JoeWo Joe Wosik Blog

h/t our friends at ProgressiveNewsDaily

GLENN BECK gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards.

He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal UNION WORKERS fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now GLENN BECK gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. GLENN BECK’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

GLENN BECK takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

GLENN BECK dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree-hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

GLENN BECK begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal UNION MEMBERS fought and died for these working standards.

GLENN BECK’s employer pays these standards because GLENN BECK’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call “the union”.

If GLENN BECK is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It’s noon time, GLENN BECK needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills.

GLENN BECK’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC and FDIC because some liberal wanted to protect GLENN BECK’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the 1929 economic depression.

GLENN BECK has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that GLENN BECK and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

GLENN BECK is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dad’s; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.

He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republicans would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his UNION PENSION because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so GLENN BECK wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

He turns on a radio talk show, the host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good (He doesn’t tell GLENN BECK that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit GLENN BECK enjoys throughout his day).

GLENN BECK agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”

Here’s something I never thought I’d hear myself saying… thank you Ali Velshi! He’s absolutely correct here and the working class and the unemployed in America are not a “special interest group” as RNC Communications Director Doug Heye called them earlier in this segment on CNN’s Rick List, following President Obama’s barn burner of a speech he gave for Labor Day. He also did a nice job of knocking back his talking points on small businesses feeling “squeezed” by Obama’s policies and not hiring because of “unpredictability” on government policy.  Video is located here

They voted AGAINST it and are happy to take it!

Story and huge list of Republicans taking original STIMULUS funds is located here.

Original story is posted here

I hope to convince you all of the wisdom of being a conservative as we get closer to the glorious revolution that will take place this November.

So, here are a few points to consider:

Why It Is Good to Be a Conservative

Being a conservative means I can be selfish and not feel bad about it.

Being a conservative means all the problems of the world can be attributed to liberals.
Being a conservative means I never have to acknowledge flaws in my philosophy.
Being a conservative means anything a Democrat does is bad.
Being a conservative means any bad thing I do is either justified or the work of somebody who isn’t really a true conservative anyway.
Being a conservative means I root for failure when it punishes a liberal and reward failure if it is profitable for fellow conservatives.
Being a true conservative means I’m more worried about protecting a definition than I am protecting the rights of Americans.
Being a conservative means I never have to try to solve any problems in the government because I insist government is the problem anyway.
Being a conservative means I lay off workers to boost profits then complain about lazy unemployed people.
Being conservative means I am staunchly pro-life and will put a bullet through the eyes of any liberal who challenges that.
Being a conservative means I am furious my tax dollars aren’t being spent blowing up as many countries as I would like.
Being a conservative means you can blame problems on poor people instead of the rich ones who actually run things.
Being a conservative means believing in spite and fear instead of hope and change.
Being a conservative means sometimes people have to starve if it proves my point.
Being a conservative means Democratic presidents don’t count.
Being a conservative means a president shouldn’t pay attention to public opinion when he is doing what he believes is right for the country.  (Strike all this if the president is a Democrat, in which case it is a treasonous act.)
Being a conservative means supporting the right to deny pre-existing conditions.
Being a conservative means someone else dying for your country is noble and patriotic, but my paying taxes for it is obscene.
Being a conservative means it’s okay if I do it because I am conservative.
Being a conservative means you get to yell your talking points and write in all caps, especially the word “liberal.”
Being a conservative means pretending the Republican party was born the night Ronald Reagan was elected.
Being a conservative means putting your car in reverse, driving backwards through a bunch of weeds, and complaining that it isn’t the beautiful parkway you swear used to be there.
Being a conservative means knowing that everything that was bad up to 2006 was Bill Clinton’s fault; everything bad that happened from 2007 to 2009 was Nancy Pelosi’s fault, and everything after that is Barack Obama’s fault.
Being a conservative means having absurdly high standards for Democrats and pretty much the lowest standards for myself.
Being a conservative means criticizing the tiniest details of any Democratic plan, but talking in only huge generalities about my own plans.
Being a conservative means I can accuse Pres. Obama of being divisive because I didn’t vote for him and he won anyway.
Being a conservative means I can view all things I don’t understand with contempt and not have to make the effort to change.
Being a conservative means I know I was right not to share my toys as a child.
Being a conservative means I am not a racist–black people are the real racists.
Being a conservative means the news I don’t like hearing is just liberal propaganda.

Since President Obama’s election, Fox personalities have expressed opposition to or called for the repeal of virtually every progressive achievement of the 20th century, including Social Security, Medicare, the Americans with Disabilities Act, portions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution.  Story is located here

Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:  Story is located here

“It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems,” Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement. “Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”  Story is located here

And the Republicans now want the same thing as Republicans wanted then and that was the wrong thing.  Story is located here

It is quite clear that Glenn Beck is a master propagandist with a chilling and Svengali-like power over the lemmings of the New Right. Beck-watching is compelling (to me at least) because his popularity is a barometer of the toxins in our political atmosphere. Moreover, I wonder if Beck’s followers would be so slavish as to follow him off a cliff, and to what extremes would the tea party brigands go in their devotion to his cult of personality.

To point, here is a little armchair sociology to help put Beck and the New Right’s devotees into a broader context.

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which an unskilled person makes poor decisions and reaches erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to the situation in which less competent people rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence: because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. “Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”

The chart in this story is quite clear.  If you make under $125,000 you will owe more in taxes as compared to the Obama plan and repealing the Bush Tax Cuts.  Story is located here

Here are the signatories to the document that simply does not mention workers at all

February 17, 2010

Edwin Meese, former U.S. Attorney General under President Reagan

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America

Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation

Lee Edwards, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at The Heritage Foundation, was present at the Sharon Statement signing.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

Becky Norton Dunlop, president of the Council for National Policy

Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center

Alfred Regnery, publisher of the American Spectator

David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union

David McIntosh, co-founder of the Federalist Society

T. Kenneth Cribb, former domestic policy adviser to President Reagan

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government

Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness

Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com

Kenneth Blackwell, Coalition for a Conservative Majority

Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring

Kathryn J. Lopez, National Review

Tom Winter, Editor in Chief, Human Events

Morton Blackwell, President, The Leadership Institute

Here is the link to “The Mount Vernon Statement”:  http://www.themountvernonstatement.com

It is how the American middle class was made. It wasn’t capitalism that did it. Capitalism was doing just fine with a relatively tiny middle class of managers, professionals and small business owners.  Well, except for that whole Great Depression thing.  And repeated “panics” throughout the 1800s, as they called them back then.

No, it wasn’t capitalism that made the modern American middle class.

It was unions.

Money wasn’t all they brought.  There was dignity. Pride.  Security.  Respect. Solidarity.  All those intangibles were extremely important.  And guess what?  Money spoke to all of them, as well.

We all know that unions aren’t as strong as they used to be.  But how many of us realize that they are still creating America’s middle class?  The difference between a union and a non-union job doing exactly the same sort of work averages more than 25%.  And for Latinos it’s double that: 50%.  Story is located here

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s disastrous debate performance last week got a lot of coverage in the media except, of course, on Fox News which ignored the Republican’s embarrassing 10 second pause during her prepared opening remarks as well avoiding any mention of the governor’s false claims about headless corpses found in the Arizona desert as I show in this video.  Video is located here

Another Planned Parenthood is bombed.  This happened in Chico California when I lived there.  I drove past the burned out shell of the building many times.  This is American Taliban in action!  Story of recent bombing in Madera, California is located here

So which politicians today would have supported Unions in stopping children from working?  Story is located here

On Fox & Friends Saturday, co-host Dave Briggs treated us to another great moment in Fox’s proud tradition of failed economic punditry.

Report relating to this story is located here

This Economic Letter summarizes recent research examining the impact of immigrants on the broader U.S. economy. . . Consistent with previous research, the analysis finds no significant effect of immigration on net job growth for U.S.-born workers in these time horizons. This suggests that the economy absorbs immigrants by expanding job opportunities rather than by displacing workers born in the United States. Second, at the state level, the presence of immigrants is associated with increased output per worker. This effect emerges in the medium to long run as businesses adjust their physical capital, that is, equipment and structures, to take advantage of the labor supplied by new immigrants. However, in the short run, when businesses have not fully adjusted their productive capacity, immigrants reduce the capital intensity of the economy. Finally, immigration is associated with an increase in average hours per worker and a reduction in skills per worker as measured by the share of college-educated workers in a state. These two effects have opposite and roughly equal effect on labor productivity.

This is a report from the Federal Reserve Bank and has comment located here

South Park to say about this located here

Video is located here

The bottom line is that, no matter what the reason, Obama seems to be in some important ways significantly to the right of Reagan on the political spectrum. If Reagan ordered the execution of US citizens abroad, he might have been impeached. If Obama tried to give undocumented immigrants blanket amnesty the way Reagan did, he might be impeached.

I don’t think Obama is a hard right-winger. It’s just that the political establishment in this country has moved so far to the right (though not the public, according to polls on specific issues) that as a natural politician when he goes to appease them, he is solidly center-right on the spectrum.

And the political line has moved so far that if Reagan tried to run as a Republican now he would be the laughing stock of the party. Rush Limbaugh would tear him to shreds and Bill Kristol would say he is Neville Chamberlain. He would be run out of town as a tax-raising, amnesty giving, terrorist negotiating, cut and run no-good lib who hates the troops.

And anyone who claims otherwise is being absurd. As Reagan once said, “Facts are stubborn things.”

Reagan railed against government spending and deficits while running for office, but both became far worse under his watch. In 1980, the final year of Jimmy Carter’s term in office, government spent $591 billion and ran a $73.8 billion deficit. In 1988, the final Reagan year, government spent over $1 trillion, and ran a $155 billion deficit.  Story is located here

From union-busting and the outsourcing of jobs to developing countries and opposing universal health care, social conservatives have not only endangered the American middle class — they have also made it increasingly hard to raise a “traditional” family.  Story is located here

This afternoon, Congressional Republican leaders will try to spin fictions about the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress. But the facts are clear. Democrats have produced a record of accomplishment in spite of unprecedented obstruction by the Republican minority. Republicans must stop dragging their feet, and work with Democrats on the business most important to the American people.  Story is located here

The GOP is voting against bills that would create jobs.  Story is located here

McGinniss would not reveal what his book will say about the former governor. But he did get a taste of the support Palin has inspired.

“It’s just a peculiar thing, but she does, as I found out in May, she presses a button and what comes back is hate,” he said. “The people who respond when she complains about something are just so filled with hate. I got some of the ugliest, most vile e-mails directed at me, my grandchildren, my children, my wife – just ugly, ugly stuff.”

As for his interviews, most people he approached in Palin’s hometown were willing to speak, but he said there was what he calls an “undercurrent of fear.”

“People – I don’t know if they’re afraid of shadows or whether there’s something real there – she’s no longer in a position of governmental influence but there are people up there who are scared to death to talk because if Sarah ever found out they talked, oh, something terrible would happen to them,” he said.

Once he settled in, McGinniss said, he didn’t have a single unpleasant encounter with anybody in Wasilla. Some people objected to the welcome he had received.

“They started bringing me blueberry pie. I had many offers of handguns to borrow. I turned them all down. But for about two weeks there, I couldn’t say hello to somebody without, they said, ‘I’ve got a couple of guns for you in my truck.’”

He found people willing to talk, as he had in 1975.

“It was the greatest place because there were no closed doors. There was nobody who said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you. And that’s pretty much the way it is today with the single exception of that least Alaskan of all Alaskans, Sarah Palin.’”

He is sure she will run for president.

Story is located here

Blood tests on Gulf residents show ethylbenzene, other hydrocarbons -Everyone is getting sick.  Video is located here

03 September 2010 Interview with Matt Smith and Heather Rally of Project Gulf Impact, Intel Hub Radio, September 2, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. EDT:

HEATHER RALLY: Residents living near gulf, not workers. Orange Beach, Alabama/Florida area. Blood tests for positive for various different hydrocarbons like ethylbenzene.

MATT SMITH: Everyone is getting sick, people are going to keep getting sick… from how the oil is getting aerosolized, becoming an aerosol, especially with storms and rain. … Help from Michelle Nix, Gulf Coast Volunteers and Sassafras. … We’ve had it analyzed from three different sources.

RALLY: Testing is the only thing that will prove concretely that they are being exposed… Problems may occur now or in 20 years… Cancer does take time to develop… Testing is a huge priority for us because these people need proof. Donate to Project Gulf Impact here: http://www.projectgulfimpact.org/donate/ Listen to Intel Hub Radio here: http://www.americanfreedomradio.com

The Mexican world of crime and murder and death has a strong signature of the national government and army.  Video is located here

Police reported 611 homicides in Canada in 2008, 17 more than the previous year, resulting in a 2% rise in the national homicide rate. The 2008 increase was due almost entirely to increases in Alberta and British Columbia, much of which was gang-related.

After peaking in the mid-1970s, the homicide rate generally declined until 1999 and has been relatively stable since. Gang-related homicides, however, have been on the rise since the early 1990s and accounted for almost 1 in 4 homicides in 2008.

There were 200 homicides committed with a firearm in 2008, 12 more than in 2007. The rate of homicides committed with a firearm has increased 24% since 2002.

There were 146 female homicide victims, 17 fewer than in 2007. Women accounted for 24% of homicide victims in 2008, the lowest proportion since statistics were first collected.

Police reported 138 homicides in 2008 as gang-related, 20 more than in 2007. These include homicides linked to organized crime groups or street gangs, as well as the death of any innocent bystanders during the incident.

Most gang-related homicides occurred within Canada’s largest census metropolitan areas (CMAs). The 10 largest CMAs accounted for just over half of all homicides in the nation in 2008, but slightly more than two-thirds of all gang-related homicides.

Police in the metropolitan area of Toronto reported 24 gang-related homicides, the most of any CMA. However, accounting for population, Calgary’s 16 gang-related homicides in 2008 gave it the highest rate among the 10 largest metropolitan areas.

Firearms were used more often in gang-related homicides than in other types of homicide. In 2008, about three-quarters of gang-related homicides in Canada were committed with a firearm, compared with about 20% of homicides unrelated to gangs.

Story is located here

US population about 310,000,000

Canada population about 34,000,000

Despite being promised benefits our war Veterans are called to now balance the budget.  Video is located here

For more than half (55 percent) of elderly beneficiaries, Social Security provides the majority of their cash income. For one-quarter (26 percent), it provides nearly all (more than 90 percent) of their income. For 15 percent of elderly beneficiaries, Social Security is the sole source of retirement income.[15] (See figure below.)

Dependence on Social Security increases with age, as older people are less likely to work and more likely to have depleted their savings. Among those aged 80 or older, Social Security provides the majority of family income for 64 percent of beneficiaries and nearly all of the income for 33 percent of beneficiaries.[16]

Story is located here

The author of the blistering Vanity Fair profile on Sarah Palin says he wanted to write a positive piece, but was shocked by what he learned as he researched his story.

“The worst stuff isn’t even in there,” Michael Joseph Gross said on “Morning Joe” Thursday. “I couldn’t believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor. I have a lot in common with this woman. I’m a small-town person, I’m a Christian, I think that a lot of her criticisms of the media actually have something to them. And I think she got a bum ride, but everybody close to her tells the same story.”

In the profile, Gross paints Palin as an abusive, retaliatory figure with an extreme ability to lie.

“This is a person for whom there is no topic too small to lie about,” he said. “She lies about everything.”

Asked about Palin’s political future, Gross said it depends on what the media lets her get away with.  Story plus video is located here

“…A small but growing number of ‘moderate’ Democrats are balking at boosting taxes on the rich. Some represent areas that are loaded with wealthier taxpayers.” ?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/01/99992/democrats-unlikely-to-repeal-tax.html?

“Giant U.S. companies and their multi-millionaire CEOs have stepped up their lobbying to block Democrats’ plans to let the Bush tax cuts on wealthier Americans expire at year’s end.

Republicans and business say that letting the Bush tax cuts expire will choke off the economic recovery, and they are demanding that Democrats commit to hearings, a mark-up of legislation and then a movement to the Senate floor for a vote to extend the tax cuts for the very rich.

As Paul Krugman notes in his opinion piece yesterday, this would be the equivalent of 120,000 wealthy people getting $3 million each every year.

The Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires have added, when including interest, over a trillion dollars to our national debt, money which will have to be re-paid by you, me, and our children.

Now Republicans want to extend these billionaire tax cuts for a single and a simple reason: the billionaires fund the Republican party and it’s candidates.”  ~Thom Hartmann?

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2010/08/leave-no-billionaire-behind

“And where would this $680 billion go? Nearly all of it would go to the richest 1 percent of Americans, people with incomes of more than $500,000 a year.”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23krugman.html?_r=3&ref=opinion%EF%BB%BF

“Fat-Bottom Snowman”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wDdWJcpJj0%EF%BB%BF

“A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year — and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation’s millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday. ”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/11/AR2010081105864.html

James Parrish site is located here

Story is located here

Workers are now earning only 83 cents of every dollar they earned more than 35 years ago, while their productivity has increased a dramatic 80%. This is the central explanation for the explosion in corporate profits and the growing income gap in America, and the reason workers in America still believe the economy is moving in the wrong direction.

On balance, the two laws’ health care and revenue provisions are estimated to reduce the projected deficit in 2020 by $28 billion, and the education provisions of the Reconciliation Act are estimated to reduce the projected deficit in 2020 by $2 billion. [...]

Finally, you asked what the net deficit impact would be if certain provisions of PPACA and the Reconciliation Act that were estimated to generate net savings were eliminated—specifically, those which were originally estimated to generate a net reduction in mandatory outlays of $455 billion over the 2010–2019 period. The estimate of $455 billion mentioned in your letter represents the net effects of many provisions. Some of those provisions generated savings for Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and some generated costs. If those provisions were repealed, CBO estimates that there would be an increase in deficits similar to its original estimate of $455 billion in net savings over that period.

Story is located here

Beck also invoked Washington while describing the inspiring experience of visiting famous tourist destinations around the nation’s capital. “I have been going to Mt. Vernon,” he explained. Holding out his hands for emphasis, he declared with emotion, “I went to the National Archives, and I held the first inaugural address written in his own hand by George Washington.”   Story is located here

It is a lot of work to think like a Teabagger!!!  Video is located here

The reasons kept changing. Video is located here

On the eve of the President declaring officially the combat portion of the Iraq War was over Paul Begala brings some truth to Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.  Video is located here

David Gushee of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good said politicians who were using the mosque issue for political gain “deserve neither our sympathy nor our acquiescence, but only our condemnation.” His words for Christians who opposed the mosque were just as pointed.

“For those mainly conservative Christians who are responding to this and other mosque projects with open expressions of anti-Muslim hatred, and open rejections of the principles of religious liberty from which Christians themselves daily benefit, shame on you! As a fellow Christian, I say that you bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ, you directly disobey his command that we love our neighbors, and you drive the watching world even further away from any interest in the Gospel message!” said Gushee.

Support for the mosque has been a hot topic on Sojourners’ God’s Politics blog. In one of the more popular posts, Troy Jackson, senior pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati, wrote that it was unloving to oppose a mosque.

“Ultimately, the Christian church should focus our energies on sharing the grace and love and mercy of Jesus, not fighting the construction of buildings and worship centers of other faiths. Hate and revenge are not Christian values,” said Jackson. “Fear and intolerance are not fruits of the Spirit. Instead, Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, and to even love our enemies. Love doesn’t fight mosques. The love of Jesus demands that we love Muslims. Period. For in the end, love wins.”  Story is located here

The first step in broadcast deregulation was removing any pretense that broadcasters “served” the public.  Story is here.

The second phase in broadcast deregulation was the removal of many ownership rules.  Story is located here

The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation begun by Reagan, whose actions reduced the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996^[19] and 6 in 2005.^[20] An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased.^[21]

For the record, in citing 1 John 4:1-3, Moore is saying that Beck’s effort to unleash revival in America is operating under the spirit of the Antichrist:  Story is located here

So one of the better Twitter people is @OakFoSho.  Instead of doing the ususal “IS TOO…IS NOT” arguing seen on Twitter he brings the facts.  So one of his discussions with an obvious Teabagger who has been listening to too much Glenn Beck had @OakFoSho aka Spence…bring out a series of facts about Nazis.  His series of Tweets basically eviscerated any concept that Nazis could have been leftist-Socialists.  The concept of Left-Leaning Nazis has been a rewriting of history as sought by Jonah Goldberg and Glenn Beck and others on the Right.  Somehow they claim every tyrant was a lefty.  Spence’s messages from 8/31/10 are below and thoroughly amused me as to their correctness…simplicity…and destruction of the meme of Hitler being left leaning in any way shape or form.

http://twitter.com/OakFoSho

# SORRY TWEEPS! Had 2 drop lesson on @ResistTyranny. The “Nazis were socialists” thing has the greatest generation rolling in thr graves.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing – Goebbels joked abt inclusion of “Socialist” in the party title as “convenience”.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — “Socialist” in party name was leftover frm a merger of European parties in 1919.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing – They murdered what left wingers remained on 6/30/34. “Night of the Long Knives”

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing – Came 2pwr in coalition w/othr conservatives & suppressed socialists & Communists

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — #Hitler outlawed trade unions within 120 days of taking office in 1933.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — They nationalized no industries.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing – In Mein Kampf Hitler lambasts “social democrats” (socialists) on almost every pg

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — Nazi “Charter of Labor” gave employers complete power over their workers.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — #Hitler abolished the worker’s right to strike.

#Nazis were FAR Right Wing — Hitler ordered SA 2 arrest all union leaders, & made forming unions illegal.

OK TWEEPS! Time for a History lesson for #RWNJ @ResistTyranny who thinks the Nazis were “Socialists”

Joe Madison talked with Glenn Beck and Glenn admits a few things that he had no concept of as his upbringing was not one of dealing with people who were directly kept out of society’s riches.  Audio is located here

A bit of the show had a transcript here at Alan Colmes’ site.

ThinkProgress has a good outline of the interview as well linked here

“By preventing this mosque from being built, America is doing us a big favor,” Taliban operative Zabihullah tells NEWSWEEK. (Like many Afghans, he uses a single name.) “It’s providing us with more recruits, donations, and popular support.”  Story is located here.

The Hippies have been RIGHT FOR DECADES.  Video is located here

Nothing is more important to Republican politicians these days than jobs and the deficit—at least according to Republican politicians. As House Minority Leader John Boehner put it in a “major economic address” on Tuesday, President Obama is “doing everything possible to prevent jobs from being created” while refusing to do anything at all “about bringing down the deficits that threaten our economy.” Elect Republicans in November, Boehner assured his audience, and we will put an end to this insanity.

There’s only one problem with Boehner’s message: so far, the things that Republicans have said they want to do won’t actually boost employment or reduce deficits. In fact, much the opposite. By combing through a variety of studies and projections from nonpartisan economic sources, we here at Gaggle headquarters have found that if Republicans were in charge from January 2009 onward—and if they were now given carte blanche to enact the proposals they want to—the projected 2010–2020 deficits would be larger than they are under Obama, and fewer people would probably be employed.  Story is located here

h/t http://www.progressivenewsdaily.com/

Video is located here

“MY FAITH MY VOICE” — Official PSA
Video Directed by: David Hawa
Video Producer: HAWA DC [hawadc.com]
Script Written by: Rabiah Ahmad and David Hawa

Description: MY FAITH MY VOICE is a grassroots effort by American Muslims from across the country looking to present their voice on issues affecting Muslims and Islam in America. It is an independent network with no affiliation to any one organization or school of thought. It is a platform for you, me and any one else who wants to reach out and talk directly to America.

Special thanks to Rabiah Ahmad, Antar Hanif, Abdul Malik Ahmad, Nadia Khatib, and all the muslims that came out last minute to support the project.

Here is how to fill up Washington DC.  Picture which loads very slowly is located here

“I noticed some tut-tutting among newscasters that people just don’t listen to the president when he states that he’s a Christian,” said Dalfonzo, who edits The Point blog. “Did any of them consider that maybe some of these people are listening but don’t necessarily trust him to tell the truth? Oddly, there didn’t seem to be nearly as much tut-tutting about Democrats increasingly coming to believe that Obama is not a Christian. If they’re not listening to the president, isn’t that just as bad as the people who believe he’s a Muslim not listening?”

Faith in Public Life’s Dan Nejfelt said the perception that Obama is a Muslim is consequential. He noted that those who believe Obama is a Muslim are more likely to disapprove of the President.

“. … [C]ultivating this misperception is a political strategy meant to discredit the president by appealing to religious bigotry and Islamophobia. Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and other purveyors of fear and prejudice are maligning  religious minority to further the short-term goal of scoring political points,” he wrote. “They should be called out, not ignored.”  Story is located here

Citizens for Tax Justice point out what I was saying just the other day: We only hear all this crying and moaning about the deficit when it’s something for regular working people, and not a powerful lobby. And of course, the Republican’ts are right out there in front of the Hypocrisy Parade:  Story is located here

The Glenn Beck fans on my subway car after today’s rally were a subdued bunch.  They didn’t seem energized by having spent time with their idol and many thousands of fellow fans. Why not?

As Cenk says…this is an automatic dismissal question. 3 real Republican Presidential candidates did not believe in Evolution.  O…..M…..G……!!!  Video is located here

Tomorrow, Fox News host and self-professed “rodeo clown” Glenn Beck will hold his “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C. Beck initially insisted that the rally has no political significance — despite it being located at the Lincoln Memorial and taking place on the 47th anniversary of the “I Have A Dream” speech. He has increasingly claimed to be taking up the mantle of the civil rights movement. Earlier in the week, Beck boasted that the rally will “reclaim the civil rights movement” and called the current civil rights community an “abomination.” While Beck is practically fashioning himself after revered civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and trying to take up the mantle of the civil rights movement, he is ultimately unfit to command such a legacy. The Fox News host’s views and actions are diametrically opposed to everything the late social justice leader fought for.  Story is located here