on sending messages: Ilario Pantano

While deployed in Iraq, Ilario Pantano, GOP and Teabag-backed congressional candidate in North Carolina, shot two unarmed Iraqis 20 times. After they were dead, he changed his clip and fired 20 more shots into them. He told the media he did it to "send a message to other Iraqis." He left a threatening note on their bullet-ridden bodies to drive the point home. The military chose not to prosecute him because the unarmed Iraqis had made threatening gestures to him.

Say one thing about the guy, he's all about going above and beyond the call of duty.

Pantano is struggling against Democratic Blue Dog hack Mike McIntyre.

What other "messages" does he want to send? 

TOP TEN TEABAGGER RESPONSES TO RAND PAUL SUPPORTERS STEPPING ON FEMALE PROTESTER'S HEAD

You can read about the head-stepping incident here, here, and here. You can watch the video here. MoveOn is reporting that the woman has a concussion and sprained arm. Rand Paul himself has declined to even hypothetically condemn the violence. [UPDATE: RAND PAUL CONDEMNS ATTACK AND EVEN ADMITS IT WAS PERPETRATED BY A PAUL SUPPORTER.  WELL-DONE, MR. PAUL.]

My interest was a quick survey of the gut reactions of Paul supporters and apologists.  So I browsed a few comments sections and this is what I came up with:

(These are all real--when quoted they are direct; otherwise they are paraphrased, and I'd be happy to track down the original should you care to context-check me)


1. MoveOn staged the whole thing--the people who attacked her were really members of MoveOn. (several righties have accused MoveOn of staging the attack)

2. "It's obvious she was unhurt and was attempting to be disruptive. Maybe she'll exercise a little common sense next time."

3. Lefty thugs exist in some other context and at some point or another hurt somebody, so this is okay/vindication/deserved.

4. It wasn't her head, it was mostly her shoulder.

5. We have no sympathy for her precisely because she's a member of MoveOn

6. She deserved it because she was wearing a wig to conceal her identity

7. If she was a victim, why did the police question her after the incident? (YEAH, COPS NEVER INTERVIEW VICTIMS)

8. Valle has been arrested in nonviolent protest actions before, so she's a fishy character.

9. This was a reasonable way of telling MoveOn members they are not welcome in Kentucky.

10. Rand Paul supporters stomped on her head because they believed scary union thugs were outside of the building.

*Honorable mention: A couple of 'baggers claimed Valle "rushed the stage," but she didn't. She walked.

"I am the very model of a modern mad conservative"

(With halfhearted apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan)

I am the very model of a modern mad conservative
If you don't have the benjamins you've forfeited your right to live
I eschew any notion of social responsibility
And spend my weekends lamenting the government with bags of tea

He spends his weekends lamenting the government with bags of tea
He spends his weekends lamenting the government with bags of tea
He spends his weekends lamenting the government with bags of tea

Obama is a socialist but also he's an Islamist
That these are contradictory it doesn't matter in the least
He aims to grab America and tear it down with all his might
From years of sitting in the pews and hearing Jeremiah Wright

I will protect you from the sodomites and the pornographers
Unless the latter group sends large donations to our headquarters
And in my presence you need never fear attacks by terrorists
Except of course for those whose names are on our biggest donor lists

Except of course for those whose names are on our biggest donor lists
Except of course for those whose names are on our biggest donor lists
Except of course for those whose names are on our biggest donor lists

I will unite the Bachmannites the Palinesques and Limbaughnaughts
The Beckers and the Hannitights the Anglers and the Cheneybots
For imposition of my prejudice no reason I will give
I am the very model of a modern mad conservative

For imposition of his prejudice no reason he will give
He is the very model of a modern mad conservative

amazing interview with Neill Franklin of LEAP

I've interviewed around a hundred celebs, activists, candidates and public officials over the past two years--none have affected me as profoundly as the interview I just concluded with Neill Franklin, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. His personal journey from undercover narcotics agent to advocate for legalization is an amazing story that everyone needs to hear.  And while we've all heard the statistics and stories about the way our country's misguided drug policies affect minority communities, Mr. Franklin's insights into this, as a Baltimore cop, make for essential listening for everyone concerned about drug policy, social justice, and rational lawmaking. 

Three fun facts about Jan Brewer

1. This week she declared a "Child Health Day" -- after cutting child health programs in Arizona.

2. Rumors are floating around Arizona that Brewer is very sick. She looks terrible in photos, she slurs her words and blanks out, like a drunk would do, and she had that mini-stroke moment in the debate, where she couldn't read the notes that were in front of her. Whatever the specifics, it's clear something ain't right up there. 

Actually, the lies she's told about her father and goings-on in the Arizona desert could also be brain disease-related, although I ain't no physician, so please don't accept any advice from me on medical issues. My point is she lies and lies and lies, and there may be a medical explanation for it. That's all I'm sayin'.

3. She's got a cheatin' heart. Put another way, Arizona Democrats have filed a serious complaint that, even if she wins in November, will follow her into this office she so little understands. True to Arizona form, her defenders are aghast and circling the wagons. We already know of her ties to the private prison industry that stands to benefit from a crackdown on immigration.

Bonus fact: She's probably still gonna win the election. Double-bonus fact: This just means we'll be able to enjoy the meltdown later, when it will do more damage.

                                        

Just How Dishonest & Stupid Is Charles Krauthammer?

This blast from last February at Media Matters for America, courtesy of Jamison Foser, sums it up nicely and bears re-posting as we look ahead to Krauthammer's fascist-sympathizing rhetoric between now and the mid-term elections.

Charles Krauthammer says environmentalism is "the new socialism," compares Barack Obama's 2008 campaign to China's Cultural Revolution, accuses Obama of thinking of himself "in messianic terms" and of using "Orwellian language that you expect" from Hugo Chavez and calls Chavez Obama's "new pal" and invokes the Nazis in writing about Obama's stem cell policies. He referred to Khamenei as Iran's "Supreme Leader," attacked Barack Obama for doing the same thing a few days later, then just a few days after that, again referred to Khamenei as the "Supreme Leader." Principled!

Krauthammer has called possible torture investigations "banana republic politics" and made false claims to support his case against investigations. That's unsurprising, given that Krauthammer goes back and forth on whether waterboarding is torture -- but is unwavering in his support for it. And like any good Washington Post columnist, he didn't like the Plame investigation, or feel bound by the facts when discussing it -- and even wrote that Bush should pre-emptively pardon Libby. And Krauthammer has falsely defended the Bush administration's use of Iraq intelligence. He even praised Dick Cheney for doing the "manly thing" in withholding information about his shooting of a hunting companion.

Foser roasts a few of the other Little-Streichers in the piece too.  It's well worth a lookback.

TSOL at the Key club

More from the unsung craftsmen of American punk. Nobody did the slower, cutting, methodically killing punk better than them.

Suburbia - TSOL

TSOL was an underrated, influential, daring band at a critical time in punk rock. They sacrificed commercial fame and, intentionally or not, kept the west coast American punk tradition alive during the otherwise dilluted 1980s. Glad I ran across this melodic song that anticipates some of the better emo-esque and "pop" punk of the 90s.

RACIST RUSSELL DROPPED BY NEW YORK GOP: VOWS TO CONTINUE CAMPAIGN

Some scumbags are even too toxic for Republicans. After several blogs and news sources (including The Underview) spread the word on Westchester County, NY Republican candidate Jim Russell's racist essay in the hate journal Occidental Quarterly, the Westchester County Republicans "pulled the plug" on their embarassing candidate.

"We're going to pull the plug on him immediately," said Westchester GOP Chairman Doug Colety, who is also a county election commissioner. He said he wanted to remove Russell from the ballot altogether but wasn't sure that would be possible. Russell also has the Conservative line, and party representatives did not return calls Tuesday.
"We were unaware of any of this," Colety said, referring to the essay.

Like any good bucket of human feces, Russell vows to continue his campaign undaunted.

Reached by phone, Russell said his "research paper" was being misrepresented ... He said he plans to continue his campaign, with a 12:30 p.m. appearance today at the White Plains office of the state Department of Labor.

Russell's campaign manager may be an even bigger piece of garbage than Russell himself:

Russell's campaign manager, Frank Morgenthaler, acknowledged the article but would not comment on it. Like Russell, he sought to put the focus back on Lowey and the candidate's platform on job loss, health care and failed border security.

"We're in a situation now where our country is on the brink of death almost," Morgenthaler said. "That's a heck of a lot more important than any articles or any spin that the incumbents want to put on it. Obviously the incumbent cannot defend her poor record."

Hey Morgenthaler: Nice to know you're loyal. As your next show of devotion, please sterilize yourself in order to clean up the gene pool.

"White people's brains are thiiiiis big..."

The Face of the Contemporary GOP

I would have thought he was a fictional character; a satire.  But Jim Russell is very real: He's a GOP candidate for the U.S. House, he's got staunch supporters (read some of the comments underneath the article), and he possesses systemically sophisticated views against Jews, interracial marriage and dating, and the "de-Europeanization" of Europe.  

He's not a fringe candidate, not a fake-GOPer, not a rogue.  He has been endorsed by the New York Republican Party and the New York Conservative Party.  If you donate to GOP causes, you've likely donated to him. 

And now the poop's about to hit the fan on the GOP's colossal failure to vet this scumbag.  The initial credit seems to belong to Maggie Haberman at Politico, who dug up Russell's Streicheresque essay at the hate journal Occidental Quarterly.  The story has been picked up by Salon, and a few other sites as well.

Incipient fascism.  That's what we're seeing here. And this is one of the few times the link is so explicit.

Archie Shepp - Song For Mozambique

Truly amazing.

There's opinion, and there's opinion

A new CBS poll finds that a majority of Americans, of all self-described and institutionally categorized mainstream political identities, want higher taxes on the wealthy.  It is now incumbent upon the mainstream media to teach us why this poll means nothing.  The general principle to remember: Polls with progressive conclusions don't matter; polls showing increasing preference towards Republicans (who two years ago were consigned to the dustbin of history, and who really are on that trajectory*, despite their recent ill-gotten gains) do matter, because the media has to teach us a few lessons between now and the November bloodbath.

Remember, though, the CBS poll on taxes means nothing.  It means nothing precisely because, not in spite of, its indication of public support for more egalitarian tax and fiscal policy (as Daily Kos reminded readers when discussing tax cuts, remember the 60-70% of the public, including a majority of Republicans, who wanted a public health care plan). It cannot be allowed to mean anything because the public doesn't get to really discuss economic issues.  There is very little left left in the mainstream media, but a whole lot of left left in the streets, in community activist networks, and in the alternative media.  The mainstream media uses its own agenda-setting as evidence of the nonpopulation of egalitarian activism in legitimate politics.  This allows Barack Obama a free pass to do things like derisively kick Single Payer off the table, so that the "pragmatists" in the center-right Democratic party and their media defenders can rise to his defense when the GOP calls him a commie anyway. (Most polls that bothered to ask the question prior to Obamacare, by the way, showed majority support for Single Payer Health Care.)

A majority support cap and trade. A majority support tough financial reforms, regardless of talk about how such regulations kill the free market (they're anemic compared to the damage unregulated markets can do, and they DON'T kill "free markets" whatever those are).  The entire process of health care reform legislation consistently traveled against the public tide--but not the direction the mainstream media created, practically out of whole cloth.    

Instead, it's the ideological minority that matters to the mainstream media, evidenced by their over-coverage, and uncritical narrative-spinning, concerning the corporate-created Tea Partiers.*  The result of this filtering and appealing to the lowest common denominator as a matter of both form and content is an electorate that hates the Democrats and favors the policies normally associated with them.

-  -  -  -  -

*On the Tea Parties: Even Chris Matthews is entitled to be right about something once or twice a year:

They want to tear the country apart if it will relieve them of the duty of living in modern America, which I truly believe, despite all their anger, continues its march towards making this a more progressive land. That's something they just can't stand.

Believers and Terrorists

Executed right-wing terrorist Tim McVey is often brought up as a counterpoint to the 9/11 hijackers, particularly in response to irrational conflation of those hijackers with "all of Islam."  While the comparison is imperfect, the right has frequently responded with posts claiming McVeigh was an atheist.  But the real argument should not be that McVeigh was a "Christian."  That term is too subjective to provide clarity.  What is objective truth is McVeigh's affiliation with the Christian Identity movement.  Like most terrorists, McVeigh played religion rather than practicing it.  Neither he nor the 9/11 hijackers likely possessed the intelligence to think through that distinction, but religious terrorists are classified as such because they deploy religion, not because they practice it. 

One needn't be a "Christian" to be a "Christian Terrorist." The majority of American Muslims did not and do not see the 9/11 hijackers as legitimate Muslims. It's certainly not clear he was an atheist. When interviewed by Time, McVeigh claimed that although he had "lost touch" with Catholicism, he still "maintain(ed)" its "core beliefs." He told Time " I do believe in a God..." and declined further religious discussion. He wrote a letter to the Guardian claiming to be an agnostic, but accepted Last Rites before his execution. More important is what influenced McVeigh: The Christian Identity movement and its eschatological catechism, The Turner Diaries.

McVeigh self-identified with Christian extremism. Whether one is a full-on professed member of a religion is not as important as whether they are willing to (a) model their behavior along the ideological lines of that religion and (b) exploit others' religious beliefs to their own ends. McVeigh made several calls to the Elohim City enclave in the weeks prior to bombing the Murrah Building. McVeigh had also signed up for membership in the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that specifically requires that its members "conduct themselves with Christian character."

All of which is simply to say: McVeigh was to Christianity as the 9/11 hijackers were to Islam.

Angle tries to sound educamacated and fails

Assuming Sharron Angle could even find Chile on a map, she got her history and contemporary policy analysis wrong on the question of social security privatization there (to say nothing of her lauding the policy of a mass murderer, but who's counting anymore?).

The Associated Press: Angle on private Social Security: Chile's done it:

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle says the nation's Social Security system needs to be privatized, and she says it was done before in Chile. Angle referred to the South American country on Thursday in North Las Vegas while explaining previous statements that the United States should phase out its current system. However, the pension system established in 1981 by right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is no longer a fully private system. Chile's system was revamped in 2008 to expand public pensions for groups left out of its system, including low-income seniors.

drivel covered with whipped cream

Reading Ross Douthat's passive-aggressive lamentation on the Proposition 8 decision, I find no reason to modify my longstanding opinion of Douthat's skills as a columnist, his intellectual capacity, or the pedagogical value of reading his work.  He's a shallow, pretentious, intellectually inferior culture-warrior who somehow bamboozled his way into having a regular column in the New York Times.  If I were personally against same-sex marriage, I'd beg him to switch sides on the issue.