Inspire Political Discourse

FLASHBACK: Witch Hunter, Thomas Muthee, Prays Over Palin

This video was originally posted on the website of Palin's church in Wasilla. It depicts Palin as she is prayed over by Kenyan witch hunter, Thomas Muthee. He prays that she will be protected from witchcraft as she seeks higher office.

Muthee began his life in ministry in Africa by hunting down a local woman named Mama Jane after proclaiming her a witch. Six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a “divination” centre called the Emmanuel Clinic in Kiambu, Kenya. Her alleged involvement in fortune-telling and the fact that she lived near the site of a number of fatal car accidents led Pastor Muthee to publicly declare her a witch responsible for the town’s ills, and order her to offer up her soul for salvation or leave Kiambu. After Pastor Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. [……]

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Trailer for Glenn Beck's New Book

Ye "Gods of the copybook headings", is Beck having us all on, or is he just certifiable [as most of us have long thought]?  

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Lies About Her Father’s Military Service and Then Denys Lying About It

Brewer recently made a comment claiming that her father “died fighting the Nazi regime”, via The Arizona Guardian:

“Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lose him when I was 11 because of that...and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced.

As pointed out by The Guardian, Brewer's father, Wilford Drinkwine, actually worked as a civilian at a naval munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nevade during WWII. He died in 1955 from lung cancer, leading one to conclude that Brewer is playing fast and loose with the truth.

Now, she is ludicrously claiming that she “didn’t mislead anyone”.

“There is no way I have ever misled anybody. You're trying to make a liar out of me.

Governor Brewer, you did most certainly lie. It really is that simple.

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UPDATE: Commentary from media outlets:

Vanity Fair:

Jan Brewer, imperial sun queen of Arizona's chromatocracy, told the Arizona Republic that her father died fighting Nazis during World War II. The saga is very sad, except its tragedy is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it is extremely untrue.

Daily Kos:

Ah yes, claiming her father died fighting Nazis in Germany should, in no way, be construed as implying that her father died fighting Nazis in Germany.

Arizona Republic:

But I'm wondering if you would feel the same if the embellishments had been made by former Gov. Janet Napolitano? Because these days we seem to make excuses for those with whom we agree and condemn those with whom we disagree no matter WHAT the facts.

Political Cartoon of the Week: Beck Followers Are Morons

Via LAProgressive

SB1070 Palin Again Defending What Was Wrought "We’re all Arizonians"

On Saturday, Palin spoke at a news conference with Gov. Jan Brewer [R-AZ] in an effort to discourage the growing boycott of Arizona due to SB1070, the immigration law enacted in Arizona earlier this month.

Palin defended the law by declaring President Obama responsible for the lack of secure borders, said lack "forcing" Arizona to take action to defend itself and secure it's own borders.

We're all Arizonans now. And in clear unison we say, 'Mr. President: Do your job. Secure our border”.

Okay, so here are a few FACTS for Ms. Palin:

  The crime rate in border towns has not increased for a number of years.

This Week in Bizarro World With Sarah Palin May 10 - May 15

Monday, 10 MAY 2010

Palin started her week by boldly lying about supposed pay decreases for our armed forces.The implication was that Obama was decreasing the pay of armed forces personnel, when in reality, he had requested a pay raise for them to take effect in 2011. Via BroadwayCarl:

Sarah's Facebook ghostwriter wrote:
“ Soldier pay decreases in the midst of overspending elsewhere and government union pay raises. Seriously? What are our priorities? ”
going on to cite a Newsmax article. Newsmax!

On the Facebook post itself, Palin's fawning, and unpaid, lackeys deleted all comments which called her out or cited the truth. I know this because not only did it happen to Broadway Carl, it happened to me when I posted a comment citing the truth of the matter. She scrubbed my comment, and banned me from her page.

VIDEO: Anderson Cooper Has Heated Debate With Army Birther Doctor

Cooper challenges Lt. Colonel Terry Lakin, 
who has refused deployment to Afghanistan [and has been court martialed] based on Lakin's discredited assertion that Obama was not born in the United States in spite of all evidence to the contrary. 

It seems to me that if you are going to make such spurious accusations publicly, you ought to be willing to defend your position without hiding behind your lawyer, but then again, we are talking about a member of the Tea Party

In any case, the Birther Meme is getting very old, especially considering that even our far right wing SCOTUS has refused to hear any birther case, and other cases of military personnel refusing orders on the same basis, i.e., questioning Obama's eligibility to serve as commander-in-chief, have been dismissed. . The Tea Party faction of the G.O.P. needs to find another way to depose Obama, as that is clearly their intent evidenced by so many of their actions over the past year or so. View the video below.

The View: Tea Party Director Claims Insult in Term "Teabagger" & Denies Racism of Tea Party Movement

On The View yesterday, the director of the Tea Party Express, Amy Kremer, claimed that using the term "teabagger" to refer to a member of the Tea Party, was just as bad as using the "N" word.

Really? Really, Ms. Teabagger?

First of all, the term "teabagger" is only really offensive when you consider it's sexual connotation, first used by the Tea Party to slur liberals.

The “N word” on the other hand, has the horror of hundreds of years of the oppression of black people behind it.

Not at ALL the same, lady, not even close.

Secondly, the term "teabagger" was first used by the teabaggers to refer to, themselves at the beginning of their non-grassroots movement.

Moreover, as Jay Nordlinger at National Review admits, the term "teabagger" was introduced to the political lexicon by Tea Party movement leaders:
The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office. One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.” So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology.

Ms. Kremer also claimed that the Tea Party was not about racism or Obama’s race. No, not at all. While there are far too many examples pointing to the truth being the complete reverse of her statements, one of my favorites is from Taeggan Goddard [emphasis mine]:

“These people could be anybody. I wouldn't put it past the Democrats to plant somebody there. They're trying to label the tea party, but I've never seen any racial slurs."
-- Dale Robertson, self-proclaimed founder of the Tea Party, quoted by the Washington Times.

The only problem? The Washington Independent caught Robertson at a Tea Party rally last month holding a sign with a racial slur.

FYI, Robertson also runs the website teaparty.org.

The image is from The Washington Independent, and depicts Dale Robertson with a racist sign.

PS Ms. Kremer….your pearls are very obviously cheap imitations, rather like the ideology you espouse.

Teabagger "Woodstock"

Oh, gag me.

An event described as the “Woodstock” of tea parties is planned for Sept. 11 at the Monona County Fairgrounds in Onawa in western Iowa.

Craig Halverson of Griswold, who is helping to organize the event, said supporters hope to attract at least 1,000 people from Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and other states. He said they are inviting prominent conservative speakers and plan to have bands perform patriotic music.

Yeah. Woodstock with guns, racist signs, and pure stupid. No hellp from drugs necessary.

Pawlenty Replacement, GOP-Endorsed 2012 Gubernatorial Candidate is a Tentherist - Nullificationist

And here you thought that all the secessionists and nullificationists lived in the South…

Not so. Apparently, the GOP’s Minnesota candidate for governor, State Rep. Tom Emmer, is another one cast in the same mold. 

The Minnesota Republican Party's official candidate to succeed Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is looking ahead to a 2012 run for President, is a staunch conservative well to Pawlenty's right who has a long history of "Tentherism," the attempts by the far right-wing to invoke the Tenth Amendment and nullify federal laws on various liberal initiatives. He has even proposed a state constitutional amendment that would allow federal laws to operate in Minnesota only if they were consented to by super-majorities of the state legislature.

Idiot Quote of the Week: Sarah Palin on Hannity

The woman who was labeled by TIME magazine as one of the “top 25 WORLD leaders” has still never, ever given a press conference. There is NO reason you should wonder why.

"This is the problem with that lamestream media throughout our country, it's not just this issue but so many. One of the media outlets the other day just, ah, just was killin' me on this one, Sean, where they had a caption across their screen that said this Arizona law will make it -- it will make it illegal to be an illegal immigrant -- some bizarre type 'a headline like that where it was just this illustration that they just don't get it." Sarah Palin on the Hannity show on April 27.

She makes me cringe with embarrassment for my country.

Russell Pearce, Original Sponsor of Draconian Arizona Immigration Law, Has Ties to White Supremacists

Russell Pearce is the chief sponsor of the Arizona bill, and as many have noted, the bill, in effect, legalizes racial profiling. From the Fayetteville Observer [emphasis mine]:

Arizona Immigration Bill Sponsor Russell Pearce Has White Supremacist Ties, Nativist Views

In 2006, Arizona state legislator Russell Pearce got himself into a bit of trouble.

Pearce is the chief sponsor of Arizona's brutal new immigration law.

In '06, he circulated emails from the National Alliance, a white supremacist group. The email defended a racially conscious white person who "looks askance at miscegenation or at the rapidly darkening racial situation in America." (Miscegenation refers to interracial relationships.)

The email went on to blame the media for forcing on the public the notion of equality of the races, the truth of the Holocaust and "the wickedness of attempting to halt the flood of non-White aliens pouring across our borders ... ."

Pearce claimed later to not know what the group was or what was in the email, but the chairman of the state Republican Party called the email a "severe mistake."

Then-U.S. representative J.D. Hayworth, who is no softy himself on illegal immigration, said: "Given the regrettable and disturbing nature of the e-mail Russell Pearce circulated earlier this week, I cannot in good conscience lend my endorsement to his candidacy for State Representative."

If the email "slip" had been Pearce's only tie to racism and nativism, maybe it would be no big deal on the scheme of things. But there's more.

• Pearce, who is now a state senator, has been videotaped and photographed palling around with nativists and white supremacists at anti-immigrant rallies, including with neo-Nazi and white power activist J.T. Ready.  
  [......]

Arizona Legalizes Racial Profiling, Ctd

Via Bob Cesca @ Huffpost on the Arizona law and neo-slavery:

And now this is the law of the state of Arizona -- arresting people, citizen or not, simply for appearing Hispanic. The ghosts of Green Cottonham, "anti-vagrancy" laws and Black Codes. America has resurrected its predilection for rounding up brown people based on flimsy excuses and good ol' boy lawmaking.

While there's no evidence that the Arizona law will feed the rise of a new underground forced labor market in the United States, it's clear that the various components of neo-slavery are here now. And the optics and civil liberties violations, say nothing of the long-term consequences, are horrible. We're on the brink of rounding up Hispanic people on ridiculous charges while American corporations are actively engaged in the trafficking of illegal immigrant labor.

How soon, I wonder, until we read about Hispanic people -- citizens or otherwise -- being picked up for not having their birth certificates and other "papers" in their back pockets and consequently shipped off on some sort of prison "work release" program to a cabbage farm or meat packing plant?

Arizona Legalizes Racial Profiling

The Arizona Republican anti-immigration bill. Where to start. A bill that legalizes the worst kind of racial profiling, making it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona.
In my opinion, it harkens back to the creation of neo-slavery in the South after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Bill Moyers Journal

Sullivan on Palin and 2012

I hope he’s wrong, but I’ve been saying this for at least a year, implausible as it seems, and nothing would surprise me in our weird political climate.

While the political wisdom has it that Obama would roundly defeat her in such a contest, it makes me extremely nervous to see her get that close to the presidency. Sullivan:

She is the biggest political power after Obama in this country. And, unless the full truth emerges with such force it cracks even the FNC/RNC sealed universe, she will run against him in 2012.

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Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Bill Likely to Pass

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, has until tomorrow to sign, veto, or allow the nation's toughest bill on illegal immigration to pass without her signature. It is expected that she will sign it, making it a crime to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona.

Civil rights activists have said the bill would lead to racial profiling and deter Hispanics from reporting crimes. Hundreds of Hispanics protested the legislation at the State Capitol complex on Thursday.

UPDATE: President Obama's comments on the Arizona bill this morning:

Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. That includes for example the recent efforts in Arizona which threaten basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.

But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts to open up across the country.

Cesca: Beck Uses Classic Televangelist Techniques

Fascinating. But…..I could only listen to the audio of Beck for a couple of minutes. blech.

During yesterday's Glenn Beck radio show, Beck delivered a 10-minute monologue in which he hit all of his phony-baloney touchstones -- some of them, as I've been writing for the last several weeks, are dangerous and some are simply ridiculous. But primarily, Beck was in full televangelist mode about God and something about a "plan" and, in the process, he dovetailed into a little McCarthyism and, as usual, a little historical revisionism. He even shrunk into a defensive bit refuting the accusations that he's a faker who's conning his audience. [……]

Dodd Excoriates GOP for Obstructionism on Financial Reform Bill

Via Think Progress

Despite months of bipartisan negotiation and promises of cooperation, Republicans recently threatened to filibuster the bill. A visibly angry Dodd took to the Senate floor today to condemn the GOP’s obstructionism, calling out their “very false talking points” and warning them that they will have to explain to Americans, “I’m sorry but we’re not on your side:”

DODD: A letter from the Minority Leader said we’ve got 41 votes here to stop you from even debating this bill. Well, you explain that to the American taxpayer, to the small business, to the American family, and to others out there who are paying an awful price because the the mess that the very institutions who are today leading the charge against us getting a bill. Explain to them why the status quo is in their interest and their benefit. Mr. President, those who vote to block this bill will be sending a clear message to American families, businesses, community bankers and tax payers and that message will be, I’m sorry but we are not on your side. We are choosing another side of this equation.

Last month, my good friend the Minority Leader and the Republican senator responsible for campaign fundraising participated in meeting in New York with Wall Street executives. … Comes back right afterwards and we get all of a sudden, we get this rhetoric about too big to fail and we can’t possibly go to this bill. Don’t tell me that miraculously, these things happen and all of sudden we find ourselves with 41 senators [opposed to this bill].

Palin and the Separation of Church and State

The silly twit never seems to get the history. Has she ever even read any American history? Or European? Is she even aware of that thing called The Enlightenment? You know, that period that the Founding Fathers were a part of, and that strongly influenced the founding of this country, as well as the principles contained in our Constitution. We are, in fact, blessed with a "Godless" constitution.

A certain former half-term governor appears to be drifting even further away from the American mainstream. Over the weekend, appearing at an evangelical Christian women's conference in Louisville, Sarah Palin rejected the very idea of separation of church and state, a bedrock principle of American democracy.

She asked for the women -- who greeted her with an enthusiastic standing ovation -- to provide a "prayer

Jon Stewart tells Fox News to F—k themselves

The salient bit begins at 5:10. Prior to that, Wyatt Cenac does a hilarious segment at a Tea Party rally. Enjoy!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tea America
www.thedailyshow.com
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