Zorn Is A Genius—Glenn Beck is Ed Anger
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I got 50 percent right on the quiz.
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Blagojevich on Chelsea Handler
Softball interview.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyMTQNUdvqM[/youtube]
Republicans Slightly More Crazy than Democrats..
42 % of Republicans think Obama was not born in the United States
25 % of Dems are true Truthers thinking Bush actively allowed 9-11 to get the United States in a Middle East war.
19 % of Republicans think Obama is the Anti-Christ
14 % of Democrats think Bush is.
I discount the last question because some people may just answer as a flip question, but the first two numbers are staggering. It’s common for voters to be poorly informed, it’s not as common for such widespread conspiracy theories to be accepted.
I Recognize That Loon
Growing up in Central Illinois I ran into my share of John Bircher types–some in the family. This series on Glen Beck pretty much puts everything into focus.
What has Beck been pushing on his legions? “Leap,” first published in 1981, is a heavily illustrated and factually challenged attempt to explain American history through an unspoken lens of Mormon theology. As such, it is an early entry in the ongoing attempt by the religious right to rewrite history. Fundamentalists want to define the United States as a Christian nation rather than a secular republic, and recast the Founding Fathers as devout Christians guided by the Bible rather than deists inspired by French and English philosophers. “Leap” argues that the U.S. Constitution is a godly document above all else, based on natural law, and owes more to the Old and New Testaments than to the secular and radical spirit of the Enlightenment. It lists 28 fundamental beliefs — based on the sayings and writings of Moses, Jesus, Cicero, John Locke, Montesquieu and Adam Smith — that Skousen says have resulted in more God-directed progress than was achieved in the previous 5,000 years of every other civilization combined. The book reads exactly like what it was until Glenn Beck dragged it out of Mormon obscurity: a textbook full of aggressively selective quotations intended for conservative religious schools like Utah’s George Wythe University, where it has been part of the core freshman curriculum for decades (and where Beck spoke at this year’s annual fundraiser).
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In 1981, Skousen published “The 5,000 Year Leap,” the book for which, thanks to Beck, he is now best known. But it wasn’t that Skousen book that made the biggest headline in the 1980s. Toward the end of Reagan’s second term, Skousen became the center of a minor controversy when state legislators in California approved the official use of another of his books, the 1982 history text “The Making of America.” Besides bursting with factual errors, Skousen’s book characterized African-American children as “pickaninnies” and described American slave owners as the “worst victims” of the slavery system. Quoting the historian Fred Albert Shannon, “The Making of America” explained that “[slave] gangs in transit were usually a cheerful lot, though the presence of a number of the more vicious type sometimes made it necessary for them all to go in chains.”
Skousen spent the 1990s in semi-retirement. He spoke occasionally around the country and welcomed visiting politicians to his Salt Lake City home on Berkeley Street. His death in January 2006 was little noticed outside Mormon circles. If LDS members debated his legacy, it was in mostly hushed tones. But by then, he was already poised for a posthumous revival
How a bipolar crying loon has gained prominence in American conservatism based on beliefs that are batshit crazy is an interesting tale. It’s not that there aren’t other out there like him, it’s that for many years they were constrained to the Letters to the Editor in the Pantagraph.
Drag Queen Alleges Forgery
Oh sweet irony.
Birther attorney Orly Taitz tells TPMmuckraker she believes a letter sent by her now ex-client renouncing Taitz — in a case alleging that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery — may itself be a forgery. It’s worth noting that Taitz submitted as evidence in the original filing in the “birther soldier” case of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes a “Kenyan birth certificate” that is itself an obvious forgery.
In the e-mail to TPMmuckraker (read it in full below), Taitz claims she was acting like any attorney would by not seeking “additional consent” from her client before filing what she refers to as a “Motion for reconsideration.” It was actually an emergency request for stay of deployment — which seems like the kind of thing you’d want to consult an Iraq-bound client about.
The ultimate reality show would be the Surreal Life with her and fellow birther Alan Keyes.
It’s Hard To Be This Stupid
I’m finding the defund ACORN Act to be a great idea. Why?
SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL FUNDS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN INDICTED ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) Prohibitions- With respect to any covered organization, the following prohibitions apply:
(1) No Federal contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or any other form of agreement (including a memorandum of understanding) may be awarded to or entered into with the organization.
(2) No Federal funds in any other form may be provided to the organization.
(3) No Federal employee or contractor may promote in any way (including recommending to a person or referring to a person for any purpose) the organization.
(b) Covered Organization– In this section, the term `covered organization’ means any of the following:
(1) Any organization that has been indicted for a violation under any Federal or State law governing the financing of a campaign for election for public office or any law governing the administration of an election for public office, including a law relating to voter registration.
(2) Any organization that had its State corporate charter terminated due to its failure to comply with Federal or State lobbying disclosure requirements.
(3) Any organization that has filed a fraudulent form with any Federal or State regulatory agency.
(4) Any organization that–
(A) employs any applicable individual, in a permanent or temporary capacity;
(B) has under contract or retains any applicable individual; or
(C) has any applicable individual acting on the organization’s behalf or with the express or apparent authority of the organization….
(3) The term `applicable individual’ means an individual who has been indicted for a violation under Federal or State law relating to an election for Federal or State office.
This would exclude any just about ever government contract. KBR itself has been accused of submitting $13 Billion in fraudulent bills to the Pentagon. Any corporation that tried to cover up a pollutant release would be covered making GE pretty much unable to get any contracts. Blackwater? LOL–goodbye. But also Boeing and almost all defense contractors who ever have been caught having an employee submitting a padded bill.
Realistically this sort of legislation could never be practically implemented, but I think it raises some excellent issues regarding fraud and government contractors on a level far greater than ACORN which gets relative chicken feed from the federal government. This doesn’t mean ACORN shouldn’t be held accountable, it just makes the crusade against them look insane. Democrats ought to sign on as sponsors and see if the Republicans really want to follow through with it.
Thursday
The Blagorgeous goes on the Daily Show. His last appearance was pretty bad:
Drag Queens Blathering On A Bunch of Lies
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcChG5pRTOE[/youtube]
Of course, I don’t have a birth certificate from the hospital. I have one from Will County which is the legal one that is accorded full faith and credit by the Constitution. There’s a level of wingnuttery that continues to get into normal discussion that is remarkable.
Response to Tai(n)tz most recent filing
“It was deja vu all over again.”1
In her most recent tirade, Plaintiff’s counsel seeks
reconsideration of the Court’s order dismissing this action. Instead 2
of seriously addressing the substance of the Court’s order, counsel
repeats her political diatribe against the President, complains that
she did not have time to address dismissal of the action (although
she sought expedited consideration), accuses the undersigned of
treason, and maintains that “the United States District Courts in the
11th Circuit are subject to political pressure, external control, and
. . . subservience to the same illegitimate chain of command which
Plaintiff has previously protested.” (Pl.’s Emergency Req. for Stay
of Deployment 2.) This filing contemptuously ignores the Court’s
previous admonition that Plaintiff’s counsel discontinue her
illegitimate use of the federal judiciary to further her political
agenda. The Court finds that the claims and legal contentions
asserted in the present motion are not warranted by existing law and
that no reasonable basis exists to conclude that Plaintiff’s
arguments would be accepted as an extension, modification, or
reversal of existing law. Simply, put the motion is frivolous.
Moreover, the Court further finds that Plaintiff’s motion is being
presented for the improper purpose of using the federal judiciary as
a platform to espouse controversial political beliefs rather than as
a legitimate forum for hearing legal claims. Counsel’s conduct
violates Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and
sanctions are warranted. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion for
reconsideration (Doc. 15) is denied, and counsel for Plaintiff is
ordered to show cause why the Court should not impose a monetary
penalty of $10,000.00 upon Plaintiff’s counsel for her misconduct.
Counsel shall file her response to this show cause order within 14
days of today’s order.
The new Andy Martin.
Playboy Makes You Gay
According to Tom Coburn’s COS:
SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants.” You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.
Yes, and telling them they will go to hell will stop them from masturbating. Or that 10 % of them will lie about masturbating.