Mornin Joe and Pat were totally over the top about Obama making us appear weak by meeting with Chavez.

Mornin’ All,

wow. went to bed last night thinking this was to be today’s AIPAC story : this guy is to be Chief of Staff for the Israeli Foreign Minister

Gilon, then the political officer at Israel’s Washington embassy, allegedly met multiple times between 2002 and 2005 with Lawrence Franklin, a mid-level Iran analyst at the Pentagon who has since pleaded guilty in the case. The men allegedly discussed Iran’s nuclear program and its disruptive role in Iraq

Alberto Holder?

And what else were we expecting, exactly?

Concubine anniversary is a big news item here in CO but somewhat under the radar was yesterdays OKC bombing anniversary – something that I was very close to.

Saw a small Tea Party (dozen people) gathered at a big intersection Sat morning. Soooo, I drove around the corner, parked the truck and went to ask a couple questions.

Was your net income over $250K last year?
No.
Then why are you out here?
Because our grandkids are gonna hafta pay for the bailouts.
Who’s going to have to pay for Bush’s war in Irak?
That’s different.
Different how?
It’s the war on terrorists.

It went downhill from there. No shouting, no shoving, none of that stuff but we got some ignorant folks runnin’ around out there.

Something I hadn’t noticed until then was they’re all white people. I don’t recall many non-white faces in the Tea Party clips I saw.

Mornin’, pups.

Reminds me of when flag burning was a “burning” issue and they’d find some genius vet to explain to them that freedom is not free and their buddies died for that flag.

Here’s my take. THEY are really stupid racists in their opposition to Obama and we , here at the lake, are really brilliant egalitarians who oppose Obama because WE know how to do things the correct way.

Noonan, Will, Roberts, Donaldson. What a crew. Donaldson was the only one who made the slightest bit of sense. Will and Noonan are so stuck in their ideology that reality is a huge inconvenience.

Mornin’, Dragon -

Watched two of those tea bag parties from a distance in small western NC towns last week. I’d be willing to bet almost any sum of money that the entire concept is nothing more than an covert racism protest. They can’t quite get away with screaming the “n” word in this day and time but there are plenty of ways of attracting the brain impaired community and the t.b. parties filled that purpose quite easily.

you don’t think there would be any protests if bill clinton (a white guy) or hillary clinton (a white woman) were president now? i do.

my take is that there is a primarily white demographic which is pissed off about diminishing economic opportunity and that is the fertile ground in which economic nationalism, anti-immigrant scapegoating and racism will grow and even flourish – unless alternatives are offered.

Because our grandkids are gonna hafta pay for the bailouts.

that part i agree with.

Being in the area of the biggest Confederate battle flag flying in the country and seeing how non-whites are treated by the PTB here I don’t doubt there’s a lot of inherent racism in the area but I’m hesitant to use that label with individuals who gave me no concrete cause to do so. The mix Sat was about 2-1 women and they were the more vocal but their reasoning was extremely flawed. It was obvious they get their info from Faux and other corporate media. Nor were they willing to accept any info different from what they’d seen or heard. Very closed minded.

Felt kinda weird in the turn around. I’m used to angry people coming up to me and calling me names at peace vigils and such. To be the approachee was a switch. I did expect some anger from them but it stayed below the surface. There were some young children with them but most were in their 40s and 50s.

Yep. Everybody’s grandkids are gonna have to pay for all this shit. My frustration comes from their cherry-picking the issues to fit some isolated agenda.

have you seen this ?

Florida’s Largest Bank Fails

Office of Thrift Supervision was the regulation dodge of choice (thanks Mr Paulson, really . . . ) imagine how putrid their sh* must be to be cited by OTS -

If there is a dime that is not paid back then there should be taxes levied on the banks that are out the wazoo. Additionally I think that any salaries or other remuneration paid over $500K should not be a tax deduction for any company.

Racism is rooted in fear and that’s what these people are, afraid.

i agree. in 2002 or 2003 i did lots of leafleting (from the weekly vigil) on the cost of war and what the money could have been used for instead. none of that had the resonance that today’s bailouts seem to.

don’t really know why, but 2 possibilities that come to mind are: 1) people are worried about their own economic situation now, much more than they were in 2003. 2) the anti-arab, anti-muslim bashing worked. there is a lot of bigotry and conflation of muslim and/or arab with terrorism here (among Ds in a liberal state).

Hopefully, only the rich grandkids will pay.

no, no, no.

anyone who criticizes obama must be racist.

just like anyone who criticizes the israeli gov must be anti-semitic.

edit to add: should have included a snark tag just in case.

And, what is the root of egalitarian thought?
I mean, in your humble opinion? *g*

There’s probably not a lot of difference between the tea bag groups and the crowds Huey Long, on one hand, and Father Coughlin,on the other, were able to attract during the Great Depression. It seems to me like a waste of time trying to find a central theme in the inchoate ramblings of disgruntled, dissatisfied groups of white people carrying anti-government and anti-Obama insults around near the Confederate statue on the courthouse lawn.

you don’t think there would be any protests if bill clinton (a white guy) or hillary clinton (a white woman) were president now? i do.

No quarrel with that comment. All the thugs are good for anymore is protest, protest, and more protest….against *anything* that differs in the very slightest from their world view.

magic mushrooms

Re: teabaggers & racism. I noticed in the short time I spent at the Manhattan demonstration that ACORN was a real villian.

No wonder the little weasel director of OTS we saw at the hearing resigned. Here’s a guy who oughtta go to the slammer.

Truer words were never spoken.

I was going to say loneliness, but I like your answer better.

Thanks to the unhinged right wing of America lots of people hate President Obama and think by doing so makes them feel all tough and shit and popular. See?

And those on the unhinged left?

fairy dust

not just Rs, independents too (for example, there was a sign at the local tea party in support of bernie sander’s bill to audit the fed).

that’s why i think that while the protests were probably not primarily rooted in racism for many of the attendees – racism (along with economic nationalism and anti-immigrant scapegoating) is what we might see grow out of this kind of protest should it continue.

also, probably different in different parts of the country.

Hell, my hinges became unhinged years ago. Just another radical floating around in a sea of apathy with occasional stops in harsh reality.

Again, a better answer. Don’t know why I was so mean. It’s nearly 80 this morning, with mild winds and I awoke to a house that smells sweetly of Pink and Carolina Jasmin from the yard. Intoxicating.

You’re killin me bro.

Christy is callin!

racism (along with economic nationalism and anti-immigrant scapegoating) is what we can expect to grow out of this kind of protest should it continue.

I think you’re right, particularly with outlets like Faux stoking the flames.

Off to give Gigi her med then off to the great capitalist cesspool. I’m gonna be on time to work one of these years.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

i left you a couple of songs at your diary.

Thanks, hon. I can’t play utubes on this ‘puter, but will play them on the mister’s when I have access.
Hey! He just told me he’d play them for me now. A little Pete on a Monday morning is a good way to start the week.

Good Morning BT and Pups.

Since I’m already EPU’d, I’ll get right to the point for a change.

A quote from the link at “the Obama Doctrine, in a nutshell” jumped out at me right at the top of the piece:

President Obama has an ability to issue coherent, Op-Ed-length answers during press conferences that is currently unmatched on the American political stage.

If President Obama is widely recognized as incredibly gifted at “issuing coherent, Op-Ed-length answers during press conferences” — in other words, on the fly, without prior warning and notes etc., can folks please stop claiming he’s less than what he should be as President, simply because he chooses to use teleprompters while giving major speeches???!

I personally think he’s very wise to use them, since so many attentive critics are always standing by like hyenas, ready to pounce on the slightest gaffe and turn it into a scandal worthy of attack.

I personally am relieved, at long last, to have a coherent, multi-gifted President at the helm.

/r (which wasn’t directed at FDL pups in the 1st place)

Thank you for these updates, BT. They quickly became, and remain, my favorite “must-read” every morning. ;->

Okay, listened. Very nice! Uplifting ditties!

I love your sensibilities and kindness, much needed in the current atmosphere. Thanks.

i agree that there is absolutely nothing to complain about obama using a teleprompter.

Back atcha! Sticking to the issues at hand is not a life-threatening fault, at least last time I checked.

I’m against it too because spending that much money requires us to cut down more trees and without trees to absorb all the CO2 in the air we might all suffocate. Oh yeah, and cause Bush is an idjit and I’d hate to have to clean up his messes by paying for them and if we don’t solve the current economic crisis then there won’t be an economy and there won’t be any money to pay down the debts and then I won’t feel guilty about not paying them off.

Yeah, I’m against stupid crap and that’s been mostly coming from Republicans lately.