Dear Glenn Beck

Have you no shame, sir?

A Dark Lonely Path

First they came for the Mexicans
And I said something this time, but nobody listened

Then they came for the Muslims
I said something again, but nobody listened.

Then they came for the progressive thinkers.
As they took me away I thought “Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything”

The civil rights movement is so much easier without all the black people

Today Glenn Beck hijacked Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy.  Assisting him were Dr. Alveda King (it's an honorary doctorate), Dr. King's right-wing niece whose claim on Dr. King's legacy more or less begins and ends with shared DNA, and Sarah Palin, right-wing shill, dumbfuck extraordinaire and half-term governor of Alaska who was nearly our vice president. 

I haven't seen anything from it yet.  I'm sure I will, but I know Glenn Beck.  He's compared himself to Dr. King, Jesus, and Ghandi.  Anybody who buys that Beck has anything in common with any of those people needs their brain examined.  These people stood for love, understanding and unity.  Beck stands for divisive politics, fear-mongering, and bizarre conspiracy theories (much like modern Christians).

In the hopes of minimizing the right-wing usurping of the anniversary of what may have been the greatest speech of the 20th century, I would like to remind everybody of what exactly Dr. Martin Luther King stood for.  I'll let him do it himself.  Please, watch this, not Beck, when deciding what Martin Luther King's legacy is.

"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."

Glenn, THAT is why you don't get to claim his legacy.

And just for fun:

Lindsey Lohan Nude Pictures!

Just curious how many hits I get for that title ;)

Dear Dr. Laura

What the fuck is wrong with you?  I am so sick of you right-wing crybabies.  You spew the n-word 11 times on the air, then you quit over the fact that it pissed people off?  What… the… FUCK!?!?

The reason is, I want to regain my First Amendment rights," she said. "I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I'm sort of done with that."

Your first amendment rights?  The right to free speech?  Have you been arrested?  Has the government somehow suppressed your right to spew idiocy all over American airwaves?  No.  Calling you a dumb-ass racist bitch because you spewed racial profanity over the air IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH!   How stupid are you?  That's how it works.  You say stupid shit then we call you a racist bitch for doing it and we're all free to do so! 

Advertisers pulling out?  They have that right.  The First Amendment has nothing to do with that and does not protect you from your own stupidity.

People angry at your racist rant?  How would you silence that without infringing their first amendment rights?  You can't.

You idiots need to stop crying wolf on the First Amendment.  Personally, I think you're trying to use the First Amendment to suppress the First Amendment rights of your detractors.  Oooh, the irony.  Too bad!  Our First Amendment rights are safe for at least two more years! Nyah nyah!

Piss off.

How to Rule the World

Fear is possibly the most powerful human emotion.  It causes decent human beings to do things they would not normally do.

I had been thinking about this post all day, and idly this evening I began watching The End of America.  When she began listing off the steps required to “close an open society”, I got chills.  I realized this was exactly what I had been planning as a blog post, a satirical list of things one would need to do to became a dictator of a powerful nation and possibly conquer the world.  Then I would go on to take a few jabs at the Bush administration and probably the Obama administration as well for failing to fix the damage. You should watch this movie.  It’s creepy to review what happened in hindsight and realize how the path we were on from 2001-2008 paralleled Nazi Germany.  I mean eerie.  And it may not be over.  Obama has not walked us back from the brink, and in some cases has consciously decided to continue Bush policies we explicitly elected him to repeal.

1. Invoke An Internal and External Threat
   The obvious threat here is terrorism.  On September 11, 2001 terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center.  We were shocked, we were hurt, and we were angry.  And most of all, we were afraid.  After an attack in Germany, they passed a law that allowed the government to invade citizens privacy in the name of national security.  In America, we called it the Patriot Act.
2. Secret Prisons where Torture takes place.
   These places always operate outside the law.  They are unaccountable.  People designated enemies disappear to these places and may or may not be heard from again.  Duration and sentence is discretionary.  There is no appeal.  Torture always occurs.  Germany called them concentration camps.  In America, we called it Guantanamo Bay.  In Germany they used what they called “Versharfte Vernehmung”, which translates to Enhanced Interrogation.
3. Develop a Paramilitary Force
   Germany: The Brownshirts
   America: Blackwater
4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens
   Closing societies keep lists of potential enemies for quick round-up.  Germany had a list of Jews.  America has a high-security risk list (the no-fly list).  Take Drew Griffin, CNN journalist, who did an investigative report on the TSA only to find himself on the no-fly list. 
5. Infiltrate Citizens’ Groups
   Well documented.
6. Detain and Release Ordinary Citizens
   In America James Yee.  Maher Arar.  Countless Others.
7. Target Key Individuals
   The Dixie Chicks.  Dan Rather.  Valerie Plame. 
8. Restrict the Press
   N.Y. Times.  Izvestia.  Wikileaks.  Josh Wolf.
9. Recast Criticism as Espionage and Dissent as Treason
10. Subvert the Rule of Law.

Civil Liberties are a special commodity, and once lost, they are difficult to get back.

A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.

If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier… just so long as I’m the dictator 
–George W. Bush

Watch this movie, or read the book.  It’s frightening to realize that what happened in Germany in the 1930s could so easily happen here.  It still could.  The laws passed by the Bush administration which enable these abuses have not been repealed.  Perhaps we can trust Obama not to abuse them, perhaps not.  Can we trust the next guy?  Or the next?  It’s time to undo the damage.

I Give Up

I saw this video today about the 9/11 responders bill.  In case you were wondering, it was a bill to cover the health care of people who were ill because they were there on 9/11 and risked their lives to save others.  They ran into the giant building with an airplane stuck in in while everybody else was running out.  Something I doubt ANY single fucking politician in Washington would have the balls to do.  And we just told them, “Nice job, now go fuck off.”  Woohoo!  Go America.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
I Give Up - 9/11 Responders Bill
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I think this sums up quite nicely how I feel.  I’m totally disillusioned.  This—GODDMAN FUCKING THIS—is how we treat our nation’s heroes.  “Thanks for saving our asses, but if it’s between you and our offshore tax shelters, fuck off.”  Our system is totally broken.  I’m no longer sure it can be saved.  I mean seriously, we can’t even PASS A GODDAMN FUCKING BILL TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO SHOWED THE REST OF THE WORLD THE BEST OF AMERICA ON OUR WORST DAY EVER!?!?!? 

This shows the absolute worst of America, and that’s really saying something these days.  This is pathetic.  This is sick.  Fuck you Washington.  Fuck you Republicans.  Fuck you Democrats.  Fuck all of you.  Just…. Fuck You All.