Hey, Teacher, Leave Them Bullies Alone!

Focus on the Family: pro-life, pro-USA, pro-bully.

G.B.C.T.

Glenn Beck's 828 Restore Honor Rally was held today on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and I have to give Beck props. He promised it would not be a political event, and though I didn't get to see the whole thing, Beck's speech certainly was not. And the man is a gifted speaker, with a great voice made for drama. I wound up tweeting the whole time I watched. Sure I was snarky but not too unkind, I hope. On the whole, as I tweeted:

So far, he hasn't said anything I disagree with. 

Yes it's because he avoided specifics as much as he possibly could. The speech was a call to action without saying anything about what action it was a call for. I am serious when I say that's not a problem. Anybody can come away from that speech motivated to do what they think is right, and most people are not bad, so it's a positive. I'd much rather people decide what's right for themselves than get it from Glenn Beck.

Still, there's this.

"On his television show on August 11, Beck claimed that "what is going to happen on 8-28 will be a miracle." Beck told his viewers that he is "filled with great hope because I remember, not what I've said to you, but what I know to be true. I've said for some time now, expect miracles." He also told his listeners: "Literally, expect to see miracles. Great, powerful miracles are coming."

So I have been reading the coverage of the event and in any sense of the word, no miracles happened. There were no strange weather events, no one was saved from incurable illness, no laws of physics were violated. Zip. JoDee Messina performed, which is nice, but it's no miracle.

A handful of people will conclude that Beck was lying to sucker people into coming to the rally. Not me. Obviously Glenn Beck thinks that there were miracles that took place at the rally. Is he insane? No. He simply expresses himself in a hyperbolic way. And this is why this rally was so valuable: It is the Rosetta Stone of Glenn Beck.

It is the Glenn Beck Calibration Tool.

Look at it this way.

Glenn Beck "828 Rally = Miracle"
Most people "828 Rally = Pleasant Inoffensive Rally"
Thus Miracle = Pleasant Inoffensive Rally

Now we can decode other Beck statements, knowing that they're not the insanity that they first appeared!

"This president, ...has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." ..."I'm not saying that he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. He has a -- this guy is, I believe, a racist." = The President doesn't like a particular white guy, I think it's Hannity.

"You will have to shoot me in the forehead before you take away my gun; you will have to shoot me in the forehead before I acquiesce and be silent." = You will have to ask me to give you my gun and be quiet, and then I will.

"We are a country that is headed towards socialism, totalitarianism beyond your wildest imagination." = Rich people may have to pay Reagan-era tax rates.

Armed with this tool I may finally start watching Beck, now that I know what a pussycat he really is.

Everything You Need To Know About Glenn Beck's Event

They intend to distract you from the real Lincoln Memorial with a picture of the Lincoln Memorial. Expect America's honor to be treated the same. (picture H/T Wonkette)

Don't Make Something Out of This

Even I think that this exchange, between Sharron Angle and a talk show host, does NOT indicate a belief that there are Muslim terrorists in Congress.

MANDERS: You know I talk often about this oath that they give and it is to defend the Constitution and all that. But one of the things that is very important to me in this oath that they give is that they will defend against foreign and domestic enemies.

ANGLE: Yes. Yes.

MANDERS: We have domestic enemies. We have home-born homegrown enemies in our system. And I for one think we have some of those enemies in the walls of the Senate and the Congress.

ANGLE: Yes. I think you're right, Bill.

Wonkette is making that claim today. Of course they're snark merchants, much in the same way that Angle is.  Difference is, maniacs with rifles don't take Wonkette seriously. Still, I want to be on record as saying that she clearly wasn't suggesting that if she is elected, she'll take those people out with sniper fire. It's just rhetoric.

I Have A Dream - A Really Scary Dream

There's no way I'm attending Glenn Beck's MLK-themed rally this weekend, unless I'm sleepwalking. Still I'm glad he's having it, because it throws the racial terror of conservatives into an especially sharp relief.

Much has been made of the fact that Martin Luther King's niece Aveda King is speaking at the event. I found it telling that a caller to Stephanie Miller's show yesterday thought she was called Coretta Scott King. They all look alike? Close enough? We report, you decide.

Just a reminder that Glenn Beck is so frightened of the black man that he thinks six of them can sway an election, and he fears a black dance troupe as if they were a private army. If there are white men at the rally with rifles, the right will consider them to be exercising their constitutional rights; if black men have clubs, they'll be wrestled to the ground and taken away.

Well, here's hoping for a best-case scenario - no politics (as promised) no hate speech, and a Martin Luther King like message of acceptance and brotherhood. Anyone takin' bets?

(By the way, about those sleep disorders - I actually had #2 once and it wasn't scary. It was hot.)

The Grand Canyon

Here's the Phoenix Fox Affiliate, talking about Arizona's big primary today:

The Secretary of State's Office is expecting 20-25 percent of voters to hit the polls Tuesday.

...Political analyst Mike O'Neil has his theory. "It has been a pretty nasty campaign in some of the races. There has been fighting back and forth and it may not be clear who is telling the truth. That may induce some voters to wait until the last minute -- there may be a little bit of a surge on Election Day -- but probably the biggest factor in suppressing turnout is the fact that the big enchiladas, the gubernatorial and senatorial nominations, appear to be fixed. And those are the marquee contests that tend to bring people in to vote."

Polls show that John McCain has a big lead over JD Hayworth, and the governor's race between Jan Brewer and Terry Goddard won't be addressed until the November election.

So, mighty Tea Party, how's that mobilization going?

Context!

Ron Futrell over at Big Journalism bemoans the slow news week anniversary rememberance of Katrina. How dare they bring this up every year, he cries! Nobody is talking about the way Obama spilled all that oil in the gulf!

Ron, baby, calm down... Remember the last couple of months, when you and everybody up was calling the BP spill Obama's Katrina? What better time than now to refresh people's memories, eh?

Stewards of the Economy

Worried about your investments? Want to solve the unemployment problem? Vote Republican!



No wonder Glenn Beck keeps advising you to buy gold!

Reminds you of this guy, from July:

KING: So, It’s a combination of being against what Obama is for, and also giving certain specifics of what we are for. Having said that, I don’t think we have to lay out a complete agenda, from top to bottom, because then we would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point trying to make that a campaign issue.

And why would it become a campaign issue? Because they want things America doesn't! America, hold out for specifics. You won't get 'em, but hold out anyway.

Correction: Do You Miss Me Now Edition

Earlier in a comment, I misattributed the following quote to Barack Obama. The correct attribution is below. Keepin' It Real Yo regrets the error.

"Islam is a vibrant faith. Millions of our fellow citizens are Muslim. We respect the faith. We honor its traditions. Our enemy does not. Our enemy doesn't follow the great traditions of Islam. They've hijacked a great religion."

Remarks by President George W. Bush on U.S. Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan
Presidential Hall, Dwight David Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C.
October 11, 2002

Okay, How About A Coptic Church?

H/T Wonkette for this little item, which goes back a few months but could have happened a few minutes ago.

Many protesters held American flags. Many carried signs.

"A Mosque at Ground Zero Spits on the Graves of 9/11," one placard proclaimed. Another sign depicted a toilet, with this message: "This is a Mosque. Do You Want it Built at Ground Zero?"

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

"Go home," several shouted from the crowd.

"Get out," others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called "The Way." Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

"I'm a Christian," Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

"I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here," a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

Misunderstanding aside, if we don't build SOMETHING on that smoking ruin, what do we have? A symbol of the terrorists victory over New York. I've asked WAMK, who speaks for all conservatives, to say what WOULD be appropriate to build on the site. It's clear that he either has no ideas or doesn't want to say "The Heritage Foundation" for fear that I'll ridicule him. Me, I think the RNC should put in a bid. They can own a building and rent out space to Fox News, Dr. Laura Schleshinger, and the Bush Library classified documents, which would take up most of the floors.

Oh hey, I know. A big church, and a synagogue. Something to conspicuously note the absense of a mosque. That'll send a message!

Sensitivity to Local People

Okay, the "ground zero" "mosque" shouldn't be built, not because it's illegal, not because all Muslims are terrorists, but because it offends the people. We should be sensitive, it is said, to the locals who feel strongly about the 9/11 attacks. It would upset them, regardless of the other considerations.

Isn't this an argument against Isreal?

It's Hard To Fill 3 Hours Of Radio A Day

And more to the point, why not? Did the Shinto religion bomb Pearl Harbor? Is it wrong to open Christian Churches in Poland, because Hitler was Christian?

ALL Christians Torture Heathens on the Rack

A very good reason for me to not weigh in on the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversey is I don't live in New York, and I'm not Muslim. Also come to think of it, it's a community center and not a mosque. And it's not proposed for ground zero.

So if I WERE going to weigh in about it, I'd probably say something like Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Corps said on CNN.

Patel: In America, we don't tell people based on their race or religion or ethnicity that they are free in this place, but not in that place --

Lemon: [interrupting] I understand that, but there's always context, Mr. Patel . . . this is an extraordinary circumstance. You understand that this is very heated. Many people lost their loved ones on 9/11 --

Patel: Including Muslim Americans who lost their loved ones. . . .

Lemon: Consider the context here. That's what I'm talking about.

Patel: I have to tell you that this seems a little like telling black people 50 years ago: you can sit anywhere on the bus you like - just not in the front.

Lemon: I think that's apples and oranges - I don't think that black people were behind a Terrorist plot to kill people and drive planes into a building. That's a completely different circumstance.

Patel: And American Muslims were not behind the terrorist plot either.

My ex-neice is Muslim. A remarkable young woman, brave and intelligent, and like almost all Muslims, not a terrorist. I am a white male, and I've never felt the need to enslave a black man. I know a lot of Republicans, and to my knowlege none of them has ever bombed an abortion clinic.

The Museum of Tolerance has come out against this community center, prompting Peter Gross on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me this last weekend to joke that they are building a Museum of Irony across the street. Point is, if we don't behave like adults here and stop knee-jerking around with the Muslim community, we'll never get them on our side where we need them. America has enough enemies without turning our friends into them also.

You Call That A Fence?

There was a rally this weekend at the border fence in Arizona. Tea Party activists showed up and lamented the way it was so easy to get into the US from Mexico.

“Instead of finding bugs in our beds, we’re finding home invaders,” said Tony Venuti, a Tucson radio host who attached a huge sign to the fence that told immigrants to head to Los Angeles, where they will be more welcome, and even offered directions for getting there.

Addressing the crowd, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who conducts controversial sweeps in immigrant neighborhoods in Phoenix and other parts of Maricopa County, said the problem could be solved if the Border Patrol was given permission to track down migrants on the Mexican side before they crossed.

“If I had all the national TV here, I’d probably climb the fence to show you how easy it is,” Sheriff Arpaio said from the rally’s stage, a flag with the words “Don’t Tread on Me” flapping behind him.

You might ask, why hold the rally at one of the few places where there is a border fence? Isn't that bad optics? You might ask that. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Okay, here's the problem. It's not a good enough fence even! Look at it. Is this going to keep immigrants out?

Of course not! We need something more like this:

Symbol of freedom for generations: The Berlin Wall.

Just In Case This Is An Actual Democrat, I'm Against Her

Some campaigns are designed to promote political aspirations; some are performance art. Perhaps in the later category, Rachel Brown, "Democrat" for "Massachusetts' 4th District."

"I know what to do, and I’m committed to fight to save people’s lives, by stopping the Wall St. bailout, and rebuilding our economy with a future-oriented Mars colonization program, CCC-style youth training program, and Glass-Steagall reorganization of the banking system. Join with me now to remove the failed leadership in Congress, and enter a generation to bring in a new era."

And here's an interesting update, from August 10th:

"As Michelle Obama gallivants around in Spain, one thinks of a delusional monarch fritting away one's moment on stage, while her husband meanwhile grits his teeth, closes out reality, and pushes himself further onto the stakes of popular despisal on behalf of his British controllers.



...The President is a narcissist and delusional, with a mentality like that of Hitler in the bunker before the capture of Berlin, or of Emperor Nero before suicide. He will not let reality intrude into his self-centered psychotic beliefs. Although he recently admitted that the posters of him have changed, that now they have “a little mustache,” his actions have not changed. He continues to claim historic legislative victories, even as 3.18 million Americans have left the employment rolls since he took office, and our cities are literally falling apart."

There is much crazy to sink your teeth into there, but I want to call your attention to the phrase, "his British controllers." Yes, Brown is claiming that Obama is a puppet of our arch-enemies, the lobsterbacks. This notion appears to have been incubated during the BP oil spill, and backed by the rock-solid public policy strategies of Lynden LaRouche.

I just want to be on the forefront of Democrats disowning their crazies. I'm actually a registered independent though, so let me say that I'm this woman don't belong to the indpendents either.

h/t Wonkette

Schroedinger's Pineapple

Been in the break room all day - will it disappear when no one sees it, like a bowl of lemons?

Greetings Wingnuts

This will serve as a post on my own blog and Where Are My Keys, where I have won a guest-writer position through sheer mathematical chance. My suspicion is that the contest was rigged because let's face it, why guest someone who will write what you already would?

There's no point in getting into too much detail here. After all, that's what the comments section is for. I do want to point one thing out, regarding that generic candidate poll that Madeline's Dad (nice guy, had a steak with him once) keeps trotting out: a recent poll that he himself cited yesterday includes this item:

Q14 - If the candidates for President in 2012 were Basil Marceaux and Barack Obama, who would you vote for?

Basil Marceaux...21%
Barack Obama...46%
Undecided ...33%

See, a generic Republican might win, but when you throw around specific names things change. And don't go dragging those Undecideds into this - they're not likely voters, are they. And probably if they knew who Basil Marceaux was, they'd go with Obama.
Okay, onward to bigger things. Look, as hard as it is to believe, the difference between Liberals and Conservatives is fairly minute. Neither category wants to destroy America. In fact both are bent on making America a better place. Seriously. Calling the people who disagree with you on public spending policy "traitor" or "Hitler" misses the point. It's stupid when it happens at Daily Kos and it's stupid when it happens here. If I call you guys on it rather than the far-left commenters, that's because it's depressing to confront your own crazies.

And when you reject people's ideas just because they classify themselves differently, you wind up throwing out a lot of good ideas. When the Stimulus passed, it may be the first time in modern history that Republicans were almost unanimously against a middle-class tax cut.

One more thing - the Tea Party is not your friend. It's going to split your vote the way Ross Perot did in '92. Only the 'baggers could produce a candidate that makes Harry Reid look good. Beware of them. If you are them, let me encourage you to speak out. It helps the moderates decide who to vote for.

Casting a Paul on Free Speech

Rand Paul apparently did some (at least one, anyway) crazy thing in college. I haven't brought it up because that's the whole point of college, and judging people by what they did twenty years ago is just stupid.

However, putting aside Rand Paul, this should interest you.

In our conversation, she elaborated that she doesn't want her name in print because she's a clinical psychologist who works with former members of the military, some of whom are Tea Partyers, and fears that complicating Paul's Senate run could put her in danger.

This is America, and freedom of speech means the freedom to publicly disagree with someone else's speech; it doesn't mean the freedom to shut people up through the threat of violence or job loss. That's what terrorists and mobsters do. And I bet right now there a dozen 'baggers narrowing down the list of psychologists to find who this woman is, and then the intimidation will really start. I'll only be proved right if they're successful, of course. I hope I'm not proven right.

There's More To Life Than Politics

Hat tip to Comics Curmudgeon. Nothing can explain today's Mark Trail:

The President is Cheating

Noticing Sarah Palin's tweet from a couple hours ago:

SarahPalinUSA What's the plan,man? Still no Obama/Dem's formal proposal telling Americans how they'll increase taxes in 4 mos, nor what they'll do w our $

As the good folk at Crooks and Liars point out, the plan is in the president's budget, Feb 2010.

Allow the Bush Tax Cuts for Households Earning More Than $250,000 to Expire. In the last Administration, those at the very top enjoyed large tax breaks and income gains while almost everyone else struggled and real income for the middle class declined. Our Nation cannot afford to continue these tax cuts, which is why the President supports allowing those tax cuts that affect families earning more than $250,000 a year to expire and committing these resources to reducing the deficit instead. This step will have no effect on the 98 percent of all households who make less than $250,000.

It looks like Palie just failed to do research, but in truth Obama read that tweet 2 hours ago and then WENT BACK IN TIME and added the clause, in the exact same way he went back in time to falsify his birth certificate. No wonder the right fears him so!

A House Divided

As the congressional election draws nearer, more stories about the Tea Party emerge. I feel compelled up front to point out that there really is no Tea Party, just a bunch of little groups under a big banner. And therefore, you can't assume they all stand for the same things. So this account of a meeting between some members and defeated GOP candidate Bob Inglis doesn't indicate the whole Tea Party is behind this notion.

I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there's a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life's earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, "What the heck are you talking about?" I'm trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, "You don't know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don't know this?!" And I said, "Please forgive me. I'm just ignorant of these things." And then of course, it turned into something about the Federal Reserve and the Bilderbergers and all that stuff. And now you have the feeling of anti-Semitism here coming in, mixing in. Wow.

The takeaway from this anecdote, as I say, is not that the Tea Party is nuts. It's that the Republican party is not nearly as well-positioned for the fall elections as they think they are. Inglis is a pretty conservative guy, and the Tea Party rep who won the primary - I can't imagine moderates voting for him, let alone Democrats. Or to be more blunt - people hate the Democrats nowadays but only the Tea Party votes for the Tea Party. The Republican voting bloc is split, and at least half of that split will dig their heels in the sand and refuse to vote rather than vote for a RINO.

I'm seeing low voter turnout and Democrats maintaining control of the houses. I know the pundits think I'm wrong on that, but pundits make money from drama.

Bikes = 1 World Government

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have."

"This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.

He added: "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to."

...Polls show that Maes, a Tea Party favorite, has pulled ahead of former Congressman Scott McInnis, the early frontrunner in the Aug. 10 primary for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Maes acknowledged that some might find his theories "kooky," but he said there are valid reasons to be worried.

"At first, I thought, 'Gosh, public transportation, what's wrong with that, and what's wrong with people parking their cars and riding their bikes? And what's wrong with incentives for green cars?' But if you do your homework and research, you realize ICLEI is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty," Maes said.

He said he's worried for Denver because "Mayor Hickenlooper is one of the greatest fans of this program."

"Some would argue this document that mayors have signed is contradictory to our own Constitution," Maes said.

Next up - walking! Are the Illuminati behind it? Is exercise socialism? Some would argue yes.

MD, when this guy wins you better not be caught at the gym!

Noted For Future Reference

A federal judge in San Francisco decided today that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, striking down Proposition 8, the voter approved ballot measure that banned same-sex unions.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said Proposition 8, passed by voters in November 2008, violated the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partners of their choice.. His ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

You know, there is a reason why it's difficult to write this law without causing constitutional trouble - it's against the constitution. I'm being premature of course - it will have to go up to the Supreme Court, and they might strike it down there or if they're weasels about it, kick it back down to the individual state level. Either way it's going to be really hard to uphold it and keep the constitution intact, 'cause the constitution don't roll like that homey.

It's President Obama's Birthday

Happy Birthday, Mr. President.

Something Else Sharron Angle Will Rather Not Discuss, When They Bring It Up

"And these programs that you mentioned -- that Obama has going with Reid and Pelosi pushing them forward -- are all entitlement programs built to make government our God. And that’s really what’s happening in this country is a violation of the First Commandment. We have become a country entrenched in idolatry, and that idolatry is the dependency upon our government. We’re supposed to depend upon God for our protection and our provision and for our daily bread, not for our government."

- 4/21/10, On TruNews Christian Radio

Why is the Government providing police and fire protection? Only GOD can save us from fire! Vote for me, I'll cut your taxes in half and your services to nothing! Oh and maybe you can take some of that money you're giving to the church and divert it to SharronAngle.com, so I can protect your church.

...And They're Not Talkin'

All right, now it's getting hilarious.

HOST: Do Republicans need to articulate what you would do in power, as opposed to simply campaigning against what the President’s done?

MCCONNELL: I think we clearly do need to make sure Americans know what we would do and we’re gonna make that announcement in late September so the voters will have an opp…

HOST: But you have an opportunity right here to spell it out.

MCCONNELL: Yeah but I think I won’t scoop myself. We’ll be making that announcement in late September.

"We have great ideas to get America out of the mess it's in! And you'll love them! And THAT'S WHY WE'RE HIDING THEM UNTIL A MONTH BEFORE THE ELECTIONS!" It's exactly the same strategy that movie studios use when they have a movie that they just know you'll love - refuse to screen it for critics before it opens.

NOW You're Talkin'

PALO ALTO (CALIFORNIA), Aug 3 (Bernama) -- Stanford engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way, that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil.

Stanford University news said that unlike photovoltaic technology currently used in solar panels - which becomes less efficient as the temperature rises - the new process excels at higher temperatures, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported Tuesday.

Now obviously this isn't a solution for all locations - Seattle wouldn't be contributing too much power to the grid for example, and until we come up with better wind farms, we'd be burning a lot of fossils during winter. But imagine the boon this would be to cheap energy on the whole! Getting just a fraction of your power load from the sun would result in lower costs, less environmental damage and less financing of terrorist states. Downside anyone? Anyone?

My Friends the Originalists

Last year (c. 2003), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced a bill that would change the Constitution to allow anyone who has lived in America for at least twenty years to run for the Presidency. Earlier this year, at a meeting of the National Governor's Association in Washington, Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying, "that there's no reason why not [to allow a person with at least twenty years United States residency to run for President]."

Well, they got THAT crazy notion outta their heads pretty fast! Okay, it took about 6 years.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told The Hill on Monday that Congress “ought to take a look at” changing the 14th Amendment, which gives the children of illegal immigrants a right to U.S. citizenship.

McConnell’s statement signals growing support within the GOP for the controversial idea, which has also recently been touted by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

I suspect this more recent attitude towards immigrants is the closer to the real Republican position. So what made them diverge in 2004? Right, a charismatic German leader. Just sayin.

Could we possibly work within the constitution rather than try change it every time we need votes? You guys are better than that.