Morning Must Reads: Screening

Good “job” Mr President. Who is really surprised? A near nobody is voted into office by the flaming libtards, and proves to be exactly what he is, a Community Organizer.
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I wonder if there is a poll on how stupid liberal voters are, and what the percent of people think about their errant decision?
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/11/obama-romney-palin.html

While in other news, even Bristol Palin is more popular than Dumbo who is the current occupant in the White House.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112104745.html
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But, our friends on the left know how to take out their revenge. They have made death threats to a young, single mother who just happens to be the daughter of a former Vice Presidential candidate.
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The rabid left are beginning to show their true colors.

As the Korean escalation gets even more dire. Krauthammer calls for the nuclear arming of South Korea. The best idea yet. I’ll bet Joe Klein will have something to say about it too.
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/krauthammer-its-time-to-arm-south-korea-with-nukes/

Can one of the moderator’s explain why there are no consequences for the insults directed at liberals and people with mental problems on this forum, especially in light of the fact that intelligent posters have been banned here for less offense?

It may be the reason you are losing all your posters.

It’s interesting to note that while most of that time frame had reasonable shifts in positioning, since ’84, everything has been pretty static, every area moved fairly consistently between the red and blue ends of the spectrum.

Maybe it is because of ALL the insults thrown in here on a regular basis by your liberal friends Derek. Just a thought.
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Have a nice day!!
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Enjoy!!

What did I miss?

The SPLC adds churches, right-wing activist orgs to its list of hate groups.

“Even as some well-known anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family moderate their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. These groups’ influence reaches far beyond what their size would suggest, because the ‘facts’ they disseminate about homosexuality are often amplified by certain politicians, other groups and even news organizations.

Of the 18 groups profiled below, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will be listing 13 next year as hate groups (eight were previously listed), reflecting further research into their views; those are each marked with an asterisk. Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.”

Salon’s War Room offers up its ‘Hack Thirty’.

“About the Hack Thirty

We’re listing the worst columnists and cable news commentators America has to offer. Think of this as our all-star team — of the most predictable, dishonest and just plain stupid pundits in the media.”

Really? Posters sprinkly the equivalent of “libtard” throughout posts directed against those on the right on a daily basis? Please, provide something to at least back up your statements.

I like to see some evidence newfreedomblog. I can’t think of one liberal poster who matches you for insults. Even if there is can’t you rise above it? Can you not refrain from lowering yourself to their juvenile level?
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How old are you?

Fat, drugged, and stupid is no way to go through life, Rush.

“So, Mr. Limbaugh; you didn’t enjoy your drive of our 2011 Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Volt? Assuming you’ve been anywhere near the biggest automotive technological breakthrough since … I don’t know, maybe the self-starter, could you even find your way to the front seat? Or are you happy attacking a car that you’ve never even seen in person?

Last time you ranted about the Volt, you got confused about the ‘range,’ and said on the air that the car could be driven no more than 40 miles at a time, period. At least you stayed away from that issue this time, but you continue to attack it as the car only a tree hugging, Obama-supporting Government Motors customer would want. As radio loudmouths like you would note, none of those potential customers were to be found after November 2.

Back to us for a moment, our credibility, Mr. Limbaugh, comes from actually driving and testing the car, and understanding its advanced technology. It comes from driving and testing virtually every new car sold, and from doing this once a year with all the all-new or significantly improved models all at the same time. We test, make judgments and write about things we understand.

Chevrolet has not sold one Volt because it’s not on sale yet. It will not sell 10,000 this first model year (although GE plans to buy truckloads for its fleet), because it takes time to ramp up production.”

Ethically unchallenged.

“A 22-member transition team has been convened to craft operating rules for the new GOP-led House, but it’s worth noting that some of the members of this team — most notably Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and John Campbell (R-Calif.) — have themselves been targets of ethics investigations.

To clarify, the Office of Congressional Ethics is tasked with reviewing complaints against lawmakers, and deciding whether to refer the disputes to the House ethics committee (technically, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) for investigation. If Republicans shut down OCE, the process of holding members accountable for ethics transgressions would either have to be immediately replaced with a new system, or the process would simply cease to function.

It’s not surprising, of course, that some Republicans would want to scrap the office; one assumes arsonists would want to shut down fire departments, too. But the effort, if it proceeds, should send quite a message to voters about GOP priorities — the party promised to change the way Congress operates, but voters may not have realized that meant making it easier for representatives to get away with ethics violations.”

Glenn Greenwald on TSA methodolgy, looking at the various groups that are protesting (or not), and why:

“In one corner we have the American Right, magically re-discovering their alleged belief in privacy and government restraint now that they see an opportunity to politically harm Obama by waving that flag once again. These, of course, are the very same people who spent the last decade cheering on every radical expansion of unchecked government authority and privacy destruction when it was their Party doing it — ones far, far worse than these airport screening measures — and who will undoubtedly do exactly the same thing the next time a Republican occupies the White House.
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I have no doubt — none — that if there were a Republican President in office now, these very same people would not only be defending the TSA in the name of Staying Safe, but maligning critics as Privacy Fetishists, Civil Liberties Extremists, and Friends of The Terrorists. Nobody has less credibility to march under a privacy and civil liberties banner than that right-wing faction (and see Darren Hutchinson on just some of the out-of-control government powers they cheer on domestically). And that’s to say nothing of their real agenda: to privatize airport security, the way our prison system has been — as though having Blackwater or the Paragon of American Authoritarianism, Rudy Giuliani, take over from the TSA will preserve our liberties and privacy.
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In the other corner, we have the Democrats, who — in perfect unison — would be screaming bloody murder about these methods and waving the Flag of Civil Liberties if George W. Bush were still President, as they would smell partisan advantage from doing so. But since it’s Barack Obama who is President, they are — with a few exceptions — meekly raising concerns, though more often acquiescent to the TSA when they aren’t outright supportive.
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And then we have the indignant, put-upon American People. They’re not angry that the Government had adopted inexcusably invasive and irrational security measures. They’re just angry that, this time, it’s being directed at them — rather than those dark, exotic, foreign-seeming Muslims who deserve it, including their own fellow citizens. And if there were a successful bombing plot against a passenger jet, many of those most vocally objecting now would be leading the way in attacking the Government for not having kept them Safe, and would be demanding even more invasive measures — just directed at those Other People, the Bad Dark People over there. Eugene Robinson is exactly right when he wrote today in The Washington Post:
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What the critics really mean is not that the TSA should let underwear bombers board planes. What they’re saying is: Don’t search me, and don’t search my grandmother. Just search the potential terrorists.
In other words, they want profiling. That’s a seductive idea, I suppose, if you don’t spend a lot of time worrying about civil liberties. But it couldn’t possibly work. Our terrorist enemies may be evil, but they’re not stupid.”

http://www.salon.com/news/terrorism/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/11/23/tsa

They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead | Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

“In Loudoun County – the nation’s wealthiest county measured by median income – the food pantry is distributing its first-ever Thanksgiving meal, giving food to 2,000 families. In Montgomery County, the Manna Food Center added some Saturday hours for the convenience of working families. And in Fairfax County, the nonprofit Our Daily Bread is facing the grim reality that, although it will feed 2,400 people, it may not be able to help as many 650 needy families at Thanksgiving.

Lynn Brantley, president and chief executive of the Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington, said this year was the most difficult in the organization’s 30-year history. The food bank – the main supplier of food to more than 700 agencies and nonprofit groups around the Capital Beltway – will distribute a record-breaking 30 million pounds of food, up from 27 million last year.

‘With this economy, things are pretty bleak,’ Brantley said. ‘People on Main Street are not rebounding.’

Bread lines have become commonplace, including the 3,000 people who waited for groceries and personal-care items in Northeast last week at a giveaway co-sponsored by PepsiCo and the dozens who gathered in front of the Loudoun Interfaith Relief center Friday.”

(in case you’re wondering what song that lyric belongs to:

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/cherries.html )

I did call nfb Hitler the other day, but it seemed appropriate, since I was being satirical and he was trying to draw a parallel between liberals and Nazis to begin with.
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Oh well. You can’t expect a wingnut to be able to tell the difference.
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As far as banning them. It’d be nice to live in a world without wingnuts, but that’s not the reality. If this blog wants to reflect reality, letting wingnuts post is a must; however, letting wingnuts post will always allow them to dominate a conversation because they want to dominate it the most.

“10 Epic Failures of the Bush Tax Cuts”

(chart nirvana and more at the link)

In a rare moment of candor last week, the third-ranking Republican in the House admitted the failure of the Bush tax cuts. ‘You know, I think it’s fair to say, if the current tax rates were enough to create jobs and generate economic growth we’d have a growing economy,’ Mike Pence acknowledged, adding, ‘It’s not working now.’ Given that the Bush years produced the worst economic growth in the past 50 years, Pence is sadly correct. But sadder still is the dismal performance of the Bush economy across almost every indicator that counts. From moribund job creation and sinking household incomes to skyrocketing deficits and record income inequality, Republican economic stewardship over the past decade has been a disaster.

Here, then, are the 10 Epic Failures of the Bush Tax Cuts:

1. Dismal Economic Growth
2. A Decade of Budget Deficits
3. Red Ink as Far as the Eye Can See
4. Disastrous Job Creation
5. Declining Incomes
6. Increasing Poverty
7. A Massive Windfall for the Wealthy
8. Record Income Inequality
9. A Sagging Stock Market
10. Jeopardizing Future Economic Growth

however, letting wingnuts post will always allow them to dominate a conversation because they want to dominate it the most.

If by “dominate” you mean “blather on endlessly”, mostly among themselves and free of facts, then yes, you are correct. I tend to view it as a front row seat for right-wing dogmatic theater which I liken to a reverse version of a Gallagher show where the audience throws the fruit.

Who is getting bailed out in the Irish debt fiasco, again?

“The pressure for a bailout of Ireland did not come from Ireland itself—it came from Eurozone officials. If anything, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lehnihan’s announcement over the weekend that Ireland would seek a bailout was a concession to its European Union friends.

So why would the Eurocrats demand a bailout of Ireland when Ireland insisted it didn’t need one?

The first reason is that much of Ireland’s debt—both its sovereign debt and the debt of its banks—is held by many of Europe’s largest financial institutions. The continued downward pressure on the market value of Ireland’s debt was causing balance sheet issues for these banks. Many of Europe’s banks had written credit default swaps on Irish debt, which was draining cash. Finally, the banks were finding it increasingly expensive to borrow against Irish debt…creating the potential for a credit crunch. [...]

Which means that this is not so much a bailout of Ireland—it’s a bailout of Ireland’s counterparties. That is to say, it’s a bit like Europe’s version of AIG: a backdoor bailout of invisible financial players who failed to manage their exposure to a shaky borrower.”

“Oh well. You can’t expect a wingnut to be able to tell the difference.”

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Time and time again on this site you can see not only this example, but it has been even much worse in the past.
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“Wing-nut” is just as offensive as I am sure how you take “Libtard”.
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I have made many many attempts to discuss and comment as an adult with the various libtarded commenter’s on this site. To no avail. There are a few liberals on this site that I do show respect. But the keyword is FEW. The rest are simply not worth my time.
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You should be more like me, when someone like gummyshoes shouts out “wingnut” I usually ignore it and treat it like water down a ducks back. Life is less stressful that way.
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Have a great day.

You should be careful way up there on your high horse; you might fall and break something.

If by “dominate” you mean “blather on endlessly”, mostly among themselves and free of facts

Come now, we all know truthiness is much more important than your so-called “facts.”

“As far as banning them. It’d be nice to live in a world without wingnuts, but that’s not the reality.”
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It would be fine if there were intelligent conservatives on the board. There is just so much cr@p now it is getting harder and harder to come back. Liberals have been banned on this site, so for an organization obsessed with partisan equality they ought to ban a few conservatives too, especially those who insult the less fortunate in society, like the mentally handicapped.

“…a ‘missed opportunity for all of us.’”

“Making their appeal on behalf of the U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, the foreign ministers of Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Lithuania crashed a Saturday press conference by a senior U.S. administration official about talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. While President Barack Obama has said ratifying the treaty should be a top priority for Congress, key Republican senators have said they don’t think a vote on it should be held before the new Congress convenes in January.

Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said she spearheaded the media blitz to ‘make the Republican Party aware of how important this is.’

‘If (New) START is not ratified, it will have a real impact on European security,’ she said. ‘We hope we can sign it as soon as possible.’

As if to give her group extra street cred, Espersen said she was the chairman of the Conservative Party of Denmark.

‘Nobody can ever accuse me of being soft on security,’ she said”

Ha- finally the perfect GG post. .
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Everyone has impure motives but Glen. Dude needs a rest.

Come now, we all know truthiness is much more important than your so-called “facts.”

So true.
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@Derek: Some of those doing the insulting may be a bit “challenged” themselves. FWIW, I think the bar should for banning someone should be fairly high. I know some have been banned in the past here but I don’t know specifically for what behavior they were banned. Knowing that might provide some clarity.

Newf, do you realise that your link has no mention at all about death threats? In fact it points out that “One person claimed to have voted for Bristol 300 times” by creating fake email addresses. I won’t even try to explain the foolishness of comparing the popularity of the President with a reality TV star…

Rusty, the difference between the use of the word wingnut & the word libtard is that:
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• a wingnut can be from the left or right and dogmatically toes a line, generally using falsehoods or ignoring evidence that doesn’t suite their personal beliefs or which is at odds with their philosophy.
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• a libtard (I would assume since you’re the first person I’ve seen use this term) is a mentally deficient person who also happens to be liberal.
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I’ve never claimed you are unintelligent when I’ve used the word wingnut. I’ve claimed you are a liar on occasion or that you misrepresent the truth, when I have evidence. Whether you choose to be offended I suppose is your call.
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I honestly don’t care how many times you use the word libtard. Its more of a reflection on you than me. I know I’m willing to revise and update my positions when faced with factual evidence, but you’ve never, in my history of reading this blog, shown you are capable of that.
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So, while you claim to be better than me, you might consider when exactly the two of us pull out our respective insults. Generally, you’ll open up with an insult. I generally wait until the person I’m insulting creates a situation that deserves it before using an insult. Of course, your criteria for deserving it is “being liberal,” so my issue with you is more your blind tribalism than your level of intelligence.

Posted above in the wrong place:
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Rusty, the difference between the use of the word wingnut & the word libtard is that:
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• a wingnut can be from the left or right and dogmatically toes a line, generally using falsehoods or ignoring evidence that doesn’t suite their personal beliefs or which is at odds with their philosophy.
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• a libtard (I would assume since you’re the first person I’ve seen use this term) is a mentally deficient person who also happens to be liberal.
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I’ve never claimed you are unintelligent when I’ve used the word wingnut. I’ve claimed you are a liar on occasion or that you misrepresent the truth, when I have evidence. Whether you choose to be offended I suppose is your call.
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I honestly don’t care how many times you use the word libtard. Its more of a reflection on you than me. I know I’m willing to revise and update my positions when faced with factual evidence, but you’ve never, in my history of reading this blog, shown you are capable of that.
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So, while you claim to be better than me, you might consider when exactly the two of us pull out our respective insults. Generally, you’ll open up with an insult. I generally wait until the person I’m insulting creates a situation that deserves it before using an insult. Of course, your criteria for deserving it is “being liberal,” so my issue with you is more your blind tribalism than your level of intelligence.

The above was meant to be posted below where it appears again. Apologies, though it does still appear to be somewhat fitting as an example of off the bat insults.

diecash1 I have not been banned yet but I did receive a warning directly from Joe Klein that I was about to be. That was over a comment I made regarding the war in Iraq. I’m not sure why others were banned.

Actaully, what has been interesting about John Kyl’s attempt to hold up ratification of the START treaty is that he has not near as I can tell, based on any sort of first principle or specifc concern, simply a vague “There isn’t enough time”. I dare say that he cannt really cite a substantive </i) objection, given that a) he is on record as having all but agreed to it sweveral months ago and b) that pesky Richard Lugar is all for it, and disagreeing with Lugar on substance would be, well . . . all too revealing. So we are left with a group of provincial politicians standing in the way of a small but nevertheless real step toward global safety for reasons that even they do not understand.

Bring the treaty to a vote and get everyone on record. Now.

Warned by Joe Klein himself, huh? You wouldn’t happen to have a link to that bit of commentary would you? I’d certainly like to read it.

diecash1 no I don’t. It was soon after this place opened. To be fair to Klein I probably was out of line. I remember saying something to the effect that he probably rejoiced each time another soldier died.

I just wanted to see what it took to get under the skin of pro writer so badly that he threatened to ban you. I’m sure it made for some interesting reading!

Newf, you are out of line with your constant use of the word ‘libtard’, it offends Sarah Palin, whose son is developmentally handicapped as is my sister.
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For your information, the opposite of a wingnut is a moonbeam. Those on the left who toe the party line without thinking are moonbeams, on the right they are wingnut. You, sir, are a wingnut and I’m not a moonbeam because I think about what is best for myself, my family and the country and some ideas of the democratic party are not best.

I find the TSA stories illuminating. The privacy issues concern me–and I’m a liberal. But then I was concerned about the warrentless wiretapping too. Benjamin Franklin had once said “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” We are on the presipice here, folks. The police state is coming and it is both parties in cahots with its formation. Bush and republicans gave us warrentless wiretaps, and now Obama has given us exposure to x-rays and pat downs at the airports, though those measures had been planned well before Obama reaching the WH, he chose not to stop them. As to warrentless wiretapping: my biggest problem is that 99% of my emails are protected by HIPPA, and yet some beaurocrat can look at them at any time for no reason but to want to look and make sure that some lowly employee of some mental health service provider is not using the job as a cover to organize or participate in a terrorist act. It’s really sad.

The police state is coming here.
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Fixed.

grape_crush:
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Thank you! Thank You! Thank you! I have bookmarked the article so I can enjoy it at my leisure.
It is great to see someone calling out the self-proclaimed, blowheart experts in the Village echo chamber. I am looking forward to the top 10.

September 15, 2009:

“The Obama administration has told Congress it supports renewing three provisions of the Patriot Act due to expire at year’s end, measures making it easier for the government to spy within the United States.”

“These are the three provisions due to expire:

*A secret court, known as the FISA court, may grant “roving wiretaps” without the government identifying the target. Generally, the authorities must assert that the target is an agent of a foreign power and/or a suspected terrorist. The government said Tuesday that 22 such warrants — which allow the monitoring of any communication device — have been granted annually.

*The FISA court may grant warrants for “business records,” from banking to library to medical records. Generally, the government must assert that the records are relevant to foreign intelligence gathering and/or a terrorism investigation. The government said Tuesday that 220 of these warrants had been granted between 2004 and 2007. It said 2004 was the first year those powers were used.

*A so-called “lone wolf” provision, enacted in 2004, allows FISA court warrants for the electronic monitoring of an individual even without showing that the person is an agent of a foreign power or a suspected terrorist. The government said Tuesday it has never invoked that provision, but said it wants to keep the authority to do so.”

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/points-of-failure/