Month: October 2014

Avoiding Ebola

by digby

It’s hard to believe, but this is actually pretty good.  And it’s from Glenn Beck. The world is officially upside down now:

Meanwhile, CNN is practically screaming run fer yer life!

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It’s been 67 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color line and yet …

by digby

On Monday night, mostly white St. Louis Cardinals fans clashed with a group of mostly black protesters peacefully demanding justice for slain teenager Michael Brown…

At one point, an older white man starts yelling at the protesters, shouting, “That’s right! If they’d be working, we wouldn’t have this problem!” Then, the Cardinals fans begin chanting “Let’s go Cardinals!” which morphs into “Let’s go Darren!” referring to Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot Brown.

Later on in the video, a woman shouts, “We’re the ones who gave all y’all the freedoms that you have!” 

“We’re the ones who gave ya’ll the freedoms that you have…”

Pretty much says it all.

You can see the video here.

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Good journalism is nothing more than a cheap shot

by digby

Here’s Billo and Bernie gettin’ all chivalrous over criticisms of Andrea Tanataros’s ignorant bigotry:

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and his buddy Bernard Goldberg were none to happy with CNN’s Brian Stelter and his guest, Miles O’Brien for criticizing Fox’s coverage of the Ebola outbreak and their cohort Andrea Tantaros show said that West Africans might come to the U.S. infected with Ebola, and then go to a “witch doctor” instead of the hospital. Goldberg not only defended her, but doubled-down on the assertion as well.

O’Reilly called Stelter a “notorious cheap-shot artist,” while Goldberg cited comments months ago from a British Red Cross worker who said there are plenty of people in Sierra Leone who believe ebola is a punishment or “a result of witchcraft.” He said the reality is some African citizens are “backward people” who just don’t believe in modern science.

And so for Stelter and O’Brien to find something strange in what Tantaros said, Goldberg only had one thing to say: “Shame on Brian Stelter and Miles O’Brien. They have no idea how their liberalism affects and infects their journalism. Shame on them.”

This is what we’ve come to. Honestly, they will defend absolutely anything.

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Whitewash takes on a whole, new meaning
by Tom Sullivan

More analysis now of the recent attempt by Colorado conservatives to present students with a properly soft-focused American history. Their preference? To limit history curriculum to only those events that “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights.” And that do not “encourage or condone civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” (A unit on the Biblical underpinnings of the U.S. Constitution is sure to follow.)

It’s your basic, Lee Greenwood America. You won’t understand why the South seceded or what policies precipitated the Depression or that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, but at least you know you’re free.

Sean McElwee examines for Salon what freaks out conservatives about teaching unvarnished American history.

For one, the idea that the poor were not really better off in an idyllic past before there was a social safety net. Also, the idea that American foreign policy goals at times have been, shall we say, less than noble, and our actions less exceptional than our advertised ideals. And especially, “everything about slavery.” Why, as Dinesh D’Souza writes of slaves, “slavery appears such a relatively mild business that one begins to wonder why Frederick Douglass and so many other ever tried to escape.” McElwee writes

The Problem: Conservatives in the U.S. have a race problem, specifically that many of them believe that blacks are “primarily responsible for their own success or failure” and that government programs only get in the way. And conservative politicians tend to racialize welfare programs to decrease support for them. To believe that black Americans would have been better off without government intervention, you have to pretend history doesn’t matter.

[…]

[Furthermore] when slavery permeated society — the legal structure, culture, science — nothing was left untouched by racism and racial hierarchy. The conservative “I built this myself” mentality denies that most wealth is passed from generation to generation, and so is privilege. Erasing the memory of racial hierarchy allows conservatives and Americans to pretend that individual effort, rather than structural racism, is keeping black people down.

Should the conservative-led effort to sanitize American history succeed, whitewash will take on a whole, new meaning. Someone notify Webster’s.

Yeah right. Republicans have nothing to run on.

by digby

Nunn was involved with George HW Bush’s charity Points of Light:

In 2003, MissionFish, an arm of Points of Light, signed an agreement with Ebay that would allow users to donate to charities through MissionFish on a tax-exempt basis. One of the thousands of charities verified by MissionFish is Islamic Relief USA, a group that is not listed on any terrorist watch lists and “remains an eBay Giving Works-approved charity.” Earlier this year, Israel accused a separate organization, Islamic Relief Worldwide, of funding Hamas, though Islamic Relief USA was in no way implicated in the order. Islamic Relief USA says it’s an independent organization that “delivers aid both through its own independent grants and partnerships and through the funding of programs run by Islamic Relief Worldwide field offices in developing countries.”

Neil Bush, son of President George H.W. Bush and chairman of Points of Light, has called on Perdue to renounce the spot. “To attack an organization founded by my father, whose integrity is unimpeachable, to smear our organization for political gain, is in my opinion shameful,” Bush said.

Nope. perdue says that because some purloined Nunn campaign memos mentioned talking points to allay these charges should they come up, it’s fair game and it doesn’t matter if it’s true.

This is Cokie’s Law:

“At this point,” said Roberts, “it doesn’t much matter whether she said it or not because it’s become part of the culture. I was at the beauty parlor yesterday and this was all anyone was talking about.”

Now this is exceptional

by digby

I think if I had a young kid right now, I might hire a tutor to teach him or her German:

Prospective students in the United States who can’t afford to pay for college or don’t want to rack up tens of thousands in student debt should try their luck in Germany. Higher education is now free throughout the country, even for international students. Yesterday, Lower Saxony became the last of seven German states to abolish tuition fees, which were already extremely low compared to those paid in the United States.

German universities only began charging for tuition in 2006, when the German Constitutional Court ruled that limited fees, combined with loans, were not in conflict the country’s commitment to universal education. The measure proved unpopular, however, and German states that had instituted fees began dropping them one by one.

“We got rid of tuition fees because we do not want higher education which depends on the wealth of the parents,” Gabrielle Heinen-Kjajic, the minister for science and culture in Lower Saxony, said in a statement. Her words were echoed by many in the German government. “Tuition fees are unjust,” said Hamburg’s senator for science Dorothee Stapelfeldt. “They discourage young people who do not have a traditional academic family background from taking up study. It is a core task of politics to ensure that young women and men can study with a high quality standard free of charge in Germany.”

It’s not as if they don’t have a good university system …

Seriously, people should start thinking of sending their kids to college overseas. These costs are ridiculous and we should be doing what Germany is doing. Unfortunately the chance of that happening is nil — I honestly can’t even see debt forgiveness or a rollback of tuition at this point.

Yes, we really are that “exceptional.”

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QOTD: someone still allowed in respectable circles

by digby

Obama forcefully asserts his position on Beheading pic.twitter.com/QbVbvE582d— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 29, 2014

this too:

Which is a more dangerous infection: Ebola, or the dreams from his father?— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 6, 2014

Here’s a nice illustration by D’Souza linking a picture of Ebola and one of Obama’s father — with extra bonus comments from horrible people.

Both are insidious viruses infecting the US… Hopefully we’ll be able to stop both before it’s too late.

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Bad for the good guy, good for the bad guys and really good for the money guys

by digby

This seems like it should be an obvious cause for concern, but I doubt anyone cares much:

In its campaign across northern Syria and Iraq, the jihadist group Islamic State has been using ammunition from the United States and other countries that have been supporting the regional security forces fighting the group, according to new field data gathered by a private arms-tracking organization.

The data, part of a larger sample of captured arms and cartridges in Syria and Iraq, carries an implicit warning for policy makers and advocates of intervention.

It suggests that ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists, helping to fuel the Islamic State’s rise and persistent combat power. Rifle cartridges from the United States, the sample shows, have played a significant role.

“The lesson learned here is that the defense and security forces that have been supplied ammunition by external nations really don’t have the capacity to maintain custody of that ammunition,” said James Bevan, director of Conflict Armament Research, the organization that is gathering and analyzing weapons used by the Islamic State.

The military equipment ISIS has “procured” in Iraq is similarly American made, obviously.

I suppose e should look at the silver lining here. If America can corner the market on arms in all sides of a war, it’s a beautiful recipe for profits. And if we can keep that war going for many, many years just imagine the riches they can obtain.

Yes, taxpayers will foot the bill for both sides in these wars, obviously, but maybe we can think of it as a stimulus for the manufacturing sector. It’s a job creator!

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Don’t worry Kentucky. She knows on which side her bread is buttered.

by digby

So James O’Keefe has taken his dishonest documentary style to political campaigns now. He’s formed a 501(c)4 which is supposed to be one of those “social welfare” organizations and is infiltrating the campaigns of Democrats to “expose” workers and volunteers saying embarrassing things on camera. Dave Weigel reports on his latest hit on Alison Lundren Grimes who’s running against Senator Mitch McConnell in Kentucky:

[T]here’s a succession of cheerful activists insisting that Grimes is on their side, and is participating in a “lying game” when she says she’ll fight for the coal industry. One Democrat even offers that Barack Obama’s regulations have “shut down all the really terrible environmental places,” which is decidedly not the Grimes campaign line. She “strongly oppose[s] President Obama’s attack on Kentucky’s energy industry.” The Grimes volunteers and backers don’t take her seriously. (“Neither does anyone else,” says Doug Stafford, Rand Paul’s political director.)

So he’s got Democratic true believers on video saying they don’t believe all the conservative clap-trap their candidate is spewing. Stop the presses. When has this not been the case? And I hate to tell O’Keefe (and those poor volunteers) but the smart money is on Grimes holding fast to those conservative positions — and probably waffling on her more liberal ones. (In any case, it’s the liberal policies that are always used as negotiating chips. Big coal is safe in her hands.)

No need to worry Kentucky. If Grimes gets in she’ll fight for the coal industry with her last breath which, considering all the health risks to humans and the planet from our continued exploitation of coal, is likely to come sooner than she might like.

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Marriage equality today, marriage equality tomorrow, marriage equality forever

by digby

Congratulations to all of our gay brothers and sisters. It looks like the Supreme Court has accepted the inevitable. Today they declined to hear seven marriage equality cases. Here’s what it means:

Same sex marriage is about to be legal in the state of Utah. Utah! Ponder that for a minute. If you were going to pick one of the very last states that would legalize same sex marriage, it would have been this conservative state.

The fact that the Supreme Court, without saying a peep, is letting court-ordered same sex marriages go forward in Utah is a huge deal. Now you may think that this could well be reversed once there is a circuit split, perhaps in a case from the 5th or 6th Circuit. But remember, there will now be all of these children from legal same sex marriages performed until the Supreme Court could decide to take a case from another circuit. The idea that Justice Kennedy would let that happen, knowing there could well be a reversal down the line seems unlikely.

Instead, the conservatives on the Court probably see same sex marriage as inevitable, and will wait for a circuit split to make their last stand.

It’s hard to see how they can reverse it. There are already a whole lot of gay parents (always have been, they’re just now able to parent together) and a whole lot of laws that are necessarily being created to deal with that new circumstance. Aside from the obvious moral obstacle of breaking up happy families, there will be the complications of untangling many legal issues. For now they’re letting it stay at the state level and that’s where the battle, what remains of it, will take place.

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