No one can criticize the GOP for failing to produce sophisticated propaganda that successfully exploits the hopes and fears of white middle Americans. But can the right-wing distraction factory woo minorities with the same techniques? Check out the following transcript of a new Republican ad targeting black voters in 10 battleground states this year and you be the judge:
BLACK MAN #1: “If you make a little mistake with one of your ‘hos,’ you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout suite, no questions asked.”
BLACK MAN #2: “That’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed.”
BLACK MAN #1: “Maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican.”
This ad was financed by J. Patrick Rooney, a white billionaire notorious for funding several misleading anti-Kerry ads that ran on urban radio stations in 2004. The money for Rooney’s newest ad flowed through a little-known group called America’s PAC, which was founded by Richard Nadler, a veteran Republican consultant who pushed Intelligent Design in Kansas public schools, declaring, “Darwin is bunk.” Read on…
Tag Archives: politics
Republican Ad Calls Black Women “Ho”s
By: Nicole Belle on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 3:35 PM – PDT
Habeas Corpus, 1789-2006
Watch this and pass it on:
Daryl at The Candidate says:
The recent bill passed by Congress gives the President unlimited authority to declare anyone as an enemy combatant, without any oversight. Once declared an enemy combatant, you can be legally imprisoned without a trial. Forever.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged civil liberties, government corruption, politics, rights
Join the Crusade
Today’s graphic on Project for an Old American Century:
Laugh of the Day – Cheney
Cheney: ‘General Overall Situation’ In Iraq Is Going ‘Remarkably Well’
This article speaks for itself.
NOW do we feel more safe?
U.S. officials spend billions of dollars on defense and programs to strip our rights and freedoms, all on the name of “homeland security” and sense of feeling “more safe”.
Yet in municipalities and townships and counties nationwide, public safety couldn’t be more affected and citizens more at risk.
In some Utah communities, the average response time to crimes three times the amount of other communities, according to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune today.
And earlier this week, it was discovered that there had been a significant theft of valuables from the storage area at the school where Tom and I work. We had the local police come and take a report and photos and other evidence, but when it came down to it, we were told that they “didn’t have time” to investigate it as thoroughly as it should be. Granted, this isn’t a life threatening crime, but now I’m assuming we will never hear any more about this.
The message I am hearing from all of this is that our public safety is at risk. Because there is not enough money to fund police protection, there are slow response times, little to no investigation of of many crimes, and staff shortages.
Now that has me feeling more safe.
Our Freedoms
I stole this from the Project for An Old American Century Site:
Nuclear Power
This is an interesting piece by Rowan Wolf of Uncommon Thought Journal
Who Gets Nuclear Power?
Who gets nuclear power and who does not? Who decides? The first is the million dollar question. The second seems to be the United States. However the decision making on who can and can not have nuclear power seems almost whimsical.
Now North Korea can’t have nuclear power because they have the stated goal of nuclear weapons. Of course Pakistan, India, and China have both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, but that is OK. In fact, the U.S. has a pact to assist India with its nuclear power.
Iran has civilian nuclear plants and wants to expand them, but it “can’t” because the U.S. (and perhaps others) are saying they will use the material to refine for nuclear weapons. This has meandered on to the point that the U.S. is citing a “deal with U.N. members to punish Iraq.” Actually, there are suggestions once again that the U.S. is preparing to attack Iran. Bush has “sent the message” that the U.S. won’t “live with” a nuclear Korea.”
But quietly the word slips out that Egypt is restarting its nuclear program after shutting down in the wake of Chernobyl. Somewhat surprisingly, the U.S. has offered to help with the effort.
If you are shaking your head, then I agree. What is going on here. On September 20th, the NY Times discusses the Egyptian decision as follows:
“Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt’s president, has proposed that his country pursue nuclear energy in a speech to the nation’s political elite, drawing strong applause while raising expectations that Mubarak is being positioned to replace his father as president.
The carefully crafted political speech Tuesday raised the prospect of two potentially embarrassing developments for the White House at a time when the region is awash in crisis: a nuclear program in Egypt, recipient of about $2 billion a year in military and development aid from the United States, and Mubarak succeeding his father, Hosni Mubarak, as president without substantial political challenge.
Simply raising the topic of Egypt’s nuclear ambitions at a time of heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear activity was received as a calculated effort to raise the younger Mubarak’s profile and to build public support through a show of defiance toward Washington, political analysts and foreign affairs experts said.”
If this was a “defiant” move, then why did the Bush administration embrace it with an offer of assistance? What happened to the idea of a “democratic” Middle East? Egypt doesn’t quite count as a democratic government despite the move in 2005 to have more than one candidate for president (CIA, World Factbook). Perhaps it has something to do with Egypt’s resources (”petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc”) and geography (”controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, a sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea”) (CIA, World Factbook). Or perhaps it is as simple as the Mubaraks (father and son) being seen as “Pro-western” (CRS, 2001) and of “assistance” in the U.S. “war on terrorism.”
+++
Interesting Tid-bits
According to Terrorism Project, Egypt has two active “terrorist” organizations. “Al-Jihad a.k.a Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jihad Group, Islamic Jihad” which is suspected to have close links to al Qaeda and operations in “Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom” and suspected funding from Iran. The other is “Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group, IG)” is assumed to be only aimed at the overthrow of the Egyptian government.
Egypt is not on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. That list only includes Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria (Libya and South Yemen have been removed). There are also “havens” and “infestations” of terrorism listed by the Council on Foreign Relations. These include Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority. Interestingly, Lebanon is not on any of these lists despite the presence of Hizbullah.
FAS Intelligence Resource Program: Terrorism: Background and Threat Assessments
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism
Version with active link to World Factbook will not publish, so here is the URL https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/eg.html
Imposing sancations against North Korea
I get it now. The U.S. has repeatedly said it does not intend to attack North Korea or topple its communist regime. But a visit from Conoleeza Rice to Asia, in the wake of an apparent 2nd North Korea Nuclear Test, is a
“putting pressure on South Korea and especially China to enforce economic sanctions. Those include what the United States describes as an aggressive inspection and interdiction program that stops short of a full blockade of North Korean trade.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ruled out developing nuclear weapons, but a ruling party policy director raised that possibility soon after the North’s test.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday en route to Japan, Rice said North Korea’s recent underground nuclear test “does carry with it the potential for instability in the relationships that now exist in the region.”
“That’s why it’s extremely important to go out and to affirm, and affirm strongly, U.S. defense commitments to Japan and to South Korea,” Rice said.
I think she meant to say “imperial aggression”.
Orrin’s billboards
I’ve been seeing gigantic billboards for Orrin Hatch’s U.S. Senate Campaign. They are pretty sickening. They have adjectives supposedly describing him, along with the phonetic spellings and dictionary definitions. Well, I’ve come up with some of my own for Orrin that I think should replace the billboard spectacles:
Should be: Lout
Continue reading
Election Ploy
Is it really a suprise?
Saddam’s verdictwill be announced two days before the November 7, 2006 elections.
Oh brother.
A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5, a senior court official said on Monday.
Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi told The Associated Press.
Of course this will be the headlines at this time. And it will influence votes, you can bet. Watch and see.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 