01.31.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:26 pm by Daimeon
There’s a debate going on in the blogosphere regarding one blogger, known only as Socko, who was shut down by his ISP after the conservative AM talk radio, KSFO (Owned by ABC/Disney) complained that his “fair use” of audio clips from the radio hosts saying rather mean and hateful things weren’t fair to them. Yes the clips posted were rather damning of the radio station hosts and their rhetoric but this depends on which side of the debate you are on.
Blogger, Mike Stark, who you might remember, of Calling All Wingnuts and Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters, the right-wing answer to MediaMatters, fame, face off in a heated ‘civil’ debate.
Click here and here to see their questions and answers.
I found one part of Noel Sheppard’s answers to be very disengenuous. In fact he started by trying to satisfy two parts to one of Mike’s questions but still missed the point. Below is the comment I left on Mike’s blog and the original text that I was concerned about..
Yet, that doesn’t fully answer your questions: “Do you believe talk radio rhetoric is helpful to winning hearts and minds in the war on terror? Is it wise for the nation’s political leaders to legitimize this kind of rhetoric?
As folks who talk about “winning the hearts and minds” normally are referring to the enemy, this question seems to miss the point, as I have a hard time believing that homo sapiens who condone homicide bombings and attacks on innocent people have either a heart or a mind to win over.
Beyond this, the idea that the Bush administration is taking cues from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter defies reason. After all, if this were the case, there never would have been a Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003, federal spending would be easily twenty percent lower than it is, Social Security reform would have been enacted in 2005 despite Democrat complaints, and an immigration bill would have been signed into law in 2006 that didn’t include any form of amnesty.
As none of the above came to fruition, it is quite clear that most conservative talk radio hosts are much further to the right than President Bush, and are regularly voicing their displeasure with many of his policies. Unfortunately, the only disagreement between Republicans that the press choose to disseminate involves the war in Iraq because this is virtually the only instance when they support anything emanating from the mouth of a GOP member.
Yet, there is a significantly greater divide that exists which disproves the oft-expressed contention that the Bush administration takes its marching orders from conservative talk radio hosts, and that they in turn are simply reiterating White House talking points in a well-understood but hush-hush form of political reciprocity.
Alas, nothing could be further from the truth.
The problem with this is that he still doesn’t satisfy Stark’s questions. I’m not taking this out of context as it’s clearly quoted above. Again he confuses the logic. ‘Winning the hearts and minds’ referring to the enemy is exactly what right wing talk radio is trying to do. Who is the enemy to the right wing? The Left? Progressives? Anyone who doesn’t agree to tow the party line?
In the second part of that question you asked if it is “wise for the nation’s political leaders to legitmize this kind of rhetoric.” He obviously missed the key point of this question by explaining that leaders do not take their cues from from right wing talking heads. No one said that they do. Instead what the leaders do is legitimize the right wing talking heads by being “invited” onto their shows and then giving their talking points which then gets regurgitated over and over again. Yes it sounds like I’m saying that all they do is repeat administration talking points and they do to some extent. In reality they repeat Party talking points. The party doesn’t always agree with the administration as he so curtly points out. But that also happens on the left as well. Did Al Franken agree with Joe Lieberman’s strategy to stab the primary voters in the back and run as an Independant with the support of the GOP? Nope. Do most left leaning bloggers support Hillary Clinton? Nope. Barack Obama? Nope. And so on.
Stark didn’t mention anything in those questions about the Bush administration either. He instead spins your question to narrow it down to the Bush admin instead of keeping the realm of the answer broad which could include anything from Nancy Pelosi speaking on “The Daily Show,” Harry Reid on the “Al Franken Show,” Sam Brown back on the “Sean Hannity Show,” or President Bush on “The Radio Factor.” The question was not whether or not the Bush administration takes its cues from talk radio, but rather if it was wise for political leaders to confirm the viewpoints of the talk radio hosts.
In my opinion Sheppard owes Stark at least an honest real answer to his questions and not just stuttering and stammering around them. Note all of the attacks on Stark’s credibility and ability to become a lawyer. Way to maintain civil discourse.
Stark 5, Sheppard 0.
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01.20.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:02 pm by Daimeon
As Senator Brownback (R-KS) announces his candidacy from the home of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church he might want to choose better phrases if he wants to get out the bigot vote.
TOPEKA, Kan. – Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., began a long-shot bid for president on Saturday, hoping his reputation as a favorite son of the religious right can help him outdistance better known rivals.
“My family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House,” Brownback said, returning to his home state to declare his intention to seek his party’s nomination in 2008.
The two-term senator said he will fight to renew the nation’s cultural values and pledged to focus on rebuilding families.
“Search the record of history. To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation,” Brownback said. “To embrace Him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.”
Good Luck, ‘ole credible one of Senators!
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Posted in Uncategorized at 11:23 am by Daimeon
The McMaverick has pulled out the industrial strength McWaffle Iron. This time it’s the bill that he championed which passed but with an amendment. Senate Bill 1 which was the campaign ethics reform bill that contained a controversial provision limiting the activities of “Astroturf Lobbying” by requiring full transparency to the US Government. The amendment simply stripped that part out, and allowing “front groups” to continue to mislead the people and the government. He changed his mind on this after he listened to “feedback” from conservative sources such as Rev. “Tinkywinky” Falwel and the rest of the right-wingers that were pissed off that they’d have to actually be honest.
Add this to the list of McWaffles since the 2004 election.
* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell’s debate coach.)
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it. [corrected]
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
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01.19.07
Posted in As*hattery, Gay Marriage, Homophobic Rants, Interesting, LifeSite News, Religious Right at 10:09 pm by Daimeon
Uh oh, more bad news for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. According to LifeSite News, a new letter sent out by “pro-family” leaders back in December, asked him to repeal a decision he made forcing government officials to perform marriages where parties were of the same sex before he stepped down. He never acted on this and thus acted in a pro-gay manner and should not be supported according to these leaders and LifeSite News.
A letter addressed to Massachusetts’ ex-governor Mitt Romney has just been made public in which 44 conservative, pro-family leaders from across the nation requested that before stepping down from office, Romney would adhere to the Massachusetts Constitution and repeal his order directing public officials to perform ‘same-sex marriages’.
The letter was hand delivered to members of Romney’s staff on December 20th, 2006 at his office. Romney took no action to adhere to the letter’s requests before he left office at the beginning of the New Year.
The letter cited numerous, historical cases and the Massachusetts’ Constitution to assert that Romney’s actions in implementing ‘gay marriage’ were beyond the bounds of his authority as governor. The authors further asserted that his actions were unconstitutional as were the actions of the four initial judges who formulated the official opinion on the matter in the ‘Goodridge’ case, the case that originally brought the matter to national attention.
Mitt can’t catch a break. The left doesn’t like him, and the right doesn’t like him. Pretty much no one likes him.
We report, you decide.
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01.18.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:28 am by Daimeon
When doing my checking for “news” from World Net Daily, I came across this nice page.
Why would they think that people would take them seriously with this drivel on their site? But alas they really are serious with this poll.
Laughing too hard to contain myself ha ha ha.
While I do not dispute the possibility of the existence of extra-terrestrials, I think it’s a bit unlikely what this guy saw. I don’t think that people from other worlds are visiting us. Unless they’re from the Swamps of the Freepi.
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01.14.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:47 pm by Daimeon
I don’t mean to make fun of tragic events but this gets me.
Several young boys throughout the world have hanged themselves. Several have died. These children have never met in life or in the close-knit cyberspace communities but they all have one thing in common. They all mimicked the hanging execution of Saddam Hussein.
CAIRO, Egypt – The boys’ deaths — scattered in the United States, in Yemen, in Turkey and elsewhere in seemingly isolated horror — had one thing in common: They hanged themselves after watching televised images of Saddam Hussein’s execution.
Officials and relatives say the children appeared to be mimicking the former dictator’s Dec. 30 hanging, shown both on a sanitized Iraqi government tape and explicit clandestine videos that popped up on Web sites and some TV channels.
The leaked videos, apparently taken by cell phone cameras, set off international outrage over the raucous scene at Saddam’s execution, but some experts are more concerned about the images of the deposed Iraqi leader dropping through the gallows floor and his body swinging at the end of a rope.
The experts say such graphic images can severely affect youngsters who do not yet understand the consequences of death and violence — especially because Saddam’s death received intense international attention.
To me this says that A.) Parents aren’t doing a good job explaining to them the difference between real-life and movies. They aren’t teaching them that copying things they see on TV could get them killed. Or B.) These kids are just plain stupid.
The Darwin award nominees are parents and kids that don’t do their jobs or are just plain stupid.
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01.13.07
Posted in AFT(AH?), Fraud, Fundies, Peter LaBarbera at 5:31 pm by Daimeon
Porno Pete responds to Jeremy over at G-A-Y.
“It’s a mistake, obviously. We had nothing to do with it, and don’t know how it happened. –pl”
Allow this writer to sayto be the first one to say *cough*”bullsh*t”*cough*
h/t, Good-As-You
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01.12.07
Posted in AFT(AH?), As*hattery, Fraud, Fundies, Interesting, Religious Right at 11:20 am by Daimeon
After yesterday’s post about the obvious MO of their organization we learn from Dr. Kevin Kaatz of Kevin’s Space that AFT is listed as a gay-rights organization to maintain tax-exempt status.
Excuse me, but gay-rights? Aww Petey you’re soo nice. Oh? Wait a minute! You’re against equal rights. Stop pretending and just be honest with who you really are. We are honest about you!
I see on a couple of websites that Americans for Truth is attacking a 16 year old for writing about the truth that sits behind the Americans for Truth. Well, I’ve just done a bit of background checking about this group and found out some interesting things.
I didn’t realize that the actual name for Americans for Truth is Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. I suppose that is what AFTAH stands for, but why don’t they put their full title in their website? I think when this group is mentioned the full legal title should be used. What also really made me angry is that when I looked this organization up in GuideStar (a source of information about non-profit organizations), their ‘National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities,’ code is R26–Lesbian/Gay Rights. These NTEE codes are used to help people search for non-profit organizations. And get this–this code of R26 is used for “R20 Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups”! So Americans for Truth about Homosexuality claim to be a civil rights group for lesbians and gays!
The section for R26 is reserved for: “Organizations that support the passage and enforcement of laws and other social measures that protect and promote the rights and interests of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.
***Update–I’ve received emails from both Guidestar and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. A Guidestar service representative said “The codes are selected by either the organizations themselves or by the IRS.” The CNP thanked me for bringing it to their attention, but no response as to what they can/might do about changing that code. I’ll try digging around in the IRS website to see who I might email about this. As far as I can tell, the IRS attaches these codes. But as it stands, the Americans For Truth About Homosexuality is listed, as a non-profit organization, along side the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as a group that defends gay and lesbian rights.
We’ll wait for the IRS to say “No! Bad Porno Pete! Bad! Go get in your ‘crate’”
Source: http://tinyqueerfootballs.com/2007/01/11/americans-for-truth-about-homosexuality-a-gay-rights-organization/
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01.11.07
Posted in AFT(AH?), As*hattery, Freedom of/from religion, Fundies, Gay Marriage, Homophobic Rants, Religious Right, Uncategorized at 4:12 pm by Daimeon
Americans For Truth (AH?) have a fairly prominent theme or modus operandi for how they get their “truth” out to readers. It’s a fairly simple one. “Don’t refute the message. Attack the messenger !”
Instead of simply refuting the arguments against them, they attack the very people who express their point of view. While holding the bible in their hands to boost the credibility of AFT, they use personal attacks to insult the sincerity of those making the opposing view points.
If one were to go to their page today or any day really but starting with the post at the bottom ”An Open Letter … ” dated January 5th, 2007 and work our way up to the top to “NEA’s Anti-Bullying Statement …” dated January 10th, one can see this trend of “blame the messenger” very clearly. I’m going to analyze the stories on the page today and then let you, the reader follow along in the preceding days to see how they handle this.
The first post we’ll analyze is “An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera.” This was written by a person who comments on and reads Pams House Blend. It was an open letter addressed to Peter LaBarbera in which he states as a gay man who has come to Christ he can’t understand why AFT instead of helping people come to Christ as is commanded in the Bible and helping those that are truly needy, they only pick on a small minority of the population and work as hard as is possible to condemn in every way possible. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.05.07
Posted in As*hattery, Freedom of Speech, Freepentary, Fundies, Gay Marriage, Homophobic Rants, Religious Right, Strange at 4:31 pm by Daimeon
Yes on this particularly murky rainy day in Washington DC, the Swamps of the Freepi seem murkier, slimier, and ultimately more dangerous as the nasty claws and teeth gnash and gnarl at their prey.
Today’s victim subject is Barney Frank(D, MA) via hotair: (emphasis mine)
There’s no other way around it: When you accuse someone of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing” in any way, shape or form, you are accusing them of genocide.
Genocide. Let that word work its way around your mind for an moment. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Think about that. And then watch the most grotesque public statement made by any elected official in the United States in the last 100 years.
No, I’m not kidding or reaching for the hyperbole. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in the video below accuses the Bush administration of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing by hurricane” in Louisana after Katrina, in order to make Louisiana more Republican. The video and audio quality aren’t good, but the words are there. Listen a couple of times if you have to.
More after the jump including freepentary (sort of like dissentary) Read the rest of this entry »
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01.04.07
Posted in Gay Marriage, Interesting at 8:36 am by Daimeon
Well what happens when Chicken Little is right? A slightly humorous story of the sky falling of course.
It would appear that the prediction of the sky falling if Civil Unions were allowed to occur in NJ have actually proven to be true!
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft.
The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police.
“There’s some great interest in what we have here,” said Lt. Robert Brightman. “It’s rather unusual. I haven’t seen anything like it in my career.”
He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but declined to name the other agencies whose help he has enlisted
Wesboro Baptist Church has in turn stated “God hates single family homes in eastern New Jersey.”
This writer will watch carefully for falling objects when he goes to lunch this afternoon.
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01.02.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:01 pm by Daimeon
A surprising outcome today in the Massachussettes Constitutional Convention (Bay Windows), legislators voted 61-132 in (61 in favor, needed 50?) to promote a measure to the 2008 ballot that would if voted in favor of by the people would strip the right of lesbians and gays to marry in the commonwealth.
Massachussettes marriage rights have been on the books since the 2004 Goodrich v. Department of Health rulings which declared that under the Massachussettes Constitution all Adults are entitled to the same rights and protections regarding marriage. Since equal marriage has been recognized in the state, about 8000 GLBT couples have legally exchanged vows.
The amendment wouldn’t strip existing couples of their ‘nuptuals but it would prevent any further weddings, a strange paradigm in which gay and lesbian unions would not be invalidated but cease to be recognized.
The ConCon later voted to reconsider the black-mark upon thier state’s most important document but only one person reconsidered his/her vote and brought the original number up to 62 votes in favor. Strange indeed.
Heres to hoping the next ConCon will show how much of a con the last ConCon was.
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