Paranoia, Murder, Mayhem...no a DNR editorial

Just ambling along here....  admiring America where Liberal thinkers, writers and politicians are able to read, study, reflect and rejoice at the incredible array of human wisdom and knowledge at their disposal. 

I'm also reflecting on a liberal America where conservative thinkers are busy "debunking" liberalism by pointing out that the spectrum of human wisdom coming from gays, communists, black nationalists, maoists, pacifists, latinos, muslims, democrats, yankees, damn yankees, carpetbaggers, socialists, leftists, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, The News Network, ABC, NBC, and folks who sit in the same room with Bill Ayers is perverted, ill-advised, scary, and will cause the destruction of America.

Let's see.... If I were to convert to conservatism, from whom would I need to ask permission concerning what I should read, or how I should think?  Who would be able to "cleanse" my mind of it's "unclean" passion for knowledge and human wisdom?  How would I be able to protect myself from all the above mentioned villians who are fighting for my soul?

This tome is inspired by an interesting op-ed in the Daily News-Record this morning disparaging Ann Dunn for her remarks  concerning her "favorite" philosophers, Mao and Mother Theresa. (Her actual words: "two of my favorite philosophers.") Que the horns, whistles, and outrage from WingNut World.  Let's see...  set up a Strawman Argument:

Question: What would have happened to an official in the Bush Administration if he had said that Adolf Hitler was one of his favorite philosophers?

Now give the answer:

Answer: The remark would not be excused because the official claimed he was using irony. He’d either be fired or forced to resign.

Now lets use that strawman argument to say that Ms Dunn (the editor refers to her as "Madame Dunn" - we'll try and ignore the reference to prostitution) should be fired for saying the Chairman Mao and Mother Theresa were two of her "favorite philosophers" whom she quoted to make a point.

You don’t have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don’t have to follow other people’s choices and paths, OK? It is about your choices and your path.

She quoted two famous, historical figures to make the point that conventional wisdom should not be the guiding light for deciding what to do in life.  She found these passages to be enlightening and respected the lives of Mao and Mother Theresa enough to be able to glean these "truths" from their writings. The editor, of course, has a different take. Since guilt by association along with the above strawman argument are essential to the "debunking" process, he goes all in:

Given that Mr. Obama’s appointees seem to be a cadre of communists who admire Chairman Mao and other murderers, as well as his own predilection for redistributing wealth and his nationalization of the American economy, one wonders what the future of the Republic might be.

How long will it be before Americans learn to quote Chairman Mao, that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun?”

The editor once again has seemingly enjoyed his foray into the depths of paranoia using logical fallicies, and puritanistic partisanship to attempt a smear at his political opposites.  His final comment gives me pause... I'm thinking of the tea party activists who carried loaded weapons to President Obama's speeches.  I'm also reminded of WingNut heros, Timothy McVeigh and David Koresh, all of whom embraced the idea of spilling the blood of patriots to cleanse the tree of liberty.  Does the editor understand irony?

To use the editor's own logic, shouldn't a newspaper editor who accuses the President of the United States of condoning murder and espousing Communism be summarily fired?  What use to society are perverted rantings like this?  Shouldn't a newspaper editor who even inadvertently espouses the point of view of domestic terrorists be summarily dismissed?

Rachel Maddow-Rachel Maddow confronts Tim Phillips (Part 1)

This past Thursday and Friday, Tim Phillips, Director of the Americans for Prosperity, appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show. It was an indication of his willingness to engage Rachel as a conservative and a partisan opponent of almost everything Rachel advocates. His group participates in the health care debate, but does so in a way that doesn't really reveal their true agenda or for whom they speak. Rachel nails him over and over, but Mr. Phillips remains confident and uncowed. This is the way he does business. It's intentional, deliberate, and is the WingNut World's view of how to play the game of politics and power. Watch these two videos. This is the clearest and most enlightening discussion you'll see concerning the differences between the "loyal" opposition and the supporters of true health care reform.

Of course Republicans and Conservatives have the right to advocate and be involved with the political process. The problem is that they keep secrets. They hide their ambitions, their true agenda, and instead of advocating a moral or reasonable policy, they offer an advertising campaign that "Sells" a policy that advocates for it's true "secret" agenda.

Mr. Phillips refused to say who he's working for. Mr. Obama hurt himself politically because he told us (leaked is the beltway speak) that he had cut a deal with Big Pharma. Mr. Phillips UNDERSTANDS the political damage that would ensue if his "grassroots" campaign was exposed to the same spotlight. It would become known immediately that he is simply shilling for the health care insurance industry and the Republican Party's national committee. In order to win politically, he must keep his real constituency, and his true agenda secret.

They keep secrets. They use advertising campaigns to "sell" policy positions. They convince the real grassroots to advocate AGAINST their own interest.

ACORN ... Fighting Back.

ACORN helps low and moderate income and minority citizens apply to register to vote. ACORN works to provide housing and services for lower income families including help with tax preparation, screening for eligibility for federal and state benefit programs, and first time homeowner mortgage counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance. ACORN advocates for the poor, the lame, the less fortunate, the powerless who have historically been locked out as players in our democratic system.

(Side note to the Nabobs: Registration fraud is NOT voter fraud. Voter fraud is when citizens are kept from exercising their constitutional right to vote, or when vote recounts are stopped arbitrarily to favor one party or the other. Voter fraud is when a pseudo-mob storms the recount site and stops the vote from being counted.)

All that, of course, makes it the lethal enemy of the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity, for whom, real fraud (the famous videos in question were created and were shown ILLEGALLY) corporate corruption, and leaders who indulge in prostitution and international "affairs" are solemnly and completely forgiven. Left wing, "liberal goodness on steroids" is the natural enemy of the "One Party, One State" religionists who would rejoice at the fall of the "leftist regime."

My Knuckle Dragging Neanderthal friends who beat themselves with the chains of partisanship, who actively engage in defeating any and all threats from the left, who rejoice at the failures of the President of the United States, who openly cheer when America loses, and who are now lamenting the lack of coverage by the News media might want to stop yelling so loudly.

The videos were fraudulent, misleading, and were taken without consent. The Website owner the first showed them as well as the videographer who took them are now charged in civil court with breaking a Maryland law that requires that both parties of a video taped conversation to consent to it's being shown on the air. The ACORN suit seeks to make public all the video taken by Mr. O'Keefe, including the dozens of meetings from which they were thrown out of the offices as frauds.

Ben Smith at Politico writes, via Kate Harding:

"I'm not sure of the P.R. value of suing without challenging the substance of the videos,"

....but my (Kate Harding's) guess is, the suit itself isn't about PR. It's about holding people accountable for these efforts to play gotcha with national organizations that are the targets of conservative ire, by turning over countless rocks until they find an employee stupid or evil enough to do something unforgivable and/or illegal. Yes, those employees should be rooted out and shitcanned — something ACORN doesn't dispute — but the practice of recording the bad apples in order to, as Schwartz puts it, "destroy an organization whose principal purpose is to help poor people" is pure sleaze. And where it's illegal sleaze, it should be challenged. (emphasis mine)

Yes, lets have some more coverage of this story of "sleaze." Lets hear more about an organization that has been under vicious attacks from the right, simply because it exists and because it serves a constituency that helps preserve the balance in American Democracy.

Yes, lets hear more about FAKE prostitution rings and imaginary issues, but even more light should be shined on the very real stories about prostitution, entrapment, fraud, and corruption accepted as normal strategies used by our Regressive friends to attempt to destroy their political opponents.

Yes, more coverage please!