I submit that the term “tea party” should be de-capitalized. First of all, because there is no THE TEA PARTY. There are distinct national organizations that do not get along. Furthermore, the tea party has been around for years: Cleon Skousen’s “education” is today holy writ among Republicans. There is no distinction between the fringe and the mainstream anymore; everyday Republican voters actually believe this.
Commentator Juan Williams was serving two masters: FOX Noise, which has no standards, and NPR, which has high standards. He couldn’t serve both masters to the full satisfaction of either. Now that he no longer appears on the public airwaves, he’s suffering a change of mind:
The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are “entitlement society” — as used by Mitt Romney — and “poor work ethic” and “food stamp president” — as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core “old-fashioned American values.”
The code also extends to attacks on legal immigrants, always carefully lumped in with illegal immigrants, as people seeking “amnesty” and taking jobs from Americans.
Importantly, Williams makes note of the fact that immigrant-bashing does not stop with the undocumented — and that Republican rhetoric about immigrants is an extension of the dog whistling directed towards citizen minorities. The politics of resentment are quite popular with the tea party crowd, which sees the world as a zero-sum win/lose game in which a job for a brown or black person is a loss for white, Christian, “real” Americans. There is no rising tide to lift all boats in their universe. Instead, life is a competition between races — one that white people must win in order to remain on top.
Williams has identified the language of fascism, but he still doesn’t understand that the crowd cheering Newt Gingrich’s response to his questions is actually driving the rhetorical spiral, and not the other way around. They had their way in 2010 and will seek to have it again in 2012. The rest of us had better wake up before they do.
Piscataquis Village, pictured, is a private development venture that will let residents own and use cars — but live and even work without them if they choose. The streets are narrow, like ancient cities in the Old World. Of course, that’s communism; God forbid you should be able to live and work in America without having to own a car!
Nevertheless, such communities are all the rage in America. So naturally John Mica (R-sprawl) introduced a bill yesterday that puts those dirty socialist pedestrians in their place, which is on a narrow strip of grass unprotected from traffic.
The American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (AEIJA) would do away with the very successful TIGER transit funding program; it also
eliminates dedicated funding for bicycling and walking as we feared, and it goes much further and systematically removes bicycling from the Federal transportation program. It basically eliminates our status and standing in the planning and design of our transportation system—a massive step backwards for individuals, communities and our nation. It’s a step back to a 1950s highway- and auto-only program that makes no sense in the 21st century. (Emphasis mine)
This won’t save any money. It will actually cost America a great deal, both in terms of less healthy living and less money in our pockets. Transportation is second only to housing as a cost of living, and in recessionary times people will look for ways to cut back. They have to: they’re taking pay cuts and accepting new jobs at lower wages, after all, so they’ve moved closer to work, or found new ways to get there. Continue reading →
Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a charity that has been providing breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood clinics for years, decided to let poor women die rather than be connected to the organization anymore. The reason? A congressional “investigation:”
According to the AP, the move will mean “a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.” Planned Parenthood confirms that Komen is the first, and only, organization to cut off funding since the Congress began debating the issue in earnest last winter.
Komen said it could not continue to fund Planned Parenthood because it has adopted new guidelines that bar it from funding organizations under congressional investigation. The House oversight and investigations subcommittee announced in the fall an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s funding.
The 2010 midterms emboldened the enemies of reproductive freedom, and they simply will not stop at abortion. Women can go without birth control, cancer screenings, or other essential services if it “protects the unborn.” The right to life ends at birth.
Remember, ACORN was being “investigated” too — and just like Planned Parenthood, it was because of James O’Keefe III. This is what happens when we let right wing pressure groups have free reign in America with no pushback. But hey, we REALLY SHOWED OBAMA by not voting in the midterms, didn’t we?
Writer Jack Hitt put together a brilliant piece for this weekend’s edition of the show. Work like this is why conservatives hate public broadcasting, and why it is so critically important. Alabama’s HB56 “papers please” law is Exhibit A in a study of unintended consequences. The only criticism I have is that the show theme does not fit: every awful outcome of the bill is a feature, not a bug.
For the umpteenth time, Hillary Clinton has said she’s leaving politics. She’s not interested in running for President. She’s finished. Done. Retired. For the time being. At least after this stint as Secretary of State.
According to an article in today’s Guardian, she’s bowing out of public life after the November elections.
She told state department employees on Thursday she was ready for a rest and is paying no attention to the Republican presidential candidate debates. She said she wanted to find out how tired she was after being first lady, senator, aspiring presidential candidate and finally the US secretary of state. Continue reading →
Privatized in 1968, Freddie Mac was late to the subprime game. Its status as a “government sponsored entity” gave it a certain chip on the shoulder about profitability — so it bought in big, and got stuck with lots of toxic waste. In a delayed reaction fit of further wrongheadedness, this titan of the mortgage markets has chosen to bet against American homeowners. Which naturally means they’ve been undermining us:
(P)ublic documents show that in 2010 and 2011, Freddie Mac set out to make gains for its own investment portfolio by using complex mortgage securities that brought in more money for Freddie Mac when homeowners in higher interest-rate loans were unable to qualify for a refinancing.
Those trades “put them squarely against the homeowner,” PIMCO’s Simon says. Continue reading →
This video from Sweden is actually not all too shocking. A rabbit will boss around anything in its territory that doesn’t kill it — from dogs to cats to other rabbits. “Herding” behavior is not at all unusual for dominant rabbits, either, as novelist Richard Adams explains in his famous Watership Down. Note that the dog seems to take over once the sheep leave the barnyard, which is the edge of what the rabbit considers “his.”
Piscataquis Village, pictured, is 
By Emilia1956
