Today on the National Mall between 12 Noon and 7.00 pm hundreds of thousands of environmentally aware people will be joined by civic leaders and celebrities for a special event. All over the world millions of people will gather at events in their own countries. You can tune in to the live stream of the gathering at the National Mall by watching the video which I have uploaded below.
Please remember to do your best to support your environment everyday. Not just today.
In further news Rupert Murdoch seems to be concerned with the environment. Yesterday, with obvious concern for his feathered friends, he twittered the following message:
As for being ugly that is a matter of aesthetic taste. However, this argument should not be about aesthetic taste. I think wind turbines are beautiful because aside from being better to look at than a nuclear or coal power plant they do not produce emissions or by-products which we do not know how to store safely. Simply put, wind energy is pollution free and therefore so much better for the world that it must be better and more lovely.
Moreover, wind turbine producers have vastly improved the design of wind turbines in order to further minimise the number of bird deaths by radically changing both the design of the turbine and the speed at which it needs to turn in order to produce energy.
[Preachers] dread the advance of
science as witches do the approach of daylight...Thomas Jefferson
Far-Right Christians (FRCs) are waging war against so many issues these days that crib notes are required to keep up with them. So it is that the battle against environmental science is currently on their regressive agenda. The FRC leaders get their jollies by commanding their zealous followers to Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War, even when it is detrimental to their very existence to do so. And naturally, the Tea Party members of the House and Senate have marched to their drummer with the cross of Jesus going on before. Well, you get the picture. But with International Mother Earth Day upon us, this is the perfect time to call them out.
In The Beginning, There Was Light...
Oh yes, dear readers, once upon a time there were leaders and lawmakers in Washington who actually believed that many human activities were harmful to the environment and should be curbed by -- dirty-word alert! -- regulations. In the fall of 2009, The New Republic reported that George W. Bush had [in an early 2008 speech] originally planned to endorse cap-and-trade before being talked out of it by a
"small but merry band of conservatives in the White House." Shedding more light on this same speech, The Hillgives the following account from a book by Bush-insider Matthew Latimer: At
one point, the words "cap and trade" were put into the climate change
speech, with the president expressing his support for the policy. Then somehow this leaked to the conservative
press. Republicans on the outside of the White House sent furious objections,
and the words were removed.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain came out full force in his support of a cap-and-trade policy. Sarah Palin, who McCain touted as knowing more about energy than anyone in the United States (no snorting, chortling, or guffawing allowed; this is serious bullshit business, folks) told Katie Couric, [McCain’s]
got a good cap-and-trade policy that he supports.
And Then Darkness Fell Upon The Earth
In a 21st Century redux of the
Marriage at Cana, the Greedy groom promised to get some anti-gay,
anti-choice, anti-education, anti-everything-progressive butts in the
Congress if the Evangelical bride promised to fight the environmentalists and deliver the far-right Christian vote in favor of Big Oil. (No mention of a water-into-wine
miracle thingy taking place at the reception. However,
if somebody comes along who can change water into oil, you've got yourself a real
religion!)
And so it came to pass that with this unholy union between Big Oil and the Christianistas, a giant step to the far right followed and ideological extremism became The Policy. By 2009, McCain was in a fiercely petulant mood and blubbered, I
will not and cannot align myself with a government slush fund that will further
burden our businesses and consumers.… and by 2010 Palin had finally caught the meme (yes, it takes her a while) and was disdainfully calling the President's policy cap-and-tax.
The President's recent response: "Cap-and-trade was originally proposed by conservatives and
Republicans as a market-based solution to solving environmental
problems,” Obama said during a fiery speech at a luncheon hosted by The Associated Press. "The first president to talk about cap-and-trade was George H.W. Bush.
Now you've got the other party essentially saying we shouldn't even be
thinking about environmental protection. ‘Let's gut the EPA.’ ”
(It does no good whatsoever to remind skeptics how successful cap-and-trade was in reducing acid rain.)
Once Republicans got serious about kicking Barack Obama out of office, most of the wannabe-the-nominee clowns had something -- mostly outrageous -- to say about climate change:
Pope Santorum the Sanctimonious told Rush Limbaugh that global warming was junk science, and later informed Glenn Beck that There is no such thing as global warming; drill everywhere. This is the same interview in which Beck wanted to kiss Ricky on the mouth. (A huge Ewwww! is perfectly acceptable here.)
Michele Bachmannwanted her supporters in Minnesota armed and dangerous on the issue.
Herman Cainsaid it was nothing more than a tax scheme. (Please remember 9-9-9 at this point.)
Rick Perry...well, he couldn't remember if he was for it or against it. Oops!
And of course, there's flip-flopping Mitt Romney, who back in June of 2011 said, I believe the world's getting warmer. I can't
prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting
warmer. And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. But after he got his ears boxed on that little pronouncement, he changed his tune. By October, he had done a hard one-eighty and was saying, My view is that we don't know what's causing
climate change on this planet. (I know, it's hard to keep up with Mitt.)
Big Oil had kept its part of the marriage vow: we all know that Congress is where pro-American bills go to die.
Science Sucks: The Environment Is God's Responsibility
So how does a group of cream-colored fanatical Fundamentalist leaders get a bunch of uninformed and under-educated authoritarian puppets (who don't know cap-and-trade from cap-and-gown) to enlist in the battle against environmentalists? Simple: just scare the crap out of them and let them know that scientists are nothing but heretics trying to usurp God's holy duties, as made perfectly clear in the Bible! (Could someone provide me with the Biblical chapter and verses in which God says:Hey,
don’t worry about all that contamination, greenhouse gas, toxic waste, smog,
and cancer-producing fumes stuff; I’ll take care of that for you. I couldn’t seem to find a reference to
it. Thanks.)
Cue Resisting the Green Dragon, a 4-CD set available from Christianbook.com for only $40, not including shipping and handling, of course. (Hey, spreading ignorance ain't cheap, but the good news is: I understand that availability is not limited.) Even though I am including some of the available text, it's important to click on the three-minute video sales pitch to really appreciate how, um, appealing it is.
When Two Or Three Are Gathered In His Name, LOOK OUT!
All the usual far-right religious wingnuts make an appearance in this dandy piece of garbage work, and the fraudulent rhetoric, illogicality,
fear-mongering, and blatant hypocrisy are overwhelming. Janet Parshall, a deceptively reasonable-sounding mouthpiece on a Christian-based radio station, gives the introduction: (All following bold emphasis added.)
In
what has become one of the greatest deceptions of our day, radical environmentalism
is striving to put America and the world under its destructive control. This so-called ‘Green Dragon’ is seducing
your children in our classrooms and popular culture. Its lust for political power now extends to
the highest global levels. And its
twisted view of the world elevates nature above the needs of people of even the
poorest and the most helpless. With
millions falling prey to its spiritual deception, the time is now to stand and
resist. Around the world,
environmentalism has become a radical movement, something we call the Green
Dragon, and it is deadly. Deadly to
human prosperity, deadly to human life, deadly to human freedom and deadly to
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Make no
mistake about it, environmentalism is no longer your friend, it is your enemy. And the battle is not primarily political or
material, it is spiritual. (Deadly? Keeping our air and water clean is deadly?)
Bryan Fischer, American Family Association: As a former pastor, I’m always
on the alert to threats to the Christian faith.
And make no mistake about it, environmentalism is exactly that. It is its own religion. And later, Mr. Fisher says:Exaggeration, myths and outright lies are
commonplace in the environmental movement. (Sounds like a bit of pot-calling-the-kettle-black, if you ask me.)
Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, Founder, Cornwall Alliance: The environmental movement has actually become what I call the Cult of the Green Dragon, and we need to be prepared as Christians to rescue people from that cult. (Doctor, heal thyself first, please.)
Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council: Increasingly,
I believe Bible-believing Christians are becoming aware and as a result, more
concerned about the underlying philosophy of the radical environmental agenda
and how it’s pointing people away from God and into humanism. (Gasp! How dare humans act...human!)
Dr.Richard Land,President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern
Baptist Convention: Environmentalists
have a long history of believing and promoting exaggerations and myths. (That is such obvious projection that it's mind-numbing.)
David Barton, Founder, WallBuilders: Environmental science simply does not have a good track record, not at all. Their false assertions are based more on their own morbid pessimistic fears, not on any good science. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!)
Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America: The
policies
that environmental groups and even these evangelical groups got behind were
ones that would consign the poorest of people around the
world to grinding poverty, to disease, to premature death. (There is enough unadulterated hypocrisy in that statement to make your hair bleed.)
Sick of them already? Yes, me too, but it's important to understand their mindset and their tactics.
End Note: Let's Get Serious
Call it global warming or climate change, it is dangerous to Earth, and human activities contribute to it. Those who have chosen a bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach to the problem will find that particular exercise much easier when half the planet turns to desert. In order to avoid that disaster, a two-pronged line of attack may be useful.
The GOP, the Tea Party, and Big Oil must take ownership of the failure to pass important legislation that would curb out-of-control environmental pollution. We must hang it around their necks like the Ancient Mariner's albatross and make them bear forever the stench of their treachery and the dishonor of their corruption: Ah!
well a-day! What evil looks had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross about my neck was hung.
As for the Fundamentalist who prey upon their followers' ignorance, we have to acknowledge the psychological ploy they use:the greater the fear, the larger the spider. By using this same tactic (education will not work in this instance), perhaps some may be turned away from their fear of the Green Dragon. The
meme must be touted that ‘God’ detests rich, arrogant despoilers and polluters
and that He has instilled in His human children – to whom He granted wise
stewardship over His created Earth – the intelligence by which they can and must keep this planet clean and healthy. To do less than that which God expects -- nay, demands -- of us, we go against his Holy Word and will be forever damned to Hell. (This is the only language they understand.)
Acknowledgement
Many, many thanks to ProChoiceGrandma for not only proposing this post to me, but for providing numerous references, links, and text that were invaluable. This is a very important topic to PCG, one she's been thinking about for a long time. I appreciate her entrusting it to me, and I hope I have done it justice.
Sarah Palin's "Wild Ride" on April 17, 2008 was an event which had far reaching consequences. Without the "Wild Ride", the would have never been a "Trig Truther movement", and there would have never been the blog "Politicalgates." Our blog is the creation of activists of this movement, who, like Kathleen and myself, might have remained fairly "passive" participants in this big brave new internet world. But Sarah Palin decided to tell the world this "cock and bull story" (click for audio) which later became infamous as the "Wild Ride" - at story which made many people suspicious. Therefore we should be grateful to Sarah Palin, shouldn't we?
Four years ago, Sarah Palin's world was a different one. She was the powerful Governor of Alaska, and self-conscious to the extreme. Later the went on to become John McCain's running mate, and in the wake of this fateful move by John McCain she also quickly became America's biggest national joke. Today, after many more embarrassing moments, including moments which further divided the US society, she is what one could call "disgraced", and there can hardly be a greater insult for a female politician these days than to be called "the next Sarah Palin."
Therefore Sarah Palin, who now mainly seems to be concerned with preserving a lucrative TV-career for herself and other members of her family, isn't really a threat any more. But it was quite a long way before we got to this point. I am sure that today the media won't be keen to be reminded how virtually every tweet and every facebook post by Sarah Palin and her busy ghostwriters in 2009 and 2010 received major media coverage. Sarah Palin was a hot topic back then, and she managed to spread a lot of propaganda around, and the media didn't seem to care too much whether she was a vicious demagogue or not.
In my view, Sarah Palin's TV-career was only made possible because the media collectively decided not to report about what is probably her biggest secret: Her faked pregnancy with Trig - because the revelation of this huge, shameless lie would have thrown her off the airwaves in my opinion.
But the media didn't report on the pregnancy because there wasn't anything to report about. The main reason, as we also know from the leaked Journolist emails, was that the liberal minded journalists were actually afraid to touch the issue, because they were scared that it could backfire on their preferred candidate. This candidate, Barack Obama, conveniently declared already on September 1, 2008 that the children should be left out of the campaign. This statement was then generously interpreted by the media, as Sarah Palin's pregnancy was afterwards "out of bounds", with very few exceptions to this rule - but hardly any exceptions - which led to what Brad Scharlott later called the "Spiral of Silence."
This is your liberal media, ladies and gentlemen: totally partisan, interested in the truth only if it advances their agenda, and devoid of any balls whatsoever. And people wonder how this farce of a candidate now controls one major political party and could well be our next president. One reason is that we do not have a functioning adversarial media uncorrupted by partisan loyalty and tactics.
In 2011, it became even worse, when liberal journalists, with Justin Elliott at Salon as their "leader", tried to finally "debunk" the fake pregnancy theories - and failed miserably. But as it stands now, it will be "written in the history books" that the allegations that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy were finally "debunked" by the media - although nothing of that sort actually took place.
When recently it was discovered in Sarah Palin's emails from 2008 and 2009 that Palin and her busy team in the Governor's office started a vicious bullying campaign against Lisa Demer, journalist at the Anchorage Daily News, as well as against their editor Pat Dougherty, the media didn't even care to report about these stunning revleations any more. It was fascinating as well as frightening to discover in those emails how Sarah Palin and her camp tried to bully and intimidate the Anchorage Daily News, with only one goal in mind: Make them stop asking questions about the Trig pregnancy. In the end, that's what Palin's soldiers in the Governor's office achieved.
Many posts have been published about Sarah Palin's pregnancy by bloggers who only wanted to report the facts, and were not intimidated by anyone. In honour of the fourth anniversary of Sarah Palin's "Wild Ride", I would like conclude this post with an excerpt of a post about the "Wild Ride" which I posted at Palingates in September 2010.
Let me also say that I am grateful for the "Wild Ride." It opened the way for many good things which happened afterwards, and without it, we wouldn't be here today. Luckily, even without the public revelation of Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy, she has been thoroughly defeated, and in fact decided to leave the battle before it even began.
The whole story could have very well turned out differently. However, thanks to citizens, bloggers as well as authors who spent many months, sometimes even years researching Sarah Palin's life and dealings, trying to expose the "true" Sarah Palin, she ultimately had to bail out, as far too many dark secrets were lurking in the background. That's my opinion, but you probably won't find this version of events in the history books. "Officially", it were Katie Couric and Tina Fey who defeated Sarah Palin.
+++
Sarah Palin's "Wild Ride" on April 17, 2008 - The ultimate video, in Sarah's own words
Sarah Palin's "wild ride", her flight back from Texas to Alaska on
April 17, 2008, was a crucial event, which had consequences that surely
nobody could have foreseen at the time.
Four
days after the "wild ride", on April 21, 2008, Sarah Palin gave a press
conference to reporters in Alaska (those were the days...) and presented
a story to them which simply was very hard to believe. According to
Sarah, her water had broken in Texas in the early morning of the 17th
April. Her reaction was to call her family doctor in Alaska, Cathy
Baldwin-Johnson, ask her for advice over the telephone, then give a
speech at the RGA conference in Dallas later during the day, and go on a
12-hour to fly home. She then officially gave birth to Trig on the
early morning of 18th April, 2008 - about 24 hours after her water had
broken.
No hospital or doctor in Dallas was graced with Sarah's presence. The
fact that Sarah Palin officially was in her seventh pregnancy
(including of two miscarriages), did not prompt her to see a medical
professional in Dallas, after her water had broken, at 35 weeks
pregnant.
As one of the most importance
consequences of Sarah's "wild ride" story, people in- and outside of
Alaska started to doubt that Sarah Palin was telling the truth about her
pregnancy story - including later several journalists immediately after
Sarah Palin's nomination, as was revealed in the "JournoList" emails.
At Palingates, we have extensively written about the details of the "wild ride" - for example HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
Today, we have news. Our reader lidia17, who already created two amazing videos about Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy, got active for us again and made another video which we have all been waiting for: Sarah Palin's "wild ride" - in her own words, but contrasting the TWO versions that Sarah Palin tried to "sell" to the public!
In
the clip, Sarah's taped press conference from April 21, 2008 is
contrasted with the story told in "Going Rogue" in 2009, which is also
"on tape", because it was published also via audio book.
However,
additional material has been included in this video. For example,
emails of Sarah Palin's administration which were written at the time
shortly before and "during" the "wild ride" in April 2008 give further
insights into the highly suspicious circumstances of this trip to Texas.
These emails were only published much later, mostly in 2010.
Read all posts at Politicalgates about Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy with Trig - FOR THE COLLECTION,CLICKHERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE,HERE AND HERE.
Enough already with Mitt and his wife trying to portray them
as your everyday, average American! Enough with this War on Woman crap in relation to Ann
Romney! Seriously folks, the media really needs
to stop with all the drama and the Romney’s need to stop trying to portray
themselves as something they never were and never will be. The bloggers also
need to stop mocking the Romneys when they are actually telling the truth about
themselves; they need to
embrace it. Blog about how the Romney’s
are different, but stop with the rhetoric and
stick to the facts.
The reason people are looking for anyone but Mitt is because
the man doesn’t know who he is or what he stands for. The man could not publicly
tell the truth to save his life for two reasons:
the media will attack him, and he is trying his
damnest to be someone he’s not. When Mitt said
he has friends who are NASCAR team owners, that
was the truth! Why should he be ashamed of it? He is freaking rich after all.
Would you really expect him to be friends
with his gardener? No you would not! However,
the media went directly on the attack, calling
it a gaffe. It wasn’t a gaffe - it was another moment when Mitt told the truth in public.
He likes firing people who work for him. Again the media
called it a gaffe. It wasn’t a gaffe - once
again, it was the truth. Most people in
positions of power do not like firing people, but his business
was Bain Capital, which was responsible to
buying distressed companies and turned them around or dismantling them. Part of that process involved people
losing their jobs so the companies could become
profitable again. Why is anyone surprised he would say this? Ann has a
couple Cadillacs. Really, again what is so shocking about that? Our favorite
Tundra Twit bought a Cadillac Escalade very soon after coming off the 2008
campaign trail. Was anyone surprised? If yes,
why were you surprised?
This is what some of newly rich or the mega rich people do.
They buy expensive cars, expensive homes and live a lavish
lifestyles. Does anyone remember the TV show “Lifestyles of
the Rich and Famous,” hosted by Robin Leach? Ann
has dressage horses. Again so what! She is rich,
always has been, always will be. More power to
her. Enjoy your
horses Ann, keep spending your money. I don’t envy your lifestyle one bit.
Here’s a thought for the Romneys:
if you really want to be President and First Lady of the United States of
America, how about just being yourselves. Pick a position and
stick to it! How about doing some research or paying someone to actually do
some real research on the issues facing Americans?
Don’t rely on conservative think tanks, the Tea Party, the Koch Bros & Fox News to define your
positions. Mitt & Ann, I don’t really care about your wealth or your
religion. Your wealth and religious beliefs should not be the main talking
point, however it is
part of the whole picture. What I do care about is whether or not you have the
basic qualifications to be President. I want to know which direction your moral
compass is pointed. I want you to show me in what ways you think you’d do a better job than
our current President. I want to know where you
stand on basic ethics and what your positions are on the issues which
affect all Americans not just the ultra-rich, and not
just Republicans. Because, you see, Mitt there is a reason why the picture below resonates
with people: We all want
to ride inside; not just you, Ann, your
children and your friends and relations. Not just the
GOP, the Koch Brothers, the Heritage Foundation, and the Tea Partyers; All
Americans, including Democrats, we all
should ride inside –
because we’re all Americans. The President is everyone’s President, not just
the privileged few!
AND while I’m on
my soapbox… (it's okay I made sure to ask KAO for permission first)
Is anyone else appalled at the media coverage regarding
Travon Martin and George Zimmerman? Forgive me, but justice cannot and should
not be decided in the media. We have a judicial
system for a reason; is
our Justice system
broken? No. I don’t think it is. Does the
Justice system fail? Yes,
from time-to-time it does. After all, it is humans who make
the decisions. However, the coverage by MSNBC the past two week was over the
top in my opinion; frankly, I finally turned it off. Before anyone calls me out in the comment
section, yes - I
felt the same way about the Casey Anthony coverage too. There is a difference between presenting the
facts and sensationalizing the facts in a matter to promote ratings.
Which leads us to the latest Bristol vs. Levi media circus.
If for one minute anyone other than LeadFoot (just kidding) thought the
media would actually show something negative against the Palins I have a bridge
in AZ to sell you for a great price, brand spanking new and never used. Call
Me! The media is constantly going to the Palins to get their rebuttal
statements before airing anything that could be possibly or remotely cast them
in a negative light. However, the media has no problem what so ever in
providing the Palin free publicity. Case in point: Bristol’s “Trial Marriage” announcement,
showcasing her and Gino kissing while she is
holding Tripp. Did anyone see a statement from Levi published on his thoughts
regarding this development? No? Me Neither!
Lastly, OMG: people need to just stop with the fake outrage! Just Stop it – right
now! Not everything said in the media is
about You, Your Cause or Your Choices. Seriously. It isn’t. Lady Gaga tweeted this last week:
When I read this my first and only thought was “Yep - know that feeling.” I’m not a Pop
Singer, but yeah - I’ve eaten salad wishing it was something better. As a matter of fact as I am
writing this I am also eating salad, and also wishing
I was eating something besides a salad AGAIN today for lunch.
But, apparently I’m
not normal, because according to all the negative media coverage of
Gaga’s tweet I should have been outraged.
I should have taken to my keyboard to pound-out my outrage immediately! Oh, puhleeze! Stop
and re-read the first sentence in this paragraph:
when hasn’t anyone ever ate something
wishing it was something else? Examples are found all
over in the media: the woman munching a bread stick, wishing she could have
dessert; the child that must eat his vege’s before having something he really
wants.
Ask yourself, before you fire-off a
tweet or write a comment or even blog about it, whatever
it may be: in what way did this tweet impact your life or your decision making skills right here, right now? Not at
all did it? Next, in what way did this tweet, blog post or comment impact your life for the next
24 hours? Still didn’t,
did it? Good! Finally, in what way did
this tweet, comment or blog post impact your
life at ANY point?
Still nothing?? GOOD!
That is how it should be. We do not need to respond to every single thing that may
pique us, or may not necessarily agree with. Because responding to anything
happening anywhere is NOT always our business. Responding is not always in our
or societies best interest. Sometimes, its best not to take the bait, but let
it silently slide by…
In the end there will be many days when you just need to say....
and let it all go. Have an adult beverage or two! Take a long walk, watch a movie or just hang with your real friends or your internet friends. It will get better it always does.
It is time for Americans to stop be so reactive and start to
be proactive. People need to take a deep breath
in and hold it…. hold it… now, release it and go
about your daily lives. Be proactive in your community. Be proactive on social
networks but stop with the personal assaults on people who in no way have any
impact on your daily lives and decision making. Point out the differences
between what a politicians says and what that
politician does. Same with companies and government, but stop with the
hateful and hurtful rhetoric that has engulfed our country. Lady Gaga is an
entertainer but she is not responsible for the choices each and every one of us
chooses to make on a daily basis. Bristol and
Levi are not news and not even entertaining to anyone but a select few. They
are also not solely responsible for any choices anyone anywhere makes. We all
have the right to make choices and decisions for ourselves. In the end it is
our responsibility to make or not to make the right choices. The right choices being your right choices. My choices may not be your choices and your choices may not be right for me. However the key is we all make mistakes and we all do some things right.
Whew. Remember it
is called a SoapBox for a reason…
To wrap up the first edition of Dusty’s Soapbox how about
some absolutely adorable pictures I found over at The Obama Diary? Just gotta love that smile!
Many Thanks to KAO for her wonderful graphic and editing! The opinions posted here is solely mine.
After scrutinizing the disgusting performances of several outrageously
inept and deliberately obstructive Tea Partiers currently taking up valuable space
in the House of Representatives, it is time to perform a full-body cavity
search on one member of the Senate who needs to be sent home with the ignominy he so richly deserves: Scott Brown of Massachusetts. In a special election held in January 2010, Brown won
the senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy in August 2009. The back-story of how a Republican won the seat held for forty-seven years by Kennedy in a traditionally Blue State was a bellwether for the time. It was 2010, a time of Tea Party rage; Koch Brothers money; and Sarah Palin's desperate attempt to redeem herself after her first major endorsement of New York GOPer Doug Hoffman failed so miserably. All of this meddling was given succor by an apathetic or disappointed voting population (they had expected the President to change the world in eleven months) that couldn't decide whether to vote or skip the whole thing and go to the dentist on election day. They must have chosen the thrill-of-the-drill: only fifty-four percent showed up at Massachusetts polling stations on January 19, compared with seventy-three percent who exercised their right to vote in 2008. Political ‘Chameleonology’ 101
Like his close lizard relative of the tropics, Brown has the ability to change his colors according to the situation and as the mood strikes him. Aided by the Chamaeleonidae's super-fast tongue, he's able to talk his way into more prism shades than can be found in a toddler's Easter basket. He can be a moderate pink Republican in the Massachusetts senate, a Nancy-Reagan-red Tea Party darling during an election, and even take on a pinkish-pale-blue hue when trying to cozy up to the Democrats on Capitol Hill, or the current-and-future resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Amazing, isn't it?
Cosmopolitan for College, Kochs for Capitol Hill
Money was very important to Scott Brown when he showed his ass abs in Cosmo to get money for college in 1982. (I guess he was too busy studying to tour with the Chippendales and obviously didn't have a sweet stock portfolio like Ann and Mitt when they were in college learning hard lessons about life as impoverished students.) As part of Palin's penalty for not securing adequate Tea Party support for Greg Hoffman in a Congressional district that had been Republican for 136 years, she was sent out on the stump to make damn sure that the tri-cornered-hatters were gonna line up behind a real conservative to get Scott Brown in the United States Senate, you betcha! The Tea Party held its nose (knowing that Brown was not their idea of a true conservative) and eventually ponied up $300,000. The upshot of that whole thing, of course, was that after winning the election, Brown dumped the Tea Party and refused to acknowledge that he had ever spoken to Palin, even after she called on election night to congratulate him. I've never had any contact with Sarah Palin, he told Barbara Walters. Palin didn't take being kicked to the curb very well, and by August of 2010 she was sneering at Brown on Fox News for not being a hardcore constitutional conservative. (Hey, Sarah, you knew that at the time, right? Oh, you didn't? Couldn't Google Scott Brown Massachusetts, huh?) As for the Tea Party owners, Scott Brown met David Koch at an event in March 2011 and begged for more money for this election cycle. Caught on video, the conversation went thus: BROWN: Your support during the[2010] election, it meant a ton. It made a difference and I can certainly use it again. Obviously, the – KOCH: When are you running for the next term? BROWN: ’12. KOCH: Oh, okay. BROWN: I’m in the cycle right now. We’re already banging away. Any lingering doubts about where Scott Brown's allegiance lies?
For the Record
A quick look at the Senator's voting history reveals exactly what "color" he has been and the kind of anti-middle-income legislating we can expect from him should he be re-elected in November. Taxpayer Protection Pledge: The only lawmaker from Massachusetts to do so, Brown sold himself to political-extortionist Grover Norquist and signed the anti-American piece of crap designed to protect the One Percent from paying their fair share to support the needs of ALL Americans.
Tax on Banks: He was against a proposed multi-billion dollar tax on banks to recoup bailout money and
prescribing of bank executive compensation, saying that he was opposed to higher taxes,
especially in the midst of a severe recession. Financial Institutions Protections:During the Wall Street regulatory overhaul negotiations in the summer of 2010, financial institutions poured $140,000 of cold hard cash into Brown's coffers as he used the leverage of his swing vote to win key concessions sought by firms inside and outside of Massachusetts.
Affordable Care Act: While he staunchly supported the Massachusetts health care act, he refused to support the national ACA, saying that this plan is financially unsound and vowing to be the 41st vote to filibuster the bill in the Senate.
Clean Air Act: All we need to know about this particular issue is that the Kochs spent $500 million supporting candidates who would keep us from having clean air, and one of the grateful recipients of their largess was Scott Brown, who supported the effort to put profits for Big Oil before the health and welfare of American citizens. Who needs clean air, anyhow?
The Massachusetts Connection
It should come as no shock that Scott Brown is tight as an August tick on a dog's neck with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, under whom he served as a state legislator. Although Brown has a way to go before he becomes as adept at changing his colors, he's working on it. Who can forget one of Romney's most infamous quick-change-artist lines when he's looking for Tea Party support: I'm just
as conservative as I was four years ago. Maybe more so. And yet, as Which Mitt reports, Romney stated (with a straight face, I might add) in 2002 when he needed Independent support, that: I
think people recognize that I'm not a partisan Republican, that I'm someone who
is moderate, and that my views are progressive.
As a sidenote, I would like to mention that the responsible reporter for the "Fox Mole" stories, John Cook, also was the reporter who picked up the "Bristol Palin myspace messages" back in April 2009 after I had contacted him. Unfortunately, the rest of the media then ignored these fascinating myspace messages, as so many inconvenient facts about the Palins were simply ignored by the mainstream during all these years. Well, this already feels like "history" now.
Back to the "Fox Mole": In the first report at Gawker, the mole had a very interesting new piece of footage to offer: A previously unseen chat between Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity before a TV-interview. In this conversation Mitt Romney proudly talks about the various horses that he and his wife are owning, and explains that his wife just had to "get some time on the horses", her "Austrian warmbloods", which are "dressage horses", the right "horse for the sport she is in." Mitt Romney himself has, as he says, a "Missouri Foxtrotter."
The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as "trivial" but acknowledged Thursday that it was reviewing how the investments were reported and would make "some minor technical amendments" to Romney's financial disclosure that would not alter the overall picture.
An examination by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found that at least 23 investments detailed in the couple's 2010 tax returns did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney's most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.
The campaign has emphasized that Romney has paid all required U.S. taxes on his foreign funds.
Many of the funds that show up on Romney's tax returns but not his financial disclosure are affiliated with Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm he ran for 15 years. Several others are apparently unrelated offshore entities such as Babson 2006-1, which is based in the Cayman Islands, and Barracuda Investments, which has an address in Dublin, Ireland, but appears to be owned by Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco.
Among the assets omitted is a Swiss bank account in Ann Romney's blind trust that held $3 million until it closed in 2010. The account was listed on a financial disclosure Romney filed in 2007, but it was mistakenly named as an asset held by the couple, not as part of Ann Romney's trust. A campaign spokeswoman said Thursday that Romney will file amendments to both his 2007 and 2011 financial disclosures to correctly identify the bank account.
The Romney campaign dismissed the omission of information as inadvertent and inconsequential, noting he has released more than 600 pages of details about his finances. Indeed, among the hundreds of investments listed on his recent financial disclosure are many foreign funds.
But the discrepancies speak to a broader challenge facing Romney: convincing voters that he can relate to their economic distress despite his immense fortune.
Whether Mitt Romney can relate to the ordinary voters or the "little man" surely remains doubtful, as some of his remarks don't inspire much confidence:
Earlier in the month, Romney characterized the $374,000 he made in speaker's fees in 2010 and 2011 as "not very much."
So Mitt Romney is very rich, which is not a crime. But there is another aspect to the story: Despite the fact that Mitt Romney is the embodiment of a "rich elitist" himself, he routinely mocks President Obama for playing golf, in a cheap, dishonest attempt to paint Obama as a snobby President who couldn't care less about the concerns of the American citizens.
I don't know too much about the many faces of Mitt Romney, the former staunchly pro-choice (great video), pro-healthcare Governor, but it's more than obvious that he has a major character flaw. The best which I can say in his defence is that there are in my opinion "hints" in his "performances" which point to the fact that he might not feel entirely comfortable with himself and that he might just be forced to play a role in order to please the very conservative audience. But maybe I am just hallucinating.
In any case, Mitt Romney will be running against a president who should easily be superior in his behaviour and in his speeches. Will Mitt Romney be a match for Barack Obama? Virtually every clip I watch of Romney makes me cringe. He always seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, whereas Obama always seems to be very comfortable with himself and his surroundings. Obama has credibility - Romney sounds like a bad salesman.
Watch Mitt Romney in the following clips mocking Obama for playing golf:
Mitt Romney, you haven't even started yet, and you have already sold out. Well done!
I cannot resist: The following clip shows the pro-choice candidate for Governor called Mitt Romney, explaining his stance on abortion, in 2002. Now, ten years later, Matt Romney is a staunch member of the anti-abortion/pro-life crowd. How can friend or foes alike believe anything what Mitt Romney says? A serious politician doesn't make a "180 degree turn" on such a fundamental issue within just ten years without a compelling reason. The only reason I can see is that Mitt Romney is a shameless opportunist and wants to appeal to the conservative base. But he is neither convincing nor credible.
Mitt Romney tries to explain his "change of heart" on the issue of abortion in this very interesting clip - and he also says that "from a political perspective" he believes that "life begins at conception", which frankly doesn't make much sense. Not one good argument is evident in his reasoning. Just an opportunist. Shame on Mitt.
Sarah Palin's "top of my list" as VP for the GOP 2012 ticket, Allen West, is no stranger to making strong and unsubstantiated claims. Nor is he shy in suggesting that those who do not agree with his restricted views should get the hell out of the US. His loudmouth allegations are what Palin regards as "passionate and strong" and thus he is the man who can lead "government back to the side of the people."
What's a man like West to do when he is given such a mandate by Sarah Palin? It would seem that he has no choice but to prove himself as even nuttier by playing the "communist" card. So that's what West did yesterday. He set himself out to prove himself worthy of the Palin praise.
To a small group of supporters in Palm City West proclaimed that he believes that between 78 and 81 House Democratic members are communist party members. Oh the horror! Cue 50's B movie music and big red spiders. It's an invasion unlike any that you have ever encountered before. Run for the hills. Lock up your mothers and daughters. (West then offers a sneering aside -- don't worry we have GOP party members who are taking care of that for you.)
The only problem is that he offers no proof for this allegation. West does not name names nor does he provide any other facts that back up his claim other than the fact that "he believes".
You can hear West make his claim at the 16 second mark: Check out his huge "I Lie" grin.
