Slog
News & ArtsSaturday, September 12, 2009
Politics Good...Morning?
Posted by Paul Constant on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 9:48 AM
It's lovely outside, so of course as soon as I woke up I turned on my computer. Here is what I found:
1. This weepy Glenn Beck rant where he complains about how they haven't rebuilt the World Trade Center. My favorite quotes: Beck wonders if we have lost that old-timey American Spirit back when they were building the Empire State Building: "People were throwing hot rivets of steel at each other! It's who we are!" And then he says "We're not Europeans, we're Americans! We don't run out of burning buildings, we run into them!"
And, in honor of that tossing-hot-rivets-at-each-other and running-into-burning-buildings spirit, I found:
2. This Fox News livestream of the 9/12 Teabag march on Washington, DC. It's amazing: You can stare directly at the crowds of pissed-off, middle-aged white people carrying signs about electing Glenn Beck president while easy listening music plays incongruously over the video. (Just a few minutes ago, they played "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" while someone waved a sign saying that he was a patriot because he was standing against government.) And then you can go to this Twitterstream, where the teabaggers are reporting on their experiences:
Steven Baldwin just rocked the crowd!
I wonder when Washington will open their ears and hear that it is not the last 6 months it is the last 10 years!
Mr Obama tear down this wall.
Get yr "You Lie!" bumper sticker & let everyone know Joe Wilson speaks 4 U 2!
LMAO and the sign saying "He had a dream (picture of MLK) and We got a nightmare (picture of Obama)
...and so, fuck it. I'm going back to bed. Goodnight everybody!
1
Posted without comment:
CABLE NEWS RACE
THURSDAY NITE, SEPT 10
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,609,000
FOXNEWS BECK 3,340,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,986,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,522,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,362,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,040,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,573,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,164,000
CNN KING 965,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 882,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 734,000
CNN COOPER 691,000
3
I'll guess the running into burning buildings comment is reference to firefighters of 9/11 but what the fuck do Europeans have to do with anything?
I love how all these guys stoke pseudo-patriotism by slamming Europe (and their damned successful health care systems) for no apparent reason. We're just already supposed to hate Europeans because they typically choose to NOT wear sweatpants in public.
I love how all these guys stoke pseudo-patriotism by slamming Europe (and their damned successful health care systems) for no apparent reason. We're just already supposed to hate Europeans because they typically choose to NOT wear sweatpants in public.
4
It's all part of the process of a dying empire, I'm afraid. Although the British did it with much more class than we are.
I'm curious about those ratings, and how they come to them. I've no doubt the conservatives have a large and loyal following, but it seem to me like just about every airport or hotel bar has Fox News on, with the sound off and no one really watching it. Do they get the numbers from the cable boxes, or are there still "Nielsen Families"?
I'm curious about those ratings, and how they come to them. I've no doubt the conservatives have a large and loyal following, but it seem to me like just about every airport or hotel bar has Fox News on, with the sound off and no one really watching it. Do they get the numbers from the cable boxes, or are there still "Nielsen Families"?
6
Catalina, there are still Nielsen families. I know this because I've been one up until fairly recently.
8
that elderly shut-ins never change the channel from the one that legitimizes their baseless fears doesn't surprise me.
9
Thank you, Fifty-Two-Eighty.
I was a Nielsen Family for about two weeks a million years ago, until they discovered that I really don't watch much TV. (I don't mean that as an elitist statement. There's just not much that interests me, and too hyper to just sit and channel surf) Do you still mail in the diaries, or is it all automatic now?
I was a Nielsen Family for about two weeks a million years ago, until they discovered that I really don't watch much TV. (I don't mean that as an elitist statement. There's just not much that interests me, and too hyper to just sit and channel surf) Do you still mail in the diaries, or is it all automatic now?
10
I've used the diaries too, but it's all automatic now. And the thing times out after like half an hour because they figure nobody's watching if you haven't changed the channel at least once in that amount of time.
11
I gotta give them credit for vigor and for actually taking to the streets. Those of us who disagree with the wingnuts these days don't take to the streets so much, but we're happy to comment on the blogs that write about the streets. I am a case in point, so am also going back to bed now.
12
So, basically the same 1.2% of Amurka is watching every FOX sNews talking-head program - which apparently gives them the right to tell the rest of us we're dirty, filthy, lying socialists if we happen to agree that our health care system is broken, and that continuing to trust the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, and for-profit health care providers probably isn't the best way to go about doing fixing it?
Okay, got it.
Also, where the HELL were these loyal patriots when their monkey boy shrub was adding trillions of dollars to the National Debt? Oh, right. They were the first ones screaming "let's get that Saddam for causing 9/11! Fuck the cost!" or "Deregulation of the banking industry can only be GOOD for America - look how much my stocks are going up! Look how cheap my ARM mortgage is!" Yeah, it took 8 1/2 years, but they've finally - just now - woken up to the fact that the gubamint has been over spending.
Riiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhht...
I don't buy for a New York second that this is about the debt per se; it's about Obama and trying to stop anything even remotely resembling progressive legislation that could help ALL Americans, not just those who've already got theirs.
Okay, got it.
Also, where the HELL were these loyal patriots when their monkey boy shrub was adding trillions of dollars to the National Debt? Oh, right. They were the first ones screaming "let's get that Saddam for causing 9/11! Fuck the cost!" or "Deregulation of the banking industry can only be GOOD for America - look how much my stocks are going up! Look how cheap my ARM mortgage is!" Yeah, it took 8 1/2 years, but they've finally - just now - woken up to the fact that the gubamint has been over spending.
Riiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhht...
I don't buy for a New York second that this is about the debt per se; it's about Obama and trying to stop anything even remotely resembling progressive legislation that could help ALL Americans, not just those who've already got theirs.
13
The reason they're against health care when most of them don't have it is because evolution is real.
I really do mean it when I say we should give out swine flu vaccines "on the orders of the president".
I really do mean it when I say we should give out swine flu vaccines "on the orders of the president".
14
They're finally rebuilding the Oakland-SF Bay Bridge, 20 years after part collapsed in the '89 earthquake.
We're just pygmies these days.
We're just pygmies these days.
15
I hate to agree with Glenn Beck on anything, but the stalled rebuild effort does strike me as a failure of will. The only appropriate response to 9/11 was to immediately rebuild, reclaiming the tallest building in the world title in the process. Maybe three towers this time instead of two. You knock them down? We'll just rebuild them bigger and better, asshole. I think that's a perfectly fine expression of national solidarity, and hell of a lot cheaper than starting random wars.
16
gfish, we are perfectly capable, technically, and labor-wise, of rebuilding the World Trade Center. It's all about bucks. That is some of the most valuable land in North America, and everyone wants their piece of it.
We can talk all the pretty talk we want, but it's all about the money. Beck knows that.
We can talk all the pretty talk we want, but it's all about the money. Beck knows that.
17
@15: Right, because New York should forever be a monument to the snotty hubris of the rest of the country. God forbid that they should be able to guide their own future or be mindful of the need for realistic office space. And god forbid that you should ever let them remember without turning the deaths of 3,000 people into some kind of martyrdom.
18
@16 Obviously we're technically capable of it. The failure is in political will, and that's sad.
@17 Hey, they can stop claiming to be the greatest city in the world any day now. Otherwise they need to act like it and do something. But if they want to proactively de-martyrize those 3000 by tying up the rebuild effort in years of ridiculous internecine fights, I guess that's their regional autonomy? Sure, okay.
@17 Hey, they can stop claiming to be the greatest city in the world any day now. Otherwise they need to act like it and do something. But if they want to proactively de-martyrize those 3000 by tying up the rebuild effort in years of ridiculous internecine fights, I guess that's their regional autonomy? Sure, okay.
19
@18: And I'm sure you know exactly what you would be told if you said that out loud in Lower Manhattan.
20
I love how they bellow about that can-do spirit, roll up your sleeves, you can achieve anything you want to, we are a mighty nation that achieves great things!
But only when they want to.
Universal health coveraaaage? WHERE ARE WE GONNA GET ALL THE DOCTORS AND NURSES FOR THAAAAAT? they now whine. Reminds me of the old song, "Afraid of the Russians."
I'd Like to feed the children/Find a cure for disease/Rebuild the cities/and Plant a lot of trees/I'd like to help the sick/Build factories/Give money to students/hospitals and galleries//But, I'm afraid of the Russians
But only when they want to.
Universal health coveraaaage? WHERE ARE WE GONNA GET ALL THE DOCTORS AND NURSES FOR THAAAAAT? they now whine. Reminds me of the old song, "Afraid of the Russians."
I'd Like to feed the children/Find a cure for disease/Rebuild the cities/and Plant a lot of trees/I'd like to help the sick/Build factories/Give money to students/hospitals and galleries//But, I'm afraid of the Russians
23
21
How many of them are working for Single-Payer or healthcare reform of any kind.
Go ahead.
Sit on your fat ass and show off last years laurels.
How many of them are working for Single-Payer or healthcare reform of any kind.
Go ahead.
Sit on your fat ass and show off last years laurels.
24
You're punking yourself again, Slog.
Sitting around mesmerized by the teabaggers,
smugly congratulating each other for being so much smarter and and so much more sophisticated,
while bitching eternally about the nation in decline.
It IS a dying empire.
The Liberal Welfare State is crumbling under it's own weight and debt.
The teabaggers-Goths are angry and in the streets.
Hail your new Masters.
Sitting around mesmerized by the teabaggers,
smugly congratulating each other for being so much smarter and and so much more sophisticated,
while bitching eternally about the nation in decline.
It IS a dying empire.
The Liberal Welfare State is crumbling under it's own weight and debt.
The teabaggers-Goths are angry and in the streets.
Hail your new Masters.
25
24
Single Payer would be a nice piece of Circus to throw the mobs to buy peace in the dying empire for a few more years but, sorry, it isn't in the budget (even with $9 Trillion in debt)
This party is just about over.
Single Payer would be a nice piece of Circus to throw the mobs to buy peace in the dying empire for a few more years but, sorry, it isn't in the budget (even with $9 Trillion in debt)
This party is just about over.
26
24, I'm afraid this is beyond your intellectual capability, but The Military/Industrial/Congressional complex is crumbling under its own weight and debt. We have fused the Military and the Welfare state, and until we realize that, we're just tilting at windmills.
Personally, I'd be happy to see our empire end. It really stunk.
Personally, I'd be happy to see our empire end. It really stunk.
27
Didn't ages ago Glenn Beck claim he had some super-secret plan for remaking America (or whatever he was raving about) that he was going to unveil on 9/12? Is this all it is, or is there something even more crazy yet to come...
28
One good thing about the military industrial complex is that it will insure that the people like "the age of the 2nd amendment" will end up dead - either by accident (most of them know nothing about gun safety) or at the hands of peacekeepers.
29
26
28
good ones, girls.
who do you think is dragging M16s around in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Red State Real American Reservists.
the "peacekeepers" aren't going to be firing on their own kind.
(nor will they be protecting urban hipsters from their fellow Democrap BigTent buddies from the ghetto, btw)
28
good ones, girls.
who do you think is dragging M16s around in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Red State Real American Reservists.
the "peacekeepers" aren't going to be firing on their own kind.
(nor will they be protecting urban hipsters from their fellow Democrap BigTent buddies from the ghetto, btw)
30
I was just thinking about when glenn beck stated that he hated the families of the 9/11 victims. Is there no further this idiot can sink?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf33g9ep4…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf33g9ep4…
31
Who said the "peacekeepers" will be American? Not only are wildly retarded in your stereotyping ability, you're not very bright when it comes to the world at large. But you've got a gun, or so you say, and that makes you a real man.
(you should just try for penis enlargement. It might work, and you'd be a lot happier)
But don't worry: We'll all end up on the other side eventually. The other side of the river Styx.
(you should just try for penis enlargement. It might work, and you'd be a lot happier)
But don't worry: We'll all end up on the other side eventually. The other side of the river Styx.
32
I made the mistake of watching the CNN live feed a few hours ago and saw some woman with a heavy southern accent ranting behind a podium. She was ostensibly from some doctors against reform outfit, screeching about how the AMA is a huge conspiracy. The really disturbing thing was how she was pounding the podium and the air with her fists -- it looked like old footage of Kruschev, Hitler or some other dictator from the mid 20th century. Seriously scary people...
33
So this is what I don't get: why the clamor to rebuild the WTC when these same folks also claim that New York is not composed of "Real Americans"?
Fuck. Them.
Fuck. Them.
34
You know what you US Americans should do? Split the USA two countries, just like what the Belgians are debating.
Oh wait... That would be to 'European'. Never mind.
Oh wait... That would be to 'European'. Never mind.
35
Just a personal observation. The individuals I know who watch Fox News religiously, have few books in their homes, no newspapers sitting in their recycle bins, and often a permanent dent in their couch. Having information spoon fed to them, appears to be a choice method for educating themselves, and fear always seems to lie at the root of their opinions. They rarely come across as happy.
36
35
Wow.
That's really disturbing.
Do you know any blacks?
Do they live on Welfare?
Are they violent criminals?
Do they love watermelon?
Do they smell bad?
Do you know any Polish people?
Are they dumb?
Do you know any Homosexuals?
Are they effeminate?
Are they flamboyant?
Do they molest little boys?
Do you know any Muslims?
Are they terrorist?
Do you know any blondes?
Are they bimbos?
Do you know any Irish?
Are they drunks?
Do you know any Hispanics?
Are they here illegally stealing Social Services?
Do you know any Jews?
Are they greedy and cheap?
Wow.
That's really disturbing.
Do you know any blacks?
Do they live on Welfare?
Are they violent criminals?
Do they love watermelon?
Do they smell bad?
Do you know any Polish people?
Are they dumb?
Do you know any Homosexuals?
Are they effeminate?
Are they flamboyant?
Do they molest little boys?
Do you know any Muslims?
Are they terrorist?
Do you know any blondes?
Are they bimbos?
Do you know any Irish?
Are they drunks?
Do you know any Hispanics?
Are they here illegally stealing Social Services?
Do you know any Jews?
Are they greedy and cheap?
37
@36: I'm with Kim, I don't know anyone who is a critical thinker who also watches Fox News with anything other than disdain. It's not that Fox has an opposing viewpoint, they're only interested in assisting in the dumbing down process of America.
38
Obama is middle aged.
He's the same age as the tea-baggers.
Think about it.
The people surrounding him are either 25 or 65.
He sold out his own Generation.
He's the same age as the tea-baggers.
Think about it.
The people surrounding him are either 25 or 65.
He sold out his own Generation.
39
ROTOSOUND STING IS PRECISELY RIGHT OBAMA IS A AGEIST AND HAS A BIAS AGAINST PEOPLE OF HIS OWN AGE THIS IS WHY IS HE THE WAY HE IS ITS UNFAIR AND OBVIOUSLY BIASED I AM FURIOUS THAT DAN SAVAGE AND COMPANY FOISTED THIS OFF ON US AND HE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED
43
Hilarious to see Glenn Beck nostalgic for the WTC.
Built by government (Port Authority of NY and NJ).
No commercial demand for all that office space in lower Manhattan (corporations moving to cheaper suburbs for decades).
Stuffed with government offices when it opened at the demand of Chase Manhattan Bank, which financed it. How coincidental that Chase Manhattan's president (David Rockefeller) was the New York State Governor's (Nelson Rockefeller) brother.
Beck and the teabaggers loathe government, New York and the Rockefellers, and now they're whining that the WTC is not being rebuilt?
Unfuckingbelievable.
The reason it's not being rebuilt is the same reason the original WTC nearly failed.
There is no commercial demand for millions of square feet of office space in lower Manhattan.
Dozens of existing office buildings have been converted to condos.
You'd think that people who nominally support free enterprise could pull their heads out of their asses long enough to clue into that.
Built by government (Port Authority of NY and NJ).
No commercial demand for all that office space in lower Manhattan (corporations moving to cheaper suburbs for decades).
Stuffed with government offices when it opened at the demand of Chase Manhattan Bank, which financed it. How coincidental that Chase Manhattan's president (David Rockefeller) was the New York State Governor's (Nelson Rockefeller) brother.
Beck and the teabaggers loathe government, New York and the Rockefellers, and now they're whining that the WTC is not being rebuilt?
Unfuckingbelievable.
The reason it's not being rebuilt is the same reason the original WTC nearly failed.
There is no commercial demand for millions of square feet of office space in lower Manhattan.
Dozens of existing office buildings have been converted to condos.
You'd think that people who nominally support free enterprise could pull their heads out of their asses long enough to clue into that.
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