WE KNOW HOW THE WINGERS LOVE TO CLAIM THEY REPRESENT THE MAJORITY

But according to this Newsweek poll, they are in the minority on two issues that are crucial to them (h/t Raw Story):

Newsweek Poll
Obama/Muslims
Princeton Survey Research Associates International
Final Topline Results
(8/27/10)
N = 1,029 adults 18+ (697 landline interviews and 332 cell phone interviews)
Margins of error: plus or minus 3.7
Interviewing dates: 8/25-26/10


15. Which ONE of the following do you think should have the higher priority for policy-makers in Washington RIGHT
NOW… (READ AND ROTATE 1-2)?

37 Reducing the federal budget deficit (or)
57 Federal spending to create jobs (or)
6 (DO NOT READ) Don’t know

16. Do you think Congress should allow the Bush tax cuts for persons in the top two percent income category to EXPIRE in 2011, or should Congress pass legislation to EXTEND the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent?

52 Allow Bush tax cuts to expire
38 Extend Bush tax cuts
10 Don’t know

BECK FAILED

There were no miracles even though Beck said there would be. Instead, all we got was a rehash of the religious right nonsense about America.

RIGHTWING ATTACKS ON CBS NEWS BEGIN IN....

Glenn Beck Rally Attracts Estimated 87,000

Posted by Alex Sundby
August 28, 2010 6:32 PM
CBS News

An estimated 87,000 people attended a rally organized by talk-radio host and Fox News commentator Glenn Beck Saturday in Washington, according to a crowd estimate commissioned by CBS News.

The company AirPhotosLive.com based the attendance on aerial pictures it took over the rally, which stretched from in front of the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument. Beck and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke at the rally.

AirPhotosLive.com gave its estimate a margin of error of 9,000, meaning between 78,000 and 96,000 people attended the rally. The photos used to make the estimate were taken at noon Saturday, which is when the company estimated was the rally's high point.

SOUR WINE, NEWISH BOTTLE

Glenn Beck seems to be copying the strategy and tactics of another religious huckster, Billy James Hargis:

Evangelist Billy James Hargis Dies; Spread Anti-Communist Message

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 30, 2004; Page B06

The Rev. Billy James Hargis, 79, who died Nov. 27 at a nursing home in Tulsa, was a "bawl and jump" broadcast evangelist whose anti-communist message helped him flourish during the Cold War.

Mr. Hargis -- an enormous man with a recent history of heart attacks -- was a wailing, wheezing, impassioned presence on more than 500 radio stations and 250 television stations at his apex. With his Church of the Christian Crusade, he was perhaps second only to Carl McIntire in spreading an ultraconservative fundamentalist message to millions.

Increasingly, he politicized his pulpit and in 1962 urged attendees of the Anti-Communist Leadership School in Tulsa -- which charged $100 admission -- to work for conservative candidates and against those he deemed "soft" on communism. He said he once wrote a speech for red-baiting Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.).

He spoke to a largely rural audience -- "lonely patriots," he called them -- who saw communist conspiracies in government, the media and popular culture. He argued for the return of prayer and Bible reading to public school. He wrote several books, among them "Communist America -- Must It Be?" (1960), and recorded "Songs and Sayings of Billy James Hargis." He sold them at his conferences.

His most prominent followers made all manner of allegations. Retired Army Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker claimed that President Richard M. Nixon "appointed revolutionists to Cabinet posts." The Rev. David Noebel championed the idea that rock music was a communist plot to brainwash America's youth.

Inspired by Oral Roberts University, he founded the American Christian College in Tulsa in 1971 to teach "God, government and Christian action." The college attracted enough interest for Mr. Hargis to form a touring musical, "An Evening With Billy James Hargis and His Kids."

He was pushed from the college presidency after Time magazine reported that students of both sexes said Mr. Hargis had had sexual relations with them. Faltering financially after that, the college shut down in the late 1970s.

THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE

According to a McClatchy news report, "I Have A Scheme" said something to this effect:

Beck said he didn't want to politicize the event by inviting someone from the military--instead, he said, he called Palin, who is the mother of a soldier.

Palin is one of the most polarizing major political figures in America.

THEN AND NOW

In 1963, there were about 190 million Americans, no Internet, no right-wing talk radio and no FAUX News. This is the crowd that Martin Luther King drew on 8-28-1963:


In 2010, there are about 310 million Americans, the Internet, over 1000 right wing talk radio hosts and FAUX News. This is the crowd that "I have a scheme" Glenn Beck drew:

HARRY MET SHARRON & GOT LUCKY

(h/t Jed Lewison at DKOs)

Harry Reid and sane Americans everywhere can breath a little easier now that Bagger candidate Sharron Angle's own supporters DON'T.

U.S. SENATE RACE: Poll: Voters wish for other choices
Angle's backers indicate preference for another Republican
By LAURA MYERS
Aug. 27, 2010
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Two-thirds of voters who say they back Sharron Angle wish another Republican had won the nomination, according to a poll for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 8NewsNow that shows deep dissatisfaction with both the Tea Party pick and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid.

Some 68 percent of those surveyed said they would have preferred if a candidate other than Angle had won the GOP primary. Among them were 71 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of nonpartisans and 64 percent Democrats. Among Angle voters, 66 percent said they would have preferred another GOP nominee, as would have 68 percent of Reid voters and 79 percent of those in neither camp.

BECK INDULGES IN A DECADES-OLD CONSERVATIVE GAME

He's attacking the news media for giving his "Second Coming" Rally less than stellar press.

YES, JOHN KERRY WAS PRETTY MUCH CORRECT...

when he said that fighting terrorism was mostly a matter for the police.

Canada: ‘Idol’ Contestant Charged With Terrorism
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 26, 2010

A man who appeared on “Canadian Idol” was the third person arrested as part of a suspected plot against targets in Canada and abroad, the police said Thursday. The two other suspects made a brief appearance in court on Thursday on charges that they had plans to make and use bombs. The police arrested Hiva Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, in Ottawa on Wednesday and Khurram Syed Sher in London, Ontario, on Thursday. All three are Canadian. Mr. Sher, 28, appeared on “Canadian Idol” in 2008 and sang a comical version of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated.” The police said the plot ranged from Canada to Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, but did not elaborate.

JIM CRAMER FAILS AGAIN

But he's keeping up the great American tradition of keeping pundits on the air no matter how bad they are.

CRAMER:

Expect ‘Mass Panic’ in Markets Friday?
Published: Thursday, 26 Aug 2010 | 3:18 PM ET

If Wall Street’s reaction to Friday’s gross domestic product report is anything like its reaction to other economic data points, Cramer said during Thursday’s Stop Trading!, expect a sell-off of some kind at the open.

“I’m predicting mass panic tomorrow morning,” he said, mocking skittish investors, “market looking down 15 ticks.”

REALITY:

Stocks gain as Bernanke, GDP reassure investors
Aug 27 03:39 PM US/Eastern
By SETH SUTEL and J.W. ELPHINSTONE
AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) - The news on the economy wasn't great Friday, but it could have been worse. That was enough to send investors charging out of Treasurys and back into stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average and other market barometers all gained more than 1 percent after the government slashed its estimate for second-quarter economic growth, but not by quite as much as economists had expected.

AN ENDORSEMENT FOR CONGRESS

Tarryl Clark is running against Krazy Michele Bachmann and I urge people to contribute to her campaign.

REMEMBER HOW THE WINGERS DEFEND ISRAEL BY SAYING IT IS A DEMOCRACY?

Well, the Orthodox Jews (their Fundies) RULE the religious life in Israel and they have the police to support their claims. As usual in the Abrahamic religions, females are second-class citizens.

Facing arrest, catcalls, Israeli women pray at Western Wall
By Sheera Frenkel | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010

JERUSALEM — The women come from all over Israel every month to pray at the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites.

As their voices rise and fall in prayer, onlookers gawk and occasionally harass the praying women. Israeli police have arrested several women on charges of disturbing the peace; Orthodox men and women have spit at, cursed and attacked others.

According to the Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law, only men may wear kippas (head coverings) and tallits (prayer shawls). Men alone are allowed to read from the Pentateuch, or Torah, Judaism's founding text and also the first five books of the Christian Bible, while women are expected to pray with barely a murmur.

Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Orthodox chief rabbi of the Western Wall, told McClatchy that the women's group was interested only in provocation and that "there is no value" to its form of prayer, which offends other female worshippers at the site.

When Women of the Wall was founded in 1988, the mostly American and British Jews sought the right for women to pray audibly at the wall while wearing the religious clothing of their choice. They also believe that women should be able to handle and pray from the Torah, a practice that led last month to the arrest of Anat Hoffman, one of the founding members, by Israeli police. Frankel herself was arrested for wearing a tallit last year. Now she wears it wrapped around her shoulders like a scarf.

YES, HAMP WAS A FAILURE

As Atrios has pointed out, the HAMP program has done almost nothing for homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

Scarcity of jobs puts more at risk of foreclosure
Aug 26 01:54 PM US/Eastern
By ALAN ZIBEL and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) - One in 10 American households with a mortgage is at risk of losing its home, and the foreclosure crisis could worsen if jobs remain scarce.

About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. That number, adjusted for seasonal factors, was barely down from a record-high of more than 10 percent as of April 30.

A BAGGER DOUBLE-FAIL

(h/t John Cole)

From Wonkette...

COULD WE PLEASE STOP GIVING CRANKY OLD WHITE MEN...

the time of day? I'm not just referring to Alan Simpson but also to gasbags like Michael Savage (68), David Horowitz (71) and John Gibson (64). These folks are now nothing more than "get off my lawn" anachronisms.

UPDATE: I left out "The Dean," David Broder (81)

PRAGER THE PIOUS ISN'T

Today on his radio show, Prager mentioned that he would be talking with Pastor Hagee, a fairly well-known Zionist freakshow.

WEEPY STRIKES AGAIN

After reading Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address, Glenn Beck started weeping again.

THIS IS WHAT WINGNUT HATE TALK LEADS TO

From McClatchy:

California mosque vandalized, Ground Zero mentioned
By Eddie Jimenez | Fresno Bee
Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Vandalism to a Madera Islamic center and signs found on the property are being investigated as a hate crime, the Madera County Sheriff's Department said today.

A brick was thrown through a window Friday and three signs were found at Masjid Madera, 16634 Road 26, during two other incidences since Aug. 18, said Erica Stuart, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman. Two of the signs were found on the center's property Tuesday afternoon.

The signs read “No Temple for the God of terrorism at Ground Zero. ANB,” “Wake up America, the Enemy is here. ANB” and “American Nationalist Brotherhood.”

TODAY'S HANNITY HATE SEGMENT

On his radio show, Hannity had Krazy Davey Horowitz on to debate Hannity's Mosque and as usual, Horowitz brought the issue down to the Jews in Israel. He even accused the other guest of hating Jews!

THE 500,000 CHILDREN IN IRAQ

I used LexiNexis to look for mentions on FAUX News of Madeleine Albright stating that the 500,000 children deaths since the beginning of sanctions on Iraq was worth it but all that turned up was a cite of Pat Buchanan decrying this¹:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT BUCHANAN (REF), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But who has killed more innocent Iraqis? Saddam Hussein or UN sanctions?

When Madeleine Albright was told on a television show that a UN study had found that perhaps 500,000 Iraqi children may have died because of our 10 years of sanctions, she responded, quote, "We believe it was worth it," worth it. When did the greatest republic on earth start waging war on children?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: That was Pat Buchanan two weeks ago on the UN sanctions against Iraq.

Pat Buchanan is a paleo-con, so he doesn't reflect the real state of the Noise Machine but Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit does and he was recently extremely critical of the deaths:

Bill Clinton Gassed and Starved Thousands of Children But Has the Nerve to Lecture Tea Party Protesters on Violence & Civility
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, 5:48 AM

In 1996 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters that Bill Clinton’s policy that resulted in 500,000 dead Iraqi children was worth it.
In a much forgotten exchange between Lesley Stahl and Madeleine Albright on “60 Minutes” back on May 12, 1996:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.

Here’s the horrifying video:
[snip]
The United Nations estimated that a total of 1 million Iraqi civilians died as result of the sanctions on Iraq.
This tragedy never seemed to bother Bill Clinton and the Left for some reason.

¹Fox News Network
August 22, 2000 Tuesday
SHOW: FOX THE EDGE WITH PAULA ZAHN (22:39)
Investigative Edge
How Much of a Threat is Saddam Hussein?
GUESTS: Scott Ritter, Richard Butler
BYLINE: Paula Zahn
SECTION: News; International
LENGTH: 2111 words

HUGE EGO HEWITT ASKS A SIMPLE QUESTION

During an interview of E. J. Dionne, Hewitt said this:

HH: Now birtherism is crazy, as is the assertion that President Obama is a Muslim. But I have never heard a single high-profile conservative pundit, or analyst, or political figure say either of those things has a shred of credibility. Have you, E.J?

Joseph Farah of World Net Daily is clearly a high-profile conservative pundit and he's been promoting birtherism for some time now. Perhaps his biggest single platform for this nonsense was the Tea Party Convention last February.

PALIN WAS INVOLVED IN HANNITY'S MOSQUE

I haven't found a good timeline of how the Noise Machine created this "outragte" but thanks to TPM, I learned that Sarah Palin began on July 18th, at least on her Twitter account:

1. Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing Sunday, July 18, 2010 11:57:24 AM via Twitter for BlackBerry®
2. Peaceful New Yorkers, pls refute the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Towers site is too raw, too real Sunday, July 18, 2010 10:58:38 AM via Twitter for BlackBerry®

ANOTHER REASON WE CAN'T LET THE GOP HAVE THE KEYS

The GOP puts freaks like Frank Gaffney in positions of power:

In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving nuclear forces, arms control and U.S.-European defense relations. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO's senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.

From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.

RIGHTWING BOOK PROMOTION

Yesterday, Fats Limbaugh promoted the new "Dems are Evul" book by his brother David and Hannity gave David two segments to promote it.

UPDATE: Tonight, David is pimping his book on Foamer Levin's radio show.

WHO'S DRIVING THE HANNITY'S MOSQUE OUTRAGE?

It's the usual suspects...



This graph is from PEJ and PEJ had this about one of the gasbags:

Hannity quickly saw the issue in a political context. “By commenting on this controversial topic, President Obama has, perhaps unintentionally, made this a pivotal mid-term issue and vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this November are doing their best to distance themselves from the White House,” Hannity said.

He played a tape of a leader of Hamas, a political movement that the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization, also supporting the mosque project. With an on-screen label reading “Ground Zero mosque,” Hannity then interviewed several opponents of the plan, including former GOP presidential candidate John McCain, and Debra Burlingame, the sister of the pilot of the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

“It felt like a kick to the stomach,” Burlingame said of the proposal.

A PIECE OF THE NOISE MACHINE

The Koch brothers are much more influential than I thought. In addition to creating the Cato Institute and the Mercatus Center, they have strong ties to media wingnuts:

In January, 2008, Charles Koch wrote in his company newsletter that America could be on the verge of “the greatest loss of liberty and prosperity since the 1930s.” That October, Americans for Prosperity held a conference of conservative operatives at a Marriott hotel outside Washington. Erick Erickson, the editor-in-chief of the conservative blog RedState.com, took the lectern, thanked David Koch, and vowed to “unite and fight . . . the armies of the left!” Soon after Obama assumed office, Americans for Prosperity launched “Porkulus” rallies against Obama’s stimulus-spending measures. Then the Mercatus Center released a report claiming that stimulus funds had been directed disproportionately toward Democratic districts; eventually, the author was forced to correct the report, but not before Rush Limbaugh, citing the paper, had labelled Obama’s program “a slush fund,” and Fox News and other conservative outlets had echoed the sentiment. (Phil Kerpen, the vice-president for policy at Americans for Prosperity, is a contributor to the Fox News Web site. Another officer at Americans for Prosperity, Walter Williams, often guest-hosts for Limbaugh.)

THE KOCH BROTHERS & THE RADIO GASBAGS

(h/t Mediaite)

I noted before the close connection between the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)and major rightwing radio gasbags and thanx to Jane Mayer in the New Yorker, I learn that the Koch brothers fund the NCPA.

500,000 DEAD CHILDREN IS ONLY A TALKING POINT FOR CONSERVATIVES

A few years ago, conservatives used to attack Democrats and liberals for the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children caused by the UN sanctions. They even quoted former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.

--60 Minutes (5/12/96)

Now that Imam Rauf has made the exact same accusation, HE'S the villain.

MOSTLY IDLE CURIOSITY

I've been interested in our (human) pre-history since I stumbled across a book combining neolithic history with biblical history. Along the way, I came across what my be the oldest temple site in the world, Goebekli Tepe in Turkey,



The site...



may have been started as early as 10,000 BC and poses a problem for the traditional explanation of the rise of religion:

Before the discovery of Göbekli Tepe, archaeologists believed that societies in the early Neolithic were organized into small bands of hunter-gatherers and that the first complex religious practices were developed by groups that had already mastered agriculture. Scholars thought that the earliest monumental architecture was possible only after agriculture provided Neolithic people with food surpluses, freeing them from a constant focus on day-to-day survival. A site of unbelievable artistry and intricate detail, Göbekli Tepe has turned this theory on its head.

Here are pictures of two of the megaliths:

THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING

(h/t Scott Horton at Antiwar.com)

Chris Floyd found this little gem in an LA Times story:

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the newly appointed head of the international forces in the country, has hired two experts known for their strong emphasis on fighting corruption, Frederick Kagan and Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster.

Kagan is a neo-con war monger and should not have ANY influence in government.

PAMELA GELLER LIES AGAIN

In a preposterous effort to put some distance between herself and the harassment by Hannity's Mosque protesters, she wrote:

I have no idea what this rally is.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Tammy Bruce no longer has a broadcast radio show but her extremist opinions still turn up on Memeoradum:

SUNDAYS WITH BILLY CUNNINGHAM

His show is a nice peek into the World Nut Daily wing of the GOP. Tonight he repeated his claim that Pres. Obama was a Muslim and has lied to the American people about that. Thanx to John Cole at Ballon Juice, I learned that Juan Cole at Informed Comment gave us the relevant facts:

Barack Obama never accepted or practiced Islam as an adult (which would be age 15 in Islamic law) and therefore according to classical Islamic jurisprudence cannot be an apostate.

PROTESTS IN LOWER MANHATTAN

I've read the AP, REUTERS and AFP accounts and this quote from the AP version explains why the wimgers are so upset:

Steve Ayling, a 40-year-old Brooklyn plumber who carried his sign to a dry spot by an office building, said the people behind the mosque project are "the same people who took down the twin towers."

This is the ignorance promoted by rightwing media gasbags.

THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS NOT MY FRIEND

At least in this case. Ann Coulter says Joseph Farah, the WND crowd and the Birthers are not only not conservative, they are "fake Christians."