Posts filed under ‘Fear’
Police Protecting Banks, Not We the People
(Image via TheContributor.com)
We the People think we’re paying the police out of our tax dollars and that they work for us but gosh golly gee wiz, something happened along the way:
As Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has said, the nation’s biggest banks have essentially gained “too big for trial” status, and the federal government has failed to prosecute any executive at a Big Bank for financial fraud.
While Wall Street has escaped prosecutions, thousands of Americans have been arrested in the course of protests against the banks. As of May 2013, that number is 7,736 — according to the website Occupy Arrests, which tracks arrests.
On Monday, dozens of homeowners who have faced abuses by Big Banks rallied outside the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, D.C. They demanded that the agency finally prosecute Wall Street banks who have become, as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has said, “too big for trial.”
[...]
The demonstrators marched to the Department of Justice, where they rallied outside the main entrance. At that entrance, several police armed with pepper guns and other crowd control weapons at first pushed the demonstrators back, and began arresting several activists. But they soon abandoned the entrance and retreated inside; this prompted protesters to place tents outside the door marked, “Foreclose on Banks.”
Protesters split up and blockaded all three major entrances of the Department of Justice building, and at least 17 – mostly homeowners who had lost their homes thanks to abuses by the Big Banks — were arrested by police, who utilized tasers, batons, and other weapons on the protesters.
Do policepeople join police departments these days because they want to “serve and protect” the people who pay their salaries or do they join because they want to be thugs who protect corporate money and power?
Are our neighborhood cops working for us, again — to serve and protect — or their corporate masters?
Just asking.
Gay Hate Up 100% in NYC Thanks to Hate Radio and TV
My Tweet of the Day. Oh, and I’d add “Christian” hate groups (What would Jesus think?) to the folks who are fomenting this:
Imagine: 10,000 People Marching on D.C. With Loaded Rifles Slung Across Their Back
What could possibly go wrong:
(Image via AmericaBlog.com)
Independence Day in Washington, D.C. may see bigger fireworks if the “Open Carry March” put forth by a Marine veteran turned libertarian activist actually goes forward.
Adam Kokesh, 31, is planning a July 4 rally of pro-gun activists openly carrying rifles from Virginia to Washington as an act of “civil disobedience.” The plan, according to his Facebook event page, is to march across Memorial Bridge with rifles loaded and slung across the back “to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated [and] cower in submission to tyranny.”
The invite continues, stating, ” … This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent.”
Kind of sad to think of the possibility that this could materialized based solely on lies (the government is coming to get your guns!) told by the wingnut talk show crowd, Republicans who are trying to whip up their base oh, and Faux News.
Another Law Enforcement Officer Shot Dead at Point Blank Range
Geez. There are terrifying times for people working in the law enforcement profession:
(Image via Heavy.com)
The recently elected Mingo County sheriff has been shot and killed near the courthouse Wednesday.
A 911 dispatcher confirmed that Sheriff Eugene Crum was shot on Harvey Street near the county courthouse. Crum had just taken office in January.
The Daily Mail has learned that Crum died from his injuries.
Delegate Harry Keith White, D-Mingo, told a reporter that Crum was known to eat lunch outside near the courthouse in the same spot everyday. A county commissioner reports a suspect drove by and shot Crum as he was eating.
“Apparently somebody just drove up and shot him. That’s what they told me. Shot him dead,” White said. “That’s from our county commissioner in the courthouse, who was crying when he called me.”
Horrible.
Bankers and Government Officials Make Life Miserable for Folks in Cyprus
Last Saturday the Cypriot government came up with the lamebrained idea of skimming a percentage of funds off the top of the guaranteed savings accounts (like our FDIC) of its citizens in order to bail out its banks.
What astonishingly arrogant chutzpah.
After the whole world rightly shrieked in horror, the government backed down but it closed all the banks to give it time to work on a new plan. They’re still closed. Initially they were going to open this past Tuesday but now they will be closed until at least next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, this is what’s going on on the street there:
Image via CyprusIsLandWithHistory.blogspot.com)
NICOSIA, March 21 (Reuters) – Forget the plastic. In Cyprus, cash is king.
“I plan to have at least 1,000 euros on me at all times,” Constantinos Tsissios, a 34-year-old banker, said at a downtown ATM in the capital, Nicosia.
“We’ve taken as much out as we could,” he said on Thursday. “You don’t know what might happen over the next few days.”
Five days after Cyprus’s panicked leaders ordered banks to close their doors, the fate of the financial system hangs in the balance and credit cards are going out of fashion.
Reluctant to accept the promise of payment from customers, shop owners say wholesalers are demanding cash on delivery. Some petrol stations, too, are refusing credit cards. Retailers with only Cypriot bank accounts are struggling to ship supplies in from abroad. Gentlemanly arrangements are bridging the gap.
“Because of what’s going on the suppliers ask for a small amount, say 50 percent, in cash, so they can meet their costs,” said Federico Basonidis, a 25-year-old worker at a kiosk selling cigarettes, newspapers and sweets.
Spooked by an aborted bid to tax their savings, Cypriots are fast losing confidence that their money will still be there when – or if – banks reopen, on Tuesday at the earliest.
Rumours on Thursday that one teetering bank would be allowed to fall saw queues grow at ATMs at a downtown branch, as staff behind locked doors replenished cash machines.
Some of the bank’s employees, fearing for their jobs, faced off with riot police outside parliament.
“We have children studying abroad and next month we need to send them money so they can eat,” protester Stalou Christodoulido said through tears. “We’ll lose what money we had and saved for so many years if the bank goes under.”
It sounds awful. I can feel the stress the people are under oozing out between the words here.
There seems to be no end to the suffering greedy, irresponsible bankers and their political enablers have caused, and continue to cause.
Ten Years Ago Today, John McCain Cheered Us On to Invading Iraq
When I hear John McCain urging an attack on Iran (or any other country, which he’s fond of doing), I wonder why anyone listens to him. He got Iraq so, so wrong. As with bankers, there are no consequences.
(Image via MichaelHayes on Twitter)
The Right War for the Right Reasons
The critics also have it wrong when they say that the strategy of the United States for the opening hours of the conflict — likely to involve more than 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles in the first two days — is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi people. It is intended to damage and demoralize the Iraqi military and to dissuade Iraqi leaders from using weapons of mass destruction against our forces or against neighboring countries, and from committing further atrocities against the Iraqi people.
The force our military uses will be less than proportional to the threat of injury we can expect to face should Saddam Hussein continue to build an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons.
[...]
sn’t it more likely that antipathy toward the United States in the Islamic world might diminish amid the demonstrations of jubilant Iraqis celebrating the end of a regime that has few equals in its ruthlessness?
Record Number of Militia and Hate Groups in the U.S.
This from the Southern Poverty Law Center (fantastic group):
(Image via SPLCenter.org)
The Year in Hate and Extremism
Capping four years of explosive growth sparked by the election of America’s first black president and anger over the economy, the number of conspiracy-minded antigovernment “Patriot” groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012, while the number of hard-core hate groups remained above 1,000. As President Obama enters his second term with an agenda of gun control and immigration reform, the rage on the right is likely to intensify.
[...]
While the number of hate groups remained essentially unchanged last year — going from 1,018 in 2011 to 1,007 in 2012 — the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) count of 1,360 Patriot groups in 2012 was up about 7% from the 1,274 active in 2011. And that was only the latest growth spurt in the Patriot movement, which generally believes that the federal government is conspiring to take Americans’ guns and destroy their liberties as it paves the way for a global “one-world government.” From a mere 149 organizations in 2008, the number of Patriot groups shot up to 512 in 2009, jumped again to 824 in 2010, and then skyrocketed to 1,274 in 2011 before hitting their all-time high last year.
Now, in the wake of the mass murder of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school and the Obama-led gun control efforts that followed, it seems likely that that growth will pick up speed once again.
[...]
The Hysteria Mounts
Even before the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun and ammunition sales shot up in the wake of the re-election of the country’s first black president, the result of shrill conspiracy theories about Obama’s secret plans to confiscate Americans’ guns. When the killings actually did spark gun control efforts that clearly had not been in the Obama administration’s plans, the reaction on the political right was so harsh that it seemed to border on hysteria.
I know the dates and numbers on the graph are hard to read. Apologies. Go to the “More…” link immediately above to see a larger version.
Shoot First, See if the Person Looks Like the Guy You’re Looking for Later
Hey, I get that the Los Angeles Police Department is scared and on edge what with Christopher Dorner on the loose but supposedly they’re trained not to go insane, like this:
Christopher Jordan Dorner (Image via LATimesBlogs.LATimes.com)
Police Seeking Dorner Opened Fire in a Second Case of Mistaken Identity
David Perdue was on his way to sneak in some surfing before work Thursday morning when police flagged him down. They asked who he was and where he was headed, then sent him on his way.
Seconds later, Perdue’s attorney said, a Torrance police cruiser slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire; none of the bullets struck Perdue.
David Perdue (Image via LATimes.com)
His pickup, police later explained, matched the description of the one belonging to Christopher Jordan Dorner — the ex-cop who has evaded authorities after allegedly killing three and wounding two more. But the pickups were different makes and colors. And Perdue looks nothing like Dorner: He’s several inches shorter and about a hundred pounds lighter. And Perdue is white; Dorner is black.
“I don’t want to use the word buffoonery but it really is unbridled police lawlessness,” said Robert Sheahen, Perdue’s attorney. “These people need training and they need restraint.”
“These people need training and they need restraint.” Ah, yeah. Perdue is one lucky guy. What’s with the police not taking just a few more seconds to get a good look at him and see that he is a skinny white guy?
Again, supposedly they’re trained to handle these incredibly stressful situations and not just go off half cocked. Then again, maybe not.
This is outrageous.
Obama: It’s Okay to Kill Americans Without Due Process
(Image via WhiteHouse.gov)
Now I know why Barack Obama shot that gun. He wants to kill our right to due process:
Justice Department Memo Reveals Legal Case for Drone Strikes on Americans
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
Last I knew, every American is entitled to and guaranteed a trial by a jury of his or her peers before he or she is sentenced to anything, much less death.
Now we have the “liberal” Constitutional lawyer Barack Obama’s Justice Department obliterating that for what will probably be forever.
Blows my mind.
Republicans: Pledge Loyalty to Government and God
This:
Two Arizona lawmakers are stirring Constitutional debate and threats of legal action after introducing bills that would require the state’s students to express love of country under God.
House Bill 2467, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Bob Thorpe, would require all public high school seniors to take an oath to “support and defend” the U.S. Constitution and proclaim, “so help me god.” A second proposal, House Bill 2284 sponsored by Republican state Rep. Steve Smith, would require all public 1-12 students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The oath, as proposed by Thorpe, reads:
I, _______, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; So help me God.
I came across that at the same time I came across this:
A Brutal Pageantry: The Third Reich’s Myth-Making Machinery, in Color
(Image via Life.Time.com — A Brutal Pageantry)
Pro-Gun Legislators in Idaho Freak Out When Man With Gun Enters Capitol
(Image via Wikipedia)
Armed Man’s Capitol Intrusion Unnerves Idaho Lawmakers
A man with a handgun used a tour for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts as cover to inspect legislators’ desks and reach into a waste bin on the House floor.
[...]The man attached himself to an evening tour led by freshman Rep. James Holtzclaw, R-Meridian, who had been asked by a constituent to show the Cubs and Scouts around. “I thought he was a parent,” Holtzclaw said, noting that the troop leader assumed the man was a security officer because of his gun.
The man’s identity is unknown. He left the Capitol after an unarmed guard confronted him. The man said something like, “If I’m not being arrested or detained, I don’t have to answer your questions,” Luna said.
[...]Guns and long knives were banned in the Capitol from 1996 to 2008 by executive order. Gov. Butch Otter [a Republican] let the order expire, citing a 2008 law in which the Legislature said it had exclusive power to regulate guns in Idaho.
Signs were erected outside the House and Senate galleries after the 2012 Occupy protests. They list prohibitions: food, drinks, men wearing hats, signs, sitting on rails, cellphones, distracting noises. Bags are subject to search. But there is no firearm ban.
So the man with the gun wasn’t breaking any laws, but when actually faced with someone walking around with a sidearm, legislators who let a ban on guns in the Capitol expire freaked out? What’s with that? I thought guns made us safer!
Oh the irony.
UC Davis to Pay for Actions of “Pepper Spray Cop”
Remember this? (Look at how cavalier and arrogant that cop looks.)
(Photo by Louise Macabitas via MarkMaynard.com)
Twenty-one students and alumni filed a federal lawsuit on February 22, 2012 against UC Davis over the University’s treatment of protesters during a Nov. 18, 2011 demonstration in which campus police were caught on video dousing seated protesters with pepper spray.
Bravo! What the campus cops did was outrageous.
The lawsuit charged that UC Davis administration officials set in motion a series of events that they should have known would result in constitutional violations against the demonstrators, and that they and the campus police department failed to properly train and supervise officers.
[...]
A settlement was announced on September 26, 2012. The University agreed to pay $1million, including $730,000 to the named plaintiffs and others who were arrested or pepper-sprayed on November 18. Additionally, the case has been expanded to a class action lawsuit, and a portion of the total award will be set aside to compensate individuals other than the named plaintiffs who were pepper-sprayed or wrongfully arrested on November 18, 2011.
[...]
On January 9, 2013 a federal judge approved the settlement.
God I hope the University doesn’t appeal, though they might just to set a “precedent.” $1 million isn’t all that punitive. They should shut up, walk away, and be happy they weren’t ordered to pay more.
Former Republican Congressman Urges Followers to Break Laws They Don’t Like
Talk like this is so dangerous, especially when it comes from someone people see as an authority figure. If it hits just the wrong, insane ears, who knows what could happen:
(Image via Wikipedia)
CHICAGO — Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh says conservatives are losing the “war” for U.S. voters and encouraged his backers at a South Loop rally to engage in civil disobedience to defy the Affordable Care Act or new gun regulations.
At his most aggressive, he told dozens of supporters [yesterday] to “defy and or break the law and engage in civil disobedience” if faced with federal health care law restrictions or new gun laws.
He paraphrased Thomas Jefferson in saying, “We may have to shed blood every couple hundred years to preserve our freedoms.”
The one-term McHenry County congressman, who lost his re-election bid to Democrat Tammy Duckworth in November, openly contemplated breaking away from the Republican Party during a Wednesday rally at Blackie’s, 755 S. Clark St.
And in the end of the rally he began organizing a statewide movement he said would “scare Republicans and Democrats.”
“No rah rahs,” he said as he kicked off his address with tough love. “We’re losing.”
Conservatives are losing to progressives, he said, because “our side doesn’t understand we’re at war.”
So irresponsible. So self-serving. So frightening.
Oh, and BTW, this is the same Joe Walsh who didn’t pay child support for his three kids — to the tune of $100,000. I guess he practices what he preaches so-to-speak.
Mo Farah, Olympic Gold Medalist, Detained by U.S. Customs Agents Because…He’s From Somalia so He Must be a Terrorist
Americans are a bunch of scared little people:
(Image via Telegraph.co.uk / Reuters)
Mo Farah Held by US Customs on Suspicion of Being a Terrorist
Farah, who won a 5,000m and 10,000m double [gold metal] at London 2012, was detained for questioning after the US border force saw he was born in Somalia.
The 29 year-old came over to Britain with his English-born father as a child and is one of the most famous athletes in the world, but this did not stop judicious officials from grilling him at the border.
Farah moved to Portland [Oregon] last year to work with his coach Alberto Salazar at Nike’s HQ in the Pacific Northwest and was travelling back to spend Christmas with his wife and children.
And even presenting his two gold medals to the officials did not help his cause.
“I couldn’t believe it. Because of my Somali origin I get detained every time I come through US Customs. This time I even got my medals out to show who I am, but they wouldn’t have it,” he told the Sun.
[...]
Farah told the newspaper that when he and his family tried to leave Canada and enter the US as residents they were told they were under investigation as a terrorist threat and would have to stay away for 90 days.
But Salazar intervened and called upon a friend at the FBI – a massive running fan – and he solved the issue.
I’m embarrassed for my country. “Homeland security” turns into homeland paranoia and racism. It’s out of control.
The NRA Wants to Silence David Gregory
The NRA wants to intimidate David Gregory into silence.
First, Mediaite put this post up at 10:47 a.m. this morning:
Riled Up David Gregory Hammers Wayne LaPierre Over NRA Position On Gun Laws
Later today (exact time unknown), ThePatriotPerspective blog posted this:
What did Gregory do? He didn’t kiss Wayne LaPierre’s ass waved around a “large capacity ammunition feeding device” which is apparently against the law in Washington, D.C. where Gregory’s show, Meet the Press, is taped.
And finally, 18 minutes ago I got this tweet from the NRA:
This is how the NRA gets its way.
No wonder the powers that be think the NRA is so “influential” — because it is. Not because its ideas are so good, but because the powers that be ARE SCARED SHITLESS OF IT. It uses Joe McCarthy-like tactics to silence anyone who gets so much as “riled up” (again, meaning the host doesn’t kiss the NRA’s ass) during a 3-minute television segment.
No, the flag-waving, Constitution-defending NRA (don’t forget that part about freedom of speech) won’t stand for “riled up:”
(Image via FrontPageMag.com)
Remember When the Police Beat Tea Partiers and Infiltrated Their Group?
Me neither:
FBI Investigated ‘Occupy’ As Possible ‘Terrorism’ Threat, Internal Documents Show
According to internal documents newly released by the FBI, the agency spearheaded a nationwide law enforcement effort to investigate and monitor the Occupy Wall Street movement. In certain documents, divisions of the FBI refer to the Occupy Wall Street protests as a “criminal activity” or even “domestic terrorism.”
[...]
According to the documents, the FBI coordinated extensively with private companies, including banks, that feared they could be affected by Occupy protests. Occupy, which took root in New York City’s Zuccotti Park in September 2011 and spread to cities across the country, targeted corporations and other forces it believed to perpetuate social inequality. The FBI’s investigation included the movement’s manifestations in New York; Milwaukee; Indianapolis; Anchorage, Alaska; Jacksonville, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; and Memphis, Tenn., among others.[...]
According to the new documents, the FBI began meeting with representatives of the New York Stock Exchange and other businesses as early as August 2011, a month before the Zuccotti Park protests.
(Image via the WashingtonPost.com)
I get it. The FBI is protecting the corporatocracy. Tea Partiers are essentially on the side of the corporatocracy, so they’re good.
Guess What Other Record Was Broken on Black Friday
“They” say that Americans spent record amounts of moolah on clothing and tech gadgets on Black Friday, but guess the other record that was broken. GUN SALES! Woohoo!
President Obama’s election and recent re-election have apparently fueled a gun-buying craze in this country unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times.
USA Today reported this week:
“For the second consecutive year, prospective gun buyers joined Black Friday shoppers in record numbers as firearms dealers swamped the F.B.I. with required buyer background check requests. The F.B.I. fielded 154,873 calls, a roughly 20 percent increase from last year’s previous one-day record of 129,166, according to bureau records. The requests came in such volume throughout the day that F.B.I. call centers experienced two brief outages — one of 18 minutes and one for 14 minutes — during the busy day, bureau spokesman Stephen Fischer said Monday.”
As the report made clear:
“The F.B.I. does not track actual gun sales. But the number of firearms sold Friday is likely higher because multiple firearms can be included in one transaction by a single buyer.”
[...]
This week the popular conservative Web site World Net Daily quoted the National Rifle Association spokeswoman Jacqueline Otto as saying that the N.R.A. is not surprised by the surging gun sales because gun owners “are very informed voters and they have known that President Obama has opposed our Second Amendment rights his entire political career.”
[...]
Fact is,
“The president signed bills allowing guns in national parks and on Amtrak. He has not pushed for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban — and Attorney General Eric Holder was reportedly chastised for suggesting he would. Nor has he moved towards closing the gun-show loophole.”
That loophole allows guns to be bought from private dealers at gun shows without a background check.
More…
What the people who are being manipulated by the NRA and the likes of World Net Daily apparently don’t realize is that the NRA is essentially the chamber of commerce of the gun lobby. Its main function is to support the gun industry and to — hello! — get people to buy guns and ammo and all the accoutrements that go along with owning guns. So, thanks to the BS it has ginned up about Obama taking away people’s guns, I’m sure the gun industry is laughing all the way to the bank thanks to the suckers who have fallen for their self-serving fear mongering.
I Would Hate to be a Bank Teller in Oklahoma
This is nuts:
A new law in Oklahoma aims to ensure licensed gun carriers never have to worry about a wardrobe malfunction, sanctioning the open display of firearms.
Supporters of the state’s “open carry” law, which permits those with state licenses to carry a gun to do so openly on hip or shoulder holsters visible to the public, say it will reduce instances where they accidentally violate the state’s previous concealed-carry statute by removing an overcoat or other garment that was meant to conceal their gun.
They also argue the public display of personal weapons will act as a deterrent for criminals, The New York Times said.
For businesses such as banks and gas stations sensitive to robberies at gunpoint, the law presents a challenge, though.
“I see our city with an opportunity to continue to be a modern, upscale city,” said Charles Stout, the managing partner of Bricktown Brewery in Oklahoma City, a business that plans to put up a “no firearms” sign when the law goes into effect Thursday. “I think we have to be careful of the message we’re sending.”
Dawn in America: Another Mass Murder
Today:
BREAKING: Wisconsin Mass Murder Suspect Commits Suicide After 6 Hour Manhunt
A man police suspected of killing three and wounding four by opening fire at a tranquil day spa was found dead Sunday afternoon following a six-hour manhunt that locked down a shopping center, country club and hospital in suburban Milwaukee.
Authorities said they believed the shooting was related to a domestic dispute. The man they identified as the suspect, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, had a restraining order against him.
Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said Haughton died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found in the spa.
I can’t wait until people who think there should be more gun control have a say about what’s going on around here.
The United States Bows to its Corporatocracy; Falls Way Behind Energy-Wise
There’s this:
(Image via Wikipedia)
On a windy night in September, whilst most people were sleeping, wind power reached a record of 64.2% of Spain’s electricity demand.
The vast majority of Spain’s power that night came not from fossil fuels but clean, renewable energy generated by wind turbines on the Spanish hills.
And what couldn’t be used in Spain wasn’t wasted.
Some was exported via giant cables linking Spain to the rest of Europe and some was used to pump water uphill so it could be allowed to flow back down later, when demand was higher.
Pumped storage and interconnectors are just two of the way Spain has found to make sure wind works.
And there’s this:
Germany Widens Global Solar Lead (September 24, 2012):
Germany continues to outstrip the rest of the world in solar power capacity, and is adding new solar faster than any other country as well.
The US energy corporatocracy wants to believe that drilling for oil, fracking and transnational pipelines are the key to energy independence. Believe that at your children’s and your grandchildren’s peril.
Countries like Germany and Spain (despite their financial difficulties) are moving ahead with clean energy yet the US is held hostage by companies who wouldn’t mind destroying the entire planet to make a profit.
Four Years Ago Fox Didn’t Care About Jobs Numbers
Four years ago I was winding down after a stint as a researcher on the documentary film OutFoxed, Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism and four years monitoring Fox’s “premiere business news” anchor, Neil Cavuto.
Just for fun I moseyed on over to the Newshounds tonight to see what I posted on October 5, 2008 to compare and contrast what Fox was saying about the millions of jobs the Bush administration was losing then to what they’re saying now.
Insofar as October 6, 2008 was a Sunday, I didn’t put up a post but I did put one up on Monday, October 7. Here it is:
Cavuto Continues to Insist the Economy’s Just Fine
Democratic strategist Malia Lazu was a guest today (October 7, 2008) on Your World w/Neil Cavuto. She was on to respond to Cavuto’s contention that “comparing today” to the Great Depression is “making things worse.” Cavuto cited the cover of the October 13 issue of Time magazine as an example.
Lazu, picked to appear in the segment because she represents Democrats and on Fox, Democrats are essentially traitors because they think America has problems and that it isn’t the all-powerful, perfect, ever-shining beacon on the hill, argued that we are in very bad economic shape and that people are suffering and they are worried that we’re headed for another Depression (polls prove her right).
Meantime, Cavuto spouted off statistics – unemployment is nowhere near 25% and where, pray tell, are the soup lines?
Immediately following the segment with Lazu, in an effort to reinforce his own spin, Cavuto hosted Danny Fontana of “The Danny Fontana Show” and of “Triune Capital Advisers” (never heard of either). Fontana was on to say that now is the buying opportunity of a lifetime! (I’m reading stuff that says consider any rally a selling opportunity – we’re going to Dow 7,200.)
Problem is, not only did Cavuto look totally out of touch, but he didn’t tell his audience (1) about the above-linked poll, nor did he tell them, natch, that (2) as of today, the Dow has posted the worst retreat since 1937 which was during the Great Depression.
Comment: I’m not saying that we’re in another Great Depression right now but Cavuto’s trotting along as if absolutely nothing is wrong. As if nothing has changed since, well, since I started monitoring him in early 2004. Guaranteed, if Obama wins, the economy and how awful it is will be Cavuto’s top story.
Link to my 2008 post at the Newshounds here.
So, exactly four years ago Fox’s Neil Cavuto thought it was great that unemployment was nowhere near 25% (while Fox screams today that it’s in the low 8%) and the Dow was just above 7,000:
Today the Dow closed at 13,610.5.
I was right in my prediction. Obama won the election and now that we’re headed toward another, Fox says the the economy is awful, awful, awful despite it being hugely better than it was in October, 2008.
Oh, and you won’t hear about that on Fox until maybe, maybe sometime after November 6, depending on, you know, who wins.
Rebuild the Joplin Mosque!
The day after the tragic massacre at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, this happened:
Shortly after the Islamic Society of Joplin opened a mosque in 2007 in Joplin, a small town in Southwest Missouri, the sign in front was set on fire, an act determined to be arson. On the 4th of July of this year, someone who is undoubtedly a deeply patriotic person was filmed by a surveillance camera throwing a flaming object onto the roof of the mosque in an attempt to burn it down, causing some fire damage (see the video below); despite a $15,000 reward offered by the FBI for information leading to the arrest of those responsible and a clear shot of the attacker’s face, nobody has come forward to identify him.
On Monday of this week — the day after the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin — that same Joplin mosque burned to the ground,
(Image via IBNPercy.com)
completely destroyed by a fire that began in the middle of the night. So powerful was the fire that “only remnants indicated a building had been there, including some stone pillars that were still standing and a few pieces of charred plywood loosely held up by a frame.”
Meanwhile, a fund has been set up to help the Islamic Society of Joplin rebuilt their mosque. I’m not sure how long the site has been up but as of this second, it has raised $211,860 toward its $250,000 goal.
I just gave $20.00 that I don’t have because it’s the right thing to do and because I’m sick of the paranoia, anger and hate that has infected our country. I want the Islamic Society of Joplin to feel welcome and to know that I acknowledge their constitutionally protected right to practice their religion in peace.
If you want to give too, here’s where to go.
I hope the voice of those who support the Muslims in Joplin is louder than those who don’t.
Remember When the Obama Administration Warned About Right-Wing Extremists?
Remember when the Obama administration raised a red flag about veterans becoming right-wing extremist but it caved under ah, pressure from right-wing extremists?
Remember the DHS report about Veterans being recruited to Right-Wing terrorist groups which was leaked and led newly appointed Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano to initially defending the report but later having to apologize and withdrawing the report after she was thrown under the bus by her own party (Bennie Thompson, Congressman from MS) & severely criticized by Republicans.
That was then (2009):
From Fox: Napolitano Apologizes to Veterans Group for ‘Rightwing Extremism’ Report
From LiveLeak: Failed Obama clown posse apologizes to US vets after calling them right wing extremists
From RightWingNews: Napolitano Apologizes To Veterans For DHS Report
This is now:
Temple gunman Wade Michael Page had ties to military and racist rock music
Sihk Temple Shooter Was a Military Veteran
Sikh temple shooting suspect identified as former U.S. Army soldier Wade Michael Page
Filed under “Obama — Don’t Count on My Vote.” You were right, but you didn’t have the guts to follow through.
Look at us now.
“Domestic Terrorism” — Someone Finally Says Those Two Words
Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards held a press conference about an hour ago to update the public on this morning’s massacre at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin:
(Image via PoliceOne on Facebook)
Seven people were shot and killed today at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., in what officials are treating as a domestic terrorism incident.
Three other people — two civilians and a police officer — were injured and were being treated at a local hospital.
Individuals attending Sunday services at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, just south of Milwaukee, fled in all directions this morning when a gunman entered and began firing. Many hid in bathrooms or other rooms within the temple while the shooter attacked, according to police.
Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards said 911 calls began pouring into the police department around 10:25 a.m.
The first police officer to respond to the scene, a 20-year veteran on the police force, exchanged gunfire with the suspect and sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He is undergoing surgery at Froedtert Hospital, the main trauma center in the Milwaukee region, along with two other injured victims.
The gunman was shot and killed by the police officer outside the temple. Four other people were found dead inside the temple, while two other people were found dead outside the building.
“The officer stopped a tragic event that could’ve been a lot worse,” Edwards said.
Edwards said authorities were treating the event as a domestic terrorism incident and the FBI would be conducting a full investigation.
I watched part of the press conference and I was amazed to hear a reporter ask Chief Edwards what domestic terrorism was. While it was almost impossible to hear the reporters’ questions, Edwards stopped at one point and explained that domestic terrorism meant, and I’m paraphrasing here: terrorism originating within the borders of the United States. Duh. Hello. How can someone be a reporter and not know, or have thought of, the concept of domestic terrorism?
Anyway, good on Edwards for saying those two words. The Aurora shooter was a domestic terrorist, Timothy McVeigh was a domestic terrorist and it looks like today’s shooter was too.
It time we started talking about that for God’s sake.
Terrorists want to terrify people: Gun Sales Up Nation-Wide in Wake of Aurora Shooting.
Does our government want us to be terrorized? Sure seems like it because it isn’t doing Jack shit to stop these killings. We know gun owners have all kinds of rights. What about the rights of the people who are being killed and again, terrified?
Republicons Succeed at Convincing (More) Conservatives Obama is a Muslim
Most of the conversation surrounding religion and the presidential election has been around Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. The Church of Latter-Day Saints is still a mystery to many Americans, and there were fears that Romney’s Mormonism would hurt him with voters unfamiliar with the religion. But the latest survey from the Pew Forum for Religion and Public life suggests that Romney has nothing to worry about — of the voters who know that Romney is a Mormon (60 percent), the vast majority say they are either comfortable with his faith (60 percent) or that it doesn’t matter at all (21 percent).
[...]
Indeed, of the two candidates, religion actually seems to be a bigger factor for President Obama. Only 49 percent of voters know that Obama is a Christian, and 17 percent continue to say that he’s a Muslim. Among conservatives, 30 say that he is a Muslim; among the most conservative voters that jumps to 34 percent. When Pew first surveyed this question, in 2008, only 16 percent of conservatives believed that Obama was a Muslim. Put another way, as conservatives grew more familiar with Obama, their view of his religious beliefs moved deeper into fantasy.
I would put it differently. It isn’t about conservatives growing “more familiar with Obama.” It’s about right-wing media (I’m looking at you Fox) and hate radio succeeding in making conservatives feel less familiar / comfortable with Obama, thus the jump in those who think he’s a Muslim.
Bonus link: Think Obama’s a Muslim? Then You’re too Stupid to Vote.
Christian Bale Visits Victims of Aurora Shooting
I’m sure the victims of the Aurora shooting l-o-v-e-d this:
Christian Bale was in Aurora today visiting victims of Friday’s movie theater shooting. Here, Bale sits with shooting victim Carey Rottman. (Image via DenverPost.com)
Christian Bale, star of the Batman films, met at the Medical Center of Aurora on Tuesday afternoon with seven patients injured in the mass shooting that occurred during a midnight showing of his new film.
Bill Voloch, interim president of Medical Center of Aurora, said Bale spent about 2½ hours at the hospital, where he met with five people still being treated for their injuries. Two others came from Swedish Medical Center to meet Bale, who stars at Batman in “The Dark Knight Rises.
“The patients were really happy to meet Bale,” Voloch said. “They are obviously big fans of his movies. They wanted to see Batman and were really pleased to see Bale.”
Bale and his wife, Sibi Blazic, also met with a number of doctors, Aurora police officers and emergency medicial [sic] technicians who were first reponders [sic] when James Eagan Holmes allegedly killed 12 people and injured 58 others at Century Aurora 16 theater early Friday morning. Bale spent about 10 minutes with each person.
(Just sayin’: Do Denver Post reporters have spell check?)
Fear Surrounds Obama’s Visit With Denver Theater Shooting Victims
I live in Boulder, Colorado which is roughly 25 miles northwest of Denver. Off and on since Friday morning I’ve been watching local coverage of the massacre at the Aurora movie theater.
Yesterday we were told that President Obama would come here this evening to meet with “friends and family of the victims.” I thought we would see live video of him getting out of his car, walking into one of the hospitals, coming out of a hospital or whatever.
No. There’s been none of that.
The only “live shot” has been of Air Force One sitting on the tarmac at Buckley AFB.
I also thought he might make a statement near the theater or in the park across the street where people have been gathering. But no.
He hasn’t made any public appearances whatsoever.
Now I hear, again, via local media, that he did visit “friends and family of the victims” but he’s traveling back to the fortified Buckley Air Force Base and he’ll make a statement to the people of Aurora, Denver and the nation from there.
They. Are. Scared.
