Showing posts with label talk radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talk radio. Show all posts

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Unsexy, Unpopular and Unflattering Political Cartoons - 3 Apr 2010

From Denny: Politics and the economy sure are wearing on people. On top of that all these new sex abuse scandals in the religious sector has people hopping mad and the cartoonists along with them.

Religious Sex Scandal Cartoons

Then there is the bombardment from the negative conservatives in this country: Conservative Republican politics joined at the hip with talk radio and flooding the airwaves with lies, deception and hate propaganda. There statistics are that 91% of talk radio is conservative hate talk and only 9% is progressive or liberal. So, who do you think is winning the war on "the hearts and minds" of the average guy? Hmmmm, a lot of weak minds out there who can't resist being programmed to believe obvious lies.

Yet with the bondage sex club scandal and other sex scandals from the national Republicans people actually are still funding these guys - to do it again! Where does the negativity, emotional stupidity and enabling end?

The same could be said of the Catholic Church. Well, at least one piece of good news in Europe. Austria is a country that has been rife with sexual abuse and pedophilia for centuries. When I visited there I certainly heard plenty from local Austrian women about how much they hated Austrian men, especially the fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins who abused them. It was shocking to hear just how much it was tolerated.

In light of the current garbage spewed out by the Catholic Church to enable the pedophile priests there is a Bishop of Vienna, Austria, who challenges that notion. He is demanding validation and healing for the abuse victims and a change of course in the Church. Well, at least one man has the courage to stand up against the establishment.

Follow him for the next few months and it will be interesting to see if he gets recalled to Rome and stripped of his authority. Hopefully, that won't happen. He represents those good priests who are doing right by their authority and looking out for the people and children. Unfortunately, Pope Benedict's arrogant refusal to purge the Church of this true perversion of goodness - which is evil by any definition - tarnishes the reputation of the quality priests doing good work.

The Pope's constant defense of "The Business" rather than attention placed upon true spiritual development is driving people away from God. What the frustrated, disappointed and angry people should be doing is walking away from organized religion that is corrupt like the current Catholic Church. These abuse charges are nothing new and have continued for centuries, helping to cause the Protestant Reformation.

Looks like the Catholic Church as we know it is now toast. On a spiritual level, the Church has already fractured and broken off. Expect the "Roman" part of Catholic Church to disappear from the title except in Italy. Things will evolve into each country's centralization of the Church, each country or continent with its own Pope. Rome as the center of the religious world to govern one billion church members is cooked. Put a fork in them because they are done. God has been trying to discipline them for the past 50 years and each time they spit on Him. When you spit on little children you are spitting on God in my book.

Moving on to President Obama's waning popularity it was to be expected with the long drawn out drama from this health care mess of which the Democrats did an horrendously bad job of selling to the public. Too much foot dragging, not enough countering of lying media and not enough factual information put out there on a continual basis as the legislation was fought. If the Democrats had any sense they would have mobilized all the liberal and progressive bloggers.

The CBS polls in regard to the President's popularity as well as other issues do tend to poll older Republican voters as opposed to fewer Democrats. The CBS demographic is elderly and older Baby Boomers. I'd like to see an NBC poll as NBC News is more female oriented and a cross section of ages. You often discover gross misrepresentation from the media when you go to read the internals of the polls - how the questions were framed. It's obvious the questions were set up to predict a particular outcome to please who was bank-rolling the poll. That fact explains why two polls about the President's popularity produced strikingly different results.

In spite of that, President Obama needs to get a grip on his weak campaign to constantly court and therefore enable the Republicans to screw over the middle class in this country. That is the heart of the anger in this country - how the Republicans so broke our government and economy and continue to defend those criminal actions that our lives continue to have surprise problems hitting us from every angle.

Now President Obama proposes extra oil drilling off American shores? Is he allowing them to go for the continental shelf? Has the Democratic Party so quickly forgotten the damage done to Louisiana, especially New Orleans, by the oil and natural gas companies? It's the very reason for the excessive flood damage from Hurricane Katrina. And now you are going to allow the same damage up and down the Atlantic coast? Are you crazy???

Oh, by the way, Mr. President, did you at least broker a good deal for the middle class from the oil companies and Wall Street to quit artificially inflating prices at the gas pump? Do you know how to play political hardball and slam back the serve to Big Business? Big Business and Wall Street are lucky I didn't become President because I would be hell on wheels with Speaker Pelosi looking like the sweetness Tooth Fairy.

Mr. President, you are simply not "leading from the front" and taking the best care of the American people. Get on the job and quit talking about an "A" game and get serious about walking the talk. And, if you don't know how to get more bills passed in the Senate, go seek out former Senator Tom Daschle who does understand. Quit allowing the tail to wag the dog, start barking and take a bite out of these nasty junkyard dogs who are killing the soul of the American people. There is no simply no excuse for the fact that Speaker Pelosi passed 291 bills and the Senate passed only one. Take care of the American people; quit talking and start doing.

The Republicans have never been the answer for America when it comes to quality of life or good government. The Democrats had better not sit down on their laurels thinking what they have done so far is enough. In my book you are still far behind the starting line without much of anything to show for your time in office.

The public is justifiably angry they have an unresponsive government, slow to react on major issues. You can't keep up a two front war and expect the public treasury to continue to bail out the economy every time. You passed weak credit card legislation and for the past 18 months the Big Banks have raped the wallets of the American people, good accounts along with the bad. Big Banks continue to take cheap money from the federal government and plunk it down on their bottom line, refusing to even fund car loans for the average person or help small businesses. Your mortgage loan relief fizzled because you did not pay attention to details and administer it correctly.

You took 15 months before you finally worked up the nerve to decide to finally fill needed government positions as recess appointments. How can you work without a government in place? What or who are you afraid of - what the whining Republicans might say? Who cares what they say about anything? They are going to lie about it every time. They have already been found in lie after lie.

Insurance companies continue to raise premiums beyond the average person's ability to pay. They even have the nerve to crow on the rooftops about how the current health care law will not set back their profits. CEOs on Wall Street continue to receive billion dollar bonuses. Where is the change, Mr. President? Where is the change?

You have no time to waste before the November elections, Mr. President. Get busy and lasso Big Business. While you are at it it's time to break up the Big Banks into smaller regional banks. If you are unwilling to break up the monopoly banks then nationalize the rat bastards because they are doing no good to the economy and no longer truly serving the people. You could also allow the smallest banks the same borrowing privileges as the current monopoly banks enjoy and you will see a lot of the middle class's issues melt away quickly. America needs positive change.






Yet more weak minds spreading violence and think it's funny:





















































Health care:





President Obama and foreign affairs:






















Senator Ted Kennedy who championed health care but did not see it pass in his life time:





The religious sex scandal mess:














NASA helping Toyota find their car problems:





U.S. Post Office in dire straits and cutting back services:





The flunking state of Education in America:





A teacher who pushed against a corrupt and lazy public educational system of low expectations and little teacher effort to graduate and develop some of the best minds in the country today:





How the average American is feeling right now:











And from our endearing beloved Vice President Biden who has a tough time minding his funny words making important moments funnier:





















Crazy Tax Season:


















President Obama's waning popularity:






And someone far less popular than the President:
















*** ALSO over at Dennys Funny Quotes blog:

Religious Sex Scandal Cartoons

Funny Marriage Quotes

Funny Surfing Peruvian Alpaca


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, February 22, 2010

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.
at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

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
at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)