Month: August 2010

Teabag Boomers

by digby

Amanda is righteously pissed off at this sanctimonious boomer twit railing against “kids today” for refusing to grow up and be adults in their 20s as she apparently did. As I tweeted her, even when we baby boomers were young there were always these throwbacks lecturing people their own age about how “irresponsible” we all were for not getting our MRS degree and failing to start measuring the drapes for Barbie’s dream house the day we graduated from college. They were already 25 years out of date at the time.

Nobody with any sense listened to them then and nobody should listen to them now, for the same reasons. Not only were they uptight, conservative creeps, many of them were also privileged princes and princesses who had plenty of money and lots of support from Mommy and Daddy in the not-so-economically vibrant 70s — not all that different from today. (And of the working class wingnut types, many were screwed economically by those times and blamed the social revolution — also not all that different from today.) The rest of us rejected everything the bourgeois prattlers were peddling and never looked back.

These are the teabaggers. They’ve always been assholes. And as with all baby boomers, there are unfortunately a whole bunch of them. Keep in mind, however, that they’ve also always been completely out of step with their times, they never had a clue, and no one cool and interesting ever liked them. It’s why these they are having a gray and ugly “Woodstock” in their 50s and 60s where instead of warning them not to take the brown acid, the organizers have to remind them all to take their purple pills.

Pity them. Young or old, they’ve never had a day of sheer, joyful fun in their sad, unimaginative lives.

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At What Point Do People Call This What It Is?

by digby

Karoli at C&L highlights yet another delightful Tea Party candidate, this time it’s the one who’s running for Governor of New York:

[C]onsider teabagger racist candidate Carl Paladino’s latest proposal:

Paladino laid out several plans that included converting underused state prisons into centers that would house welfare recipients. There, they would do work for the state — “military service, in some cases park service, in other cases public works service,” he said — while prison guards would be retrained to work as counselors. “Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we’ll teach people how to earn their check. We’ll teach them personal hygiene … the personal things they don’t get when they come from dysfunctional homes,” Paladino said.

Of course, this is the same guy that thinks bestiality and racist photoshop jobs are fun to email other people, and has no problem using eminent domain to stop the mosque.

You can see his awesome campaign ad at the link.

Think about what he’s saying. He wants to put “welfare queens” into labor camps, and have prison guards teach them “personal hygiene.” I don’t know what sort of image that conjures up for you, but it sure as hell sounds familiar to me.

Is this really just some small government libertarians who are unhappy with the stimulus program and high taxes? Really?

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Karen Hughes’s Big Feet

by digby

Here’s the nonsense headline of the week:

Karen Hughes: Move the New York City mosque, as a sign of unity

Nothing says unity better than a raging mob running somebody out of town on a rail. But then Hughes has always had a somewhat unique worldview.

Remember when we routinely sent morons around the world to lecture to the peasants?

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Idiot Abroad

Ezra Klein once asked something to the effect of “why would Bush send a seven foot tall white woman to aid our public face in the Islamic world?” It’s a good question, but more importantly, why would you send a seven foot tall white woman who speaks like a 6th grader to aid our public face in the middle east and convince the entire world that all Americans are as dim-witted as the president and that Osama bin Laden is right?

Sid Bumenthal puts it like this:

This week, Hughes embarked on her first trip as undersecretary. Her initial statement resembled an elementary school presentation: “You might want to know why the countries. Egypt is of course the most populous Arab country … Saudi Arabia is our second stop. It’s obviously an important place in Islam and the keeper of its two holiest sites … Turkey is also a country that encompasses people of many different backgrounds and beliefs, yet has the — is proud of the saying that ‘all are Turks.'”

Hughes appeared to be one of the pilgrims satirized by Mark Twain in his 1869 book, “Innocents Abroad,” about his trip on “The Grand Holy Land Pleasure Excursion.” “None of us had ever been anywhere before; we all hailed from the interior; travel was a wild novelty to us … We always took care to make it understood that we were Americans — Americans!”

If you would like to read some commentary that makes George W. Bush sound downright erudite, check out Hughes’ entire statement:

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: We’re going to be visiting, as you know, three unique and very important countries, three countries we have a very strong partnership with one of them. We also face very significant public diplomacy challenges in one of them. One of my missions is to go to listen. I hope to listen, to seek to understand, to show respect. Listening is a two way street, and so I hope that those people I meet will also return that open spirit and be willing to listen. I’m going to take a lot of questions, I’m going to participate in a lot of give and take and I hope they’ll be willing to listen to my discussion (inaudible).

[…]

I just wanted to talk a little bit to answer your questions about, kind of, my approach. As I said I view this trip as the beginning of a new dialogue that is very much people driven — public diplomacy is people-driven and it’s policy driven, because our policies affect people’s lives. I don’t see this as a matter of opinion polls or public relations, I see this as a matter of policy. That’s really what drew me to public service in the first place. When I first decided to leave reporting and go to the political process it was because I realized that the decisions made in the political process made a very real difference peoples lives. So when I talk about people I’m talking about policies, I’m talking about our policies and the impact they have on people. I think that’s what we’ve got to focus on here. I also — I go as an official of the United States government, but I’m also a mom, a working mom, and so I hope that I could help, in some places, put a human face on America’s public policy.

[…]

… just one of the points that we’re going to make as we meet with people is, is talk about our American story and how it’s a collective story that’s written by individuals. We all have unique stories to tell. My own background as a granddaughter of a Pennsylvania coal miner and a Kentucky railroad worker. Dina, of course came here from Egypt, and we’re very proud that our first stop in Egypt we’re going to be taking someone who I think Egypt is very proud of Dina, the fact that she emigrated from Egypt as a young child, and has risen to the highest levels of our American government, and that’s a wonderful American story.

Karima has her own American story. She is the daughter of a Palestinian father and a German mother and I’m sure that Bill has some part of an American story, although I haven’t heard it yet (laughter) I’m sure he will be glad to share it with you. He currently lives in Wisconsin and I don’t know what his family roots are.

When she isn’t talking about being a mom, which she seems to think is a unique and important qualification for being the voice of American public diplomacy, she’s actually advancing jihad. From the Blumenthal piece:

Hughes’ simple, sincere and unadorned language is pellucid in revealing the administration’s inner mind. Her ideas on terrorism and its solution are straightforward. “Terrorists,” she said in Egypt at the start of her trip, “their policies force young people, other people’s daughters and sons, to strap on bombs and blow themselves up.” Somehow, magically, these evildoers coerce the young to commit suicide. If only they would understand us, the tensions would dissolve. “Many people around the world do not understand the important role that faith plays in Americans’ lives,” she said. When an Egyptian opposition leader inquired why President Bush mentions God in his speeches, she asked him “whether he was aware that previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our Constitution cites ‘one nation under God.’ He said, ‘Well, never mind.'”

With these well-meaning arguments, Hughes has provided the exact proof for what Osama bin Laden has claimed about American motives. “It is stunning … the extent [to which] Hughes is helping bin Laden,” Robert Pape told me. Pape, a University of Chicago political scientist who has conducted the most extensive research into the backgrounds and motives of suicide terrorists, is the author of “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism,” and recently briefed the Pentagon and the National Counterterrorism Center. “If you set out to help bin Laden,” he said, “you could not have done it better than Hughes.”

If we’re lucky maybe this time she can inspire some homegrown right wing terrorism with her homespun gibberish. She’s just that good.

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Breaking In The Wind

by digby

Remember when conservatives used to make fun of liberals for having protests? Like this, for instance:

No more. They are living out their angry Woodstock fantasy pretty much everywhere these days. (Yes, Beck’s calling his “Triumph of the Wingnut” event Woodstock too.) They are hoping for a bunch of liberals to spray them with fire hoses and scream at them on the way to church just so they can really have their midlife crisis in style.

They’re really taking to the protest culture.And it’s happening in the most unlikely places:

Approximately 65 supporters of Republican nominee Todd Lally’s bid the 3rd District [Kentucky] seat in Congress protested outside The Courier-Journal building for an hour Saturday morning, saying the newspaper is not being fair to the candidate.

“We want to protest the non-coverage of the 3rd District race,” said Kevin Dicken, 50, of Fern Creek, a volunteer with the Lally campaign. Lally “represents what I think this country needs” on issues such as health care, the economy and abortion.

The protesters contended the newspaper’s coverage is biased toward Democrats, and, in 3rd District race in particular, has written eight stories about the Democratic incumbent, John Yarmuth, for every story it has written about Lally.

“They do not cover all candidates fairly,” said Sue Weese, 65, of Louisville, another campaign volunteer.

A protestor standing nearby held a sign that read: CJ: Cover all ideas on all political issues.

An e-mail forwarded to the newspaper about the rally at 9 a.m. Saturday said the event was not sponsored by Lally for Congress. Some of those gathered Saturday said the protest was organized by campaign volunteers.

Protesters also said they were upset the C-J did not cover two events:

* A handout said the paper “ignored invitations to interview” U.S. Rep. John Boehner, minority leader of the House of Representatives, during a stop in Louisville for a private Lally fund-raiser on Aug. 4.

The Courier-Journal, however, had requested an interview with Boehner, but was told by Lally’s campaign he would not be available after the event, which was closed to the press.

They’re just upset about everything these days and they’re taking it to the streets!

The paper explained that they strive to be “fair and balanced” but that they can’t cover every campaign event. (If they’re like most members of the press, they’ll immediately assign a full time reporter to the GOP campaigns now that a bunch of angry, middle aged white people have expressed their inner Abby Hoffman. So you can’t say it isn’t effective.)

I’m waiting for the Joseph Kraft of today to have the blinding insight that these people are not mainstream and that it’s the working and middle class moderate liberal who represents the silent majority. I suppose the first question is, who’s the next Joseph Kraft/David Broder?

Update: Actually, the right wing march isn’t really new at all. As Attaturk pointed out

[I]n the good ol’ days of Washington civil rights rallies the original “owners” knew how to march!

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Randy Bodice Rippers

by digby

Roy Edroso has a tour de farce in Alternet called 10 Shameless Right-Wing Tributes to Ayn Rand That Should Make Any Sane Person Blush:

My favorite:

Sarah Palin as Dagny Taggart

If modern life has taught us anything, it’s that science can always make things worse. What if, for example, we were — by grafting — able to create a monstrous hybrid of Ayn Rand and the very worst of American conservatism?

“This is a real life Dagny Taggart who built herself up from nothing,” writes Living Jersey. He is speaking of…Sarah Palin.

“[Palin] is an American original,” sighs View from the Right, “almost like, say, an Ayn Rand heroine, Dagny Taggart, the beautiful young woman who runs a transcontinental railroad.” (Actually Palin only ran a car wash — and badly — but you get the idea.)

“I speculated a while back that Sarah Palin was positioning herself as a new Rush Limbaugh,” says Amused Cynic in “Sarah Palin as Dagny Taggart,” “probably not a radio personality, but something like Rush, a rallying point, a Joan of Arc sort of figure, Neo in The Matrix.” “Sarah Palin sounds like Dagny Taggart,” said Ben Barrack.

Commenters are all over it: “BTW, does anyone else see vague similarities between Palin and Dagny Taggart?” “Sarah shares a lot of the plainspoken, free market tenets of Dagny Taggart.” “…she is the embodiment of Dagny Taggart.” “Sarah Palin is Dagny Taggart incarnate,” etc.

Despite her self-evident tendency to make a virtue of selfishness, some Randroids don’t see the relevance of the early-retiring former governor to Objectivism. (“Interest any which way in Sarah Palin, from my perspective, is the litmus test for one’s irrelevance to me and my life,” sniffs Save The Humans.) But that hardly matters. For the new conservative Randians, Palin and Rand share the one key attribute that trumps everything else — they can both pull a crowd in election season. And as far as philosophy goes, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” isn’t exactly Ayn Rand, but — for both the purists and the political fixers — it’s close enough.

I think even Ayn Rand would blush at that crapola and that’s saying something.

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Saturday Night At The Movies

Nice sweaters: Adieu to TV’s At the Movies

By Dennis Hartley

Being a renowned film critic in the blogosphere, I am often stopped by strangers on the street; and if there is one question that I am inevitably going to be asked, it is this one:

“Sir? Would you know if the Route 27 bus comes by here more than once an hour?”

OK. Maybe after that question, the, erm, one I am most frequently asked is this:

“So, what ever made you think other people might care about your opinions on cinema?”

Well, if you must pry (“I must! I must!”), there are a couple pop cultural touchstones that nudged me toward upgrading from Annoying Movie Geek Who Never Shuts Up at Parties to Aspiring Film Critic. First, there was this classic 1985 panel by Matt Groening:

Depending on your screen size, the graphics may not be 100% legible, but here’s the gist:

Are you qualified to be a clever film critic?

· Did you have no friends as a child?
· Do you salivate at the smell of stale popcorn?
· Do you thrill at the prospect of spending a career writing in-depth analyses of movies aimed at subliterate 15-year-olds?
· Do you mind being loathed for your opinions?

The four types of clever film critics: Which do you aspire to be?

· Academic type: boring, unreadable
· Serious type: reveals endings
· Daily type: nice plot summaries
· TV clown: nice sweaters

For advanced clever film critics only:

Can you use “mise-en-scène” in a review that anyone will finish reading?

“Hey,” I thought to myself, after passing a substantial amount of milk and Cocoa Puffs through my nose, “I could do that!” Unfortunately, however, the internet hadn’t quite taken off yet, and if you wanted to be a clever film critic you still had to try to get a job at like, an actual newspaper or something. Besides, I was too busy at the time chasing a broadcasting career (funnily enough, after 35 years in the business, I’m still “chasing” it).

All kidding aside, there was a more significant touchstone for me, which preceded Groening’s satirical yet weirdly empowering observations. Back in the late 70s, I was living in Fairbanks, Alaska. This was not the ideal environment for an obsessive movie buff. At the time, there were only two single-screen movie theaters in town. To add insult to injury, we were usually several months behind the Lower 48 on “first-run” features (it took us nearly a year to get Star Wars, if I recall). And keep in mind, there was no cable service in the market, and the video stores were a still a few years down the road as well. There were occasional screenings of midnight movies at the University of Alaska, and the odd B-movie gem might pop up on late night TV, but that was about it. Sometimes, I’d gather up a coterie of my fellow culture vulture pals for the 260 mile drive to Anchorage, where they had more theatres (and were slightly ahead of us in line to get first run prints).

Consequently, due to the lack of venues, I was reading more about movies, than actually watching them. I remember poring over back issues of The New Yorker at the public library, soaking up Penelope Gilliat and Pauline Kael, and thinking they had a pretty cool gig; but it seemed like it was requisite to actually live in NYC (or L.A.) to be taken seriously as a film critic (most of the films they reviewed didn’t make it out to the sticks).

Then, in 1978, our local PBS television affiliate began carrying a bi-weekly 30-minute program called Sneak Previews. Now here was something kind of interesting; a couple of guys (kind of scruffy lookin’) casually bantering about current films-who actually seemed to know their shit. You might even think they were professional movie critics…which it turned out they were. In fact, they were professional rivals; Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel wrote for competing Chicago dailies, the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune (respectively). This underlying tension between the pair was always bubbling just under the surface, but imbued the show with an interesting dynamic (especially when they disagreed on a film). Still, I always got a vibe that they treated each other with respect (if begrudging at times) and most importantly, treated the viewers with respect as well. You never felt like they were talking above your head, like some of the traditional film essayists who were “boring, unreadable” (as Matt Groening describes the “academic types” in his panel above). Nor did they condescend, either. This is where I part ways with Groening; his “TV clowns” reference above is clearly directed at Siskel & Ebert, but I would reserve that description for someone more along the lines of the perennially ridiculous Gene Shalit. One thing these two did share was an obvious and genuine love and respect for the art of cinema; and long before the advent of the internet, I think they were instrumental in razing the ivory towers and demystifying the art of film criticism (especially for culturally starved yahoos like me, living on the frozen tundra).

Last weekend, with minimal fanfare, A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, the most recent hosts of At the Movies (the long-running weekly syndicated review show that Siskel & Ebert created after they parted ways with the producers of Sneak Previews back in 1982) each gave their farewell soliloquy and quietly closed up the balcony for good. That’s too bad, because during their relatively brief tenure, Scott and Phillips brought an erudite and thoughtful discourse to the show that had been sorely lacking for some time. To be sure, the program went through a lot of personnel changes over the years, and not always for the best (would it be tacky to mention Ben Lyons by name?). Although Ebert remained a stalwart fixture until health issues precipitated his 2006 departure, I thought that the show never quite recovered from the absence of Siskel (who died in 1999). As Scott and Phillips rolled a collage of vintage Siskel & Ebert clips, I found myself unexpectedly choking up a little. Granted, the model pioneered by Siskel and Ebert may now seem staid and hoary in the era of Rotten Tomatoes, but its historical importance and effect on some of us “of a certain age” cannot be overlooked. So Roger, should you happen to be reading this (not likely, but I can dream, can’t I?) and to Gene, wherever you may be, somewhere out there in the ether: FWIW, I humbly offer my two enthusiastic thumbs up.

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Good Arizona, Bad Arizona

by digby

Over at Down With Tyranny, Arizona resident Doug Kahn unveils Blue America’s latest ad. This one’s for Randy Parraz, running against tepid, timorous Rodney Glassman in next week’s Democratic primary for the US Senate:

Doug writes:

Randy’s not reticent about pointing out that Rodney is a hypocrite, not a real Democrat. It’s easy to make contrasts, which Randy did in the four debates; having principles tends to give you the self-confidence to tell the truth. The other Democrats around here are busy trying to look like benevolent Republicans; so when Randy talks about how he spoke up against Joe Arpaio at Maricopa County Supervisors’ meetings in 2008 (and got arrested for it) he stands out. When he says it’s past time for complete equality for LGBT people, no exceptions, he looks like the leader people around here need. It’s fairly simple, looking good here; just have the gumption to tell the truth.

This from the Daily Star about Glassman running away from important issues:

Democrat Rodney Glassman has somehow managed to avoid a yes-or-no answer on whether he supports gay marriage, which has come up at debates between the four candidates vying for the seat. About all he’ll say is he supports equality.

If you’re unfamiliar with the race: Ravishing Rodney, the Denatured Boy, is a spoiled, immature rich kid from Fresno, California, who moved to Arizona and became a Democrat because it’s fairly cheap to buy elections here. He promised to personally finance his campaign with millions of dollars in family money, and early on locked up the endorsements of the (clueless) Democratic establishment. Since then he’s convinced everyone who has come in contact with him that he’s one of the prime shitheads in Arizona politics, and we’re talking about the home state of some fabulous wankers.

For instance, remember the guy with the gun strapped to his leg outside an Obama event in 2009? He’s really from Scottsdale.

Here’s a sign carried by 3 guys protesting outside the Phoenix New Times, a good place to research real news about all that’s right wing in the Inferno State. (Not because they’re wingnutty, but because they agree it’s important to ridicule the idiots among us.)

Read on for more of the adventures of Rodney and Randy.

Rodney Glassman really is a wanker. He’s better than John McCain and JD Hayworth, but who isn’t? Randy Parraz is a real progressive and we like to support real progressives.

We’ll see on Tuesday how this comes out. You never know what Arizona’s going to do.

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Taser Death Ruled A Homicide

by digby

Despite the fact that there seems to be a taser death a day (like this latest one from Ann Arbor) in the United States, this is something you very rarely see:

The Denver coroner has ruled that the July 9 death of an inmate at the new jail was the result of homicide.

Marvin Booker was being processed on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia when he got into a scuffle with jail deputies. He was shocked with a Taser device, placed in a chokehold and held to the floor as jail deputies piled on top.

Other inmates said Booker, 56, who was listed as 175 pounds in Denver court records but was actually 5-foot-5 and 135 pounds, was then carried to the holding cell at the Van Cise-Simonet Detention Facility and dropped face first. He never recovered.

The coroner’s finding means simply that another human being caused Booker’s death, rather than from natural causes, suicide or an accident. It is not the coroner’s role to determine who might have caused the death or whether the homicide was justifiable.

The coroner ruled Booker’s death was caused by “cardiorespiratory arrest during physical restraint.”

[…]

He also said the National Institute of Corrections will conduct an independent review of Denver’s use-of-force policies.

The Denver Sheriff Department is conducting a separate review to determine whether the five violated any of Denver’s restraint policies and if new policies and procedures are needed.

Now why would they do that? If a citizen doesn’t know that he is likely to be killed in the police station by asphyxiation and electrocution for failing to immediately follow a police officers order, then he deserves to die. This is America.

You can’t do something like this and expect to live through it:

At least three videos captured the struggle, but none of them has been released while the investigation is underway.

In a news conference, Mayor John Hickenlooper said he has not seen the videos.

The coroner’s report describes what is on the video, which confirms inmates’ accounts of the scuffle that began after a deputy grabbed Booker’s arm to lead him to the holding cell and he swung his arm to shake her off.

“The booking deputy was joined by three other officers who forced the decedent first to a chair, and then face down on the floor. Two officers struggled to cuff his hands behind his back; another tried to control his legs; a fourth lay across his upper back and applied a carotid ‘sleeper’ hold around his neck.

“The decedent continued to resist, and the officer applying the neck hold requested a Taser. A fifth officer applied the Taser to his leg and discharged it for 8 seconds. The decedent ceased resisting shortly after the use of the Taser.”

The sleeper hold was applied to him for two minutes and 30 seconds, but deputies said it was released intermittently to check whether Booker was still resisting.

Wilson said that such holds are permissible under jail policy, but all deputy actions will be reviewed based on the unique circumstances of this case.

After Booker was placed face down in the holding cell, a deputy remained on his back for another 90 seconds to two minutes.

A short time later, another deputy saw he was not breathing and began CPR.

Booker, who had a long but largely misdemeanor criminal history, had cocaine in his bloodstream, the autopsy found, but not at levels that would have been toxic.

It’s hard to know in this situation whether they just smothered the man or electrocuted him and smothered him. But either way, no one can deny that wanting to retrieve your shoes before you go into a jail cell is reason enough for you to be killed. It’s the price we pay for our freedoms.

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Who’s Your Daddy?

by digby

I think everyone but the oligarchs recognize that in the age of Citizens United, we have some serious problem confronting our battered democracy. This illustrates it pretty obviously:

MSNBC rejected a TV ad calling for a boycott of Target Corp. after the retail giant made a political donation in Minnesota, continuing the controversy over corporate involvement in elections.

MSNBC spokeswoman Alana Russo said Thursday that the commercial submitted by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org violates its advertising policy by attacking an individual business directly. The ad features Target’s bullseye logo and accuses the chain of trying to buy elections.

MoveOn executive director Justin Ruben said the rejection was “the height of hypocrisy” and accused MSNBC and its corporate parent, General Electric Co., of trying to protect Target from consumer anger.

This could get very interesting as corporations begin to exercise their inalienable first amendment rights as their Creator intended all persons to do. Unfortunately since the methods by which political messages are disseminated are also owned by corporations, it’s going to be complicated by these corporate persons protecting “their own kind” because these corporate persons are what feed the corporate family. I suspect that before long, they will become the new “values voters.”

But this isn’t the only insidious thing happening in the corporate media. Here’s a very disturbing story of a reporter being fired for being rude to Bill O’Reilly. Or rather, a reporter who was an employee of Comcast being fired for being rude to Fox News employee Bill O’Reilly while the two networks were in contract negotiations. A lawsuit has been filed so maybe we’ll finally be able to sort out all this messy freedom of the press and right to free speech business. Or not. After all, the Roberts court is highly likely to find that corporations’ rights exceed that of the press or the individual. They are, after all, the exalted producers of everything, including our freedom. Right libertarians?

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Dazed And Confused

by digby

As you might imagine, I get on the radar of quite a few rightwingers and they love to send me their creepy email chain letters. Usually I just ignore it, but today I got one that I thought I’d share.

(Lafayette Hill, PA – 08/20/2010) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the first Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “Constitutional qualifications” to serve as President of the United States.

Berg said, “It is ‘no surprise’ that Obama/Soetoro has endorsed the fact that a Mosque should be built near ‘Ground Zero’ as Obama is a Muslim ! The school records from Indonesia that can be seen on our website obamacrimes.com indicate that Obama was adopted/acknowledged by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, and Obama’s ‘legal’ name became ‘Barry Soetoro’; his nationality became ‘Indonesia’; and his religion was ‘Islam’ = ‘Muslim’.”

Berg continued, “Since Obama/Soetoro became President, he has catered to the Muslim community; he has travelled around the world ‘apologizing’ for the United States; he bowed down to the Saudi King, the Japanese Emperor and the leader of China.”

Berg remarked, “One of my supporters sent me the following email – ‘Let me be very clear, they can build the Mosque at Ground Zero when they give us a permit to build a church in Mecca!’ and it really speaks to the overall issue. There are two [2] separate issues: 1) the rights guaranteed to us under the 1st Amendment to ‘our’ U.S. Constitution, that includes ‘freedom of religion’; and 2) on the other hand, where to build a certain Mosque. There is no question as to the freedom of religion, but where to build involves ‘sensitivity’ to the people in the area where one wants to build. The Muslims that plan to build the Mosque do not care about the ‘feelings’ of others; they just turned down the proposal from New York Governor David Paterson to meet with them and he would find State property for them to build their Mosque in another location in Manhattan.”

Berg continued, “I have received several emails with suggestions to place pig heads, pig blood and even whole pigs on the land set aside to build the Mosque near ground zero in New York. The reason for this suggestion is due to the Muslim Religion not allowing touching anything a pig has touched. I do not agree with the building of the Mosque near ground zero; however, interfering with a Religion is considered ‘Hate’ crimes and is very serious. ‘Hate’ crimes, which I do not believe in nor will I endorse, carry severe penalties, they are felonies and can be prosecuted State or Federally. One cannot attempt to just hold up one part of the U.S. Constitution and not the other parts. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees all ‘Freedom of Religion.’ Again, we do not agree with the building of a Mosque at ground zero; however, there are legal ways to oppose the building of this particular Mosque, without breaking our State and Federal Laws.”

Berg commented further regarding Obama by saying, “I believe Obama probably prays to his Muslim religion with others that he invites into the White House, and that is his right and privilege. Obama’s twenty [20] years with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago was questionable as to the sermons given and what Obama took from them. It is unbelievable that Obama did not know the Reverend Wright as others did. Also, according to sources, the Trinity United Church had many members who were and are Muslims.”

Berg continued, “The pressure is building to force Obama/Soetoro to admit that he is an Imposter, a Fraud, a Phony and his tale is the largest ‘Hoax’ in the history of the United States, over 234 years. Actually, the pressure is building because the overwhelming evidence is that Obama/Soetoro was born in Africa and more important is the fact that Obama was adopted/acknowledged by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, in Indonesia and Obama’s ‘legal’ name became ‘Barry Soetoro’ and there is no evidence that he has legally changed his name and therefore, every time he uses the name of ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ he has and is committing fraud.”

Berg concluded, “I am in the final days of planning for the largest March/Rally in Washington, DC in October 2010 to force Obama/Soetoro to step down from the Office of President, a position he is not Constitutionally eligible to be President as he is an ‘Usurper’ and he has led our country into a Constitutional crisis. When Obama/Soetoro steps down, all of the laws, appointments and programs including ObamaCare will end because all of them are ‘voidable’”.

Ok, that’s fairly standard wingnut birther bullshit. I only included it in its entirety because it showed the idiotic Newt Gingrich line about building churches in Mecca.

But just in case you think this is all about 9/11 and religious intolerance, think again. This email chain continued:

What Price Should Obama Pay If He Is Ineligible?

IF OBAMA WAS NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HE SHOULD BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE IN HAND CUFFS, TRIED FORTREASON AND THROWN IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR 50 YEARS…….HIS PRISON TIME EXPENSES WILL BE PAID FOR BY HIS OWN WEALTH.

HIS ENTIRE FAMILY IS EVICTED FROM THE WHITE HOUSE WITH NO LIFE TIME SECRET SERVICE, NO MEDICAL INSURANCE OR NO PENSION FOR MICHELE OBAMA OR HER FAMILY.

ALL LAWS THAT OBAMA PASSED MUST BE REVERSED. ALL MUSLIMS THAT OBAMA PLACED IN THE PENTAGON AND HOMELAND SECURITY WILL BE REMOVED! ALL DEMOCRATS THAT KNEW OBAMA WAS NOT ELIGIBLE, GO TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR 25 YEARS, SAME DEAL, THEY PAY FOR THEIR OWN STAY.

THE BLACK PANTHERS ARE INDICTED FOR BREAKING VOTING LAWS IN PHILADELPHIA, WHICH OBAMA AND HOLDER HAVE REFUSED TO DO. ALL CONTRACTS AND FUNDS TO ACORN ARE STOPPED AND REFUNDED. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS CANCELLED AFTER 50 YEARS.

What the Black Panthers, ACORN and affirmative action have to do with his “foreign birth” is unknown, but I think we’re all getting the drift.

But here’s the kicker. The person who sent this to me (and a whole bunch of apparent right wing organizations) put this at the top:

CHRISTIAN AMERICA MUST VOTE OUT ALL “NON” BELIEVERS!

ANYONE WHO QUESTIONS JEWS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC!……….BULL!!!

Subject: Re: Berg says it’s “no surprise” Obama was the Mosque at Ground Zero as Obama is a Muslim !

The Jew attorney Philip Berg is a deceiver who has failed the 9-11 truth movement in several court actions.

His characterization of Obama as muslim overlooks the core of power affiliations Obama has with Jews. Most of Obama’s cabinet, czars, half the Supreme Court and 30% of the Congress are Jews. The Federal Reserve and Treasury department are controlled by Jews. Obama’s first appointment to the White House was his chief of staff Rham Emanuel who served in the Israeli army.

The canard that Obama is deferential to muslims is a key element of deception to mislead people.

I agree that the evidence shows Obama not to be a natural born citizen. White people elected Obama because they figured out he is not black. He is also not muslim.

Commie? Yes. So were the Jews who promoted the Bolshevik revolution in Russia also commies.

Jews run everything–especially the propaganda machines (media) that keep us confused and fighting one another.

Uh … can we all agree that the right has lost the thread? They’re so confused and overwrought that they are starting to argue with one another over who to hate.

As I wrote yesterday, it’s a mistake to overthink this. This crapola is about bigotry, racism, intolerance and hate. The euphemism “liberal” isn’t enough to contain the emotion anymore so they have reverted to primitive bigotry. obviously this email is only representative of a minority, but the various strings of racism and xenophobia and religious intolerance that are binding the right together are all tied up so neatly that I thought it was worth sharing. It illustrates well the primitive impulses that characterize the far right in the Obama era.

Because of modern communication, this bile is readily accessible to millions of people and because they tend to live in a bubble of conservative media and like minded folks it very quickly gets absorbed into their discourse and starts to feel as if its acceptable and normal. This is where you can see that the years of listening to bombastic hatemongers like Limbaugh and conspiracy theorists like Beck prepared the ground for this braindead know-nothingism. If you listen to Rush, over time you must develop total contempt for everyone who isn’t like you. If you listen to Beck, you train your mind to believe anything, no matter how absurd. And then one day you open an email like this and it makes sense.

Beck’s Triumph of the Wingnut “I Have A Nightmare” rally should be very interesting in this respect. They obviously cannot let these freak flags fly on national television so they will undoubtedly couch it in standard 9/11 victimhood and the flag. But underneath it all is this writhing fear and hatred of the other. Even each other.

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