The first chapter from Glenn Greenwald's new book, "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics", is all about John Wayne, or as Greenwald calls him, the "Pioneer of the Great American Hypocrite". And while the "Duke" was unquestionably a conservative Republican and a hypocrite, what really stands out is what a deplorable human being he was. A few shocking excerpts:
John Wayne in a 1971 Playboy interview:
"We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership to irresponsible people."
Wayne was also an anti-communist McCarthyite in the 1950's who regularly accused Hollywood figures of being communist. But even worse, Wayne held his despicable views long after the "Red Scare" ended. In 1969 he told a Time reporter the following:
"I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia. They'd have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they'd take care of -- after me."
And despite being a draft-dodger during WWII when almost everyone served in the military -- including fellow actors James Stewart, Clark Gable and Henry Fonda -- Wayne called teenagers who fled for Canada or Europe during the Vietnam War "cowards," "traitors," and "Communists."
Is there any question that Wayne would be a perfect fit in today's Republican Party?
"Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics" (Glenn Greenwald)
Technorati Tags: Conservative, Glenn Greenwald, Hypocrite, John Wayne, McCarthyism, Racist, Republican, White Supremacy
Part 1 (9:53)
Part 2 (8:02)
Democracy Now mashup of ABC debate questions (3:09)
“Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics” (Glenn Greenwald)
Technorati Tags: amy goodman, democracy now, media, Glenn Greenwald
Updated as of 3:00pm Wednesday
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Henry Frankenstein: Dangerous? Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if no one tried to find out what lies beyond? Have your never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars, or to know what causes the trees to bud? And what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy. Well, if I could discover just one of these things, what eternity is, for example, I wouldn't care if they did think I was crazy.
Doctor Waldman: You have created a monster, and it will destroy you!
How the right wing corporate controlled empire created a monster and why that might turn out to be a good thing...
John Kerry calls for the return of the fairness doctrine and for equal time requirements in the media. As if anyone needed any proof that an imbalance existed in the media, a recent study evidenced that conservative talk radio accounts for 91% of total talk radio programming. Again, nothing surprising.
But what is particularly interesting about this brief video is that it was posted on YouTube by MDRUDGE and has 180,000 views in one day -- much of them coming from the conservative blogosphere including Hugh Hewitt and Real Clear Politics. The base of the Republican party has always been overly sensitive to such accusations about the media because they actually believe the laughable propaganda about a liberal bias. This ridiculous notion, mind you, is not shared by those at the top of the party like Rich Bond (the former Republican party chair), Bill Kristol and Pat Buchanan, among others, who all admit the idea is rubbish.
Knowledge of the truth about media bias, of course, never stopped Kristol and his colleagues from continuously using the liberal media ploy to fool the rabid Republican base into backing their policies for war or voting for their pro corporate candidates for political office. After all, you don't cut off the hand that feeds you. And here is where our first monster was born.
As I blogged about here, corporations require year over year growth in revenues and profits or management risks losing $$$$ as Wall Street moves to better investments. This results in more corporate lobbying, bribery, corporate welfare, government give-aways, corporate tax breaks, cronyism and corruption than the previous year. Thus, every year the corporate whores that make up the media punditry, think tanks and Fox “News” must come up with more ridiculous incendiary rhetoric to rally the base whose skepticism grows with every scandal and as their quality of life worsens with higher energy prices, education costs, health care costs and lost jobs. At this point, the right has used every trick in the book from liberal media bias, racism, the faux liberal attack on religion and Christmas, anti-gay, xenophobia, anti-Muslim, creation of an evolution vs. creationism debate, etc. to stoke the fears of its base and rally the troops to overcome the greed and corruption of the corporate-government relationship.
Enter Immigration
“Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.” — Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)
Trent Lott was speaking on June 15 about why Congress was unable to pass immigration reform. The problem was the rabid Republican base that he and his colleagues created to help line the pockets of corporations and themselves as well as win elections had grown into an independent force that was now derailing the corporate/government plans to secure cheap labor. And I can't stop my crocodile tears. Imagine encouraging the worst racist fears in people, not to mention, fear-mongering about the threat of terrorism, year after year for political gain and then crying foul when it comes back to haunt to you. Actually, you need not imagine it.
So now we are stuck with two monsters that must be killed. First, we have the ginormous corporations that must improve their bottom lines which requires even more heinous activity, usually with a government hand, than the year before. The amount of money at stake is so great that no human could help but be influenced by it, never mind, a member of Congress. Thus, we will continue to see more Enron's, Halliburton no-bid contracts, Big Oil billion dollar giveaways, Big Tobacco hundreds of billion dollar giveaways and a bigger portion of the country's tax bill paid by individuals rather than corporations - until this corporate monster is killed. For a current example the idea of allowing News Corp. to buy the Wall Street Journal borders on insanity but it would never be stopped by our government because so many politicians receive benefit from Murdoch's empire.
And we will continue to see more influence from the fringe but powerful group of hate first, irrational, radicals that make up the Republican base and have the power to kill legislation favored by up to 70% of the country. Trent Lott is right to realize the danger that this monster presents to the country. And as one might expect, conservative talk radio was none to happy about Trent's comments or John Kerry's remarks and will fight back hard and dirty. Which is hardly surprising considering the hate rhetoric leaders on the right have filled it with over the years. This monster is a powder keg that wants to blow.
And of all of this might be the best thing to happen to the country. On their own, each monster poses a real threat to the country which has already been severely weakened by six years of Bush policies. It is difficult to see how we reign in or kill either monster on their own considering the corporate monster controls much of Congress, the media and the courts but can't seem to control the radical monster. But, both monsters are showing a willingness to fight each other as evidenced by the Lott quote and reaction from the blogosphere.
We can only hope they fight to the death.
Warning! People with heart conditions or high blood pressure should not continue reading this post. It is highly recommended that all others be seated and, if possible, sedated. Here's the deal -Time Magazine's latest issue has a large section dedicated to the to the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement which many consider the beginning of America. Within the section is a commentary about the importance of civic education to our democracy that could not be more true. However, what makes the "viewpoint" startling is who wrote it. Read the following excerpts and try to guess the author of "The Anniversary Party". Hint, it is probably the last person you'd expect other than George W. Bush.
Jamestown was the beginning of America's representative government, the rule of law, free enterprise and what has now become one of the most culturally diverse societies on earth.
So what can we learn from Jamestown?
This is an ideal opportunity to recognize the importance of promoting civic learning: teaching our young people about our history and the responsibilities of citizenship as well as the special significance of the rule of law in a functioning democracy.
Teaching young people the importance of voting is just one way to encourage civic involvement. Along with participation in community discussions and communication with local, state and federal officials, voting is at the heart of America's democratic system. Parents who take their children to polling precincts when they are young help them understand that they have a voice in the democratic process. Voting empowers the powerless, equalizes the powerful and provides a voice to those who feel excluded from the process of government.
More emphasis should be placed on civic learning to ensure that America's future generations are ready to meet this responsibility not only in the workplace but also in the polling place.
Jamestown's 400th birthday provides a platform for emphasizing the importance of civics education taught in the context of our nation's history. Sustaining our democratic republic requires that we renew our commitment to that objective.
America's next 400 years depend on it.
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WHO IS THE AUTHOR?
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FIND THE ANSWER BELOW!
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KEEP SCROLLING!
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GETTING CLOSE!
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ARE YOU SEATED?
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HERE IT COMES!
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AND THE AUTHOR OF THE ABOVE COMMENTARY PROCLAIMING THAT THE FUTURE OF OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IS IN THE HANDS OF CITIZENS WHO MUST TEACH FUTURE GENERATIONS THAT WE ALL HAVE A CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY TO VOTE IS...
Yes, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is serving as honorary chairwoman of "America's 400th Anniversary", penned the above words. The same woman, mind you, who in the 2000 election used her swing vote in the nation's highest Court to disenfranchise 105 million American citizens.
Frankly, it would not surprise me if O'Connor had completely blacked out her significant role in the Bush v. Gore decision. As the truth is that it would be near impossible to continue leading a normal life with the burden of knowing that you were probably the single person most responsible for unleashing George W. Bush upon the world. In a legal sense, O'Connor was the proximate cause for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents and millions of wounded. In fact, the entire Bush presidency, which many scholars believe to be the worst ever, rest squarely on her shoulders including the administration's assault on the very democracy O'Connor claims to want to protect.
For more on O'Connor's legacy see the recent post "Dumb Women Dumb Supreme Court Justices & Dumb Country"
Also note that Newsweek recently ran a fluff piece on O'Connor which praised the former Justice's role in the Iraq Study Group because she was "still unwilling to plunge into politics".
Technorati Tags: democracy now, Elections, sanda day o'connor, Voting
"Natural Born Killers - Oliver Stone Collection" (Oliver Stone)
After reading this latest group of transgression instigated by Crazy Bush and Evil Cheney I will be more surprised if we don't attack Iran on April 6th than if we do. Here's Patrick Cockburn in the Independent:
A failed American attempt to abduct two senior Iranian security officers on an official visit to northern Iraq was the starting pistol for a crisis that 10 weeks later led to Iranians seizing 15 British sailors and Marines.
Early on the morning of 11 January, helicopter-born US forces launched a surprise raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the city of Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. They captured five relatively junior Iranian officials whom the US accuses of being intelligence agents and still holds.
In reality the US attack had a far more ambitious objective, The Independent has learned. The aim of the raid, launched without informing the Kurdish authorities, was to seize two men at the very heart of the Iranian security establishment...
The attempt by the US to seize the two high-ranking Iranian security officers openly meeting with Iraqi leaders is somewhat as if Iran had tried to kidnap the heads of the CIA and MI6 while they were on an official visit to a country neighbouring Iran, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.
Do Bush and Cheney remind anyone else of Mickey and Mallory from Natural Born Killers? In the movie, Mickey and Mallory are two victims of traumatized childhoods who become serial murderers glorified by the mass media. Like Mickey and Mallory, Bush and Cheney can literally act out their craziest murder fantasies all over the world with NO regard for the rule of law and the media and Congress basically look the other way if not cheer. And Nancy promises that impeachment is off the table.
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - MLK
