Bill O! Shit!

Bill O'Reilly managed to apologize only to then find something else. He said that she used the USDA banner to talk politics. That I will agree with him. Under the Hatch Act, as a political appointee, she cannot make political statements in public as a representative of the government.

I'd like to point out his rebuttal to Rachel Maddow: No, Bill. The station you work for is really that lame and stupid. And just because Fox leads in the ratings doesn't mean they're smarter. It just means Fox cornered the market on conservative TV viewers. Most of these viewers, I'm not saying all, seem to have no idea what journalism is. Or even integrity. I consider anybody that takes time - irregularly, let alone habitually - to cite their ratings, good fortune and success to be a vain, egotistical shit. It's a vice that is unbecoming, provincial and without class.

Seriously, countering someone's argument by stating that his channel leads the ratings as proof that the other is wrong is pure foolishness. Since when did higher ratings equal better programming? Look how many people watch reality TV shows! Are they the bastion of television excellence or a three ring circus? Does Bill's head still fit through the door or have they built his studio around him?

Senator Knotts = Idiot

State Senator Jake Knotts, Republican from South Carolina called the President a Raghead and the Republican candidate for Governor, Nikki Haley, an Indian-American who was raised a Sikh. He was on an Internet political talk show, Pub Politics.

Ed of MSNBC's The Ed Show points out there may be something in the Republican drinking water in South Carolina.



Maybe there is something going on in South Carolina...

Lexington County Senator Knotts has been asked for his resignation by the State's Libertarian Party and later, the Republican Party.

On June 11th, the Lexington County Republican Party Senator Knotts to resign for calling gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley a “raghead.”

The county party said the comments brought “shame” and “disgrace” to both Knotts and the state in the resolution condemning the state senator’s actions.

Knotts, a key ally of one of Haley’s primary opponents, used the term in a recent interview to describe both President Barack Obama and Haley, who is the child of Sikh immigrants from India.

He later tried to clarify his comments, saying in a statement that he believes Haley “is pretending to be someone she is not, much as Obama did, but I apologize to both for an unintended slur.”

The resolution censuring Knotts does not cite the word he used to describe Haley, saying only that the state senator’s “racial epithets has brought shame and disgrace upon himself, his office and his party.”

The resolution then “condemns the racist statement” before calling on Knotts to “resign his office forthwith.”

In a response, Knotts said he had no intention of resigning,

“This is not a Republican Party, this is a libertarian party,” Knotts said. “This is nothing but politics. I’m not resigning. I could care less.”

He calls himself a Libertarian but I find that a complete load of bullshit.

Plenty of people like to hang their hats on the Libertarian Party for varying reasons. Some of them are just plain ignorant. There is a perception that Libertarians are the last true bastion of macho red-blooded American bigoted values. I won't say there aren't people out there that think that way but there is much more involved and Libertarians tend to be for Civil Liberties for all Americans, not just the ones that look and think like us (ie White Southerners).

Libertarians oppose war, oppose the Fed, the UN and the US Partiot Act. We also don't like corporatism, taxes, bigger government and statist values. So far, only one Republican has been able to maintain his credential as a Libertarian while running and working within the Republican Party. Representative Ron Paul of Texas is that man. None others come close.

It's convenient for people like Knotts and even Ann Coulter to claim Libertarianism. Conservative views have a voice within the Libertarian fold. We like our guns and our property.

We also hold Liberal social values. Many Libertarians are also for gay marriage, legalizing drugs and prostitution. There is a divide among Libertarians on abortion but it is not something that would cause violence among members.

Libertarians also don't care about color, race, creed and religion. We believe the country was founded on the idea of liberty for all.

Two major reasons why Knotts looks dreadfully ignorant. First, to use racial slurs is not a Libertarian value. We do onto others has we'd have done to us. No other political party that I know tries to espouse this as a major tenet of political life.

Second, he behaves as though he can say what he wants regardless of the consequences. Screw everybody, he'll say what he pleases.

Where do people get the idea that Libertarians are bigots? This isn't the party I belong to and I'm frustrated by the stereotype he holds of us and perpetuates in the media.

He isn't a Libertarian. He's just ignorant.

The Reaction to Bill Clinton: Retorts and...Socks?

Let me preface this post with a comment: I rant at times. Sometimes for great length. I did not go too long in this post. I started out nice and calm but as I wrote more and more, I began to seethe till finally, I exploded in a torrent of anger and insanity focused on the actions of my government. I do not apologize because I'm exercising my first amendment right to free speech. I honestly don't think its that bad but... whatever.

**********************************************************************

I did say I'd find the links to the video of the interview. They are in fact on YouTube. Its in three parts and can be found at these links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Onwards to the reaction to Clinton.

I know my appreciation for CNN knows no bounds. I can't help it. It was ingrained in me as a child because my parents loved the news and it was the only 24 hour news network there was. They invented the damned thing. I also loved that James Earl Jones ident that you never hear anymore. The only other channel we watched as much was the Weather Channel! Well, in the last 24 hours or so (except for some of 360 last night), I've watched the "others". I wanted to see how Fox and not to mention MSNBC, ABC, and CBS would cover the Clinton interview. I know what Coop said about it last night and that was good enough for me as far as CNN was concerned. I loved it on 360 last night when they revealed this regarding Clinton: "Spokesman Tony Snow, a former FOX News commentator quipped, 'He retorts, you decide.'" Excellant! A "Rush" transcript of 360 can be read here. To Anderson Cooper's credit, he reported the news with nothing in the way of opinion and interviewed numerous people from different schools of thought. That's why I love Anderson!

Earlier in the day, I watched Good Morning America. Diane Sawyer had Bill O'Reilly on to discuss the recently broadcast Bill Clinton interview we all love to analyze to death. He was milder than he normally is. I can only guess it was because it wasn't his show, he wasn't in charge and its Dame Diane Sawyer, a real Lady of Journalism. He said that Clinton as well as many in the current administration such as the hated 4: Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld. Not to bring me back to Cooper but it reminded me of the spinning going on a year ago about Katrina. Mary Landrieu said people were frustrated. People aren't frustrated! People are dying!!! Those people are our servicmen and women! Whatever...

I watched Keith Olbermann and his Countdown over on MSNBC. I like Olbermann and I wish he wasn't on MSNBC which I forget about half the time because its on channel 70 and all the other news channels are clustered together in the 30's. "The Dirty Thirties!" ...Anyway. Olbermann devoted quite a large chunk of his show to an editorial. He pointed out that Clinton's "tear" during the interivew on Fox opened up a lot of doors, not to mention windows, doggie doors, escape hatches and bunker seals to run around and scream at the current administration for their ineptitude and inane stupidity. He also claimed that it was a wake-up call to the media as a whole. That they need no longer swig from the bottle of booze known as Stooge. They could now start ripping down the sets that Bush and his administration built. Olbermann went for quite some time on his own "tear" toward Bush and his administration. So much so I almost jumped up and applauded. I didn't but I shed a tear or ten. Its nice to see the press finally get a spine back. His editorial can (and should) be read here.

This morning on MSNBC, they were still going on about this interview but now they were splitting hairs. An anchorwoman on MSNBC was discussing with two men about Clinton showing a little leg. Apparently, his socks were too low and his pants were too high. Couldn't someone tell him "to pull down his pants?" Oh yeah, that was brilliant! I was astounded that they would devote any more time than 10 seconds mentioning Clinton's wardrobe malfunction.

Ok... things are getting absurd. Maybe they were to begin with. Now, there is talk of pre-planning (isn't planning already pre-whatever? That's like pre-early. "I wanted to beat you here so I got here pre-early") on both sides. Did Wallace plan on brow-beating Clinton to deflect criticsm of Murdoch getting cozy with Clinton and his initiatives? Did Clinton plan on ripping Wallace a new asshole on the GOP leaning Fox news? One may believe that both are correct statements. Fox did need to make an effort to offset the potentially troubling coupling. Dems need help for the election in 5-6 weeks. Leaking parts of the National Intelligence Estimate isn't enough. (Which if you don't know about that, lord, help you!)

Was Wallace even smirking? His colleagues all jokingly told him "just don't smirk!" And Clinton's finger wagging... well, the last time he did that was in fact when he told us he didn't have sexual relations with Monica.

Take this how you want to. There's spinning on either side. Case in point: Condalezza Rice has come out today to talk about Clinton's claims that the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel its first 8 months. "The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," she said in interview with many staff members of the New York Post. She also mentioned "we were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaida" contradictory to Clinton's assertion that he did. The same article ends with Hillary, always defending her husband, saying "I just think that my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take this." And, in fact, it is likely they won't take any of this anymore.

But before I declare the Democrats awake and out of torpor, I must briefly mention that many of these people went along with every brazen and emboldened thing Bush could think up to ruin this country. Why? Fear be damned, its politics! The Politics of Fear, in fact, a strategy most usefully employed by lords and kings in the feudal era. That was when "Might makes Right" was the slogan of the day. The Bush administration continues to use fear as a political tool to keep the left doing their bidding, the media reporting what he says they can and the American people as a whole sweating and re-electing. He keeps us scared for his own ends. And we are turning into the country we swore we never would, that we wouldn't be terrorized by terrorists. But we are! We are scared because of our privacy isn't, our rights are infringed, we can't bring liquids on airplanes, there's anthrax in the air and e. coli on our spinach (Ok, the last one isn't related but whatever...). They keep asking if Americans feel safer now and the answer is no!!! How could we be? And how can we feel safer with a government that reveals nothing? Even if al-Quada didn't exist, I'd still be scared becuase my government is frightening!!!

So, our government still runs on the medieval idea of whomever has the ability to kill more must be the best. In a WWE smackdown, sure! But this is Global Politics and we are a democracy. Conflict should never be settled with bombs and bullets but debate and discourse. I'm hoping Bill Clinton opened the flood gates for the Democratic Party. I hope they launch into scathing attacks of not only the failings of the current administration but also the lies, the deception and the stupid strategies employed by nitwits who can't win either war we're in. I hope...

And if I sounded crazed and Clinton looked crazed its because we are. Fox did itself a disservice by advertising the crazed Clinton. Anyone would be crazed at this day and year for all the shit we see happening. I feel as though I'm living in Nazi Germany before the war: I'm watching the beacon on the hill become the cesspool in the sewer. And I just can't take it anymore!!!!!

There are too many things to bitch about. I'm done. There is nothing else to say. Whatever...