Time Magazine promo for Sarah Palin

Ted Nugent, "author, activist and rock-'n'-roll legend" (pictured right) was asked to describe Sarah Palin for Time Magazine's "2010 Top 100" list.

Let's break down his statement in support of Sarah Palin:

If Sarah Palin played a loud, grinding instrument, she would be in my band. The independent patriotic spirit, attitude and soul of our forefathers are alive and well in Sarah. In the way she lives, what she says and how she dedicates herself to make America better in these interesting times, she represents the good, while exposing the bad and ugly.

Translation: It's not so much anything Sarah Palin has done that makes her good (after all, she can't even play an instrument), she's good because she successfully projects the qualities many Americans wish to see in themselves.  

She embraces the critical duty of we the people by participating in this glorious experiment in self-government.

Translation: Sarah Palin is a politician.

The tsunami of support proves that Sarah, 46, represents what many Americans know to be common and sensible.

Translation:  Sarah Palin is popular with many (true) Americans. Whatever many (true) Americans like must be good. Therefore, Sarah Palin is good.

Her rugged individualism, self-reliance and a herculean work ethic resonate now more than ever in a country spinning away from these basics that made the U.S.A. the last best place.

Translation:   Sarah Palin is a successful projection of the qualities many Americans fear losing.

We who are driven to be assets to our families, communities and our beloved country connect with the principles that Sarah Palin embodies.

Translation:  True Americans admire Sarah Palin for having successfully projected a positive image of themselves.  

We know that bureaucrats and, even more, Fedzilla, are not the solution; they are the problem.

Translation: The world may appear complex, but our problem is singular and simple. And Sarah Palin, just like every other Fox  News viewer, knows the answer to it.

I'd be proud to share a moose-barbecue campfire with the Palin family anytime, so long as I can shoot the moose.

Translation: By the way, real Americans like Sarah Palin and me love to kill defenseless wild animals with guns.     

Conclusion: Once you get beyond the colorful verbiage, it's evident that Ted Nugent has pretty much summed up the essence of the Sarah Palin phenomenon.  Here's my translation in full:

It's not so much anything Sarah Palin has done that makes her good (after all, she can't even play an instrument), she's good because she successfully projects the qualities many Americans wish to see in themselves.  Sarah Palin plays an active role in politics and is popular with many real Americans.  Whatever real Americans happen like must be good, so if we like Sarah Palin, she must be good.  Sarah Palin is a successful projection of the qualities many real Americans fear losing; Real Americans admire Sarah Palin for having successfully projected a positive image of themselves.   The world may appear complex, but our problem is singular and simple. And Sarah Palin, just like every other Fox News viewer, knows that cutting government is the answer.  By the way, real Americans like Sarah Palin and me love to kill defenseless wild animals with guns.  

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Arizona immigration bill promises more detentions, higher profits for corporations

Companies based in the State of Arizona are about to be blacklisted.  And that's appropriate because the state's business culture likely bears as much responsibility for a racist new law as any anti-immigrant crusaders.

Continued...

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Bloggers keeping CNN honest

The moto for CNN host Anderson Cooper's show AC360 is "keeping them honest."  

Last week, this blogger was among hundreds of CNN viewers who appropriated and acted upon this principle.  Salon's Glenn Greenwald raised several concerns of his own about CNN coverage:

The blogger Jotman has been relentlessly chronicling CNN's truly awful and propagnadistic "reporting" on the WikiLeaks tape -- see here and here.  Aside from CNN's constant attempts to justify and obscure what was done, they simply refuse to show the most graphic and harrowing (i.e., the most revealing) parts of the video.  Wolf Blitzer actually justified this self-censorship with the smug claim that it was "out of respect for the family members" of the victims -- as though they would want the evidence of what was done to their loved ones to be suppressed -- and other CNN programs are sticking a huge black box over the video during the most important parts so as to prevent their viewers from seeing what actually happened:

The video released by WikiLeaks has now been seen by close to 4 million people on YouTube alone, but CNN either refuses outright to show the most revealing parts or treats those parts like they're too naughty for their fragile, childish viewers to see.  This is a perfect example of how the American media helps to propagandize the public and obscure the truth:  it's virtually always the case that these realities of what our Government is doing are simply kept away from Americans, but in the rare instances where it has to be addressed (because of what WikiLeaks did), CNN takes affirmative steps to block its viewers from seeing what it really is.

 I haven't been able to stomach CNN since the episode unfolded.

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When did Fox News first "prove" that Obama is a socialist?

An American blogger, Kelly of the VSJ, recently explored the origin of a persistent, widely accepted myth about Obama shared by many Americans on the right.  Namely, the assertion that Obama is a "socialist".

Kelly went in search of an actual tipping point, a moment in American life when the 'opinion' that Obama was a socialist became an accepted 'fact' among  right-wingers:

... I found an interesting ‘beginning’. Yes, the seeds were already there.. one only had to follow the 2008 campaign trail to see it, but something about this struck me like an “AHA! Here is where it really started to become true!” Because I think that up until that point, even with those at the town-meetings believing the rhetoric, it was still mainly a rumor. Until this broadcast sealed the rumor as truth forever. I found it on a blog called JOTMAN.COM. On this, his site ‘Jotman’ has 3 videos shot the night of President Obama’s election win. 

One video is actually from Fox News the following morning showing a crowd of people at the gates of the White House, the broadcaster comments that they are probably drunk, her opinion of course, and then she draws your attention to the flag someone in the crowd raises, it is the Russian  Communist flag. The Broadcaster is of course curious and wants this watched because ‘what does it mean?”, is it a sign?, do we need to fear this newly elected President or something just as ridiculous.
The second video is reportedly shot from inside the White House that same night, it’s the same crowd cheering at the gates, the man in the video sees the cheering and the flag and he is scared. As he says these  are  people coming out for Obama and cheering the fact that this country is going to change.. he just can’t believe what he is seeing. There is pushing and shoving, look there is the communist flag again, and torches! they’re all over the place it’s so ominous … it’s chaos!

Until you watch the video from the street. The third video shows the crowd laughing,cheering,smiling and yes.. Chanting. For the land of the free….. and the home of the… Braaaaavvveeee!!!  Not to mention USA!USA!USA!USA!USA! The horror!

Yes, there is the commie flag.. but instead of asking what the flag meant Fox News decided it meant communism was here and they must fight it every step of the way. Fox news knew that morning, like the mornings after every election there was bound to be some pretty pissed off people and they were going to stir up that emotion and bank it. That story was the perfect one to drop the ‘Hearst’ seed and watch it grow. It was  visual proof and with just the right question put to, maybe another mention of it later until it’s finally reported on as a fact.   There was no need for anyone to hear the crowd, the silent view of it, with the added speculation would serve quit nicely. Those watching Fox that segment wouldn’t hear the glee and love of their country coming from that crowd instead they would see a possibly drunken presence cheering the fact that communism has now come to America when she elected an Communist, Marxist, Socialist the night before. Before long Glen Beck would confirm their other fear...

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WikiLeaks video: Shame on CNN!

CNN viewers around the world are shouting three words in unison:  "Shame on CNN!"  Yesterday, tracking the response of the US media to the release of the WikiLeaks video, I blogged:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr about the video.  The network presented a short clip from the video.  Out of "respect for the families of the journalists killed" CNN does not show the Apache helicopter actually firing on the group of men.  What is really bizarre is that this CNN report makes no mention at all of the unconscionable attack on the rescue van which killed the rescuers and seriously injured two children.

Continued here . . .

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US news media cover-up of WikiLeaks video?

Two questions arise about US media coverage of the WikiLeaks video:

1. At what point today did the MSM media decide that this story was "news"?  
2. What is to account for the staggering omission in the CNN Situation Room report in which Wolf Blitzer interviews Barbara Starr about the video?  

More on these questions.  

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Will Obama join the Republican Party?

I thought it was sad that in 2008 McCain-Palin built a presidential campaign around a panacea.  A policy that was not a foundation for long-term prosperity.

The Republican Party put the advocacy of offshore drilling at the forefront of its 2008 campaign.   The trouble with the idea is that drilling amounts to only 3 or 4 years' supply of oil.  

Now "drill baby, drill!" is front and center of Obama's energy agenda.   That's a shame -- one that speaks volumes to the president's priorities.

Will Obama join the Republican Party?  In so far as he prioritizes the interests of corporate donors, he already has.

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