Sarah Palin Wins MIsinformer of the Year Award

The folks at Media Matters have given  the second annual Glenn Beck Honorary Award for Excellence in Misinformation to ( drum roll please) Sarah Palin-- the woman who with such personal magnetism and style has so blurred the boundaries between truth and falsehood that she has brought misinformation to a new, never before achieved  level.

Working closely with Glenn Beck and Fox News, the Killah from Wasilla has managed to scare and confuse more Americans than any other public figure this year, using both distortions and outright lies.  Her " death panel" rumor during the run up to the Health Care Reform vote was a master-stroke that perfectly exemplifies her style and finesse.

Let's hear it for the former governor of Alaska  and Misinformer of the Year, Sarah "youbetcha"  Palin.

H/T  to  Crooks and Liers   and  The Fifth Column

A Christmas Card For You

Happy Holidays everybody-- I'm off to the mall and the kitchen.

Enjoy the joyeux sounds of Marcome and don't eat too many sugerplums.  Joy to the world, which will survive a few days without my ascerbic political comments on it.


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Julian Assange is Wiki-Leaking All Over Town

Fox, CNN and all the sleezy tabloids  are  just having a ball with the gory details of Julian Assange's  sexual indescretions-- It is all just too tacky and TMI, and while Assange was pretty stupid to step into what may or may not have been a honey trap, set for him by God only knows who, this is certainly not rape and does not justify all the hoopla and attention it is getting.  The New York Times account at least makes an attempt at dignified journalistic reportage.

"The Swedish report traces events over a four-day period in August when Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, had what he has described as consensual sexual relationships with two Swedish women. Their accounts, which form the basis of an extradition case against Mr. Assange, state that their encounters with him began consensually, but became nonconsensual when he persisted in having unprotected sex with them in defiance of their insistence that he use a condom."

and here comes the good part

"The case has prompted widespread controversy, with supporters of Mr. Assange alleging that he is the victim, and the women are complicit, in an American-inspired vendetta seeking to punish WikiLeaks for posting hundreds of thousands of secret American documents on the Internet."

Don't we all just love a juicy sex scandal?  Yes, we do and that's what sells advertising-- and in America, that's what shapes public opinion.  Whether or not it is a conspiracy theory as Assange-ites assert or just an unfortunate confluence of circumstance only time will tell.

Wiki-Leaks has been sharing secrets online and embarrassing the rich and powerful for years-- it is a kind of Robin Hood site that reflects the new reality of the transparency and reach of the internet.  Anybody can send stuff to Wiki-Leaks for publication and lots of people do-- some of it is important and some of it not.  While America may be embarrassed by the gossipy political revelations of Cablegate, it is not, for the most part, being endangered. On the other hand, some powerful egos are being bruised  and there is definitely a new, internet based,  information paradigm in town

Whatever you think of Julian Assange, he is one smart cookie and clearly not doing what he is doing for personal gain-- I am sure that if he could be bought, he would have been by now.   Whether it is idealism or ego, he is totally changing the information landscape in a way that benefits the ordinary person.  In this internet age, information is power and Assange has the ability to give power to the people and THAT is perhaps what makes him seem so dangerous to the powers that be.

The fat lady hasn't even opened her mouth yet, but it is clear that this whole bruhaha is about a lot more than sex in Sweden and broken condoms. Julian Assange is taking a wiki-leak all over the global power elite and it is making them a little nervous. Fasten your seatbelts folks -- it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Tea Party Healthcare

Ron Paul on Wikileaks and Delusional American Foreign Policy

Click here for latest updates on WikiLeaks Saga

 Ron Paul and I are usually poles apart politically, but we do agree on one thing--i.e. the importance of truth and transparency in a free society.  Here's a quote from what Paul had to say last week about Wikileaks and the ongoing Cablegate. situation.  I think he is right on the money.
  

"At its core, the Wikileaks controversy serves as a diversion from the real issue of what our foreign policy should be. But the mainstream media, along with neoconservatives from both parties, insists on asking the wrong questions. When presented with embarrassing disclosures about U.S. spying and meddling, the policy that requires so much spying and meddling is not questioned. Instead the media focuses on how authorities might prosecute the publishers of such information. "

Ron Paul has a lot more to say.   You can read the entire text on his website or listen to the video below.  Here's another snippet to whet your appetite.

"State secrecy is anathema to a free society. Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name? In a free society we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling and outright military intervention in the post-World War 2 era has made us less secure, not more, and we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble." 

Meanwhile, Julian Assange is readers choice for TIME's annual person of the year award and there is talk of a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize  Something quite big is in the air. I can feel it. Whatever is going on, Ron Paul is right--"in a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble "  You betcha!

Is the United States Becoming A Banana Republic?

Senator Bernie Sanders lives in Vermont but has New York City in his soul and he tells it like it is.On the floor of the Senate,he recently gave the facts and figures that outline an ugly recipe for class warfare.

Sarah Palin and the right wing nut jobs like Beck and Limbaugh stir the pot for their own reasons.  However,as Jesus said: " they know not what they do."

We all know that the American middle class is losing ground, the poor are growing in number and the richest 1% of Americans are just getting richer. According to Sanders, One percent of the people earned 23% of the income last year ( think Wall Street bonuses) which is more than the total earned by the bottom fifty percent.  Keep that up and you have a perfect recipe for revolution.

The problem is what to do about it. Republicans and Democrats are busy squabbling  while most Americans are just trying to figure out what happened and who to blame. Bernie Sanders sounds a warning bell. Are we becoming a banana republic without the bananas?

Watch the video and give it some thought.

The GOP Remembers

source

Wiki-Leaks and American Healthcare

photo source

Just read a post by Donna Smith at commondreams.org  that is so moving I had to share it with you. The American healthcare debacle is no longer in the news much these days, having been most recently eclipsed by the Wiki-Leaks excitement.

But just because the public is fickle, doesn't mean that Americans  aren't  still dying out there  because they cannot afford decent health care in a dollar driven system.


Here's an excerpt from the post:

Today, in cites and states across the United States, 123 people died because they lacked enough money to buy healthcare services.  That brings the annual death toll for 2010 to 41,082. 

WikiLeaks had nothing to do with the deaths of the 123 people who died today or any of the 41,082 who died so far this year.

The 123 who died today did so with the full knowledge of all who allowed their deaths.  The 123 who died today might have lived if they had access to appropriate healthcare.  The 123 who died got no mention on any news program or website – liberal, conservative or otherwise.  So much for the value of 123 human lives.

 We Americans have become so conditioned to the cruelty of our profit-driven healthcare system that the death of 123 of our fellow human beings doesn’t even warrant the same coverage as the potential sale of Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics for “The Times They are a Changing.”   Something is ridiculous about thinking that Dylan’s lyrics might bring $200,000 - $300,000 from some wealthy buyer who might have funded some healthcare and saved a few lives today.  What’s changed, Bob?

Oh, we’re ready to throw the whole terrorist plot arsenal at the WikiLeaks folks because of the potential for lost lives based on the leaking of government diplomatic documents.  Yes, we are.  But no one stands accountable for the 123 dead today without access to healthcare they would have if only they had money.  No one stands accountable for the 41,082 healthcare dead so far in 2010.....

here's a link to the original post  It's worth taking the time to read the whole thing.

Loup Dargent has a Message for the TSA

Loup Dargent lives in Britain, but he's got a great message for the TSA.( Transportation Security Administration)  Wonder if he's planning to cross the pond soon?

Those pat downs are getting tedious and now that the " Don't touch my junk" media frenzy is done, there is time for a nice deep belly laugh and the wolfman definitely gives us one.

This video remix of  Peter Griffin singing " Can't Touch Me" probably won't leave em laughing at  Homeland Security, but it certainly tickles my funnybone.

If you are not already a fan, check out Loup Dargent's blog . It is full of wonderful funny tidbits like this.