various verbiage

Cf: the WSJ’s “Is your Coach Republican“:

…it turns out, that the Great Coach Lou Holtz is running around, trying to be a politician– which is fine, I admit.. & I’m actually interested. His skill at Coaching is legendary, & I have his series of tapes w/ Blanchard…

But then he ‘draws a parallel between the standards and rules that most coaches set for their players -and the- Republican vision of how American society ought to operate‘, saying this:

“”You aren’t entitled to anything. You don’t inherit anything. You get what you earn—your position on the team,” Mr. Holtz said. “You’re treated like everybody else. You’re held accountable for your actions. You understand that your decisions affect other people on that team…There’s winners, there’s losers, and there’s competitiveness.”

OH REALLY.

Let’s take this in order:
1) “You aren’t entitled to anything.”
-Funny: Republicans historically are some of the most Entitled Group *ever*; ie, nobody’s ‘entitled’ to anything but THEM. & correspondingly, they are extremely classist, & extremely hostile to worker’s rights, let-alone individual rights. They are as W.Bush labeled them the “Have Mores”, & the Middle Class can basically Fuck Right Off. In fact, their original impetus (from Nixon’s “Southern Strategy”, bearing fruit with “Reagan Democrats”) was to deliberately appeal to White, Well-Off, ex-’Plantation-Owner’ types… & heavy on the extremely ‘Nationalist’ (ie, code for anti-minority) themes.
-Historically, when Republicans are in Power, they’re extremely “Federalist” & you’re a ‘traitor’ if you don’t agree: ie, you’re NOT ‘entitled’ to argue with the Feds. But then when in minority, they’re all “States Rights” & scream for “minority protections” & ARE ‘entitled’ to blow-off Federal regulations (sound familiar?)

2. “You don’t inherit anything. You get what you earn—your position on the team,”
-clearly he hasn’t heard of ESTATE TAX, which the Repubs framed as “Death Tax”… & correspondingly nearly obliterated. Which is probably why all the current statistics (including current Census numbers) show that MOST ppl who are RICH in this country, INHERITED THEIR MONEY… so much for “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”… Well, as long as those ‘bootstraps’ are DADDY’S TRUST FUND.
-plus, w/ the incredible gerrymandering escalated by Delay, less than 2% of any Congressional Seat is -ever- up for grabs!!! Ie, “inherited power” in Congress!!! 98% re-election rate!!! Is it any wonder they call it ‘life-time appointment’??

3. “You’re treated like everybody else. You’re held accountable for your actions.
-really? when Ken Lay, Madoff etc gets Club Fed, & crack dealers (who kill far less ppl) get the chair?
-when Cheney & OJ walk free? Cheney’s crimes have already gotten him subpoenaed to the Hague, & OJ isn’t in jail for murder
…Are these Dem’s, pray tell?

4. “You understand that your decisions affect other people on that team…”
-omigosh– is he claiming that Repub’s literally “care about others”? when they’re historically the Party of NO:
-no Social Security
-no MediCare: they just voted LOWERING access to MediCare to 55yo, just last year!!!
-NO UNIVERSAL HEALTH-CARE
-No Food Stamps
-No Welfare
-No Health-Care Reform, AT ALL.

…perhaps he means, “ppl on YOUR team”, ie “other well-off, entitled individuals”… & then he’d be Exactly Right;

-& Finally-
5. “There’s winners, there’s losers, and there’s competitiveness.”
-Exactly: Republicans Win, & Dems Lose. How is that called “Competition”?
-The biggest keyword for “Competitiveness” is always “Innovation”… & look who screams that word the loudest: Bill Gates, who has more marketing & lawyers on staff than Engineers– Ie, “let’s not ‘innovate’ great new Products; let’s ‘innovate’ new License Agreements which force Dell/etc to buy a copy of Vista for computers that have Linux installed” [true!]
-Health Care, Banks, Big Auto, Big Pharma… basically EVERYONE who spends literally BILLIONS on ‘Campaign Contributions’
…you can make a chart, of exactly how much “Campaign Contributions” all these companies have made, -vs- how much $$$$ they saved (taxes, protectionist tariffs, regulation loopholes) or ‘earned’ (tax incentives, national resource giveaways, ‘no-bid contracts’, & the almighty TARP).

Is that “Competitive”? No ‘level playing field’ here, guys… It’s ‘uphill all the way’ if you’re not a Rich Republican, ie in the words of W. Bush, “My Base”.

I truly Respect Lou Holtz, & will forever remember some tapes I listened to of his, when hitchhiking to Alaska…

…but he should really stick to Football, or apply his excellent skills of ‘game’ analysis, to the political boilerplate he’s spewing…
…b/c Every One of his comments is True of Football… but sadly less-than-true of politics, & esp. of Republicans.

I suspect, if he does his research, he’ll turn Libertarian.

Here I go again–
i’m full of [rage/resentment/disbelief]…
& i tell everyone, write a bunch of emails…
…& never get it together to blog…

…& now *everyone* is writing about it:

OBAMA IS FUCKING US OVER:
“is Obama Punking us”

…we kept ‘giving him chances’;
-thought all the repubs on his Cabinet/etc was “great Lincoln statesmanship”
-then gave him the benefit-of-doubt for all the Wall Street insiders put in charge
-got a little bitter re. the bank bailouts… but didn’t blame O
…& a bit frustrated w/ “we’re looking forwards”, ie “we won’t prosecute the Bush guys”
…more frustrated b/c leaving Iraq is really slow… but wait– he’s RAMPING UP in Afghanistan!!(?!!)
et et etc

…but i think the Moment i started to Wonder, was the Detainee Photos;
htf can he possibly get-away w/ that? Why not censor the photos of returning caskets too?? And then giving Bush’s own excuse, “this is a National Security Issue”. Is Obama a complete IDIOT? Is he totally Owned by Military?? What happened to “Change”?!!!

…& now:
-mortgage assistance to ppl who were risky/irresponsible, & a big FUCK YOU to those of us who played the game honestly, yet were still burned by the market crash, & now have houses 6-digits under-water…
-an energy bill w/ elements WORSE than Bush’s; all the “alternative fuels” initiatives castrated
-a credit-card bill allowing the C-card companies to make it radically WORSE for us, in the ramp-up to 2/2010… which is infinitely bad timing, b/c during a Recession you need your c-card MORE, not less(!!)

…& thus, Final Straw-1:
-> Obama didn’t even CONSIDER a major Liberal for Supreme-Court?!!
…i’m not asking for an “Anti-Scalia”, but c’mon, couldn’t've one been even CONSIDERED?!!
…so SCOTUS’s now got 4 RABID-CONSERVATIVES, & 5 “Moderates”…
…which is NOT AT ALL the demographics of the ACTUAL USA
…is it so inconceivable to have a SINGLE LIBERAL on there??
…are you telling me, we don’t have a single true-blue LIBERAL “So super-qualified nobody could attack them” [ie, the rationale attributed to how John Roberts skated thru a fucking Democrat-controlled Congress]
-> WE HAVE FUCKING MAJORITIES IN BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS, & WE DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO GET A LIBERAL?!!!

…& Final Straw-2:
-> “Health Care Reform” will just be another massive give-away to the Rich, yet-again… with an impotent “Public Option”, there will be ZERO ‘Market Forces’ driving any sort of change whatsoever from the Medical Providers & their Insurance Companies… & now Obama has just backed-away from allowing the ‘Public’ version to collectively-bargain as well. Basically guaranteeing the ‘Public’ version will cost more than the already-outrageously-expensive current options!!!

…& this is ALL OBAMA’S FAULT!!!
…the Mother-Fucker hasn’t even put HIS OWN BILL on the table!!!
…when numerous Dem Senators keep saying, “we really need the Prez to step-in, & say ‘This is What i Want’”
…but he DOESN’T(?!!)

…this feels like some kind of horrible retrograde from Bill Clinton, who used to run polls before he’d fucking even take a breath… now we have a prez who doesn’t even want to *appear* he has an opinion, else if/when it gets attacked, he won’t come-out looking pretty.

…For fuck’s sake– “The Great Compromiser” is getting GAMED, simply b/c he’s taking the same, intellectually-bankrupt tack that the MSM does: ‘always pick two opposite sides, & draw a line thru the middle to get to the Truth of the matter’. But guess what– MSM NEVER picks a rabid left-winger, to ‘balance’ the rabid right-winger… so thus, EVERY ‘COMPROMISE’[SIC] SKEWS MORE&MORE ‘RIGHTWARD’.

…i’m beyond surprise that the Repugs are incredibly organized, spewing finely-honed rabid framing on *everything*… [from "ObamaCare is Socialism" to "Forced Euthanasia for the Elderly"... to fucking Rush Limbaugh comparing Obama to Hitler... didn't he scream "Treason" when ppl did that w/ Bush?!!]
…& that their True Believers swallow it whole… i mean, the very ppl getting FUCKED by major corporations eagerly vote for them, b/c they “deserve the fruits of their labors”… Brilliant– tapping into (white) middle-class Rage, & channelling that into PERPETUATING the conditions keeping the hoi polloi down!!

…but THIS? when all that “Joy” & “Hope” & “Change” has been exposed as just more BULLSHIT CAMPAIGN PROMISES…
…we went from 8yrs of an opportunistic Marie Antoinette, taking every opportunity to privitize gov’t, eliminate environmental protections, & drill everywhere he could [let-alone invade & start the longest war we've had yet...]

…& now we have a guy who raises all the “Right Questions” & then pulls a Pontius Pilate, washing his hands of any Responsibility, & leaving it to Congress & the Lobbyists to fill-in the blanks…

…& what’s coming-out, looks SIMPLY TERRIBLE.

1) we’re on-track to losing Roe-vs-Wade; John Roberts wrote essentially that in his last ‘late-term abortion’ ruling opinion… & Sotomayer is a “devout Catholic”
2. we’re on-track to spend MORE than ever before… but NOT on something sustainable, eg a “Moon-Effort” aimed at alternate fuels would be WISE, STRATEGIC DEFICIT-SPENDING… but just PISSING-AWAY all that $$$ to Corporate America? O’s made the problem WORSE, & left us FURTHER in debt!!
3. From Outsourcing, to Economic Recession… we’re on-track to another “Jobless Recovery”; just like in ’04, the $$ will come-back, but to the CEO’s, & NOT to the US employees!!… & the CEO’s will just open more overseas “divisions”, while banking their $$$ here, tax-free…

If this all happened under Bush, i would be irate, but resigned. What did i expect??
…but this is all happening under our “Hope”, who has FUCKING MAJORITIES IN BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS.

I can’t believe anymore, it’s as simple as “Democrats Suck at Fighting”. Nor that Obama is ‘inexperienced’, or even ‘dumb’– even the dumb-ass C+ student we previously had severely outperformed our “Law Review” Golden-Boy… as Bill Maher noted, “at least Bush was effective in getting his Initiatives passed”… Fuck– Bush did that with a DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS his last 2 years!! & Congress still rubber-stamped his Iraq war, etcetc.

I’m really starting to believe that Nader was right– “there’s not 2 Parties– they’re both the SAME Party”.
…b/c even if the avg. Dem congressperson would vociferously argue… let’s see the actual outcomes.

Smells real “Conservative” in Congress, to me.
& Smells like fucking BUSH in the White-House… but a pitiful, ineffective Bush at that.

THIS is our GREAT HOPE?

…fergoshsakes, even a 7th-grader knows the “Office of VP” is -part- of the Executive Branch, & not a “Fourth Branch” of gov’t… despite all of Cheney’s “Man-sized Safes” & his own “More-Secret-than-Top-Secret” designations notwithstanding…

…And thus we have Pundits galore, (hinting): “whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad”
…& saying Cheney is skating right on the razor’s edge of Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”, ie:

Cruise: “Did you authorize that Code-Red?!”
Nicholson: “You’re DAMN RIGHT I did!!”

Basically:

(random Faux Newscaster): “Did you approve of waterboarding (..) Islamic Prisoner?”
Cheney: “You’re DAMN RIGHT I did!!”

…& then it’s all: “Take him away, Baliff.”

…but know what?
That’s all a “West-Wing” wet dream.

Here’s what’s Really Going to Happen:
Cheney ain’t just whistling in the wind:

…but the Ultimate “get-outta-jail card?
=> No matter what happens, Cheney expects to Appeal to the Supreme Court.
…Where he’s got 4 votes in his pocket..
…Aaand a huge war-chest to (acquire) one more….
…& then it’s “Bush vs Gore” all over again… But this time, w/ 2 even more hard-line Right-Wingers to ‘influence’ the swing-votes.

& if Somehow Cheney still comes-up Short?
Obama’ll just pardon him, & Cheney will live life a free man, (aiming) to rehabilitate his image a la Nixon.

No matter what happens, Cheney sees only upside in all this.

He won’t even have to pull his Bush “Get-out-of-jail-Free” Memo, a la Rove & Miers…
Heck, Cheney probably wrote one of his own, for himself.
“Fourth Branch of Government”, indeed.

RIP, “Rule of Law”…

What can we say about LIMBAUGH that hasn’t already been said before??

Let’s start w/ a couple of Rush’s Favorite Systematic Logical Fallacies
1) Straw Man: completely misrepresenting the opposing position, eg, taking a hyperbolic, outlying possible case & characterizing it as the “normal” or “generic” situation… Or simply “damning with faint praise”
2. Argumentum Verbosim: to overwhelm with verbiage, leaving little room for cogent, point-for-point response (to wit, “baffle ‘em w/ bullshit”). This is Rush’s specialty; it’s inordinately simple to tear-apart his arguments, if you only can get him to write them down.
3. Ad Hominem. Personal Attack. “Feminazis”, anyone? Or how about calling Chelsea Clinton the “White House Dog”?!
4. Argument by Authority. He actually takes both sides of this fallacy:
…a) Attacking EVERYONE ELSE’s authority
“you need to listen to my show for 6weeks before I’ll bother listening to your criticism”
…while for his part frequently quotes & plays clips out-of-context
…b. Leveraging ‘Authorities’ which are highly-partisan, & frequently suspect:
-Washington Post
-David Brock on the Clintons

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My ultimate FAVORITE Rush Hypocrisy?
“Too many whites are getting away with drug use…Too many whites are getting away with drug sales…The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.”, 5 October 1995, “The Rush Limbaugh Show”

…let-alone “Operation Chaos“:
Leo Jennings, a spokesperson for the office of the Ohio Attorney General, after Limbaugh urged Ohio Republicans to reregister as Democrats to disrupt the Democratic primary, which would be a FELONY if done with fraudulent intent, said: “We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn’t a crime.”

.
Here’s Rush’s 3 Favorite Defenses:
1)’Republicans/Conservatives aren’t so bad– Democrats are JUST AS BAD
…they’re just as corrupt; if they haven’t been caught yet, they will be
2. No Republican Office-Holder is a “True Conservative”
…so their [position/actions/etc] don’t affect True Conservatives
…(this is most frequently used with Bush, McCain, Steele, etcetc)
3. ‘My hypocrisy [prescription drug abuse, etc] is not significant compared to Liberals & MSM’

This is Brilliant, really–
…basically, if it’s really true that “Words mean things” (from Rush’s “35 Undeniable Truths”), & yet he constantly, repeatedly says incorrect, hyperbolic, illogical, factually-disproven things, & then when confronted systematically denies having said them, rephrases, &/or says “what I was really referring to”…

Then by his Own Words– He’s Untrustworthy.

Oh but wait– that’s “Okay”, b/c he’s an “Entertainer”.
…ie, basically Seeking Attention, both Coming & Going
1) Start w/ flagrant hyperbole
2. Get on every media outlet possible, loudly trumpeting his own words
3. Once confronted w/ actual facts, loudly deny he ever said it to begin with
4. Next, grudgingly rephrase, ironically implying we ‘misunderstood’ him [cf "Words mean things"]
5. Finally, triumphantly claim mistreatment by The Enemy [Liberals, MSM, Democrats, FemiNazis, Evolutionists, etcetcetc]

This is not a “Leader”, “Pundit”, nor even an “Entertainer”
Instead– he’s a DEMAGOGUE of the kind that H.L. Menken defined as “one who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.”

Specifically, how’s about the “Dreaming of Riots in Denver” Incident?
Rush: “With riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats… That’s the best thing that could happen to the country.” (23 April 2008, his own Show)

…which he promptly hedged, later in the same show, “I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am ‘dreaming’ of riots in Denver.”

MAKE NO MISTAKE–
1) “Free Speach” does NOT INCLUDE yelling “Fire” in a crowded Theatre:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

2. The civilized world *DOES* hold “incitement to riot” as Actionable:

On 3 December 2003, at “The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda” in Arusha, life sentences were given RTLM (Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines) leaders Ferdinand Nahimana, and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza.
They were convicted of genocide, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity, before and during the period of the genocides of 1994.

Let’s finish-up w/ a word from a Republican, from Denver:
“For any radio announcer to wish a riot on a city so his party could win, that’s disgraceful and it’s absurd.” Republican Denver Councilman Charles Brown, on Limbaugh’s speech about rioting in Denver; April 24, 2008; DenverPost.com

Actually, that’s not just Absurd.
That’s not just Hypocrisy: “We don’t riot. We don’t burn our cars. We don’t burn down our houses. We don’t kill our children. We don’t do half the things the American left does.” -Rush, DenverPost.com

…it’s actually a FELONY

But don’t hold your breath– Rush Limbaugh’ll NEVER be prosecuted
…& if he is, he’ll dodge the very Discipline & Punishment he loudly proclaims for everyone else– like the TEN Felonies he plea-bargained out of, w/ his illegally-acquired & illegally-self-prescribing Oxycontin abuse…

So there’s your Great Leader, Head of the Conservative Party, he of the 20 Millions “Dittos”.

All Authoritarian Talk & Zero Conservative Walk…
…preaching doctrines he knows to be untrue.

We always knew this– ppl will live up (or down) to whatever is Expected of them.

And so now, the Gov’t Regulators are belatedly realizing, ‘wow– all these mortgage traders were just focusing on short-term gains… regardless of future viability’.

Well, OF COURSE they were. Hasn’t anyone ever hung-out w/ Sales-guys, at Quarter-End? By far & away the majority of them get panic-stricken if they’re below Quota… & they aren’t thinking about their own “future viability”, let-alone of their Company. And what are mortgage traders but basically glorified Sales-guys?

And thus that’s exactly how the ‘Free Market’ works– despite all the paeans to long-term viability (““Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief”, Alan Greenspan, once considered ‘The Oracle’, who presided over one of the longest Bull Markets ever)…

…Instead it’s very simple:

PEOPLE AREN’T INSTITUTIONS… People have their OWN “Self-Interest” in mind.

And even if many, if not most ppl don’t act to ‘take-advantage’ of ‘grey-area’ situations… those that do more than make-up the difference.

So if anyone says, “well, they didn’t know”– sure they did… just by the fact that nobody wanted to talk about how their “collateralized debt obligation” investments weren’t performing as well as expected, by mid ’2006… and yet they still sold them as much as they could(!)

And if anyone wants to instead blame politics, ie

All.That.Doesn’t.Matter. Both Parties blew it on this one!
But regardless of who ‘set-up’ the situation, nobody ‘forced’ anybody to act unethically:
1) Nobody “forced” these traders & trading companies to create those “C.D.O.”‘s, ie. actively hiding potentially risky loans, & rebranding them as AAA.
2. Nobody “forced” the myriad lending institutions to take predatory practices, ie. mislabeling, mis-informing, & outright lying about the risks of variable-rate mortages (ARM)

Just b/c there is potential for abuse, does not mean it’s condoned. Or are Free-Traders saying we need even more explicit laws? More detailed.. um, “Adult Supervision“?(?!)

So the question remains:
“Does the ‘Free Market’ really work?” ie, are these kinds of excesses & damage ‘normal’ & acceptable? That would be the logical outcome of ‘Free Market’ thinking… but I can’t find a Free Marketer who will admit that… and Greenspan just admitted quite the opposite. Really, it’s one thing to have ‘pure philosophical ideals’, & quite another to watch as economic tragedy cuts a huge swath across your Country.

And if Free Marketers are thus admitting, “these kinds of things happen… but the Market corrects for them (eventually)”…
…while -also- saying “this shouldn’t have happened”…

…then basically what they’re saying is, “We Need Regulation”.

So much for “Free Market” philosophy…

It, just like the (small) minority who act unethically, Can’t Be Trusted.

Has this ever happened to you?
You’re ‘discussing’ politics with someone of the ‘opposite persuasion’, & some (or all) of the following comes-up:

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So… any of this sound familiar?
This is quite the impressive list… from ‘lightly-twisted’ interpretations of history, to outright lies… this combination of ‘talking points’ isn’t just airtight, it’s hermetically sealed.
Nothing can penetrate this set of statements; the person (spewing) this isn’t just “well-prepared”, they’re utterly walled-off from any possible other input.
Ladies & Gentlemen– this is called Message Discipline via doctrinal repetition, confirmation bias, & ad-hominem attack.

Let me break-down the Repub/Conservative ‘Debate Process’:
1) State talking-point, w/ utter confidence & authority as if it’s a-priori & beyond doubt
2. Freely attack the personal character of not just Obama/Bill Clinton/et al, but of yours as well, for (daring) to defend them, -& always-
3. Escalate emotion, as follows:
(a) Their positions/statements are true, logical, & self-evident; how (dare) you question them(?!)
(b) Claim they’re being misunderstood, mis-represented, &/or (even) victimized, if/when you respond in kind… -& then-
(c) Outright blame you for being emotional, disingenuous, unreasonable, illogical, & ill-informed. Ie, classical projection… or rather, ‘accuse you before you can accuse them’; ie, “tap-tap no tag-backs!”.

Rinse & repeat.

…& what’s amazing, is I thought this would all be done after Nov 4th.
After eight (8?!!) years of high-crimes, misdemeanors, & outright ineptness, we now can start to rebuild, right? And the repubs/conservatives[sic] will fall-back & regroup?

Don’t you believe it– for whatever reason, Rush et al appear to be on the offensive even worse, & his DittoHeads are still going-strong… but, um, with the same talking-points from last month(?!) Earth to Rush– the Election already happened, & you lost. NO, it wasn’t some great MSM conspiracy, ‘massive voter fraud’, & NO “Fair Use” isn’t going to pull you & your wingnut brethern off the air… And yet you still persist in this nonsense.

So it’s good for us Dems/Progressives/Liberals to be prepared: next time this happens to you, next time you get caught-up in this sequence, just stop in your tracks, disengage, & walk away.

No. Because there’s no reasoning w/ someone who thinks like this:

1. they don’t consider this a ‘discussion’, an opportunity to trade ideas & explore different points of view;
2. this is simply another venue for a (repub/conservative) to follow their Process, & beat-down their Opposition….
3. By any means necessary.

   …& we Dems/Liberals/Progressives are typically Suckers for this, b/c in general–

4. we try to Listen
5. we try to give them the Benefit of the Doubt
6. we (assume) the other guy/gal respects our position, or at least the possibility that we have a (valid) position

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Look– it’s really simple: