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javaz
Member

GOOD NEWS!

The House passed DADT repeal: 250-175

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/15/house-dadt-vote/

AND –

Vote shows enough votes for ratification of START

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/15/vote-shows-new-start-has-enough-support-for-ratification/

And my favorite –

Harry Reid tells Republicans to stop whining about having to work over the holidays!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/reid-to-republicans-quit-whining-about-working-this-holiday

kesmarn
Admin

YAY! Thanks for a large and much needed batch of good news, j’avaz!

javaz
Member
BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Hey Javaz, thanks for the link, great article. I have long suspected that right-wing paid trolls inhabit most of the major blogs and political internet sites, HP being one of the major ones.

This coordinated effort by the right, groups such as Sam Adams Alliance and American Majority, to dumb down the political conversation on sites just scares me to death. It’s as if they are everywhere now, have gained a foothold and cannot be stopped.

Even on AOL, which I have for my businesses e-mail, when you read the comment section of even the most benign story, the right wing hate mongering rhetoric being posted by some, seems to just take over the whole board.

It is so frustrating at times, I feel as if all that is good and fair in this world is being overrun by these maniacs who want to beat into submission anyone who doesn’t fall into their way of thinking….1930’s Germany all over again.

javaz
Member

Hey BDM!
Great to see you!

Yesterday, Yahoo ran an article about Minnesota and the ratio of 1:3 Somali people living there.

The comments were unreal with people laughing about Minnesota being a ‘liberal’ state.

Now, is Minnesota a ‘liberal’ state with Pawlenty and Bachman?

(I can’t find the link.)

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Great to be here today too!

Minnesota is about as liberal as I’m the Queen of England..pfffttt!

These twit trolls really need to get a real job!

AdLib
Admin

Hey BDM, how nice to see you!

There has been a concerted and financed effort for RW trolls to take over the most visible blogging under news stories.

Just as toxic as the comments under AOL stories, are the rampant racism and hatred in comments below Yahoo stories.

Is this just a coincidence that those representing a very small minority of Americans dominate public comments under the main news sites?

For the corporate GOP, it is like a dog marking territory and a quest to assert that their fringe is actually mainstream.

Sadly, it has worked to a degree, with the MSM representing the Tea Party as a mainstream group when it is openly provable that it is a coalition financed by the GOP (FreedomWorks, Kochs, etc.) and has attracted witches, racists and homophobes. That is the “center” of American politics?

This sham will be exposed over the next two years of abuse of power by the Repubs in the House.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Hey Adlib, I hope you are right in saying that this sham will be exposed over the next two yrs, it’s so frustrating to watch even the local nightly news…even that has a right slant to it!

I have been having an ongoing fight with a rightwing troll who posts in the online comment section of our local newspaper…lord he is hateful. Just recently, I have noticed that others have been following suit and going at him with facts and pointing out the obsurdity of his posts…so that gives me hope that these fools will be drowned out one day!

escribacat
Member

The website for my local news station is inhabited by real rightwing creeps. I rarely go there because of how vile they are. Once in awhile I go through and click all the abusive comments — the majority. It’s actually much worse than HP, believe it or not.

javaz
Member

Fun times – because it worked so well with Gingrich –

Republicans to shut-down government?

Republican and Democratic leaders are now engaged in a brinksmanship that could result in a temporary shutdown of the federal government. After the election, Republicans voted among themselves to eschew all earmarks for two years, and now they have to make good on their pledge. Yesterday, Democrats’ chief appropriator, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) unveiled what’s known as an omnibus spending bill — a bundled up package of appropriations legislation, earmarks, and other measures — which would keep the government running for a year.

In response, most Republicans — even those whose multimillion dollar earmark requests are included in the legislation — are saying, “Hell no you can’t!”

And it gets even better – a BIG thank you to Jim DeMint!

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who led the GOP’s anti-earmark crusade, will use the rules of Senate procedure to force the 2000-page omnibus to be read allowed on the Senate floor — a tactic which could eat up enough time to force the Democrats’ hand.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/republicans-make-good-on-threat-to-force-lame-duck-spending-showdown.php

Too bad they can’t lock the Senate doors and make all the Senators listen to Jim DeMint reading up to 72 hours!

boomer1949
Member

Okay, I heard the rumors, but must have been in denial. Just turned on Nova/PBS and saw DAVID KOCH listed in the credits as a freakin’ “sponsor”?

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! SERIOUSLY FOLKS, SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE!

Please accept my apology for screaming fellow Planeteers, it’s nothing personal. However, each and everyone of us should be outraged and, if we don’t cut these guys off at the knees (or at least make it painful), well personally, I don’t want to live the rest of my life under the thumb of someone close to my age, dictating how I should live my life; the only difference is these guys are multibillionaires and my ex-husband was/is not.

Chernynkaya
Member

That’s what I’ve gone bonkers about– this endless stream of Reich wing supremacy!

This is exactly the sort of story that I’ve been ranting about!

It is this cumulative effect. To me, it relates to the tax deal and why I think this was my breaking point. The deal—taken in a vacuum, and on its merits—is not bad. I have read some of the most progressiv­e economists and pundits explain the good it could do to stimulate and also how hard it would be for people without tax relief.

But it is not in a vacuum. It is the aggregate! Every day we read more and more items where we see the people we rightfully condemn as repugnant winning every debate, blocking everything as if they ruled, and framing every discussion successful­ly. Not because they have any facts or have any morals, but just hijacking all reason. My God, they freakin won the House!

They insult the President, and by extension, the millions of people who voted for him. They propose a corporate take-over of our country; they want to dismantle all the hard-fough­t progress we have made the past 60 years—and they seem to be WINNING.

They have everything in place: Dozens of think tanks with communicat­ions facilities­, framing experts, training institutes­, a national roster of speakers, booking agents to books their speakers in the media and civic groups and owned medias like Fox and a great deal of talk radio. They have the uber-rich supporting them. We are at such an obvious disadvantage.

So, even if this deal is actually good for the Middle Class and the economy, politicall­y it isn’t, for some of us. Because we are at the end of our ropes, watching as the Right seems to constantly win every single issue. It is beyond frustratin­g, and has driven me mad. (Can’t you tell?)

PatsyT
Member

Cher, It’s great to see you here, I hope you are doing well.
Have you seen this group?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/politics/23money.html?_r=1&ref=politics

boomer1949
Member

I’m convinced.

Questinia
Member

They also sponsor Sloan Fettering even though Monsanto makes formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. They also donate a TON to Lincoln Center. They play both sides financially but they are only on one side politically and ideologically.

boomer1949
Member

I read the 10 page New Yorker article you posted the link for about the Koch Bros. Evil, absolutely evil!

javaz
Member

Sarah Palin was correct about the ‘death panels’ but wrong about Obama’s HIR bill being the culprit.

Arizona Governor Brewer replies to British reporter’s question about cuts in Medicaid –

Brewer is no stranger to sacrificing the welfare of vulnerable constituents for a buck. But this particularly callous dogma made enough waves across the pond to bring Britain’s Channel 4 News Washington correspondent Sarah Smith to her doorstep.
—–
I managed to “doorstep” her as we call it in TV – i.e. I caught her at a public event and just started asking questions, uninvited.

“How many people have to die before you are prepared to reverse your decision on the transplant operations?” seemed like the obvious question.

She said she thought that was unfair and started to explain how dire the state’s financial situation is. If people are so worried about the transplant patients then they should ask the federal government in Washington to send us more money, she said. But she would not explain to me, or to any Democrats in the state capitol, what she has done with the nearly $200 million she was already given in ‘stimulus funds’ to spend on anything she liked.

While suggesting that Arizonans should request more federal funding, Brewer openly vilifies a law — the Affordable Care Act — that provides exactly that. The health care law’s Medicaid expansion will foot 100 percent of the bill for states to expand until 2016 and 90 percent after 2020. However, to receive this funding, states have to maintain current eligibility levels in Medicaid and CHIP, something Brewer does not wish to maintain. And despite being well-aware of Arizona’s need for the health care law’s financial support, Brewer remains an outspoken champion of its full-scale repeal. In other words, Brewer is telling transplant advocates to ask for a helping hand she fully intends to bite.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/14/brewer-medicaid-money/

How many more people must die before Arizonans wake-up?

Medicaid costs are shared by the federal and state governments. It’s not just the poor and disabled who benefit. Wealthier people do, too, such as when middle-class families with elderly parents in nursing homes are relieved of financial pressure after Medicaid starts picking up the bills.

Contrary to stereotype, it’s the elderly and disabled who cost nearly 70 cents of every Medicaid dollar, not the single mother and her children.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101214/ap_on_he_me/us_medicaid_cuts_states

Chernynkaya
Member

“While suggesting that Arizonans should request more federal funding…”

And that’s another thing: The Repubs are constantly lying that, “All Governors must balance their state budgets. They can’t run deficits, the way the federal government does!”

BS. When the governors run out of money, they go begging to the Feds and get funds. Their senators do it for them too. why does NO ONE ever debunk that dishonest talking point?

(Hi J’avez– good article!)

javaz
Member

Hey Cher!

Good to see you!

I’ve been thinking about you and the wonderful articles that you wrote last year explaining Hanukkah and the dreidel!

boomer1949
Member

Happy “Furry” Holidays and, I might add, this has happened to me. 😆

kesmarn
Admin

Oh yeah. Except the tree is usually horizontal by the time they get done with it, boomer.

I got a kick out of this Christmas vid (Can’t get those guys to put the phone/computer down? Put ’em to work in the iBand!):

boomer1949
Member

😆

Here’s another you might enjoy, The Silent Monks:

escribacat
Member

Something to go with your silent monks — the screaming men!

boomer1949
Member

Inter-rest-ing…

Had to listen several times, but actually did hear pieces & parts of the Star Spangled Banner. Where ever did you find it?

Khirad
Member

That was like a choral Throbbing Gristle rendition.

escribacat
Member

B — Love that Furry holiday!! 😆 😆

javaz
Member

Want to read something truly frightening?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/southwest-60year-drought-study/

A worst-case scenario devised by US researchers shows that the American southwest could experience a 60-year stretch of heat and drought unseen since the 12th century.

Khirad
Member

Well, this was a nice positive story which makes me a smidge more optimistic in humans this holiday season.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101213/ap_on_re_us/us_turbans_on_the_hill

Town turns intolerance towards Muslim graves into a teaching moment.

escribacat
Member

Is it just my imagination but has yonder site been completely taken over by childish tr0lls whose actual political beliefs might be left or right — it’s impossible to tell. It’s like a toxic waste dump.

kesmarn
Admin

Made a brief visit earlier, e’cat, and some of their posts don’t even begin to make sense. They don’t even seem to be trying anymore. Sometimes I wonder if the old story about there being paid trolls is actually true. In which case, they’re definitely slacking…

Then there are the really in-depth, hard-hitting journalism stories, like the one on pole-dancers.

escribacat
Member

I wonder if the paid tr0lls and drunken children have just taken over and chased all the adults away. I drop by there, sling a few insults at the whiners, then flee. They bring out the worst in me!!

PatsyT
Member

I give you credit Ecat, for trying to fight the good fight. Just be sure to put on the HazMat suit when there.

boomer1949
Member

And the reason swearing off, from even reading, is my number one New Year’s resolution.

Kalima
Admin

“Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Rep. for Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died, a senior administration official confirms.”

Holbrooke dies days after heart surgery

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/13/holbrooke.illness/index.html?hpt=T1

From the Beeb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11988233

Khirad
Member

Major suck.