Tag Archives: kraut

Is there any limit to the outrageousness of the GOP lies? Is there any limit to the capacity of a large number of our fellow citizens to accept these lies? Ernest Partridge looks at the Republican Paerty's record of mendacity and deception.

Here's a Sunday morning must-read. Scout Prime at First Draft links to a remarkably detailed and researched post at Cognitive Dissonance that maps the money trail from a negative campaign ad running in Wisconsin to the wallets of protofascist billionaires David and Charles Koch. Operatives are identified, email addresses (and a phone number) are revealed,Continue reading “Mapping the Protofascist Money Trail, Wisconsin Edition”

Ernest Partridge looks at America's gun culture and its corrosive effect on the nation.

Stephen Crockett on the rising tide of political gun violence — and the coming ballot box revolt from the center and left.

It has become clear that our nation has a severely crippled political system where the will of the majority and the best interests of the nation are being ignored so a very few obscenely wealthy individuals and many international corporations can reap absurd profits. Our American democracy and way of life are under serious attackContinue reading “Suggested Amendments to the U.S. Constitution for 2011”

(Hat tip: the indispensable Digby.)

Go read Amanda Marcotte's remarkable analysis of the rising wave of misogynist American political violence in the Guardian. Then go check out Adam Shah's list of all the other violent Tea Party incidents you may have missed over at AlterNet.org. It can't happen here?

Charles Utwater II on "hippie punching".

Yes, it gets a big red  WARNING! Not Safe For Work   notice, but this is one ad we love…

This is how it's done. (Hat tip: digby )

11:02pm — Carl Palladino has defeated Rick Lazio for NY-Gov GOP slot per AP10:49pm — Scandal-tainted NY State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada has conceded to Gustavo Rivera. And our sources tell us that NY-Gov GOP favorite Rick Lazio's team is bracing for defeat.10:30pm — via Twitter, Dave Wasserman tells us that Paul Begala hadContinue reading “Game Day! Final Pre-season Primary Results”

"I agree with… Newt and Palin and Boehner: Building a prayer-space is the same thing as burning somebody's holy-book, because raising a barn is exactly like shooting a horse." — Mocka Robinson on Facebook

History teaches us that all too often, human beings simply refuse to apply them and, like the mindless fruit flies, march blindly into oblivion. Ernest Partridge examines the phenomenon – and its implications.

I like this idea.'Nuff said.

Libertarians and other dogmatists to the contrary notwithstanding, fundamental rights and abstract moral precepts can and do conflict. Ernest Partridge weighs in on the need to respect the dignity of each individual and each person’s rights.

For nearly a month, the Energy Department (and BP) have known that the Deepwater Horizon well site's casing has been destroyed, with at least two under-the-seabed drill pipes blown into the blowout preventer. But there's more bad news.

Read it here.

More like this, please:

11:08pm EST: AR-Sen Dem primary shows Blanche Lincoln projected to get more votes than Bill Halter, but unlikely to cross the 50% threshold, which means run-off time two weeks from today.10:27pm EST: Two sources calling the PA-12 Special Election for Democrat Mark Critz.10:11pm EST: AP calls PA-Sen Dem primary for Joe Sestak. Arlen Specter's numbersContinue reading “Game Day: PA, KY, AR”

… at Bob Ceska's Awesome Blog (in comments, posted 4/24 at 12:14pm: Anyone in America (or anywhere else…but America most assuredly) [who says], "I don't even SEE color. It's just a non-issue to me. In order to move ahead, we have to stop looking at people as black, brown or yellow," is either ignorant, willfullyContinue reading “What cousinavi said?”

I direct your attention to this one sentence: The Tea Party movement’s dirty little secret is that its chief financial backers owe their family fortune to the granddaddy of all their hatred: Stalin’s godless empire of the USSR. You know you have to read the rest. Click here for Yasha Levine's terrific article on theContinue reading “All Hail the Glorious Teabag Comrades!”

The libertarian and the liberal, observes Ernest Partridge, concur in their desire to maximize personal liberty. However, the libertarian advocates freedom without order – without, that is, an institutional structure that will ensure freedom for all. The liberal, on the other hand, strives to establish and maintain the social, economic and political order without whichContinue reading “Morality as a Plus-Sum Game: Why Libertarianism Fails as a Social Policy”

Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.— Horace Mann The following is part three of Kaitlin Addams's fictional composite of several individuals who currently embrace the ideologies and activities of Tea Party Nation.

Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.— Horace Mann The following is part two of Kaitlin Addams's fictional composite of several individuals who currently embrace the ideologies and activities of Tea Party Nation.

Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.— Horace Mann The following is a fictional composite of several individuals the author has known who currently  embrace the ideologies and activities of Tea Party Nation.  This is not meant to be a psychological profile, butContinue reading “Victoria, Portrait Of A Serial Tea Party Activist — Part I”

I couldn't agree more:

It's no surprise, but it still sets back the cause of democracy.

It may seem counterintuitive, but Ernest Partridge presents a terrific case for turning the tables on the GOP by hijacking the heavily hyped "tea party" movement.

Grassroots teabuster James Clarke fights back against "tea party" extremists and their hate speech in townhall meetings and online.

Why, asks Ernest Partridge, have we failed to benefit from a "peace dividend" from the end of the Cold War? Why are we in the midst of the greatest economic emergency in seventy years, with the public sector of the U.S. economy starved for funds required for economic recovery, and with urgent global climate andContinue reading “The War Trap”

If you're going to have to dine with your Freeper Uncle Vern or Palin-worshipping Aunt Sadie, you may benefit from reading this (and memorizing the bolded sections – that's why they call it "emboldened").

Greg Sargent has the details at The Plum Line blog.

And that's just the cherry on top of the other bombshells in a long post over at BradBlog. Marc Grossman needs to be put on trial for treason.

Bill Clinton has scored a big win for diplomacy and for the US with his trip to North Korea.

[UPDATED after the jump.] The most interesting aspects of her abrupt resignation announcement (it takes effect in three weeks) are that she did it as a late Friday news dump on a holiday weekend that will be dominated by the late Michael Jackson, and she gave a reason that makes no sense at all. SomethingContinue reading “Sarah Palin to Resign as AK Guv. Why?”

Breaking on MSNBC, 2:08pm EST: Minnesota Supreme Court rules that Al Franken has won that state's US Senate election. MORE: Norm Coleman at last shows a modicum of something resembling class and concedes. YET MORE: Harry Reid urges Tim Pawlenty to get off his lazy butt and certify Franken. YET EVEN MORE: Pawlenty cedes toContinue reading “Franken Wins MN Senate Seat; 2008 Election Over at Last”

Final results: Number of Voters: 1107 First Vote: Thursday, 11 June 2009 09:01 Last Vote: Friday, 12 June 2009 13:58

Your attention is directed to John Anderson's terrific essay on legendary "bankster buster" prosecutor Ferdinand Pecora over at firedoglake.com.

April 30, 2009 – New York (apj.us) – As I was taking in a concert at Zankel Hall, NPR broke the news that Justice David Souter is planning to retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term; MSNBC picked up more details on the impending retirement…  

April 28, 2009 – New York (apj.us) – Cable news and corporate media are acting as if Arlen Specter's decision to shift from the R to D column is a huge shock. Do the math yourself:

April 16, 2009 – New York (apj.us) – President Obama has ignored the overwheening protestations of the CIA and made public four of the notorious Bush-Jr.-era torture memos in very slightly redacted form:

I think sending Bernie Madoff to jail…

Jeff Koopersmith on Obama and America itself victorious.

11:00pm: Obama Wins with CA, OR, WA, HI. Our long national nightmare is over. – GG MORE — MSNBC calls VA for Obama. 11:10pm — McCain has called Obama to concede the race, per AP. 11:15pm — MSNBC calls FL for Obama. 11:18pm — McCain's concession speech set a well-balanced, conciliatory tone — and madeContinue reading “Game Day: President-elect Barack Obama”

All projections per NBC unless otherwise specified. 11:00pm: Obama Wins with CA, OR, WA. Our long national nightmare is over. – GG MORE: MSNBC calls VA for Obama. 10:56pm: NY-13, Vito Fossells’a seat, to Mike McMahon (D-pickup) by a solid margin, per WNBC4.– GG 10:50pm: CO-Sen to Udall. PA-12 to Murtha (D) by a heftyContinue reading “Game Day!”

9:00pm: KS, WY to McCain — along with ND out of the toss-ups. NY. MI, MN, WI to Obama. AZ too close to call. FL, NC, IN still too close to call. TX, CO, OH, LA, NE , SD, MS too early to call. – GG 8:36pm: GA to McCain. – GG 8:33pm: AL toContinue reading “Game Day!”

8:30am (all times EST) – Just got back from voting in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood. In 2004 I had a 15 minute wait; today it was nearly an hour. The turnout is massive and excited. UPDATE: Someone was disenfranchised in my neighborhood, perhaps even at my precinct.Kommandante Kos posted the very first election tally, fromContinue reading “Game Day!Early Edition”

Via Oliver Willis (of course) comes one of the best political "mash-up" videos of the campaign.

Click here for enlarged version.

From crisispapers.org: Might it be possible that the decision next Tuesday lies not with 100-plus million voters but instead with a few dozen programmers who write the secret software for the voting machines that will record some 30 percent of the votes, and also for the computers that compile (i.e., collect and report) 80 percentContinue reading “Election 2008: Who Decides? The People or the Programmers?”

Click here for large version. Jeff Koopersmith takes a look at the latest move by the McCain campaign: tapping into the "white sheet" crowd and reawakening the most violent corners of the American psyche.

Photo: Casey Young Steve Young on DIY campaigning gone way out of hand.

Millions of American citizens who identify themselves as “Republicans” are coping with a daunting question: “What is the primary object of my loyalty? My Party? My Country? My religious faith? My conscience?” Ernest Partridge looks at the new conservative crisis.

From crisispapers.org: Private Republican corporations count and compile the votes with secret and unverifiable software. Just as they did in 2000 and in 2004, and we all know how that turned out. Accordingly, the stark fact remains, says Ernest Partridge: the Republicans might "win" this election, regardless of the preference of the voters.

October 8, 2008 – New York (apj.us) – Ever since Bush, Cheney, and Tony Scalia's Supremos stole the 2000 election, I've been making a strong point to friends, politicos and pundits.

October 6, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – You'll likely never see this on the cover of the New York Times Magazine, so here it is. Click on the image for a supersized version.

From crisispapers.org: The McCain campaign has carelessly served a fat pitch down the middle, and if Barack Obama doesn’t hit it out of the park, perhaps he doesn’t deserve to win the election. The pitch? John McCain, the hero of the Hanoi Hilton, has shown himself to be a wimp – even, dare I sayContinue reading “The ?Hero? Who Runs from the Battlefield”

The world weeps as Caribou Barbie gets exiled back to Alaska. Jeff Koopersmith has the details.

Click on image for enlarged version. Jeff Koopersmith takes a break from American politics to take a look at a possible new superstar on the international political stage.

September 9, 2008 – Geneva (apj.us) – Is Sarah Palin religiously insane? Let's take a minute to examine a couple of bits of evidence.

Sept. 6, 2008 – New York (apj.us) – First. go read what media critic Jamison Foser has to say about one of McCain's de facto lead issues, namely complaining about the press…

Mika Brzezinski broke the news at 10:38amEST (via Kelly O'Donnell) that McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his VP choice. NBC cut to a special report, with O'Donnell nearly being shouted down by anti-McCain protesters in the background. [More…]

Jeff Koopersmith explains why.

Jeff Koopersmith on George W. Bush, never a fair-weather friend even to murderers and thieves, and his BFF Pervez Musharraf.

… here, of all places: "I thought the Britney Spears commercial was powerful," Schumer said, referring to McCain's television ad casting Obama as a vapid "celebrity." … "I would answer back hard. What do you mean he's not one of us? It's John McCain who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from oneContinue reading “Chuck Schumer Demonstrates the Art of Smashmouth”

This political cartoon explains it all. Click on ol' Ronnie to see the whole thing.

Short but sweet: Obama Describes The Modern Conservative Movement Basically: Now two points.One: they know they're lying about what my energy plan is. But the other thing is they're making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It’s like these guys take prideContinue reading “What Atrios Said”

Definitely not workplace safe. And hilarious. Click here to watch…

From Crisispapers.org: In the 2000 TV film “Nuremberg,” psychologist Gustav Gilbert says to the Head Prosecutor Robert Jackson, "I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants: a genuine incapacityContinue reading “Bushism and Evil as the Absence of Empathy”

Sixty-one years ago, George Marshall announced the plan that would come to bear his name. Much of Europe lay in ruins. The United States faced a powerful and ideological enemy intent on world domination. This menace was magnified by the recently discovered capability to destroy life on an unimaginable scale. The Soviet Union didn't yetContinue reading “Barack Obama’s Vision for an Effective Foreign and Military Policy: The Complete Text”

A little beach music from hell, courtesy Jeff Koopersmith and Photoshop Insurgent: Click here for super-sized version!

Steve Young has your Constitution for Dummies lesson of the day.

"The next President must set the nation on a radically altered course if catastrophe is to be avoided." From crisispapers.org: Ernest Partridge sets the stage for an epic political campaign season.

9:00pm EST: NBC reports Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. MSNBC cut off some crabby old geezer's nattering speech to break the news (CNN did the same thing)> 2:15pm EST: AP has already called the Democratic nomination race for Obama. Cue the primary season fat lady. We'll have more to say tonight. Stack o'headlinesContinue reading “Game Day: Democratic Playoffs Conclude in MT, SD”

From crisispapers.org: Ernest Partridge on the media's favorite campaign-season game.

Cliff Schecter speaks out on George Bush Jr.'s Tourette's outburst about American politicians (read: Barack Obama) supposedly "appeas[ing]" terrorists by engaging in diplomacy:

You read that correctly. It's amazing that this slipped under the media radar:

With the privatization of the Courts, the Congress, the Military, elections, and virtually of government itself, privatization of the sun, the wind, the tides, the ocean, would seem to be the logical next step. On the other hand, Ernest Partridge reconsiders the dogma that privatization is the solution to all social, environmental and political problems.

Jeff Koopersmith on Junior's policy geniuses and your tax dollars at work.

In May, 2000, despite merciless and unrelenting harassment by a Republican Congress and the corporate mass media, Bill Clinton was completing eight years of peace and prosperity, with a budget surplus that promised a reduction of the five trillion dollar national debt.  Directly ahead: Bush v. Gore, 9/11, and a virtual suspension of the UnitedContinue reading “The Great Regression — and the Road Back”

The United States is one of the few two-party nations in which one party gets to choose both its own candidate, and also the candidate of the “opposing” party. Well, OK, I exaggerate. But it’s not much of a stretch to say that the GOP, with the help of its wholly-owned subsidiary, the mainstream media,Continue reading “The Great American Election Charade”

It does not make sense that Al Queda would murder a Pakistani leader and a woman held in such high esteem. It is against Sharia law to harm a woman in this way. What would they gain from it?

Dec. 18, 2007 (crisispapers.org) – When Willard “Mitt” Romney announced his intention to run for the Presidency of the United States, one might suppose that there was joy in Salt Lake City among the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I suspect that by now those leaders may be having someContinue reading “About This ?Mormonism? Thing”

Last week may have marked the beginning of the downfall of Bushism – the fatal loosening of the centripetal Bushevik grip – as senior intelligence officials from sixteen federal agencies finally stood their ground against the Bush/Cheney regime.

Faulty Gaydar and a Jones for Joe: Stick-figure hatemonger calls Al Gore “vaguely gay” – trying in vain to get some … any … media attention… melancholic Neocon authoress commemorates McCarthyism… again!

Are money woes the reason for a weakening America… or is it George W. Bush and his administration?

Ernest Partridge on the insanity of privatization mania.

"To Bush & Co…. we the people owe no more allegiance than a child owes to the criminal who stole her from her home and now abuses her while posing as her father." – Mark Crispin MillerErnest Partridge on the collapse of the BushCo propaganda catapult.

Oct. 8, 2007 (crisispapers.org) – What is a tried-and-true southern California "conservative" Republican to do when a hundred-foot wall of flames comes roaring up the slope toward his private home?

Oct. 25, 2007 – (crisispapers.org ) – In the two world wars of the past century, the US came to the rescue of free nations abroad (in addition to few nations that were not free). It is time now for "The Free World" to return the favor.

Oct. 10, 2007 – A Crisis Papers reader recently sent us an essay in which he proposed that the global climate crisis might be mitigated by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the ocean. This thoughtful, well-informed and articulate essay prompted a stimulating e-mail exchange betweenContinue reading “Global Engineering and Climate Change”

Oct. 3, 2007 – San Francisco (crisispapers.org) – The Crisis Papers is approaching its sixth year of internet publication. Our inaugural appearance was on November 2, 2002, two days before the Congressional election of that year. In the five years that followed, my colleague Dr. Bernard Weiner and I have written more than three hundredContinue reading “Dissent: What’s In It for You?”

If "practical limitations" are all that we have left, then let us use them to fullest advantage.

Maybe he is an actor, but he isn’t Ronald Reagan. Is that a good – or bad – thing? Jeff Koopersmith looks at Thompson's positions and prospects.

Twentieth century conditions do not apply. Because they don’t, and because the Democrats refuse to recognize and adapt to this fact, choosing instead to play by the old, non-operative rules, the next President will likely be a Republican.

August 13, 2007 — New York (apj.us) — Karl Rove, one of the greatest thespians to hit the Washington scene, has announced his disappearance at the end of August.  My reaction? So what!

Don’t bet your freedom and our republic on a comfortable assumption. Be prepared for a desperate grab for permanent, dictatorial power.

Is there no limit to the power of the Supreme Court to enact law from the bench?  Does the Constitution simply mean what the Supreme Court says it means?

Just last month, astonishing new evidence has come forth that in 2004 millions of Kerry votes were "switched" to Bush, and millions more "graveyard votes" were added to Bush's total. Mainstream media coverage? Nada!

Will it be diplomacy or war for Iran?

How much money do you need to spend to convince completely unrepresentative "average Americans" that you’re the guy or gal who should run the free world?

The grand experiment has failed, and we are just beginning to realize the enormous costs of that failure.

Scooter Goes to Jail?

Now he’s after television, the Internet and other private communication channels

Here's a Note for you, Rick: aren't 3,500 American kids dead and counting – plus 45,000 maimed or wounded – enough?

• The spin: George W. Bush tries to make you fear that Iran is run by a madman• The reality: Iran's power elite are starting to push Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into the gutter

World Bank Employees Enraged Ever Executive Board WhitewashSpecial to APJ: secret staff demands!

Maybe the F-word will terrify his "enemies."

Game-playing Is Not Why They Were Elected

Izz al-Deen al-Qassam, Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am!

I loathe everything the Mr. Wolfowitz stands for yet I pity him.

No wonder Bush will give up being Commander in Chief

Little Egypt will drop on the floor… and stick.

Pro-Bush apologetics are so pathetically lame and absurd that their defenses serve only to strengthen the case against the Busheviks.

Why not impeach Bush and Cheney and remove them from office?

The Chinese government has been distressed for several months about a mountain of cash-chasing projects that do not warrant any investmentJeff's Message to Wall Street — and the Small Investor

The Neocons have been rudely awakened from their imperial dreams by the catastrophic failure of their Iraq ambitions.

Thailand's recent coup provides food for thought