Who are these people?
You have to finish reading this one:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/glenn-beck-and-the-912-ma_b_284387.html
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Obama faces a 400% Increase in Death Threats a Day
The right-wing hate speech polluting the debate over health care is generating more and more threats against President Obama, some truly frightening.
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez reports that when President Obama visited Phoenix, Ariz. on August 17, local minister Steven Anderson of the Faithful World Baptist Church, who strongly expresses hatred for Obama in many of his sermons, told his congregation that he wished him dead. In a disturbing twist, it was discovered that Chris Broughton, the man who brought an AR 15 assault rifle to the Phoenix rally where Obama spoke, had attended Anderson's sermon. In a later interview, Broughton said he concurred with his pastor's wish to see Obama "die and go to hell." As many as twelve men were seen walking around the Phoenix Convention Center with guns on that day.
President Obama faces 30 death threats a day, a 400 percent increase from former President Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, a veteran investigative journalist and conservative who recently authored a book about the Secret Service.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Health Reform Backlash Seen Fanning Extremism
Uhhh, ya think?
These people are using something as benign as health care reform to do what they would have done anyway: incite hate and act hateful.
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“In a way it’s a perfect storm,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “The economic crisis, last year’s tensions on the immigration issue and, some would say, the election of Barack Obama are all festering in extremist circles, looking for an outlet.”
The apparent outlet is a health care reform backlash that has dominated this summer’s headlines. The resulting furor has greatly dimmed the Democrats’ chances of enacting meaningful reform his year. And it has also set off alarm bells in Jewish boardrooms.
“It’s the same kind of unfocused rage we saw a few years ago on the issue of illegal immigration,” said a leading Jewish community relations activist who asked that his name not be used. “In polls, people say they know there’s something wrong with the health care system. But flash the words ‘euthanasia’ and ‘Nazi’ and ‘socialism’ in front of them, and it taps all this built-up anger and the hunt for scapegoats.”
The Rev. Steven Anderson: American Taliban?
This is a man with an absolute belief in a particular interpretation of Scripture that many others consider archaic, an interest in seeing those beliefs affect the modern political and legal milieu, and a disregard (even a contempt) for other putative co-religionists who do not share these views.
Sound familiar?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Summer of Hate provides a watershed moment for “reasonable Republicans”
The Summer of Hate provides a watershed moment for “reasonable Republicans”
I’m not a Republican, but I know many people who are. I have GOP friends, co-workers and family members, and for that matter I used to be a Republican myself. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, to be sure. But it’s true.
It’s no secret that I don’t agree with the GOP on much of anything these days, but there’s kind of an odd element to my conversations with Republican acquaintances lately: a lot of them profess significant disagreement with the platform and policies of their party, too.
Taken in a vacuum, this is hardly surprising. After all, America is the land of disagreement, and there aren’t any parties out there that are acting in significant accordance with my views. So individual Republicans at odds with their party and with others in the party? Makes perfect sense.
We don’t live in a vacuum, though. We live in a complex series of interrelated contexts, and in context the reservations of my Republican friends merit further scrutiny. For starters, those who aren’t on the bus with our current media-enabled popular revolution seem to be the majority.
For these folks I have a word of advice: you have some ugly problems, and they need confronting today.
http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2009/08/24/reasonable-republicans-and-the-summer-of-hate/
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
On this day in 1963: NAACP Youth Council begins sit-ins at lunch counters in Oklahoma City
| Start: | Aug 19, '09 |
| Location: | USA |
Monday, August 17, 2009
Earthlings
| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Documentary |
We are all Earthlings.
http://www.earthlings.com/
"EARTHLINGS is an award-winning documentary film about the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. Considered the most persuasive documentary ever made, EARTHLINGS is nicknamed “the Vegan maker” for its sensitive footage shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs. The film is narrated by Academy Award® nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by platinum-selling recording artist Moby. Initially ignored by distributors, today EARTHLINGS is considered the definitive animal rights film by organizations around the world. “Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most,” said Phoenix. “For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three.” "
That last statement is true, and I wonder what the statistic is on people who never ever ate meat again after watching this movie. I have been told it had that effect on 5 people personally.
There is a link for a low res. full viewing of the movie in the Watch Now tab to the upper right.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Summer of Hate
We have enjoyed a relative period of innocence in American politics. We have been mercifully free of assassination in recent years—even as we have pumped up hyperpartisanship and coarsened our civic dialogue. But we are not immune from the larger cycles of violence that occasionally erupt and shock even the most stable societies in history. 1968 is 40 years and one bad day away. That’s the problem with hate; it ultimately leads to violence.