• The Center for Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney says Barack Obama is “America’s first Muslim president.” Gaffney joins Alan to debate the claim.
• Legendary Democratic strategist Bob Shrum believes Republicans are attacking Judge Sonia Sotomayor to “maintain racial purity.” He’ll explain why.
• Alan discusses the troubling implications of the decision to close Dr. George Tiller’s abortion clinic.
Hey Lefty, I have to go for a while. I have some responibilities to take care of here at home. :)
Talk to ya later.
But many who act irresponsibly often blame someone else for their actions. For example, blaming ones dad for abusing him as a child. That is, in a sense, the dad inciting him to do bad things. Because the dad abused him caused him to abuse someone else.
Because Rush criticizes Obama causes another to murder? That is like blaming the gun for some kook who murdered another. I think it is a stretch. Put the blame where it belongs. On the one who committed the crime.
Lets not forget that this whole thing started because I took issue with YOUR calling AC irresponsible.
Blaming someone for someone else’s action is on a different plane than blaming someone for inciting.
The fashion industry is not to blame for young girls becoming anorexic, but they know they are fanning the flames; they just don’t care.
As an American I take responsibility for my own actions. If one murders another or commits a crime of another sort then he and he alone is responsible for his actions. To blame another for his actions because he may have listened to some radio personality should never fly.
Can I ask you if Al Gore had any responibility in the actions taken by the Unibomber? They found a copy of Al Gore’s book “Earth in The Balance” in his little shack.
Daddio,
Of course it is not Rush’s responsibility anymore than it is AC’s., just that Limbaugh can do a lot more damage with his irresponsible pandering than AC.
I think the Democrats used less harsh rhetoric against Bush than was used against Clinton, and no violence resulted from saying that Bush was taking away our freedoms and lied about war.
As I say, I think these guys know that their rhetoric is like a dog whistle to those on the fringes, but as long as the ratings are good, they don’t care, actually, when something happens, they get a few more shows out of it.
Technically, they are not responsible, but morally in my opinion they are, because they know exactly what they are doing.
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I think Gaffney is a little paranoid…a little overboard.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Gaffney is crazy.
That’s my clinical diagnosis as a layman.
The neocons are all suffering from PTSD.
PTSD: “Diagnostic symptoms include reexperience such as flashbacks and nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, increased arousal such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger and hypervigilance. Per definition, the symptoms last more than six months and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”
The neocons all think “someone (Muslims, in this case, but it was once commies) is out to get us so we have to kill all of them first”. The roots of their fears aren’t in anything that’s ever really happened to them since they’re also all chickenhawks and they’ve devoted their lives to successfully avoiding dangerous situations even as they push others into harm’s way.
Their fears originate in the life experiences of others and the neocons are only channelling on their behalf. While you can’t argue the fears of those others might often be legitimate, killing everyone who might act against them today or in the future is probably a poor way to settle said fears.
The neocons might try some cognitive therapy or antidepressants to get over their illness.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Some things never change.
John the Trucker is still an idiot. The “cracker” holy roller and truck driver is dissing A-rabs. He’s giving redneck truck drivers a bad name.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Yes, unions drive the cost of everything “up”.
If people would work for “free”, everything would be cheap and we’d all be rich. If people wouldn’t retire or get sick, everything would be even cheaper.
It’s so simple, even “John the Trucker’ understands. Tomorrow night, we’ll explain “String Theory”.
sbj Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
How do people work for free and become rich? I think you may have to rethink your math Mr. A
However, you are right about the trucker being an idiot.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Yes, unions drive the cost of everything “up”.
While they may not drive the cost of everything up, they do contribute to unemployment. When you are forced to pay a person more than they are worth on the market, you then have to buy less people.
Or, think of it this way, when the cost of labor goes up, people buy less of it.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:13 am
And when the cost of labor goes down, labor has less in his pocket to purchase goods with and business slows. The economy is circular. It’s all about the journey and not the destination.
“While [unions] may not drive the cost of everything up, they do contribute to unemployment.”
Ah, you’re a Milton Friedman fan. You surely also feel the minimum wage increases teenage unemployment because it forces business to descriminate against the lesser skilled?
June 10th, 2009 at 12:51 am
The economy is circular. It’s all about the journey and not the destination.
I am not Zen, if that’s what you mean.
You surely also feel the minimum wage increases teenage unemployment because it forces business to descriminate against the lesser skilled?
Yes. As the cost of labor rises, people buy less of it. And when they do, they buy the best quality and let the rest go.
As far as I know, there is only one condition that states when wages are forced higher, employment actually grows. Additionally, as far as I know, that condition does not actually exist. Ever.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:23 am
“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”
Henry Ford
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 3:14 am
and look who is still in business with no government intervention…
RDM Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 5:25 am
Old Henry also said,’ people work for two reasons, one is for wages and one so they won’t loose their job’.
He was in his 70’s in the mid 1930’s. In 1941 the Ford Motor Co. gave in to the United Auto Workers Union, which he never supported.
The quote you used was way before the Union started at Ford. That’s the only way it could have been possible.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 5:34 am
One thing about Ford is that he was ruthlessly efficient. He never had extra employees. So he paid well, but he never had someone doing a frivolous job, and if you had a job, you worked and worked hard.
Fords policies never would have allowed something like GM, where people were paid for being in a work bank (essentially getting paid, hoping that business might pick up and they will be needed)
If he needed 6 people that day 6 people worked and got paid for that day. no more and no less.
Running a factory is tricky, especially if you have fluctuating work force and fluctuating orders, but the consensus is that GM (with the UAW stringing the rope) hung themselves with their inability to balance that objective.
It’s sort of like the sub-prime mortgage business. Everyone involved knew it couldn’t last, and everyone knew that it was eating away at the industry and eventually would collapse it. Howevever, everyone gleefully took their money today, all while trying to time it out so they were out when the bill became due.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:45 am
For the sake of truth in advertising, the Republican Party should name Frank Gaffney as its Leader and rename itself the Ministry of Fear.
Unbelievable. I would be VERY interested to learn how many right-wingers have ever traveled in any countries with majority Muslim populations. I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time in both Turkey and Egypt and have made wonderful friends there.
I look forward to the day when ALL Americans finally move out of the 19th century and into the 21st. Good god!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Fox Network supported figures, Rush Limbaugh, Niel Bortz and Sean Hannity have ordered killings that have been carried out! A doctor has been shot and killed. A security guard has been shot and killed! The kinds of deceptions that ooze from the racist mouths of these individuals are what fuels, and in some cases implies these terrorist to attack. Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, domestic terrorism will not be the answer! Domestic terrorist are generally weak minded individuals who are easily manipulated and controlled. There lack of SOCIAL intelligence makes them easy prey for Terrorist leaders like Limbaugh, Bortz and Hannity who call for the acts of terrorism but lack the intestinal fortitude to carry them out themselves. Instead they summon intellectually retarded individuals to do their dirty work. They cower behind suggestive statements like Limbaugh saying Obama is trying to take control of the banks and take your rights, “Obama does not have a birth certificate”, he states. The average racist takes this as truth and deducts that the president of the United States of America is not legally qualified to hold the position. Furthermore, he is of an ethnic background that they have been conditioned to hate. The “Leader’s” words therefore in the twisted conditioned mind of a racist appear as justification for retaliation in the only way that they are capable. Since intellectually they are overwhelmed, the only way they are capable is violence! The call is to stand for this no more! The challenge is to fight back with intelligence and common damn sense for crying out loud! For these things are water to the current terroristic fires that are being started in these critical times.
This is only the opinion of AC Grenelefe, ac@greenlefeonline.com, but possibly the opinion of millions of others around the world.
goliath43 Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 4:58 am
That has to be the biggest pile of BS that I’ve ever heard. Blaming a talk radio host for the acts of violence but some wacko is twisted. I don’t think Sean wasn’t even alive when this guy who killed the security gaurd started his hate filled life. Your problem is with the GOP and anything they stand for and you want to use what every you can to lay blame…nice try thou
Daddio Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 7:08 am
AC,
I only read your first sentence and went no further. I didn’t have to. I think, like Goliath, that you just put down “the biggest pile of BS…”
To say the Rush, Neil, and Sean have “ordered killings” is utterly irresponsible of you. You must be some left wing radical nutcase. It’s ok if you don’t like them but to accuse them of putting out orders to “kill” someone is way beyond the pale.
June 11th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Bob Shrum is a schmuck and a political hack. Nuff said.
OldLefty Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Daddio,
There is so much trash talk going on, but when Rush Limbaugh says that Obama is going to destroy the US before bin Ladin and Glenn Beck says that Obama should just shoot me in the head now…how is a poster on a site read by dozens, held to a higher standard than those with a national microphone?
Daddio Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I haven’t had my coffee yet Lefty. Please explain your question. I don’t quite understand what you are getting at. Thanks.
OldLefty Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Daddio,
My point is, when you say, “AC,
I only read your first sentence and went no further. I didn’t have to. I think, like Goliath, that you just put down “the biggest pile of BS…”
To say the Rush, Neil, and Sean have “ordered killings” is utterly irresponsible of you.
……………………………….
Why do you expect more responsibility from random posters than from those with a national audience?
Granted, these guys did not “order” the killings, but they certainly know there are a lot of people out there who are not well, and they know there is a great chance that their incendiary “Obama is coming for you”, is going to incite a few…..
How is that more responsible than LC who does not have access to mass media?
Daddio Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Actually Lefty it is not Rush’s responsibility to take the the responsibilities of others actions. Because Rush does not want Obama’s policies to succeed or that Rush thinks Obama is going after our freedoms and phrases it as Obama is coming for you, which I have never heard him say, does not make Rush responsible for the actions of others. Using that line of reasoning, then we should shut down most of Hollywood. And most of our politicians. And most of our political commentators, both on air and print. And how about most of those who post on blogs.
I remember how the Dems in congress used harsher language about Pres. Bush. Was that inciting the “not well” to take irresponsible actions? I don’t buy into that. But you must.
But my point about AC was he was completely off the wall with his opening lines.
OldLefty Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Daddio,
Of course it is not Rush’s responsibility anymore than it is AC’s., just that Limbaugh can do a lot more damage with his irresponsible pandering than AC.
I think the Democrats used less harsh rhetoric against Bush than was used against Clinton, and no violence resulted from saying that Bush was taking away our freedoms and lied about war.
As I say, I think these guys know that their rhetoric is like a dog whistle to those on the fringes, but as long as the ratings are good, they don’t care, actually, when something happens, they get a few more shows out of it.
Technically, they are not responsible, but morally in my opinion they are, because they know exactly what they are doing.
Daddio Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 8:40 am
As an American I take responsibility for my own actions. If one murders another or commits a crime of another sort then he and he alone is responsible for his actions. To blame another for his actions because he may have listened to some radio personality should never fly.
Can I ask you if Al Gore had any responibility in the actions taken by the Unibomber? They found a copy of Al Gore’s book “Earth in The Balance” in his little shack.
OldLefty Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Lets not forget that this whole thing started because I took issue with YOUR calling AC irresponsible.
Blaming someone for someone else’s action is on a different plane than blaming someone for inciting.
The fashion industry is not to blame for young girls becoming anorexic, but they know they are fanning the flames; they just don’t care.
Daddio Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 8:59 am
But many who act irresponsibly often blame someone else for their actions. For example, blaming ones dad for abusing him as a child. That is, in a sense, the dad inciting him to do bad things. Because the dad abused him caused him to abuse someone else.
Because Rush criticizes Obama causes another to murder? That is like blaming the gun for some kook who murdered another. I think it is a stretch. Put the blame where it belongs. On the one who committed the crime.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Hey Lefty, I have to go for a while. I have some responibilities to take care of here at home. :)
Talk to ya later.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am