agitprop version 2.0

Bring In 'Da Noise, Bring In 'Da Crunk

Time to commence Operation ACLU Annihilation:

NEW YORK (AP) - Pictures of detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released despite government claims that they could damage America's image, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism.'' The American Civil Liberties Union sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.

It appears that Operation ACLU Annihilation is already underway over at Little Green Fascists. Check out some of the un-edited comments from LGF:

someone take the ACLU -out

The trrorists from the ACLU win. And they'd be the first ones executed if they really got their wishes.

An utter travesty of justice. I hope conservatives destroy the ACLU with this blatant example of their willingness to venture into the anti-American to smear a Republican.
I don't have anything else to say.

Since the wingnuts have trouble typing correctly and communicating effectively, I have decided to summarize their views with this quick and easy set of talking points:

• The ACLU is engaging in partisan attacks against a Republican administration which promoted torture as official policy.
• The ACLU hates America because they want to hold government accountable--the very government which ignored reports of torture and abuse.
• The ACLU champions evil values such as civil liberties and freedom from government oppression, therefore they are anti-American.
• Right-wing "patriots" champion real American values such as obedience to authority, one-party dictatorial rule, torture, extraordinary rendition and pre-emptive war.
• The government protects Americans by torturing innocent brown people.
• Just pretend it's all okay.
• We are safer.
• Trust me.

More on torture from The Heretik and The Tattered Coat.

afghanistan pentagon iraq war on terror impeach bush abu ghraib guantanamo

Gotta Love Them OC Wingnuts

Here's a little gem I found in the letter section of the OC Weekly, Orange County's left-leaning alternative weekly news magazine. This wingnut must have graduated from the Ann Coulter school of political rhetoric:

Re: Rebecca Schoenkopf’s “Thank God for That Tax Cut!” [Sept. 9]: You know what’s worse than you liberals hating the president? It’s terrorists. And you liberals who hate the president are just as bad as terrorists. You two get along so well. And you know what? When are you liberals going to start blaming this whole catastrophe on the Category 5 hurricane that struck that land, huh? And why didn’t those people who died act on the warning to get out? No, you know what, they wanted to ride the wave out, they just wanted to ride it out. Well, they rode it straight to their deaths. So maybe next time all you fuckin’ liberals will start blaming who’s really to blame here. Those people had a warning, Rebecca, and they did not get out, you fuckin’ dumb ass! I can’t believe you would ruin your 10-year anniversary on filthy print like this, you fuckin’ terrorist! Rebecca Schoenkopf, you are nothing but a terrorist, you fuckin’ cunt!

Christopher Kling
Voicemail

Wow Christopher. Your comparison of liberals to terrorists is so fresh! I don't think I've ever heard that before. Your misogynistic attack on Miss Schoenkopf would be admired by all knuckle-dragging barbarians across our fair county. I also appreciated your "blame the victim" style assault on the casualties of Hurricane Katrina. I always thought they had a death wish. Why else would those poor people with no means of transportation or cash choose to ride out the storm?

One question for you Christopher . . . why do you hate freedom?

Here's Rebecca Schoenkopf's column which tipped Christopher over the edge. Schoenkopf writes the Commie Girl column and can also be found at Commie Girl Collective. As much as I detest the writings of Michelle Malkin and other right-wing psycho hose beasts, I would never resort to using sexist epithets. Their insane views speak for themselves.

Faith-Based Disaster Relief

Hulkaleezza to the rescue:

BAYOU LA BATRE - After fending off criticism that help came too slowly for Hurricane Katrina's black victims, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nodded in agreement Sunday to a call for patience.

"Wait for the Lord," the Rev. Malone Smith Jr. told Rice and the rest of the Pilgrim Rest AME Zion congregation outside Mobile.

"There are some things the president can do; there are some things the government can do," Smith told about 300 worshippers. "But God can do all things. I want you to know he's never late. He's always on time."

Rice, the Bush administration's chief defender against charges that the government's sluggish response showed racial insensitivity, later echoed the call for patience.

"The Lord is going to come on time, if we just wait," she said.

Be patient you whiny petulant children. All you do is complain!

"Waaahh, we lost our house in the hurricane. We had no food or water for a week. No one helped us, not even the government. Waaahh!!"

Be patient and the Lord will come to your rescue (that is if you pray correctly).

Condi's damage control mission simply gives credence to Kanye West's outburst last Friday. If I may I'd like to revise Mr. West's statment . . . George Bush doesn't care about poor black people or ones that aren't in his administration. Actually, George Bush doesn't care about anyone but his corporate donors.

This also speaks volumes about the Republican attitude toward government. Starve it until it drowns in a bathtub. Then, simply tell citizens that they must be patient and wait for God's help.

hat tip: watertiger

hurricane katrina katrina politics michael brown kanye west

He's Baaaack!

Sith Lord Dick Cheney has resurfaced from his four week long hibernation and is currently touring the areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. If there's one person who can provide comfort and compassion to hurricane victims, it's Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney.

No one is quite sure what he has been doing for the past month. The last time he was seen was at Bush's Crawford ranch in mid-August. Was he running the shadow government from his underground bunker? Was he at the Pentagon overseeing plans to nuke Iran? Or perhaps he was ripping the heads off baby kittens and then throwing them into Potomac? 

The Washington Post has reported rumors that the Cheney family is purchasing a $2.9 million estate on the Chesapeake Bay next to the Rumsfeld family estate:

Reaction to the two men's presence is embedded into everyday conversation -- even as residents take pride in taking it all in stride. They tick off celebrities who have lived in or visited the area: Margaret Thatcher, Walter Cronkite, James Michener, Yasser Arafat and Vince Vaughan -- the latest during nearby filming of "Wedding Crashers." Residents joke about the occasional helicopter overhead and what flavor Rumsfeld gets at Justine's Ice Cream parlor.

These old bastards go way back. Now they'll be neighbors. How cute!

One woman even drew a clear distinction -- pro-Rumsfeld, anti-Cheney. "Cheney's a politician. He's connected with Bush," said Rhonda Lewis, 58, a bookkeeper at a bike shop in nearby Easton. She has always had a crush on Rumsfeld. "He is just adorable." She thinks the defense secretary often looks stressed out on TV, and seeing him walk casually through St. Michaels in khakis is comforting. "Bush just dumped all the hard stuff on him," Lewis said.

Rumsfeld. Adorable? What the hell is she smoking?

Thanks to the Iraq War Dick Cheney will be able to purchase a home with Halliburton stock while veterans suffer with post traumatic stress disorder, severe nerve damage and lost limbs.

                  

Hey Don, don't tell George about my housewarming party. I don't want the kid there. We'll have strippers, the finest Colombian blow and a torture chamber in the basement so we can try out some new interrogation techniques.

UPDATE 9/8/2005, 11:45 am PST:  At a Cheney press gathering in Gulfport, MS, someone in the crowd yells "Go Fuck Yourself Mr. Cheney" on live TV. Crooks & Liars has the video in both Quicktime and Windows Media formats.

dick cheney

Die Cindy Die!

There's a battle waging under the hellish sun in Crawford, Texas. It's an ideological battle as well as well as a battle for the truth. In some ways it is a battle for the soul of America. In my opinion I think the Sheehan thing is running out of steam. If people want to end this war then they can't rely on just one mother. Cindy Sheehan can't hold the entire weight of the anti-war movement on her shoulders. She has started something unique but the left must act now and demand that their elected officials act too. That's if they can get past those who would like to see Cindy Sheehan's head on a pole. (Check out Neil Shakespeare's fab work).

Cindy Sheehan and her supporters at Camp Casey have been challenged by a group of pro-war activists calling themselves the "You Don't Speak For Me Cindy Tour". These Bush supporters have established Camp Reality Kool Aid across the road from Camp Casey. The "You Don't Speak For Me Cindy Tour" started in California and made its way via caravan to Crawford to tell Cindy that she doesn't speak for them. So, exactly, who are these people whom Cindy Sheehan does not speak for?

This counter-protest is organized by the friendly folks at the Orwellian-named Move America Forward, a self-proclaimed "non-partisan" organization. But Move America Forward is in fact a right-wing political advocacy group founded and headed by California Republicans and staff members of the public relations firm Russo Marsh and Rogers, which has strong ties to the Republican Party. Well of course Cindy doesn't speak for these fascist warmongers. Anti-Sheehan protest leader and conservative talk radio host Melanie Morgan doesn't have children in Iraq so why would she care about Peace Mom Cindy?

Morgan might be a somewhat attractive bubble-headed bleached blonde that resembles Stifler's Mom from American Pie, but she's really a wingnut psycho hose beast who chooses to sublimate her repressed gambling addiction by yelling anti-Sheehan outbursts from Camp Kool Aid. Yes, I said gambling addiction. Her penchant for dice and poker chips was so heinous back in the 1990's that she had her very own made-for-TV movie called High Stakes: The Melanie Morgan Story! When the Lifetime Network makes a movie about you then you know you have serious problems. I looked far and wide but was unable to find any pictures from this 1997 movie so I made my own poster seen to the right.

Truth Out has some great reports and video clips from Camp Casey vs. Camp Kool Aid. My favorite one is the war supporter who says he won't join the military to fight in Iraq because he can "better serve here in America". Make sure to check out the gal with the "Kick Their Ass and Take Their Gas" sign. If Toby Keith is smart he'll snatch that catchy phrase for his next hit single "Stealin' Oil For Jesuz".

Fundie Wingnut House of Horrors

As you might have noticed, I haven't produced an installment of Rapture Watch in over two months. There are just too many rapturous activities occurring at once that I've given up trying to document them all. Therefore, I've decided to embark on a new rapture monitoring system. I am going to see if the folks at Rapture Alert and the Rapture Index would like to borrow my monitoring system.   

            

Here is the current level for Rapture Watch as of Wednesday, August 24 at 10:15 am PST:

pat robertson

Killers For Christ

The recent case of Pat Robertson foot-in-mouth disease has spead wide and far. Both the local WB and Fox affiliates here in Los Angeles reported it on the 10 o'clock news and interviewed people for their reactions. One streetgoer compared Robertson's extreme Christian views of pro-assassination to the extreme Muslim ideology of suicide bombers.

I think we all need to give the poor senile bastard a break. Ezra Klein understands. Here's the deal. Jesus did not speak about assassinations in the Gospels. Therefore, it is acceptable to assassinate people. Jesus didn't preach about the internet either, so that's why it is ok for us to use the internet. And so on . . .

Americans should be thankful that this Supreme Talibangelist is here to identify our collective enemies. Robertson boldly described the dangers of Venezuelan evildoer Hugo Chavez:

He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.

He continued by channeling the words of a famous fictional General:

But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

I wonder if next week Pat will preach about the evils of flouridation in children's ice cream.

Rush Limbaugh Hates Freedom

Quote of the week from the three-hour hatemongering pilonidal cyst-infested Rush Limbaugh. [MediaMatters]:

We just had Stephen Breyer saying, oh, yeah, totally appropriate, we must import what they're doing around the world in other democracies, it will help buttress their attempt to establish the rule of law, and we might learn something, too. Well, here's something I'd like to import. I'd like to import the ability that the Brits are doing to export and deport a bunch of hate-rhetoric filled mullahs and imams that are stoking anti-American sentiment. Wouldn't it be great if anybody who speaks out against this country, to kick them out of the country? Anybody that threatens this country, kick 'em out. We'd get rid of Michael Moore, we'd get rid of half the Democratic Party if we would just import that law. That would be fabulous. The Supreme Court ought to look into this. Absolutely brilliant idea out there.

Last time I checked it was still kosher to speak out against one's government. Then again, I wouldn't mind moving to a beach house in La Libertad, El Salvador, as long as the DEA puts Rush in jail and then pays me his salary.

rush limbaugh politics war freedom

Deconstructing O'Reilly

Hannah Selinger at Raw Story on Bill O'Reilly:

What Bill O’Reilly says is irrelevant. He also likened downtown Portland, OR to Greenwich Village, stating that, like New York’s coolest neighborhood, Portland was home to countless street junkies. Clearly the man has issues. Disturbingly, though, people listen and subscribe to O’Reilly’s fallacies, choosing to believe that liberals have fostered a climate of Anti-Americanism. His callousness is, admittedly, somewhat attractive, because he’s confident in his points and because he refuses to back down, even when publicly embarrassed (see: loofa). And for whatever reason, these are the qualities that make him an important public figure.

Point being? Presentation of information is everything. If he had time and one semi-factual tidbit to contribute, Bill O’Reilly could probably convince people that the world is flat. His arguments may be half-baked, but his technique works, and there is nothing scarier than acknowledging that people are actually listening and adhering to what he says.

She makes some good points, although a left-wing version of O'Reilly wouldn't necessarily sell. Substance no longer matters and image is everything. The medium is the message. The Fox News Channel knows this technique very well. We can expect this technique to spread into local Fox stations since Roger Ailes has been appointed Chairman of all Fox television stations.

The right is highly skilled in the tactics of propaganda and misinformation to spread their message. The left needs to get their act together. I guess I need to read up Goebbels and how to fight misinformation. Here are two recent interesting posts which tackle this subject:

• 3 Old Men: Syllabus for Logic 101: The Ad Hominem Fallacy
• Liberal Revolt: 25 Ways to Suppress The Truth

I honestly can't believe O'Reilly wrote a book for kids. In one of the chapters he warns teenagers not to keep records of their sexual experiences while he was getting his horny phone calls tape recorded. Check out Jesus' General's version of O'Reilly's book. Here's my version:    

                   

Ha Ha Ha

Paul M. Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation, writing today at Agape Press:

Of course, all conservatives accept the fact that the state must defend us from terrorism and other acts of war. That has always been one of the state's duties. But as a conservative, I do not want "permanent war for permanent peace," as George Orwell put it in 1984. I am not convinced that the best way to defend America from terrorism is to invade and occupy other countries, countries with religions and cultures very different from our own. At the very least, the next conservatism should ask whether such a policy generates more terrorists than it eliminates, and whether we would be better served by isolating ourselves from disordered places than by intervening in them.*

But Paul, The Heritage Foundation supported the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq and argued to make the Patriot Act permanent. Maybe that "conservative" organization you created has veered off course. While there are a few real conservatives who oppose the Bush administration's reckless foreign policy and police state domestic policy, most of them have drank the kool-aid, abandoned their principles and followed the narrow party line. I've touched on this topic previously here.

Maybe some of these "conservatives" are just waking up from their four year slumber to realize that Bush has done more for big government than Clinton and LBJ combined. Sorry Paul. This whole big government thing is going to get worse. The Patriot Act isn't going away anytime soon and the wars will keep on coming. You and your "conservative" friends voted for the police state. You might as well suppress your feelings of buyer's remorse and try to enjoy endless warfare.

*I happen to agree with Paul. I've never been a "big-government" liberal. I'm more of a left-wing anarcho-libertarian who believes in social justice, self-determiniation and the Constitution.