Turn Left @ hypocrisy.com

If you think the insulting, vitriolic hate spread over the airwaves by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck is going to go away, you’re wrong. These clowns, along with their lower-level trainees in smaller markets around the country, are waiting in the wings for Barack Obama to be inaugurated so they can spread their toxic brew to more than 100 million Americans who are willing to listen.

While these idiots (for lack of a better description) are constantly whining about the vast left-wing media bias, here are some actual FACTS (you know, those things that Hannity, Limbaugh and their like would not recognize if it hit them in the face):

A 2007 analysis by the Center for American Progress and the Free Press shows that of all the news/talk stations in the top 10 radio markets in America, 76 percent are conservative while 24 percent are progressive. Sound like a vast liberal media bias to you?

The reality is that these talk show hosts do not deal in facts. They appeal to people’s fear and ignorance by spreading LIES. The link below will connect you to Media Matters for America, an organization that has done an excellent job of exposing the hate mongers:

http://mediamatters.org/reports/radio/index

I urge you to learn about these bigots, because they are not going to go away. They will continue to fuel the hate that exists in certain parts of this country, a hate based in stupidity and ignorance.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but you can’t cover up the smell. And right now the Wicked Witch of Wasilla smells pretty bad. If Senator McCain is looking at the most recent polls with open eyes, he’ll come away with the conclusion that Sarah Palin is the single biggest detriment to his presidential candidacy. Yes, that’s right. At this point in the 2008 presidential race, his association with Sarah Palin is a bigger liability than his association with President Bush, the most unpopular president in American history. While McCain spends his time blaming left-wing feminists and the liberal media for Palin’s drop in popularity, the fact is that Sarah Palin has brought this on herself because she fosters the politics of divisiveness and exclusion.

It was Sarah Palin who decided that the McCain campaign get nasty. I believe that she referred to it as “taking off the gloves.” And, of course, McCain listened and approved the strategy of moving away from the issues and into character assassination. It was immediately after that Palin began to stretch the truth about Obama’s association with the Weather Underground’s Bill Ayers. She accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” The right wingnuts in the McCain camp knocked this one out of the park, yelling out epithets like, “kill him,” “terrorist,” and “off with his head.” Even Dick Morris (remember him?) got into the act by stating that Obama’s association with Ayers is the equivalent of being friends with Osama bin Laden. Once again, the Republicans jumped on the politics of fear and invoked the “terrorist” theme. Hell, why not! George Bush has used this to successfully control the quivering American population for the past eight years. See. There it is again. Somehow I just can’t get away from drawing similarities between McCain and Bush.

While McCain has received kudos for toning this ugliness down over the past couple of weeks, let’s be frank about it. McCain only toned it down publicly when the Secret Service announced that it was interested in finding the people in the McCain audiences that were yelling these little ditties. Truth be told, McCain then quietly invested in ‘robocalls’ (automated messages) that linked Obama and Ayers. Again, here’s a similarity between McCain and Bush. President Bush used ‘robocalls’ in 2004 to sink John McCain in South Carolina. Might I suggest to the Secret Service that the people yelling in the McCain-Palin crowd were only accessories after the fact. The root of the problem, the instigator, is Sarah Palin (with John McCain’s backing).The McCain campaign has managed to tap into the lowest common denominator in American society: The ultra-patriotic, God-fearing bigot.

Palin’s divisive nature continued at an October 16 fund raiser in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she said, “We believe the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”

Let’s not stop there. Palin certainly didn’t. “This is where we find the kindness and goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

The upshot here isn’t that she’s insulting Washington, D.C. No sir. She’s insulting everybody who isn’t living in a small town. Those living in, say New York, Chicago, or San Francisco apparently are not real Americans. Secondarily, Palin is accusing those who disagree with our government of being un-patriotic. I suspect that Sarah Palin spends very little time educating herself about our forefathers and what they had in mind for our government. She prefers her history to be Palinized because it better suits her purpose. She might be interested to learn that our forefathers not only called for protecting the Constitution from threat by forces outside our government, but also from those within our own government who seek to undermine it’s basic principles. We’ve had plenty of that over the past eight years, and a McCain-Palin regime promises even more. By the way, I’d like to take the opportunity to remind Sarah Palin that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been equal opportunity killers. Americans from all walks of life (not just farmers and factory workers) and from everywhere across our nation (not just small towns) have been killed. However, they have not died protecting the virtues of American freedom as she suggests. They’ve died protecting our access to Middle Eastern oil in order to feed our all-consuming addiction.

Speaking of assaulting the Constitution, the Wicked Witch of Wazilla has broken with McCain and emphatically stated her support for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. I’d call singling out one group for oppression to be divisive. Wouldn’t you? And wouldn’t you call a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage writing discrimination into the Constitution? This very act undermines the basic principles behind the Constitution. If an amendment is added, it should strengthen the Constitution, not weaken it. The objection to same-sex marriage is clearly based on religious ideology. For example, we now know that the Mormon church is the driving force behind California’s Amendment 8. There is no place for religious ideology in the formation of national policy. That is why there is a separation between church and state. The issue of same-sex marriage is a question of basic civil rights. It is not a topic to be voted upon by Congress, and it does not belong on any ballot in any state.

So, here we are with November 4^th fast approaching. I learned today that the GOP has spent more than $150,000 on make-up, clothing and accessories for Sarah Palin and her family since she was selected as McCain’s running mate. She spent $13,200 on make-up alone during the month of September (so much for being just an average hockey mom). It’s all about image, but image only goes so far. While it may be possible to physically transform Sarah Palin’s appearance into something more vice presidential, it’s almost impossible to hide the dark side of her divisive and un-Christian character. That has been laid bare for all to clearly see.

Sarah Palin declared during her debate with Joe Biden that she was going to take her message directly to the American people. I’ve decided to do the same tonight. I’m not writing about John McCain in the third person. I’m taking my case directly to the Senator himself after watching the third and final debate.

Senator McCain, I’m here to tell you why you do not deserve to lead this nation. You are simply not worthy of the task. Now, of course, the Republican pundits have you winning the third and final debate. Unfortunately, the American people didn’t quite see it that way, and they are all that matters in the final analysis. While you were indeed more aggressive than Barack Obama last night, the fact is that you have no plans. All you do is keep repeating over and over that you are going to bring about change in Washington. What change? Where are your plans? Let’s hear some specifics. You seem to have picked up some of your running mate’s bad habits. Instead of answering the moderator’s questions, you talked around them. It’s a case of Creeping Palinitis. There is no cure for this short of transporting Sarah Palin back to Alaska and obscurity.

Now, let’s address this “Joe the Plumber” guy. It’s all a lie, Senator McCain. You invented him so that you could use him to make your point during the debate. I can never figure out how people like you think you won’t be found out. Today I decided to find out more about Joe the Plumber. I found that he is a registered Republican who just happens to think that Barack Obama is a Socialist. He is also the brother of Charles Keating’s son-in-law. He owes the government back taxes, and he doesn’t even have a plumber’s license. It’s pretty apparent that you are a fraud, Senator McCain. There’s no way to spin it.

There’s also that matter of how low your campaign has gone. Now, you said that there have been some attendees at Senator Obama’s rallys that have worn offensive T-shirts. Let’s talk about your crowd. They yell things like, “kill him,” “terrorist,” or “off with his head” when referring to Senator Obama. Your crowds, Senator McCain, call for blood. Your campaign is out of control, yet you lied during the debate and said you repudiated every attack on Barack Obama. You have not. In fact, you have participated. Today, the day after the debate, your campaign released a ‘robocall’ linking Obama to William Ayers, even after vowing to return to a respectful campaign. At least two of your supporters have spent a considerable amount of time linking Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden, even going to the extreme in suggesting that the campaign should waterboard Senator Obama. And a California group has released a racist, tasteless cartoon of Barack Obama on the face of a food stamp (as opposed to actual currency). Pictured with Obama is some watermelon, a carafe of Kool Aid, some barbecued ribs and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Of course, the perpetrator insists she meant nothing racist by it. I believe she said, “It’s just food to me.” Right. Senator McCain, you are the commander of the ship. Therefore, you are fully responsible for spreading the fear that has dredged up the worst in our society. These people take their cue from nobody but you and your running mate.

Senator McCain, the lowlife campaign you have run in desperation for a win is quite convincing. It’s clear that you are not the right choice to lead this nation back to greatness.

*For those of you who do not know about the Keating Five, It’s unlikely that Senator McCain will fill you in. Please click here for details!

I hate to disappoint Pit Bull Palin, but I’m taking one day off the campaign trail today to take a look back. (You will remember, of course, that she reprimanded Joe Biden for looking back instead of looking forward.) At the time of this posting, there are 98 days, 16 hours, 45 minutes, and 11.5 seconds left in George Bush’s disastrous turn. That’s plenty of time to do more harm to this country. Nevertheless, it’s not too soon to outline the events that make George Bush the worst president in American history. While there are many, many reasons to label Bush the worst, there are four watershed moments in his administration that cement his place in infamy: The 9-11 terrorist attacks, the ill-advised wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the economic meltdown presently taking place in America (and spreading around the world).

September 11, 2001

First, the 9-11 attacks. No matter how Bush tries to blame the Clinton administration, this attack happened on his watch. George Bush assumed the presidency on January 20, 2000 and the terrorist attacks happened on September 11, 2001. The Clinton administration had left the Bush administration a comprehensive report on the subject of al Qaeda, including a plan to thwart its efforts. George Bush ignored it. It’s now common knowledge that he also ignored repeated warnings between April and September of 2001. Not only was he warned of potential terrorist attacks taking place on our soil, but he was warned that the terrorists might use airplanes as weapons. The administration was warned by Israel’s Mossad, as well as by Jordan and Moroccan intelligence. How did he spin his administration’s failure to act? Bush and Cheney stated that, had the domestic wiretapping authorization been given in 2001 instead of 2002, it would have prevented the terrorist attacks. As usual, this is a bald-faced lie. The memo he received a month before the attacks warned that Bin Laden was determined to hit targets inside the United States. He didn’t need wiretapping. If the memo could not move him to action, there is no way that wiretapping would have prevented the attacks. You simply have to question why he ignored it. In fact, you simply have to question the official version of 9-11 being fed us by the Bush administration.

You have to wonder why the US military was on “stand down” that day. Why were 140 Saudis safely flown out of the United States during the week after 9-11, when even Bill Clinton and Al Gore, both out of the country at the time of the attack, were not even allowed to fly back home? Many were members of the royal House of Saud, and at least 24 were direct members of bin Ladens family. Why weren’t they detained for questioning instead? This would have been a logical step, given the fact that 14 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and it was Saudi money backing al Qaeda? In fact, Osama bin Laden is a Saudi national.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

Then, we have two ill-advised, ill-planned wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. The justification for these two wars, of course, was to fight terror. In fact, the 9-11 terrorist attacks became the excuse for just about every crime the Bush administration has committed. According to our truth-challenged leader, we were going to take the war to the terrorists by invading Afghanistan and capturing Osama bin Laden. In fact, George Bush vowed we would get him “dead or alive” during one of his post 9-11 speeches. New information from former US officials, however, shows that George W. Bush never had any intention of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. The only question that remains is why? Is this because of the close business ties between the Bush and bin Laden families? Or is it because bin Laden had nothing to do with the attacks at all? According to sources, George Bush was more interested in attacking Iraq than finding Osama bin Laden. Of course, President Bush justified the invasion of Iraq by lying to Congress and the American people about Saddam Hussein being involved in the 9-11 terrorist attacks. We now know that was a lie and that George Bush invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses.

The president landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 and announced that the Iraq war was over. There was a huge ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner behind him. It is now 2008 and there’s no end to the war in sight. In fact, our Republican presidential wannabe (John McCain) says he’ll stay in Iraq for 100 years if that’s what it takes to win the war (whatever ‘win’ means). At the five-year mark, we have lost 4,180 US troops. More than 1.2 million innocent Iraqis have died. At a cost of $12 billion per month, the mission is anything but accomplished. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, it remains a black hole for the mainstream media. Nobody even talks about it. Estimates from one web site provide these numbers: 8,587 Afghan troops killed; 3,485 Afghan civilians killed; 513 US troops killed; and 433 other coalition troops killed. Either way, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff predict a gloomy future for the Afghanistan war: Next year will even be worse than this year.

Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005

The third watershed event was Hurricane Katrina and our government’s disgustingly feeble efforts both before and after the storm. Katrina first made landfall at 7 a.m. on August 29 as a category 4 hurricane. At 7:30 a.m., the White House was warned that the levees were failing. In fact, before the storm was over, nearly all of the levees would be breached. Documents show that the White House had ample warning about the severity of Katrina, even though George Bush went on Good Morning America on September 1, 2005, to state, “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” There’s yet another outright lie. While still on a month-long vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush was told about the levees and then some. He had a report that predicted that the levees would be breached and that Katrina could potentially destroy 90% of the city structures. It also described the depth and breadth of the search and rescue effort that would be required, and predicted the displacement of more than 1 million residents. The president asked no questions. Instead, he told New Orleans officials, “We are fully prepared.” That, too, was a lie.

Washington was anything but prepared. Why is that? Because, our government officials were all on vacation when Katrina hit. George Bush, in spite of the warnings, stayed on vacation in Crawford, Texas. Meanwhile, Dick Cheney stayed on vacation in Jackson, Wyoming. Condoleeza Rice went to New York during the storm to see a Broadway play and buy herself some expensive new shoes. In spite of the devastation overwhelming the Gulf states on August 29, President Bush did not rush back to Washington. Instead, he spent his Tuesday playing golf. After that, he played guitar with some country and western singers. Think Progress has put together an incredible time line documenting Katrina’s devastation and our president’s response. It’s clear that Bush had other business on his mind.

Unfortunately, President George W. Bush showed no greater leadership after the disaster than he did before and during the disaster. Two weeks after the storm, Bush pledged a homesteading plan to help residents of New Orleans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a complete plan and left many homeless people without assistance. The Baker Plan (named for its Republican sponsor Representative Richard Baker) was a much more complete plan, and it received the backing of Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat.. It would provide compensation to victims right away and give them a choice of how to rebuild their homes. It even allowed people to walk away with compensation without rebuilding if they wished. The White House, of course, opposed the plan, mostly because it made George Bush’s plan look as anemic as it actually was. The most decisive action President Bush took was to make sure he helped businesses profit from the Katrina disaster. First, he suspended federal rules and authorized FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to extend no-bid contracts to corporations participating in the rebuilding. He also suspended the federal Davis-Bacon Act which requires contractors utilizing federal funds to play local prevailing wages on construction projects. You’ve just got to love those compassionate conservatives.

The Economic Meltdown of 2008

George Bush isn’t the only Republican proponent of deregulation. Our ‘deregulation nation’ was actually launched during the Reagan Administration. However, it was carried to new heights under the Bush administration. Over the last eight years, corporations of all types have been given unprecedented powers to police themselves. Take a look at Wall Street. It’s much more than a ‘free market’ playground. It is synonymous with corruption, deception and greed. How does the Bush administration respond? By giving the perpetrators a $700 billion infusion of new monopoly money to play with, ignoring Americans facing foreclosure and fleecing the American taxpayer. The White House employed its usual fear-mongering and strong-arm tactics to get the bail-out package passed, telling members of Congress that the stock market would suffer a devastating drop. When that didn’t work, several Senators were threatened with martial law, the final step of our descent into fascism.

The package has finally passed, and Wall Street continued its free fall. Credit is pretty much frozen. People are losing their homes and their jobs at an alarming rate. According to Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, and now at UC Berkeley, the US has lost 1 million jobs since last year. In the meantime, some of the bail-out money has been used for, of all things, pleasure junkets. The AIG sales force, for example, took a trip to a resort in California where they spent $120,000 alone on spa treatments. Another $150,000 was spent on food. This is what happens when there is no oversight, a little detail left out of the plan. In the meantime, state governments are trying to get financial help from the federal treasury just to meet payroll. What’s wrong with this picture?

It Doesn’t Stop Here

I’m mystified by those who consider George W. Bush a good president. I’m wondering what channel they’ve been watching for the past eight years. The four events featured in this article are huge, but there are so many more that have been left out. For example, the Bush administration has turned the United States into a torture state. Condoleeza Rice recently revealed that ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ (a polite term for ‘torture’), including waterboarding, were discussed at the White House among the highest officials of the Bush administration. Bush has approved the imprisonment of scores of ‘enemy combatants’ for years without bringing specific charges or allowing prisoners access to lawyers. He has sent others to countries where torture is routinely practiced under his ‘extraordinary rendition’ program. In short, he has violated articles of the Geneva Convention and he has broken both US and international laws.

George Bush has run roughshod over the US Constitution. Many view the illegal wiretapping of American citizens as his most egregious Constitutional violation. However, he also took advantage of a nation in shock from the 9-11 terrorist attacks to rush through passage of the USA Patriot Act, specifically designed to diminish our rights and expand the powers of the executive branch.

I could go on and on, but this article would become a tome. I’ll save the fine points for my online George Bush Library. In closing, do not to get comfortable just because his reign is coming to an end. With just slightly more than three months left to go in this regime, there’s plenty of time to do more damage. George Bush isn’t just any lame duck president. He wants his name to go down in history, even if it is as the worst president this nation has ever seen.

Now that Sarah Palin has been found guilty of abuse of power, I’m thinking she’s got no business questioning anybody else’s character. While I’m not denying that she acted within her rights as Governor of Alaska in firing Walt Monegan, the fact is that his failure to fire her sister’s ex-husband, a state trooper, was a contributing factor in the decision. While it’s true that Palin has difficulty forming sentences and understanding the issues that face Americans, one thing that she has down cold is how to get others to do her bidding. So that Palin could stay above the fray, she had her “first dude” and her advisors make more than two dozen phone calls to Monegan regarding her former brother-in-law.

As for the accusation that supporters of Barack Obama had anything to do with this investigation, let’s look at the facts. This inquiry was begun well before Senator McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. She was already accused of abuse of power before he selected her and he was aware of this. McCain chose her anyway. Of course, after the selection was made, Palin reneged on her promise to cooperate with the investigation and the Republican party even tried to have the investigation delayed until after the election. Know what? Politicians accused of wrongdoing do not deserve “cover” until an election is over. The American people have the right to information that may or may not affect their voting decision. I’d also like to remind Palin’s supporters that there were 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats on the legislative committee, hardly an overwhelmingly Democratic group.

If I were advising the McCain campaign, I’d tell them to get back to the issues and try to figure out how they are going to distance themselves from the policies of George W. Bush. The American people want to know what McCain-Palin will do to improve their lives and their situation. The American people want to hear about how this ticket will handle the economic meltdown. The fact is that McCain’s top advisors believe that if McCain focuses on the economy, he will lose. If that’s the case, at least he will lose with dignity. Right now, there’s no dignity left in this unholy alliance called McCain-Palin.

When Palin’s audiences start shouting for Obama’s blood, there’s something very, very wrong happening in America. Her rhetoric preys on the fears and ignorance of her audience. Palin now spends her days weaving half-truths and lies, dividing the country and stirring up racism and bigotry. I suggest that the authorities forget looking for those yelling hate-filled epithets (like kill him or terrorist) and look to the inspirational source, Sarah Palin and John McCain. They are the true root of the problem. Their current campaign focus is not just disgraceful, it’s sick. If it is not now abundantly clear that neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin are fit to govern the American people, it’s hard to imagine what it will take. How much lower can they go?