The White House has accused Congressional Republicans of holding disaster relief hostage to their demands for steep budget cuts. What clued them off? The ransom demand? Really, Congressional Republicans might as well just have stated their position using words cut out from magazines like an old-fashioned kidnapper’s note. “America! Send us one billion dollars in budget cuts in a plain brown envelope, or you will never see rural Vermont or parts of upstate New York again.” It’s hard to come up with an analogy more absurd than the reality here. If the Republicans were blocking funding for anything else, we’d be saying “What next? Are they going to block funding for disaster relief?”
Nowadays conservatives want to destroy FEMA by denying it funding. But remember back when Bush was president, they could try to destroy it by putting a moron in charge of it? Yes, George Bush’s former FEMA director, Michael Brown, has weighed in with his opinion on aid for Hurricane Irene victims, four days after the storm hit. Hey, that’s a lot faster than he reacted to Hurricane Katrina! Michael Brown was on Fox News, supporting hostage-taker Eric Cantor’s position that we shouldn’t give aid to disaster victims until we make matching budget cuts. That approach would certainly have made Michael Brown’s job easier during Katrina. He could have blamed his incompetence on Congress’s intransigence. Why is this guy on TV? Every time I see Michael Brown’s face on the screen, my first thought is “My God, has there been some sort of emergency involving Arabian horses?” Of course Fox News has Brown on as an expert in disaster relief. He’s the world’s worst failure in disaster relief! It’s like having Christine O’Donnell on as an expert on how to win an election. They say those who can’t do, teach. Those who do really, really poorly end up being experts on the subject at Fox News.
An interesting point came up in Dick Cheney’s interview with Sean Hannity—due to all the hardware inside of his chest taking the place of an actual heart, Dick Cheney does not have a pulse. Wow. Now I’m even more creeped out by Cheney. The only way Dick Cheney could be any creepier is if he had Paul Ryan’s hair.
Today’s Homework | Discuss
Connecticut's Gov. Dannel Malloy summed up Ron Paul's war on FEMA with five simple words: "I think he's an idiot."
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Randi Rhodes: More Hostage Taking
Thom Hartmann: Republicans - Read the Constitution!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Randi Rhodes: He`s Baaaack!
Irene has passed. But the aftermath of Irene could be even worse. And by the “aftermath of Irene,” I mean Eric Cantor. Cantor is saying that there will be no disaster relief without budget cuts. What exactly is Eric Cantor’s function? To say the things that John Boehner is actually ashamed to say? Cantor is literally trying to use the flooding as a way to take people’s Medicare and Social Security away. He’s worse than people who go out looting after a disaster. He claims we should operate like “any family when it is struck with disaster.” I don’t know about your family, Eric, but in mine we don’t use the disaster to strong-arm other family members. If Eric Cantor’s home was on fire, would he refuse to let the firefighters extinguish the blaze until they had agreed to give their pensions and health insurance? It’s going to take a while for the floodwaters to recede. Don’t even bother waiting for Republican intransigence on flood relief to recede.
Of course, Rush Limbaugh also weighed in on Hurricane Irene, which makes sense—one blowhard talking about another. Rush said that “Obama was hoping that [Hurricane Irene] was going to be a disaster” so that Obama would have “another excuse” for the economy. First of all, Hurricane Irene IS a disaster. But then Rush doesn’t count bad things in blue states like Vermont as disasters.
Turning to unnatural disasters, now Michele Bachmann claims that her comments that the hurricane and earthquake were messages from God were just a joke. Michele said “I have a great sense of humor.” Michele, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a great sense of humor, just because people laugh at everything you say. And if a deadly hurricane is still in the process of killing people, it may be a little too soon to use it as a joke premiss. Here’s a little factoid for you, Michele: if you have to tell people that you have a great sense of humor... chances are that you don’t have a great sense of humor. Besides, Michele, if you want to be funny, you need to have a straight man. You don’t even have a straight man for a husband.
Today’s Homework | Discuss
Thom Hartmann: At least one Republican has Gotten the Message
Monday, August 29, 2011
Randi Rhodes: War on FEMA
A lot of people have a problem with how the government provides disaster relief. Ron Paul, however, has a problem with the very fact that the government provides disaster relief at all. What is Ron Paul’s model for disaster relief? He says “We should be like 1900.” Wow. And I thought conservatives just looked back to 1900 for their model of what civil rights should look like. Hey, if we did things like we did back in 1900, we wouldn’t have to worry about restoring electricity to all those homes without power. Back in 1900, most homes didn’t have electricity.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told people who were still on the beach as the storm was approaching “Get the hell off the beach.” Funny, “get the hell off the beach” is exactly what Chris Christie would hear, if he ever went down there and removed his shirt. But if Chris Christie was on the beach, concerned beachgoers would be trying to push him back into the ocean. Give people a little time to evacuate, Governor Christie. Remember, not everybody has a taxpayer-supplied helicopter to take them wherever they need to go.
Michele Bachmann is saying that Hurricane Irene and last week’s Virginia earthquake were wake-up calls from God. The earthquake was 5.8 on the Richter scale, or roughly what you get when you drop a bowling ball. If that was a wake-up call from God, it wasn’t a very urgent one. Evidently God is trying to wake us up very gently. Michele said “I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’” This from a woman who doesn’t know her husband is gay! Michele, God gave us gaydar for a reason.
Today’s Homework | Discuss
Thom Hartmann: A "For the Rich, By the Rich" Economy
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thom Hartmann: Dick Cheney confirms he is a war criminal
Don't Trust the Corporate Media
We are in an agonizing, infuriating, depressing political crisis -- I don't have to tell you that. And here is what I'm supposed to tell you next -- how we get out of the crisis. But I can't. Because I don't know. And if anyone is telling you they know how we change this present crisis, they are full of it. I've been doing this work for more than 30 years. It hasn't ever been this bad.
We Must Do Something
But we must do something. Strengthening the progressive media is a good place to start. We absolutely need the most aggressive, effective media we can muster, and that goal is the theme of this letter to you. Can you help AlterNet fight tooth and nail to push back against the right-wing hostage takers?
Normally we wouldn't start our Fall campaign until after Labor Day, but frankly we couldn't wait. There is a crisis everywhere we turn -- the crashing global economy; the sky-high jobless rate; the mortgage crises, which is getting worse, not better; the denial of climate change; the broad attacks on unions -- teachers, even fire and police; the undermining of Social Security. I could go on. We have to answer back. And the best way is to have strong media on our side.
The Corporate Media Facilitates Taking the Nation Hostage
In the current crisis, as Paul Krugman writes, the right-wing "Republicans have taken the nation hostage." They have disrupted "the essential running of government," and "purposefully undermined the economy, to force concessions they could never get legislatively." And Congress is on vacation now, but we know there are plenty more shenanigans coming down the line.
But you know what? As Krugman reminds us, the corporate media is a big part of the problem. And it is not just Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the right-wing media. It is also CNN, the Washington Post and the television networks. "When the mainstream media obsessively reports that both sides are to blame, no matter what the facts, there is no penalty for extremism." In fact it encourages it.
The radical conservatives pay no price for trying to wreck the economy with their lies, and their hostage taking. Why should they stop if they aren't challenged?
Fight the Propaganda Machine
So we have to challenge the right-wing and the corporate media. Every step of the way. They enable the right's machine in its goal to crush its opponents, and turn our country’s values back to the Ayn Rand fantasy days of psychopathic individualism. It is like a war for them. Their team must win at all costs. There is no reason, compromise, good sense. Well that is ridiculous. It's time we said enough.
So, we have to fight with all we have, and this isn't a short-term thing. We have to dig in for the long haul. Things aren't going to be turned around in two years or probably even four. The pendulum that many count on is not exactly swinging back, as we have moved to the right every year since Reagan was president, when compared to the 1970s. That has to end. Can you help?
Our Goal and the Plan
What is our goal? We aim to raise $52k in this campaign. We came up a little -- $2k -- short in the Spring, but we didn't want to hassle you with too many appeals; we know that can be annoying. We figured we would make it up now.
So what's the plan? First, a reminder. There is no easy way out. There is no short-term fix, no candy coating it. That is why I sat down at my computer in August. We can't wait, but we need to invest for the long haul.Thursday, August 25, 2011
Norman Goldman Tweets of the Week
Randi Rhodes: WhiteWash
Matt Taibbi on his latest Rolling Stone exposè, "Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?"
Gov. Brian Schwetizer (D-MT) will walk us through his NY Times piece, "Cutting Government Costs the Montana Way"
And Dr. Steve Horton & jounalist David O. Williams will discuss the evidence that shows human activity - like natural gas fracking - is causing earthquakes. Dr. Horton will be live from the epicenter of the DC-area quake.
Call David at 866-87-RANDI (866-877-2634)
Today’s Randi Rhodes Homework
Randi’s message board
Randi’s comedy bit archive
Randi on Facebook & Twitter
New GOP heartthrob Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) explains how Social Security and Medicare have 'weakened' us lazy Americans...
Thom Hartmann: Not all Billionaires are Created Equal
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Randi Rhodes: Blurring The Line
le Sandler is filling in; her guests include:
Jeff Sharlet, professor, writer, and author of the C Street exposé "The Family" has a new book this year, "Sweet Heaven When I Die: Faith, Faithlessness, and the Country In Between." Jeff will join Nicole to talk about his book and the continued merging of christian fundamentalism and the political right.
Richard Dreyfuss investigative journalist and contributing editor to The Nation, specializing in politics and national security. Wrote about the Fall of Qadaffi
2004 Green Party candidate for president and leader of Move To Amend, David Cobb on Mitt Romney's "corporations are people" attitude - and Move To Amend's attempt to repeal the laws that make it so.
And Amy Simon, cultural herstorian, writer and performer of her one woman comedy show "She's History" will have a preview of Friday's events planned across the county for Women's Equality Day.
Call Nicole at 866-87-RANDI (866-877-2634)
Nicole’s blog
Today’s Randi Rhodes homework
Randi’s message board
Randi’s comedy bit archive
Randi on Facebook & Twitter
Thom Hartmann: Why did the Virginia nuke plant, built on fault line, have its quake sensors removed?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Randi Rhodes: Cowboy Corporatist
Cliff Schecter, author of "The Real McCain" and columnist for Al Jazeera English, whose latest piece is "Beware of Rick Perry, the French Cuff Cowboy."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will discuss investments in infrastructure and job creation.
And Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan and the author of "Engaging the Muslim World." Prof. Cole's latest must-read column: "The Top Ten Myths About The Libya War."
UPDATE: Headlines on the Washington Earthquake
5.9-magnitude earthquake rattles Washington
Nuclear Plant Near Epicenter Shuts Down
National Cathedral significantly damaged in DC
Call Nicole at 866-87-RANDI (866-877-2634)
Nicole’s blog
Today’s Randi Rhodes homework
Randi’s message board
Randi’s comedy bit archive
Randi on Facebook & Twitter
Donald Trump makes the idiotic case for stealing Libya's oil now that Gadhafi's been toppled...
Thom Hartmann: The truth about tax cuts and outsourcing corporations don't want you to know...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Thom Hartmann: "TARP" was just the tip of the iceberg in public funds going to the banksters
