Wire Report

(Wire/LP) – The Liberty movement has been looking for a beacon of truth in the mainstream media to stand up for the Founding Fathers vision of patriotism. At CPAC’s Campaign for Liberty event Thursday night, Ron Paul talked about a young man who came to his office to ask the congressman what it would take to get into politics. Dr. Paul encouraged the young man to consider going into the media business instead.

During an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano promoting his book “A Nation of Sheep”, he told me we need more wolves in the “fourth branch of government,” spreading the ideas of liberty and that will challenge the dominant progressivism-which sometimes goes by the name “conservatism.” The progressive movement has gradually infiltrated the minds of conservatives, through talk radio and other mediums, and such pundits are truly sheep in wolves clothing.

Enter the Neo-Conservative

Talk host Sean Hannity doesn’t even acknowledge Kentucky Tea Party Republican candidate Rand Paul who was even endorsed by Hannity favorite, Sarah Palin. Rush Limbaugh said of Representative Ron Paul’s CPAC victory, that it “put the brakes on Republican progress.” Mike “holy war” Huckabee, claims of CPAC, “it’s not the event it once was”, and in their agreement, Huckabee and Rush are correct–there were actual conservatives at CPAC this time.

Let’s not forget Debra Medina being treated like a joke by Glenn Beck. Beck obviously doesn’t understand himself, the principles of conservatism he preached to the CPAC audience, concerning “progressivism” and “Wilsonianism”. The blind-leading-the-blind, Beck might want to go back to step-one himself and admit he is himself a disease called “Beckaholism”, a not so rare sickness that consists of part liberty rhetoric, part establishmentarianism, and part progressive interventionism.

Though his schizoid mix is a more dangerous form of the disease, there is hope. Mr. Beck, we invite you to join Neoconservatives Anonymous before going off and embarrassing the rest of us who are actually in recovery from the intellectually debilitating disease of neo-con denial. I am willing to be his sponsor as I am the founder of the program and all are welcome. But remember it’s for those who want it, not for those who need it.

My suggestion to Beck and the rest of the war state ostriches:

1. Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your confused-about-conservatism mouths.
   
2. Start listening to real wolves in the media beginning with the Mike Church Show.
   

Yes, the Mike Church Show! I recently had the honor of meeting Mike Church at CPAC, a true, modern day Patrick Henry, and someone I believe to be an honest-to-goodness, recovering neoconservative. After he spoke Friday night, a small group had dinner with Mike Church, including his brother, sister-in-law, his producer Andrew Guss, author Tom Mullen, The American Conservative’s Kelly Jane Torrance, Jack Hunter (aka the Southern Avenger”), and we discussed what it was like before and after we woke up from neo-conservatism. Mike Church knows both sides of the real conservative vs. neo-con argument, which easily makes him the most dangerous man on talk radio today. It’s hard to neo-con a recovering neo-con.

Mike Church has been doing talk radio for 18 years and was part of what he calls the “talk show mafia”. Mike has the longest running talk show on Sirius Radio and just a couple of years ago he woke up from neo-conservatism and has been helping wake millions since. Mike discovered noted Liberty movement figures Kevin Gutzman and Tom Woods and organizations like the Ludwig von Mises Institute, which led to his producing a wonderful film about the founders and constitutional government called “The Spirit of 76: The Greatest Story Never Told.”

There are those who do speak for true liberty in the forth branch of government. FOX News Judge Andrew Napolitano with his program “Freedom Watch” and a veteran voice on Sirius satellite radio, the great Mike Church. Before it’s over, I expect there will be many others that will join the Church/Napolitano wolf pack. Who knows, perhaps even the schizophrenic Glenn Beck might come around, finally and fully becoming one of “us”. But chances are by the time that happens-it will be viewed along with the rest of the “talk show mafia” through Mike Church’s rear view mirror.

Kurt Wallace, Editor & Publisher, The Liberty Pulse & The Liberty Pulse Blog

Since hosting Wake Up America, Wallace has interviewed many distinguished guests including Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News Commentator and Judicial Analyst; Dr. Murray Sabrin, USA Daily; Thomas E. Woods Mises.org and Peter Schiff, Financial Advisor and a regular contributor to Fox Financial Network and Congressman Ron Paul. As Editor & Publisher of LibertyPulse.com, Mr. Wallace offers the Liberty Movement its own news aggregator service filled with a variety of Liberty oriented news stories and editorials updated constantlyfrom around the web.

Allison Bricker

The Smoking Argus Daily has written previously on faux liberty talking head Glenn Beck after he attempted to link supporters of Dr. Ron Paul to “Domestic Terrorists” and after he inferred a link between the Liberty Movement and white supremacist James von Brunn, the unhinged lunatic who went on a shooting spree in the holocaust museum. It most certainly seems like a long shot for a man who shamelessly admits he does not check his facts prior to airing a story and blatantly fabricates entire segments in order to forward his agenda.

Nevertheless, some feel his crocodile tears are proof positive that he has seen the sunshine of liberty and is thus leaving his war mongering, torture apologist, PATRIOT Act loving, neoconservative days in the dustbin of history right next to the bottle of Absolut Vodka.

To them we say wake up and smell the coffee:

Guest Contributor

Raymond Powell

Raymond Powell is the Editor in Chief of “Liberty Network News”,  a “Revolution Broadcasting” radio personality, and is a member of several other ventures in the liberty movement. All of which are all accessible through RaymondPowell.com Mr. Powell considers himself to be a libertarian minded freedom seeker who became serious about changing the world in July of 2007 when Dr. Ron Paul was campaigning for the Republican Presidential Nomination.

The planners behind the New World Order movement are once again showing their pure brilliance. For decades, they have worked to maintain a two-party system and ensure that people have only one of two groups to identify with. These groups have been labeled “liberal” and “conservative”. If you want to study this technique, do some research on the Hegelian Dialectic. Of course you can always read Carroll Quigley as well to get all the specifics on their plan.

Please note that when I refer to “liberals” and “conservatives” throughout this article, I am not attempting to validate their usage. I am only pointing out that these are the two ideologies that have been created by usage of the technique I just described. That is why I enclose those words in quotes.

Every time one side of the Hegelian takes a clear political advantage, they know that the other side is surely feeling completely disenfranchised. The patriot/freedom movement has had the luxury of being able to reach out to a disenfranchised group for almost 2 years now. We have made significant progress with the “liberals” before the 2008 election, and we are making major progress with the “conservatives” now that the “liberals” are running the federal government. Of course we did make progress with the “conservatives” before the election too due to the Bush administrations complete lack of identity with “conservatism”. Due to that lack of identity, the “conservative” side has been weakened.

The planners behind the New World Order cannot allow the freedom movement to continue to make progress. With Obama being elected, the “liberals” now have their home. But the “conservatives” have none. They have now shown us how they intend to solve their dilemma. This new “we surround them” project will give all the “conservative” side a home again; a place from which they can re-invigorate their battle with the “liberals”. Of course this on-going battle has always served, and will always serve, to create a more restrictive society.

Let’s not be fooled. While this list of things may appear on the surface to be progress for the freedom movement, we know better. In order for this to be progress, it would mean that News Corp and other large media players have suddenly come around and joined us! To believe that, one would have to be seriously uninformed about the power, scope, goals, and experience in societal manipulations of the planners behind the New World Order.

Remember how this all started with Glenn Beck suddenly apologized to Ron Paul supporters for calling them “terrorists”? Once again, to really think he had just miraculously come around on his own, is to not understand the scope of the problem we are fighting against. I clearly remember watching his apology and addressing Ron Paul supporters and being extremely suspicious at the time.

While all of the evidence I am presenting is purely circumstantial, I believe anyone who has been paying attention to circumstances in current day and over the last 100 years or so, can see this evidence as clearly as I can.

I believe Glenn Beck was appointed to infiltrate our message. First, they decided that CNN is not the place for him- that is the “liberal” news network. They needed to put him in the right place, working for Fox News, who is the “conservative” news network. They did a small field test with his broadcasts over the last few weeks. They have done studies on the reaction and have come up with a clear plan as to what void needs to be filled in the “conservative” side of the Hegelian. Now that they have that, they have created a 9-point scheme, created a nice, easy to remember name for the project (we surround them) and are now attempting to enlist the big “conservative” guns, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Once this plan goes into effect, the uneducated, and misinformed populous will not be able to differentiate between the true message of freedom, and the message of the new “conservative” meme which is being created. But that same segment of the populous will find some comfort in their message, and they will be able to hear it in their car, see it on TV, and read it in all the conservative publications. The real message of freedom will be drowned out, and the populous will be manipulated, as always, into a false battle of fighting against those evil “liberals”.

I will now provide my analysis of their 9 points, and what I think they are trying to accomplish with each:

1. America is good.
   This sounds great! In reality, the only thing truly good about America (The United States of), is our constitution. Of course since that document is being totally ignored these days by our federal government, this statement is pretty meaningless and only serves to create false patriotism which ultimately leads to support of a big federal government.

   
   

   
   

   
   

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
   By this, they most certainly mean the “popular” version of God that has been created over many centuries of manipulations of the world population. That version of God is carefully maintained presently by the “National Council of Churches”. This point serves to separate those “conservatives” who tend to more regularly attend church and buy into the God concept they have created, from those “liberals” who tend to be afraid to address the issue of God in their lives. This ongoing battle will now be re-invigorated and keep everyone distracted from the fact they are continuing to restrict our freedoms and enslave us economically.

   
   

   
   

   
   

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
   Not sure about this one. Just seems to be good feeling fluff. Of course everyone wants honesty. Once again, it only serves to divide because once you have the “liberals” fighting against this platform, those who support the platform, will believe in their mind that those in opposition obviously don’t believe honesty is important.

   
   

   
   

   
   

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
   This statement is designed to grab those who support less government, but convince them, at the same time, that by believing in less government, you must act completely selfishly. Of course, working together and recognizing our shared responsibility for our community is paramount to a successful “free” society. This will divide the two groups and tap into people’s common sense understanding that we must share those certain responsibilities and present government as the only solution. Also note the use of the word “spouse”. This implies that those who choose to enter into the governments approved version personal relationships are somehow more worthy.

   
   

   
   

   
   

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
   This statement forces those that bought into this platform because of the freedom elements, to also accept that law must be enforced at all costs- regardless of real morality of freedom, and regardless of the constitutionality of the law in question. This will also allow people to sit back and accept the enactment of harsh penalties that we have never seen before.

   
   

   
   

   
   

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
   This statement gives the “conservatives” the ammunition to say “don’t complain you whiner”, whenever the government comes down hard on freedom-fighters. It subtly says “freedom is a neat idea, but don’t complain when you don’t get it.”

   
   

   
   

   
   

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.
   This is “conservatism” at its best. This would be generally acceptable on its own in a pure sense, of course, to “liberals” this will appear to be insensible selfishness and only add fuel to the Hegelian battle. Experienced freedom fighters know that in order to get away with making statements like this, it always needs to be worded more like: While giving to others and being charitable is important in a functioning society, it can never be the role of government to use force or coercion to enforce morality.

   
   

   
   

   
   

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
   Once again, this enforces false patriotism in this “America” concept. The freedom movement would simply say something like: “The constitution enumerates my rights which allow me the freedom to rail against the government or to express my opinion.” But this would be far too sensible and not nearly divisive enough to accomplish the goals of their project.

   
   

   
   

   
   

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
   Once again, this statement has shades of sentiment of a freedom-fighting constitutionalist. But we know these people aren’t. They are actually enforcing the concept of big government. They are saying big government is ok, as long as we (“conservatives”) are in control.

Part of me wants to write another several pages to make my argument crystal clear. However, I have real freedom-fighting work to get back to. I only hope that our movement can see through these tactics and not be fooled. This is a complicated game- and the road to winning back our freedom just got harder.

If you made it all the way through my post. Thank you for taking the time. You must have saw some little bit of wisdom here!

Allison Bricker

THE REGION, INDIANA – The old-media’s faux-liberty shill, Glenn Beck has attempted yet again to tie Constitutionalists, Ron Paul supporters, those calling for a second 9/11 investigation, opposition to the FEDERAL RESERVE, and liberty activists to the likes of domestic terrorists and Al-Qaeda. Mr. Beck made the statement on his show Wednesday evening after self-described white supremacist, James von Brunn went on a shooting spree¹ at the “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum”.

Click to Enlarge

Without offering any source, i.e. the Associated Press, Reuters, etcetera Mr. Beck reported on air unsubstantiated innuendo² as a means to forward his personal dislike for anyone who dare question the government story on 9/11. It is worthy to note Mr. Becks’s utter contempt for those calling for a second more thorough investigation is well documented.  During a broadcast on his radio show in 2005, he tore off into a tirade over the hatred he feels towards families of 9/11 victims due to their constant “complaining”.³

Regardless of where one comes down on the issue, and subsequently following President Obama’s admission in his Cairo, Egypt speech regarding the successful C.I.A. led overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953, there is no justification in attempting to connect those requesting a second 9/11 investigation to terrorists.

For a man who has just recently been caught  lying⁴, it is but another example of the unprofessional shills in lieu of actual reporters now employed by the old-media.

However, this is not the first time Mr. Beck has lied or reported erroneously, as just this past January when he was hell-bent on insinuating that President Obama was somehow anti-God for failing to use a Bible during a second swearing in ceremony, he fictitiously stated that he researched the issue and did not find one single President who did not use the Bible.⁵

Click to Enlarge

Unfortunately for Glenn Beck, a cursory check of history shows that Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in during a hastily arranged ceremony shortly after the death of President McKinley⁶ and thus did not use a Bible. However even more devastating to Glenn Beck’s haphazardly constructed insinuation of “no Bible = UnAmerican” is the fact that our sixth President, John Quincy Adams, an outspoken religious man, stated that he felt the Bible should be solely reserved for religious ceremonies, and thus was sworn in by Chief Justice Marshall with his hand upon an American Constitutional Law book⁷.

Consequently, perhaps the only bit of truth recently spoken by Glenn Beck came during an exchange with Barbara Walters of “The View” when he stated that he is not an investigative or any other type of reporter⁴ and that he does not check his facts prior to offering commentary upon a story. (see video)

Similarly to the old-media “M.I.A.C.-like” tactics displayed by Glenn Beck, anonymous screen name only tabloid blogger, “Left coaster” writing for the “Daily Kos” attempts to infer a link between Ron Paul and those opposed to the FEDERAL RESERVE to  the murderous antisemite  James von Brunn⁸.

Utilizing a standard so circumstantial that it would be laughed out of any court in the union, even taking into account the most liberal interpretation possible for rules of evidentiary procedure, “Left Coaster” attempts to conjoin criticizing the FEDERAL RESERVE with a sociopath  by offering up a lone comment left in a Yahoo Ron Paul for President group.

Thus, if we at “The Smoking Argus Daily” desired to stoop to either of the very low bars set by Glenn Beck or “Left Coaster” in order to rile up a small group of unsophisticated, intellectually void readers, we too could make such spurious connections in our reporting and editorializing.

Whereby, since my personal feelings on abortion could be classified as “local rule” pro-choice, should I have crafted a scathing editorial insinuating a link between all Mormons, Christians, and other opponents of abortion as packs of wild blood thirsty homicidal gun wielding maniacs, due to the cold calculated shooting of Dr. Tiller?

Alternatively, since President Obama is viewed by me as just another government puppet, then it might be possible to score some brownie points by connecting him via an official press release⁹ supporting the administration’s pick for N.O.A.A. issued by the “Sea Shepherd Conservation Society”. After all, the organization is headed up by environmental extremist, Captain Paul Watson who as the video to the left indicates, thinks that in order to “protect” the rain forest, fellow environmentalists should “rise up and rip loggers limb from limb”.

Would it somehow prove that all abortion opponents approve of murdering doctors in order to “spread” the pro-life message, or that all environmentalists support Mr. Watson’s demented desire to tear apart fellow humans¹⁰ as a rational way to protect the environment?

Therefore, this is purely a myopic tactic employed by those who see collective group-think as an effective strategy to keep us divided in to neat and manageable “people-groups”, thereby tethered ad infinitum to the false left/right paradigm. It is not now, nor shall it ever be as long as “The Smoking Argus Daily” remains edited and published by me, to allow any post to strive for the lowest common denominator, nor view our loyal readers in such an unsophisticated contemptuous manner.

Finally, with both “Fox News” and “Daily-Kos” attempting to pigeonhole the freedom movement as “dangerous”, “radical”, or somehow equated to lunatics like James von Brunn, it can only really mean one thing. Those of us who desire to see the Constitution/Republic Restored, the abolition of the FEDERAL RESERVE, et al are making progress to a degree which has risen to rattling the cages of the status quo.

Thus with H.R. 1207 “The FEDERAL RESERVE Transparency Act of 2009″ currently sitting at 218 222 co-sponsors¹¹ and with Chairman Bernake & Co. opting to hire a public relations firm¹² to combat mounting scrutiny over their deviousness, individuals are beginning to see through the transparent “plastic-wrap” shills of the old-media for what they truly are; agents of division.

Source(s): ¹AP NEWS BRIEF: “Gunman, 88, opens fire at crowded Holocaust Museum and kills guard before being shot himself”, published June 10, 2009 • ²Fox News “Glenn Beck” aired June 10th, 2009 • ³Premiere Radio Networks “The Glenn Beck Program” aired September 2005 • ⁴ ABC “The View” aired May 20, 2009 • ⁵ Fox News “Glenn Beck” aired January 22, 2009 • ⁶ Foreign Press Centers, U.S. Department of State “Presidential Inaugurations Past and Present: A Look at the History Behind the Pomp and Circumstance”, January 13, 2005 • ⁷ “The Statesman’s Manual” by Edwin Williams, pg. 649, published by Edward Walker, 1846 • ⁸ Daily Kos “NeoNazi Killer’s Racist Rant in Ron Paul Yahoo Group” by “Left Coaster”, published June 10, 2009 • ⁹ Sea Shepherd News “NOAA Is On The Right Track With Obama”, published March 20, 2009 • ¹⁰ 2003 Los Angeles Animal Rights Convention, speech by Cptn. Paul Watson • ¹¹ Campaign For Liberty “H.R. 1207 Passes 218 Co-sponsors” published June 11, 2009 • ¹² Reuters “Fed hiring veteran lobbyist: source” By Mark Felsenthal, published June 5, 2009•

Joseph Marohl

I spent Saturday night in ER at Duke Hospital. No biggie. I fainted two or three times at a Mexican restaurant, before what was supposed to be a fun evening with my friend Ann at a David Sedaris event downtown.

Much of the night I was kept up by the chatty night nurse, Ray, who shared his unasked-for opinions on politics, death, and the economy. Ray is a cheery conservative who thinks he’s funnier than he is—to me anyway. He said that it was his goal to keep me bored all night, and at some point, I told him, “So far, so good.” He liked that one.

He also told me that Obama’s stimulus plan—Ray called him “O-boo-boo”—ha ha ha ha ha ha—could be explained this way: if somebody handed out a million dollars every minute since Christ was born, the sum total would not equal the debt that Obama is incurring. I countered that Bush hadn’t done such a bad job cranking up the debt either, and that touched a nerve with Ray—something you don’t want to do when a guy’s drawing your blood every three hours—and he said there really was no comparison.

He also regaled me with his boyhood memories of replacing, along with some other mischievous lads, the American flag with the Nazi swastika flag in high school, which he and the other guys (really fun guys, apparently) sieg-heiled instead of reciting the morning pledge of allegiance. Boy, was the nun pissed!

In three days, he said, he is going to the state capitol in Raleigh to participate in an anti-government rally, which he dubbed the new Boston tea party.

Or maybe it was the new Mad Hatter’s tea party—it was three in the morning, and I wasn’t taking careful notes.

***

In a provocative blog in The Smirking Chimp on Friday, Stephen Rose charges Republican mouthpieces with what appears to him to be possibly sedition.

Rush Limbaugh publicly longs for Barack Obama to fail, Michelle Bachmann says most of her colleagues inside the government actually hate America, Spencer Bachus has a secret list of seventeen (card-carrying?) socialists in Congress, and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck urge their viewers to take their country back after just 80 days of the worst tyranny these fellows have ever witnessed, apparently.

To be sure, these people have a right to free speech, including harsh criticism of the President and their own peers in government, and, to borrow Jon Stewart’s catchy phrase, “to speak crazy to power.”

I have to confess that I, too, have had my faux-seditious fantasies, so I understand a little of the right wing’s emotions here. My particular daydream during the Bush Presidency was an assassination staged by me and five or six oiled-up go-go boys in gold G-strings—sort of Manchurian Candidate meets Barbarella on Brokeback Mountain.

No, I never really wanted to destroy the government, though I wanted somebody somewhere to take some sort of stand against the madness of Bush and his cohorts. Despite the crassness of the fantasy elements, my concerns were genuine and patriotic, not self-serving or nihilistic.

The fantasy was less seditious than what Bush himself was doing in dismantling the nation’s civil liberties, its military, its democratic elections, its economy, its global reputation, its educational system, and its infrastructure and in “downsizing” the government from within, in a way that was more suggestive of a will to kill and skin than to preserve and protect.

My fantasy was a way to let off steam—in the absence of effective political opposition to what Bush was doing (and to this day I blame the Democrats, as a whole, for this absence)—and I seriously would have regretted an actual assassination—though, I hasten to add, impeachment and some prison time are still very much in order.

Rose’s argument (if not his accusations) falls apart for me partly because he equates Obama with the nation—an equivocation that I find distasteful, as much so as when previous Presidents—and George W. Bush, most flagrantly of all—assumed that they and the nation were identical.

But I do see Rose’s point. Obama’s enemies have been relentless in attacking the new President not just for being no better (yet) than his predecessors, but for perpetrating an unprecedented hoax and subverting the American way in favor of … they can’t agree what … socialism? Islam? Satanism? secularism? gay rights and abortion?

Rose explains, “[T]heir strategy is immediate lie-fabrication and fact-distortion while creating an atmosphere of ‘imagined’ mistakes way before the effectiveness of policies can be measured. Are they attempting to incite many of the most unstable and paranoid people in our society to sedition?!?”

I am all for keeping a careful watch on our nation’s leaders—even while recognizing that the task is difficult, perhaps even impossible. But as reasonable people we are not free to simply fill in the gaps of our knowledge with whatever conjectures our ape-shit wet-your-britches panic inspires in us at a moment of global crisis.

So far I have seen nothing in Obama’s performance as President that suggests that he poses a distinct threat to the country or its best traditions of liberty, justice, and opportunity. For me, George W. Bush would be a hard act to follow in this respect. I have seen nothing in all the blogs and vlogs I’ve checked out so far that convinces me that Obama’s dangerousness is even close to Bush’s.

For that matter, what Obama is doing (even if misguided and ineffectual—and it may well be both or neither—time will tell) seems to be, in most respects, a continuation of the path taken by the previous three administrations, albeit with somewhat less arrogance, oiliness, and presumption of a divine right to leadership.

The rightwing rhetoric that I hear sounds opportunistic—exploiting national crises the right’s own political agendas fanned the flames of. Republicans were ready to blame Obama and liberals for the bad economy well before Bush and the Republican-majority Congress even left office.

What is more, they wrap their hysteria in high-flown appeals to liberty—which they have no interest in spreading beyond their own venal interests, the Constitution—for which they have shown little respect in the recent past, and our revered founding fathers—to whom they bear no resemblance whatsoever.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence, to judge from the document itself, did not view themselves as sabotaging the British monarchy and deliberately framed their action as, in fact, an attempt to protect the integrity of existing colonial governments—to oppose King George because he “refused his Assent to Laws” and forbad the passing of “Laws of immediate and pressing importance,” thus negating the colonists’ natural rights to, among others, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Analogies to the Boston tea party appeal to Americans’ rebel image of themselves. Despite our outward buttoned-down doughiness, we Americans like to see ourselves as James Dean—but more cautious as motorists. But the tea party of 2009 is a gimmick, a cynical and self-serving gimmick that betrays the wit and true risk-taking courage of the Boston patriots long ago.

And let’s face it, if Republicans were in charge now—but this time Republicans like McCain who (I suppose) actually wanted to save America, rather than gang-rape it while it sleeps—they would be pushing new taxes—just as Reagan and G.H.W. Bush did—and probably pumping the same big bucks into the corporate sector that Obama is—but, I suspect, with one-fifth the concern for how either of these actions affects ordinary American workers.

Obama is not perfect. He may not even be good. And he’s certainly not immune to the typical flaws of most politicians of all ages. But he has not yet revealed himself (to me, anyway) as the Great Satan that his detractors seem to think he is.

***

In the other party I mentioned, the Hatter’s mad party, the March Hare invites Alice to have some wine, which isn’t there, a point Alice sensibly raises. Then the March Hare criticizes Alice for daring to sit down to a party without being invited—having not in fact been invited to share whatever is actually there on the long table—a nice but familiarly quibbling point. Alice counters by saying that she was not aware that the party was just for the Hatter and his two friends, “all crowded together at one corner,” since “it’s laid for a great many more than three.”

To which the Hatter responds in the voice of conservatives and exclusionists everywhere: he tells her to get a haircut.

Kelly

Whose fault is it when a man shoots another man? Or in the case of Richard Poplawski, whose fault is it that he shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers? Do we blame the actions of Richard Poplawski for the deaths of these officers, or are we going to put the right-wing propaganda machine and so-called conspiracy theories on trial?  Because, by the tone and accusations thrown about by the liberal blogosphere, it seems that the latter is more-so the case.

In article after article, Richard Paplawski is labeled  as a conspiracy nut, an avid Fox News absorber, and a tin foil hat wearing, Alex Jones following young man who apparently let the crazy out of the bag.  And according to David Neiwert at Crooks and Liars, the media ought to be embarrassed for the important role they play in “whipping up the far-right crazies out there.”  Neiwert goes on to say that,

Because not only did Richard Poplawski avidly participate in white-supremacist online forums and right-wing conspiracy-theory sites, he also avidly consumed mainstream conservative media, particularly Fox.

I am reading this correctly?  To paraphrase, not only did Poplawski engage in white-supremacist online forums, because that is bad enough, but to top in off, Poplawski couldn’t get enough of conservative media, mainly the Fox News machine.  Now, I’m not interested in the least bit to defend any white-supremacist group or forum.  I do not support their whacked out ideas or their very blatant racism, however I do support their inherent right to the freedom of speech.  I am not aware of any online forum that coerces people to join, which leads me to understand that Poplawski likely sought out the forum based on his own beliefs.  Fox News, on the other hand, no one can escape them, right?

Laughable, nonetheless, and yet Media Matters has attempted to seriously postulate to its readers that Alex Jones’ appearance on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch is just the sort of hyperbolic act that people like Poplawski will use as a launch pad for violence and death.  Eric Boehlert writes,

Jones also noted with excitement that Fox News’ Glenn Beck had recently begun warning about the looming New World Order on his show, just like Jones had for years. “It is great!” cheered the conspiracist. (Like Jones, Beck recently warned viewers that “the Second Amendment is under fire.”) Concluding the interview, Fox News’ Napolitano announced “it’s absolutely been a pleasure” listening to Jones’ insights.

We don’t know if Poplawski tuned in to watch Jones’ star turn for Fox News last month. But is there any doubt that Fox News is playing an increasingly erratic and dangerous game by embracing the type of paranoid insurrection rhetoric that people like Poplawski are now acting on? By stoking dark fears about the ominous ruins that await an Obama America, by ratcheting up irresponsible back-to-the-wall scenarios, Fox News has waded into a territory that no other news organization has ever dared to exploit.

Well, yes, I would say there is plenty of doubt that “people like Poplawski” are becoming cop-killers as a result of too much Fox News programming, Alex Jones or not.  And interestingly, that type of accusation is much akin the “Marilyn Manson caused Columbine” ridiculousness that typically comes out of the mouths of the right wing nuts to begin with.

But, most important is what is truly at stake here.  And what’s very telling is that since the right wing lost its mojo when George W exited the stage, they have found a way to leech on to the momentum of the liberty movement, while distorting it the way only the spin masters of Fox can do.  And while the lefties want to feel secure in their Obama win, they do not, and as they too feel threatened by liberty and tea parties, they have in turn exploited themselves and their enemies at Fox.

Rest assured, and to use the term so well coined by Alex Jones, the “left/right paradigm” is not only unraveling, but exposing itself more now than ever.

Kelly

Glenn Beck has done a fine job of turning a so-called conspiracy theory into a cable news soap opera.  Beck first appeared on Fox and Friends about 4 weeks ago a bit distressed and seemingly certain that FEMA concentration-like camps existed.  At that time he claimed that as much as he wanted to be able to debunk said camps, he could not.  Then, just hours after his appearance on Fox and Friends, his plan to go ahead with the story on FEMA concentration camps came to a halt as Beck decided that something so large and full of implications had to be further investigated before he could report on it.

The debunking job was given to Popular Mechanics and 4 weeks later, here is their report-

Kelly

If you have been paying attention to the landscape of political media, especially as it pertains to the punditry of  Fox News, then you are aware that over the past few months Glenn Beck has done his damnedest to court those of us who believe in the virtues of freedom.  And though it is refreshing to see  an outlet within the mainstream media who appears to be paying attention, such as Glenn Beck, I remain suspicious…keeping in mind, it is Fox News.

This evening, Beck spoke with Congressman Ron Paul (TX-R) about the MIAC report, as well as the financial state of our country.

Allison Bricker

Penn Jillette on half of Penn and Teller sat down with Fox News’ Glenn Beck Thursday evening, March 18th, 2009 to discuss the absolutely ludicrous associations contained within the Missouri Information Analysis Center report on the Modern Militia Movement. As originally editorialized by Allison Bricker earlier in the week, the report attempts to advise law enforcement officers that support for former Presidential candidate Ron Paul could be an indication that the individual is a domestic homegrown radical.

Download full MIAC Report

Kelly

The third episode of Andrew Napolitano’s Freedom Watch with guests Glenn Beck, Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), and Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital.