Fascist Tools

 Civil Liberties, Ethics, Government, Right Wing Nutzoids, Treasonous Bastards  Comments Off
Mar 062012
 

Greatkim raised an interesting issue at The Fogbow:

Birthers. They would not be possible without the internet. In our virtual community of liars and lawyers one thing emerges clearly: the more you debunk the more they gain traction, momentum. So let me state the reason for which, as time passed, I have changed my status from active blogger to curious lurker. The ringleaders are absolutely not interested in the eventual outcome of the “challenges”, nor are they interested in diminishing the President. They are interested in something more lasting: building and legitimizing a community of right wing extremists. Fascism does not need a thinking community, nor does it need a debate, fascism needs a community resentful of established powerhouses and profoundly anti-intellectual (we are seen as such). Obotism is seen as manifestation of the most hated characteristic: intellectualism. Fascism needs strong leaders and Arpaio, far more than Taitz, represents the fascist ideal of the DUX. So beware of Arpaio, he is IMHO by far the most dangerous of them all.

Greatkim was answered by Tolland:

At one time, Arpaio might have once been dangerous. I believe him now to be a bumbling old man who is about to be tried for criminal activities that resemble what we saw in the Third Reich. He may lose his re-election bid IF the citizens of Phoenix turn out to vote. Richard Mack or Michael Badnarik might conceive of themselves as being the needed strong man. However, the strong man of fascism need not arise from law enforcement.

So who this person might be depends upon finding the “ringleaders” of Birferism for whom Birferism is only a tool on their way to shaping a fascist state. I think that Taitz is outside this conspiracy; she has her own twisted agenda based on hatreds and fears.

What I see as the danger is Christian fascism. It bears a resemblance to Italian fascism and a little less resemblance to Nazi ideology.
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 Posted by at 10:30 am

Elder Tea Party Birthers And Rushers

 Birthers, Ethics, Polls, Right Wing Nutzoids, Teabaggers  Comments Off
Mar 062012
 

Ed Kilgore on the 3-state PPP Poll:

The most startling, to me at least, is the extraordinary support for both birtherism and Rush among self-ID’d Tea Party members in all three states. They reject Obama’s U.S. nativity by margins of 56/25 in OH, 62/22 in TN, and 54/24 in GA. Tea Folk also do not seem to share the issues with Limbaugh’s slut-shaming, approving of him by margins of 73/11 in OH, 72/12 in TN, and 69/14 in GA. Evangelicals are just as likely as Tea Folk (with whom, of course, they overlap greatly) to be birthers (50/25 in OH, 53/24 in TN, and 50/25 in GA); but do support Rush a bit less (54/23 in OH, 51/26 in TN, and 53/25 in GA). Indeed, it’s probable the varying sizes of the evangelical segment of the electorate (43% in OH, 66% in TN and 55% in GA) largely explain the statewide variations on these questions.

The other number that jumps out from the crosstabs are pretty notable generational splits. 18-45 year-olds reject birtherism by 54/27 in OH and 48/28 in GA, though in heavily evangelical TN they favor it 46/37. Over-65 voters are big birtherists everywhere: 44/34 in OH, 52/28 in TN and 47/30 in GA. Younger voters only narrowly approve of Rush in all three states, while over-65s give him near-majority support.

Even in the relatively monolithic GOP, some issues produce real divisions. But to the extent that the noisy “activist base” is older, more evangelical, and more pro-Tea Party than the party as a whole, it’s no wonder there’s incessant pressure on GOP pols to lean hard and sometimes crazy right.

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 Posted by at 12:50 am

Here’s A Real Slut For You, Rush

 Ethics, Hypocrites, Republicans  Comments Off
Mar 042012
 

It just happens to be a male Republican.

Republican Pol‘s Sex Romps in Back Seat of Government-Issue Car

On a winter evening in 2009, a 9/11 call came in to the police department of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, where the state Capital, Annapolis, is located. “I see some activity going on in the car, and I don’t think it’s proper… . It looks like sexual activity to me,” said the male caller, later adding, “I’m not positive, but it looks like there’s naked people in the car.”

An officer was sent to investigate. He found the car in parking lot of a shopping mall. It was a black Chevy Impala, with the license “County Executive 1.” In the back seat was John R. Leopold, the Anne Arundel County Executive.

Though the car was government-issue, no charges were filed. Leopold, a major Republican power broker in the state who served for decades in the Maryland legislature, dismissed accusations of impropriety as “rumor and gossip.” He was reelected in 2010.

That seemed to be the end of the matter, but it wasn’t. The incident in the parking lot led a number of county employees to come forward with a variety of accusations against Leopold, and yesterday he was indicted on multiple counts of official misconduct. …

The indictment also describes Leopold having his police escorts chauffeur him to roadside spots to vandalize his opponents’ campaign signs and, after the back surgeries required him to wear a urinary catheter, ordering his security detail and other staffers to periodically empty the bag.

Washington Monthly

 Posted by at 12:29 am

Christian Leaders Call For End To Partisan Faith Attacks

 Elections: 2012, Ethics, Presidency  Comments Off
Feb 232012
 

From Rev. Chuck Currie’s blog:

I’ve joined religious leaders across the nation in calling for an end to partisan attacks on President Obama’s faith. Please add your name. Faith should not be used as a political weapon. – Rev. Chuck Currie

As Christian leaders, pastors, and most importantly followers of Jesus Christ, we are greatly troubled by recent attempts to use faith as a political weapon. From Rick Santorum’s claim that the President’s theology is “not a theology based on the Bible,” to Franklin Graham’s implication that the President may be a Muslim, to the drum beat of false claims about Obama’s so-called “war on religion,” these cynical attempts to use faith as a weapon of political division are bad for our country and especially harmful to the Christian witness.

We can disagree about what it means to be a Christian engaged in politics, but Christians shouldn’t bear false witness. And the teachings of Jesus and the prophets call us in our imperfection to put the most vulnerable among us ahead of our self-interest. As the President said at the last Easter Prayer Breakfast, Jesus “took on the sins of the world – past, present and future – and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection.” This gift of grace should remind Christians to enter the public square with a spirit of humility and respond to all we’ve been given (and forgiven) by serving our neighbor and protecting the vulnerable. That’s how we strengthen our witness. Using faith as a partisan tool weakens it.

No politician or government will ever reflect God’s will perfectly, but we prayerfully call on political leaders and members of the media to return to the issues Jesus and the prophets were most concerned about and to stop using faith as a weapon to advance partisan politics and self-interest.

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 Posted by at 12:18 am

When Mitt Romney Came To Town

 Economy, Elections: 2012, Ethics, GOP Primaries, Video  Comments Off
Jan 102012
 



When Gingrich turns evil, he does it good.

Though the full documentary has yet to be released, a three-minute trailer posted on Winning Our Future’s website features interviews with people who worked at companies taken over by Bain, who bash Romney while a narrator accuses him of “exploiting dozens of American businesses.”

Romney’s campaign has cried foul over the movie’s line of attack, asserting it plays into Democrats’ hands by vilifying capitalism and mischaracterizing Romney’s days at the helm of the investment firm Bain Capital. And some conservatives have suggested funny business, questioning the money and motives behind the movie, which is likely to become a major force in the coming days.

The pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future – fueled by a $5 million contribution from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson – intends to use the movie as the basis for a hard-hitting multimillion-dollar advertising campaign targeting Romney this week in South Carolina.

Politico

 Posted by at 9:13 am

Bludgeoning People With The Bible

 Ethics, Right Wing Nutzoids  Comments Off
May 302011
 

Retired pastor Kirk Minor remembers a time when working with his church was centered around people, and not rhetoric – and he’s wondering where those days went.

“We’re finding more and more that there are a lot of people out there doing a lot of talking and protesting and bellyaching, but fewer people actually walking the walk,” said Minor, author of Journey Across The Tiber: My Many Rooms. “We have extremists protesting funerals of gay soldiers, pundits decrying the use of abbreviations for the word Christmas and activists campaigning for prayer in public schools. These are all very divisive issues, and have little to do with the good works the Bible wants the faithful to perform.”

Minor bemoans that the Bible has become a book with which to bludgeon people.

“Too many people are using religion as a sword to fight those with whom they disagree, instead of as a plowshare to help their fellow neighbors tend the land and form a community,” said Minor, who retired as a United Methodist Church pastor after 23 years.

The key to reversing the trend, according to Minor, is to use actions more than words, and for people of faith to quietly go about the good works and charity that is at the essence of the Bible’s teachings.

Orlando Sentinel

 Posted by at 12:14 am

SCOTUS Not Your Cash Cow, Clarence

 Ethics, Supreme Court  Comments Off
Mar 072011
 

From the beginning, it was tough respecting Clarence Thomas as a member of the highest court in the land, it seemed we were stuck with him, but the Justice and his wife have made any bit of respect unreachable for the past year by their unethical behavior. The worst thing is nothing will happen to him.

University of Colorado at Boulder, law professor Paul Campos explains:

It’s unlikely that Thomas will be disbarred, and even less likely that he’ll be prosecuted, even though his conduct has been outrageous. That Thomas failed to disclose his wife’s sources of income is not a trivial technicality: His wife’s employment created excellent grounds for requiring him to excuse himself from hearing the Citizens United case, which overturned federal campaign-finance laws—much to the delight of Ginni Thomas’ right-wing paymasters, who are now freer than ever before to purchase the best laws money can buy. (Federal judges are required to recuse themselves from hearing any case in which they or their spouses have any financial interest.)

And it only cost them $700,000 to Mrs. Justice Thomas, which was concealed by the Justice himself.

Thomas’ behavior raises three obvious questions, the answers to which are all inter-related: Why is it likely that no consequences will be visited on a Supreme Court justice who has committed a series of criminal offenses? Why is this story not a full-blown scandal? And why did Clarence Thomas do what he did? …

Clarence Thomas knows that, as a practical matter, he, like the rest of the power elite that rules America, is largely above the law. Yet he also knows that he will be subjected to harsh criticism for flaunting his legal immunity. These two facts allow him to enjoy the delicious pleasure of exercising tremendous social privilege, while simultaneously complaining that he’s being persecuted by his political enemies. In other words, he gets to be an egregious scofflaw while at the same time claiming to be the victim of, to coin a phrase, a high-tech lynching.

Jonathan Turley, to put a fine point on it:

Virginia Thomas was receiving money from groups that had expressed direct interest in the outcome of cases that came before her husband, including Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, in which the court in 2010 struck down limitations on corporate contributions to elections.

A justice is expressly required by federal law to recuse himself from any case “in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” This law specifically requires recusal when he knows that “his spouse … has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.”

The financial disclosure forms are meant to assist the public in determining conflicts of interest. Though Thomas clearly could argue that his wife’s ties to these organizations were not grounds for recusal, he denied the court and the public the ability to fully evaluate those conflicts at the time. Instead, Thomas misled the public for years on the considerable wealth he and his wife were accumulating from ideological groups.

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 Posted by at 12:28 am
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