The truth about FOX”news” http://ow.ly/59aFG
GOP Head of the Senate Finance Committee
GOP Head of the Senate Finance Committee: Raise taxes on the poor and middle class to pay for tax cuts for the rich. http://ow.ly/4QRxP
How did Uncle Bob become a wing nut?
A lot of it comes from a certain personality type (or group of types) and the comfort they receive from having their beliefs reinforced. Creating a false paradigm and reinforcing that false paradigm is a billion dollar industry for the right. There was a neuroscientific study that showed that when we have our beliefs reinforced, we get a little dopamine type chemical release in our brains. Essentially, we are hard wired to be closed minded. This also connects to the whole team/tribe mentality and our desire to belong to an “in” group and collectively hate the “out” group. Again this is hard-wired into us. (more…)
Finally one of them gets it! Indiana GOP
Finally one of them gets it! Indiana GOP Senator Slams Her Party For Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding: This ‘Will Increase Abortions’ http://ow.ly/4E11j
Crash course in social media today. The
Crash course in social media today. The POAC now has a blog, Twitter account, FB fan page, FB group, and a regular old web page. Also, I have a personal Linked In account and FB page… all managed with Hootsuite. Thanks to MJ for the tip on that!
Bush At His Shrink: The Lame-Duck Session
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
“I’m with my closest colleagues at the top of Mt. Everest. Below us on the snow, or maybe it’s white sand, are thousands of bloody bodies. Suddenly, I see a line of approaching figures, armed with pitchforks and clubs, coming up the mountain. At first, I’m happy because they’re carrying an American flag, but then I realize they’re coming after me, led by a Toy Soldier wearing black. I turn around to figure out a counter-attack strategy with my key aides, but I’m all alone. I hear myself shout: ‘A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!’ And then I wake up, sitting bolt-upright in bed, trembling and covered in sweat.”
“And that’s the dream that brought you back here, Mr. President?”
“Well, that one and at my wife’s and physician’s insistence. They seem to feel I’m in bad shape and could use your help.”
“And you? What do you feel?”
Dumpster-Diving for GOP Quotes (And Their Hidden Meanings)
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
As a playwright, I pay special attention to the difference between words as they are spoken and the unsaid words hidden beneath the surface — what we in the dramaturgy biz call “subtext.”
With McCain and Obama edging closer to full-out general election campaigning, it seems an appropriate time to examine recent and older public utterances of various Republican officials — Bush, McCain, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Fleischer, Ashcroft, et al. — and their likely subtextual meanings.
I’m presenting them here for several reasons: first, to make sure these utterances do not get forgotten, but also to help us figure out how to combat the twisted politics they represent. No doubt a goodly number of these quotations will appear in campaign ads prior to November.
George W. Bush, of course, is a never-ending source of such examples. Many of them make you guffaw in absolute embarrassment for the guy, way over his head in a complex world he’s capable of understanding only in the most simplistic terms. Some of his remarks, especially in recent years when nobody really is paying serious attention to him any more, make you cringe in their dangerous, reckless abandon. Some are so anger-provoking, they almost make you wish Cheney had taken him bird-hunting.
Often, Bush’s comments are evidence of pure ignorance. Sometimes, he can’t hide the arrogance and malice — sure tip-offs of someone with major self-esteem problems. Sometimes things come out of his mouth impulsively and he winds up revealing a lot more than he realizes.
Of course, the GOP archives of the past eight years contain hundreds of juicy quotations worth noting. Here are just a dozen of my favorites. Remember, boys and girls, you can play this game at home with your own choices. (If you run across some really good ones, send them in along with your subtextual explications.)
“Shock Doctrine” Spin in U.S., Burma and Beyond
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
Suppose you have a controversial project you wish to push through, but you’re afraid that if you come right out and say what you’re up to, there will be so many objections from other officials and ordinary citizens that you might never get a chance to implement your agenda.
But you’re savvy about how influence-molding works and you know that with the right kind of massive publicity and P.R. campaigns, you probably can “spin” public perception in your direction.
So, on a foundation of lies and deception, you decide to launch your project, careful to keep absolutely secret the most controversial aspects. And then, under the table, you hire (a.k.a. “bribe”) numerous journalists, opinion pundits and respected “consultants” to speak on behalf of your product.
“What’s With Your ‘Crazy’ U.S Politics?” — A Letter to European Friends
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
Dear Wolfgang and Jacqueline:
Finally some time to respond to your recent letter, where you asked me to explain the “crazy American political situation” and why “the U.S. is behaving so recklessly” with regard to Iran. Your terms are right on the mark.
Impeachment Now or Apocalypse Later?
By Bernard Weiner, The Crisis Papers
The political noose seems to be tightening on the key members of the remaining miscreants down in the White House bunker — mainly Bush, Cheney, Rice, Addington and Mukasey. (Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Gonzales, Powell and Tenet were pushed out the door earlier.) But will the Democrats, having been provided with smoking gun-type evidence of these officials’ high crimes and misdemeanors, take the next logical step to end this continuing nightmare of law-breaking at the highest levels? Consider:
Project for the Old American Century 