buzz twang

Dissent and Die. Truth amongst the lies…

Responses to the NY Times story on the so-called “secret” financial data mining program. (Fact: It wasn’t a secret at all.)

The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public’s right to know in some cases might override somebody’s right to live, and whether in fact the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans.
– White House Press Secretary Tony Snow – June 26, 2006. (emphasis added)

It would appear that Tony is correct. The NY Times story has indeed placed American lives in jeopardy. Except, not the ones he thought:

I can only hope I get to see the video of Sulzberger’s beheading! ”

“If the government won’t act, perhaps some private citizens will.”

“Tar, feathers? You are the very definition of the term ‘restraint’. I was thinking more along the lines of the Muslim solution.”

“String em up, right next to Murtha’s sad carcass.”

“They need to hang for this, but it’s not PC for me to type this in RESPONSE to their treason.”

The inevitable climax of this rhetoric of hatred was a post declaring the Times to be THE ENEMY, followed by additional responses in which they were described as fair game for private vengeance:

“The Slimes [sic] and its puppets in the MSM ARE THE ENEMY. They simply hate America as it is. They want a socialist-homosexual utopia. Thus, they are simply aiding and abetting their faithful followers abroad and here. They are giving intel to their friends of gee-had. They are the enemy. Problem is, many Americans simply do not know or care.”

“Any retired snipers out there?”

“They are, without a doubt our enemy. We need to treat them as such.”

“I think it will be dangerous for a Slimes [sic] reporter to step foot out of Manhattan.”

– Members of the “patriotic” forums at Free Republic, threatening the lives of fellow citizens. (Source)

That is, if you think that withdrawing from Iraq is treason. (Then again, what isn’t treason these days to the red meat right-wing?)

From USA Today:

A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months.

The poll finds support for the ideas behind Democratic proposals that were soundly defeated in the Senate last week. An uptick in optimism toward the war after the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this month seems to have evaporated.

Funny how the right is always wrong.

From WESH.COM:

Casket Found By Paintballers

POSTED: 11:57 am EDT June 26, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. — An empty casket with a military seal was discovered in a desert area south of Tucson, and sheriff’s deputies were looking for the body.

“Obviously it had the smell, and there was other evidence that it had been inhabited recently,” Deputy Dawn Barkman said Sunday.

Forensic investigators took DNA samples, and a nationwide alert was issued in hopes of finding out who was the recently-used casket, Barkman said.

Deputies were called to a desert area near Interstate 10 around 5:30 p.m. Saturday after two people playing paintball found the casket, Barkman said. The casket was metallic silver with a U.S. Army insignia on it, she said.

“We have a lot of cemeteries, but it could be from anywhere,” Barkman said. “Right now we don’t have any concrete information where it came from.”

Colin Ferrel is the brain washed hero, Anne Hathaway the damsel in distress and Venessa Redgrave is the evil military scientist whose black op program has gone astray.

Summer 2009. Watch for it.

Nat. Shweeeet. (Via Avedon)

The commander in charge of troops in Iraq, General George W. Casey Jr., has set forth a plan for withdrawl of US troops in that country.

The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.

Under the plan, the first reductions would involve two combat brigades that would rotate out of Iraq in September without being replaced. Combat brigades, which generally have about 3,500 troops, do not make up the bulk of the 127,000-member American force in Iraq.

American officials emphasized that any withdrawals would depend on continued progress, including the development of competent Iraqi security forces, a reduction in Sunni Arab hostility toward the new Iraqi government and the assumption that the insurgency will not expand beyond Iraq’s six central provinces. Even so, the projected troop withdrawals in 2007 are more significant than many experts had expected. (Source)

If one is to believe the recent rhetoric of the right-wingnuts – that a withdrawl from Iraq is “cut and run” and treasonous- by proposing a withdrawl of troops from Iraq (a plan remarkably similar to one proposed by Congressional Democrats who were immediately called traitors for doing so) then isn’t Gen. Casey a traitor as well?

Just wondering.

This isn’t new. Think Progress was on this White House tactic like white on rice last fall. So was The Talking Dog. So was Political Wire. It’s smoke and mirrors.

It has nothing to do with reality, and everything to do with the GOP and White House controlling perceptions of who is in control of the war and who is not. We need to reclaim the playing field, reclaim the debate and reclaim the policy.

In that vein, Avedon at The Sidewhow has some interesting thoughts:

But TRex at Firedoglake says that even having that conversation is letting the GOP frame the issues, and that we have to go more directly onto the offensive. I agree; I do well in debates because I don’t accept the terms of a question that’s wrong to start with.

To whit:

A Republican says, “All you liberals are cut-and-run traitors! You don’t support the troops!”

Instead of frantically beginning to tap dance and show that you’re not a traitor and that you do support the troops, you fire back, “Why are you Republicans such cowards? Your leaders are all draft-dodgers who’ve never fired a shot at anything but a bunch of canned quails and old lawyers. You’re using the troops as human shields against the midterm elections! Do you like seeing our brave men and women in uniform slaughtered and killed? Or are you just too much of a coward to face the consequences of your failed policies in Iraq? Which is it? Do you just hate the soldiers or do you hate your constituents?”

There. You have just put the burden of proof on the Repugnican that he/she isn’t a coward and that they don’t hate the troops. Then you set up a false dichotomy that they can’t answer without looking like a fool.

(It’s a false dichotomy because the answer to both is, “Yes,” and one is part and parcel of the other.)

The GOP and the WH own the game. The Democrats have been eliminated from the game because the White Hosue controls the ball/message.

From Elenore Clift in Newsweek:

It’s appalling that an administration led by chicken hawks dares to build an election strategy based on lecturing combat veterans, but it is devilishly clever, and it might work. The Swift Boat veterans destroyed Kerry in 2004; and in 2002, losing three limbs in Vietnam didn’t save Georgia Sen. Max Cleland from attacks on his patriotism. Rove told the GOP faithful that if the Democrats were in charge, Iraq would fall to the terrorists and Zarqawi would not be dead. As offensive as those words are, Rove is doing his job, which is sliming the Democrats so Republicans can cling to power on Capitol Hill. He is politicizing the war for partisan political gain, a strategy that could backfire if events on the ground in Iraq deteriorate.

“They’re risk-takers,” says Matt Bennett of Third Way, a Democratic centrist group. “Did they risk politicizing 9/11 by holding their convention in New York? Yes, and the risk paid off. It’s very Rovean; they’re trying to turn a weakness into a strength.” Another Democratic strategist noted the irony that after four years of no accountability on the mistakes made in prosecuting the Iraq war, the administration was hanging Democrats out to dry. This strategist called it “reverse accountability—shift the blame to those not in charge.”

The WH knows that troop withdrawl plans in simply an inevitable fact of reality. This is not news. So, they must control that idea and the perception around it. What better way to do that than to actually portray withdrawl as treasonous and label all plans to do so that will surely be proffered by the Democrats as such. Meanwhile, all real plans to withdraw from Iraq will be dealt with solely by the Pentagon and Centcom. Smartly, the White House keeps it’s fingers out of the debate entirely. Say one thing, do another. Control the perception of everything you do. Make it a negative, do it while accussing the opposition of doing it.

In order to own the playing field, the Democrats have to get possession of the ball. In this case, the ball is wining the war in Iraq to the degree that we can get the hell out. Redeployment and a Plan to Win. Not by pounding the military options into the desert, but by dealing with Iraq and the ME as a heightened diplomatic policy.

That means international support. Something the current President simply may be incapable of doing. He was unable to put together a true internation coalition after 9/11. It is doubtful he can do it now.

Democratic leaders have to get away from responding to GOP trick plays and start a brand new game.

Tbogg posts on the propensity of so many right-wing extremists to blame the MSM/Liberals for the fact that the war is going badly in Iraq.

Truth is, the fact that Baghdad is currently under curfew and the Iraqi government has declared a state of emergency is fully and entirely the fault of the Cheney Administration. All the whining in the world isn’t going to change that at all.

This little quote from the linked post above sums up the whining, arrogantly fascistic and diversionary tactic of the right-wing: (in reference to this story in the NY Times)

The public gains nothing from the disclosure of this program other than increased political acrimony and increase anxiety over the rising possibility of losing this war thanks to the treasonous Times.

Of course, the statement is true if you are a blind loyalist determined not to let any facts or information taint your Dear Leader and His Glorious Long War Against Global Extremism and Terror. (GLWAGET)

Over at GOP Bloggers, the brain trust there is even more to the point, invoking that favorite right-wing word – treason.

It’s all getting a bit old, don’t you think? Yes. Indeed.

Not only are copies of Ann Coulter’s newest attack screed on sale at News Max for a mere 4.99 (giving a nice boost to book sales no doubt), but the morning after Nasty Ann’s appearance on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the right-wing web rag had this to say:

Liberals may hate Ann Coulter, but the folks in the audience of Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” roared their approval of the controversial author when she was introduced on Wednesday night. [...] During her 8 1/2 minutes on stage, Ann was interrupted by vigorous applause time and again.

The implication is that Ann was adorned with affection from the mainstream public. But, the truth is a bit more staged.

As an industry insider, I know how an audience and how applause works. I know how screams of approval work. They are always fan clubs, or friends, or plants. And, during Coulter’s appearance there was a medium sized but very vocal group in attendence in the audience. That much was obvious. I knew immediately that they were plants of some type. Truth is, it’s not all that uncommon. PR agencies often pad an audience for their clients to ensure more than ceurteous applause. And, my suspicions were dead on. The audience at Leno was Freeped for Coulter.

Jay Leno gives you a little notice, a little warning of sorts, before taping his show, that it just wouldn’t be nice or appropriate to shout out stuff or boo or heckle any of the guests because, hey, everyone should be able to come and share their views. But even if a grungy, dreadlocked white kid in a Che t-shirt did decide to heckle Ann Coulter, there was a rather large group of Freepers, conservative/Republican activists and friends in the audience to overwhelm them. [...]

The musical guest was some chick from Scotland who stank, but had a mysterious message taped to her guitar which read: “THIS MACHINE KILLS FACISTS.” Nobody seemed to know what this meant, but I did notice that at the end of the show she shook Carlin’s hand, then Ann’s, but then immediately focused a conversation on Carlin and didn’t even glance at Ann again, as if she wasn’t there.

Not surprising actually that not one single Freeper and Ann Coulter fan from a “rather large group” would know what “This machine kills fascists” refers to or how it becaome a call to arms for Liberals both past and present. And, let there be no doubt, the message was for Ann, pure and simple. Zoom. Right. Over. Freepers. Heads.

Ann’s own message was lost amid the controversy. You see, the message that poor Ann wanted so desperately to get out upon the release of her new book was so simple: Liberals are Godless. It’s in the title for Pete’s sake! But, all that 9/11 widow stuff got in the way and her message was scuttled. (Not that Ann is usually all the coherent or salient or correct in the first place.)

Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Ann seemed genuinely shocked that the Liberals are Godless meme had been pretty much ignored by those very same “Godless Liberals”. From a (partial) Leno show transcript:

…the funny thing about this is I’m calling liberals godless. Oh, they’re cool with that. Just don’t attack the Jersey Girls. (empphasis mine)

So, why the wall of silence in response to Coulter’s assertion that Liberals are Godless? Well, it’s simply untrue for starters. Common sense tells anyone that. It’s ridiculous on it’s surface. And, of course, the fact that it is the thrid book of a trilogy which presents Liberals as Insane, Godless Traitors. It’s all a bit much. Fantastically hate filled, untrue and obviously meant to further the aims of the Conservative movement by branding their opposition as undesirable.

Rmemeber: Scapegoats are very important to the Conservative Fascist Movement. And, Ann Coulter is one of their best and brightest at providing that hateful rhetoric to feed the True Believers. Watch your back.

Can you tell the difference between Hitler’s hatred of liberals and that of Ann Coulter?

Take the quiz and find out! (Via Seeing the Forest)

I love NY. I’ve lived here for nearly 25 years for a reason. But, having been to a number of cities abroad – London, Paris and Rome to name a few – the fact that NYC lacks any real public restrooms have always been one sore spot. In Rome one can find a clean bathroom without much effort. Same for London and Paris. And, they are clean, usable and

In my hometown of New York City though, finding a public restroom, especially a clean one, is downright impossible. (And, pretty disgusting actually.)

So, it’s nice to see that the problem may soon be addressed. Hooray! And, it would appear we are getting new newsstands as well.

A post by yours truly entitled “Propaganda Nation” has been cited as an anti-source in a Wikipedia entry on Little Green Footballs.

Considering the company, which includes FireDogLake, Crooked Timber and Unclaimed Territory, I’m flattered and honored. Thank you masked man!