Remember the circus sideshow? Where people were entertained by watching those described as “freaks”?

Where an unending parade of clowns followed each other one after another from a unbelievable vehicle?

Where the spotlight was on a loud host who would try to whip up the audience as he hyped the next outrageous exhibition?

Who woulda thunk the old three ring circus was the formula for success in the news industry in 2010?

We’ve seen all the coverage the freaks and clowns Palin, Bachmann and Beck get but they have lots of company as the craziest inmates in the asylum become the biggest celebrities.

Just this morning, I saw MSNBC air a live speech from the Florida pastor, Terry Jones (“And Now For Something Completely Deranged”) who is intent on burning Qurans while juggling Bibles and riding a unicycle. Okay, maybe he’s just going to be burning Qurans but he is just another otherwise irrelevant freak show being passed off as something important that demands our attention.

A wackjob with a minuscule 50 member cult-type church who insults true Christians by calling himself one and branding all others who follow other religions as “of the Devil”, has become so elevated by “news” entities. By simply announcing this offensive stunt, this crack pot, given aid and comfort from the MSM, has brought President Obama, SoS Hillary Clinton, The Pope and Gen. Petraeus to have to weigh in on urging this lone nutman not to do so.

FWIW, this loony hatebag’s justification for burning Qurans is that, allegedly, one Green Beret who was in Bosnia agrees with him and claims that Muslims burned Bibles and Christian Churches there. He is right, only dirtbags would burn something belonging to another religion out of religious hatred and intolerance. Is the irony really not so obvious to this American Taliban?

But should we even go so far as to respond to any the claims of the lunatic fringe out there? Why should we have to? Doesn’t that work to validate their insanity? Would there have been so many Birthers, Kill Granny HCR opponents, Muslim Cultural Center adversaries, etc. if the news channels didn’t promote the voices of liars and extremists and if high profile people didn’t debate them?

Through most of American history, providing the news was seen as a social responsibility. The Founders saw journalism as the unspoken Fourth Branch of Government, the safety net that would protect the American people if the three official branches of government failed them. That is specifically who the First Amendment was intended to protect and that is why they made it the First Amendment and not the tenth (no offense Tenth!).

Networks always used to view the news segment of their business as acceptable to be in the red, part of the price of using the public’s airwaves.

Then one by one, thanks to deregulation, networks were all swallowed up by corporate whales and providing a quarterly profit greater than the previous quarter became the sole priority. Corporations have no soul and legally are protected from having social responsibility.

I don’t think there is a more prescient or brilliant film than “Network” on how the corporations were (and now have) taking over the news business. This sequence is especially remarkable, considering that this film was financed and produced by a corporation:

The real question is how much news organizations are responsible for the insanity in this nation. If they didn’t provide a massive megaphone to the most hateful and extremist lunatics out there, wouldn’t we have a more sane conversation in this nation about real issues and how to solve them?

In other words, if a raving bigot rambles in the forest and there’s no one there to interview him, would his insanity really exist among us?

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bito
Member

Ok, so everyone thinks Mr. Jones is not the kind of person one would want to invite to a function with people like these attending:
Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum,and more. But how about if your featured guest believes this:

declared that all Muslims should be banned from serving in the military, that all Muslim noncitizens must be deported and all Muslim citizens must be stripped of their US citizenship and expelled from the country, that the construction of mosques in the United States must be completely banned, and that all the soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in vain because the US did not convert those countries to Christianity?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/why-not-just-invite-terry-jones-values-voter-summit

Would that be all right?

Kalima
Admin

Hello bito, we just posted about the same guy, at the same time. Just how much does your Tokyo web camera allow you to see? 😯

bito
Member

Oh, AdLib!! You missed your dream show. Hairyanna was on with Dylan Ratigan. I saw one thing she said (the rest I have ignored)
She said if Obama appoints Elizabeth Warren, it will bring out the Dems to vote. !!!!
Do a man on the street AH and see how many people even know who Ms. Warren is, then ask if the President should have appointed Mr. Goolsby today. Final question. “With the appointments of Ms. Warren and Mr. Goolsby will you now vote for the Democrats?”

What world is she in???

escribacat
Member

Excellent points, Adlib. The nutbag can’t help being a nutbag (presumably) but why has the media elevated him to fame and possible fortune? Journalism has always had the fringe elements who will publish anything as long as it sells papers (or creates clicks) but nowadays that “yellow” crowd has really taken over. Not only that, but they pretend they aren’t yellow. Huffington Post is the perfect example of that. Even while Miz Gak trolls around pushing her books, pretending to be a “pundit” (and now handing out “pundit” badges like a girl scout leader), the headlines and slant and stories on her site become more and more like the National Enquirer slash Playboy Magazine. What bothers me is that so many people there still think they’re on a “progressive site.” At least Rupert Murdoch is fairly honest about his vile intentions.

bito
Member
PatsyT
Member

OK, I will warn you this is naughty and sick ….
But I laughed!

httpsh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdtFk_V6A4M&feature=player_embedded&skipcontrinter=1

Kalima
Admin

😆 Wickedly wicked.

Kalima
Admin

Breaking News.

” Rev. Terry Jones of World Outreach Center in Florida says he is canceling Quran burning event on Saturday”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11255366

It’s such a shame that this idiot can’t be arrested for something after all the damage he will have caused to the security of the U.S. and the soldiers still in Afghanistan. All this for 15 minutes of fame. Truly sickening.

bito
Member

Moning, Kalima, at 6:29 am. I posted it on O/T about the same time. He claims that God and him struck a deal with the Imam in NY to move the not at ground Zero mosque.

NBC, and the wire services says there is no such deal!!

The voices he hears…..lol

Kalima
Admin

Afternoon bito. Sorry, your post wasn’t there when I posted it. The man is a trouble causer and a fraud. Did you read my link in MB about his “congregation”s” claims. From the link about him being kicked out of the Church in Koeln, it’s obvious that he’s a loose cannon. The voices he hears are part of his ongoing psychosis, he needs to be committed to the nearest institution.

bito
Member

I think we were posting about the same time.
Seriously, you are right. This guy is a danger to himself and others. Some one needs to file a “Bakers Act” on him for at least a 48 hr. observation in a psych ward.
Anyway we can send him back to Germany??

Kalima
Admin

No please don’t send him back, my family is still too close.

I read that even President Obama has said something about this freak now. I should imagine that Jones and his cronies are now on the F.B.I’s doodoo list.

Pat Robertson needs to be in a straightjacket too.

bito
Member

And all the “purity” lefties are screaming not at Beck, Palin …..et al. They are screaming about how poorly The president handled the whole thing. The purists are in the third tent on freak row, the preacher man is next door!! 😉

Kalima
Admin

I have no patience with these people, they should just change parties and see how much better off they would be. Some people can’t live for 24 hours without complaining and the ones who make the most noise are the ones who are not affected by hardships facing the rest of the population, in other words, they sound like long-winded frauds. I’m tired of hearing their constant noise, it does nothing to help your party or your country. It just plays on the negativity directed at your President, they sound like an echo chamber of the RW.

Btw, when the President remarks on something which could affect your national security and it happens to be an international news story, that’s his frigging job. Idiots!

bito
Member

I heard/saw AH on public radio and on KO yesterday. I turned off the radio and after a few minutes on the tube I turned off the sound, right after I heard the second “but Obama could/should have…….”
You are so right, all these pundits have plenty of money, their demands don’t harm them and they couldn’t care less how it affects
the other 98%.

Kalima
Admin

Reply to way below.

I’m always eternally grateful for the Mute and Fast forward functions on iTunes. It boggles the mind why KO still insists on hearing this woman’s opinion on anything at all.

whatsthatsound
Member

So true, Adlib. Some whackjob with 50 deluded followers now gets to create an international incident that can have real world repercussions, and at the very least tarnishes our image among a something akin to a third of the world’s population. And for what? What does he get out of it? What sort of madman could imagine God condoning his behavior, or perhaps, what sort of MadGod does he think he’s following?

But I becha he’ll back down. He said he will “pray” about his decision. I’m guessing that’s his escape hatch. Somebody very high up (Not God high up, but pretty far high up) has got to be putting a lot of pressure on him now. So he’ll say that praying has changed his heart, that God has told him to practice “forgiveness” or some such bullshit. And the clown act will be over. Bring on the elephants.

bito
Member

WTS, my fear the damage is done.

bito
Member

boomer!!! Does Boehner condemn the Koran Burning?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob7ABEnLxDo&feature=player_embedded

The pause is priceless!!!

Kalima
Admin

Using a tanning bed until you resemble a Mandarin orange is “unwise,” burning the Qu’ran is RW bigotry and hypocrisy John Boy.

Oh, and Boehner needs an Umlaut on his “o” apart from quite a few other things.

boomer1949
Member

Mandarin orange 😆 😆 😆

Mightywoof
Member

an Umlaut on his

Kalima
Admin

😆 Mw, could be that he just might not get what he needs over the counter in most places. However, he could get a stapler for his mouth and a larger one for his stupid “A” that’s an “A” without any Umlauts. 🙂

Mightywoof
Member

*snort, giggle* 😆

boomer1949
Member

Well, of course he doesn’t. He’s just as much a racist as the rest of them, only crispier. John Boehner, also known as Crispy Critter, Mandarin Orange Man, or Toasty Toady.

Kalima
Admin

Burnt Mandarin orange peel crispier?

Sorry, a bit lightheaded, have to replenish my brain box.

Moist Robot
Member
Moist Robot

It’s called hysteria. Histrionics are usually used by people who are shallow and need attention.

Kalima
Admin

Good evening Schatzie!

As we all know too well, “Empty vessels make the most sound.”

bito
Member

To expand on boomer’s link:

“Quran Burning Pastor Was Expelled From German Church He Founded After His Radicalism Alienated Congregation”

Before Rev. Terry Jones was being condemned by the White House and military commanders in Afghanistan for his planned

boomer1949
Member

Thanks…for expanding. Three days back to work and my brain is toast. 😯

bito
Member

I happened to just be reading the story and thought I might post a link…..But NOOOOOOO, that boomer girl already posted it!! 😛

boomer1949
Member

No dear…

It’s pony girl on her rhinestone encrusted saddle (guaranteed not to chap). 😉

Kalima
Admin

That’s rather disturbing bito. The distance between Cologne and my home town is only about 35 miles. Makes my skin crawl.

bito
Member

Kolen?

Kalima
Admin

Was that Koeln, sorry no umlauts to share. My home town was a suburb of Essen just 35 miles away and just over 30 minutes on our Autobahn.

bito
Member

I couldn’t remember Kalima, my little bit of German Is both old and rusty. 🙂

Kalima
Admin

You got all the letters right bito, it’s actually K

boomer1949
Member

CBS News Investigates @ CBSNews.com
September 7, 2010 3:13 PM
Dove World Outreach Center: Where Does the Money Go?

Comment by yeeoflittlefaith September 7, 2010 9:19 PM EDT
The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Turn the TV lights off and this “Reverend” will fade away.

Gee — it’s not freakin’ rocket science for God’s sake.

Oh, and his former congregation isn’t all that happy with him either…

http://open.salon.com/blog/lost_in_berlin/2010/09/08/koran-burning_pastors_german_parishioners_shocked_by_plans

Kalima
Admin

But who will turn off their tv boomer, when it’s what they really want to hear as a confirmation of their own bigotry and hate, and for those emboldened by this newly found freedom, to claim it as their Rite of Passage after hiding it for for long?

boomer1949
Member

I don’t think it is a matter of who will turn off their tv Kalima. It wouldn’t be necessary to turn it off, if it weren’t being shown in the first place.

Our MSM is nothing more than sensationalized, greedy, tabloid NON-journalism and some of the programming, specifically “reality programming” is utterly ridiculous, demeaning, and did I say demeaning? It is pure exploitation.

Personally, I refuse to watch it; I’m undoubtedly in the minority, but don’t have any “real” numbers to back it up.

Kalima
Admin

It was on the internet long before it was on the news or CNN’s unfortunate and misguided interview.

The people who believe in this, will watch it anyway because they need it. It’s too late to put the genie back into the bottle now, but someone in Washington apart from your SOS, and in the religious hierarchy, needs to step forward to try to fix it. *Crickets*

boomer1949
Member

OT – blockquote is behaving badly or is it just me?

Kalima
Admin

Look who you are asking. If I could just remember how to do it myself, I would have an answer for you. 😳

boomer1949
Member

🙂

bito
Member

My fear right now is that much damage is done. What repercussions will our AB’s friends, her ‘kids”, their schools and their NGOs suffer from this “stunt?”
I don’t know actually how much I can blame big corporate news. This was first reported by a Gainsville paper and it is blatant bigotry so AP posted it. Anyone anywhere, even in Afghanistan could have done a “rip and read” of the story.

When someone first posted an interview of him on CNN, I posted a rant about not giving him any airtime/ink hoping he would disappear. He has gotten it, the scab got picked and now the question is how and what do we do to expose him and show the Islamic world that he is an idiot, a bigot and this is not the view of the vast majority of people in the US?
If there is anything that could be done now would be to have like ChoiceLady alluded to, and that is to have many of the interfaith people on condemning this jerk faces actions. Reading the Gainsville (home of University of Florida) paper, it said that many student organizations have been protesting against this—Get them on the telly.

boomer1949
Member

Now would be the time to call in the sharpshooters from “NCIS”, “The Unit”, or the Special Response Unit (SRU) from “Flashpoint”. Of course none of them are “real” and only actors.

Kind of like the MSM validating a whacko with a sleazy past who claims to be a “real” Pastor.

According to him, any religion other than his is “Of The Devil”. 😈

AlphaBitch
Member
AlphaBitch

hey y’all! I’ve ALREADY heard from some of my kids – they simply CANNOT believe this is happening, and asked what ‘we’ (I believe that is a collective and not just the Blov and I) will do about this. News travels fast.

My theory is that – even without any more coverage from MSM – the damage is done. Some hardliner somewhere will film it and voila, it appears on the internet and our reputation is toast.

All I can hope for is that as soon as they start, they are arrested for burning w/o a permit and thrown in the slammer.

And that people of faith everywhere stand shoulder to shoulder and boo him off his grand stand….

Right or wrong, Muslims become incensed when a cartoon depicts the Prophet, or when there is even a rumor about the Qur’an being desecrated at Gitmo. This is a bone-headed idea to gain fame by a narcissist and nothing more, but the repercussions will be mighty and fierce. Right or wrong, as I said.

Gotta go – lots to do before my vacation. Love to all.

Mightywoof
Member

Hi AB – I fear you are quite correct in that the damage has been done – there’s no putting this back in the bottle!

I hope the fire department is waiting for the burning to start, then turns the hoses on the bonfire and the pastor-freak!!

Kalima
Admin

Although I believe that this nutter has been given too much of our time, the fact remains that his threat to burn the Qu’ran comes at a time when the RW bigots decided that after knowing about the plans for a Muslim Cultural Center in that location for about 5 months, they suddenly thought it was a bad idea. If your msm decided that the bigots protesting the supposed “GZ Mosque” was important enough to air, why wasn’t this guy’s “devil worship” news at the same time, when both events equally promote religious intolerance?

Whether this guy has 50 members or only 5 makes no difference, look at how much damage Beck can inflict by reaching a minority of the ignorant, with the right backers of his faux “preaching.” If they listen to Beck, will they now also vote for Romney?

I read about Jones’s crackpot delusions on the internet, which means that anyone around the world, including the Taliban and the internet savvy al Qaeda stragglers could access it easily and use it to promote further hate against the U.S.

Bearing in mind that many people don’t have internet access, I still have to wonder which is more to blame in sensationalizing these stories, your “slow motion action” for real news msm or the internet access we all take for granted because we seek the truth in all things whenever possible. I would have to say both.

The damage was already done by Gingrich, Palin, Bachmann and the likes of Rush and Beck, a long time before the public outcry about the proposed site for the Cultural Center near GZ. So who will put the lid on these people who publicly promote hate and bigotry against not only Muslims, but your President too?

And if I hear one more thing about “freedom of speech” in this respect or with this scenario, I think I’ll scream. All that this shameful display of religious intolerance has promoted is further discrimination and violence against another group’s faith. Who will stand up for what is brazenly against the very foundation of your constitution?

Where are the voices needed to support the Muslim-American community?
Where is the outrage from other religious leaders?

If they are protesting loudly somewhere, we can’t hear them yet. Speak louder please so that the rest of the world can hear you too.

bito
Member

The damage was already done by Gingrich, Palin, Bachmann and the likes of Rush and Beck

And like I mentioned yesterday: Where are their voices now on this bigotry? Their posts, their tweets.
Oh I’m not against the Mosque, it just shouldn’t be “built on ground zero.” Then if they respect Islam, where are their voices against this Koran burning?
OH, I get it Gainsville, is also within the shadow of the hallowed ground of the ground zero of the World Trade Center! That must explain their silence.

deadcricketts.com.

Kalima
Admin

If they open their big traps to condemn these actions, they will lose the elections bito. Boo Hoo, they have to win to fight the “Socialist/Constitution trashing government” don’t you know. Besides how can they condemn what they really believe in, the RW is notoriously “Islamophobic” and sit back to let others do their “dirty” work.