Friday, October 13, 2006
BBC shows Israeli propaganda on why Iran must be attacked
No opposing viewpoints as the propaganda creates an implied imprimatur for the attack. The questions are - an Israel or American attack and is it within three weeks or several months?
Israeli paper - IDF: Military Attack on Iran Only Option.
Former Weapons Inspector, Experts Warn Against Military Action Toward Iran. This was at a DC press panel discussion organized by Dennis Kucinich, apparently to head off the attack.
Wow, those Christian conservatives really might be mad
From a leading online news source for the Christian conservatives:
Laura Bush Attends Sodomite Swearing-In Ceremony.
Exclusive: How the Bush Administration Plays Christians for Fools.
Republican Denials Are Looking Desperate.
In between advocating killing all the gays as God commands, their editorials are calling out the neocon plan to rule the world as the "ultimate blasphemy."
Wow, I'm getting confused - they now hate Bush and the neocons but also want to kill the gays. I have heard recently that many Christian conservatives had turned against Bush for agreeing with Sharon and Olmert about pulling out of the Gaza strip. Why? Because that would stop the Rapture. Now gays in the Republican Party, imagine that, have pushed them openly over the edge.
The Christian conservatives and Fox News and other prominent GOP sources, are also all over Soros, making pretty blatent attempts to portray him as a Jewish communist international banker conspiring to subvert America.
I am hopeful for this election as it appears the hard Christian Right will stay home or turn against the GOP but....
Kill the gays, liberal appeasers, international Jewish banker conspiracies, preserving family values, pre-emptive wars, patriot acts, detentions without trials, extreme reactions against a terrorist attack on symbols of power, rants against internal traitors.... haven't we seen this play before?
Will they just purge their party of people like Bush as, unbelievably, being too moderate?
Mad in both senses.
Second Baptist Church of Houston and the Domionist takeover
Houston claims the distinction of having the largest church involved in the Right-Christian GOP alliance to institute Christ-centered, Christ-favored government. Christian reconstructionists at Second Baptist founded the Nehemiah Project to endorse and oppose candidates and political measures and take over the Harris County Republican Party, acts prohibited to churchs and other tax-exempt organizations. The headline link article describes Second Baptist as the center of the Harris county GOP takeover by religious activists and its role in the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention and the state and national GOP parties. The Christian reconstructionists are intent on restoring an American Christian nation that never was.
Their is a long list of questionable associations of Second Baptist and the SBC, including ties to the John Birch Society. Second Baptist members are on the secretive Council for National Policy, a religious group that meets with conservative political leaders three times a year to lobby and coordinate agendas.
After a four-year IRS investigation Second Baptist managed to keep its tax-exemption status. It seems to be that only churchs that clearly use church money for political advertisements have lost their tax-free status. Recently under Bush, liberal churches are now being targeted by the IRS even when they have carefully obeyed the guidelines not to make endorsements. Many conservative churches seem to hand out voting endorsements that violate the guidelines. Before the 90's, American major churchs and religious organizations generally stayed out of politics. That changed.
Houston's, and the nation's, largest Church is not as politically connected as Second Baptist. Lakewood Church, while promoting a lite version of the prosperity gospel which appeals to Republicans, doesn't seem to have the same political connections or involvement in politics possibly due to its youth and origins in the racially diverse lower economic strata. Centrist Democrat and blogger Greg Wythe is a member.
The Anatomy of Power: Texas and the Religious Right in 2006 - PDF, is a free publication by the Texas Freedom Network that documents the takeover by the conservative churches of the Republican party in Texas.
Among the report’s findings:
• The religious right has tightened its grip on the Republican Party of Texas and now completely controls the party leadership. In fact, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between the movement and the party in leadership, political goals and tactics. (Chapter 1)
• Having spent $10 million since 1997 to help the Texas GOP take control of state government, wealthy San Antonio businessman James Leininger is now working to purge from office those Republicans who fail to support fully the religious right’s public policy agenda. In fact, with Leininger’s financial support, the religious right is on the verge of finally winning a majority of seats on the State Board of Education. (Chapter 2)
• The new model in the religious right’s political strategy relies on recruiting conservative evangelical pastors who will use their positions as church leaders to advance the movement’s policy agenda. In fact, the state’s newest far-right pressure group, the Texas Restoration Project, has been recruiting thousands of pastors to support (successfully) a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and to back conservative candidates for office, including Gov. Rick Perry. (Chapter 3)
• David Barton, vice chair of the state GOP and president of the Christian advocacy group WallBuilders, has become a key part of efforts to recruit conservative evangelicals into the Republican Party. Using questionable research, Barton appeals to Christian conservatives with the dubious argument that the separation of church and state is a myth created by activist judges. (Chapter 4)
Tags: Second Baptist Houston, Lakewood, Texas, GOP, Religion, Politics, Domionists, Reconstructionists, Houston
Democrats more enthused, more liberal for 2006
Pew Research finds for the first time in years Republicans are more discouraged about going to the polls than Democrats. Overall Democrats are angry but optimistic this year and Pew suggests that voter turnout will be up, always a good sign for Democrats.
What's in a name? Liberal is not a dirty word among Democrats this year with it starting to challenge moderate as how Democrats label themselves.
An interesting finding, 5% of Republicans define themselves as liberal. That may be due to a radical Republican tradition of putting a different definition on the word where liberal means free enterprise.
Other election related news -
Hastert won't resign, according to Novak, so Democrats should play up his Republican supporters on the Hill who put politics over family values.
You need a very large scorecard to keep up with the Republican myths about the Foley sex scandal and their inaction.
Foley was inappropriately touching pages on House floor in 2001 - link from The Raw Story.
Will the courts set free an American citizen because of Bush torture?
The Right can't accept the 655,000 extra dead Iraqis claim and the increasing violence because it contradicts one of their last stated reasons for staying - protecting the Iraqis.
A WP photographer provided extensive blog publicity for Wal-Mart.
Bush and the simple clear failure of his policy on North Korea with an example of his ignorance on the topic.
"Failure" =1994-2002 -- Era of Clinton 'Agreed Framework': No plutonium production. All existing plutonium under international inspection. No bomb.
"Success" = 2002-2006 -- Bush Policy Era: Active plutonium production. No international inspections of plutonium stocks. Nuclear warhead detonated.
Face it. They ditched an imperfect but working policy. They replaced it with nothing. Now North Korea is a nuclear state.
Facts hurt. So do nukes.
'The Coming Gay Republican Purge'
The social conservatives are demanding that the gays who have been working for the GOP be purged. They have the clout to get it done. You could say those Log Cabin Republicans are being smoked out and will go down in flames. Link to The Nation which has the quotes from organizers in the GOP culture civil war for control taking place now.
Do you think The Nation is exaggerating this? Then read the latest bigoted hate speech against Gays in the GOP and how they are a secret cabal of hidden Democrats because they are like so gay. That is from Accuracy in Media, an influential GOP group that is the more biased, less fact-checked Media Matters of the Right. This is yet more evidence that the John Birch Society took over the GOP in the 90's without the media noticing. You cannot find any difference between current core GOP leadership beliefs and the beliefs of the Birchers. Before the 90's everyone knew the John Birch Society were far right nuts, now they are conventional Republican wisdom.
Planing for independent exit polls valuable tool for compromised elections to come
Exit polls are used as proof of stolen elections everywhere around the world but here in the USA. Independents are now organizing for new exit polls for races in the US after 2004 amid concerns about vote hacks.
Tags: blackbox voting, exit polls
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Two Can Play That Game
DeLay may regret opening the doors to congressional redistricting when state government changes hands. Democratic organizations are pouring money and resources into efforts to capture state houses to change the congressional maps. In places like Michigan it looks like it may work. Other Democrats want to seize the moral high ground and avoid mid-decade fights. Rachel Morris on The Race to Gerrymander.
Innumerate cowards recoil from the facts: 655,000 dead Iraqis
My take: my little finger, which went to all my stat courses with me, knows more statistics than the blithering elephant asses who are saying I don't believe this study. Of course they don't, it blows their latest rationale for the war and for staying. Link from Atrios.
Why does talk radio all sound the same?
Because both listeners and callers are getting tips and their talking points of the day spelled out to them by the Republican party.
The Republican Right Wing Noise Machine in action.
Tags: RWNM
Study Finds Lack of Balance, Diversity, Public at PBS NewsHour
2 - 1 Republicans over Democrats
50% goverment officials - 4% public interest
85% White
82% Male
Maybe we need real "Public" television stations and not another Corporate Mouthpiece.
Minuteman Founder Proves To Be A Coward On Democracy Now
I happened to be in the car and actually caught this yesterday.
Tempting Faith - The White House is scornful of and lies to Christian leaders
Karl Rove's office referred to evangelical leaders as 'the nuts.'
The White House should have realized that a Christian scorned who realizes he has been played will reveal all the insider poop they have kept from their base. The entire religious program initiative was run strictly to get control of Congress. This is from Olbermann's show and has video.
Now wait and watch the attacks on author David Kuo begin because when something hits Republicans never discuss issues, only engage in character assassination.
Mark Warner Bows Out of 2008 Presidential Race
Too bad, very electable, was raising lots of money for Democrats while exploring the possiblity.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
'Hey Rube'
American Spectator tries to play the conservatives the way Tucker Carlson revealed the GOP plays the right Christians - keep them in the dark and feed them manure.
Here they say the Foley scandal was carefully nurtured to be released right before the election! So are they being lied to by a "Democratic political operative" when they say the Foley schedule was released weeks earlier than planned or doing the lying?
The Foley scandal had been shopped for a year, most recently extensively over the summer, before making it into public notice. So if this was a plan for the elections to be timed right before the elections, why were they trying to get all the media on it a year ago? The answer is this is just more of the lying spins of the right.
The American Spectator became known for juicy fake sex scandals funded and seeded by a billionaire Republican - see Scaife and Blinded by the Right.
"Hey Rube" is the old carney call for when those fleecing the public need the other barkers to come to their aid.
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