King Con and the Fool's Gold: Goldlines Going Down!

Here's the rundown:
Goldine is a sponsor of Beck's TV and radio shows. Beck tells his audience that they should buy gold as a hedge against inflation, but not just any gold. Beck says you should buy antique coins because there's this 1933 executive order that empowers the government to take all your gold except antique gold coins.
Beck tells his audience to go to Goldline and buy whatever they recommend. Serious investors buy bullion coins, which are standardized coin-shaped chunks of gold valued entirely for their metal content. Wouldn't you know it? Goldline is pushing collector coins instead of bullion. The value of these so-called numismatic coins depends heavily on their appeal to collectors, which in turn depends on their aesthetic and historical properties. Guess what? Goldine is selling old gold coins of minimal collector value. If you want to invest in gold, the worst place to keep it is inside a numismatic coin.


More to the point, Goldline is vastly overcharging its customers for these trinkets compared to its competitors. Ripping off your customers isn't necessarily illegal, however. All kinds of stuff is vastly overpriced in this great free market of ours. What did our ancestors fight and die for if not our right to pay through the nose for overpriced crap?
Beck has a conflict of interest regardless. He's using his show to steer his viewers towards a lousy investment. A congressional investigation found that the coins are so overpriced that they're useless as a hedge against inflation. The price of gold would have to nearly triple before the buyers of Goldline's American Eagle coin could even break even. Beck is helping his sponsor fleece his audience.


Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) announced yesterday that a hearing will take place next week to discuss legislation to regulate gold-selling companies, such as Goldline, a sponsor of Glenn Beck and other Fox News personalities such as Mike Huckabee and Laura Ingraham.

Weiner's press release states:

Goldline employs several conservative pundits to act as shills for its’ precious metal business, including Glenn Beck, Mike Huckabee, Laura Ingraham, and Fred Thompson. By drumming up public fears during financially uncertain times, conservative pundits are able to drive a false narrative. Glenn Beck for example has dedicated entire segments of his program to explaining why the U.S. money supply is destined for hyperinflation with Barack Obama as president. He will often promote the purchase of gold as the only safe investment alternative for consumers who want to safeguard their livelihoods. When the show cuts to commercial break, viewers are treated to an advertisement from Goldline.
“Under this proposed legislation, gold dealers will have a much harder time preying upon the nest eggs of vulnerable consumers,” said Weiner. “It’s shameful that companies like Goldline are able to rip off consumers, use misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics, and deliberately manipulate public fears to sell gold coins at inflated prices.”

Click on the graphic to see the full-sized version.




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The Primary Psalm!

A Dead Peasant poem of primary perceptions:

The primaries made it quite clear
That our nation could lose all that’s dear.
The ballots are toted.
Republicans voted
For radicals that we all fear!

"They can’t get elected, you see
Our good folk won’t drink wingnut tea",
It’s just discontent
‘Cause folks can’t pay rent –
Like Germany in 1933.

I’ve been hearing some “general” spin
That these loons can not possibly win.
This assumption’s not sound.
We’re in trouble profound.
Civil War may happen again.

So liberals, put your party hats down,
Talk to everyone in your hometown.
Get busses loaded
Till everyones voted,
Don't give a single Tea-bagger a crown!

Make YOUR voice the loudest sound!


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Oil Anonymous

AA, NA and many other 12 step programs have been very effective in helping addicts recover. America has a serious addiction to oil. Then shouldn't the next step be a plan for breaking that addiction? How about a "12-step plan"?

The plan could go on the AA model...

1)Admit that America is powerless over oil — and our position has become unmanageable.
2)Confess that if we are to have power, it must come from a sane, renewable source.
3)Decide to turn our national will toward a better, cleaner future for ourselves and our children.
4)Make a searching and fearless inventory of our energy options.
5)Admit the exact nature of our unsustainable energy policy.
6)Declare our nation entirely ready to commit to changing our ways.
7)Humbly acknowledge that we have made mistakes and false starts in the past.
8)Make a list of all the ways in which our policy continues to promote a failed position.
9)Take direct action, wherever possible, if those actions can reduce our demand for oil.
10)Continue to take inventory of our results and promptly change policies that aren't working.
11)Seek to improve our knowledge, policies, and actions in building a cleaner future.
12)As we enjoy the benefits of these decisions, to pass these benefits to others.

Or we might try something more pragmatic...

1)Admit that the United States is currently dependent on imported oil.
2)Educate the public that no amount of domestic drilling will significantly impact this demand.
3)Place a national, significant sales tax on oil that would immediately reduce our demand.
4)Channel all funds generated toward technologies that would break the link between oil and transportation.
5)Expand support for electric vehicles to bring these cars into reach of more consumers.
6)Provide additional funding for local and national rail travel and transport.
7)Implement strict new guidelines for oil consumption by large vehicles.
8)Provide additional investments in R & D for both battery and fuel cell development.
9)Provide funding that encourages reductions in commuting through mixed-use development.
10)Increase the cost of drilling leases to better reflect actual value of resources.
11)Announce a permanent ban on drilling at depths below 2,000'.
12)Promote the use of natural gas and ethanol as alternative transportation fuels until such time as electrical vehicles are broadly available.

It starts by admitting we have a problem! We need to start meetings and talk about it so that we might be able to move on with our lives in a cleaner and more sustainable future. Believe me, Dead Peasant know's 12 steps works!



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As Fascist As Apple Pie!

Just how long can that tomato of preemptive media strikes last on its withering vine under the relentless sun of Palin’s love of attention from the same media? For my taste, that tomato was spoilt way back in 2008 when the McCain camp announced that until the press showed Palin “deference” (this is America?), she would not be giving any more interviews. But the press went along with this sad charade, cowering in fear lest they be called “Sexist” by that most feminist of men, John McCain.

But it’s two years later and finally, the press begins their push-back, albeit local press from Missoula, Montana (aka: Real America), who may be stunned to find themselves on the accused end of Palin’s ceaseless witch hunt against the dissemination of information. This is not the Real American Mama Grizzly they thought they knew. No, indeed, Dorothy. These are dark days.

Sherry Devlin, Editor of a local newspaper, the Missloulian, rose up (all Mama Grizzly like) to defend herself and her staff against Sarah Palin’s false allegation that the press had “sneaked in” to hear Palin’s speech:

“Contrary to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s warning to the standing-room-only crowd at this afternoon’s Teen Challenge fundraiser in Missoula, the media did not “sneak in” to her speech. We were not there as “moles,” in her words.


…I only mention this because that sort of talk – “Be careful. There may be some media that sneaked into the room.” – is intended to create distrust of the professional journalists in this city and all across the country who take their jobs very seriously and work hard to accurately and fairly report the news.

….Last week, they (the reporters who had been submitted and accepted to cover Palin’s speech) picked up a credential packet from Teen Challenge. They showed I.D. to pick up the packet. They were given green wristbands and were told to put them on their left wrists. They checked in at the door on Sunday, showed their wristbands and were placed in one corner of the room – and told not to move.

They were very visible, very public, very respectful and professional. They didn’t sneak in or out…”

Lest the reader think that poor Sarah developed this attack the press before they can ask any questions as a direct response to her deer in the headlights interview with Katie Couric, I’m afraid such compassion is unwarranted. Palin has been using this tactic ever since she reared her head in politics in Wasilla. Perhaps she gleaned it off of Karl Rove or maybe they taught her this at the Republican Women’s Leadership camp she attended, or maybe she has the instincts of a Pit Bull in spring – but this has always been her strategy of dealing with the press.

Although it’s almost embarrassing to point out that it seems to have played most well with the national press, because back in Wasilla, the local paper fought like the devil to make her accountable. They were mostly unsuccessful, but after their push back, Palin did have to unfire a bunch of people she had precipitously fired, a move which had given rise to a recall campaign.

How did she save her job? At the urging of party leaders the fiscal conservative hired a city manager to the tune of $50,000.00 to do her job. Do recall that Wasilla was, at that time, around 5,000 people. Never fear, if she gets into the White House, she’ll just wait for Cheney to force her to hire someone to actually run the country. Who knows what kind of damage will be done in the interim, but as a modern day Republican knows, there’s plenty of money to be blown proving their incompetence.

A quick run though of the Frontiersman’s Palin coverage in 1997 during what came to be known as Palin’s standoff with the local hometown paper:

Headline: “Palin may face recall” [Frontiersman, 2/5/97]
Frontiersman Editorial: Palin Doesn’t Grasp the Truth. A Frontiersman
editorial wrote, “Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth.” [Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]
Editorial Headline: “Mayor’s Lost Credibility” [Frontiersman, 2/7/97]
Frontiersman Editorial: Palin Assumed Her Election Was a Coronation. A Frontiersman editorial wrote, “Palin seems to have assumed her election was instead a coronation. Welcome to Kingdom Palin, the land of no accountability.” [Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]

Notice a theme here regarding Herself’s ability to tell anything remotely resembling the truth. Now tell me again, Johnny, how you think Palin is stupid? Are these the acts of a stupid person? No, what we have here is a willfully ignorant person with the political instincts of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, disguised by a pretty face with a carefully crafted (and equally inaccurate) image as a Mama Grizzly.

I dare you to ask her what she reads. Just try it, big boy.

To that end, Palin put in place what the local paper called a gag order, prohibiting top city employees from talking to reporters unless she cleared it first. The Frontiersman and Anchorage Daily News fell over one another trying to keep up with the chaotic turmoil of Palin’s first year as mayor.

The Frontiersman reported:

“Wasilla residents have been subjected to attempts to unlawfully appoint council members, statements that have been shown to be patently untrue, unrepentant backpedaling, and incessant whining that her only enemies are the press and a few disgruntled supporters of Mayor Stein. … Palin promised to change the status quo, but at every turn we find hints of cronyism and political maneuvering. We see a woman who has long since surrendered her ideals to a political machine.”

Palin called this “shakin’ up the good old boys.” Should she ever be elected to any office again, this will be the excuse given for the cries of Tyranny we hear from within the sanctified walls of her castle. In case you doubt it, let me leave you with a few Palin words and let’s see if you can guess what year they were said in…or how about, what campaign?

Palin wrote that people asking City Hall for help encountered “complacency, inaction and even total disregard.” She decried the town’s “current tax-and-spend mentality” and its “stale leadership.” ~~Palin, running for Mayor of Wasilla. Oh, demagogue of my dreams, ring my bell with charges of “complacency” and “tax and spend” regardless of how you actually govern! I see your hubris and raise you ten.

But wait, the best part is she was a part of that same city hall she was deriding, sort of like how she derides the media now even though she is a well-paid member of it.

Predatory ruthlessness does not a dummy make. While Sarah Palin is incurious, incompetent and misinformed to such a degree that she actually makes Bush seem Rushmore-worthy in comparison, she is not stupid. And while we’re on it, please note that Bush wasn’t a cruel despot for the sake of being cruel. He could be authoritarian and dictatorial, but he didn’t feed off of revenge and power like Palin does. We shouldn’t count on Palin being stupid, unless we crave the bitter tang of disbelief and disappointment circa 2004.

Palin wants us to dismiss her as stupid. It gives her something to rail against and arms her base with a pre-honed chip on their shoulder. While she bats her eyes and plays stupid and Americans snicker, she’s amassing power and money. It’s never wise to underestimate your opponent or to see only their most obvious and self-serving narrative. However, since the press hasn’t done their job with Palin, we will have to comfort ourselves with the powerful label of stupid which may indeed render her unelectable, ala Dan Quayle.

A hearty welcome to the Missoula press, you’ll find it sparse but comfy under the Palin press bus. Complimentary gag buckets are provided for those special times when the media runs with Palin’s latest lie and willingly subjugates themselves to her as they did George W Bush, apologizing for asking what happened to those clothes or if she agrees with the Bush doctrine. You’ll be comforted to know that there are a few others here with you, such as Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, Michael Gross, and Joe McGuinniss.

Ya’ll just take it easy down there and wait for the rest of the media to catch up. Oh, and while you’re down there, why not count the number of hit jobs this same media did on Hilary Clinton’s hair. I guess they weren’t so scared of being called elitist sexists back in the good old days, eh?




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One Nation, Under Profit!

The NS interview of Noam Chomsky:



Do you consider yourself to be primarily a scientist or a political activist?
If the world would go away, I would be happy to keep to the science, which is much more interesting and challenging. But the world has an unfortunate habit of not going away and the problems are quite urgent.

What are your thoughts on President Obama?
He's involved in war crimes right now. For example, targeted assassinations are war crimes. That's escalated quite sharply under Obama. If you look at WikiLeaks, there are a lot of examples of attacks on civilians.

What did you think when he was given the Nobel Peace Prize?
Considering the history of the Nobel Peace Prize, it's not the worst example. It was given to him before he had the time to commit many war crimes.

Is there any point in us being in Afghanistan?
We wouldn't have asked in 1985: "Is there any point in the Russians being in Afghanistan?" The fact is that the invasion was a crime. Then comes the question: "Is there any point in continuing?" But that presupposes legitimacy. Putting aside questions of morality and legality and simply asking about the goals of the US government is a very narrow consideration.

What would you like to see happen next in Afghanistan?
There has to be an internal political settlement. Like it or not, the warlords and the Taliban are Afghans, so there has to be a settlement among them. The regional powers also have to be involved, including Pakistan, India and the US - because it's there, not because it belongs there.

Do you worry about Obama's lack of experience in foreign policy?
I don't think that experience is a very useful or convincing attribute for a sensible foreign policy. Henry Kissinger had a lot of experience. [And he still became involved in] the major mass murders in Cambodia.

Is the focus of US foreign policy right?
Let's take the main focus: the Iranian threat. The brutal, clerical regime is a threat to its own population, but it's hardly unique in that respect. The threat to the US came in the presentations to Congress by Pentagon officials in April - they pointed out that the threat is not military; it's to the "stability" of the region.

Do you agree with that assessment?
It's imperial doctrine. Stability is when the UK and US invade a country and impose the regime of their choice. But if Iran tries to interfere, that's destabilising.

What do you make of David Cameron?
It's too early to say much. I haven't been greatly impressed by his policies or his statements.

He recently identified the UK as the junior partner in the "special relationship".
That's too bad for England. It's been a very injurious relationship for England for a long time.

Do countries such as Bolivia have lessons to teach the rest of the world?
Yes. The poorest country in South America, Bolivia had been devastated by neoliberal economic policies. In recent years, the majority of the population won significant battles against privatisation of water. They then entered the political arena and elected someone from their own ranks, and people really engaged with the issues. Their economic growth is now, I think, the best in Latin America.

Are you optimistic about the future of the left?
I don't think it makes much sense to be optimistic, but there's not much point in speculating, either. Either way, the tasks are the same.

Do you vote?
I often do, without much enthusiasm. In the US, there is basically one party - the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population.

What would you like to forget?
There are a lot of things I regret - for example, the Indochina war. I was deeply involved with it, facing a long jail sentence. But I deeply regret that I didn't get involved until the mid-1960s, which was much too late.

Was there a plan?
Well, I had some general guidelines. They're so banal I hate to say them. But what's not banal is applying them in particular situations.

Are we all doomed?
If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long. There are two problems for our species' survival - nuclear war and environmental catastrophe - and we're hurtling towards them. Knowingly. This hypothetical Martian would probably conclude that human beings were an evolutionary error.



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Fun with Republicans: Yuri Hertzberg’s Party Picker

Having trouble talking sense to your Republican neighbors and friends? Have no fear, Yuri is here.

Yuri Hertzberg of the San Fransisco Chronicle was fed up trying to talk about the facts behind the issues with his conservative friends, so he came up with a rather ingenious way of forcing an open mind. The trick is making an analogy to purchasing something innocuous like dish soap and then secondly, hiding the party names and just presenting the record.


You know the old deal: you’re at a family dinner and the Republican Fox watcher starts in on you about Obama and socialism. You try talking sense and eventually you give way to rage, and mention that red states are welfare states so who’s redistributing the wealth?

Scatterplot posted about this on their blog:

“With one exception, Red states gain big (I divide states by how they voted for Obama; not a great metric, but not a terrible one)… What we basically see is that only one Red State pays in more than its share (Texas). Clearly, as Begala jests, Red States are big welfare states. Now I don’t object to this, because they happen to be poorer states. And I believe in wealth redistribution. But why do states that have a net gain from the Federal government vote against a party that wants to continue to support then, and why do states that lose out in the deal continue to support a party that wants to take money away from their local communities?” and then happily linked to the Tax Foundation proof.

Now, you and I both know that when Scatterplot goes to show this to his Republican friends, they’re going to come back with how liberals are lounging around on welfare, so we should shut up. In other words, no good will come of these facts, regardless of how well presented they are.

I feel your pain, Scattershot. And apparently, so did Yuri. Clever Yuri.

Yuri says, “First, I asked my friends how they would go about choosing a new dishwasher. We agreed that the responsible and rewarding method would be to ignore any marketing hype and instead follow the Best Buy recommendations by Consumer Reports. Because nobody mentioned the virtues or shortcomings of, say, Whirlpool’s executives as a valid criterion for choosing the appliance, I asked why they argue for hours about the perceived personalities of the candidates instead of comparing the track records of the major parties.”

So, that would be a no-go to listening to Republicans talk about how they are going to lower taxes for small business when in fact, they are doing no such thing but are actually voting against the President’s small business bill.

He then compared all administrations going back to 1960 and all states based on how they voted in the presidential elections since 1980. Oh, heavens, this is just brutal.

He used symbols to over come bias. Here’s Yuri’s list for voting on the economy:


Economy

Jobs: Since 1960, each of the A Party administrations has delivered higher rates of jobs creation than any of the B Party administrations.
Deficit: Since 1960, the deficit each of the A Party administrations has passed to its successor was lower than the one it inherited, while each of the B Party administrations has increased the deficit. The average yearly deficit under the B Party administrations was 277 percent higher than the average deficit under the A Party.
Productivity: The gross state product of the 20 states that voted for the A Party candidate at least 5 times out of the last 8 elections (let’s call them the A states) is 15 percent higher than the other states (the B states).
Household income: The median household income in the A states is 16 percent higher than in the B states.
Poverty: The percentage of persons below the poverty level in the A states is 21 percent lower than in the B states.
Health insurance: The percentage of people without health insurance in the A states is 25 percent lower than in the B states.

Advantage: Party A

This is probably as good of a time as any to tell you that Party A is the Democratic Party. Yuri also has this same test set up for issues regarding Family Values, which I urge all you Dead Peasants check out.



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What Trickle?

If Congressional Republicans’ goal is to convince the American people that they care about spending, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest tax proposal that would double the nation’s deficit over the next decade to $4 trillion is a perplexing start. A story in The
Washington Post today outlines the Senate Republicans’ plan, while ironically quoting him as saying “We have a spending problem.”
And just this morning, according to another Washington Post story John Boehner caved to the wealthy special interests and flipped his position back to supporting the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans while holding the middle class tax cuts hostage.
Instead of joining President Obama in his call to extend the middle class tax cuts to working families, to the people who need it most, McConnell and Boehner’s focus appears to be on millionaires and billionaires who aren’t asking for a tax cut. During these challenging economic times, we simply can’t afford to borrow another $700 billion
over the next decade to give an average tax cut of $100,000 to
Americans making over $1 million per year.
What’s clear is that Senator McConnell’s and Congressman Boehner’s plan would do absolutely nothing to grow our economy, put people back to
work and strengthen America’s middle class. Instead, it would take us back to the same exact failed economic policies that created the mess we’re in: cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut rules for
the special interests and big corporations and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself.



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Zionists want America To Attack Iran!

A trillion dollars blown up in the blood and rubble of Iraq and another trillion or so gone poof in Afghanistan…

(Photo at left shows pallets of hundred-dollar bills shipped to Iraq – and unaccounted for. Chart shows defense spending in relation to the rest of the US budget.)

Back at home, the economy teeters on the edge of a cliff and the national debt snowballs out of control…

You would think the last thing America’s leaders would be contemplating is another war. You would be wrong.

As I write this, a powerful group is girding for a public relations campaign to prepare Americans for a “military option” in Iran.

In a news analysis for Inter Press Service, reporter Jim Lobe charges that “veterans of the Bush administration’s pre-Iraq invasion propaganda offensive are clearly mobilizing their arguments for a similar effort on Iran, even suggesting that the timetable between campaign launch and possible military action – a mere six months in Iraq’s case – could be appropriate.”

Lobe reports that:

Neo-conservative and other hawks have also pounced on reported remarks by United Arab Emirates (UAE) Amb. Yousef al-Otaiba, at a retreat sponsored by The Atlantic magazine in Colorado this week to nullify another obstacle to military action – the widespread belief that Washington’s Arab allies oppose a military attack on Iran by the U.S. or Israel as too risky for their own security and regional stability.

“We cannot live with a nuclear Iran,” Otaiba was quoted as saying in a Washington Times article by Eli Lake, a prominent neo-conservative journalist.

“Mr. Otaiba’s …comments leave no doubt what he and most Arab officials think about the prospect of a nuclear revolutionary Shiite state,” the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, a major media champion of the Iraq War, opined. “They desperately want someone, and that means the U.S. or Israel, to stop it, using force if need be.”

You can read the article here:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52108

You probably know by now that the United States spends more on “defense” than the rest of the world combined.


And you probably know that a lot of that “defense” spending benefits foreign countries – America maintains hundreds of military bases in the most unlikely spots around the globe.

It seems to me that America’s number one foreign policy is to wage war – or at least threaten to wage war.

Why?

You might say it’s necessary to sustain an economy buttressed by defense factories. Billions are spent on doomsday weapons and war machines that no one could even think of using unless the world goes completely mad. I can think of no other reason for this expenditure except to retain American jobs and line the pockets of powerful people.




But, while I have no facts and figures to back up my hunch, I bet a lot of America’s defense budget ends up in far-away countries where labor is cheap and laws are lax. That’s the way it is with everything else these days. Cars “made” in Detroit are put together from parts imported from who knows where, for example.

That’s one reason the stimulus didn’t pay off as expected. A lot of the money that the government poured into the U.S. economy ended up in China as Americans spent it at places like Wal-Mart.

I know Israel is America’s ally, and I know a powerful Israeli faction is pressing for an American strike against Iran. But shouldn’t America’s own welfare – America’s own survival – come first in American government policies?

Isn’t it obvious that killing Iranians is a luxury the U.S. cannot afford?

They say Iran will develop a nuclear bomb and that will be the end of the world. But doesn’t Israel have nuclear weapons? And the Russians? And even crazy Pakistan? And isn’t the world still spinning around the sun?

A nuclear Iran is, indeed, a terrifying possibility. But if America goes to war with Iran, a bankrupt America will be an equally frightening certainty.

I wonder why America’s “hawks” don’t see this. Or is it that they just don’t care? Or do they have a hidden agenda that includes the bankrupting of their own country?

You tell me!

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Hate, American Style!

The tired conservative contention that liberals hate America is never supported by anything other than vague allusions to alleged contempt for things that aren’t even uniquely American (the free market) or historically accurate (the founding of the country on Judeo-Christian principles), and by deliberately misconstruing legitimate philosophical differences (believing national security is bolstered by strong global alliances) to attempt to frame them as somehow traitorous.

But between a conservative agenda that seeks to undermine protections for average Americans such as Social Security and the 40-hour work week, and the increasing visibility of shockingly rancorous conservative hate groups, I think there is mounting reason to ask the question why so many so called "Christian" conservatives seem to hate Americans.
America is a diverse country of race, religion and sexual orientation. There are many Muslims in the U.S. That are just as American as anyone else. The Christian conservatives are starting a holy war against them!
Every religion has its crazies, so blaming an entire religion of people for the actions of radical Islamics is not only wrong, it’s stupid. Did we learn nothing from Adolf Hitler? He was the last person to successfully persecute a group based on religion. Hitler’s plans to eradicate Jews from the face of the Earth started out in what seemed harmless to the German people. First, he raised anti-Semitic feelings by saying things like “the Jews killed Jesus” and playing on the fact that the hardworking Jews had money while many non-Jews were poor. This is exactly what many Conservative pundits are doing today. I regularly see people posting anti-Muslim sentiments on Facebook, comments on blogs and news stories and all over the web. All Muslims are terrorists is one such false claim. These political leaders use the same misinformation and tactics Hitler used on the Nazis, to persuade Americans to hate Islam and Muslims.

Then Hitler gave the Jews curfews and took away their right to free enterprise. Anti-Jewish sentiments spread to the destruction of Jewish businesses (i.e. bricks through windows). We have not given Muslims curfews, but look how many Muslim-run businesses have been attacked? Mosques have been bombed, bricks have been thrown thrown through the windows of mosques, Muslim-businesses and homes of Muslims. Now, we are trying to prevent Muslims from opening businesses where we don’t want them to be. If that is not a restriction on free enterprise, I do not know what is. I wonder how long it will take for leaders to call for the rounding up of Muslims and Muslim sympathizers, if they are allowed to continue to spew such hate-filled rhetoric.

All of this led to research, and a realization that many of these leaders sound like Hitler. Some of these quotes are about Islam. Others, were rather surprising, as they covered all non-Christian religions. Can you guess which of these quotes are by Adolf Hitler and what are by Conservative Christian leaders of today?

THE QUOTES

1. “The god of Judaism is the devil. The Jew will not be recognized by God as one of His chosen people until he abandons his demonic religion and returns to the faith of his fathers – the faith which embraces Jesus Christ and His Gospel.”

2. “”My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.”

3. ‘Lord, make us free!’ is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: ‘Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!’

4. “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

5. “Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free.”

6. “… the world has no reason for fighting in our defense, and as a matter of principle God does not make cowardly nations free…”

7. “I think Mohammed was a terrorist. He – I read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and – and – non-Muslims, that he was a – a violent man, a man of war. And I do believe that – Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. And I think that Mohammed set an opposite example.”

8. “The task of preserving and advancing the highest humanity, given to this earth by the benevolence of the Almighty, seems a truly high mission.”

9. “Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise.”

10. “If you don’t want a Christian nation, then go to one of the many nations that are heathen already, rather than perverting ours.”

11. “This is our land. This is our world. This is our heritage, and with God’s help, we shall reclaim this nation for Jesus Christ. And no power on earth can stop us.”

12. “Peoples which bastardize themselves, or let themselves be bastardized, sin against the will of eternal Providence…”

13. “This is God’s world, not Satan’s. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians.”

14. “With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people.”

15. “God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’

16. ” Jews are the real Nazis. They started all the wars of the world.”

17. “We are on God’s side. This is not a war between Arabs and Jews. It’s a war between God and the devil.”

18. “Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.”


19. “We ought to tell every other Moslem (sic) living in this nation that if you say one word, you’re gone.”

20. “Who says I am not under the special protection of God? ”

These quotes are all very disturbing. They are harmful and hurtful to the message of peace that Christianity’s greatest figure, Jesus Christ, was attempting to spread. They go against the very nature of liberty, justice, and freedom for all.

Are you ready for the answers?

Some are a little obvious, but others were surprising.

Here is a list of the people who have said the above quotes.

THE ANSWERS

1. David Chilton
2. Adolf Hitler
3. Adolf Hitler
4. Ann Coulter
5. Pat Robertson
6. Adolf Hitler
7. Jerry Falwell
8. Adolf Hitler
9. Adolf Hitler
10. Jeff Fugate
11. D. James Kennedy
12. Adolf Hitler
13. Gary North
14. Adolf Hitler
15. Ann Coulter
16. Bill O’Reilly
17. Benny Hinn
18. Adolf Hitler
19. Jimmy Swaggert
20. Adolf Hitler

The hate of the conservative movement is going to bring genocide into the 21st century.


-Dead Press- Journalism that's not sold-out!

Hunter S.Thompson accurately predicted post 9/11 America!

Fear & Loathing in America
By Hunter S. Thompson




It was just after dawn in Woody Creek, Colo., when the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City on Tuesday morning, and as usual I was writing about sports. But not for long. Football suddenly seemed irrelevant, compared to the scenes of destruction and utter devastation coming out of New York on TV.


Even ESPN was broadcasting war news. It was the worst disaster in the history of the United States, including Pearl Harbor, the San Francisco earthquake and probably the Battle of Antietam in 1862, when 23,000 were slaughtered in one day.
The Battle of the World Trade Center lasted about 99 minutes and cost 20,000 lives in two hours (according to unofficial estimates as of midnight Tuesday). The final numbers, including those from the supposedly impregnable Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, likely will be higher. Anything that kills 300 trained firefighters in two hours is a world-class disaster.
And it was not even Bombs that caused this massive damage. No nuclear missiles were launched from any foreign soil, no enemy bombers flew over New York and Washington to rain death on innocent Americans. No. It was four commercial jetliners.
They were the first flights of the day from American and United Airlines, piloted by skilled and loyal U.S. citizens, and there was nothing suspicious about them when they took off from Newark, N.J., and Dulles in D.C. and Logan in Boston on routine cross-country flights to the West Coast with fully-loaded fuel tanks -- which would soon explode on impact and utterly destroy the world-famous Twin Towers of downtown Manhattan's World Trade Center. Boom! Boom! Just like that.
The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now -- with somebody -- and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.
It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy. Osama bin Laden may be a primitive "figurehead" -- or even dead, for all we know -- but whoever put those All-American jet planes loaded with All-American fuel into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon did it with chilling precision and accuracy. The second one was a dead-on bullseye. Straight into the middle of the skyscraper.
Nothing -- even George Bush's $350 billion "Star Wars" missile defense system -- could have prevented Tuesday's attack, and it cost next to nothing to pull off. Fewer than 20 unarmed Suicide soldiers from some apparently primitive country somewhere on the other side of the world took out the World Trade Center and half the Pentagon with three quick and costless strikes on one day. The efficiency of it was terrifying.
We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or the New York papers calling for WAR seem to know who did it or where to look for them.
This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed -- for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won't hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force.
Good luck. He is in for a profoundly difficult job -- armed as he is with no credible Military Intelligence, no witnesses and only the ghost of Bin Laden to blame for the tragedy.
OK. It is 24 hours later now, and we are not getting much information about the Five Ws of this thing.
The numbers out of the Pentagon are baffling, as if Military Censorship has already been imposed on the media. It is ominous. The only news on TV comes from weeping victims and ignorant speculators.
The lid is on. Loose Lips Sink Ships. Don't say anything that might give aid to The Enemy.

Hunter Is my hero. The original Gonzo journalist. He is missed.


-Dead Press- Journalism that's not sold-out!

Of Coarse Some Bigots Burned Korans!

FBI probe is sought in burning of Quran in East Lansing,
Incident could be hate crime!

A national Islamic group has called for an FBI investigation after a burned Quran, its pages allegedly covered in feces, was found Saturday at an East Lansing mosque frequented by the Michigan State University community.



"To have the Quran burned at a mosque is equivalent to having a cross burned at a black church," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, referring to an intimidation tactic frequently used during the civil rights movement.

He has asked the FBI to consider the burning a hate crime.

The incident at the Islamic Center of East Lansing is one of at least three reported around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It also comes on the heels of a Florida pastor's plan, which he abandoned, to burn copies of the Quran.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said Sunday that the agency is in discussion with mosque leaders.

East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley said the incident happened between 11 p.m. Friday and 1:30 a.m. Saturday. They have no suspects or witnesses, he said, and are increasing security around the mosque on South Harrison Road.

Center spokesman Abdalmajid Katranji said mosque leaders waited to release the information until Sunday out of respect for 9/11.

"We felt (Saturday) had its own purpose, its own need for reflection, and so we wanted to make sure that the focus stayed on the issue of 9/11," Katranji said. "We did not want the messages to be mixed. We stand opposed to what happened on 9/11."

East Lansing Mayor Victor Loomis said he has met with mosque officials.

"It's a very deplorable act and we condemn the actions of whoever did this," Loomis said. "I suspect, along with members of the Islamic Center, that it was someone from outside our community."

Globally, two protesters died and four were injured as Afghans protested for a third day Sunday against Jones' plan to burn copies of the Islamic holy book.

Mohammad Rahim Amin, chief of the Baraki Barak district in eastern Logar province, said the deaths and injuries occurred when Afghan soldiers opened fire on hundreds of protesters who were trying to storm the local government headquarters.

In the U.S. on Wednesday, three men allegedly sprayed graffiti on the walls of a mosque in Hudson, N.Y. They are being charged with vandalism and having committed a hate crime, according to the Associated Press. And in Phoenix on Saturday, the windows of a mosque under construction appeared to be shot out, and the walls carried anti-Muslim graffiti. The FBI is investigating the incident, according to the Arizona Republic.

Mussop Mohammad, 23, of Troy, president of the Islamic Medical Student Association at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, said he was in disbelief.

On Friday night, he said he attended an interfaith reading of the Bible and the Quran at nearby University Lutheran Church. Mohammad said everything seemed at peace.

"This is the last thing I expected right now," Mohammad said. "Burning a book doesn't make any sense to me."

Contact MEGHA SATYANARAYANA: 586-826-7267 or megha@freepress.com. Lansing State Journal reporter Melissa Domsic and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


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