WingNuts United in Their Lies, Looking Foolish

After Saturday's WingNut Parade in Washington, DC, and the pictures of them all with their signs and costumes on display for all to see, they have now attacked everyone who called them out for their hypocrisy.

These people slept through the last 8 years of the squandered surplus that Pres. Clinton left for Pres. Bush 43, and never said a word, when he passed his Trillion, yes that is Trillion dollar tax cuts for the wealthiest in our country, then again when he passed the Medicare part D supplement which also added to the deficit and left us in debt to the tune of 1.3 Trillion, again that is TRILLION dollars..

Then we have the wars, of course, not very many and I do mean almost no one disagreed with the war in Afghanistan. However, Iraq was a very different story. Pres. Bush ginned up the intelligence, lied to the American people and to his own staff and administration and pushed Congress into a war with Iraq.

There were protests all over this country and the world against this, yet no one, the media, everyone ignored it. We were considered unpatriotic, treasonous and disloyal for speaking out against the President.

It was estimated there were 6 and 10 Million people in 60 countries around the world. From Wikipedia:

Some of the largest protests took place in Europe. The protest in Rome involved around 3 million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history. Opposition to the war was highest in the Middle East, although protests there were relatively small.Mainland China was the only major region not to see any protests, but small demonstrations attended mainly by foreign students were seen later.

Yet, now, since November 4, 2008 and most especially Jan. 20th, 2009 it has become almost popular to speak out against the President. The more hideous the better. Signs, posters, blogs dedicated to putting him down, preachers calling for his death, radio and talk show hosts calling him Hitler, a socialists, a Marxist, a Communist and every other thing or name under the sun. Some even saying he is the Devil, the Anti-Christ, the personification of evil.

All during the 8 years of the Bush Administration it was considered unpatriotic to speak out against the president, after 9-11-01, and especially after we went to war in Afghanistan. Almost all of the talking heads on Fox Noise, because I refuse to call it news.. said so..

Even the Dixie Chicks were basically run out of the country because they dared to criticize the President.

Music superstars the Dixie Chicks are finding out that criticizing President Bush's plans for war in Iraq can cost you air play, big time.

Country stations across the United States have pulled the Chicks from playlists following reports that lead singer Natalie Maines said in a concert in London earlier this week that she was "ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Station managers said their decisions were prompted by calls from irate listeners who thought criticism of the president was unpatriotic.

The group, which got its start in Texas, was one of the darlings of this year's Grammy Awards. The three-woman band that blends blue grass and pop hooks has spawned legions of fans who embrace the ideals of strong women celebrated in some of the trio's songs.

One station in Kansas City, Missouri held a Dixie "chicken toss" party Friday morning, where Chick critics were encouraged to dump the group's tapes, CDs and concert tickets into trash cans.

Houston country station KILT pulled the band's records from its playlist -- at least temporarily -- after 77 percent of people polled on its Web site said they supported the move.

"We've got them off the air for right now," said Jeff Garrison, program director at KILT, which is owned by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting Corp.

"People are shocked. They cannot believe Texas' own have attacked the state and the president," Garrison said.

Lead singer Maines said in a statement she felt the president was ignoring the opinions of many in the United States and alienating the rest of the world by pushing for war with Iraq.

That's just a portion of the article from CNN.. but you get the picture. If you want to read the rest, click the link above.

As you see, you weren't allowed to criticize the President during the Bush Administration. Oh, there were random people who did, and they were promptly trashed, run out of the country, see above, or literally swept up and put in jail, to be never heard from again.

Yet, we never heard a word from these so called Tea Partiers then. They were perfectly fine with everything that went on. During the 8 years that George Bush was President, lets look at some things that might have gotten someone's attention and lead to a protest.

First lets start with ignoring the intelligence memo of Aug. 2001 which warned him of the impending attack on the United States by Bin Laden.

Then there is the Iraq War, which we have already discussed. Again, never budgeted, never paid for.

Then we have the Tax Cuts, for the wealthy, which put us into massive debt, especially when combined with the Medicare overhaul which gave us Part D, he didn't bother to pay for.

Then, we have the crimes of Torture and imprisonment of innocents from all over the world, even our own citizens. Wiretapping of our own citizens and military members speaking to their spouses.

I could go on but I think that is enough.

Now, we have elected Barack Obama, and he walked in the door with a HUGE deficit, 1.3 Trillion Dollars. An economy on the verge of and in collapse. Upon advise of economists he urged Congress to act and they did.. with very little support from republicans.

He didn't do this because he wanted to, but because he had to.

Pres. Bush, is the one who bailed out the banks with no oversight, Pres. Bush is the one who bailed out the Auto companies with no oversight, not Pres. Obama.

Pres. Obama then came in and cleaned up after this mess he was left, and tried to make it better. He is calling for oversight on the banks and on the stock markets, and he has forced the Auto companies into bankruptcy so they can restructure and stand on their own.

Since, these wingnuts think I lied about all the pictures and about the numbers I want to point out that Politifact rated the pictures as Pants On Fire wrong.. Matter of fact, the picture they are using to try to show it was 2 million at the wingnut rally, was from a rally in 2004.. maybe it was even a war protest.. that would be about how smart most of them are.

By the way.. Here are more pictures from the TeaParty WingNut Rally.. You can see them here. And then again more here.

Nowhere do I see a crowd near the size of what was in DC on January 20th, when the estimates were of 1.5 million people. Again, the DC Fire Department and the Park Police say the size was maybe 60 to 70,000, and that is a generous estimate.

These pictures are not random, these pictures are all through the crowds.. anyone who says they are not all over is a liar.. they are the ones who aren't being honest. Not me.

Something else for your viewing pleasure.. a video presentation..

Free Health Care in LA, 8,000 Today, Goes for 7 Days...UPDATE

They are doing free Health Care in Los Angeles today and for the next 7 days. 8,000 people lined up and camped out overnight to have eye exams, dental work, health screenings, all done free in the stadium at Inglewood, CA.

It is at the Great Western Forum, where the Lakers used to play. They do have private rooms for some treatments so there will be some privacy as needed.

This video is from CNN..that's the only video I have seen I got this from a comment I found on TPC. They are short doctors and dentists because they can only use ones from in state.

Yet, we have no crisis in Health Care... If this doesn't say we have a crisis, what does it say? 8,000 and they expect this many every day for 7 days. That's sad.

UPDATE***************** From Alternet..... we get this:

I just heard on TV that they think nearly 100,000 people showed up for this event. I don't know if that's true, but the crowd was much more vast that the above report indicates. Of course, there are three million uninsured in LA, so that's really just a drop in the bucket.

Just WOW... that's amazing to me in a way.. then again it isn't, we knew it was bad right?..now maybe people will start to see how bad it really is.. if only we had a media in this country that would show it.

David Waldman from DailyKos was on BloggerBunch on CNN

This is a wonderful discussion with 4 people discussing torture. Two from the left, supposedly, however Erica from the Center for American Progress is more center I think, and then two from the right.

David is very good and has his facts and points down very well. He can hold his own and is very strong. One of the best I have ever seen, why don't we see him MORE.

Watch this and tell me why we don't see his face on TeeVee all the time. He should be out there arguing these points everyday.. I would start a collection to help pay him and help get the word around that the subject needs to be changed in the media.



As I was saying and as he pointed out. The media needs someone to help them change the subject. The pictures are just a distraction, as is Nancy Pelosi. That's what Pres. Obama was trying to say the other day and what I have been saying.

The big story that everyone missed last week was that Cheney was ordering torture to get his link from 9-11 to Iraq.

Instead of focusing on that, people are angry over stupid pictures we have already seen enough of, and of what Nancy knew and when she knew it.

Don't get distracted, focus... Pay attention to the Big Picture and quit looking at the shiny object the Republicans are throwing out there...

Limbaugh, Stupid Republicans and the Rest of Us

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I have been thinking about how the majority of the republicans and conservatives have seemed to be bowing down to Limbaugh. It has gotten to the point of silly.

First you had Phil Gingrey, from Georgia who said how no one was really paying attention to Limbaugh and he was just blowing off steam when he said, "I want him to fail", talking about Pres. Obama. Limbaugh was.

Well, it wasn't a couple of days after that then Gingrey was on the phone with Limbaugh, saying how sorry he was, how he had messed up, and how he had really insulted poor Rush. Well, give me a break.

Then, it was Michael Steele. He ran a brutal campaign to become the head of the RNC, against several other candidates. They voted I think it was 6 times, before he finally won and became the head. Well, he went on the D L Hughley show on CNN. This is how it was described by Politico:

In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism made him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host,

Then Rush fired back, a furious counter-assault by Limbaugh, on his show Monday afternoon in which he told the loquacious RNC chair to pipe down and recognize that he's not a "talking head media star."

Steele told POLITICO he moved to stop the feud Monday afternoon with a phone call to Limbaugh.

But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject.

So, Steele, (cream puff) went to Limbaugh and crawled on his knees and did the same as Gingrey.. said I am sorry Rush.. I was bad.. Again.. here we go.. big, bad Rush, rules the republicans and says this is the way it is.

Now, after these 2 instances all the other republicans are afraid to say anything against Rush. When they are asked, as they are over and over, NO ONE will say a word against Rush...lol It gets very funny.

Today, in my paper, I was reading the opinion pages and the letters to the editor. Now, most everyone knows I live in Missouri, and usually I get mostly GOP talking points in the letters.. well imagine my surprise when they were more against Rush than for him...lol

But the one that stood out the most was this one. It was so funny, it is the main premise for this post.

It is from a gentleman in Kansas City and he says:
Let me get this straight. The Republican Party, the party that has sold itself for years as the only one that can keep us safe from foreign interests, terrorists and economic meltdown, is now the party that doesn't have the guts to stand up to a radio personality?
That's just pathetic.

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What is CNN's Ed Henry's Agenda??

He is hammering Robert Gibbs in every press conference with questions about things that are very tough and partisan. He has questioned the motives several times of the Lynn nomination and now is questioning George Mitchell going to the Middle East stating he has some nefarious ties to a lobbying firm.

George Mitchell has never registered as a lobbyist, has never been a lobbyist and yet he still insists there is a violation of the ethics law President Obama signed last week.

In this video, you will see Ed and Lou Dobbs talking about the stimulus and on the January 23 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, White House correspondent Ed Henry referred to a "study" from the Congressional Budget Office that Henry claimed "showed" that President Obama's economic stimulus package "may not really stimulate the economy." Henry later asserted that the study "was suggesting that a lot of the spending proposals in the original plan would not really take effect for a couple of years, so it wouldn't clearly help create jobs in the first two years of the president's administration," a claim Republicans have promoted recently in opposing the plan. However, Henry provided no response from the CBO or the Democratic leadership. The rebuttal after the video.


In a January 22 letter, Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag -- who formerly headed the CBO -- refuted the Republican claim based on the purported study that most of the money would not be spent until after 2010. Orszag stated that the CBO "analysis, however, did not assess the overall package." He added: "Our analysis indicates that at least 75 percent of the overall package (including its tax component and the other spending provisions that were not analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office) will be spent over the next year and a half."

I stated before, I think Ed Henry has an agenda of his own and I think it is to lean far right and be a road block for the administration. This just seems to me like further proof of it. Maybe he should leave CNN and go to work for FOX...

Sunday Morning TeeVee Watching

Sunday Morning TeeVee watching...

ABC This Week features Our President...Barack Obama

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Former Illinois Attorney General (and Senate appointee) Roland Burris, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Clarence Page, Kathleen Parker, Norah O'Donnell, Reihan Salam. Topics: Will Obama's presidency redefine America? What does Obama inherit from his four predecessors?

CNN's "Late Edition" - Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Fareed Zakaria talks about the Israel-Gaza conflict and the possible repercussions.

"Fox News Sunday" - President Bush and former President George H.W. Bush.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Comedian and author Bill Cosby, author Alvin Poussaint, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty and former Mich. Rep. David Bonior.

Well, guess I will be watching ABC this morning. I dont' watch Meet the Press anymore since they put the Rove dancing partner in charge. Can't stand him and won't watch him. Will probably watch Fareed Zakaria on CNN, I doubt I will watch Fox because I sure don't want to watch Chris making love to the Bush family. And that is all it will be I am sure. Not sure about Late Edition....I might see what Darth Cheney has to say and if Wolf has found anything in the nether regions lately. I thought he was leaving and John King was taking over..or was that just a rumor they wanted to start. Maybe Pelosi will talk to Cheney about the torture crimes and why they didn't impeach him...lol

Update John King will start next week at 9 with his new show called State of the Union hmmm Take off of 1600 Pennsylvania...look out David Shuster..someone is coming after you..lol

I usually can't watch Face the Nation because they take it off here so the football games can be on. So will have to see if it is on or watch it later online.

What catches your eye and which do you think will be best??

Israel’s lie machine is working flat out according to Stuart Littlewood

This is another piece I found on Al Jazeera. It is provocative to say the least. As you can tell it has statements and then counter points from Stuart Littlewood. His statement as to where he found it and his reasoning is below. I also saw a posting that this same person had been interviewed by David Gregory on MSNBC and by someone on CNN, I am not sure who it was. I didn't see the interview, but from what I read about it, she said what she wanted and he didn't ask any hard questions, just let her say her piece. Of course that is what I would expect of him.

They keep saying on CNN that Israel is ready to cross into Gaza at any time...Breaking News...now they are saying a Message of Doom for Barack Obama. Khaled Meshaal is the mans name who put out the statement.


Israel’s lie machine is working flat out

By Stuart Littlewood

While the murderous assault on Gaza continues, I notice there's a briefing document on the website of the Israeli Embassy in London which has a lie in every line. The West's mainstream media repeat them, and even the most senior TV and radio interviewers don’t bother to challenge them.


The document is a transcript of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's statement to the Israeli press dated 27 December 2008 – a day that will live in infamy. It is a perfect example of the falsehoods used to dupe not only us westerners but Israel’s own people. The statement shows how the regime's view of itself is constructed on a web of dishonesty and self-delusion.

For example:

• "Israeli citizens have been under the threat of daily attack from Gaza for years."

Palestinians have been under harsh Israeli occupation for 60 years.

• "Only this week hundreds of missiles and mortars shells were fired at Israeli civilian communities."

Only one in 500 Qassam rockets causes a fatality. How many thousands of Israeli bombs, missiles, rockets, grenades and tank-shells have been blasted into the crowded city and towns of the Gaza Strip by Israel’s high-tech weaponry?

• "Until now we have shown restraint. But today there is no other option than a military operation."

The only legitimate option for Israel is to end the occupation and withdraw behind its 1967 border, as required under international law and UN resolution. Israel has been killing Palestinians at the rate of 8 to 1 since 2000, and children at the rate of nearly 12 to 1 (B’Tselem figures). This is somebody’s idea of restraint?

• "We need to protect our citizens from attack through a military response against the terror infrastructure in Gaza."

Self defence is not a right exclusive to Israel. Palestinians have an equal right to protect their citizens from the terror tactics of Israel.

• "Israel left Gaza in order to create an opportunity for peace."

Israel never left Gaza. It still occupies Gaza's airspace and coastal waters and controls all entrances and exits.

• "In return, the Hamas terror organization took control of Gaza and is using its citizens as cover while it deliberately targets Israeli communities and denies any chance for peace."

Hamas was voted into power as the legitimate government of Palestine. Israel chose not to accept the people's choice, which amounted to a denial of their human rights, and immediately set about obliterating it.

• "We have tried everything to reach calm without using force. We agreed to a truce through Egypt that was violated by Hamas, which continued to target Israel, hold Gilad Shalit and build up its arms."

Try talking. The Israelis' ongoing siege and economic blockade, begun shortly after Hamas was elected early in 2006, was never going to generate calm. And why is Shalit considered more important than the 9,000 Palestinians abducted and held prisoner by Israel? As soon as a Hamas government was formed Israeli troops arrested 8 Hamas ministers and 20 other parliamentarians, making the work of government impossible.

• "Israel continues to act to prevent humanitarian crisis and to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians."

Every agency operating in Gaza has warned of the deepening humanitarian crisis and protested about the starvation and suffering, especially of children many of whom show evidence of stunted growth.

• "The responsibility for harm to civilians lies with Hamas."

Not according to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

• "Hamas is a terrorist organization, supported by Iran, that does not represent the legitimate national interests of the Palestinian people but a radical Islamist agenda that seeks to deny peace for the peoples of this region."

Hamas was the popular choice of Palestinians at the last election. It is entitled under international law to take up arms against an illegal occupier and invader. If it is supported by Iran, so what? Israel receives mega-support from the U.S. When it comes to terror, it is Israel's conduct which fits the U.S. definition of terrorism so perfectly - see Bush's Executive Order 13224, Section 3 -

• "While confronting Hamas, Israel continues to believe in the two State solution and remains committed to negotiations with the legitimate Palestinian Authority in the context of the peace process, launched at Annapolis."

Israel is busy establishing irreversible facts on the ground that make a viable Palestinian state impossible. As everyone knows, the regime has reneged on the peace process and carries on building illegal settlements and the illegal Wall, and demolishing Palestinian homes.

Months ago Hamas accepted a Palestinian state based on internationally recognized (pre-1967) borders, in accordance with UN resolutions, with full sovereignty and its capital in Jerusalem, but this has been ignored. Hamas also offered a 10-year truce, also ignored. Earlier, Arafat and the PLO recognized the State of Israel in the Oslo agreement but what good did it do? Today’s U.S.-backed, Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority is not representative of the Palestinian people.

• "Israel expects the support and understanding of the international community, as it confronts terror, and advances the interest of all those who wish the forces of peace and co existence to determine the agenda of this region."

Israel, next to the U.S., the biggest purveyor of terror in the region and only advances its own interests. It may get the support of Israel lobby stooges in other western governments but is rapidly earning the contempt of everybody else.

From a statement dated 22 December 2008:

• "Hamas, backed by Iran, has regularly stated its desire to see the complete destruction of Israel."

Israel is itself a leading destroyer and currently engaged in trying to wipe out Hamas and the Gazans. Iran’s Ahmadinajad quoted the late Ayatollah Khomeini as saying that "this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" - fair comment considering Jerusalem, with Bethlehem, was designated an 'international city' under the UN Partition Plan.

Israeli propaganda twisted the Iranian’s words to read “Israel must be wiped off the map”. Zionist sources and the manifestos of Israeli political parties have made it clear for a long time that Israel plans to wipe Palestine off the map, and every act and lie is directed towards that end.

• "Our fight is not with the people of Gaza; it is with the extremists of Hamas."

Then why does the Israeli navy harass and fire on peaceable Gazan fishermen who are well within their own territorial waters? Why does Israel prevent Palestinian students from taking up places at foreign universities and block hospital spares, medicines, foodstuffs and foreign medics from entering Gaza?

Why has the Israeli navy just rammed a mercy vessel in international waters taking doctors and medicines to Gaza? Latest air-strikes have hit the Islamic University and the ministry of education. These are direct attacks on Gazan civil society and its infrastructure.

• "Hamas started this conflict, and it bears responsibility for any harm to civilians on either side."

The conflict, started by Jewish terrorists, has been going on for 60 years, decades before Hamas came into being.

• "Israel’s only responsibility is to protect Israeli citizens."

As the occupying power Israel has a duty to see that the people of the occupied territories come to no harm.

• "Just as Israel seeks to defend its civilian population, Hamas seeks to kill them."

This reads far better the other way round: “Just as Hamas seeks to defend its civilian population, Israel seeks to kill them.”

• "Rocket attacks have continued for years and are now a daily occurrence. How long does the international community expect Israel will wait before defending itself against them?"

The rocket attacks will end when Israel ends the occupation and stops terrorizing its neighbours.

• "In the south of Israel, Israeli citizens live with air raid sirens sounding every day - sometimes every hour. Their situation is intolerable."

Not half as intolerable as it is for the Gazans, who live in constant fear of air raids and re-invasion and are constantly under surveillance by armed drones which can fire missiles under computer control from an armchair in Israeli headquarters.

• "For years, the international community has turned a blind eye to this onslaught. Only when Israel seeks to stop the rockets do they take notice."

For years the international community has turned a blind eye to Israel's violations of international law and human rights, which is why the problem remains unsolved.

• "Hamas is not only the enemy of Israel - it is the enemy of every Palestinian who believes in peace."

Israelis just can’t come to terms with the Palestinians' democratic choice and are bent on obliterating it.

• "It is Hamas' attacks - not Israel's reactions - that destroy every opportunity we have for peace."

The world has managed to work out by now that Israel doesn't want peace until it has stolen all the land and water it needs to expand its racist state into a ‘Greater Israel’. It is well on the way to achieving this and won’t be thwarted.

• "Palestinian militants targeted by Israel are not just the enemies of the Israeli people; they are criminals under international law, and enemies of peace."

Israel is in no position to preach international law.

• "What is collective punishment? 'Collective punishment' is a city - schools, hospitals, homes - civilians being bombarded every single day by rockets and mortars."

Collective punishment is keeping a whole population bottled up under siege and blocking supplies and exports, smashing their infrastructure, wrecking their economy and starving their children. Trying to equate Sderot with what’s happening in the Gaza Strip is idiotic.

• "Today's Middle East is divided between extremists and pragmatists. Hamas, backed by Iran, belongs to the extremists, who must be defeated for the sake of the future of the Middle East.... Israel’s primary goal is peace."

Israel's primary goal is the expansion of Israel by making the occupation of the West Bank permanent and bringing the Gazans to their knees.

The core issue in this struggle is the illegality of Israel’s brutal occupation. Israel goes to great lengths to avoid and suppress all mention of it and play-acts the pathetic victim. As the official statements (above) show, the strategy is to frame and define the situation in Israel’s own terms regardless of the truth.

It uses advanced propaganda skills, and the elaborate Israel lobby network, to persuade western politicians and media to accept Israel’s version of events (and even use Israel’s biased language) and not question its motives.

In political PR terms it works wonderfully well. The loony leaders of my own government happily spread the poison and don’t seem interested in halting Israeli aggression and the vaporizing, dismembering and crushing of Gaza’s population. In human PR terms it is a disaster.

I have been listening to the BBC’s senior interviewers these last few days. None has had the gumption to ask Israeli spokesmen the only question that matters – the ‘killer’ question on which hangs the key to peace: WHEN IS ISRAEL GOING TO END ITS OCCUPATION AND RETURN TO THE PALESTINIANS THEIR LANDS AND FREEDOM?

-- Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation.