they are part of the corp controlled media

while the americans sleep corp fascism takes control

the trickle down is trickling up

this is a natural outcome of capitalism

just as the iraq war was and is a natual outcome of unchecked capitalism

americans have be conditioned to believe capitalism is american as apple pie

if you dont believe in capitalism you are unamerican

michael moore may be wrong americans have yet to give up their love affair with capitalism

they are too busy blaming individuals to see a capitalist system do its thing

create a society of haves and have nots

we are way down that rabbit hole of that society

now all you capitalist open up your checkbooks for the war for profits in iraq after all we do want to remain a super power ie national ego thing

dennis was right it is coming soon that all america makes is war and war materials and even many war materials will be farmed out to the lowest bidder

here is how dumbed down americans are lining the streets to fight a univesal health plan when they pay twice as much and ranked last.

and they are playing right into the hands of the corporations that charge them twice as much

rome all over again

me I am against a gov controlled or run health care system my medicare is fine for me

hope the chinese keep the money flowing and my local wal mart stays open and fox news stays on the air and my two repub senators stay in office

they are true americans that love their country and want to invade iran. god bless them for that. true patroits

we have a right to invade any country we want we are americans.

I am just your average american

capitalism forever baby jesus was a capitalist that is why he said give unto rome what is romes he understood capitalism the very best

it is good that only a few of us are rich god designed it that way

so what if we are ranked last in health care in the world my medicare is doing me just fine

am i my brothers keeper?

are we to take care of the sick and needy?

signed
a christian and proud of it

Can someone get this article over to MSNBC (David Shuster or Ed Schultz)?

We have to show America that the protesters are nothing more than republican hacks.

Sarcasm? Please a yes or no. It’s early.

Both Keith and Rachael covered it as such last night.

Part of what the hooligan strategy is to try to blend in to masses. I think that this is very dishonest, but par for the course. I have a suggestion for people who would want to show support for the cause, but don’t necessarily want to get into a juvenile shouting match with the thuggery.

We should go to these town hall meetings wearing signs that say simply “reform healthcare.” Simple, effective, to the point, and no shouting required. Just visually show your support for reforming healthcare.

Consider this United Way flashmob: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOSBpsQp1FI

Now imagine that those t-shirts read “reform healthcare”. How many of us would it take to be a counterweight to the rabid wingnuttia? How many would it take to get on tv? Apparently only 10. We could pull that off. I think.

Who gives a shit if someone is a “christian and proud of it”?

Heh, well I’m a Baha’i and proud of it…! Curmudgeonly as always eh, Raven…? ;-)

Aw shucks, I mean it just is so annoying when it has nothing to do with anything.

I agree with ya… How’s the Peach State doing these days… Hot and sultry…?

And dry. . .you still building?

BTW, have you read Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich? The worst people she encounters as waitress are the “visible christians”.

You may have to explain, using small words, what sarcasm is.

Oh my, Mornin Joe and Pat think this post is baloney! Them are real mericans out there and they are mad!

Good morning, pups. It’s Herbert, solo, in the NYT today. Oh, frabjous day! Bobo is off! Life is good… Mr. Herbert, in “Innocence Is No Defense,” says the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. was the latest in a series of incidents that have left members of the Harvard community feeling unfairly targeted and humiliated because of their race.

Here he is.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got Thomas’ English muffins that just came out of the toaster. I’m sure you’ll find your favorite jam on the counter over there. We had another long, drenching rain storm again yesterday evening. I’m going to have to consider getting water wings for everything in the garden soon… Have a great day.

Sure am… I’ve been slowed up(financially), but, I’ve got my driveway and housepad cleared and starting on the forms for the foundation…

Cool!

Frickin Mornin Joe using REM as a bumper after his rant! I emailed some REM folks bout dat!

*sigh* I miss my MSNBC… Especially when I missed this…

*Aargh* They’re having software issues and they’re calling it a night… 6 hours early… Oh well, less pay… I bid ya’ll a fond adieu from the top of Mauna Kea…!

…And Sarah Palin is a great American.
Amen.

Good Morning everyone.

There’s a report at HuffPo saying that Sebellius’s town hall meeting was disrupted by hecklers. This remind anyone of the Brooks Brothers riot?

Keef or Rachel one did a segment last night that included a clip from that particular t.h. Total insanity! :-(

It was Rachel — she had film of about 4 or 5 different town halls, and said she could have filled the entire show with them. If you can find it on the toobz it’s worth watching. She also clearly made the case for it all being astroturf.

It just amazes me how much better the repubs are at politics than the dems. If they start screening (which GWB did routinely) there will be outrage. What’s the answer?

I’ll bet if they interviewed the Town Hall brownshirts they’d find many of them unemployed and uninsured.

Well I’m a Christian, but IIRC “pride” is one of the seven deadly sins. So I wouldn’t say I’m “proud” of it.

Or of an age to be collecting Social Security and Medicare… Damn socialist gummint…

What you just said. Twice!

The FBI has this information about the organized right wing Brooks Brothers disorderly conduct thug groups ala Ferdinand Marcos supporters.

I suggest people sign these petitions at

http://bit.ly/single_payer_ross and http://bit.ly/HR676

the first demanding Mike Ross getting his entire conservative coalition to get HR 676 enacted into law or his friends at Tyson Foods will lose a lot of business and therefore money.

If progressives really want health care they can do the following. United Health care appears one of the biggest health insurance companies and partners with the traitorous AARP that helped set up the middle class killing Medicare Part D that did not help them. Tyson Foods appears a company that operates out of Arkansas and gave money to Blue Dog Democrat leader Mike Ross.

Every progressive should call United Health Care Corp. and Tyson Foods and say firmly but politely

I REFUSE TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU UNTIL YOU GET YOUR CEO TO SPEAK TO JOHN BOEHNER AND MIKE ROSS TO GET HR 676 SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE ENACTED INTO LAW.

THESE 2 big companies cannot afford to lose 30 percent of their customer base so they will have to call Boehner and Ross and do something.

It’s a lot easier when you have the complicity of the media. As shown in the post, we can have millions demonstrating in the streets and it gets basically ignored by the MSM, but Repubs just need to cram a few staffers in a room and it gets covered as a groundswell of grassroots anger.

I think all protests on the left from now on should be around the TV network studios. If they have to wade through the millions, maybe they’ll find it harder to ignore.

I am so shocked that Congresspeople are for sale and we can’t come up with the asking price.

As for the screaming matches, watch out for escalation. The reason these clowns show up is to shut down the conversation. Watch out when the screams aren’t enough.

Except, I already don’t do business with either of those companies.

Frankly calling something astro turf is not getting through to the people it needs to get through to.

Call it what it is. Repukes are sending staffers to disrupt town hall meetings. They are NOT local constituents but operatives of dirty tricks. Donaldo Segretti lives.

The AARP is a ponzi scheme… isn’t it?

Silently boycotting these companies will not help get health care enacted. You have to contact everyone through the petition or through phone calls and bring it to their attention so you combined with other people will apply economic pressure on the friends to KLANSERVATIVES.

We need to make sure we get to our congress people in as big or bigger numbers than the lunatic fringe. I don’t care if they’re progressive, blue dog or Repugnant. Insurance companies are going to be carpet bombing the airwaves, so we need to be a visible presence at all meetings.

Obama’s going to be really close to me tomorrow. It’s an invite-only event, but I wonder if we can find a way to have a visible presence outside the venue in support of health care reform.

The FBI knows about this plan to disrupt town halls. They will help deal with it.

Why do you say that?

You think? I would be amazed if conspiracy to commit… disorderly conduct was charged. Sgt Crowley calling Sgt Crowley.

Seeing is believing.

She made that very clear, named names of who was planning and organizing it. Watch it on the toobz and see for yourself. (Can’t do a linky for you from work — video impaired, and most sites offering such are blocked by cybernanny.)

It’s worse than that…AARP is a Republican insurance company, only!

I saw the show, but the info needs to be sent to Sgt Crowley and his buds for enforcement action. Rachel’s rants may not be enough.

Trust me. The FBI knows about the Freedumbworks and Americans for Prosperity(?) planned organized Republithug shutdown of Democratic representatives and Senators town halls in August.

They will deal with the organized thugs who will attempt to shut down these town halls by shouting out also known as disorderly conduct.

This appears as obstruction of government business.

this wouldn’t actually be such a fight if the democratic party and the leadership were on our side.

but since they’re incoherent, it’s all in the air.
dom’t blame the wingnuts for doing what they do best: blame the Democrats for not really believing in what they’re selling.

capitalism would work fine if the government forced everyone to pay their own bills, but there’s the rub, once big government pays it’s own bills it looks like socialism

for instance most business rely on some educated staff, those people are almost always public educated, the business should pay for that education if they were paying their own bills, for instance if a company needed the roads for people to get to their building then they should pay for those roads, not me through gas usage tax

the same thing with water to their building and the same thing with cleaning the crap they dump in my kids air and water

it really is all about paying the expenses you cause when you are a business, if we can get them to do just that we actually will have a socially just country with programs that benefit everyone.

but corporations and big business have been allowed to defer the costs they incur and then we are sold a bill of propaganda claiming that when we force them to pay their own bills it’s “socialism”

it’s all about how the discussion is framed and the democrats still don’t get it

when a neo-con promotes a flat tax a democrat can EASILY agree with them and say “of COURSE their should be a flat tax, when we consider ALL taxes not just income tax, and if we have a flat tax where there are no usage tax, local tax, sales tax but total tax by percentage of income you’ll see the neo-cons BEG for a progressive tax…and be HAPPY with it too

it’s all about using their flash words as arguments against their own points

Yes AARP turned into a Republiklan insurance company in the 1990’s. I would not join them and recommend noone join AARP.

Read my blog http://blog.democratz.org

I’d believe you when I see some perp walks and subpoenas issued to these thugs AND the ones who put them up to it, AND the ones who are funding them.

Ahhh yes, I remember us being called unpatriotic for protesting against the Bush Regime. Now look! The lazy hateful Americans have gotten off their K-Mart couches and are protesting the liberals who want to reform health care, because Glenn Beck through the corporate lobbyists is brainwashing these morons to protest against their own needs!

Idiots.

Imbeciles.

Stupid.

Think they’re getting cash under the table for their brownshirt activities?

Unfortunately, Sgt. Crowley and buds would prolly just brush it off by saying “what do you expect a librul queer to say?” The information has to be compiled, in small one-syllable words, and presented by a sweet little granny. THEN she can smack them upside the head with a cast iron skillet…

Professor Perris tells it like it is as usual. Can I audit his class for free?

Eventually, the Glenn Beck morons will be shouting at the town halls, “We want to pay for mail delivery! No taxes for the corporations!”!

Idiots.

Imbeciles.

Stupid.

You can’t tell? Read post 1.

miss you!

all good?

Happy Birthday, President O!

I think there are plenty of very dumb right wing ideologues – idiotlogues, some of whom are in it for the cash and some of them are too dumb to get paid for their protestin.

Good Morning, So great…NPR coverage about health care and rally outside Cornyn’s Dallas office. First, someone says we don’t need no change, we’ve got health care, don’t need no gov….yeah yeah yeah. Then the news that TX has greatest # of uninsured. Informed?

The usual Prof P, little work, lots of rain, not enough sailin.

It’s the “FYIGM” mentality. (F**k you, I’ve got mine.)

lots of rain, I wonder if this means a brutal winter ahead

The republicans are reputed to have turned on el Nino again because they want to kill any enviro legislation.

With el nino back the weather will be different.

El Niño is associated with floods, droughts and is linked to other weather disturbances in many locations around the world. El Niño’s effects in the Atlantic Ocean lag behind those in the Pacific by 12 to 18 months. Developing countries dependent upon agricultural and fishing are especially affected.

Sorry. It was 4:30 am and the coffee machine stopped working after it brewed about 3 tablespoons worth.

Hitler got his start mobilizing the brownshirts. Since the neocons are Nazi worshippers, there is no doubt they carefully studied Hitler’s tactics. Knowing a little history might help the rest of us prepare a defense.

GOP = Got.Ours. Pissoff.

back on topic, it’s really disgusting, depressing and bordering on criminal how the media covers political demonstrations such as the many against the wars during the W era. Having attended many there were some very informed speakers, non of which was ever interviewed. Never was the substance of the grievances of millions discussed, let alone an accurate depiction of their numbers.

While we have the right to protest, the media is doing its best to make sure those protests are not seen by anyone except those who are present at them and that is like not having the right to protest at all, ain’t it?

And it is so demoralizing. I think they count on that.

Caller on WJ said that even Rachel did not cover the pro-medical care reform rallies.

TPM has it nailed. In a nutshell, where is our side?

I just found out on WJ that Adm Joe Sestak will challenge Arlen Spector for the senate. Very good.

People can see what people who watch WJ say on twitter by looking at this url

http://www.tweetgrid.com/search?q=cspanwj

Read my blog http://blog.democratz.org

The only real question about these disruptive actions is whether they are effective, and it would seem from initial reports that they are.

Certainly the Brooks Brothers Riot in Florida in 2000 was effective, wasn’t it?

History was changed. And we’re still living with the consequences.

How is it that a bunch of hopped up wingnut protestor/demonstrators — whatever their point of origin — can push their agenda, even change history, by making their physical presence known and relentlessly insisting that they be heard and accommodated, whereas incessant calling, emailing and faxing DC offices and occasional personal pleadings by insiders, together with peaceful marches and rallies by lefty sorts is almost always ignored, dismissed, or literally laughed at?

Is it because there is an implicit threat of mob action on the part of the wingnuts if they don’t get their way? And there’s no consequential threat at all if the calls and emails and peaceful rallies are ignored or laughed at?

Or is it even simpler: the very act of disrupting the comfort and convenience of the High and the Mighty, rather than attempting to passively persuade them, might be the key to effective action — and anybody can do it?

Obama was a stealth candidate, and he planned it that way, knowing that he would be crucified by the press were his essential liberalism to get out. They would do to him what they did to John Edwards (before his unfortunate meltdown). Now that Obama has come out of the closet as an honest-to-god FDR type liberal, they are going all guns. None of this is new. It is exactly what the thugs did in the Thirties, but failed owing to the depth of the Depression and FDR’s incomparable political skills.

The Corporacracy is trying to undo the election, just as they did to Clinton after 1996. What a country! You gotta love it.

Hoping Ed Schultz is all over this story today.

I’m just having my java juice now. I raise a mug to Obama, wishing him a very happy birtherday!

The question is how progressive is Obama? He’s still a but dodgy. I think some progressives want to believe he has to take the stealth approach and this makes sense. You can come out swinging at the establishment and get very far.

On the other hand once you’ve gotten far how much control does the establishment still have? It seems considerable almost like an invisible government, a shadow government and what’s the mechanism to get past that?

If you note it, you sound like a crack pot conspiracy nut. If you ignore it they seem to get their way on issues such as war, finance/economy, taxes, health care, the environment/energy and so forth.

I thought the financial meltdown would be the only opportunity to make serious changes. Looks like they didn’t let that happen at least not yet.

To suggest Obama is a liberal is a bit overboard and his political skills are a mere shadow of those of FDR. FDR was not affraid to shake and rattle the ruling elite. He wasn’t affraid of being partisan. Obama’s fetishistic devotion of bipartanship and consensus is not what was called for at this point in U.S. history. Bold vision, unwavering fortitued and the willingness to lead are what is needed. Charisma alone is no substitute for these qualities.

Obama is up against a well entrenched power structure with tentacles on everything. He is the first black president in a non post racial – racist religious whacko country. Very different climate.

Todays brownshirts are clad in plaid and polyester.

“Now that Obama has come out of the closet as an honest-to-god FDR type liberal”

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!

holy shit, you CANNOT be serious. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

Seriously, do you think FDR would be letting a turd like Rahm Emmanuel destroy his big priorities? HAHAHA, no.

Obama is ALREADY reducing expectations for health care, as posted several times here at FDL: in fact, as jane pointed out yesterday, eh’s already conflating “the public option” with conrad’s toothless co-ops. That’s not FDR. In fact, Obama too single payer off the table before the debate even began. THAT’S not FDR either.

Also, Obama has been reluctant to impose regulations on the financial industry that destroyed the economy. That’s not FDR either.

“Now that Obama has come out of the closet as an honest-to-god FDR type liberal”: hey can i have some of what you’re smoking? cus that shit’s gotta be so primo it turns your eyes red just looking at it.

Would the corporate media report if “our” side were out in mass? I think it’s past time for demonstrating. Where is the call to hit the streets from the unions, the progressive blogs, church groups, the Nation, Mother Jones etc. etc.? Code Pink can’t do it alone.

More info on the last townhall disruption in Green Bay. Obama and the Dems have been outflanked by the birthers, wingnuts, teabaggers etc..
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

The Mennonite church has put out the call.

Just FYI.

Marches in the street were usually led by groups unconnected with the two major parties. Often minor parties such as SWP or CPUSA, legatees of the old left, were the organizing groups. But most were led by groups organized around a major cause such as civil rights, e.g., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The major parties are of the establishment and therefore do not engage in the “street uprisings” of the people.

The answer to these thuggish, paid for by fascists, is clear. This is disorderly conduct, at the least, and should be treated as such, with police removals, like Baucus did with the (not so disorderly) doctors who cam to his committee to protest for single payer.

The question is if Obama has the backbone to do what is obviously needed here. If he doesn’t, he may as well resign his presidency immediately; as he will have lost all the gravitas and dignitas of the office he was elected to.

The same goes for the forged “birth certificate” Orly Tait is parading around.

Goodness. This is so depressing I’m amazed we haven’t given up yet. I mean, we’re pressed on all sides by all kinds of shit. I’m new to the progressive movement- was once a conservative, quit because Christianity and “[Edited by Moderators]” conservatism don’t actually go all that well together- and I just have to say: I admire you people. You keep on fighting when it looks worse than I’d ever imagined it could be.

[Mod Note: Please refrain from racial/sexual slurs, even if used for examples of others actions. Thank you]