Thursday, February 28, 2008

O'Reilly Says Arianna Huffington Is No Different Than Nazis/KKK

You know, a week ago when Bill O'Reilly was threatening Michelle Obama with "a lynching party", I thought that was one of the most outrageous things he'd ever said. Well, it sure didn't take him long to top it.

Bill O'Reilly: "What's the difference between the Ku Klux Klan and Arianna
Huffington? What's the difference?" [...] "I don't see any difference between
Huffington and the Nazis. I don't see any difference."


O'Reilly continues his assault on progressive blogs by attacking them for anonymous comments that could have been made by anyone of the thousands and thousands of people who comment on Huffington Post every day - comments that very well could have been made by people intentionally trying to set the site up for this smear. In any case, as Bill O'Reilly knows because he has a website with comments too, the hateful comments are subsequently removed in short order (something his site is no better at doing). his attacking Arianna Huffington personally and comparing her to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan is something that should cost him his job, but why do I think it probably won't?

Media Matters: O'Reilly continued to attack Daily Kos while ignoring objectionable comments on his own site

Media Matters: O'Reilly continued to compare Daily Kos to Nazis and the KKK

Americablog: Bill O'Reilly's Web site threatens Hillary's life

Oh yeah, that's why. What a douche bag. Maybe it's time for another Falafel Day.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

"Defense of Democracies" Attack Ad Against Rep Nancy Boyda


TPMmuckraker Paul Kiel:
Stepping up the pressure on House Democrats, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has launched a national ad campaign criticizing Democrats for not passing the Senate's surveillance bill.

According to the group's press release, the ad "will be seen on cable and satellite stations throughout the country and is also seen locally in 17 media markets across the United States." The ads target 15 House Democrats, such as Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). Brian Wise, the spokesman for the group, told me that the group had chosen the 15 because they were Dems "who we believe understand the issue and who would be the most effective to pushing the House leadership to vote on this." He added: "politics really has nothing to do with it."

It's similar in tone to an ad the House Republicans put together last week -- and similarly misleading. It claims that the lapse of the Protect America Act has meant that "new surveillance against terrorists is crippled."

Dems, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the force behind the Senate bill, vehemently disagree. And as even The Washington Times concluded, the lapse of the law would have "little effect" on surveillance collection. ...(more)

Also, I noticed this: Sourcewatch: Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

If that's the same group, it's list of "Directors, Fellows, Personnel" of the group is comprised of many PNAC neocons and many Democrats too. Why are (or were?) Democrats incl, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) etc (and Donna Brazile) affiliated with a group that would be running these ads?


UPDATE: Begged question answered. Mcjoan:
Who's behind the shadowy organization isn't entirely clear, but it is definitely an offshoot of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an organization that until a few days ago listed among its board of advisors Donna Brazile, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Zell Miller, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY). Engel, Schumer and Brazile have all resigned form the board, with Brazile making this statement [...]

There's another board member listed at FDD as "Distinguished Advisor" who hasn't resigned as a result of these false attacks. Three guesses who that would be. Yup, our old buddy Joe Lieberman.

'What Better Way for Walter Reed to Shed its Reputation as a (ahem) Mickey Mouse Operation?'

Walter Reed Has Gone GoofySometimes this stuff just writes itself.

Washington Independent:
On Wednesday the House oversight committee's national security and foreign affairs subcommittee will hold a hearing, "One Year After Walter Reed." It's intended to assess how much the Army medical center's improved upon the scandalously bad care given to returning Iraq soldiers that the Washington Post documented last February.

Well, today's Post describes one indication of a new Walter Reed. Tongue firmly in cheek, Steve Vogel reports that the Army is paying the Walt Disney Corporation $800,000 to bring a positive mental attitude to hospital staff. This can mean medical workers watching slides of a cranky Donald Duck frustrated by unresponsive nurses or doctors. Or a glowing Snow White showing how customer service is done. ...(more)


Monday, February 25, 2008

60 Minutes: AL Gov Don Siegelman Story - Framed By Karl Rove?

Part 1


Part 2


You can read their article (basically, a transcript) and see the full segment on the CBS website here.

Laura Rozen:
Harper's Scott Horton does some truth-squading of Rove and his attorney on Siegelman, the subject of a 60 Minutes story tonight. Horton's post broadcast write up here.

Also, RawStory's Larisa Alexandrovna notes that there was a Media Blackout of 60 Minutes story in Alabama.


Sunday, February 24, 2008

Ralph Nader Officially Announces 2008 Spoiler Presidential Candidacy

Here we go again. this morning on Meet the Press:




Um, Message to Ralph Nader:



Maybe if Nader had actually spent any time in the last eight years building a viable third party instead of throwing Hail-Mary passes and accepting dirty cash and support from Republicans and reichwing orgs, I’d still have a shred of respect for him. As it is, he deserves no respect whatsoever for a number of reasons.

"GOP donors funding Nader Bush supporters give independent’s bid a financial lift"

"Nader defends GOP cash Candidate says he’s keeping money"

"Nader’s Republican pipe dream"

Look at the groups that Nader gets his support from: Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, a corporate front funded by Exxon, Hertz Corp., Philip Morris, Amoco, Bell Atlantic, Citibank, General Electric and General Motors and so on.

more: Organized Crime Ring: Killer Koch’s Citizens for a Sound Economy - (Nader's buddies)

Let's face it. Nader doesn't give a rat's ass about being viable or building a third party. This is just another way he can bleed the corporations and Republicans some more because he knows they will spend millions supporting his candidacy, and that is all he has ever really cared about.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Would You Like Sick Cow With Those Fries?

NYT:

A Humane Society video revealed the way workers beat or otherwise abused sick cows at the California company so they would appear well enough to be slaughtered. It is not for the faint of heart, but the gruesome evidence is here:

l


After viewing the footage and launching its own investigation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down the California plant and assured consumers that these animals had not reached the market. That gives little comfort, however, given the department’s spotty record of identifying “non-ambulatory” cows. ...(more)
And then this (CBS News):
USDA Recalls 143M Pounds Of California Beef
California Slaughterhouse Already Under Investigation For Mistreating Cattle
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs. [...]

"Today marks the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and it involves the national school lunch program and other federal food and nutrition programs," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "This begs the question: how much longer will we continue to test our luck with weak enforcement of federal food safety regulations?"...(more)
H/T Jamie

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Ann Coulter's repeated use of "B. Hussein Obama" and "President Hussein"

I really don't have anything else to say about Ann's latest offensive absurdity other than the 2 min clip speaks for itself. She refers repeatedly to Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama," five separate times, and then says "It's shocking that he's probably going to be our next president, President Hussein."

btw, this is me just kicking the tires on RedLasso with my first clip from there. It's a really neat service with the slogan "Find it, Clip it, Share it" that provides a keyword search feature for recorded tv and radio that allows you search, find and edit a clip from the raw file and then link to or embed it like YouTube, only better. With RedLasso you don't have to record, edit, convert and upload a video - you don't even need to have a tv or anything other than a computer and internet. RedLasso lets you search out a key word or a phrase to find and then edit out a clip all online. In this my first attempt - "Ann Coulter" returned too many results, I had to limit the time and channel and search for "Hussein"before I found the clip I was looking for. Here's a short how to video.

As far as I can tell at this point you have to request an invite to be able to register and use the service or even just to use the search tool to find clips. I get that they might want to limit the total number of us yahoos in there editing and posting clips, but I'd have thought they'd allow anyone to be able to search, find and embed clips that us yahoos have already made. No? I think its still a bit in the beta stage though so I imagine it will get more user friendly over time, and it took me more than one request attempt and a little while before I received mine, but I can tell already it was well worth the wait. Now when I get a tip or see a comment that someone just saw or heard someone say something on Fox/CNN/CSpan etc I can just go to RedLasso and 'Find it, Clip it, and Share it.' (also RedLasso Blog)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

60% Or More

Obama now leads in total delegates
This list just keeps getting more and more impressive, and every network now has Obama with the lead in total delegates.

States Obama won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Alaska 75%
Colorado 67%
District of Columbia 75%
Georgia 67%
Idaho 79%
Illinois 67%
Kansas 74%
Maryland 60%
Minnesota 67%
Nebraska 68%
North Dakota 61%
Virginia 64%
Virgin Islands 90%
Washington 68%
States Clinton won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Arkansas 70%
When I first posted this list on Sunday (before yesterday's additions to it), I forgot to h/t Laura & Kos for starting it.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

FBI “Clean Team” Scrubbed Torture Evidence For 9/11 Death Penalty Cases

FBI ''Clean Team'' Scrubbed Torture Evidence For 9/11 Death Penalty Cases

There truly is no bottom to the depths of depravity that the Bush administration will stoop to to try and keep their skeletons buried, at least until they are out of office. Read my latest on this at C&L

[Update] Spencer Ackerman* has more.

* You may remember Spencer from his days at TPMmuckraker. Do check him out at at his new muckraking home, The Washington Independent, a classy new upstart in new media.

John McCain: No, You Can't

Barely Political of Obama Girl fame did a spoof on the Obama "Yes, We Can" video too.


It may not have been quite as good as Andy Cobb's "John.He.Is" though, imho (at least partly because Andy and crew beat it to the punch), but still it's clever and really well done.

Monday, February 11, 2008

New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

ONN:

John.He.Is

A simultaneously hillarious and scary parody of the great Obama viral video "Yes, We Can."


I don't know how, but Andy Cobb and friends somehow manage to keep outdoing themselves.

Bravo!

Here's a few of their other recent YouTube hits.

Message To Ralph Nader
Democrats For Romney
The Loneliest Icelander


[Update] As SBT pointed out in the comments, I left out perhaps their best one of all.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Record Breaking 2008 Youth Voter Turnout

Cafferty and his emailers weigh in. These are some exciting times in election history.


Young Voters Turning Out in Big Numbers
Something big is happening in our democracy – young people are voting. Already, young people turned out in record numbers at the nation’s first caucus and primary contests of 2008. The youth vote:

* More than tripled in the Iowa caucuses
* Increased by 25 percent in the New Hampshire primaries
* Nearly tripled in the South Carolina primary (Democratic)
* More than tripled in the Florida primaries ...(more)

60% Or More

States Obama won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:

Alaska 75%
Colorado 67%
Georgia 67%
Idaho 79%
Illinois 67%
Kansas 74%
Minnesota 67%
Nebraska 68%

North Dakota 61%
Washington 68%

States Clinton won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:

Arkansas 70%

And there are caucuses going on today in Maine in which Obama is currently leading at 59% with 99% reporting.

Michael Moore: Voting for Hillary Clinton would be "an Immoral Act"


I guess this is his way of Endorsing Barack Obama. I really like and respect Michael Moore, but I wish he would have just kept that thought to himself. I don't see how saying that was very helpful to anyone.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Ottawa Herald's Gary Sillett - Obama is a "Muslim Fundamentalist"

h/t Wonkette

Gary Sillett, the Ottawa Herald, spreading lies about Barack Obama

You know, fresh off of the huge turnout here in Kansas in the Democratic caucuses and finding out that the new(er) DailyKos front-pager is a Kansan too (and had very much the same experience as I did Tues night), I was just starting to think that maybe there's not so much the 'matter with Kansas' any more, and then this idiot has to come along, and not just him either. His editors took the time to attempt to hide some (but not enough) portions of his article from appearing online, but as Ken Layne points out "were too stupid to remove the entire retarded text from appearing when you click to read the comments." The entire printed version of the column can still be seen in their PDF edition here (jpg screenshot here for when they take it down) If there ever was a desperate plea for more attention, this is one. The Ottawa Herald's contact info (please do be civil): [also, see update below]
Jeanny Sharp, Editor and Publisher jsharp@ottawaherald.com
Gordon Billingsley, Managing Editor gordon@ottawaherald.com
Address: 104 S. Cedar, Ottawa KS, 66067
Web site: ottawaherald.com
Fax: 785-242-9420
Letters to the Editor: letters@ottawaherald.com

I know this is just a podunk paper in nowhere KS, kind of like where I'm currently residing, but this really pisses me off. Clearly this column is what caused Barack to capture only 74% of the Kansas vote. lol. Seriously though, there is quite a bit of this around and it's not the Democrats who voted in Tues' caucus who believe this tripe and perpetuate it. It's the Republicans here that it plays to that I'm worried about that will come out en masse in Nov and vote because of it. I did quite a bit of GOTV canvassing for Super Tues and these myths persist in great abundance here in Kansas and are hard enough to smack down without having the hometown paper spreading them.

Here's the brainless bigot's article in full:

Don’t betray your heritage for Obama’s ‘change’
By GARY SILLETT, Community Viewpoint

A couple years ago, President Bush thought it would be a good idea to turn over control of one or more vital seaports in the continental United States to an Arab-owned conglomerate. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth including from me.

How could this be? we asked. In the aftermath of 9/11, as we now remember it, that would be like handing the keys of New York City to Osama Bin Laden. I believe there are some of you who remember who he is?

The hue and cry was deafening. To suddenly find our seaports our points of entry, our gateways to the world in the hands of Muslim fundamentalists was not only abhorrent, but also frightening. Even with countless reassurances from Bush administration officials, Arab corporation executives, et al, there was no convincing us this was a good idea for us or for the future of America. That dog don t hunt.

Well, now comes another bad idea ... maybe even worse. The Democratic Party actually intends to put a Muslim fundamentalist in the White House. Yes, you read it right. They want to put a man of Muslim origins in the White House.

Barack Hussein Obama hit the campaign trail from nowhere and continues to gain momentum as his political handlers crank out generic catchphrases to lure the unsuspecting voter with words like hope and change.

Now there s nothing wrong with hope or change. It has been our tradition as a nation that when we get tired of something or someone, we exercise our constitutional rights and throw them out. That s why we asked our representatives for term limitations. But to even consider turning over the reins of government to a Muslim fundamentalist would be, as my grandmother used to say, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Some Web sites suggest Obama will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He refuses to wear an American flag lapel pin. He will not face the flag during the playing of the National Anthem nor will he sing it or even mouth the words. [Editor s note: Other reputable Web sites refute each of those claims and show Obama leading the Pledge of Allegiance in the Senate.]

I know, there are some of you out there right now who are ready to say these are only symbols: Icons of days gone by; Relics of the past. You want change. We should all remember that these relics, symbols and traditions are not just representative of some coffee clache or sewing circle. These are traditions handed down from father to son, mother to daughter. They represent the deep-seated patriotism that brave men and women have given their lives to uphold for more than two centuries.

To elect Barack Obama to the highest office in the land would be nothing less than spitting on the graves of the victims of 9/11, as well as the memory of the countless thousands of American loyalists who have pledged and given their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in defense of those tired old symbols and icons of the greatest nation on earth. In many cases, these things are all that is left to families of American heroes who heard the call and stepped forward and defended not only their heritage, but the legacies of millions in foreign lands.

Hold fast to these symbols and icons, I say. Hold them up every day and pledge that they are still important to us all. Keep reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Sing the National Anthem. Place your hand over your heart in remembrance of all those who gave their lives so that we all may do so. Remember that they are the very fabric of which our nation is made. Our flag is not just a symbol. It is representative of our soul as a nation. It embodies all the hopes, dreams and aspirations of those who have gone before us, those who are defending freedom today and those who will choose to do so in the future.

Beware of wolves in sheep s clothing, it s been said. Don t betray your heritage simply for the sake of change. Heed the voices of your fellow Americans, past, present and future who call upon you to uphold the principles of the United States and protect them from pretenders like Barack Hussein Obama.

Gary Sillett is a Princeton resident and a pressman at The Ottawa Herald.
[emphasis mine]

[Update} Kansas Newspaper Sort Of Regrets Calling Obama A Muslim Fanatic

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Glenn Beck Says he's Voting for Hillary if McCain's the GOP Nominee

He joins Ann Coulter in right-wing nutcases who can't deal with McCain becoming the Republican Presidential nominee.

And here's Ann Coulter saying the same thing. She even says she'll campaign for Hillary, but I doubt Sen Clinton wants any part of that.
If youy ask me they are both full of it and this is just a last ditch ploy to try to swing the vote their way, but it's still pretty funny.

Three and a Half Hours Until ...

They open the doors to my state's Democratic caucuses.

And I might as well say it - John Cole speaks for me today. Every fricking word.

Except for the not voting today part.

;^P

Late Update - I haven't even had time to see what all went down across the country on Super Tues other than a glance here. Looks like Obama pretty much kicked Hillary's ass in total states (14-10 I believe) and maybe even in delegates, but he looks to be still slightly behind overall, but he's gained considerably and he's got waaay more cash on hand and Kos says "The calendar up ahead is tailor made for Obama." We'll hear more about the delegates tomorrow I guess, but just look at what he did in my home state. He slaughtered Hillary almost 3 to 1.
Barack Obama bests Hillary Clinton almost three to one in Kansas caucus

Monday, February 4, 2008

George W. Bush is JUST Like Lincoln

Or so Pravda Fox News would have you believe.

Clueless Superhero - Freaking News.com - click for more I must admit I had quite a bit of fun putting that video and post together for C&L, but as it turns out, a friend emailed to point out that Fox News was actually plagiarizing The Daily Show.

btw, since that was pre-writer's strike, perhaps they can sue?

Sunday, February 3, 2008

¡Si, Se Puede!

Now, I'm not trying to endorse or favor one candidate over any other, but I have to say that this is just about the most powerful campaign video I think I've ever seen. Wow.

Yes, We can! Powerful Barack Obama campaign music video
Here's a YouTube version, but I recommend clicking on the pic instead because the graphics and the sound is so much better. You can watch Hillary's official campaign song on YouTube here.

I don't care who your favored candidate is. As long as you've done your homework and know more about your choices than the campaign commercials or catchy videos, get your ass out there and vote (unless it's a Republican, and in that case, you clearly have more homework to do).