So why should Schiller have to lose his job over simply stating facts?

Because the facts are inconvenient to the rulers of this country.

What blows me away is that time after time people fold like cheap lawn furniture when these highly edited, dishonest videos are released. How many times and in how many ways does a source have to be discredited before people stop reacting in an over the top manner and just ignore them?

Truth is NO defense!

NPR fails, again. Wonderful.

n+1.

Cowardice.

There really is such a thing as “political correctness”. Liberals are sensitive to it. Conservatives flaunt it as a badge of honor.

This was a sting operation to get someone at an organization to say what they really thought on tape. The “prank call” to Gov. Walker was also a sting. In both cases, the mark said what he thought. What’s the difference? The Walker sting was a major government official admitting to either crimes and corruption or just short of it, and he should have resigned and perhaps been prosecuted. This was an employee stating verifiabley true, but impolite things about conservatives, and an apology should have been more than enough.

So, the difference is cowardice on the part of NPR, and the fact that conservatives just don’t give a rip.

Maybe the thing that really cost him his job was the “admission” that NPR would be better off without federal funding.

I’m guessing that didn’t go over well with many.

Conservatives flaunt it as a badge of honor.

Yet they use it as a shield. They like to pretend that they deplore political correctness but let one be accused of racism or lying and then it’s batten down the hatches and Mary bar the door! That just won’t stand!

Having undergone a fair amount of bullying when I was young (There was nothing obvious for the bullies to pick on, I was just kinda weird) I can assure NPR that frantically tossing people over the side isn’t gonna help them even a teensy-tiny bit. Tossing out someone who seriously and genuinely misbehaved, like that idiot at Planned Parenthood who dissed the bosses, is perfectly fine and an appropriate way to respond.
But to toss someone out merely because they spoke the inconvenient truth strikes me as very, very foolish. That kind of thing just signals weakness. And bullies get excited at signs of weakness. They’re like sharks smelling blood in the water. They’ll redouble their attacks.

“Schiller have to lose his job over simply stating facts? ”
Yes!

Because the Corporate control media of the USA does not like the facts.

for example
300 tea party protest whatever, Every Corporate Media outlet in the USA covers it

100,000 Americans protest the Wars in NYC no Corporate Media covers this.

Charlie sheen goes crazy, every corporate media outlet in the USA covers it,

thousands protest in Wisconsin, furious at Gov. Walker attack on Unions and the Middle Class, not much media here

Schiller and Keith Obermann both learned that the Corporate Media Universe does not tolerate the Truth.

Did you hear this on network news? NO
The United Nations says that the global price of food hit an all-time record high in December, and the price of oil is surging towards $100 a barrel, but the U.S. government continues to insist that we barely have any inflation at all.

How is the Jobless recovery helping the unemployed?

Maybe the thing that really cost him his job was the “admission” that NPR would be better off without federal funding.

It’s the only way NPR can be as truly fair and balanced as Faux Newz.

calling out racism worse than the racism itself, just like Manning being in jail for calling out war crimes while war criminals publish books

how effed are we ?!?!

Yep< stopped listening yrs ago and this shows how much the are owned by the elite and not the little people that give them money.

It’s a topsy turvy universe we’ve entered alright.

Yep, that sums it up about as well as it can be summed up.

We are sooooo effed.

This country needs an enima!! (to paraphrase Jack Nickolson’s character The Joker)

For me, it’s gotten to the point where American politics is spectacularly boring and thoroughly terrifying at the same time.

So James O’Keefe has another scalp.

Someone needs to videotape this little twit with whatever skeletons he has stuffed into his closet. It still irritates me that he wasn’t thrown in the pen when the Feds had the chance to do it.

What is truly appalling is NPR’s response to all this. Since when is telling the truth objectionable?

spectacularly boring and thoroughly terrifying at the same time.

So when you add those two realities together and then divide by two, what’s the answer?

By the way, back to another of BT’s excellent points.

I wonder how long it would’ve taken MSNBC or any major network for that matter, to fire someone that said on the air that W was a racist and hated black people during his presidency. Yet Beckerhead not only stays, his ratings (and presumably salary) goes up.

If this were truly a just country, proven lies would be pushed off the airwaves and bullshit not tolerated. Which of course means the right wing would forever be off the air. Not a problem IMO.

EDIT: Now I know some rapper or someone DID say such a thing, but that’s not the same as a host of a TV show on a “major” television network.

Wisconsin repubs would pass a law to make it a crime over the phone to bait Governor Walker into giving payback for a bribe from the Koch brother crime machine. When the don rings you up, gotta know he’s the real thing before sucking up.

OTOH, if a progressive reveals the truth, gotta fire his ass or lock him up a la Bradley Manning.

The lie is the thing in corporate America — just read a quarterly report packed with unreliable “forward looking statements”! Or ask a CEO how the company is doing: t’s all about the art of lying. Need a mortgage backed security rated AAA? Not a problem (send check to ___________).

The fact that KO was pushed out but Beck is a celebrated TV and radio host, author, and University owner(?!?!) says it all. Our media now is about perpetuating the lies, not sharing information.

Lester Maddox would have his own tv show, Bull Connor would be his side man

A perfect opportunity to push back in a very aggressive way, and what do they do? Cave, of course. This obviously opens the door for the very diseased Eric Cantor to run his mouth.

Does Eric Cantor have a major creep vibe going on, or am I missing something?

NPR fails, again. Wonderful.

Who’d of thunk it?

Just had to laugh at that. Very unsightly!

Totally creeple…fixed smile grimace.

University owner, huh.

What a fucking asshole that lunatic is. What assholes those that PAY HIM must be. I’ll give a pass to the ones that watch the asshole. Sometimes people, through no fault of their own (too busy, just not that bright, etc.) can get caught up in bullshit. But Beckerhead and those that enable him are real assholes.

spectacularly boring and thoroughly terrifying at the same time.

So when you add those two realities together and then divide by two, what’s the answer?

Lolzers, I can think of more than one answer:

Canada
past the threshold of pain
sleepy terror
and, of course, 42

HAHA. You contradict yourself. You claim that Christians are fundamentalist which means they take the bible literally. But then you claim that they are islamophobic. But the same argument about Christians being fundamentalist applies to Islam which is by definition a fundamentalist religion. They take the Koran as the literal word of God. There are nearly 109 violent versus in the Koran. So they way i see it they are only being logical in being scarred of a violent religion that is currently oppressive to women and homosexuals.

Where did that troll basher get off to?

Thanks for the post BT.

totally ot but ,im a nutritionist,was curious what condition,turmeric helped you with?

No kidding. Ian Murphy got more flak from the “respectable” types for his unedited phone call to Scott Walker than James O’Keefe ever will.

Just how many violent and oppresive to women and homosexual “verses” are there in the King James Bible?

According to the cited article, Vivian Schiller resigned as NPR’s CEO, Ron Schiller – no relation – was an external fundraiser who made the comments NPR’s board and Teabaggers found offensive.

That makes it worse. NPR’s board is gutless, as is PBS’s. There’s a lot less “public” in both their business models than ever. The First Amendment applies to Fox and Beck and Limbaugh and O’Really? and Hannity, ad nauseum, but not to outsourced vendors or sitting executives who have the same name.

The NPR board’s pretext for its conclusion that Vivian had lost its confidence, no doubt, relates to her or her staff’s choice of an individual fundraiser, who made those comments, apparently in a private gathering. If that standard were applied throughout Washington’s social circles, we’d see hundreds of firings every day and double that on Sundays. (The only city where Saturday night and Sunday morning are farther apart is Dallas.)

As you say, the comments were factually correct, but politically unpalatable to a milquetoast board in constant fear of radicals on the Hill. Like Obama, it doesn’t like to fight for what it claims to believe in. The radical right now seems to be getting the same free pass from the press that Bush did in 2000 against Gore. The left, even the mild left of “center”, wherever Washington falsely deems that now to be, routinely gets the same treatment Gore did: whatever it says must be false, questionable or self-serving because it critiques the right. Sounds fair and balanced to me.

NPR’s coverage was already questionable for its establishment views. That’s likely to get much worse as this message from NPR’s board, pour encourager les autres, will have been heard loud and clear by the troops. One small step backward for truth in reporting, one giant leap forward for the radical right.

Just one spelling bee for all the marbles. Please!

So I go out and run a few errands and miss the thread where the troll gets voted off the island. Damn.

Was it Rafe? Please tell me it was…please?

Saw this guy in person recently. Good stuff. You all may like to check it out:

http://www.timwise.org/tag/tea-party/

that is why ,this is a clown motivated society……but the funny is missing

I miss Rafe today :( He’s my sunshine.

James O’Keefe has another scalp.

He should still be in prison and would be without his Republican sugar daddies.

bluenote2, I believe. It was an interesting convo.

Well, well, well……MeggieK of Faux Noise Hate has been pumping up LIES about the White House being involved in the recall of the Wisconsin Fascists. Scott Fitzgerald LIES and MeggieK catches him – does not call him a liar, changes subject.

Write Kelly@foxnews.com and ask her why she SHILLS headlines of LIES and then lets LIARS OFF when caught.

I am soooo retweeting that !

with attrib of course :D

begs the question…who is
NPR’s board

David and Charlie Koch….Bechtel,lets see who else gives em teh bread?

I don’t see the logic. The violence in the Christian bible is extensive – as are prohibitions on things we do that would have offended Middle Eastern peasants and aristocrats 2-3000 years ago – yet it claims to be a religion of peace. Jews and Muslims, among others, have long been victimized by its practices; Christian Europe’s religious wars killed more than be counted.

You’ve read the Old Testament right? Try evilbible.com for some research. Islam has no monopoly on the promotion of shocking violence in its “holy texts”. The largely shared Christian and Jewish texts can match them stoning and burning alive for stoning and burning alive.

Ron Shiller is a hero.

And this stunt is all about Walker. This was an attempt to swing the dialogue away from the Walker-Koch staged phone call.

The difference…Shiller is pretty much on target with his comments.

Thanks. Really hate that I missed the magical “poof” moment.

Watching that elitist NPR snob make an ass of himself was a hoot to watch. The depth and breadth of liberal elitist snobbery and ignorance regarding average Americans is breathtaking.

lets not forget the CRUSADES

Did you read BTs post? Or click any of the links?

The ignorance and racism of the average American Tea Partier is breathtaking.

and why in bloody hell is Ian Murphy a “prankster”, but O Keefe is an “activist” ??

Because Ian Murphy isn’t a Koch-sucker.

I’m betting you’re missing out a lot of good stuff on Fox News right now.

Very, very sore muscles and joints due to a condition that left me unable to walk, so I had to relearn from scratch. 1/2 tsp ground turmeric, pinch of cardamon, ground black pepper, ghee or butter to smooth it out…mixed in milk and heat until almost, but not, boiling. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory and analgesic. I can’t take other medications…this stuff if unbelievably effective. One hour later…ahhhhhh. It has so incredibly many benefits…miracle spice.

Ronald Schiller : “While the meeting I participated in turned out to be a ruse, I made statements during the course of the meeting that are counter to NPR’s values and also not reflective of my own beliefs. I offer my sincere apology to those I offended.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/us/09npr.html

His statements were not reflective of his own beliefs? Maybe he was fired for lying then?

I believe they’re currently showing “Fair and Balanced News” *scoff* as read by (Insert Blond Bimbo).

FWIW, the Qur’an also uses what Christians call the Old Testament. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all are considered “Abrahamic religions“

NPR

Just one more opportunity to save some government chedder. That fact the the federal government puts any cash into running this joke of an organization should be insulting to every taxpayer.

When I see Cantor, I think, “Lock up the children and pets…” Major creep vibe I get off the dude. I see Boehner as an orange, drunken buffoon, but Cantor? Ech…

Note to Moderator: You might want to change this post’s title.

Here’s why: The “offending” comments were by an outsourced NPR fundraiser, Ron Schiller. His namesake, Vivian Schiller – no relation – was the NPR executive who resigned because NPR’s board had “lost confidence in her ability to lead the organization.”

Like KrisAinCA said ~ it was like looking into a black hole!

It should at *least* be the other way around. I don’t get it either. I thought O’Keefe would at least disappear … not become a serial offender and NEVER get in trouble …

While I find it disappointing that NPR and the left in general has found yet another excuse to revel in spinelessness, I think perhaps this event may in the long run be helpful.

What the U.S. and the world need are news sources that are brave.

And NPR has been many things, but brave has rarely been one of them.

To the extent that this hastens the demise of the faux-liberal NPR, so that it might be replaced by something that actually *does* represent brave independence (and yet can also speak in conceptual utterances longer than 140 characters), then I’ll say thank you James O’Keefe.

Let’s hope that Obama soon follows NPR.

Maybe the only thing more breathtaking is the willful ignorance, lying, selfishness, truly mean spiritness, and over the top anti-American sentiments of the conservative right in this country.

Yes, creepy.

Scott Fitzgerald was just flat-out LYING – it turns out the “person” may or may not be a MoveOn member who supported POTUS in 2008 – yeppers, that is MeggieK’s “evidence”. Such a legal scholar. Such a fucking nasty (Edited by Moderator: As you may or may not know/remember, namecalling is out here, especially the term you used in reference to women.)

NPR sucks anyway.

For Sadly:

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html

Or the fact that a taxpayer funded project is grossly abused and manipulated by outside influences could also suggest it needs to be overhauled. Not destroyed. Just a thought.

Define: “liberal elitist snobbery.”

I feel exactly the same way when I’m sniffing airplane glue. heh…

Maybe it has something to do with driving a Prius or paying taxes. I dunno.

I’ve often thought it would make a good master’s thesis in religion to do a count in the OT, NT, Koran of violent sentences, take each as a % of the total. Discussion would certainly involve the ranking. But could also involve the nature of the violence.

I find that Xtianists refer to OT more often than NT.

Define: “liberal elitist snobbery.”

Adjective: describing ANYONE that doesn’t buy into right wing rhetoric, hook, line, and sinker.

Too bad I missed it.

From the looks of this thread it seems that if you get rid of one troll, several more appear. Makes whack-a-mole seem doable.

NPR/PBS Board are pathetic in the extreme. Everyone here has covered the main bases, but to recap:

1. Scott Walker is busted on tape not only kowtowing to (Walker believes) David Koch, but full-on admitting that he’d salt the protests with provocatuers. And what? As an elected official, Walker gets a complete pass; there are NO consequences whatsoever for his egregious behavior. None. The only “consequence” is a lot of fascist media talking heads shrieking and screaming about how “terrible” it was for Walker to be so easily pwnd. So, per usual, we’re in IOKIYAR territory.

2. Ron Shiller, a fundraiser for NPR/PBS, tells an inconvenient TRUTH (that is is easily proven) while being pwnd by lying spoogebucket James O’Keefe, a well-known lying fabulist. And what happens? Not only is Ron Shiller excoriated (but I think Ron Shiller already had another job and was leaving NPR/PBS fundraising functions), but then NPR/PBS CEO Vivian Shiller (no relation) gets fired. WTF??

Insanity on steriods, and the “little people” get screwed once again, for no reason. Justice simply does not prevail.

The elites continue to prop up Walker and continue to push for the further grinding under of the middle and working class.

And NPR/PBS gets to take another regressive step backward.

I stopped donating to NPR/PBS quite a few years ago and rarely watch or listen anymore due to how fascist and untruthful and rightwing biased it has become. This is just another brick in the conservative wall of bashing and browbeating NPR/PBS into being ever more conservative and worthless.

PTOUI!!!!!

Prolly so. And if a person does not regularly attend the Monster Truck Rally (preferably armed), that pretty much makes them one, too.

The conservative fundamentalist Xianists certainly do ignore the NT. But there are some liberal, well-meaning Christians out there that do get the gist of the NT.

Jesus Christ would be such a flaming liberal in today’s America. The very same ones that use his name as some symbol would be crucifying him if he were alive today and espousing the same views. Crucifying in the figurative sense, of course. I think.

I don’t understand why commenters don’t just ignore trolls.

‘Twas a thing of beauty ~ they were questioning the membership and site finances and Jane has *work* to do today so it was a no-go. Jane said show us you aren’t from HB Gary, or we really have no choice. :-)

Curious how Rovian warriors like Breitbart, O’Keefe, Beck, Limbaugh etc. never, ever go after the rampant, blatant corruption and hypocrisy on the right.

To the conservative crusaders, America’s worst criminals are those who speak the truth, those who educate, those who empower the poor, those who promote individual choice and those who work to protect the environment. And those who oppose extreme, unethical business and political practices. The worst thing you can be is a liberal blogger, for the crime of daring to speak the truth.

The mission is to create a chilling effect in the media so no one will dare say anything negative about the Tea-publican Party, and make the media censor themselves. Using tactics that make Karl Rove proud. Winning the Spin War and creating a huge distraction. Mission accomplished crusaders.

“Whack-a-troll” may be the new game in town.

Re “begs the question…who is NPR’s board”

Here are the gutless miscreants:

http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/people/board.html

Shoulda just said: Our guy will resign when Gov. Walker resigns!!!!!!!! But Dems never do anything like that …

Speaking of Mr. Creep Vibe and Mr. Twit.

Excellent!

You’re probably right. Fox News has the hottest blonds on TV. And the people who work at Fox News always seem to be having fun, while NPR and the MSM networks are peopled with a bunch of overly serious, self-important elitist snobs.

Yes, many of the fundie variety have been infested in their churches by Doug Coe’s Family/Fellowship, and they tend to focus almost exclusively on the OT, which is full of violence, plus a very revenge-seeking, punitive, “smiting,” patriarchal, sexist “God.” NT is more about the “Good News” of hippie-Jesus, and we can’t have that!

I do … more and more. Hopefully, it will become our norm. There is certainly NO obligation to read all that drivel.

The USG crucifies people. As I understand it, Jesus died of suffocation from being put in a stress position that gradually made it impossible for him to breath. That’s one of the faves of U.S. torturers, though they don’t do it on a cross.

It was. I do love Jane. She teaches me all the time!

Again: Define “elitist snobs.”

No sh*t! It was one of THE first things I thought (honest), but of course, I knew that cringing, caving NPR/PBS Board would *never* stand up to their oppressors. Finks.

Yeah, feeding the trolls is really self-defeating. I can understand the urge to respond to the lies, but IMO it’s not worth the effort (and it can disrupt the thread).

I did so one day just for the heck of it (almost everyone had left the thread anyway to comment on other posts). I did just to see where things would go… which ended up with both the conservatives backed into the corner. One started spouting gibberish and the other just stopped posting.

That was enough for me.

Me too but all the rebuttals were great especially Jane’s!!!

Yeah. Just What the Fuck is so hard about that. Isn’t that one of the very *first* retorts we all learn as kids???? “Nyah. Nyah. I will if you will!”

Finks, is right. Weak-kneed weasels. That’s why I hang out with Jane: I don’t want to be a weak-kneed weasel when *I* grow up! :-)

Yes. It’s all done very deliberately and has been ongoing for several decades. At the heart of this is the Southern Strategy, which clearly works very well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

Anyone who shrieks that the rightwing is not racist is totally lying. Republicans have been very much pumping up and encouraging racism since the Civil Rights Act passed back in the 1960s. It’s practically their raison d’être.

Score!!!! I have engaged a bit in the past ~ it’s not for me, though. I’m not very good at it. And, I bless the ‘pups who do troll-patrol every day ’cause I couldn’t.

I did it once to a troll who, among other insults, said that my 30 years on Wall St must have involved shining shoes. I pointed out that I had treated him with courtesy & he had responded with relentless insults. He apologized, listened to my explanations, then disappeared. Was my fill of trolls for quite awhile.

Well, to be “fair,” NPR/PBS is pretty much a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Elites these days. So they know which side of the bread they have to butter. Just check out who their big-time donars are, whether “private” citizens or massive corporations – they’re all rightwing elites. I’m sure they’re all calling the shots.

At the end of the day, no surprises that this happened. It was all carefully orchestrated; at this stage, it wouldn’t totally surprise me if Ron Shiller was “in on it,” albeit I have NO proof or links for that. But I find it highly “coincidental” that Mr. Shiller was just about to leave NPR for another job…. and then Ms. Vivian Shiller (no relation) gets the sack… go figure…

If it was a worthwhile venture I would agree with you. In this case it isn’t.

Jane was amazing. Sanity. Truth. Like 2 + 2 = 4 and this is the way life is here around these parts. Whew, golly.

Kabuki rules! :-(

“Xenophobic? Sure looks that way: Teabaggers want more border security and 90% oppose to a path to citizenship for immigrants.”

Nice incorrect spin on the info there:

Left out the word ILLEGAL on the immigrants. Second, its a top priority poll so you are interpreting the data incorrectly. Only 10% of tea partiers think a path to citizenship for ILLEGAL immigrants should be top priority. That does NOT imply 90% oppose it, it just implies 90% do not think it is a top priority given the options on the list. Don’t fall prey to false thinking.

Pretty much. It’s just “too coincidental” that this occurred so close to the pwning of Scott Walker, and as a prior comment said: it definitely seems to have happened in order to deflect attention away from what Walker did, which was far far far far more serious & egregious, and, imo, should be grounds for some kind of consequences, but as we see: IOKIYAR.

I have no idea what Ron Shiller’s motives were for saying what he did, but it does seem rather *stupid* for a prof fund-raiser to say stuff like that. That’s what makes me wonder… was Ron Shiller “in on it”??

Nothing would surprise me, but again, I have NO proof. Just idle speculation.

Don’t forget his other claim: ‘In my personal opinion, liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives.’”

Woot!

Great article on Fox News from Esquire:

http://www.esquire.com/features/shepard-smith-fox-news-0309-3

I may be alone here but I welcome Right-wing “trolls” insofar as they help to formulate substantive refutations to their rhetoric. I’d hate to participate in a discourse deprived of an actual diversity of expressed viewpoints. Echo chambers are breeding grounds for intellectual sloth and ideological inbreeding.

There’s no justification for insults like that. I’m glad you stood your ground. Some conservatives who come here *seem* sincere enough, even tho I may not agree with them. I have engaged in “conversations” with conservatives who post, IF they continue to post in respectful manner, in order to answer questions and/or dialogue, etc.

If someone abuses me, then I’m done.

Late to the thread, but just wanted to add that when I heard the story of the “sting” on NPR this morning, all I could think of was Shirley Sherrod.

Someday, it would be nice to see an organization fight back rather than knock themselves out apologizing to bullies.

Echo chambers are breeding grounds for intellectual sloth and ideological inbreeding.

I couldn’t agree more.

I still don’t see why what Ron Shiller said should result in the firing of Vivian Shiller (no relation). A better discussion would be about Vivian Shiller and her POV. I simply don’t see that happening. The focus is solely on Mr. Shiller, which I don’t believe is “accidental.” Seems to me that’s what the corporate-owned rightwing media wants citizens to focus on: some rather inelegant statements from a part-time professional fund raiser.

How about what Scott Walker said when he was pwnd??? How ’bout that??

Do you have an inferiority complex? Stop with that elitist stereotyping crap.

I wish I could run into this O’Keefe guy. That camera would be turned into tic-tacs after I got through with it.

You confuse trolls with thoughtful debate.

Trolls come out from under bridges, hop into a thread to provoke with talking points, which they relentless repeat regardless of how they are countered, then disappear with a chuckle.

Hahaha

IOKIYAR.

Yes, but the bullies get away with it bc the PTB WANT it to be that way. After all, it was Obama who told Villsack to FIRE Sherrod, who had done nothing wrong… except be supportive of (as was part of her JOB) African-American & Native American farmers.

Go figure… the Breitbart lying video was just a convenient excuse to further grind under “small people.” Yet rightwingers everywhere cheered in blisfull glee to see Ms. Sherrod be wrongfully terminated. Southern Strategy at work.

Live and learn.

Echo chambers are breeding grounds for intellectual sloth and ideological inbreeding.

I couldn’t agree more.

Ditto!

Agree: some conservatives post here and are thoughtful and willing to actually *discuss* topics, and I am very happy to have that happen.

People who come here and spew out rightwing talking points endlessly really aren’t adding anything of value, nor do these daily rightwing talking points make FDL less of an “echo chamber,” if you will.

Just one other thought (well, two really)…

First, NPR would be better off without federal funding. Then maybe they could hire some independent journalists who could give a flying f..k about Breitbart and his ilk, not to mention the opinion of the politicians they hypothetically cover.

Second, that said, Bob McChesney made a point the other day at a media forum in Madison about how some of “NPR’s funding” goes to small community radio stations unaffiliated with NPR (e.g., WORT in Madison). It would be nice to support community stations who need all the help they can get. NPR has the listener base to survive without Congress.

Fortunately for all of us, Shirley doesn’t need O or Vilsack to fight her battles for her : ) I think she will eat Breitbart alive in court, too bad they don’t broadcast such things, I always enjoy a good bowl of popcorn ; )

If you cut Ron’s hot Tea Party opinions out from the story and paste them together, it kind of sounds like a Charlie Sheen rant.

I’m sorry, but some of you guys aren’t 100% totally honestly dealing with the fact there’s a very obvious reason the tea party are particularly hateful toward Muslims.

The Kabuki pulled on the United States on 9/11. False Flag. Psychological operation. Evidence of controlled demolition. Whatever you want to call it, it’s got to be dealt with.

This tea party craziness is directly connected to 9/11. Muslims had absolutely nothing with the events of 9/11. I know it. You all know it, too. This mess is going to continue as long as we continue to perpetuate the lie that Muslims attacked the United States on 9/11.

I agree that diverse viewpoints can add value to the exchange, but that requires actual engagement. Simply repeating tired talking points and spewing vitriol, as eCAHN says above, adds nothing.

I really wouldn’t mind if NPR/PBS didn’t have any fed funding. From my perspective, I don’t see the value in it anymore, since conservatives have pushed, shoved, kicked & screamed to *force* NPR/PBS become nothing more than Fox Lite (and sometimes not so “lite”).

I *never* saw PBS/NPR are particularly left-wing. Rather they seemed more “objective” and certainly didn’t used to indulge in rightwing talking points.

This nation has been so brainwashed by the corporate-owned fascist media that anything that deviates even slightly from the Fox Fascist party line is considered egregiously “leftwing.” When, in fact, it’s not at all.

At this point, I rarely watch or listen to NPR/PBS bc I feel they fled from factual reality quite a few years ago. It’s too bad if some community-based outlets lose funding, but I’m totally sick & tired of conservatives lying and crying about NPR/PBS. It’s a joke.

If they take away funding: so be it. I agree, perhaps with totally user-based funding, NPR/PBS can move back closer to more objective reporting. That would be refreshing.

A perfect cherry on top.

Especially all those Afghan mooslims and Ayraqi mooslims and Taliban mooslims who attacked us on 9/11.

Perhaps, but the fact is: the POTUS & Vilsack fired a good employee for NO real reason. Yet another chilling moment in our nation’s now sorry current events.

I wouldn’t totally count on Ms. Sherrod eating Breitbart for dinner. If the MOTU don’t want Sherrod to prevail & be the beneficiary of “real” justice, well… she might be in for a world of hurt.

I count on nothing these days in this nation. We’re truly on our own. Conservatives who think that’s just grand really don’t get that when the dust settles, they’ll be just as screwed and ground under as “leftwing” serfs. Not very clear on the concept that Elites could give a sh*t about any of us proles, no matter how we “vote.”

alan, #Winning all the time must get really tiring for you.

Non-violent resistance and non-participation? Yippie tactics and howling laughter? Leaving the country? Just taking a stab. :)

NPR’s problem is not in the metropolitan areas, it is in the sparsely populated flyover country. It is expensive to run stations and translators in areas without many people, and therefore without much of a donor base, and that is where the Federal dollars count the most. Without NPR all that is left is Clearchannel and Christian radio. Drive across northwestern Nebraska sometime if you want an insight into what is available.

“109 violent versus”?! I would love to see a link or two on this.

Aren’t all monotheistic religions–especially our current big three of Christianity, Judaism and Islam– inherently violent because they posit an irrevocable “us” versus “them” dichotomy? The core elements of immoveable authority, hierarchy, identity, and inescapable violence to any “others” outside the faith are expressed in statements like “There is no god but God,” and “No one comes to the Father but by me.” Once one has adopted such a cosmology, isn’t counting violent versus irrelevant hair-spliting?

Hence the failings of religion. *sigh*

Add the funny yourself. Laugh loudly and publicly whenever this nonsense comes up. It helps.

But alot of the music is fantastic! :)

The trouble with the so-called ‘thoughtful ‘conservatives is their gross ignorance. Most of them seem to be libertarians who couldn’t reason their way out of water-soaked paper bag. Debating them is like trying to empty the widow’s cruse of ignorance. It just keeps filling up.

Whose patriarch was so blindly, unquestioningly obedient to authority that he was willing to murder his own son in pursuit of following orders.

The charecterization of the Tea Party as white racists isn’t going to work here. There is at least one prominent AA in the outfit here. Crazy? yes. Racist? That dog won’t hunt. Perhaps because Sonnie Johnson actually is highly visible. I’d be careful with the charecterization of “racist” if I wanted to be taken seriously.

http://www.roanoketeaparty.com/tag/naacp/

Seconded!

That’s not being honest.
They think Muslims blew up the Twin Towers.

The US Government told these people Muslim terrorist were responsible for a massive terrorist attack on a US city. That never happened. We are responsible for correcting the history books.

Well maybe, but if someone is honestly trying to “discuss” issues, then that’s fine. I may agree to disagree with them, but they’re entitled to their viewpoints. Those who drive by simply to spout rightwing talking points and/or to spout out unattributed quotes aren’t worth the time and add nothing to the so-called “debate.”

That is, indeed, problematic and goes to the crux of why access to our airwaves shouldn’t be held by monopolies representing only part of the spectrum of viewpoints.

Clearly, though, the PTB would love to make it a 100% monopoly in as many parts of the country as possible.

Why didn’t they latch on to the religion of the OKC bomber, Terry McVeigh?

The Tea Party and their anti muslim screeds are about fear mongering and condemning a different belief set. There are a broad swath of people who have a different beliefs and the rigid, largely conservative Tea Party is unhappy with that.

They wen’t shown the OKC tower blown up 24/7/365 on Fox News videowalls for 7 years.

Fox News is difference. Fox News turned a group of superstitious, somewhat uneducated group of evangelical Christians into Brown-shirts.

True, but why? Bc McVeigh was a radical rightwing *white* guy raised as a Roman Catholic.

Had McVeigh been dusky-hued and observant of a faith different from Christianity, the OKC tower destruction would’ve been on Fox 24/7/365.

It’s about keeping the serfs in fear fear fear of the “other” with lashings of the Southern Strategy thrown in for good measure.

Fox News is the ingredient that turned them Brown Shirts. The drum-beat of hateful propaganda 24/7.

Brain studies have proven the “they” variable doesn’t matter much. Pretty much any group can be made into some group of other guys you want to see die screaming. Like, for example, in England, West Ham and Millwall fans will go to blows almost on sight.

HAHA. You contradict yourself. You claim that Christians are fundamentalist which means they take the bible literally. But then you claim that they are islamophobic.

Uh, wrong.

First, I didn’t “claim” anything — I linked to a post showing that almost 50% of Teabaggers (not all Christians) are fundamentalists. Also, I didn’t “claim” all Christians were Islamophobic, I cited a poll that shows 2/3rd of Teabaggers (not all Christians) believe Islam incites violence, which is textbook Islamopohbia/bigotry.

Repeat after me:

Some Christians are fundamentalists (like most Teabaggers). Some are not.
Some Muslims are fundamentalists. Some are not.

Got it?

There’s a lot more than 109 violent verses in the “Holy Bible,.”

Yep

The Tea Party powers are doing what they do best trying to keep the rabble occupied with fear of different while looting and pillaging for their profit.

They exploit the fact that many of the tea partiers have a rigid, myopic and authoritarian bent.

The irony is that they are constantly accusing the left of wanting a nanny state when in truth the right wants to tell the individual what belief set they must ascribe to, who can marry, when you must procreate and a whole host of other “nanny state” propositions. The only aspect they don’t want to regulate is business. It’s a feature not a bug. Regulating business would be less profitable then the Kochs desire.

What’s not better than NPR?

KPFA (94.1 FM) Berkeley
DemocracyNow (on KPFA)
Al Jazeera English (on KPFA)
BBC
Russia Today (Thom Hartmann)
DW (German English tv)
NHK TV (Japan English)

the Brits have a conservative government, yet there’s still the BBC with hundreds of reporters all around the world grinding away.

The NewsHour on PBS has to use some independent reporters.

Switch on any commercial tv “news” and want to gag trying not to yell at the set (Charlie Sheen!).

The GOP/TP “PR machine” is GOOD!!

NPR, will become history, but because of its “liberalism” it will go down “without a fight.” All the GOP/TP has to do is “whine” and the “enraged” listeners and lackeys start.

Then the CEO “resigns” like the WIMP she is. No fight, no attack, no offense, no nothing. She needs to go.

Man, what happened to “righteous indignation?” The GOP/TP has turned the “truth” into something that many people are AFRAID to espouse.
The GOP/TP ARE (many if not most of them) racists, mis-informed, arrogant, reactionary and easily manipulated.
Look at the evidence and hear them talk.

Who cares?
Do you read any other books?

Present company considered, that would be an informed opinion.

??? Never saw any of those posts. The most “considered” conservative posts are full of misrepresentations and rhetorical trickery. Don’t trust a single word from them.

I agree. Don’t people know who James O’Keefe is, and what he looks like, by the way? I’d love to see the full, undoctored video, too. We know that O’Keefe has a track record of deception a mile wide and five miles deep.

You obviously enjoy Fox’s self-gratification. No wonder you encounter so many elites in the course of your day.

Because White America doesn’t want to be seen pointing the finger back at itself, when its NEEDS TO BADLY. White America – “Us Racist? No stop using the race card”.

A known Tea Party heavy shows up at a rally with Nigger mis-spelled on a card.

What Ron said is 100% True, there’s racist element in this country that has come back from the dead 1990 and 2000′s to rear its ugly head. America is right back where it started after 1968.

A few rouge White People are making you all look bad when you don’t do something about it.

But do you REALLY want to do something about it?????

The thing is that the Right is powered by these canned bumper sticker talking points that bounce around in blogs and pseudo-folksy chain emails- you probably get them forwarded to you from wingnut relatives. Once you’ve formulated potent rhetorical refutations of those talking points, you’ve got ammunition against not just the one poster parroting the talking point but all the robo-pundits working off the same astro-turfed page.

The Tea Party Right is pretty much an intellectual monoculture built on a pool of these manufactured, glib, shallow zingers repeated ad nauseum by people largely lacking the cognitive tools to defend them from substantive refutation. Like a field of Midwestern inbred industrial corn where every plant is an exact genetic replica of its thousands of neighbors, it all looks and works great until a pathogen is introduced that one has no resistance to. Because obviously that single pathogen can kill every identical inbred plant in the whole field.

The trolls cutting and pasting their pseudo-homespun little sound bites are feeding us the keys to creating the rhetorical pathogens to bring down the whole field. The Left because it is intrinsically less hierarchal and more individualistic in temperament is also intrinsically less in intellectual lock step- analogous to biodiversity, we have a wider diversity of thought to draw upon. To continue the genetic metaphor, we are a field of open pollinated heirloom corn- not as uniform and probably not as high yielding, but our superficially inefficient diversity gives us a far greater resistance to pathogenic attack. You might take out a few of us here and there with a good bug or fungus but unlike a monoculture we aren’t nearly as vulnerable to attack.

The Right keeps handing us telling samples of their ideological genome, rather than rail at them let’s use those to map that ideological genome and find its vulnerabilities. You bring down one talking point, cut and paste roboposter and you’ve got the tools to take down scores in each scything sweep.

It’s funny. I almost wrote off NPR as being too blah, too afraid of the big, bad Republicans. Now, they’re much more interesting. They have the connections and the audience. What better tool is there to attack the conservatives? Just in case the Republicans are ready to destroy their leverage by withdrawing Federal support.

I think the Teabaggers get the kid glove treatment they do within the mainstream media because of a sort of politically correct dispensation of the sort that is usually thought of as an artifact of the Left wherein there self-evident sociopathy is glossed over for fear of causing a controversy or seeming partial. But mostly, as I alluded to above, because almost every family, work or social circle will have at least one of this cult among it and they are known to be angry, loud and essentially impervious to persuasion or reason.

It takes a little courage to bring that on one’s self and as we’ve seen it can even have professional consequences. Still much of their shtick is so obviously racist or just plain batshit crazy that it can’t be ignored in good conscience. They are doing real damage to our country right now.