MOVEMENT CONSERVATIVES ARE BLASPHEMERS

They try to use the Word of God as camouflage for their reactionary policies and now they are trying to re-write the Bible itself to better confirm their ideology.

ANOTHER LOON FOR BECKSTER

A caller named Sam just told Beck he was like the Laodicean Church, specifically the one mentioned in Revelations. Glenn just said "thank you" and went on to the next caller. Here's the passage from Revelations:

The New Revised Standard Version
Revelation 3

3:14
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation:

3:15
"I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.

3:16
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

3:17
For you say, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

3:18
Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

3:19
I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.

3:20
Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.

3:21
To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

3:22
Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

HM, MAYBE THIS ISN'T SUCH A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL

Glenn Beck has found another "Marxist" who has strong ties to the Obama Administration, Robert McCheney. Beck specifically mentioned this passage from an article McChesney wrote forthe February 2009 issue of the Monthly Review:

In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles. This is something that the great majority of the population will undoubtedly learn in the course of their struggles for a more equal, more humane, more collective, and more sustainable world. In the meantime, it is time to begin to organize a revolt against the ruling class–imposed ceiling on civilian government spending and social welfare in U.S. society.

I wrote last summer that the banksters are up to their old tricks and Paul Krugman wrote today that he has a similar feeling about securitization:

But here’s my question: why does it have to be a return to shadow banking? The banks don’t need to sell securitized debt to make loans — they could start lending out of all those excess reserves they currently hold. Or to put it differently, by the numbers there’s no obvious reason we shouldn’t be seeking a return to traditional banking, with banks making and holding loans, as the way to restart credit markets. Yet the assumption at the Fed seems to be that this isn’t an option — that the only way to go is back to the securitized debt market of the years just before the crisis.

Why? Are we still convinced that securitization is a far superior system to conventional banking, and if so why?

(h/t Atrios)

I DON'T GET THE CONNECTION

Phil Hendrie thinks Glenn Beck is a modern day version of George Putnam, a famous LA newsman who died recently. There's no doubt that Putnam was a wingnut, as you can see from this article he wrote for Newsmax, but the only connection I see is that they are both paranoid.

One Reporter's Opinion – An 'American Hiroshima'
George Putnam
Friday, July 15, 2005

It is this reporter's opinion that the attacks on Madrid and London are merely warm-ups to al-Qaida's plans for what is described as a possible "American Hiroshima."

According to captured terrorist documents, the "American Hiroshima" calls for the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons already in the possession of Osama bin Laden's operatives currently inside the U.S. The agents and arms have been smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border with the help of the MS-13 street gang (Mara Salvatrucha, which is now international) and other organized crime groups. The attacks are designed to kill at least 4 million Americans.

According to informants, al-Qaida has obtained at least 40 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union. They includes suitcase nukes, nuclear mines, artillery shells and even missile warheads. Captured documents indicate that al-Qaida plans to assemble its own nuclear weapons with fissile material purchased on the black market. Most disturbing is that at least some of these weapons have been smuggled into the U.S. for use in the planned "American Hiroshima."

RADIO TIDBITS

I caught a bit of Michael Medved's show today and he was a bit dismissive of the TEA Party movement. I think this is because the movement isn't explicitly Republican and that it has the potential to hurt the GOP in upcoming elections.

I'm not sure how much control Limbaugh and Hannity have over the ads that air on their shows, but lawyers who want to represent mesothelomia victims have recently advertised on both shows.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL...

with Jonah Goldberg's (lame) defense of Glenn Beck, Beck is now a member of the Republican Noise Machine in very good standing.

MARK LEVIN IS A NARCISSISTIC EXTREMIST WACKO

Levin thinks health care reform is unconstitutional, along with Medicare and Social Security. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Irvine School of Law writes that it most certainly isn't based on Supreme Court decisions going back to the 19th Century. Levin thinks his judgment is not only superior to precedents over 100 years old, he also thinks that we can safely ignore the past to satisfy his ideological preferences.

WE NEED BETTER ECONOMICS REPORTERS

Maybe I'm missing something here but Andrew Ross Sorkin doesn't seem to grasp the relation between risk and reward when it comes to U.S. Treasury bonds: the less risk, the lower the interest rate. There's also the demand/supply curve, so when the demand for treasuries increases, the interest rate declines.
Sorkin got these relationships backwards:

...Treasury bills were trading for less than 1 percent interest, as if they were no better than cash, as if the full faith of the government had suddenly become meaningless.

IF HANNITY WERE A JOURNALIST...

he would follow up on a call he got today from a man who said he was in the military and involved with manpower decisions. The man said that the original McChrystal report called for an additional 130,000 troops and they were told to re-do the report because they would never get that many troops.

CALLING OUT THE BITTER HUNCHBACK

Another pundit speaks out against Mark "Foamer" Levin! Mark McKinnon writes this in the Daily Beast:

I would have liked for the Olympics to come to the United States. But when I turned on my car radio and listened to conservative radio talk-show host Mark Levin, I was shocked by what I heard. He was spewing streams of hate-filled venom at Obama that were jaw-dropping. His favorite epithet for the president is ”jerk.” And he was reveling in Obama’s failure.

This is standard fare for Levin, who is truly a hate monger. Levin has proclaimed that “Obama is literally at war with the American people.” He calls the National Organization for Women “The National Organization of Women Who Look Like Men” and the “National Organization of Really Ugly Women.” He refers to Hilary Clinton as “Her Thighness.” He calls Sonia Sotomayor “Ruth Bader Ginsberg Plus 50 Pounds.”

Levin took time oh his show yesterday to defend himself but he did that by attacking McKinnon personally, not by refuting McKinnon's claims.

THE RADIO CONSPIRACIES

Last Sunday, Billy Cunningham said that LBJ's Great Society programs were explicitly designed to destroy the black nuclear family. This is even worse that Beck's claim that Pres. Obama wants to have a economic collapse so he can transform America into a Marxist state.

There's no point in trying to be bi-partisan with right-wing extremists.

FLU DAY

The flu has finally caught up with me and I couldn't post yesterday.

AMERICA'S REAL SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

I'm referring to the Veterans Administration and in this Bloomberg article, it does seem to do a pretty good job delivering health care. On average, it's a little better than the private sector, both for inpatient and outpatient care. The VA wasn't always this good but improvements were made in the 1990s, such as computerized records, that have led to improved care.

FRANK LUNTZ IS A LIGHTWEIGHT

No matter who pays him for his polls, Luntz simply can't be taken seriously as a pundit. On a "best of" broadcast of Lou Dobb's radio show, Luntz stated that Newt "Drill, Baby, Drill" Gingrich has the answers America needs.

BECK IS A SOCIAL DARWINIST!!!

Last week on his radio show, I heard him say that "capitalism is survival of the fittest," a quaint 19th century notion that originated with Herbert Spencer. Searching on his site, one finds that he's said something similar before. Here's an excerpt from 2/16/2009:

GLENN: They are the people that fight for evolution and survival of the fittest, but they fight it every step of the way. They won't allow it to collapse and rebuild. And you know what it is? Capitalism done right, freedom done right is like a forest fire, and the people who are the environmentalists, they try to save the forest by not allowing controlled burns or the forest to burn. So it never renews.

We know that life in unfettered capitalism would end up being as Hobbes described it:

“In the state of nature profit is the measure of right.”

THIS COULD GET INTERESTING...

Last week, Don Imus went through a list of people who would be on his debut show on FAUX and there was a noticeable silence after Glenn Beck was mentioned. Don apparently thinks that Beck is a train wreck waiting to happen and he also told Neal Cavuto that Sarah Palin is "a dope." This could turn into a neat food fight on FAUX.

WHY TRANSCRIPTS SOMETIMES AREN'T ENOUGH

(h/t caller to the Mike Malloy Show)

Transcripts necessarily omit intonation and facial expression, so you can miss the real import of what someone says. A good example is Wolf Blitzer's reaction to Rep. Alan Grayson. In the clip, Blitzer acts as if Rep. Grayson said the Earth was flat, something he doesn't do when a Republican makes an outrageous statement.

THE TUCSON TEA BAGGERS ARE STILL WITH US

They've planned a rally this coming Saturday at Tucson Electric Park, a minor league baseball stadium. They may not be Republicans but there is little doubt that almost all of them are conservative. Trent Humphries is one of the local TEA party leaders.

Tea Party group seeks added momentum
Plans Saturday rally, steps up criticism of local Democrats
By Tim Steller
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.04.2009

Humphries is a registered Republican, a member of the county party's executive committee, and ran for the Republican nomination for state representative in District 26, losing narrowly. But, he said, he rarely attends Republican meetings anymore, partly out of his commitment to the Tea Party group, partly out of disillusionment with the party.

Another B-level wingnut media star, like the last one, is featured: FAUX News' Judge Napolitano.

DO THE LISTENERS KEEP SCORE?

Hannity and War Whore Ingraham both claimed that Pres. Obama wouldn't be going to Copenhagen unless Chicago was definitely going to win the 2016 Games. Both were wrong again.

ANOTHER GUANTANAMO TRAVESTY

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

Fouad al-Rabiah was captured in Afghanistan and was eventually transferred to Guantanamo. He FINALLY has been released but only after years of imprisonment. This is from the redacted Classified Memorandum Opinion, page 28:

Al Rabiah arrived at Guantanamo Bay in _ 8/28/09 Merits Hrg. Tr. at 36. From that date until b(2) there is no evidence in the record that anyone directed any allegations toward Al Rabiah nor any indication that interrogators believed Al Rabiah had engaged in any conduct that made him lawfully detainable. To the contrary, the evidence in the record during this period consists mainly of an assessment made by an intelligence analyst that Al Rabiah should not have been detained.

There are many other examples of literally incredible evidence being used by the government against Al Rabiah and you can read Andy Worthington's write up if you don't want to read the memorandum. If it weren't for the fact that this man was unjustly deprived of his liberty for years, it would be called a comedy of errors.

WHY CAN'T WE GET SOME SPECIFICS?

(h/t Ian Walsh at Crooks & Liars)

Many knowledgeable people offer defenses of things which seem obviously out of whack yet they assure us that everything is for the best, like this fellow?

"I believe the private system is important because it brings innovation, it brings energy, it brings change, it brings ideas that are often used in the public sector system as well," said Richard Collins, senior vice president for underwriting, pricing and health care economics at UnitedHealthcare. "I think we can have both a public and private system."

Why can't they ever give us concrete examples?

"SAVE IT FOR THE END"

A polling company has been accused of being unprofessional and perhaps even fraudulent. The last paragraph of the NYT story made me chuckle:

As for the accusation that the company’s claim to be based in Atlanta was misleading, Mr. Johnson acknowledged that the main Strategic Vision office was in Blairsville, Ga., 115 miles away, but said the difference was “semantic.”

It's only semantic if "Blairsville" is a synonym for "Atlanta" but the following information makes this bit of nonsense seem inevitable:

Strategic Vision was founded by Mr. Johnson and his wife, Laura Ward, as a Republican-leaning mom-and-pop public relations company in 2002. ... Early on, questions were raised about how such a small firm could conduct so many self-financed polls, but Mr. Johnson, a frequent commentator on Fox News, said they accounted for the company’s entire marketing budget.

A CLOSED SYSTEM

For several years I've thought that American movement conservatives are more a religious movement than a political one, in part because of conservative's anti-empirical approach to the world, in part because so many of them think they have eternal and universal values, like this clown:

...dynamic conservatism’s timeless values of fiscal conservatism, individual responsibility, a strong defense but smaller central government, federalism and reliance on free enterprise

In the LA Times, Neal Gabler also notes conservatives unreality:

Rationality won't work because their arguments are faith-based rather than evidence-based.

Gabler correctly notes that this leads to movement conservatives' success despite being in the minority on most issues:

You cannot beat religion with politics, which is why the extreme right "wins" so many battles. The fundamentalist political fanatics will always be more zealous than mainstream conservatives or liberals. They will always be louder, more adamant, more aggrieved, more threatening, more willing to do anything to win. Losing is inconceivable. For them, every battle is a crusade -- or a jihad -- a matter of good and evil.

THEY JUST DON'T GET IT

Stephen F. Hayward, AEI hack, bemoans the lack of an intellectual conservative class in America and then destroys his lament by claiming that Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism is truly an intellectual work. You can't get there from here.

"IGNORE THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN"

That's the attitude David Brooks wants us to take toward the radio gasbags and FAUX News and the retort by some of these maggots tries to marginalize Brooks:

Limbaugh brushed off the Times columnist’s criticism by asking ‘how many Americans know who David Brooks is?’ — a view supported by another popular conservative radio host.

Mark Levin, author of the best-selling ‘Liberty & Tyranny,’ asked two questions in an e-mail to POLTICO: ‘David Brooks? Does he run Brooks Brothers?’”

Robert Stacy McCain, a rising star in the winger blogosphere, unwittingly points out the flaw in these arguments:

If the GOP moves leftward -- which is what the phrase "center-right" means -- it will implode or become irrelevant as an electoral force, because a majority of Americans still want what Phyllis Schlafly described so eloquently in 1964: A Choice, Not an Echo.

Let's recall that LBJ swamped Goldwater.

ANOTHER HOMERUN FROM THE EX-TOP 40 DJ

I'm going to try to keep track of Glenn Beck's ignorant remarks and I guess the 1st post was this week. Here's another gem from last June:

Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s?

AH, POOR BABIES...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) takes a couple of shots at Glenn Beck, the best one being "Only in America can you make that much money crying" and Beck just had to strike back today, in part by saying no one reads The Atlantic. In what I consider to be perfect timing, David Brooks' latest column in the NYT points out that the radio gasbags have ratings but little political power, something I noted some time ago. They love to talk about the "silent majority" that they are reaching but with all their huffing and puffing, they could only get 75K to show up on 9-12 in DC.

I HEARD HANNITY WHINE ABOUT REP. GRAYSON

on his radio show and he did play Grayson's remarks. I realize that bone-deep wingers will be outraged at Grayson but for other people who listen to Hannity, I suspect Grayson sounds no more extreme than Hannity.

I LIKE THE LIES...

that show how frigging ignorant the wingers are. This is a great example, courtesy of Jesse Lee at the WH blog:

RHETORIC: BECK SAID VANCOUVER LOST $1 BILLION WHEN IT "HAD THE OLYMPICS." Glenn Beck said, "Vancouver lost, how much was it? they lost a billion dollars when they had the Olympics." [Transcript, Glenn Beck Show, 9/29/09]

REALITY: VANCOUVER'S OLYMPICS WILL NOT TAKE PLACE UNTIL 2010. Vancouver will host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games from February 12 – 28, 2010 and March 12-21, 2010, respectively. [Vancouver2010.com, accessed 9/29/09]

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) correctly describes Glenn Beck as a "cynic" and the extremist posters at Hot Air are upset. They won't be happy until the GOP's base is limited to a few Southern states.

UH OH, GEN. McCHRYSTAL IS SECRET COMMIE!

Somebody tell Glenn Beck ASAP! (h/t Ben Smith at Politico)

This is what this ACORN/SEIU/MARXIST General had to say about reviewing our Afghan policy:

The process of going through a very detailed, policy-level debate, is incredibly important and incredibly healthy. The president led that very effectively, and so I think this is a very necessary process to go through so we come to a clear decision and then move forward.

NICE PSYCHO RANT

Susan from Glendale, CA called Fats Limbaugh yesterday and her monologue has been a hit among the wingers. She really isn't much different from the freakshows who showed up at the townhalls in August, as you can tell from this excerpt from the transcript:

I'm a conservative. You know what? I'm 45. I might fall and break my hip in the next ten years. They're going to have to give me a shot because they're not going to want me to be healed and they're going to do this to my children.

BECK AND LEVIN == WEASELS

On their radio shows, both have played a clip of a ceremony and both talk over the refrain from the audience to make it seeem like the people are praying to Pres. Obama.

FINALLY, HEARINGS ON THE RATS AT THE RATINGS AGENCIES

Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's are finally being investigated by Congress. The Diane Rehm Show had a segment on this today and you can get the audio here.

10:00 Credit Rating Agencies and the Financial Crisis

Congress turns up the heat on the nation's credit rating agencies. A House committee investigates how inaccurate credit ratings contributed to last year's financial meltdown and whether new regulations are needed.
Guests

Michael Hirsh, senior editor and national economics correspondent at Newsweek.

Alex Pollock, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and former president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago.

Frank Partnoy, George E. Barrett professor of law and finance, University of San Diego.

Congressman Edolphus Towns, chairman, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Floyd Abrams, partner at the law firm Cahill, Gordon and Reindel, LLP.

You can also find prepared statements from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform site here.

GEORGE F. WILL HAS NO SHAME

Investor's Business Daily is a fairly popular conservative agit-prop rag and has been debunked many times, including this howler. I would think Mr. Pompous would have too much pride to quote such a rag.

ANOTHER MIGRANT WORKER MOUTHS OFF

American conservatives seem to have a weakness for imported wingers from Britain, like Christopher Hitchens, Andrew Sullivan, Mark Steyn, Niles Gardiner. The first two aren't movement conservatives, so they occasionally lapse into reasonableness. The latter two are hopeless parrots trying to convince people of a failed ideology.

(h/t Faiz Shakir at Think Progress) The latest absurdity from one of these migrants workers comes from a staff member that the NRO, John Derbyshire. Like Ann Coulter, he thinks America would be better off if women were denied the vote.

A CAPITALIST PIGLET

The point about getting to the top is to get out of the free market. This is obviously true for the MOTU and here's another example:

Abercrombie's Michael Jeffries was awarded total compensation of $71.8 million last year, with a base salary of $1.5 million, according to the Corporate Library.

His compensation package included a $6 million "stay bonus" designed to keep him on board, despite his 17-year tenure, as well as perks such as the use of a corporate jet.

I would think that $65 million is enough of an encouragement to "stay on board."