Right Wing Politics

If only some government agency could have predicted the potential for violent right-wing extremism.....

Holocaust museum shooter reportedly white supremacist James von Brunn.:

"This afternoon, a gunman apparently shot at least one person at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. MSNBC is reporting that the suspected shooter, who also sustained gunshot wounds, is James Von Brunn, a white supremacist born in 1920. Brunn has been approvingly cited on Stormfront, a national white supremacist website. He is apparently the author of a tract called, “Kill the Best Gentiles,” which his website describes as “a new, hard-hitting expos�of the JEW CONSPIRACY to destroy the White gene-pool.” Brunn, a WWII veteran, also wrote a screed on President Obama’s citizenship that was re-posted to popular right-wing message board Free Republic:"

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...oh, wait, one actually did:

Will Republicans Admit That Their Partisan Outrage Over The DHS Report Was Misplaced? | Media Matters Action Network

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Almost the sanest thing ever stated on FAUX News.... until they tie it to the blogs and ignore the fact that the fuel for these fires is coming directly from their 'news' organization. From the Becks. From the Hannitys. From the Limbaughs.

The accountability rest squarely on FAUX News and its associated ilk.

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Really? You think? You mean the report that FAUX reflexively dismissed out of some partisan outrage?

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But what do they know anyway....

Health Professionals Tell Congress They Want Single-Payer:

"At a long-awaited House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, health-care professionals made it clear that they believe a single-payer system to be the best and perhaps only workable option for health care reform.

'Single-payer is the only reform that can control health care costs,' said Walter Tsou, a University of Pennsylvania professor and an adviser to Physicians for a National Health Program. The last 50 years of government policy have protected insurance industry profits at the expense of taxpayers, doctors and hospitals, he said.

'Our most famous radical document begins with the words, 'We the People.' Not 'We the Insurers,'' he said. 'It is time for our own generation's revolution."

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More like this, Democrats. Keep in mind that this is a Freshman Senator. We need more progressive Freshman Democratic Senators.

Senator Calls Out Frank Luntz From Senate Floor:

"Here we go. Frank Luntz's memo, that's his memo on how to kill health care, came out in April. It says - talking point number five - 'Health denial care horror stories in Canada and other countires do resonate, but you have to humanize them. You notice we recommend the phrase 'government takeover' rather than 'government run' or 'government control.'' Why? Because government takeover sounds even scarier.

So what did we hear in the chamber from our minority leader just recently? I quote - 'Americans are concerned about a government takeover of health care and for good reason.' And it goes on. So recognize that that is a point that's coming from a document about how to kill health care, not a responsible debate about the plan we have in front of us."

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WTF is he talking about? $10 for anyone that can decipher this tortured analogy.

God, I love Michael Steele.

The gift that keeps on giving.

Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media. � ‘Big tent’ no more: RNC’s Steele says GOP is a hat:

"Here’s more evidence that the GOP is still struggling to find fitting metaphors to talk about itself. The party was likened to a miffed Eminem by Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the College Republicans’ national confab over the weekend, while at another of the convention’s sessions, RNC chair Michael Steele was coming up with imagery of his own. Steele told the audience that “no one knows what the hell it means” when the GOP refers to itself as a “big tent.”

So he offered another analogy: The GOP is a hat.

Some people wear a hat frontwards, others cocked to the left, he explained. Some wear it backwards, he added, echoing a past statement, “because that’s how they roll.” But “the strength of the party is in this: … the fact that you’re willing to put the damn thing on… The problem we’ve had as a party is: too many of our friends, neighbors, colleagues are taking the hat off, because we’ve decided we don’t like the way they wear it… The GOP is not about how you wear the hat, but the fact that you want to wear the hat.”"

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

HA!

GOP Leader Rep. Eric Cantor Predicts Republican Landslide in 2010 - ABC News:

"These may be dark days for the Republican Party, but a top GOP congressional leader predicted today that Republicans would trounce Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections and could take back control of the House of Representatives."

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Damn, those conservatives sure do love to hate on some America.

Ed Goes Ballistic over GM "Socialist" Boycott

Hewitt: I won't be visiting a GM or Chrysler lot, now matter the quality of the product. The only way to fight socialism, is to Boycott GM.

Ed: We are talking about hundreds of thousands of Americans. And this is what they have? They openly say, if you‘re angry. No, I think the word is "if you hate Obama." If you hate Obama. If you can‘t stand the fact that he‘s having success as a president. If you just hate the fact that this guy has got a 60-plus percent approval rating. He‘s trying to save American industry.

If you hate him that much, don‘t buy a GM and don‘t buy a Chrysler. Now the thing that bothers me, this is the crowd that was on the president because they didn‘t—he didn‘t wear a lapel pin. This is the crowd that wrap themselves in the flag and said that the liberals weren‘t American.

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Loves me some Lawrence O'Donnell.

Another Lawrence O'Donnell Teaching: This Time On Joey "Book Boy!" (Updated 2x: The Video):

"'Liberals ended slavery, liberals got woman the right to vote, liberals created Social Security, Medicaid and a minimum wage, they wrote the Civil Rights Act, , the Voting Rights Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, they have done all of those things in at every moment, for every one of those things in this country, what did conservatives do, they opposed every one of those things, including your right to vote (pointing at Mika).'"

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Heh. Palau.

Palau to take Guantanamo's Chinese detainees - Yahoo! News:

"WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Palau agreed to accept 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, indicating a resolution to one of the major obstacles to closing the U.S. prison camp."

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Ah, CL. I knew ye when you were but a nascent local posting board.

Craigslist expects record revenue: $100 million:

"Defying its anti-commercial reputation, Craigslist is expected to rake in $100 million in revenue this year, the most ever for the classified advertising site, according to a new report."

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Ladies, FYI, I'm available for 'end of world' sex. Better hurry. 3.5 billions years will be here before you know it. And you don't want to get crushed by Venus without first having experienced my... rhymes with 'Venus'.

Earth-Venus smash-up possible in 3.5 billion years: study

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When Reality TV and Reality Collide

AAW Fund Raiser.

Read all about it here.

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I'm a big fan of the TV series Survivor. Survivor finished its 16th season last night (actually Sunday, but I watched it on my computer the day after).

I've been a fan of the show since the very first episode in 2000. Survivor's 10th season was held in Palau in 2004/2005. I've been to Palau twice in 1997 and 2005. The 2005 trip ended up being the very first blog posts on AAW. Check 'em out here.

The current season was called Survivor: Micronesia but, again it was produced in Palau. CBS creates web only video of the folks who get voted off but are on the jury.

To keep them entertained they took them to an island called Peleliu where a fierce battle was fought in WWII. I've been to that island and took the same tour. Here's my post from that trip.

Below are some pictures I took and below that is the video from the recent Survivor filming.

That's Tangie our guide on the right.

The Survivor camera man gets a much better shot of this gun.

Watch the video to hear Tangie tell about the hole.

Same cave as in the video.

OK, so CBS's embeded player sucks much ass.

Here is the direct link to check out the vid:

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Didn't know that the younger Forrest Gump is attending Buttholeville's, UNA.

Child 'Forrest Gump' actor leaving Army | TimesDaily.com | Florence, AL:

"As a boy, Michael Conner Humphreys made a splash on the silver screen as 'Young Forrest Gump.' As an adult, he somewhat mirrored the life of his movie character: He joined the Army and fought in an unpopular war.

Humphreys' enlistment ends June 4 and Hollywood is already calling. He's landed a role in an independent film, playing, of course, a soldier"

.....
"It's a small start. I'm still going to go to school at the University of North Alabama, but if (acting) snowballs and it goes somewhere else, that'd be fine," he said.

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I'm digging Gnarles:

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Palau - Big ol' Jet Airliner

The trip home was an adventure in and of itself. We left Palau at 1:30am on a Saturday morning after packing in darkness as the power went off in all of Palau. (Thankfully, the airport has its own generators). Next stop was Guam for a 3 hour lay over. We slept on the floor until we found out we had access to Continential's Executive Lounge. After Guam came the "Island Hopper". Four stops on specks of land in the Pacific with the duration of each flight being approximately 2 hours. We stopped in Chuuk (or Truk), Pohnpei, Kosrae (all in the Federated States of Micronesia) and finally Yokwe-Majuro, Capitol of the Marshall Islands.

We left Yokwe-Majuro and flew to Hawaii where we spent the next 48 hours. Left Hawaii for L.A. then home to San Francisco. 9 airports in nearly 72 hours.

Rich on the Chuuk Airport runway.

Capitol of Micronesia


The Rock of Pohnpei


This picture was taken as we were sitting on a wall watching them refuel. Luckily we were moved to a much safer place by airport personnel.


Here is where they moved us

Rich dubbed these folks, "Our fan club". Similar group of people waiting at each of the island hop airports. We thought they were following us around.

"Our Fan Club"

Capitol of the Marshall Islands


Honolulu view from the hotel


The ocean view. Waikiki beach starts to the left


View of Diamond Head and Waikiki

Palau - Waterworld

Palau is a aquatic wonderland: Diving, snorkeling, fishing, spear fishing, skiing, tubing.... If you are a water baby then this is your paradise.

Rich posing on Dave's unnamed boat that took us everywhere. I still think it should be named "Sweet Lips"


Rich kneeboarding


Me skiing. Camera switched to sepia for some reason



Rich fishing


Me catching


Great snorkel spot. Dave gashed his heel pretty good on the arch during an attempted dive.


Beautiful Coral








A cave we drove the boat into


Tying her up at sunset

Palau - Our Host, DS

DS is the best host one could ask for. He opened up his home to Rich and I for 2 weeks and had us on the go our entire stay. We left the island feeling we'd done just about everything you could do. So here is a tribute to DS, aka The Mushroom.

DS at "work"

DS's apartment is on the top floor and....

...has views like this:

"The Mushroom" in his natural habitat playing...:

... a little Rachett and Clank:

You da man, Sir DS. Thanks for the awesome trip! 2 more years!

Palau - Sam's

Sam's Dive Tours are the folks we did all of our dives with. Talk about a perfect day: Head to the dive shop around 8:30am. Grab a cup of coffee and get your dive gear sorted. Load the boat and out to the dive sites you go. After the first dive we would lunch on an island. After the second dive we'd head back in and grab a cold mug full of beer and wait for Dave to pick us up. I could live every day of my life in this manner.

From the Bar:

Flags from all over:

Arrrrgggghh:

Next to Sam's was a Taiwanese fishing fleet. You could watch them off load the fish they're raping from Palau's waters.

View of the dock:

No words necessary:

Palau - Peleliu

Our last 2 dives of the trip were off the state of Peleliu, one of the last islands to the south that make up Palau. The dives were Peleliu Cut and Peleliu Express. They call it the express because the Pacific Ocean and the Phillipine Sea meet at the point of Peleliu and the currents can run really fast. This is probably the wildest dive you can do in Palau.

One of our dive guides, Jim. He is Palauan and is a wealth of knowledge. He drove the boat to Peleliu:

Peleliu is also known for one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific during WWII. The first George Bush faught as a pilot in this battle. There is a wreck to the north called "The George Bush Wreck". According to the military George, heriocally, torpedoed a Japanese ship. According to the locals the boat was not a Japanes military ship but a local boat that wasn't involved in the battle. Like father, like son. But, hey, at least he participated in the battle and wasn't hiding out in Alabama, snorting coke.

After our dives we toured the island and some of the battle scenes. First stop was:

Our guide was named Tangee. Tangee is a native of the island and has worked for many years creating the museum and studying the history of the battle. Here is Tangee standing in front of the museum. The museum's previous use was a Japanese communication center:

Tangee

Below is a picture of a hole in the communication center courtesy of the U.S. military:

A picture of a picture showing the island after the battle and what the same scene looks like today:

Japanese flag from the battle:

Hari Kari sword:

U.S. Tank

U.S. star on the back of the tank:

Japanese gun at the entrance of a cave:

Rich going into one of the Japanese caves:

A picture of some artwork in the museum depicting a US soldier called Shell Shock:

There is a memorial for both the U.S. and Japanese just below a ridge called "Bloody Nose Hill". Many, many deaths occured during this battle. I was looking at the memorial and those that received the Medal of Honor and I notice an Alabama boy. He was killed in the battle: