Even Some Conservatives Think Glenn Beck is Nuts

Conservative Stalwart Bill Kristol has called out Glenn Beck on his nonsensical rantings about the situation in Egypt. I have been amazed by the Republican media's talking points over the past week. Basically, the Republican media establishment has come out in support of dictator Hosni Mubarak & his government, all in the name of undermining President Obama. Republican Supreme Leader Rush Limbaugh, along with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and much of Fox-Non-News have been leading the way in this particular anti-Obama effort. But in the process, they have come away looking absolutely ridiculous.

Finally, some Conservatives are beginning to speak up, unable to deal with the level of crazy coming from their own ranks.

And despite all of this...what does Obama do? He legitimizes Fox-Non-News (a political organization) by appearing on their network over the weekend. This is the kind of nonsense that gives me a headache about Obama & Co.


Related

Glenn Beck - The Biggest Con Artist in America

Tea Party Terrorist Planned to Kill ACLU Staff

Tea Party Terrorist Byron Williams: Glenn Beck 'Blew My Mind'

It is now confirmed that Tea Party terrorist Byron Williams was inspired by the misinformation, propaganda and misguided vitriol of Glenn Beck. Williams is the Right wing nut who went on a rampage in California a few months ago - armed for battle and hunting for Liberals. In audio recorded statements, Williams reveals how he was influenced by Beck's message. In fact, he was whipped into such a frenzy that he became a "Progressive hunter".

Take a look at the Media Matters piece "Jailhouse Confession: How the right-wing media and Glenn Beck's chalkboard drove Byron Williams to plot assassination".

He considers Beck to be a "school teacher on TV". Wow!

Related Link
From TPM

See my Right-wing media page - to see wider picture of impact of Conservative propaganda.

Glenn Beck - The Biggest Con Artist in America

Hear an NPR discussion about the Glenn Beck phenomenon & what it says about the Country. For me, Beck is just a huge con artist who happens to be good at what he does. His popularity is a reflection of our increasingly partisan politics, the intellectual deterioration taking root in the U.S. and "the facts be damned" attitude of the public, an extremely uninformed/misinformed populace, and a deteriorating media that lacks balance and takes part in the misinformation. Beck is also benefiting from anxiety stirred up by the economy... (but that is not the main issue in my opinion). The main reasons for Beck's success are public misinformation from right wing media...and the fact that there is a President in the White House who isn't white.

The rise of Beck isn't surprising in a Country where the citizens don't know basic civics, don't know much about the world, and don't know much about religion. Easy prey for con artists and manipulators.

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in Right Wing Radio Duck

Usually, I try to stay away from the "viral video" movement, but this one was just too good to pass up. Enjoy Donald Duck meets Glenn Beck. Tell me what you think too.

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• Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck In Hilarious Cartoon Remix (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• "Donald Duck Discovers Glenn Beck: A Remix" and related posts (openculture.com)
• Right Wing Radio Duck (milkandcookies.com)
• A brilliant Donald Duck mashup - Right Wing Radio Duck (onlinejournalismblog.com)

Video from Glenn Beck's 'I Have a Scheme' Rally

Oh my.... America is in trouble.

This ignorance is the force behind the GOP's Mid-term election strategy? Worse yet, they are actually getting away with it. Take a look at a recent video from New Left Media, filmed during the Glenn Beck rally.(Scary)

If you have seen my other postings from New Left Media... then you know their videos are entertaining.

Disgusted with politics, the state of the country, and just about everything else

I had to step away from blogging and the news for a few weeks...and will be doing so again off and on through the Fall. I don't enjoy blogging like I did 5 years ago when I started. Writing has started to become a chore, and I don't get much of anything out of it anymore. Readership doesn't really justify the effort that goes into it. But it's still cathartic on some level, which is why I eventually find the motivation to post.... eventually. More emphasis this time on "eventually".... because my posting will be spotty from here on out.

What's the point in blogging right now anyway? The country has collectively lost its f___ing mind. I have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. New forms of McCarthyism are springing up....and politically, the nation is becoming a failed State. Misinformation (propaganda) has poisoned the citizenry to such a degree that nothing makes sense anymore. And it doesn't help that the American population was already ignorant about the World, about its own history, about their own Constitution, about culture & religion...and have therefore been ripe for being taken advantage of by Right wing media, Faux News (Radio Rwanda) and some of the biggest con artists in the Country. Ignorance has replaced reason, logic and informed debate. And its all part of a larger decline in America that I have been noticing. With a gridlocked government, a system that was designed to move slowly, an economy that is still in trouble, a political system that is inherently corrupt, growing income inequality, class rifts opening even wider, mounting debt, and not to mention two wars... the U.S. will continue to lose its place in the World. Add to that big corporations & con artists masquerading as real news organizations & journalists who are actually waging an all out misinformation campaign against their own fellow citizens (misinformed Americans especially) and you have an unfolding disaster IMHO.

With the economy in the toilet, and with many Americans (especially White Americans) being convinced - because of the growth of minorities - that their way of life is under threat, people are beginning to fall back into their comfort zones. Xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism, hate and ignorance are coming to the surface in ways not seen since the 1960's. I hate to think that this is human nature... that when under times of collective stress or social/political/economic strain (factual or just perceived strain) people become more ethno-centric, nationalistic, go into racial cocoons, express more racism and circle the wagons, but it seems to be happening in the U.S. at the moment. This has been true in many Countries all over the World throughout history during periods of strain or upheaval. But it's not supposed to happen in a modern Western country that bills itself as the greatest and most tolerant nation on earth (and I even hate the word tolerance... it assumes that "different" means something evil that has to be tolerated as opposed to accepted as part of a complex multi-ethnic, multicultural nation). I hate to think that these are the base instincts of people...but for many, this seems to be the case. We have people in this Country who want to turn back the clock historically to take us back to a period when there was no 14th amendment, no labor rights, no racial equality, when Jim Crow laws had to be honored, when the right to vote was not guaranteed to all.... etc. Backwards.... what kind of Country wants to go backwards?

Americans are throwing facts out of the window. Instead, people are turning to their prejudices. For the most part, people vote based on their family traditions, racial identity, religious identity, basing their votes on things like...who they wouldn't mind having a beer with... they are falling into all the nonsensical traps that they should be trying to avoid. This seems to be really apparent for folks on the Right (although I see it on the Left as well). Unfortunately, I think 2008 was an aberration in American politics. Most of the gains made then have already been wiped away.... the changing of the political landscape, etc... at least for the time being. It will take another 15-20 years for things to really start to turn around.... in a more positive and progressive direction. By then... there will be more young voters.... or young potential voters who may bring a less divisive and more logical world view. The problem is... #1) Will they fall victim to the same brainwashing from Faux, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, their parents, and therefore not be the positive force that they have the potential to be? They are being bombarded by the same propaganda machine that the rest of the Country is being bombarded with everyday. #2) Can the U.S. afford to wait that long?
With the anti-tax, anti-collective action, anti-government, and anti-Progressive sentiment sweeping the Country... I don't see how the U.S. can even begin to tackle the major problems that it faces now...and will face over the next few decades.

Progressives have already lost the information battle. They have lost the argument/the national debate on the future of the Country... and they really never showed up to fight Post-election. After election day... they packed up and went home, not realizing that they would have to fight and win an information and ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. They didn't even seem to know that there was a war.

President Obama? I don't even want to think about his fumbling over the last 18 months. I am disgusted with him too. He has failed on so many levels. By taking his eye off the ball (the economy) a few months after taking over the Presidency by diverting his attention to issues that were not top priorities for "most" Americans, he has created exacerbated problems for himself and for his Party politically.... as I had predicted. At least look like you are trying to do something to help the economy (should be on TV everyday with sleeves rolled up... organizing job strategies, pushing new programs....for sustainable job growth, etc.... he should at least look busy). In addition to that... his team should be highlighting all instances of Republican obstruction. If that means interrupting people's dinner or prime time TV every week for a fireside chat... then damn it... dinner should be interrupted. Use the office of the Presidency to inform the people about what the Hell is going on. Don't allow Faux (and the legitimate news organizations that take their lead from Faux and frame their reporting based on Conservative narratives) to tell the Country what's going on. Obama has been a thorough disappointment. Keep in mind, I am someone who never bought into the euphoria of his election....or the nonsensical idea that everything would be great once he became President. My expectations were somewhat low to begin with. Obama was never my first choice. But he has performed below even what I had envisioned. How many vacations can you take in the span of 6-8 weeks? Did he/the family set a new record? I counted something on the order of 4 vacations... all of this while Americans are suffering? To be a great President, it is crucial that you have your finger on the pulse of the nation at all times. It just appeared to me that he didn't have a clue. It also became clear to me that President Obama & The White House don't have anyone managing the image/PR issues or he simply ignores/perhaps does not seek such advice. That is absolutely clear to me at this point. But this will come back to haunt this Administration and Democrats (and the rest of us, unfortunately).

So all of this.... the Country going completely nuts, Obama/Progressives providing borderline shameful leadership, the direction of the Country, Glenn Beck successfully defecating on the memory of a prophet & icon and on the history of an entire people...not to mention my own problems and stress (I am completely overloaded and overwhelmed) - I have been a little dejected and disgusted with everything. Went to the dentist a few months back and got a blood pressure reading of something in the neighborhood of 175-180 over 110. Not the first time that I have had high blood pressure readings. I have high bp that is going untreated (has been for years) because I have crappy health coverage from a deplorable job that I absolutely hate. Needless to say, my life completely sucks.... and nothing has worked to change that in years.

So I will have to step away, unplug from the N(oise)ews more often, and concentrate on other things. I never completely unplug... I am a news/information junkie... I need NPR at least 4 days out of the week...and love the BBC, and many other outlets (too many to list) use Twitter, and I blog surf... but I don't rush to blog about every event in the world. Don't have the time to do that anymore. Unplugging has definitely been good over the past 3 weeks.

I will post some goodies later on.... (what I think are goodies anyway).

______________

I'm not the only one disgusted. (although I don't quite agree with everything in his commentary... I can relate to feeling dejected).

Tea Party Terrorist Planned to Kill ACLU Staff and Liberals

From the SF Chronicle:

Convicted felon Byron Williams loaded up his mother's Toyota Tundra with guns, strapped on his body armor and headed to San Francisco late Saturday night with one thing in mind: to kill workers at the American Civil Liberties Union and an environmental foundation, prosecutors say.

Williams, an anti-government zealot on parole for bank robbery, had hoped to "start a revolution" with the bloodshed at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco, authorities said.

But before he made it to the city, Williams was stopped at early Sunday by California Highway Patrol officers for speeding and driving erratically on westbound Interstate 580 west of Grand Avenue in Oakland.

Police say he then initiated a chaotic, 12-minute gunbattle with officers, firing a 9mm handgun, a .308-caliber rifle and a shotgun. He reloaded his weapons when he ran out of ammunition and stopped only after officers shot him in areas of his body not covered by his bullet-resistant vest, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Williams, 45, of Groveland (Tuolumne County) appeared in an Oakland courtroom on charges that he tried to murder four CHP officers. Authorities described him as a heavily armed man determined not to return to prison. Bullets from the suspect's rifle could penetrate ballistic body armor and vehicles, police said.

After he was wounded and taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, Williams told investigators "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg wrote in a court affidavit.

The Tides Foundation is a liberal not for profit that supports Progressive causes. The otherwise obscure group is often the subject of attacks by Glenn Beck.



Read more on Glenn Beck and the Tides Foundation from TPM. Also see commentary from the Guardian.

Williams was upset about "Left-wing agenda" of Congress. From TPM: (note: His mother, Janice Williams, seems to be as much of a Tea Party nut as her son is).

The man, identified by local news reports as Byron Williams of Groveland, was allegedly pulled over for driving erratically by the California Highway Patrol. As the officers approached his truck, they saw several guns and ammunition, according to police, and they saw the suspect reach for a handgun.

The officers ran back to their car and called for backup as the man allegedly opened fire. Officers reported seeing a handgun, a shotgun and a rifle, and that the shooter fired at least two of the weapons. The shootout -- which according to CHP involved 10 police officers and lasted about eight minutes -- left the suspect, who was wearing body armor, seriously wounded. He was taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition.

Two officers were hurt by broken glass, but none were shot.

"There is no doubt in our mind, given the body armor and the extensive amount of ammunition he had, that he was on his way to do a very serious crime against either someone or a group of people," CHP Sgt. Trent Cross said.

Officers discovered a binder labeled "California" in the truck. It has so far been described only as a "list."

When local reporters called the truck's registrant, Janice Williams, she realized her truck, and her guns, were gone.

Williams told the San Francisco Chronicle that Byron, her 45-year-old son, was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."

"He hasn't been able to get a job because he's an ex-felon and nobody will hire him," she said, adding that he was angry about his unemployment and about "what's happening to our country."

"I have no doubt it is him," Williams said. "He's been upset with the direction the country is going. ... He feels the people of this country are being raped by our government and politicians."

Janice Williams said she kept the guns, which were locked in safe, because "eventually, I think we're going to be caught up in a revolution." She also told the Chronicle that she had warned Byron that "he didn't have to be on the front lines."

Commentary on Glenn Beck

More commentary from the Seattle Weekly

It's ironic that he was angry about unemployment, but was too much of an idiot to understand how the economy works and how Republicans sent the nation over a cliff. He didn't understand that the Recession officially started in 2007 and the fiscal crisis and job losses started in the Fall of 2008, caused by the failed policies of his Republican President. Nor did he understand that employment is a lagging economic indicator and will take years to recover. And it appears that he was also clueless about the fact that Republicans (for weeks) were trying to block any unemployment benefits that he may or may not have been entitled to.

The irony is amazing. And it's not just with this nut. We see this ignorance flowing all throughout the Tea Party crowd.

Columnist Ted Rall recently made the following observation when describing the Tea Party... and he describes it perfectly:

So much anger. It’s too bad that the (justifiable) rage of the white male middle-class is directed against their fellow victims. It’s worse that they’re playing into the blood-soaked hands of their own oppressors.

Read Rall's full commentary

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

A new book by Alexander Zaitchik -Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance -reveals untold truths about con artist Glenn Beck. Finally we have a book that peels back the layers of fraud on Beck and challenges some of the lies. Finally people will have a chance to see that Glenn Beck himself...is a lie. It's a false persona. It's the same kind of phony act that Beck used when he was a cheap shock jock on a radio morning show. The only difference now is that his audience is much bigger...and the American people, like boneheads, have fallen for the act.

To me, Glenn Beck's popularity says a lot about the American public. In fact, it says more about the people of this Country and their gullibility for con artist entertainers like Limbaugh, Hannity & Beck, than it says about the man himself.

The book is due to hit the bookstores in June, but I am sure it can be pre-ordered.

See a review.

The Field Negro also posted on this gem.

Information from the publisher

See My Previous Commentary on Glenn Beck

Further Confirmation of Glenn Beck's Stupidity - Now He Is Attacking American Churches

Caption: Shhhh... (whispering) I'm making a killing by taking advantage of these idiots on the right, especially the dopes in that Tea Party Movement. They buy my act hook, line & sinker...and none of them have caught on yet. These people are so stupid... I can get them to support just about anything. They believe every lie that I tell, and I'm going to keep making money off of them. Thank God for stupid people...and Thank God for Roger Ailes for giving me this great platform.

I don't know if it's stupidity or genius... because after all, he is the one getting over by taking advantage of the ignorance of his followers. Hell, if I had millions of American zombies hanging on my every word & making me richer, I would probably take advantage of them too, as long as it was legal. Who wouldn't? But then again, I have a conscience and a moral compass, two things that Glenn Beck doesn't have. So I don't think I would do very well as a con artist.

This is the most phony right wing hack on the airwaves. He doesn't even make it a secret anymore. He's openly phony, yet his supporters (idiots) love to watch him. His latest antics involve encouraging his Christian followers to leave their churches if they notice any sort of "social justice" being practiced or preached. Problem is... this includes many right leaning evangelical churches, including The Catholic Church...and even his own Mormon Church.

Even though it is clear (no longer a secret) that his activities are part of an ongoing Republican effort to use fear to excite voters, his followers will unfortunately continue to support him. The idiots in the so-called Tea Party movement will continue to back him, even though they are openly being manipulated by scare tactics from the right...all for political purposes. Many of his followers hang on his every word, and will do exactly what he tells them. As I have stated many times before, it is amazing how the right is able to get these folks to even go against their own economic and political interests and their interests simply as citizens. The level of manipulation and propaganda is truly unbelievable to me. But what blows my mind even more is the fact that it works... the fact that so many people embrace the rights propaganda without questioning anything about what or who they are supporting.

Beck, a Mormon, said the word “social justice” is code for communism and Nazism.

From Media Matters:
Beck: Social justice is "infecting all" faiths



From the New York Times Blog The Caucus:

Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they heard any preaching about social or economic justice because, he claimed, those were slogans affiliated with Nazism and Communism.

This week, the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical leader in Washington, D.C., called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck.

“What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. Wallis, who heads the antipoverty group Sojourners, wrote on his “God’s Politics” blog. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.”

Mr. Beck, in vilifying churches that promote “social justice,” managed to insult just about every mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, African-American, Hispanic and Asian congregation in the country — not to mention plenty of evangelical ones.

Even Mormon scholars in Mr. Beck’s own church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in interviews that Mr. Beck seemed ignorant of just how central social justice teaching was to Mormonism.

The controversy began when Mr. Beck said on his radio show: “I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.

“Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If I am going to Jeremiah Wright’s church,” he said, referring to the incendiary black pastor who led the church attended by the Obama family members when they lived in Chicago. “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, ‘Excuse me, are you down with this whole social justice thing?’ ”

Smerconish Begins to Show His True Stripes

An article for the Philadelphia Inquirer, as politically liberal a rag as exists anywhere in America today, titled "Sorry, but for me, the party is over", written by local quasi-celebrity Michael Smerconish was published in that paper's Sunday, February 21st edition 'Currents' section.

In this article, Smerconish reveals what every true local Philadelphia Republican has known for more than a year. The man who has billed himself as THE local Republican voice, who glommed on to the popularity of programs such as Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor", and who attached themselves at the hip to commentators such as Sean Hannity, is in fact not a Republican after all.

The article, which carried a secondary headline where it continued on page C3 titled "Parting ways with the party, after 30 years", reveals that Smerconish recently had an epiphany of sorts. And he had it while standing in line at, of all places, the DMV. The Inquirer, of course, then bent over backwards to advertise this alleged political change away from conservatism. But is it really a change at all?

Smerconish goes to get his license renewed and the clerk asks him at one point as to whether he would also like to change his voter registration party affiliation. Why this is an appropriate question for some clerk at the DMV to be asking in the first place is never revealed, nor ever fully explored by the allegedly dogged journalist.

Smerconish then goes on to reveal that this was his "hallelujah" moment. One can imagine a mystical light shining down on him from above and revealing that he is actually not a Republican, nor is he a Democrat, but instead he is that most cherished of ideals. He is an "Independent" thinker, beholden to no party values! Hallelujah!

He has the clerk switch his voter registration status from 'Republican' to 'Independent', leaving behind his party of the past three decades. Smerconish writes that in doing so he is better reflecting his personal values. He claims that actually, he is "not sure if I left the Republican Party or the party left me. All I know is that I no longer feel comfortable."

Now let me state before I go on that I myself have switched my formally registered political affiliation a few times over the years. As I have explained in full detail before here at this blog, during my 20's in the 1980's I was a fully-indoctrinated liberal Democrat. It was at some point during the first Clinton administration where I had my own 'hallelujah' moment, realizing that my values and positions had evolved to conservative ones. I made the switch to Republican and have not looked back.

During the time that I was a registered Democrat, however, I switched my party affiliation from Dem to Republican a couple of times. Each time I did so at the request of and specifically for my father, who was involved in the political process and publicly supporting Republican candidates such as John Egan for Mayor of Philadelphia. I would always switch back to Dem following the election cycle, and remained so until making the permanent switch during the mid-90's.

However, unlike the spineless Smerconish, I did not ever try to paint myself with the brush of mediocrity that is the act of being a registered Independent. Smerconish tries to make himself out to be some sort of victim to the system. "Where political parties used to create coalitions and win elections, now they seek to advance strict ideological agendas."

Malarkey! Political parties have existed in America since the earliest decades of our founding, particularly in the years following George Washinton's first Presidency. From those early parties like the Whigs through to Teddy Roosevelt's "Bull Moose" Party to today's liberal-dominated Democrats, political parties have displayed polarizing differences in their platforms and in their personalities.

Smerconish tries to defend his decision by pointing to a handful of examples of party inclusion of disparate ideas and visions. In every party there will always be individuals who are slightly moderated from the main party platform and ideals. But you rarely, if ever, can find a full-on conservative Democrat or a full-on liberal Republican, especially among the politicians.

That may prove Smerconish's point, that the parties are indeed ideological, but the fact of the matter is that situation has been in existence since those early years of our Founding Fathers. It didn't suddenly happen in the last election cycle. It didn't slowly develop in recent decades. Political party ideology has been around forever.

The fact is that Smerconish began broadcasting full-time in the early years of the George W. Bush administration in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He took up the Republican mantle fully, supporting most Bush policies and positions vocally and publicly, including the use of torture on terrorist suspects.

Over the next half-dozen years, Smerconish became a quasi-celebrity, his public conservative positions landing him gigs as a guest host for O'Reilly and Glenn Beck and his largely conservative writings leading to New York Times best-sellers. Smerconish made a lot of money and gained a measure of celebrity in these years thanks to what were perceived to be his intact, well thought-out, mature political and social positions.

But what also was going on is that Smerconish was doing all of this while working at a local Philadelphia radio station. He was not a nationally syndicated host with a vast network of listeners supporting him, he was broadcasting in one of the most liberal cities in America. His stated positions made him a number of political enemies, and shut him out of a number of local sources.

Realizing over time that he was not going to break out nationally as had people like Beck and Hannity, Smerconish saw himself stuck in Philly and treading water. Then suddenly it happened, the savior, Barack Obama, came along with his glib tongue and his two faces. Smerconish began earlier than most to sense the momentum of the Obama campaign, and the alleged Republican talk radio host did the unthinkable in endorsing Obama for President.

It was in this moment that those of us who had suspected for years that Smerconish was simply a charlatan opportunist, using 9/11 and the Republican Party popularity of the early part of the last decade to his advantage, got our proof of that as fact.

There is no way that anyone who took any time to evaluate a politician's actual record before endorsing them, as a public personality with a radio talk show in a major market should, could ever find anything other than the facts. Those facts were that simply from his voting record and previous public associations, Barack Obama was one of the most, if not the single most, liberal members of the United States Senate.

Michael Smerconish threw in with Obama because he saw the momentum switch, believed strongly that Obama was going to win, saw that Obama was articulate and intelligent, and further believed that the sun was setting on the ideology of conservatism. Smerconish basically glommed on to the next big thing to maintain his local audience relevancy.

In the beginning it was actually a good thing to say that he was a Republican who was supporting Obama. In that way, Smerconish could actually try to portray himself as not being ideological himself, despite what was out there in the public purvey for the past half dozen or so years.

But as time has gone on, Smerconish has become more and more enamored with the Obama celebrity himself, tossing aside the substance of the issues for increased access to the administration. Thanks to his position as 'the Republican talking head who supports Obama', Smerconish was actually given the first live radio broadcast, interview, and listener question-answer session from inside the White House with the new President in August of 2009.

A man whom I happen to admire, Glenn Beck, has been an outspoken registered Independent for some time now. But with Beck there is a major difference. He legitimately sees and eloquently expresses his own ideology of American exceptionalism, pointing out with detailed precision how leaders of both parties have been led astray by political and social 'progressivism' and calling for a return to the Constitutional direction of the Founders.

Whatever their motivations, I still believe that whether it be in Beck's principled stand against progressives or in Smerconish's unwillingness to publicly embrace either his change to liberalism or that he has no political backbone, registering as and championing oneself as a registered 'independent' is a bit disingenuous. There is no doubt that Beck's conservative lean would, for example, find him in the voting booth ever pulling the lever next to the name of any current Democrat, while there are any number of Republicans who share his basic ideals.

In contrasts to Beck's independence status, Smerconish is simply a fraud. He is an opportunist who now sees his best opportunity at continued celebrity by casting in with Obama and his liberal followers. Smerconish is waiting for this type of characterization. He is waiting for it and expecting it so that he can use it as well. He is waiting for conservatives to let loose on him for his alleged betrayal.

No, this indictment of Michael Smerconish and his allegedly changed political positions and resulting party registration change do not stem from feelings of betrayal. They come from a long-held belief that the man is all about himself, not any true, bedrock values or political positions. He has no political backbone whatsoever, and has only proven his irrelevancy with this registration switch. That is one man's opinion based on what I have seen and heard.

It is also my opinion that this move to alleged 'independence' is only itself a temporary move. Right now, Smerconish senses the unsure direction of the future political winds as Obama's plans prove to be the socialist failures that many of us predicted. I predict here that Michael Smerconish's political independence itself will not last, and that it is only a matter of time, and more security in the direction of those future political winds, before the big 'R' is back, or before the big 'D' takes a permanent place on his voter registration.

For local Philadelphia morning drive-time radio listeners, you do indeed have a choice. The intelligent, articulate, personable Bill Bennett can be heard by sliding your radio dial over to 990AM weekdays from 6am-9am. There, Bennett's 'Morning in America' program is a part of the "intelligent, conservative talk" that local station WNTP offers each weekday. The one thing that Bill Bennett will never be accused of by anyone is being spineless, and you won't ever see him change his political affiliation for career or financial expediency.

2009 American of the Year: Glenn Beck

This was a year of tremendous change for America, and the vast majority of it was not for the good. Our national debt, already out of control as the year began, has now soared to previously unimaginable levels. Our government has taken over control of large portions of private industry, and is poised to take over even more in the coming years.

On the international front, we have become indecisive and noncommittal in fighting a war against a determined Islamofascist enemy that continues to look for ways to attack us, kill our citizens, and deal crippling blows to our economy and our way of life. Thanks to recent election results, we face a future of increasing debt and taxation and decreasing personal freedom and liberty.

Not willing to stand by and simply whine and complain on the airwaves, radio talk show host Glenn Beck took his blossoming television program from CNN's Headline News and moved to the Fox News network in early 2009. This move allowed him to get out from under the umbrella of the liberal mandate of CNN and into the Fox world that allows fair and balanced reporting of all sides of the issues.

Beck then began a year-long education of the American people on civics, history, and current events that was quite simply not being discussed anywhere else in any clear and consistent manner. For his efforts as a truthful voice crying out in the wilderness, and for his out-front leadership of traditional America, this website is proud to name Glenn Beck as it's 2009 American of the Year.

Beck follows in the footsteps of previous honorees Pat Tillman (2004), Bill O'Reilly (2005), Rev. Billy Graham (2006), P/O Chuck Cassidy (2007), and President George W. Bush (2008). While many years have seen a number of worthy individuals fall just short while being considered, no one really came close to challenging Beck for this year's honor.

There is no doubt that websites, magazines, and news programs run by and catering to ultra-liberals, socialists, and Europeans will look to make their 'Person of the Year' selections soon. Many of them will no doubt select Barack Obama for his, uh, for...hmmm. There is the whole being sworn in and becoming the first-ever minority, well, half-minority President in American history thing. But then that is really a ceremony.

Should we give someone an award for contributions during an entire year when all they really accomplished was ceremonial? Well, apparently they give out the Nobel prize for accomplishing nothing. But this website will not fall into that trap.

The more important thing would seem to be not winning an election, but what you do once you are in office. Other than driving up debt, decreasing freedom, and lessening national security, it's hard to find any accomplishments of Obama this past year.

This year, Beck released another in a what is fast becoming a series of best-selling books. His latest is titled "Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government" and in it he takes on these targets with simple facts. Gun control? Government-run health care? Illegal immigration? You might think that you have an opinion, but in this book, Glenn will help you to understand the facts.

The 45-year old Beck did more than lend a leading voice to the most worthy cause of protecting and preserving the U.S. Constitution and restoring American exceptionalism, though that enough would be worthy of the honor. As a concrete measure, he organized the '9-12 Project' to embody the spirit that the vast majority of Americans felt on the day after the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks.

Beck's '9-12 Project' is based on 9 principles and 12 values that embody this spirit. The principles include basic ideals such as "America is good", "I believe in God", "The family is sacred", and "The government works for me." The 12 values are: honesty, reverence, hope, thrift, humility, charity, sincerity, moderation, hard work, courage, personal responsibility, and gratitude.

Beck also gave a voice to the 'Tea Party' movement which grew at formal town hall gatherings all across the country during 2009. Based on the 'Boston Tea Party' concept of protest against excessive government actions and taxation, these localized events exploded into a massive taxpayer march on Washington on September 12th, 2009.

His style is one of intellectual inquisitiveness mixed with what he himself calls a 'rodeo clown' persona. Open about being a recovering alcoholic, Beck sprinkles his television program with the same humor that is a hallmark of his radio show, adding formal charts and graphics and video accompanied by simple presentations made by him alone standing at a chalkboard. He engages guests at both venues of all political persuasions in conversation rather than rancorous debate.

Critics of Beck's programming presentations have often used terms such as 'fear-monger' and 'conspiratorial', and yet almost never do you here any substance behind such accusations and commentary. As is a hallmark of the liberal community in general, name-calling is about all that the left has to offer up in rebuttal when challenged on-air by Beck's biting tongue and sharp wit.

In September of 2009, Beck was highlighted by the usually left-leaning Time magazine in a cover piece titled "Is Glenn Beck Bad For America?" In this sweeping article that basically painted him as one would expect from a liberal tome, Time had this to say of his programming: "As melodrama, it's thumping good stuff. But as politics, it's sort of a train wreck — at once powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled." What the magazine did not say is perhaps the most telling thing. It did not say that he is a liar.

There are any number of radio talk hosts, television commentators, political pundits, comic satirists, and armchair politicians out there. But exactly because he is so "powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled" as well as truthful, Glenn Beck taps into the raw nerves of the large numbers of Americans who are as rightfully frightened for the future of our once-great nation as he himself has become.

For his expressive courage, his moral conviction, his articulation of truth, his love of America, he is an example to us all. For what he has overcome in his personal life to become a wealthy, influential opinion shaper, as well as a devoted, loving family man, he is an example as well. For all of this, and for his work with the '9-12 Project' and the 'Tea Party' movement, Glenn Beck is this website's 2009 American of the Year.

NOTE: To view the write-ups for all of the 'American of the Year' winners simply click on to that label below this article at www.mattveasey.com

Ann Coulter's Biography

Future Twits has peered into the future and found Ann Coulter working to ensure her place in "history"








10:10 @QueenOfDamned: I have contacted the History channel to come to my mansion and write my full biography: "Ann Coulter: I'm not Satan, a zombie, or a closet lesbian (I think)". Unfortunately, they couldn't be bothered, and so Ricardo from Telemundo is coming over.

10:20 @QueenOfDamned: Strike that, Telemundo is too high class for this project and they've been replaced by Teleritmo. 9 out of 10 Mexicans can't tell the difference.

11:00 @QueenOfDamned: Ricardo has arrived. I'll be tweeting out excerpts from my dictation so that my many, er, three followers can hear the exciting accounts in real time.





My first experience hating liberals came with a childhood crush that I had on the son of a hippie couple from my middle school, Kevin. I loved him, but he dumped me for another hippie named Rainbow -- even though I let him go to third base.

@QueenOfDamned: Are you getting that, Ricardo?

@BeanBurrito: Si, senor. Algo . . . algo . . . fajo con su tio Kevin, su papa, su hijo, ademas, ademas. Continue, please, senor.








However, I credit these rejections -- and a failed experiment in a cult -- with shaping me into the person I am: a bitter, obnoxious woman with a bad boob job and a deep seated hatred of everything not rich, white, and American.

@BeanBurrito: Algo, algo, Ella es una puta . . . una que fuma marijuana y crack y quiere que yo toce sus pechitos. Pero, tengo principios: no hombres.

@QueenofDamned: I'm sorry; Glen is here for my 2 o'clock and I have to finish shoving his face in that pile of used socks. Can you come back.

@BeanBurrito: Prefiero que me muera. Si, senor.







Some Coulter videos:











Another Natalie Portman

Join the 912 Project

The picture accompanying this story might look like a scene out of some late 1960's, Gump-esque, anti-Vietnam War rally with counter-culture hippies, radicals, and others disenchanted with the actions and policies of their government protesting those actions and policies.

However, the picture, one that many of you likely have never seen because the former mainstream media does not want you to know about these events and thus fails to cover them or underpublicizes them, is not from the 'Summer of Love' but rather it is from the end of this very past summer. September 12th, 2009 to be exact.

The Americans in this counter-culture demonstration, the new generation of 'radicals', gathered in the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and all over Washington, D.C. to demand fundamental change.

You might have heard that before somewhere, the "Change" idea? The one word slogan was deftly used in last year's U.S. presidential campaign by Barrack Hussein Obama. It was meant to galvanize those sitting on the fence in the election to support a change from the policies of the George W. Bush administration which had governed for the previous eight years.

But while Obama and his people sold that idea as a change from Bush policies to what they described as some new, more enlightened and peaceful era, what they were actually selling was a bill of goods. Their real motive was a change in the very fabric, culture, and traditional values of America.

During their first year with full control of the American political process since 1994 the Democratic Party has shown that it's transformation from a centrist, populist party fighting for the middle class to one that is completely dominated by it's fringe left and bent on massive social change is now complete.

Just since coming to power in January, Obama and his lock-step congress led by California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Nevada senator Harry Reid have driven America further into debt than the combination of every political generation before them. And while risking financial catastrophe they have begun to risk our very safety and security with their weak foreign policy approach.

All the while, they and their supporters in the puppet media have begun to tear away at the very fabric of American spiritual and institutional culture, lurching it ever closer to collapse and their ultimate goal of a communist/socialist, totalitarian, government-run life for all.

Tens of millions of American did not vote for Obama or for much of any change in the last election, albeit as the lesser of two evils. Millions sat it out because they were not happy with the choices, even when they believed Obama was bad for America. And now millions more who did vote for that 'Change' have begun to realize that they were hoodwinked by these elitists masquerading as commoners.

In response to these mounting attacks on the American traditional way of life and value system, Americans from all walks of life, all races and social standings, began to mobilize at the grass-roots level, forming the beginnings of what has now grown into "The 912 Project" movement.

The movement began to organize with responses at a series of town hall meetings held by the Obama government meant to sell their socialist health-care program. Regular everyday people showed up and began to speak out against these policies. Then the 'Tea Party' movement was born, taking its name from the famous 'Boston Tea Party' protest action during the run-up to the Revolutionary War. This all culminated with the massive rally on September 12th, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Popular radio and television commentator Glenn Beck, among others, devotes a great deal of time and effort to spreading the message.

The term '912' or '9/12 mindset' comes from the idea that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks against our nation by islamofascist terrorists on September 11th, 2001 (9/11) the entirety of the population was together. We all were wounded, outraged, mourned, grieved. We all demanded and sought retribution and we all clearly saw the enemy and the dangers which they posed beginning on 9/12, the day after the attacks.

Since the first months after the attacks, however, the continued passing of time has seen many Americans drift away into a state of passiveness and apparent forgetfulness. They seem to lack the knowledge that the enemies who attacked us then continue to look for further opportunities to attack us now, and on a grander scale.

There also are some Americans who have intentionally moved past that post-attack period and are happy that many others have forgotten. These are actual Americans who believe that we simply got what we had coming to us on that fateful day in September 2001. They want a version of what the terrorists want, a complete change in American ideals and culture.

Only these Americans want the opposite direction of change. Whereas the islamofascists want America to become an islamic theocracy with the Koran as the basis of its laws and the ruling clerics as the interpreters of social and cultural doctrine, these liberals want an open, anything goes society. They want to force their version of equality and collective group-think, based on what the government believes is best for everyone. Both ways directly attack the very ideals that America was founded upon.

The organizers of 'The 912 Project' tapped into that feeling from the day after the 9/11 attacks, that remembrance that we are all one nation, that our freedom is unique and vital, and that the ideals which the Founding Fathers of our nation established are worth both fighting and dying for.

The project bases it's organization on 9 principles and 12 values upon which it hopes to begin the process of refounding traditional America. The 12 values are: honesty, reverence, hope, thrift, humility, charity, sincerity, moderation, hard work, courage, personal responsibility, and gratitude. Pretty radical stuff, huh?

The 9 principles are even more radical, depending on whether you share the Obama-led view that government is the boss, knows best, has all the answers, is unaccountable, and that you should just shut up if you disagree. These 9 principles are:

1) America is good
2) I believe in God and He is the center of my life
3) I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday
4) The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5) If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6) I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7) I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8) It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion
9) The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

While admitting that I agree with the vast majority of these principles and values, I have not always lived up to some of them. That is going to change. I am looking forward to dedicating myself completely to these basic foundational ideals in my life, and a fight to return them to their rightful place at the center of American culture, society, and law.

If you share the belief that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, that God has blessed America, and that we are supposed to be a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people then you need to look into 'The 912 Project' more deeply and consider dedication yourself in some way.

NOTE: As always, the title of this entry is a link to further information on the subject, in this instance taking you directly to 'The 912 Project' website.

Glenn Beck's Response to Our Post

Well, we certainly didn't expect this. Glenn Beck sent us a very tearful reply to our mockery of him.

Some quotes from the letter:

"you bunch of boot-stepping Nazi lovers with cheese for brains"

"the worst thing since Hitler"

"whores, each and every one of you"

"suck-ass video and commentary"

"cried myself to sleep"

"ate mud for three days"

"puta madre"

"up yours, your families' and your families families' asses"

"*&^! off"

We would get much more worked up about his display of emotion . . . only we tend to think that they're crocodile tears!

Healthcare Future Twit Style

Our Moderator

@Moderator: Future Twits is proud to bring you the first ever online debate about national health care reform! We would like to thank our honored guests, all of whom took time out of their busy schedules to be present at this event.

@Moderator: Lets get started. Gentlemen, we have a crisis facing our nation. There are an estimated 60 million people living in the United States of America who currently have either no health insurance or inadequate health insurance. What can we as a nation do to help these people and end this crisis?

@BigBillO: I don't see that there is a “crisis” like everyone is claiming. I have health insurance, my friends have health insurance, everyone I associate with has health insurance – where is the problem here? Why can't these people just move to Canada, Mexico, or Russia or something.

@Moderator: Those countries because of . . . their health programs?

@BigBillO: No, mainly so that I'll have more spots to park my Bently when I go to the mall.

@Moderator: Bill, a bastion of compassion, as always. But, seriously, Bill # 2, you must have some ideas as well about how to fix this broken system.

@GodlessWonder: My answer is simple – just outlaw religion. Everything that is wrong with this world can be traced to religion. The energy crisis – religion. The AIDS epidemic – religion. World hunger – religion. The asteroid coming to hit our planet in 20 years – religion. My last boy friend breaking up with me – religion. It's all religion . . . religion . . . religion . . . religion . . .

@Moderator: Can someone hit his reset button?

@GodlessWonder: Religion . . . religion . . . relig--- ahhhh, lets go smoke a fat blunt!

@Moderator: That's . . . better, I guess. But, what about you, Rush? Surely, as the de facto voice of the Republican party, you must have some good ideas about how to fix health care.

@WideLoad: I think that we need to take America back to a much more simple time, away from the liberal agenda. The only people getting health care now are the terrorists and the welfare Octomoms. We need to take America back to the simpler times before greedy liberals taxed the poor, struggling drug companies to the edge of bankruptcy and forced them to stop making their delicious Vicodin, Lortab, Percocet, Demerol . . .

Um, I have to take a quick bathroom break – be right back!

@Moderator: I think we've lost Rush for the rest of the night, so we'll wrap up this debate by talking to Michael. So, what do we do to get ourselves out of this mess?

@Docudrama: Simple – we follow the example of our enlightened neighbors to the South, wonderful Cuba, and socialize the hell out of everything.

@Moderator: But, how shall I put this delicately, CUBA SUCKS ASS! Their country is horrible, and all of the Cubans want to leave and come here.

@Docudrama: Don't yell! Oh, great – you made Glenn cry now!

Express 'Em If You Got 'Em

There is an old saying that usually comes into play when some group, often a military platoon, is about to take advantage of a brief lull before some important, heated, restrictive battle: "Smoke 'em if you got 'em" is how it goes. It relates to cigarettes, and the idea that if you are going to want one, now is the time to light up, because you may not get another chance for awhile.

Today's online edition of the Washington Times (www.washingtontimes.com) features a poll asking whether the Obama administration should have contacted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Iran's supreme religious leader) before the Iranian elections.

The poll is in response to a lead article at the paper's website which reports that the Obama administration sent a letter to Khamenei calling for an improvement in relations between the U.S and Iran. Khamenei referenced the letter last week during a sermon in which he accused the U.S. of fomenting dissent following the Iranian elections.

My problem or point here is not the article itself, the poll, or even the issues of Iran and the so-far feeble Obama administration response to Iran. Our new President is mad. Really, really mad, darn it. You can tell, because yesterday he "strongly" condemned the Iranian regimes unjust actions towards the street protesters of the rigged elections. Strongly.

No, my problem is with the supporters of America's first socialist President. When you answer the poll question, it takes you to the updated poll results and a commentary page. Here anyone who is registered with the site can make comments about the poll, and anyone at all can read these comments, even if not registered.

There is one answer that encapsulates the liberal, progressive, socialist mindset towards anyone who expresses Obama-dissent. Here a poster calling themselves 'TheProgressiveTruth' says that "conservative ideas are discredited and are not taken seriously by serious people."

Fair enough. That's showing political bias, but this is America, and they are free to express their political views. The problem comes with his next statement: "My advice, again: shut up!" Here they show their true stripes. Those with differing opinions need to be silenced.

There are many liberal politicians and partisans who subscribe to this line of thinking. They call for a radio 'Fairness Doctrine' (sic) that would silence conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and others, simply because they disagree with these conservative commentators but cannot come up with liberal commentators to draw a sustainable audience.

Bottom line is, liberals and progressives cannot win the battle of ideas in the public square, just as they cannot win at the polling booth on social ideas such as the farcical gay marriage issue. They lose every time one of these issues is balloted and put directly to the voters. Instead, they seek to "shut up" conservatives and force their views through controlled media and through the courts.

Barack Obama, his administration, and his colleagues in Congress have been seriously over-reaching in their valuation of their recent electoral victories. The American people voted for a change, but absolutely did not vote for the type of change that weakens or cheapens democracy and capitalism, or that calls for silence from its opponents.

Have some opinions on the issues that matter to you and your family, opinions that are different than the Obama administration and the former mainstream media try to force down the throat of the public. Then I have just one message for you: express 'em if you got 'em!

American Capitalism Gone Without a Whimper

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

WRITTEN by Stanislav Mishin, printed by Pravda on April 27th, 2009 and highlighted by Glenn Beck in his June 1st, 2009 newsletter

God Has His Ways of Getting a Nation's Attention

When Old Testament Israel strayed from following God, Yahweh had unique and painful ways of getting the Hebrews’ attention. His first line of attack was to send in His prophets—who were not the shiny, happy-clappy, cliché-spewing, aphorism-addicted mega church pastors who are more interested in hawking their books than bearding the priests of Baal.

No, the prophets were wrecking cranes to wayward Israel’s facades. They were imperfect, difficult dudes who called a spade a shovel for a perfect God. They didn’t give a crap who you were, who your mommy was, if you were the King or Pastor Whoop-Dee-Frickin’-Do. They were fiercely devoted to God and His ways. Janet Napolitano would call these truth-tellers “terror threats” because they loathed godless governments and butt-kissing priests and had no problem whatsoever letting those entities have it verbally.

Yep, if you were out of sorts with God because of practicing whacked stuff or preaching Oprah instead of Obadiah, you were about to be publically roasted via the prophets’ sizzling invectives.

Need a mental image? Imagine Rush, Beck, Coulter, Miller or O’Reilly on steroids.

This skewering, to be sure, was about as fun for the rebel recipients as watching Nancy Pelosi do an interpretive dance of “Riders on the Storm” (the extended version) would be for Simon Cowell.

A humiliating open rebuke, however, was a mere love tap when compared to an eternity of misery and the coming decades-long national butt kicking Israel was in line to receive should they remain contumacious.

The prophets’ messages were never complicated. These gruff and holy critters offered God’s people two choices: turn or . . . burn. If Israel obeyed, they’d be blessed. If they disobeyed, well . . . let’s just say things didn’t go that well for the next four decades.

You see, if Israel turned from their profane BS (belief systems) and back to God, Yahweh would chill and relent from the attention-grabbing calamities He was heatin’ up on heaven’s back burner. The prophet, unfortunately, was officially out of a job if the Hebrews went the repentant route. Yep, Amos had to go back to fig picking.

However, when Israel blew the prophets off by condemning the messenger, categorizing the message as hate speech, jailing the prophet(s) or, as in some cases, killing the prophetic salvo, God would in turn switch to plan B to get His insubordinate group’s good ear.

God, not the one to run out of advanced repentance techniques, would allow Israel’s economy to go to hell, plagues to ravage their land, nature to convulse, and enemies the ability to pulverize them.

Yep, unless I’m reading the Bible upside down, it seems that when the nation went astray from God’s law and wouldn’t listen to the prophets’ calls to repentance and instead vilified the saving voices, God allowed one (or more) of the four aforementioned hammers to pound them until Israel became all ears.

This is, at least to me, a plain prophetic pattern within the Scripture. The $64,000 question you gotta ask yourself is this: If there is a God, and if the Bible isn’t a bunch of fairy tales written by a stack of whack jobs, then does God still roll today like He did with Old Testament Israel as He interfaces with 21st century nations that spurn His values to His face?

I’m guessin’ God hasn’t had an extreme makeover and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, which could mean in our current culture—where evil is good and good is evil—that we might be in line for grave negative sanctions because, apparently, America’s new favorite pastime is whizzing on that which is holy, just and good.

WRITTEN by Doug Giles for TownHall.com and published there on May 10th, 2009

Why No Obama Jokes?

What's so unfunny?

That's what some comics - citing the scarcity of satire directed at President Obama and his administration - want to know.

Claiming that his peers are "panicky" about "being called a racist," stand-up legend Jackie Mason said too many once-fearless satirists are settling for "hero worship" of the new U.S. president.

The Great Presidential Comedy Drought of 2009 can't be chalked off to a lack of satirical fodder, said comic Jeffrey Jena, founder of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy blog. ("Looking at politics and life from the right side," proclaims its motto.)

"Letterman used to do a 'Bushism of the Week.' " Why hasn't he started one with Obama?" Mr. Jena said. "There's plenty of those moments, the 'Ohs, and 'Umms' or 'I don't speak Austrian.' "

"Late Show" host David Letterman was scathing in his mockery of President George W. Bush. But on his show recently, he scolded those who would mock the new president's reliance on the teleprompter for "political nitpicking," saying Mr. Obama is "at least out there trying" to cope with "impossible" political challenges.

"What really can you say wrong" about the determined new president, Mr. Letterman asked rhetorically while introducing a short film called "Teleprompter vs. No Teleprompter." The segment contrasted a clip of a fluent passage of rhetoric from a formal Obama address to Congress with one of a tongue-tied Mr. Bush trying to extemporize in a televised informal question-and-answer format.

Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show," another erstwhile scourge of presidential foibles during the Bush years, has morphed into a political loyalist, rising to the defense of Mr. Obama with angry rants against critics of the president such as CNBC's Jim Cramer and Internet news aggregator (and Washington Times columnist) Andrew Breitbart.

To some, like self-identified Christian comic Brad Stine, the kid-gloves treatment of Mr. Obama is blatant political cheerleading.

"Because their candidate was elected, they're hesitant to mock that thing which they approve of," Mr. Stine said.

Others see comics simply deferring to the sensitivities of audiences who aren't ready to a laugh at a president who's not just a political leader but a transcendent historical symbol of black achievement.

"In New York, nobody wants to hear anything anti-Obama," said Linda Smith, a stand-up comic, Obama booster and teacher at Caroline's School of Comedy in New York. "And even if they do, right-leaning comics must walk through a historical minefield to mock the first black president."

Radio and Fox News Channel talk show host Glenn Beck, who kicks off a six-city stand-up comedy tour on June 1 in Denver, suggested that both fear and political calculation are inhibiting factors. Comedians like Mr. Letterman are "either afraid, or they know the power of comedy as a weapon and they like using it as that," he said.

"We're now into biased comedy. We can't even laugh without a political agenda," said Mr. Beck, who cites "The Simpsons" as a show that skewers both sides without fear or favor.

Mr. Mason, for one, has no qualms about tweaking the new president, explaining that it's all a matter of striking the right tone.

"People love it. I don't do it with hate. Even liberals laugh at it," he said. "The truth of the matter is, if it doesn't sound like hate, and it sounds like a legitimate joke, it's OK."

Julia Gorin, an avowedly conservative comic, is also careful to create the right atmosphere. She said she begins the Obama part of her act by reminding audiences how her fellow comics have been taking flack for the lack of Obama jokes.

"That orients people the right way," Miss Gorin said. "I'll run into problems, sensitivities, without doing that."

Can the vacuum of uninhibited presidential satire create an opening within the comedy ranks for a new breed of right-leaning comics?

Comedian Nick DiPaolo said that although the new administration provides an opening for conservative humorists, that won't mean they suddenly start appearing on Mr. Letterman's couch.

Mr. DiPaolo, who mixes conservative-friendly material into his act, said the people behind the major entertainment shows "aren't going to let someone right of center jump into the arena."

Lee Camp, a left-leaning stand-up comic and Huffington Post contributor, questions whether the pool of right-leaning comics is big enough to take advantage of any opening created by the election of Mr. Obama.

Creative types tend to lean left, both in comedy and in other art forms, Mr. Camp said. Comics typically try to identify with the "everyman," while conservatives tend to favor big business, Mr. Camp said, which is a turnoff to the average comedy club habitue.

All bets are off, though, should the president have an intern malfunction or similar scandal. If that happens, right-wing comics will "be popping up everywhere," he said.

Mr. Beck said society needs comedians to skewer those in power, no matter the party affiliation.

"We deflate everybody. As a guy who's been deflated lately, it keeps you in check," Mr. Beck said. "Whoever the president is, they have to know that they're not a king."

WRITTEN by Christian Toto and published today by The Washington Times

Obama's Partisans Go After Limbaugh, Specter

There is a new political radio commercial airing frequently on local stations, particularly those with news and news talk formats. In the commercial a smarmy female voice sulks at the audacity of Republicans and in particular the popular talk show host Rush Limbaugh to oppose President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. The commercial highlights that every single Republican in the House of Representatives voted against the package. It also plays a clip from Limbaugh's show wherein Rush says "I hope he fails!", in relation to the Obama stimulus bill. The commercial equates opposition to the Obama stimulus bill with being against jobs. The evil, rich Republicans with their 'big business' allies lining up against the 'little guy' to keep him down. Do Democrats really believe that most people are as shallow as to believe that Republicans don't care about people having jobs? About people having the 'American dream' of home ownership and security? Here is what Obama and his liberal Democratic Party partisans want done. They won the election, and so they want Republicans to roll over and take it. They want Republicans in the House and Senate, all of whom were freely elected by their constituents in their home communities, to throw away their own values and beliefs and just cave in to the Obama-mania. Unfortunately for President Obama the simple fact is that while he won the election comfortably, almost 60 million Americans voted against him. Large sections of the country in no way support the radical liberal agenda that he wants to pursue. In fact, millions of Americans stated that they cast their ballot as a protest against the George W. Bush administration as much as for Obama and his plans. The Democrats and their media allies are incensed at Limbaugh for his stand. Why should they be surprised? People like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, and many others are diametrically opposed to everything that liberals stand for, and these people's names are known to everyone who reads this for a reason. That reason is because almost every single one of those 60 million who voted against Obama, and some of those who voted for him as a protest, see these talk show hosts and authors as their own voice. They have made these people popular by agreeing with and supporting their programs, articles, and books. Of course Rush Limbaugh wants Barack Obama to fail, and for the exact same reasons that I want Barack Obama to fail, and fail miserably. Because we understand that Obama and the liberals solution to every problem is more government. Create a new agency, a new level of bureaucracy. Create a new department. Finance some new project. All of these things will create new jobs. Sure they will, but who is paying for those new jobs? Those salaries, those benefits? We the people, that's who. And these jobs won't last. They are partisan jobs set up by a partisan liberal administration. The next time that a conservative Republican administration comes to power, and trust me that will be in our lifetimes (possibly as soon as four years from now), those jobs will go out the window. We understand that the real key to significant, long term job creation comes from keeping taxes low, reducing spending in certain areas, keeping the size and scope of Federal government to a minimal level, and allowing the market to create lasting jobs. Making businesses strong results in their expanding and hiring new workers with jobs that last, and that are paid for by those businesses, not we the people. In the political commercials now airing, the real target is Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. The commercial asks whether Specter is going to 'support Rush Limbaugh' and vote his way when the Obama stimulus package goes to the Senate. It is an obvious threat to Specter: vote against us, and you will pay the next time you are up for election. The fact is that Pennsylvania Republicans would be far better off with Specter out and a real, true, conservative-leaning Republican in office. Specter has been called a 'RINO' (Republican In Name Only) for years, and for good reason. The American Conservative Union (ACU) tracks and rates all members of the Congress on their actual voting records. Senator Specter is consistently one of the 2-3 lowest rated Republicans in the entire Senate. He already votes with the Democrats about half the time. For them to threaten him after all the support that he has given them over the decades is political partisanship at its worst. But that appears to be what the Obama folks want. President Obama speaks of breaking down barriers, reaching across the aisle, being inclusive, wanting bipartisanship, ending the political rancor. Then he accuses any Republican who does not support his programs of exactly that. How about this, President Obama? How about you and all of your liberal allies supporting the Republican plans instead? That would show a bipartisan spirit and end political rancor. But it isn't realistic, is it President Obama? The fact of the matter is that the United States remains a divided country. Divided between those who see capitalism and the free market as the best solution, and those who believe that government should be a 'nanny' who takes care of us all. Those who believe that America is the greatest power and force for good that mankind has ever seen, and those who believe that we should be more 'European' and gentile. Those who believe that life is important at every stage and age, and those who believe we should have the choice to selfishly kill another human being when it doesn't suit our lifestyle. Those who believe that the Constitution does not provide freedom from religion, but freedom of religion. Those who don't believe in throwing hundreds of billions of dollars of tax-payers hard-earned money at every problem and burdening our grandchildren with paying off that debt, and those who are trying to force this exact 'stimulus' program down our throats. Those who dare to take up the mantle of American greatness, and those who fear and even loath its responsibilities. President Obama and his political partisans can go right on attacking Rush Limbaugh, the Republicans in Congress, and conservatives in general. Go ahead, give it your best shot. We're big boys, we can take it. But count on the one thing we absolutely will not do, and that is roll over for the President when we whole-heartedly believe that he is wrong and his program will ultimately hurt America. Barack Obama is overplaying his hand and resorting to the very political partisanship that he claims he is trying to put to an end. As with most people who overplay their hands in any contest, he will find in the end that he wasted a valuable opportunity.