NewsBusters.org Esposing liberal media bias (agree with us or else!)

Last political post for some time, I promise.

So I recently signed up for the twitter feed belonging to NewsBusters since I so enjoy hearing/reading the viewpoints of people I don't necessarily agree with. Their motto seems sincere enough. Just as there is conservative media bias there is definitely liberal media bias and I am not naive enough to believe that only one side is guilty.

It took less than a week to find out that this site is full of crap and needs a completely different site to try and capture all of the bias that they are guilty of.

Almost every story I read is basically a hack job attempt at spin to make liberals look as bad as possible. It's exactly the type of site that a bunch of amateur bloggers would come up with where everyone can agree with each other without fear of having someone disagree with them.

As my previous post would indicate I like perusing the message boards and so I took the time one day to register so that I could join the discussion. Knowing how touchy these places can be I phrased a very articulate reply asking a reasonable question with a firm belief that it wasn't so inflammatory as to get my comment deleted.

It took less than a day for my account to be banned completely. I thought this weird and maybe I didn't verify my account properly so I tried again only to see that my email address had been banned from the site. From that point, with open eyes, I started reading the comment sections on a few pages only to see that is was chock full of lib-hating people in all their glory with nary a lefty comment to be seen. Ah ha.

So feeling oppressed launched a google query asking about getting banned from Newsbusters only to see that this is apparently how they operate. A site claiming to look for media bias rejects any and all two-sided discussions. Does that seem wrong to anyone else?

Ultimately it's not a big deal. These people have a club and there ain't no libs allowed. No biggy. I just thought it odd that a site attempting to be fair would be so close minded. I'll just have to find another enemy battleground to encroach on.

Crying over spilled oil

Politics is hilarious. Can I just say that? There has been a ton of absolutely hysterical behavior lately so it's been kind of difficult for me to choose any particular issue to dive in to on this here blog. However, this whole oil thing has just been a joke. Before I delve in to that, though, I'll hit up a few other topics.

• Musics

There's been a little bit of new musics lately. I last blogged about STP's new album and over time it has really just struck me as mediocre. It just appears to be more blah blah blah like the last couple albums with nothing particularly pleasing to get excited about. It's always disappointing when the lead single is the high point of the album. At this point I have to admit that my affection for STP is nothing more than a fading memory of the mid 90s. There is nothing in their current works that bears any resemblance to Core or Purple.

Coming out at about the same time as STP was the new one by the Deftones. This cd isn't too shabby but, like STP, I am remembering the band more for one of my all time favorite albums (White Pony). Anyway, the reviews likened the new joint to White Pony and raved about it saying it was a return to that style but I just am not seeing it. I actually see their last three (post-White Pony) albums as kind of similar. There's nothing amazing going on in this particular era but I also don't hate it.

Another cd for me to get excited about would have to be the recent release by Sarah McLachlan. I love me some Sarah. She's awesome. I can't quite explain why my usually hard rock music taste is infiltrated by this sweet singing Canadian but the fact is that I love it. She sings great, there's usually some sweet ass bass lines going on, she's got commercials trying to make you adopt animals... what's not to like? Keep bringing it Sarah. Don't change a thing.

• Body movin'

So with the upcoming wedding thing the Hot Mary and myself have recently taken a couple dance lessons. Quite frankly I don't think we learned enough to actually hold our own anywhere but the surprising thing was that it was actually kind of fun. We had these cats teaching us some foxtrot steps and speaking to us in accents I could barely make out but I kind of dug it. Of course it's all sorts of expensive and will require practice that we don't necessarily have time to do but it might be something that we'll have to revisit in the future. Don't knock it till you've tried it.

• Eh... the fantasy baseballs

Wow. This season has been a bust. Let me give a brief summary. Doumit is ok at catcher but the guy I cut, Napoli, has since blown up. Konerko is one of the league leaders in dingers but the guy I drafted, Berkman, still has yet to do some damage. Beckham still can't put some distance between his average and the mendoza line. A-Rod is hitting well but is only on track for 20 HRs. Jeter is also hitting well but is mysteriously lacking the patience he once had (OBP of around .350). Abreu and Span are no where near the .300 AVE and .400 OBP they normally hit and Ellsbury is still not back from cracked ribs. Lester and Liriano are fine but Nolasco and Beckett are not contributing much. Finally, my closers are ok but Bailey and Franklin never get save opportunities.

That is my season thus far and, again, it is a miracle that I am not in last place.

Alright, so, the oil spill.

First of all, I suppose it's not even correct to refer to it as a "spill". That was an accurate description of what happened with Exxon up near Alaska but this situation in the Gulf of Mexico is more of an oil gusher. Not good news. The worst part (that's not actually true but it makes for a better phrase) of it is that it isn't a singular incident for which the news cycle will come and go and become yesterdays news. Nope, in this situation, as long as the oil continues to gush, so do all of the friggin experts.

This whole incident was labeled incorrectly right from the get-go as certain morons deemed it "Obama's Katrina". How does one single natural event resulting in thousands dead that was forecasted to occur have any similarity to a surprise man made event killing a dozen? I don't really know. Both of them involved water and Louisiana. Great job connecting the dots.

What it comes down to, and this is no surprise, is that there is a certain segment of the population flirting with blatant treason/sedition in the hopes of pushing Obama out of office. Most of these people like to come up with justification in their feelings despite the fact that they decided on this course before Obama was elected and even had a chance to unleash "TEH ZOMG EVIL SOCIALIST AGENDA".

The conservative criticism is two-headed and quite contradictory. On one side you have oil lover conservative head. These people are motivated by shouts of "Drill, Baby! Drill!" and, not surprisingly, is led by intellectual genius on all matters, Sarah Palin. She blames the crisis on environmentalists. This makes sense because environmentalists would prefer that there was no drilling at all. This causes drilling to occur in deep water which causes safety lapse induced explosions. In actuality I have no idea what Palin is talking about and I rarely do. I tried just now to connect the dots on her logic but I forget that pretty much everything says is some sort of Tea Party slogan which doesn't really translate well to actual thought. Fuck that bitch.

The other two prominent conservative minds claiming the oil gusher ain't no thang are Brit Hume and Rush Limbaugh. Just with the fact that Rush's name is attached to this is enough reason to already know that this stance is full of shit. Rush says that the ocean is used to absorbing oil all the time, so what's the big deal? You know what else isn't a big deal? Getting a little sun, having a glass of wine and eating a little bacon. However, just as dumping tons upon tons of crude oil in to the water isn't the same as a little oil naturally escaping in to the water it's also a whole different story to tan 5 hours of day, drink gallons of wine and eat a shit ton of bacon. Rush is a friggin moron. By the way, rush also spends his day criticizing Obama for his handling of this "non" crisis. Again, Rush is a friggin moron and so are the people who believe him.

As for Hume, it absolutely blew my mind when he asked a couple weeks ago on that idiot-fest known as Fox Sunday Morning or something like that: "Where's the oil?". What the fuck?!? At this point I had been douched with images of the following: oil slicks visible on the surface of the gulf, oil washed up on shores, oil slicks on fire in controlled burns in the water, unidentifiable oil covered avian creatures, dead turtles and other animals covered in that shit and satellite images of the mess in a big-picture view. And Hume asks where the oil is? Listen, Brit, the only reason you had no idea where the oil was is either because you are willingly ignorant on these images or your employer has chosen not to run any of the images and that's where you get all of your "news". Either one is inexcusable.

This brings us to the next bunch of critics. These are the people who think that Obama is personally responsible for everything that has ever gone wrong in this country. I really don't even know where to begin on this one as the criticisms have been coming from all directions and for any number of reasons. I'll try to round them up as I remember them.

One of the bigger complaints during this crisis is that Obama hasn't appeared to be upset enough and is detached from the situation. That criticism is entirely based on each individual. Some people want to see their leader get worked up and angry at those who have wronged us. Other people want someone who keeps emotion out of it. Regardless of your own preferences there are those that didn't like that Obama did not appear to care. Obama then made the mistake of saying that he needed to kick some ass in this whole ordeal and also gave a speech about it. All of a sudden now he is acting like a "street thug" and being rude. I also heard that he was acting like a child throwing a tantrum. These criticisms in many cases were coming from the same people who didn't like his then emotionless response. The obvious conclusions: these people wouldn't be happy no matter how Obama responded.

Next up we have the people who complained that Obama was not being hard enough on BP. This of course leads to allegations of collusion. Maybe Obama wanted this to occur hmmmm? Fast forward to this week and BP has been hit with the $20 billion bill for the damages. Now of course we hear these morons upset that Obama would dare force BP to pay for this. It's an absolute joke. The conclusion drawn in the previous paragraph is also applicable here.

The other criticism which I have personally repeated on Hannity as well as Fox is that Obama is not accepting any foreign assistance in this. This is an absolute lie and yet it gets repeated every single fucking day. There are no less than 15 nations with a ship in the gulf right now helping out in the process. All you have to do is a simple internet search. Why is that beyond the capabilities of these "professionals"?

All told I really don't know what the critics expected of Obama. I honestly don't believe that any department in the Federal Government is knowledgeable or equipped to handle an oil leak miles beneath the surface. Obama certainly made a large number of campaign promises but no where in those speeches did he say anything about being able to swim down there and take care of shit like this.

The list of outright lies and smearing that is being placed on the administration right now is so ridiculous that it really takes away from the actual tragedy. There has even been the lie spread that Obama was just fucking around for a month without visiting the scene despite the fact that Obama made an appearance right at the beginning of May. Again, it's all information that could be easily obtained should one want to know the truth rather than just tune in to sources that will tell you what you want to hear.

What the fuck would it really matter if Obama showed up on the Louisiana shores anyway? Perhaps he could stand on the beach and give the oil slick a stony stare that would send it scurrying back to the depths from whence it came. That's exactly what Reagan would have done.

As for Obama, he clearly has justification to give a hearty "fuck you" to those conservatives who find fault in everything he does. Simple as that. Why give a shit about people who hate for the sake of hating. All they want is a Republican in power. When you are the type of person to put the party above the country you have clearly fallen outside of reality. The ironic part is that these are the first people to declare themselves "patriots".

Stop getting your information from Sarah Palin facebook updates and wake up. It's either that or remain an idiot. Your choice.

She turned me in to a newt!

... apparently he didn't get better, though.

My last post inspired me to attempt to recall all the political douchebaggery that has been going on.

First of all we have Newt Gingrich. I need to remind you all that Newt was made famous by conducting a witch hunt on Bill Clinton's extra marital activities while Newt himself was busy being a less than perfect husband. This by no means clears Bill's name, but it certainly does leave quite a shit stain on his own.

So in case you didn't hear, Obama recently nominated some lady to the Supreme Court. There isn't a lot of history on this lady but opponents have been doing their best to find issues and fucking run with them.

If there's one thing that conservatives can agree upon is that, despite their own Ivy League educations, they hate fancy pants faggy elitist Ivy League Schools. Harvard qualifies. So this Kagan lady at one point worked at Harvard. So here's what Newt comes up with:

"On the one hand, Harvard accepts money from Saudis. Saudi Arabia, by the way, executes homosexuals. Saudi Arabia represses women. Saudi Arabia does not allow Christians or Jews to practice their religion, but Saudi money is fine."

The irony? Newt was on Fox news at the time. He's a paid contributor. Fox news happens to be partially owned by a Saudi prince. That, my friends, is too good to be true.

On top of that, her lack of experience in court was a bad bad thing, says Newt & Co. However, similar lack of experience was ok with John Roberts. Why? Because Roberts was conservative.

So it's just political hypocrisy as usual. But whatever, let's burn the bitch anyways.




This is actually the only thing I'm going to get to for now. I should really get some effing work done.

Deem and Pass?

I've heard about enough Congressional methods of passing legislation lately to make my head spin. Almost none of it is understandable to any but the most enthusiastic political process buff.

The filibuster I barely get. In the past it was that members of the opposing party had to go to the podium and physically stall the process. They had to at least make the effort. Now it has become an un-written rule that all you have to do is say that you will filibuster and that is enough. Seems kind of lazy doesn't it? As another example of how weak the Democrats are there is no reason why they haven't been forcing the Republicans to physically do this every time they try to obstruct legislation. Let the public see how ugly the process is. The Democrats whine about how awful it is that the minority party forces them to muster up 60 votes for every little thing but they do nothing substantive about it. But that is a dead horse and, therefore, I shall not beat it.

Reconciliation I don't get at all, save for that it is now being identified as pure evil by Republicans despite their own frequent use of it when they were in power. All I know is that it is how the majority party gets by the super majority requirement and gets legislation to only need a simple majority.

As for this latest bit of business, the so called "Deem and Pass", well that makes no sense at all. I've tried reading up on it in a couple places and it is still beyond all understanding. The gist of it seems to be that you take a piece of legislation, draw up some amendments, and pass the amendments which in turn passes the bill. The fuss being raised in this instance (health care reform) seems to be that this would cause the amendments to be passed without the bill actually being complete. I could be completely off base.

Most of the objection I am hearing is that HCR would be passed without a vote. That is confusing because I see that there will be a vote on Sunday. Politics is so full of misinformation that I don't know who to believe.

Take the cost of this reform, for instance. The CBO recently announced that this bill will save money ($1.6 trillion) over a ten year period. That should be good news, right? Well all the conservative talking heads are now just talking about the cost and ignoring the savings. If they do acknowledge the CBOs report they are saying that you of course can't trust what the CBO says. The CBO has something in common with polls in that the numbers will be ignored by people when they don't serve their purposes. When Republicans hear how expensive a Democrat program is from a CBO report then they will wave that baby in the air for all to see. When the CBO reports that a Democrat program will save money then you can't trust the CBO. I'm sure that this goes both ways.

Anyway, my issue is with how this bill gets passed. I have read that the reason the Democrats are using(?) Deem and Pass is because some Congress men and women dont want to go on record as having voted for the bill. If that is true then those people need to be booted from office. That shows more concern for their political image than their actual job. If they don't believe in the bill, then they should vote no. If they do, then vote yes. It's that simple.

This HCR issue has been dragged on long enough and it needs to be over and done with. It should have been settled long ago. It's time they finish writing this baby up and bring it to a vote. Enough of this pussyfooting around. They all owe the people that much. As much as the Republicans love to declare that "the people have spoken", it was in the vote of 2008 where the people spoke. Its about time that the Democrats remember why they were voted in and do their damn job.

More Political Hypocrisy

The world of politics is full of hypocrisy. It's kind of sad that these people are in charge of the most powerful nation on this here planet. However, this is the hand we are dealt, and all we can do is point out the BS and hope that eventually these people may feel shame. So here's some recent WTFs, bullet point style:

• Sarah Palin used to skip across the border to get some of that Canadian health care
• Uber Anti-gay Senator Roy Ashburn was caught driving home drunk from a gay nightclub with a "friend"
• Karl Rove is critical of "smear tactics" being used in campaigns

I don't even have to discuss these. They speak for themselves.

Good talk, see you out there.

Sometimes Rush just plain confuses me

It's been awhile since I last complained about Rush so I figure it's ok to take 5 minutes to discuss something he just brought up.

As soon as the show started Rush exhibited glee over the fact that the recent earthquake in Chile did not produce 5 foot high waves to pound the Hawaiian islands. I get that. Thank God nothing bad happened on US soil. But the actual reason that Rush is happy has nothing to do with the welfare of his fellow citizens (big surprise), but in fact it is because this (non) event proves once and for all that you should never trust scientists because they are evil and manipulative.

Which leads me to this conclusion:

Preventative measures taken to avoid potential catastrophes of nature is bad.

Preventative measures taken to avoid potential military (at the cost of billions of dollars and thousands of lives) catastrophes is good.

Rush would have rather that the people of Hawaii had continued on with their lives as if nothing was amiss until the actual moment the wave was sighted.

This is what happens when idiots argue science. Most of what exists in science is theory. There are very few absolutes. However, there would be very few breakthroughs if science had to be absolutely 100% verifiable before being acted upon. That is the world that Rush wants. I just wonder if he would feel the same if those same restrictions were placed on Oxycontin and Viagra.

More Republican Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy, in addition to Jane's Addiction, is my obsession of the week, apparently. With the increasing communication between the President and the Republicans in Congress you are seeing a lot of shady behavior. The Republicans say how much they want to work with the President but tell their constituents that they are going to do whatever it takes to stop him. It's really odd to watch this behavior in a day and age where everything that is said can be captured and immediately put on the internet.

Rachel Maddow did a segment on the extremely unpopular stimulus bill recently and how Republicans are reflecting it's success (and failure) to the public. In this clip she shows the large number of politicians who stand on camera and declare the bill a failure, yet in their home town they are all too happy to present this money to the people as if it came from their own pocket.



It shouldn't be shocking, but it is. This is another reason why Obama needs to give up on the bipartisanship issue altogether.

Do Republicans have a monopoly on hypocrisy? Hell no. However, in my 30 years I haven't seen this level of hysterical rhetoric employed in bringing down a president since Newton Leroy Gingrich blew up the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal while he was cheating on his own wife.

I have come to the belief that, since the election of Obama, Boehner and McConnell have given no thought at all to working with Democrats. It has been their goal from the moment McCain conceded to tear down everything to get Republicans back in power.

And now for my other obsession!



I have also come to the belief that Dave Navarro does not own a single shirt.

"Barrack Obama is being punk'd"

A nice little article from Albert Brooks:

"Okay. Time is up. Barack Obama is being punk'd.

Sarah Palin had notes written on her hand at the same moment that she was making fun of Obama for using a teleprompter. One of the radio "hosts" who makes fun of the teleprompter daily said that Palin's notes on her hand were "endearing." The "host" also blamed Obama for televising his day with the Republican leadership, saying that if he was serious, he would have done it in private. This was after a solid month of daily beatings for not making the health care negotiations public.

The Democratic Party can now be assured forever that nothing, nothing, nothing they will do will stop the insanity. Or Sean Insanity, whatever you want to call it. If they are hoping for good publicity from the majority media, (yes, I'm sorry Fox, but you are now the highest rated news network) forget it. Writing on the hand is okay, teleprompter is not. Opening up health care is okay, opening up the meeting with Republicans is not. It would not surprise me if Ashton Kutcher popped out of the West Wing and told Obama that he has been punk'd.

The swift boat ad that killed John Kerry was not an aberration, it was just the beginning. They took a man who actually served in Vietnam and made him a coward compared to a man who didn't. And people bought it. Now it's everywhere. Right is wrong, wrong is right, crazy is normal, good is bad, hot is cold. I am not sure what the anti-Christ's plan is, but I can't imagine this is not part of it."

Couldn't have said it better myself, which is why my ramblings are on this little blog, and not somewhere important.

Sarah Palin: Hypocrite

Eventually, Palins rabid pack of groupies have to realize she's a total fraud, right? It should be a done deal by now. Her entire story since she burst on the scene has been one long essay in hypocrisy (note-some of these are hypocrisy but some are also just plain lies):

• She first burst on the scene as the over-enthusiastic attack dog whose sole purpose was to constantly gripe about Democrats, yet no one has played the victim card to the extreme like she has,
• Accused Obama of "pailing around with terrorists" while failing to mention any of McCains own nefarious connections,
• Hauls children to every public appearance yet no one is able to acknowledge their existence,
• Enthusiastically supports abstinence and family values while own daughter is a bit of a family value train wreck,
• Claimed her stance was "Thanks but no thanks" in regards to the "Bridge to Nowhere" despite the fact that she campaigned for it as governor,
• Claims to be an honest public servant despite a history of firing and harassing people with whom she has taken issue,
• Is a staunch anti-socialist despite an awfully suspicious profit sharing system from Alaskan oil,
• Has a track record of criticizing "elitists" and thinks herself exempt because of poor grammar despite pulling in six digits for speaking, high fashion tendencies, and, from multiple witness accounts, behaving like a spoiled pampered diva,
• Took a consistent stance against big-government despite Alaska pulling in more federal money than any other state,
• Claimed to have rejected Federal stimulus money despite the fact that it was not 100% true,
• Claims that quitting as governor is a testament to her dedication of serving the people,
• Criticized Hillary Clinton for complaining about media coverage while she herself whines about media coverage,
• Continually criticizes the media for "making stuff up" despite the fact that she, herself, engages in serious revisionism every time she speaks publicly,
• Believes that name-dropping the military at every oppurtunity is the equivalent of support even though she thinks that the USA should invade every country that looks at us funny,
• Also believed that her support for the troops was more relevant than Biden despite the fact that he too had children serving,
• Continually claims that Obama is "in over his head" as President despite the fact that she has never gotten specific on policy, no matter how cushy the interview,
• Turned the health care reform proposal of "end of life counseling" in to "death panels" despite the fact that she herself supported such counseling only a couple years ago.

Although I could go on, I just wanted to set up Palin's most recent exercises in hypocrisy by showing that this has officially become a body of work for her. This is what she does, and criticism on the right is few and far between.

• Palin recently attacked Rahm Emanuel for his of the word "retard" while criticizing liberals speaking up against the Obama administration. Palin was deeply offended as there is some baby with Downs Syndrome in the family. She went to her fucking Facebook page and posted a whole diatribe on how Emanuel should step down or be fired for making this comment. I can not understand how a comment made on facebook can cause such a shit storm over something as inconsequential as this. Facebook? We're talking about.... facebook. My brain hurts from even trying to comprehending this. In the wake of that, Rush Limbaugh went off throwing down the dreaded R-word like it was going out of style. In response, Palin defended his usage of the word. So, when Emanuel (Democrat) uses the word "retarded" behind closed doors it is cause for him to be stoned to death. When a radio host loud mouth uses the word on public radio, it's ok because he was referring to "kooks" and he was only using satire.
  
• Finally, Palin has gone out of her way to be extremely condescending about Obama using a teleprompter. This has been a favorite of Republicans and has been a source of annoyance for a number of Democrats. Here's the real punchline though: teleprompters have been used by presidents for years, including Bush and Reagan. That's what makes it so friggin annoying. But because the annoyance is obvious it only encourages it. Palin herself has used teleprompters. HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE?!? Anywho, the criticisms are now even extra RETARDED as Palin was caught with notes written on her hand while giving one of those $100,000 speeches at a Tea Party Convention. This just goes beyond ridiculous.
  

Palin has had a long standing loose relationship with the truth and reality, and yet she is champion of conservatives big and small. At some point, the long list of hypocrisy would have to catch up with her. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Palin will continue to run her filthy mouth at every opportunity with her new found employment at FOX News where she can expect a number of safe interviews and softball questions.

Charismatic and motiviational? No doubt about it!

Deceitful and a soul condemned to hell? You betcha!

To close it all out, here's SNLs take on the Rahm/retard situation. This shit is funny.


"You come after me on facebook? What are your fourteen? Here's a status update: Grow the fuck up! Poke me again, and I will write shit on your wall so obscene your computer will cry. Go back to the tundra, you fucking gimmick!"

Classic. I enjoyed that like no other.