Wednesday, April 08, 2009

THE RISE OF MILITIA MEDIA and HATE-RADIO

MEDIA REFORM: WORDS DO MATTER

Remember: Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber was a Rush Limbaugh follower, a "Dittohead."




First, I'd like to say that I believe in the inherent goodness of people, in the most powerful force in the universe, LOVE, the higher law of harmony. To me, we make our enemies stronger by fighting them. It's good to shine a light on "evil" — this right-wing hate media — but ultimately, we are each responsible for our own mental state, the thoughts we allow in, and the reaction we have toward our fellow man. I do not believe we should be engaging with these buffoons in the media. But my co-host Doug Basham feels we urgently need to call them out. I subscribe to a higher method of working in my spiritual writings, and I've had absolute spine-tingling miracles through prayer. Prayer to me is the invisible transfer of love to one another. That said, we do need to expose the corruption of the banking industry
(caused by deregulation and manipulation by lenders and financial CEOs) and we do need to stop all the hate speak.

I mentioned above that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, was a Rush Limbaugh follower, a "Dittohead." And then there's Jim D. Adkisson… the right wing aficionado who took his 12-gauge shotgun into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee last July 28, 2008… and started killing people… cuz’ he "hated liberals." Just another graduate of right wing hate-media.

Adkisson, a 58-year-old unemployed truck driver, brought 70 shotgun shells with him to the church and assumed he'd keep killing until the police arrived on the scene and shot him dead as well. Instead, some members of the congregation were able to wrestle him to the ground and hold him for police.

When investigators went to Adkisson's home in search of a motive, as well as evidence for the pending trial, they found copies of Savage's Liberalism is a Mental Disorder, Let Freedom Ring by Sean Hannity, and The O'Reilly Factor, by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. They also came across what was supposed to have been Adkisson's suicide note: a handwritten, four-page manifesto explaining his murderous actions.

The one-word answer for his deed? Hate. The three-word answer? He hated liberals.

"The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather. I'd like to encourage other like minded people to do what I've done. If life aint worth living anymore don't just Kill yourself. Do something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals!"

What Adkisson especially hated about liberals ("this cancer, this pestilence") and what he hated about candidate "Osama Hussein Obama" was that they were marching America toward ruin: "Liberals are evil, they embrace the tenets of Karl Marx, they're Marxist, socialist, communists." Adkisson seethed over the way liberals were "trying to turn this country into a communist state" and couldn't comprehend why they would "embrace Marxism."

Sound familiar, Glenn Beck?

John Bohstedt was one of the Unitarian church members who tackled Adkisson after the first round of gunfire went off inside the sanctuary. Two months ago, Adkisson pleaded guilty to the murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison. At the hearing, Bohstedt told the Associated Press he didn't think the killer had been insane, but rather had been manipulated by anti-liberal rhetoric.
This kind of violence inciting rhetoric and dishonesty… is WORSE… than yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater. Yes we absolutely, most definitely beg YOU to stop _ Glen Beck, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Bachmann, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity — before any more of our fellow citizens die for your dishonest and deadly rhetoric.
_________


Please listen in the archives to Eric Boehlert on today's show (Thursday, April 9 Basham and Cornell Radio Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas. Author and journalist Eric Boehlert discusses his article "Glen Beck and the Rise of Fox News' Militia Media." BRILLIANT ARTICLE, which I have posted below.


The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern) on KLAV 1230 AM Radio live in Las Vegas. Again, all shows are simulcast worldwide on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at Basham and Cornell Radio

Eric is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, and a former senior writer for Salon. In past appearances, Eric discussed his first book “Lapdogs: How The Press Rolled Over for Bush.” Tomorrow, we’ll be discussing Eric’s new column, titled, “Glenn Beck and the Rise of Fox News' Militia Media.”

In his column, Eric addresses 22-year-old Richard Poplawski, who just recently put on a bulletproof vest, grabbed his guns, including an AK-47 rifle, and waited for the police to respond to the domestic disturbance call his mother had placed. When two officers arrived at the front door, Poplawski shot them both in the head, and then killed another officer who tried to rescue his colleagues.”

In the wake of the bloodbath, we learned that Poplawski was something of a conspiracy nut who embraced dark, radical rhetoric about America. He was convinced the government wanted to take away his guns, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Specifically, Poplawski, as one friend described it, feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." (FYI, there is no Obama gun ban in the works.) The same friend said the shooter feared America was "going to see the end of our times."

"Glenn Beck and the Rise of Fox News' Militia Media” by Eric Boehlert

After a night of drinking, followed by an early-morning argument with his mother, with whom he shared a Pittsburgh apartment, 22-year-old Richard Poplawski put on a bulletproof vest, grabbed his guns, including an AK-47 rifle, and waited for the police to respond to the domestic disturbance call his mother had placed. When two officers arrived at the front door, Poplawski shot them both in the head, and then killed another officer who tried to rescue his colleagues.

In the wake of the bloodbath, we learned that Poplawski was something of a conspiracy nut who embraced dark, radical rhetoric about America. He was convinced the government wanted to take away his guns, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Specifically, Poplawski, as one friend described it, feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." (FYI, there is no Obama gun ban in the works.) The same friend said the shooter feared America was "going to see the end of our times."

We learned that Poplawski hosted his own (failed) Internet radio show and that he visited the website of 9-11 conspiracy backer Alex Jones, who has been hyping the threat of a totalitarian world government for years. More recently, Jones has been warning listeners like Poplawski about The Obama Deception (that's the name of Jones' new documentary DVD) and how President Obama is bound to destroy America.

Who's Alex Jones? Even according to some conservative bloggers, the anti-government, anti-Obama talker is a "freak" who's popular with "the tin foil hat crowd." Like with Poplawski, apparently.

Jones might be a "freak," but he has recently been embraced -- and mainstreamed -- by Fox News, as part of the news channel's unprecedented drive to push radical propaganda warning of America's democratic demise under the new president.

During a March 18 webcast of FoxNews.com's proudly paranoid "Freedom Watch," Andrew Napolitano introduced a segment about "what the government has done to take your liberty and your property away." And with that, he welcomed onto the show "the one, the only, the great Alex Jones," who began ranting about "exposing" the New World Order and the threat posed by an emerging "global government."

"I appreciate what you're exposing," Napolitano assured his guest.

Waving around a copy of his Obama Deception, Jones warned Fox News webcast viewers about Obama's "agenda" for "gun confiscation" and the new president's plan to "bring in total police-state control" to America.

Jones also noted with excitement that Fox News' Glenn Beck had recently begun warning about the looming New World Order on his show, just like Jones had for years. "It is great!" cheered the conspiracist. (Like Jones, Beck recently warned viewers that "the Second Amendment is under fire.") Concluding the interview, Fox News' Napolitano announced "it's absolutely been a pleasure" listening to Jones' insights.

We don't know if Poplawski tuned in to watch Jones' star turn for Fox News last month. But is there any doubt that Fox News is playing an increasingly erratic and dangerous game by embracing the type of paranoid insurrection rhetoric that people like Poplawski are now acting on? By stoking dark fears about the ominous ruins that await an Obama America, by ratcheting up irresponsible back-to-the-wall scenarios, Fox News has waded into a territory that no other news organization has ever dared to exploit.

What Fox News is now programming on a daily (unhinged) basis is unprecedented in the history of American television, especially in the form of Beck's program. Night after night, week after week, Beck rails against the president while denouncing him or his actions, alternately, as Marxist, socialist, or fascist. He felt entirely comfortable pondering whether the federal government, under the auspices of FEMA, was building concentration camps to round up Americans in order to institute totalitarian rule. (It wasn't until this week that Beck was finally able to "debunk" the FEMA conspiracy theory.) And that's when Beck wasn't gaming out bloody scenarios for the coming civil war against Obama-led tyranny. In just a few shorts months, Beck raced to the head of Fox News' militia media movement.

Just prior to the Pittsburgh massacre, Beck's often bizarre on-air performances, in which his rants against the Obama administration's dark forces were mixed in with his tearful proclamations of love of country, had turned him into a highly rated laughingstock. "That is a shaky cat," Dennis Miller recently giggled while describing Beck. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough broke into hysterics after a montage of Beck's most weepy moments. And TV satirists have had a field day at the Fox News host's expense. (Stephen Colbert: "Crank up the crazy and rip off the knob!")

But I'm not sure people should be laughing.

The consequences of Fox News' doomsday programming now seem entirely predictable. As Jeffrey Jones, a professor of media and politics at Old Dominion University, recently explained to The New York Times in regard to Beck's rhetoric, "People hear their values are under attack and they get worried. It becomes an opportunity for them to stand up and do something."

People like Richard Poplawski? FYI, weeks before his deadline shooting spree, Poplawski uploaded a video clip of Beck ominously referencing the FEMA camps on Fox News.

It's true that Beck, in response to mounting criticism, made this statement on his show:

BECK: Let me be clear on one thing. If someone tries to harm another person in the name of the Constitution or the truth behind 9-11 or anything else, they are just as dangerous and crazy as those people we don't seem to recognize anymore -- you know, the ones who kill in the name of Allah.

But look at the very next two lines of his monologue: "There are enemies both foreign and domestic in America tonight. Call it fearmongering or call it the truth." That doesn't sound like Beck was backing away from his rhetorical call to arms to fend off the Marxist -- no, wait -- fascist Obama administration.

And let's drop the idea -- pushed hard by Beck himself -- that he's simply a modern-day Howard Beale, from the classic film Network, just an angry, I'm-mad-as-hell everyman lashing out at the hypocrisies of our time. Nonsense. Beale's unvarnished on-air rants from Network targeted conformity, corporate conglomerates, and the propaganda power of television. ("This tube," he called it.) Beale's attacks were not political or partisan. Beck, by contrast, unleashes his anger against, and whips up dark scenarios about, the new president of the United States. Big difference.

Here's a sampling of what Beck's been drumming into the heads of viewers, a portion of whom likely (and logically) hear his rhetoric as a call to action. That the government is a "heroin pusher using smiley-faced fascism to grow the nanny state." That it's indoctrinating our children; that we have "come to a very dangerous point in our country's long, storied history." Beck's concerned that the "Big Brother" government will soon dictate what its citizens can eat, at what temperature their house can be set, and what kind of cars they're allowed to drive.

Beck's sure "[d]epression and revolution" are what await America under Obama, and fears moving "towards a totalitarian state." The country today sometimes reminds Beck of "the early days of Adolf Hitler." Beck thinks that Obama, who has "surrounded himself by Marxists his whole life," is now "addicting this country to heroin -- the heroin that is government slavery."

And it's not just Beck. Appearing on Fox News, Dick Morris recently made a wildly irresponsible comment that looks even worse in light of the Pittsburgh law-enforcement slayings: "Those crazies in Montana who say, 'We're going to kill ATF agents because the UN's going to take over' -- well, they're beginning to have a case."

And it's not just Fox News. Radio nut Michael Savage recently claimed that "we have a naked Marxist for president." And high-profile conservative blogger Erick Erickson contemplated the beating of politicians: "At what point do [people] get off the couch, march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?"

Of course, the right-wingers at Free Republic ("Freepers") are way ahead of Erickson as they fantasize about something much worse. You can read it here, but I won't publish this kind of evil right-wing rhetoric. Horrifying! Freepers Cross Threshold: Call for Violence

I wonder if Glenn Beck knows who Jim Adkisson is.

"There are a lot of people who hate liberals, and if we stir that around in the pot and on the airwaves, eventually there will be people (like Adkisson) ... who get infected by the violent rhetoric and put it into violent action," Bohstedt said.

He remained worried about future violence: "Do you think there are other Jim Adkissons out there listening to hate speech? I do."

Me too.
_________
About Glenn Beck's Extremist Rhetoric
Media | Tue, Apr 7, 2009
Little Green Footballs

Michael A. Cohen has a piece in Politico today about the over-the-top irresponsible extremism and conspiracy theories promulgated by weeping Glenn Beck: Extremist rhetoric won’t rebuild GOP.

(article) "He’s right. This turn toward the extreme right on the part of Fox News is troubling, and will achieve nothing in the long run except further marginalization of the GOP—unless people start behaving like adults instead of angry kids throwing tantrums and ranting about conspiracies and revolution."

Doug Basham: A MILD attempt at nobility, perhaps, but one that I think… completely understates the problem… shooting cops to death in the head is a FAR cry from behaving like angry kids throwing tantrums and ranting about conspiracies and revolution, am I wrong?

___________________

AMERICA-HATING SHOCK-JOCKS

I actually heard right-wing radio host Mark Levin yell to his audience on more than one occasion, "Arm yourselves against Obama!" What kind of American is this man?

Is Rush Limbaugh a sociopath? Is Bill O'Reilly a megalomaniac? Is Glen Beck just blowing hot air? Why are these buffoons who make upwards of $30 million dollars a year in salary? Why do they spread fear and hatred?

Below is a transcript of a call from a veteran to Rush Limbaugh's show. And today, Bill O'Reilly started attacking the Chicago Sun Times because they dropped his column. He told his viewers to stop reading the newspaper! Roger Ebert Slams O'Reilly: "Losing Touch With Reality." And Michelle Bachmann said that Obama Wants "Re-Education Camps For Young People." Does she know what a "re-education" camp is? In Vietnam,

What she was trying to say is that she is in fear of young people doing volunteer work (that horrible liberal crime of helping those less fortunate.)

The Dixie Chicks had their careers ruined at the hands of these and other unpatriotic so-called "Americans." The most unpatriotic, dangerous, self-serving buffoons in the media appear to be: Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glen Beck, Michelle Bachman, Dick Cheney, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and more. I wouldn't mention it if there weren't so many crazies running around shooting people, who are admittedly provoked by these shock-jocks.

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS FINALLY PUT IN HIS PLACE
Republican Caller Tells Limbaugh: "You're A Brainwashed Nazi"

[TRANSCRIPT.]

LIMBAUGH: We're going to go to Chicago. This is Charles. Charles thank you for waiting and for calling. Great to have you here. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks Rush. Rush listen, I voted Republican and I really didn't want to see Obama get in office. But you know Rush, you're one reason to blame for this election, for the Republicans losing. First of all, you kept harping about voting for Hillary. The second big issue was the torture issue. I'm a veteran. We're not supposed to be torturing these people. This is not Nazi Germany, Red China, North Korea. There's other ways of interrogating people, and you just kept harping about, it's okay, or it's not really torture. And it was just more than waterboarding. Some of these prisoners will killed under torture.

And it was crazy for you to go on and on like Levin and Hannity and Hewitt. It's like you're all brainwashed. And my last comment is, no matter what Obama does, you will still criticize him because I believe you are brainwashed. You're just -- and I hate to say it -- but I think you're a brainwashed Nazi. Anyone who can believe in torture has got to be -- there has got to be something wrong with them.

Story continues below

LIMBAUGH: You know --

CALLER: And I know Bush wanted to keep us safe and all of that but we're not supposed to be torturing these people.

LIMBAUGH: Charles, if anybody is admitting that they are brainwashed it would be you.

CALLER: No, no, Rush. I don't think so. You, Hannity, and Levin are all brainwashed --

LIMBAUGH: Charles, you said at the beginning of your phone call that you didn't want Obama in there. But you voted for him because of me.

CALLER: I didn't vote for him. I voted for McCain. I voted Republican.

LIMBAUGH: Oh, so you're saying I turned people off --

CALLER: You turned people off with all this vote for Hillary and all this BS.

LIMBAUGH: That was Operation Chaos. That was to keep the chaos in the Democrat primaries --

CALLER: It didn't work and what we have with you Hannity Levin and Hewitt is sour grapes. That's all we have. And believe me, I'm not -- I'm more to the right than I am to the left.

LIMBAUGH: Oh, of course you are.

CALLER: I am.

LIMBAUGH: Of course you are. You wouldn't be calling here with all of these sour grapes if you weren't.

CALLER: Well I'm tired of listening to go on and on with this --

LIMBAUGH: I don't know of anybody who died from torture.

CALLER: We're not supposed to torture people. Do you remember World War II, the Nazis? The Nuremburg trials?

LIMBAUGH: Charles, Barack Obama --

CALLER: What's the matter with you? You never even served in the military. I served in the Marine Corps and the Army.

LIMBAUGH: Charles, Barack Obama is president of the United States today because of stupid, ignorant people who think like you do. You pose - you and your ignorance are the most expensive commodity this country has. You think you know everything. You don't know diddly squat. You call me a Nazi? You call me someone who supports torture and you want credibility on this program? You're just plan embarrassing and ludicrous. But it doesn't surprise me that you're the kind of Republican that our last candidate attracted. Because you're no Republican at all based on what the hell you just said right here.

The Basham and Cornell Show at 8 am Pacific Time on AM 1230 KLAV in Las Vegas. The Basham and Cornell Show broadcasts weekday mornings at 8 am Pacific (11 a.m. Eastern). All shows are simulcast on the Internet (and archived) and can be listened to at The Basham and Cornell Show



If you've missed our show, check out the audio archives for MP3 podcasts. We have interviewed Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader; Presidential candidates, Pulitzer Prize winner Charlie Savage; MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, former Reagan advisor; CNN's Paul Begala, former Clinton advisor; Bill Press, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Sen. John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, Dennis & Elizabeth Kucinich, John Dean, NBC Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv Martin Fletcher, Congressman Charlie Rangel,Valerie Plame, Vincent Bugliosi, Christine Pelosi, Dahr Jamail, Senator Mike Gravel; Senator Byron Dorgan; bestselling authors Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman.... and many more.


HATE-RADIO MUST STOP. IT IS ANTI-AMERICAN, DANGEROUS AND TREASONOUS Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glen Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage ... and in a category by herself — Michelle Bachmann

46 comments:

  1. There's a lot of hate in this country -- and unfortunately, it's not just on the radio.

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  2. Lydia,

    If you think what Limbaugh and the other "shock jocks" are saying is bad (and believe me I think it is) check out what's being spewed from pulpits across the country every week.
    www.talk2action.org
    Rick Warren and John Hagee make Limbaugh look tame in compairison.

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  3. Frank - yes I agree. John Hagee is so misguided and his obsession with the literal interpretation of Revelation and Armageddon and the Rapture is so wrong. In my bones I know it's wrong.
    It's as if he got all his information from those sophomoric, very un-Christian "Left Behind" books.

    I didn't know Warren was so bad. What is he saying?

    These are the Pharisees Jesus warned against. I think religion can sometimes get in the way of a real relationship with God. Of course my definition of God is consciousness of love and truth.

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  4. Is Hagee STILL around I thought he was discredited and in exile?

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  5. I see no one gave their opinion on my post from last night regarding Obama and Cheney?

    I thought it was an interesting theory.

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  6. Mike,

    Your theory is interesting. IMO you have far more faith in the President in this matter than I have. Don't get me wrong, I fully support the President in many things but like you I'm still dismayed that he has not revoked the rendition policy. He really needs to get a grip on these law enforcement agencies and remind them that there are limits to there power.
    Case in point, Yusuf Megahed, the USF student who was acquitted last week of all charges brought against him by the Federal Government. He was arrested yesterday by agents of Immigrations and Naturalization Service. Taken away and is being held imcommunicado. He faces deportation For The Very Crimes He Was Acquitted Of In A Court of Law. It seems as if the INS thinks they're above the law.
    I'm waiting to see what the President and Attorney General Holder do about this.

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  7. That is horrible Frank. I had no idea.

    Mike - I have to read your comment. Is it the one in which you say that Obama is undoing this NSA wiretapping stuff quietly, even secretly — not wanting to publicly rock the boat? If so, I love this theory and hope you are right. Where did you get this? Are there any facts to support it?

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  8. Frank i've been dismayed as well..........i'm not just blindly supporting Obama either i've criticized him regularly on rendition and FISA..............it just doesnt add up though WHY he would do a complete about face on two KEY issues of his campaign that he seemed so pashionate and vehement about..........couple that with Cheneys constant criticism and it seems obvious there is more too this than meets the eye.


    I mean would you HONESTLY be surprised if the illegal unconstitutional spying of the Bush criminals was MUCH MORE EXTENSIVE AND HEINOUS THAN WE THOUGHT?

    Ask yourself that question with an open mind?

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  9. Yep Lydia thats the one..........think about it with an open mind and it makes MORE sense than any of the alternatives I think.

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  10. No its pure speculation based on logically examining the facts.........if I did have facts to support my theory then none of this would ACTUALLY be classified or top secret.


    But which seems more plausible my theory or the one that Obama is REALLY a megalomanic liar who agrees with Bush and Cheney that spying, rendition and torture are all useful, neccessary and perfectly acceptible tools of a civilized society even though he has passionately stated the exact opposite time after time.


    Then we have Dick Cheney CONSTANTLY pounding on Obama as a President who has made our country MUCH LESS SAFE like a disnonest con man with a two headed coin who cant lose regardless of what happens.............see if that is the case Cheney can KEEP pounding on Obama about compromising our safety and Obama cant defend himself because he either has to keep quiet and not release classified top secret programs allowing Cheney to keep pounding on him........... or disclose the secret programs and make it plain they ARE being dismantled which if done could allow Cheney and the repugs to paint him as weak on National Security and keeping us safe if another terrorist attack were to occur.

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  11. Again its just speculation................its not a conspiracy theory just a theory based on a gut feeling and an open minded and logical examination of the facts.


    Ask yourself WHY Cheney keeps pounding on Obama........almost like he KNOWS Obama is caught in a catch 22 and cant defend himself.

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  12. Mike,

    Tell you what...I'll reserve judgement until further down the road. I mean President Obama has done so much for this country already that I do find it hard to believe but yet there it is.
    Here's one for you. Maybe the President and his people are keeping this going while they find out exactly who's done what so that they can prosecute them. I figure if old Dirty Dick Cheney ever thought he was going down for his crimes there would be hell to pay. Perhaps the President is waiting until he can move openly against these criminals without fear of violent reprisals.

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  13. Fair enough Frank............your right time will tell.

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  14. Maybe I should do a blog. What do you guys think?

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  15. Will - I have been wondering why my bloggers keep attacking you. I happen to like several of your articles, and agree you are misunderstood because you are more nuanced and see the middle.

    But then I began exploring your site and found several very hateful, cruel personal attacks against me, calling me a "D-list" and other things.

    You have no idea who I am, or what I've been through. Life is hard enough without this kind of attack.

    Would you be so kind as to remove these items from your blog? I would really appreciate it.

    Also Will, please read the blog post today - the update and the article posted by Eric Boehlert. I wrote a forward to all the postings as well.

    For over two years I have been interviewing people like John Dean, Pat Buchanan, Paul Begala, Lou Dobbs, Valerie Plame, Federal Prosecutors, Congressional leaders, Bush officials, "Attorney-gate" officials, several scholars, Pulitzer Prize winners, White House correspondents, Military combat vets, Generals -- and I know way too much inside information.

    Not even one-tenth of what we know from studying and reading books makes it to the mainstream media.

    I would like you to really study and read up on the things we know about who owns the coroporate media and the history of propaganda -- before you dismiss all our research.

    I do not consider myself anything but a concerned mother and recovering blonde who believes in God and loves my country. Because I go by the Golden Rule, and the Great Peacemaker's teachings, I have been called every name in the book. I've had death threats from so-called "Christians!"

    They must not realize that the word "Christ" is the root of the word "Christianity" because the vowel sounds are different.

    If you will really study America's history you will find that liberal values are what made America great.

    Liberals created the Social Security Act, the Clean Water act, the Right to Vote Act, Public safety, Medicare, and on and on. What did "conservatives" do? They obstructed and opposed them on every bit of progress imaginable.

    Our only real enemy is within ourselves.

    Today our guest gave a riveting recap of his amazing article "Glen Beck and the Rise of Militia Media."

    Please listen in the archives and I'll post the link soon.

    ___________________

    AMERICA-HATING SHOCK-JOCKS

    I actually heard right-wing radio host Mark Levin yell to his audience on more than one occasion, "Arm yourselves against Obama!" What kind of American is this man?

    Is Rush Limbaugh a sociopath? Is Bill O'Reilly a megalomaniac? Is Glen Beck just a weeper blowing hot air?

    These unconscionable liars are allowed to inflame people while making upwards of $30 million dollars a year in salary?

    Why do they spread fear and hatred?
    RATINGS. MONEY.

    And Michelle Bachmann said that Obama Wants "Re-Education Camps For Young People." Does she know what a "re-education" camp is? The Vietcong used these camps!!

    What she was trying to say is that she is in fear of young people doing volunteer work (that horrible liberal crime of helping those less fortunate.)

    11:11

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  16. From Newt Gingrich's sister:

    "It's fitting that Newt, whose name is synonymous with divisiveness, would assail someone who unites people as adeptly as Harry Knox. Under his leadership, HRC has developed a national speakers' bureau that reaches more than 10 million Americans monthly and a weekly preaching resource that provides scriptural commentary to ministers and lay people interested in an ecumenical LGBT perspective on the Bible.

    He has also been instrumental in creating a national network for progressive state clergy coalitions around the country.

    That is incredibly scary for those who rely on distorted messages of faith to incite fear and justify discrimination. Right-wing voices like my brother's use faith to manipulate people into voting against their interests by scapegoating the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

    Come on, Newt--get with the program. We're not so bad!

    I don't think my brother is the intolerant talking head he plays on television. Rather, he's just using old, outmoded tactics in a desperate attempt to bring his party back from the dead. He is parroting the old canard that LGBT people cannot be people of faith. Ergo, people of faith cannot be supportive of LGBT people. If I may repeat myself, that is so 90s, bro.

    But it isn't the 90s anymore--far from it. Newt doesn't realize he's already lost, because the next generation won't fall for the rhetoric that once was effective for the right-wing.

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  17. I apologize, Lydia, for any unkind words from the past. We got off to a bad start about a year ago. The post about John McCain collaborating with the North Vietnamese really set me off and I took it out partly on you. That was wrong. You seem like a good person (partisan but good) and I shouldn't have made you guilty by association.

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  18. Damn that took a LONG time didn't it will;

    Exactly what I told you a year ago.

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  19. Testing...one...two...three...is this thing on?

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  20. Mike,

    I just read an article over at the Huffington Post that the Obama Administration is getting rid of all of the private security contractors that they used to interrogat suspects. I also read where he ordered the overseas prisons closed on the second day of his administration. Apparently, I had forgotten that. Anyhow, it looks like my concerns were misplaced. I am glad that I was wrong.

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  21. For a really fascinating and in depth look at the Militia Movement I highly recommend "Harvest of Rage" by Joel Dyer.
    Although it came out about 15 years ago it is still very informative and relevant.

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  22. frank, Obama is going further removing lots of Bush privatization of the DOD so that the people working on base and overseas are answerable to the pentagon and NT just the reich wing who got no bid contracts from the GOPers they handed campaign contributions to.

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  23. Clif,

    That's even better news. I've always thought that farming out DoD jobs to private contracters was asking for trouble.

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  24. Me too, because the private contractors do not answer to the people on the ground just their corporate masters, as the KBR electrocute the troops scandal shows very well.


    BTW in one court case against KBR they have lost round one in court where they tried but failed to get the case dismissed.

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  25. Clif,

    Good news about KBR. It's good to see the modern day condottiere being held accountable for their actions.

    I wonder what will happen with Blackwater Security? Now there's a group to really watch out for. Their founder is a member of the Christian Reconstructionist movement.

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  26. Send them to Somalia to ride on the ships that go by there, seems a good use for them.

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  27. Clif,

    I like that idea! Keep 'em out of mischief here.
    It's still amazes me the number of covert operations units that the US government has. I think that that issue needs to be addressed as well. I'm sure that the Obama Administration will probably be looking into it.

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  28. I haven't figured out why they haven't put a couple smaller carriers off the country with choppers to fly cover, that would stop the pirates quick, cause NO speed boat can deal with an Apache or it's European counterpart. Plus the choppers could respond much faster then any surface ship, and chase the pirates away before they could commandeer any ships.

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  29. Clif,

    Another good idea. Even a small carrier would serve as an effective deterrent. The other part of the problem though is what to do about the villages that harbor the pirates. From what I've read, they've built up quite an infrastructure.
    Launching airstrikes would be quite problematical as the vast majority of the people around there are basically just poor folks just trying to get by.

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  30. Frank if you cut off the ability of the pirates to make good at their trade, they will have to do something else, which means the villages that the pirates hide in won't need to be worried about since the pirates will have to go back to smuggling or drug running as a trade.

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  31. Lydia blogged "Yes we absolutely, most definitely beg YOU to stop _ Glen Beck, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Bachmann, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity — before any more of our fellow citizens die for your dishonest and deadly rhetoric."

    Not going to happen ... unless they are forced to. These slimebags only listen to and obey their god -- a god whose symbol is "$" and whose scripture is printed on green pieces of paper. We need to cut them off at the source ... their advertisers.

    We had some measure of success with Bill O'Reilly ... would anybody be interested in cranking it up a notch, hooking up with other liberal groups, and turning the financial thumb screws on Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and Savage?

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  32. Clif,

    I see your point. Good idea.

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  33. Folks,

    Before I go to bed. (It's 11PM here in Tampa) I would just like to bring up a name: Joe Pyne.
    Joe was the first of the adversarial "shock jocks". His heyday was the 50's and 60's and at his height he was bringing in $200,000 a year. It was his success that paved the way for the likes of Limbaugh, Coulter, and the rest.
    See you all tomorrow.

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  34. Blogger MCH said...

    We had some measure of success with Bill O'Reilly ... would anybody be interested in cranking it up a notch, hooking up with other liberal groups, and turning the financial thumb screws on Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, and Savage?"


    Might prove effective with Hannity and Beck............dont think it would work with Rush the ONLY people that listen to that IDIOT are radical unthinking wingnuts and his corporate masters KNOW THAT damn well.

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  35. Blogger clif said...

    Frank if you cut off the ability of the pirates to make good at their trade, they will have to do something else, which means the villages that the pirates hide in won't need to be worried about since the pirates will have to go back to smuggling or drug running as a trade."


    EXACTLY use tactical airstrikes mainly with Appaches to destroy their infrastructure........also air surveylance to find where their lair is..........if the DONT have the high speed boats they cant very well be pirates.

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  36. Mike said "Might prove effective with Hannity and Beck ............ dont think it would work with Rush the ONLY people that listen to that IDIOT are radical unthinking wingnuts and his corporate masters KNOW THAT damn well."


    Very good point. Hannity and Beck might be particulary vulnerable in light of the recent O'Reilly campaign and the fact that Murdoch is losing money hand over fist.

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  37. Blogger Frank Frey said...

    Clif,

    Good news about KBR. It's good to see the modern day condottiere being held accountable for their actions.

    I wonder what will happen with Blackwater Security? Now there's a group to really watch out for. Their founder is a member of the Christian Reconstructionist movement."


    I find this VERY reassuring as well the use of thugs and merceneries for hire with no ethics or accountability I found very disturbing not to mention the fact that these cronnies were making more than both the military and civilian leadership in many cases which I find reprehensible.

    In fact i've heard some of these contractors were making more than Petraeus or the President.

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  38. Blogger Frank Frey said...

    Clif,

    That's even better news. I've always thought that farming out DoD jobs to private contracters was asking for trouble."


    Yep..........couldnt agree more!

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  39. Blogger Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

    I apologize, Lydia, for any unkind words from the past. We got off to a bad start about a year ago. The post about John McCain collaborating with the North Vietnamese really set me off and I took it out partly on you. That was wrong. You seem like a good person (partisan but good) and I shouldn't have made you guilty by association."


    Well better late than NEVER Will.........would have been alot better though if you wouldnt have attacked Lydia for something that Larry actually said like I tried to tell you maybe 100 or more times.

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  40. Mike, will seems to be a REAL slow learner.

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  41. At least Bush wasn't the only reich wing asshat on the planet running a country;

    Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi caused outrage yesterday by telling earthquake survivors to treat their ordeal like it was a camping trip.

    The gaffe-prone premier said the 18,000 people who have lost houses, family and friends were enjoying plenty of home comforts at “tent city” camps.

    Berlusconi, 72, dismissed suggestions that victims were enduring freezing mountain temperatures and that some were without tents and basic provisions.


    He reminds me of the idiots mother, who when visiting the Astrodome where Superdome Katrina survivors were relocated to famously stated;

    Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
    poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."


    I guess reich-wing asshats are the same the world over.

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  42. New EASTER blog is up with pictures!!

    I have to post one of my miracles this weekend.

    By the way, I have never published any of my real writings yet.

    The "Ann Coulter book" I was working on is a collection of 50 essays -- I have never released. They are humorous, and they cut deep and explore the most crucial issues in our society.

    But I decided not to release a book with her name on the cover -- because she is beneath all of us. I have 3 other books that are much more fun and funny to get out first - and the spiritual one with all the miracles.

    Why waste time on people who cause you to receive death threats?

    But these essays will come out in another form.

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  43. Will: I read your apology, but I would really appreciate it if you'd remove that statement on your blog of April 8. The blog post is called "Textbook."

    Thank you so much.

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  44. Please leave comments on new blog thread if you'd like.

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  45. Hi, Lydia - hope all is well with you and perhaps things are better now than it was when I was last here a couple of years ago. I do agree with your thoughts on these "shock jocks", who to me have absolutely no clue as to what they're talking about most of the time.

    The good ol' days of AM Radio is fading fast for me...from hearing X-Rock 80 in El Paso 30 years ago to this...

    Either way, I'm glad we have the right man in the White House, and I think this country's going to be in pretty good shape for a while. As I mentioned in Facebook a few days ago, give Obama a chance.

    Keep up the great work, my friend. God Bless.

    Rob

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