Horrifying. This is what we get when the far right gets a free pass from the mainstream media. How about nightly fact checks on the evening news programs? These people are dangerous (the so-called journalists on the far right) when they inflame potential domestic terrorists so they can drive up ratings with their "info-taiment" shock talk, and then run from the responsibility when one of these nut jobs actually takes everything they've been saying as fact and starts building bombs or firing off shots.
Do they have the right to say the things they do? Well, I suppose they do. But the mainstream media, more so, has the responsibility of challenging what they say, from Fox News to Glenn Beck and beyond. Instead, they ignore it, or even worse, take it seriously and start reporting on the same "stories" these dangerous anti-journalists are fabricating without any real reporting to clarify fact and to separate truth from fiction.
When, not if, but when we have the next OKC, I'll be blaming the major mainstream news outlets as much as I'll be blaming the right wing "info-tainment" outlets. Perhaps even more so, because they truly are dropping the journalism ball where Beck and folks make it very clear that they are pandering to their viewers and listeners for the sake of the holy dollar and have little real interest in actually being journalists.
A lot of these folks cite the Bible for their political philosophies, well here's one for them:
Romans 13 (NSV): 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Monday, November 25, 2013
When does it become too much? Some tea partiers are now calling for Obama’s “legal” assassination
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Shutdown Blues & The Promise of Reform in 2014
Yes, it’s been quiet here, as I warned it would be after the election. There may be another post on that later.
Shutdown. Blah, blah… All the stuff from the webs. Been posting a ton of stuff on the Facebook page about this…
But this is where we may see some change in the future. Maybe things needed to get this bad in D.C. before real change in Congress was possible.
First, a little about how this happened, in my eyes, at least.
The Tea Partiers who are pushing this are concerned about jobs, this is a job retention strategy. Their jobs, yes, self-preservation, yes, but that’s what it is.
The districts that elected them want to see some action against Obama and Obama care is about the only real policy / legislation they can find true fault with. If they don’t do what they are doing, a lot of these radicals will be voted out and replaced with another round of amateurs who will flounder in futility as badly as the current crop of self proclaimed patriots.
Now, yes. Anger against the GOP over this fiasco may cost some Republicans from more balanced, moderate districts their jobs in 2014, but it won’t be the far, far right minority.
This may be enough to toss the House back to the Dems, which may actually lead to a functioning Congress for a while.
But it doesn’t fix the problem. The real problem is the procedural rules in both houses. These arcane and, often, insane rules emerged over decades as one party or the other struggled against the domination of the other.
A silver lining to come out of all of this may be that rules reform could be a real winning campaign issue in 2014. Usually, when the minority party comes into power, they, for many reasons, leave this stuff.
However, I think candidate that campaign on reform could really do well in 2014, which may or may not lead to reform actually happening, but let’s cross one bridge at a time here. For the GOP, this may be a critical strategy. Yeah, my party broke the country, but I want to fix it. Depending on how bad things get, this may be the only strategy they have.
If this comes to pass, then this current fiasco may lead to some really positive change down the road. And it really will take a disaster to make such change possible. But maybe it will be worth it, in the long run.
For there to be any hope of reform, though, things are going to have to get a lot worse first. If this stalemate is resolved soon, and if we end up not defaulting on our debts, then the electorate will have forgotten these events 13 months from now. Sad but true.
And make no mistake, this is exactly why this is happening right now.
I am not rooting for disaster. But, if it comes, then this will be my happy thought as I rummage through the dumpsters trying to keep the boys fed.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
House Passes Spending Bill That Would Cut Health Funds - NYTimes.com
“We’ve said from the beginning that this law will harm our economy, and we’re seeing our economy turn from a full-time job economy to a part-time job economy. That’s why we are doing our job, and now it is up to Senate Democrats to show some responsibility and follow the House’s lead.”" - Eric Cantor on Obamacare
Yeah, that's what did it. It was Obamacare!
'via Blog this'
Monday, September 09, 2013
President Obama’s Brilliant Strategy No One Seems To Recognize | FreakOutNation
"And there is no way Obama is going to launch this attack once Congress says no. It would be political suicide. Bush may have gotten away with it but America is not going to let it happen again. The fallout would signal the end of any and all effectiveness the Obama administration for the remaining years of his presidency. And history would place him with the likes of war criminals like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Let me repeat this. Obama is not that stupid!
"So why then does our president appear to be beating the drums of war? The simple answer is he is now regarded as a hawkish leader before the US and the world. And he does so without having to fire a shot. He appears wholeheartedly in favor of a strike and is playing the part well. The hawk stands upon his perch without lifting a talon as Congress now takes any and all responsibility for lack of action on the part of the US. "'via Blog this'
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Farewell, Snip.it (& thanks!)
So, Snip.it was bought by Yahoo and is being shut down. They've put together a "Hall of Fame" of contributors and I was named as one of the top contributors in the "Politics & World" category...
From an email I received from their Content Director:
I want to personally thank you for all your amazing contributions to the product, both in your snips and in your feedback to us. I’ve been continually impressed by all the interesting, unique content you’ve unearthed, as well as your thoughtful commentary on it. The quality of your contributions made the site an absolute joy to browse.
To honor all of your support and contributions, we’ve included you in our Snip.it Hall of Fame, a place to celebrate our top snippers. We’ve included your Twitter handle, so people can continue to follow your insights.
We've also created a Snip.it Hall of Fame, where we’re honoring some of the top contributors to the Snip.it community. We’ve included their Twitter handles so you can continue to stay connected and follow their insights.
I joined Snip.it while it was still in beta and have posted to it more days than not since then. They’ve been cool, it’s a great service, and their staff has been very supportive. From nearly the beginning, they featured my content, which I was pretty proud of, and I seem to have attracted quite a few followers there.
Supposedly, they will be reinventing themselves with Yahoo. I hope so. They were a great service.
We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring Snip.it's vision to a larger scale at Yahoo!. While we can't share the specifics of what we'll be building, we are excited about the opportunity to take social news to new, exciting heights at Yahoo!. The Yahoo! team is passionate about inspiring and entertaining the world’s daily habits, and certainly sharing news and information is something we all do every day. The vision and energy at the company is contagious, and we’re so excited to be part of all that is to come.
So now, I just need to figure out what to do with the links I’ve saved there. There are a couple ways to download them for future use, and I’ll be taking a look at how to get these back out there, when I have a little time…
I just deleted the Snip It button from my browser. That makes me sad.
Unfortunately, in life, with both the good and the bad, “This, too, shall pass…”
Snip.it: All My Base Belong To You - HTML Links
Snip.it: Democracy In Distress - HTML Links
Snip.it: Favorites
Snip.it: Retrovirus Lab - HTML Links
Snip.it: Rubble - HTML Links
Snip.it: Suburban Eschatology Part Two - HTML Links
Yahoo Is In Talks To Buy A Site We Actually Use, Snip.It
Snip.It is a social site that resembles a mash up of Pinterest's collections and Instapaper's ability to save links for consumption later.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-acquires-snipit-2013-1#ixzz2IoskdMnR
Yahoo Poised to Acquire Content Curation Site Snip.it - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD:
Snip.it was founded by Ramy Adeeb, who was formerly a principal at Khosla Ventures, and has funding from Khosla, True Ventures, Charles River Ventures and SV Angel.
Yahoo is paying “mid teens” of millions of dollars for the company, according to a source.
…
Kara Swisher yesterday described Yahoo’s new approach to content:While one might argue that Google is already the Google of content, the plan is to make Yahoo more relevant by tailoring it to the individual and make the site a “trusted destination to get them to where they want to go and keep going back.”
Thus, the thinking goes, while Google is the place people come to search for links, Yahoo then becomes the place users come to find content. That means more partnership deals from third-party sources, with an additional social component layer and synced across a number of devices and platforms, especially video.
Related Posts
Friday, January 04, 2013
Senate Less Broken Than News Media
This is such an important clip. The meat and bones is a couple minutes in, but beyond the confirmations finally being passed, O’Donnell words on how the media covers the “narrative” of the Senate versus the truth of how the institution actually works are just dead on.
Really, the news media is much more broken than the Senate, and that is saying quite a bit. Unfortunately, it also contributes quite a bit to what is broken in our government these days.
This first clip is from the end of the segment, and is the most important part. The entire clip, covering Reid and, it is important to note, McConnell’s actions on New Year’s Day is also worth watching and at the bottom of the post.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
VIA I love it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is President on Facebook:
No vacation for Harry Reid in the Senate...
"That may look boring to you, but that's the most exciting moment in Senate history..." (for someone appointed by Obama - who can't get anyone confirmed in a grid-locked Senate.)
~Lawrence O'Donnell, on watching the C-Span video of Reid reading the list of nomination bills. O'donnell is apparently the ONLY one other than the C-SPAN live coverage to even mention this phenomenal accomplishment! ~m
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy