Media Matters Daily Summary 09-30-11

Time Gets Clean Energy Fact Backwards
Suggesting that the failed solar company Solyndra is representative of a larger trend, Time magazine claimed that clean energy jobs grew slower than the economy as a whole between 2003-2010. In fact, the opposite is true. Time's purported source, the Brookings Institution, actually found that clean energy jobs grew "more than twice as fast as the rest of the economy." Read More

Latest Attack On Michelle Obama: She Went To Target
Right-wing media have attacked Michelle Obama for going shopping at Target, claiming she went " 'incognito,' Lady Gaga-style" and asking, "Who does she think she's fooling?" Right-wing media have previously attacked the first lady for everything from promoting health initiaitves to wearing a red dress at a state dinner. Read More

Experts Point Out That Limits On Debit Card Transaction Fees Help Consumers
A Wall Street Journal op-ed attacked a provision of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that limits the fees banks and credit card companies can charge retailers for debit card transactions because Bank of America has imposed a $5 per month fee on transactions as a result of the regulation. But as economist Dean Baker points out, making these costs transparent allows consumers to "decide for themselves whether they want to pay it" unlike the previous system in which the costs of debit cards were hidden from consumers. Read More

Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics (Planned Parenthood Edition)
In a Washington Times op-ed, Denise Burke of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life called Planned Parenthood of Indiana an "abortion-saturated" organization and suggested "women's health care isn't [Planned Parenthood's] cause -- it's abortion." However, only about 3.5 percent of Planned Parenthood of Indiana's total services in FY 2010 were abortions. Read More

Koch Bros. Freaking Out Over Unpublished Scandal Story

Archvillain stereotypes David and Charles Koch are reportedly furious because rival New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s media machine is reportedly about to publish some big scandal story that proves the Koch Bros. are even worse than previously thought.

So what are the libertarian heroes accused of now? Eating the hearts of Christian babies? Jacking off into Warren Buffett’s caviar? No, they are simply accused of some bribery and standard globalist business crime, in France. France! How are the Koch Brothers even involved in such a socialist country full of health-care-having French people? READ MORE »

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-29-11

"Communist-Trained" Obama's "Massive" "Conspiracy": Extremist NRA Goes Over The Edge
Over the past two weeks, leaders of the National Rifle Association have embarked on a campaign of extremist rhetoric and wild conspiracies. They have called federal law enforcement agents "jack-booted thugs," referred to President Obama as "Communist-trained," and described a "massive Obama conspiracy" in which the administration plans to push for the repeal of the Second Amendment. The organization has also pushed a radical legislative agenda during that period, calling for a national concealed carry reciprocity bill that law enforcement groups call "dangerous" and pushing for concealed firearms on college campuses. Read More

Fox Not Letting Facts Disrupt Its Obama-Bullied-Ford Narrative
Fox has repeatedly suggested that the White House pressured Ford into pulling an ad featuring a Ford driver who was critical of the auto-industry bailouts. Fox has continued promoting the story despite the fact that both Ford and the White House have denied the allegation. Read More

Right-Wing Media Play With Numbers, Claim DOE Loan Guarantees Will Cost "$23 Million Per Job"
An Investor's Business Daily article claimed that nine Department of Energy loan guarantees are going create jobs at a cost of $23 million per job, and the right-wing media have run with that claim. However, this figure assumes that all the loans will default and that the government will have to cover every penny of their cost. Economists have called these types of calculations "bogus" and "bad math." Read More

Michelle Malkin Hated Onion Hostage Joke Because It Lacked Democrats

The Onion put out a series of “breaking news” tweets narrating an escalating Capitol Hill hostage situation perpetrated by Republican members of Congress (GET IT??), which the Capitol Police decided to treat as actionable cause for TOTAL PANIC because “satire” is not covered in the police training manual.

Hooray, Earth is now sentenced to have a Serious Internet Discussion with itself about whether or not comedians should be Gitmo’d or just gang-raped for making jokes about John Boehner and Eric Cantor being deranged maniacs. And while most of the news media is complaining that the joke is in poor taste because it ruined their fun thwarted toy airplane plot news cycle, shrill right-wing nutjob Michelle Malkin thinks the joke is in poor taste because these libtard comedians made their fake hostage scenario featuring the wrong party of legislators. READ MORE »

Welfare Poors Aren’t Big Druggies, But Boeing Workers Sure Are!

Florida and other teabagger-ruled feifdoms like Georgia, Michigan and Arizona are all spending millions of dollars trying to prove unsuccessfully that their state welfare rolls are riddled with wretched socialist junkies who rush straight to spend their 26 government cents or whatever on a pile of smack first chance.

This is idiotic. The real junkies are where the real money is: Boeing! The happy little elves working in Santa’s favorite death machine workshop in Pennsylvania at America’s favorite taxpayer black hole defense contractor — which recently won a $35 billion contract from the government – turn out to be high out of their minds on pills! How do we know this? Because the DEA just arrested three dozen of them. READ MORE »

Cops On Internet Forum Love Watching NYPD Assault Protesters

So there’s this Internet forum for police officers called “Officer.com,” and you supposedly have to be a police officer to register for the site. (How do the administrators prove this? Probably by making sure the registration application has enough spelling errors and grammar disasters and obvious disregard for following the law.) And these alleged police grunts think it’s hee-larious that unemployed Americans are legally protesting the economic system in this country. It’s especially a yuk-yuk when cops beat up young girls and gas people for simply standing on a sidewalk in Manhattan. Let’s review some of these donut-munchers’ tough-guy-on-the-Internet bullshit, and hope they all learn the meaning of “public sector layoff” very soon. READ MORE »

Congress Takes Group Of Schoolchildren Hostage

WASHINGTON—Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage today, barricading ... more »

If the money is not delivered by this evening, members of Congress say they will shoot a new child every hour on the hour.

Perry’s ‘Texas Miracle’ Turns Out To Be A Mirage

TPM

The robust Texas economy Rick Perry is using to sell his presidential campaign may be more fragile than advertised.

According to testimony from the state’s chief revenue estimator, John Heleman, the state economy is in for weak growth this year, a situation that could put pressure on a state budget already barely held together with a series of short-term fixes this year.

“The year of (2012) is not going to be a great recovery year,” Heleman told state legislators yesterday. “It’s still going to be flat-ish. It’s still going to be soft.”

The weak economy has implications for political implications for Perry, who has crowed about closing the state budget’s $27 billion shortfall without raising taxes or dipping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund. As reports noted at the time the budget passed, much of this achievement was accomplished by using temporary accounting tricks like delaying payments and changing estimates for population growth. Now, according to a report by the State Comptroller’s office, some of these tactics are creating serious problems. One method to balance the budget was to increase various fees whose revenue was devoted to specific programs, but then not spend them on those programs in order to have enough money in the Treasury to keep the budget balanced. But since the money from these fees isn’t actually allowed to be spent elsewhere, this can’t last forever: the Austin American-Statesman warns that legislators will either have to keep starving programs boosting emergency medical services and helping low-income residents with utility bills to maintain a balanced budget on paper or find cuts and revenue elsewhere to truly close the gap.

A Super PAC supporting Michele Bachmann’s candidacy has already attacked the governor over the budget and these hits could gain more prominence should the revenue situation require further action.

“Our governor is running for president, and our lieutenant governor is running for the U.S. Senate — and both will count the state’s balanced, no-new-taxes budget among their successes,” the Statesman’s Jason Embry wrote on Wednesday. “Just remember that they used a few multibillion-
dollar tricks to get there.”

Illinois GOP Lawmaker Told Police To Ignore Her Husband’s 911 Calls

One of the perks of elected local office should be that you can tell law enforcement to, eh look the other way from time to time when you need to straighten out your spouse, because, come on, right? Illinois GOP State Senator Suzi Schmidt locked her husband out of the house without a coat on Christmas and then reportedly phoned her neighborhood 911 dispatchers with a little courtesy call to tell them she was “the Lake County Board chairman for 10 years,” just so they know, and then advised them to ignore her husband if he called afterward to complain of her abuse, which if he was smart he wouldn’t do, since “he’s kind of afraid of me because he knows I have connections.” No big deal. READ MORE »

Hero Columnist Offers To Pay To Drug Test Florida Lawmakers

Florida governor Rick Scott is one of those charming sociopath fundamentalist teabagger fiscal responsibility screamers who will nonetheless spend millions of taxpayer dollars to make absolutely sure that the government isn’t giving a single $104 check to even one poor drug user even as the state cuts school funding, just to prove he is an annoying hardass.

So far, only 2.5% of welfare recipients have tested positive, making this a very expensive joke Rick Scott is playing on poors and taxpayers. But since “government savings” is nominally the reason behind drug testing state check recipients, Miami Herald columnist and novelist Carl Hiaasen, god bless him, proposes lawmakers show a little fairness and participate in a “patriotic whiz-fest” (Maureen Dowd is jealous of this line) where they, too, must all pee in a cup to prove as a group they are as crack-free as 97.5% of welfare recipients. READ MORE »

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-28-11

Fox Continues To Fabricate Obama Administration Bullying
On its Fox Nation website, Fox accused the Obama administration of "pressur[ing]" the Ford Motor Co. to pull a television ad promoting the fact that the company didn't take advantage of the auto bailout. However, Ford and the White House have both denied the allegation, with Ford saying it pulled the ad because the ad's campaign had ended. Read More

Fox Distorts Impact Of Cain's 9-9-9 Plan On Low-Income Taxpayers
Fox News' Steve Doocy and guest Neal Boortz hyped GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax plan on Fox & Friends, claiming low-income tax payers would "probably still [come] out ahead" under Cain's plan. However, experts have said that lower and middle income families would bear a disproportionately larger tax burden under Cain's plan, while some higher-income earners would see their taxes decrease. Read More

Conservative Media Join Inhofe's Anti-EPA Fishing Expedition
Following the lead of Sen. James Inhofe, conservative media are distorting an Inspector General's report in an attempt to discredit EPA's finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. But the IG report addresses obscure procedural issues, not the merits of EPA's finding or the science on which it was based, which even the Bush administration said was robust enough to require an endangerment finding. Read More

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-27-11

Fox Pushes Misleading Cost-Per-Jobs Math To Attack Jobs Bill
Fox & Friends pushed the claim that the jobs created by President Obama's jobs bill would cost $200,000 per job, with co-host Brian Kilmeade asking, "Is it worth it to get a job that's going to cost the government $200,000?" But former Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer has called this calculation "misleading," and similar claims about jobs created by the stimulus have been described as "bogus." Read More

No, EPA Is Not Hiring 230,000 Workers To Implement Climate Rules
EPA explained in a court brief that by phasing in greenhouse gas regulations and focusing on large sources of emissions, the agency avoids a scenario in which 230,000 new workers would be required. Somehow, the Daily Caller's Matthew Boyle concluded from this that "The EPA is asking taxpayers to fund up to 230,000 new government workers." Other conservative media outlets, including Fox News, repeated Boyle's false report. Read More

Fox Acknowledges Its "Hard Right Turn"
In a Newsweek article titled "Roger's Reality Show," Howard Kurtz wrote that Fox executives acknowledge that the news channel "took a hard right turn." This admission confirms what has long been clear: that Fox's news division has been slanted. Read More

Your Tea Party At Work

Here's your awesome idea of the day. A group of Tea Partyish House Republicans is pushing the idea of saving money by abolishing the dollar bill and replacing with a mandated $1 coin. It's called Currency Optimization, Innovation and National Savings (COINS) Act and it would allegedly save money in addition to being a huge pain in the butt (perhaps literally) for every American.

— Josh Marshall

Muslim Republican Braves Lair of Screaming Florida Teabaggers

The cranky, fearful Republican Orcs of Broward County, Florida heard there was a MUSLIM, yes that’s a right a MUSLIM trying to join their little treehouse club of dingbats with the bizarre explanation that he, too, was a Republican.

Forsooth, evil terrorist? Their childish response was to immediately change all the rules for club entry and subject the Muslim candidate for election to the party’s executive committee, Nezar Hamze, to a barrage of questions and accusations and screaming outbursts before telling him to get lost. READ MORE »

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-26-11

Fox's Johnson Proves Obama's Point: Fox Peddles "Inadequate Information"
Fox's Peter Johnson Jr. distorted recent comments by President Obama, falsely claiming that "[i]n effect, the president is saying that the American people are a stupid, dissatisfied electorate who are poisoned and brainwashed by Fox News." But Obama said that supporters should "push back" on Fox's "inadequate information" -- a statement that is justified by Fox's regular distortions. Read More

Fox's Weeklong Attack On Government Regulations Was Dreamed Up By Ailes
During the week of September 12, Fox's "straight news" division launched a weeklong attack on government regulations, including child labor, workplace safety, and civil rights laws. Fox's war on regulation, which mirrors Republican talking points, has now been revealed to be the brainchild of Fox News president Roger Ailes. Read More

Bachmann warns of Hezbollah ‘missile sites’ in Cuba

RAW STORY

Republican presidential candidate said Monday that it would be “foolish” to normalize trade with Cuba because Hezbollah could soon have “missile sites” there.

“Why would you normalize trade with a country that sponsors terror?” the candidate asked a crowd of supporters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “There is reports that have come out that Cuba has been working with another terrorist organization called Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is looking at wanting to be part of missile sites in Iran and, of course, when you are 90 miles offshore from Florida, you don’t want to entertain the prospect of hosting bases or sites where Hezbollah could have training camps or perhaps have missile sites or weapons sites in Cuba. ”

Bachmann was most likely basing her fear on an unsubstantiated report from the Italian publican Corriere della Sera, which was picked up by numerous conservative websites earlier this month (see here, here, here and here.)

Even if that report were true, it makes absolutely no mention of “missile sites.”

Bachmann then pivoted to explain that Republicans didn’t need to worry about picking the most electable nominee because the country had already decided not to re-elect President Barack Obama.

“I’m just here to tell you, Barack Obama will be a one-term president,” she said. “The country has already made up it’s decision. I am convinced of it. The issue is who will be our nominee? Will it be someone who understands these issues so they will go and fight for them or will we have a compromise candidate?”

“Because we have candidates that have said that when it comes to Obamacare that their plan is to issue an executive order or to issue a waiver. I’m here to tell you, I get this bill. I fought it. I am the chief author against it. I was called Barack Obama’s chief critic. That’s my badge of honor, to be his chief critic. Because I understand what some of the other candidates do not… We can’t settle, and 2012 is it. We will have socialized medicine for ever and ever and ever in this country unless we get it out in 2012.”.................................

Rich Silicon Valley Man Begs Obama To Raise His Taxes, Please (VIDEO)

UPDATE - 3:30 p.m. Eastern: White House reporters have identified the man as Doug Edwards, former director of communications and marketing at Google. Here's his Twitter profile.

American Media Hates Peaceful Protesters For Not Being Violent Pigs

Occupy Wall Street has just completed its ninth day — but you wouldn’t know, since America’s glorious free press is too busy covering the Big Stories: “New Ben and Jerry’s flavor in poor taste?” and “Man with broken leg survives 4 days in desert” and “Michele Bachmann goes somewhere, says something”).

The anti-American media-fairness group FAIR recently deduced, “The answer to the problem of non-coverage would seem to be simple: If the people occupying Wall Street want more media attention, they should just call themselves Tea Party activists.” Noticing the lack of teabag bedazzlement, the official organ of the progressive movement (the New York Times, obviously) lamented, “The group’s lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to pantomime progressivism rather than practice it knowledgably is unsettling.”

Your former editor/Breitbart rentboy arrived in Manhattan last night and is now living amongst these seedy people, with their evil messages of “peace” and “no more corporate greed” — and we plan on writing many vainglorious articles, chastising concerned Americans who are sleeping in a park for not being more like the violent slob-beasts who bring assault rifles to their corporate-backed Freedumb shindigs, which last two hours/until the scooter batteries run out of juice (you know, what the New York Times once called a “platform for conservative populist discontent”). We even made a video! We’ll be making lots of videos this week, because we want to help the New York Times expose these “pantomiming” deadbeats. READ MORE »

Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics

Pullman, Wash.

THE end is near — or so it seems to a segment of Christians aligned with the religious right. The global economic meltdown, numerous natural disasters and the threat of radical Islam have fueled a conviction among some evangelicals that these are the last days. While such beliefs might be dismissed as the rantings of a small but vocal minority, apocalyptic fears helped drive the antigovernment movements of the 1930s and ’40s and could help define the 2012 presidential campaign as well.

Christian apocalypticism has a long and varied history. Its most prevalent modern incarnation took shape a century ago, among the vast network of preachers, evangelists, Bible-college professors and publishers who established the fundamentalist movement. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and independents, they shared a commitment to returning the Christian faith to its “fundamentals.”

Biblical criticism, the return of Jews to the Holy Land, evolutionary science and World War I convinced them that the second coming of Jesus was imminent. Basing their predictions on biblical prophecy, they identified signs, drawn especially from the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, that would foreshadow the arrival of the last days: the growth of strong central governments and the consolidation of independent nations into one superstate led by a seemingly benevolent leader promising world peace.

This leader would ultimately prove to be the Antichrist, who, after the so-called rapture of true saints to heaven, would lead humanity through a great tribulation culminating in the second coming and Armageddon. Conservative preachers, evangelists and media personalities of the 20th century, like Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell, shared these beliefs.

Fundamentalists’ anticipation of a coming superstate pushed them to the political right. As the government grew in response to industrialization, fundamentalists concluded that the rapture was approaching. Their anxieties worsened in the 1930s with the rise of fascism. Obsessed with matching biblical prophecy with current events, they studied Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin, each of whom seemed to foreshadow the Antichrist.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt troubled them as well. His consolidation of power across more than three terms in the White House, his efforts to undermine the autonomy of the Supreme Court, his dream of a global United Nations and especially his rapid expansion of the government confirmed what many fundamentalists had feared: the United States was lining up with Europe in preparation for a new world dictator.

As a result, prominent fundamentalists joined right-wing libertarians in their effort to undermine Roosevelt. That this mix of millennialism and activism seemed inconsistent — why work for reform if the world is destined for Armageddon? — never troubled them. They simply asserted that Jesus had called them to “occupy” until he returned (Luke 19:13). Like orthodox Marxists who challenge capitalism even though they say they believe it represents an inevitable step on the road to the socialist paradise, conservative Christians never let their conviction that the future is already written lead them to passivity.

The world in 2011 resembles the world of the 1930s in many respects. International turmoil and a prolonged economic downturn have fueled distrust of government, as has the rise of a new libertarianism represented in the explosive growth of the Tea Party.

For some evangelicals, President Obama is troubling. The specious theories about his place of birth, his internationalist tendencies, his measured support for Israel and his Nobel Peace Prize fit their long-held expectations about the Antichrist. So does his commitment to expanding the reach of government in areas like health care.

In 2008, the campaign of Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, presciently tapped into evangelicals’ apocalyptic fears by producing an ad, “The One,” that sarcastically heralded Mr. Obama as a messiah. Mr. McCain was onto something. Not since Roosevelt have we had a president of charisma and global popularity, who so perfectly fits the evangelicals’ Antichrist mold.

While Depression-era fundamentalists represented only a small voice among the anti-Roosevelt forces of the 1930s, evangelicals have grown ever savvier and now constitute one of the largest interest groups in the Republican Party. In the past, relatively responsible leaders like Mr. Graham, who worked with Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, and even Mr. Falwell, who reined in evangelical excess in exchange for access to the Reagan White House, channeled their evangelical energy.

Not now. A leadership vacuum exists on the evangelical right that some Republicans — Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and even Ron Paul — are exploiting. How tightly their strident anti-statism will connect with evangelical apocalypticism remains to be seen.

The left is in disarray while libertarianism is on the ascent. A new generation of evangelicals — well-versed in organizing but lacking moderating influences — is lining up behind hard-right anti-statists. While few of the faithful truly think that the president is the Antichrist, millions of voters, like their Depression-era predecessors, fear that the time is short. The sentiment that Mr. Obama is preparing the United States, as Roosevelt did, for the Antichrist’s global coalition is likely to grow.

Barring the rapture, Mrs. Bachmann or Mr. Perry could well ride the apocalyptic anti-statism of conservative Christians into the Oval Office. Indeed, the tribulation may be upon us.

Nine Inch Nails - No, You Don't

Nine Inch Nails - Everyday Is Exactly The Same

Nine Inch Nails - The Beginning Of The End

Nine Inch Nails - Metal

STEELERS Football 09-25-11

STEELERS at COLTS
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011
KICKOFF – 8:20 P.M.

This Week: The Steelers take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, September 25 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kickoff for the game is 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Game Information:
Teams: Steelers vs. Colts
Date: Sunday, September 25, 2011
Kickoff: 8:20 p.m. ET
Site: Lucas Oil Stadium
TV: NBC (WPXI-TV Channel 11 in Pittsburgh)
Radio: WDVE-FM (102.5)/WBGG-AM (970 ESPN)
Bill Hillgrove, Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley

Steelers Notes for Colts Game

Sen. Landrieu Reads Darrell Issa’s Letters Begging For Taxpayer Clean Energy Loans On The Senate Floor

THINK PROGRESS

House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) investigation of clean energy loan programs was undercut this week by a revelation, first reported by Bloomberg, that he had also requested money from the same program for companies in his district. A follow-up story by ThinkProgress found that an investor to the firm Issa had asked to subsidize had donated several times to Issa, including a check just shortly before Issa sent his letter to Secretary Chu.

Today on the Senate floor, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) mocked Issa’s hypocrisy. She carried with her copies of the letters signed by Issa, as well as other letters by Republicans asking for money for the clean energy program they had just voted to cut, and read them into the Congressional Record:

LANDRIEU: He’s a member from California, he’s a very powerful member of the House. I’m going to read his whole letter. [...] And maybe the press even writes, ‘Darrell Issa, the Republican leader, is promoting manufacturing in California.’ Because this is what he says in his district. And this is the letter he sends to the Secretary. But when he’s in the floor of the House last night, he voted to gut this program. That’s what this debate is about!..............

Anti-Immigrant Groups Founded By White Supremacist Wield Influence Over Google/Fox News Debate

THINK PROGRESS

The Google/Fox News debate last night featured a new online question submission platform, allowing the “viewing public for the first time to weigh in with votes on questions they want asked.” Steve Grove, an executive at Google, was quoted in a Fox News article saying the new format will “bring more voices into the arena to create an informed and lively dialogue about the future of our country.”

But one of the YouTube questions came from Kristen Williamson, a spokeswoman from Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a conservative advocacy hate group that lobbies for less immigration. Chris Wallace did not introduce Williamson’s question as one selected by viewers. However, the format of the question appeared as the other user-submitted videos.

Earlier during the debate program, NumbersUSA, a right-wing grassroots group also dedicated to decreasing the number of legal immigrants, aired a new national television ad.

Among the many white supremacy connections between the two groups, both were founded with help from John Tanton, an infamous anti-immigrant activist. An advocate of eugenics and other racist beliefs, Tanton has said that his immigration philosophy is guided by the goal of preserving a “European-American majority.”..............................

NRA VP Outraged Obama Has *Not* Moved To Ban Guns

NRA VP Outraged Obama Has *Not* Moved To Ban Guns

In an address to CPAC in Florida this morning, National Rifle Association executive VP Wayne LaPiere called President Obama’s decision not to pursue gun control legislation “a massive conspiracy,” and argued that it’s just another reason not to give him a second term.

“The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment,” LaPiere said. “But it’s a big fat stinking lie! It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and destroy the Second Amendment in our country.”

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-23-11

Not "Very Helpful"? Carlson Advances Myth That Obama Hasn't Increased Border Security
Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson claimed that Gov. Rick Perry was "exactly right" when he said that the federal government has "not engaged ... at all" in border security. In fact, under President Obama, deportations have increased -- including deportations of convicted criminals -- and the number of border patrol agents and funding for border security projects have also increased. Read More

Krauthammer Revives Misleading Claim That Obama Will Raise Taxes On 50% Of "Small Business" Income
In his Washington Post column, Charles Krauthammer claimed that an increase in the marginal tax rate for those making over $250,000 would affect half the income made by small businesses. However, experts have said that business income on individual tax returns does not necessarily reflect what most consider small businesses, but includes such enterprises as law partnerships and real estate investments. Read More

Bill O'Reilly Calls On Obama To Pursue 1960s Tax Reform
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is urging President Obama to follow President John F. Kennedy's footsteps and propose lowering taxes for the rich to spur economic growth. But during Kennedy's term, the top marginal tax rate stood at 91 percent and his proposal would have lowered it to 65; whereas, the top marginal rate today is a historically low 35 percent. Read More

GOP Debate Puts National Spotlight On Fox's Use Of "Illegals" Slur
At the Fox News-Google GOP presidential debate, co-moderator Chris Wallace used the pejorative term "illegals" to refer to undocumented immigrants and read a question from the public that used the term, as well. Journalists have called on the media to stop using the term "illegals," but Fox's "straight news" shows use it consistently nonetheless. Read More

GOP debate audience boos gay soldier

RAW STORY

A question from a gay soldier was met with boos during Thursday night’s Fox News Republican presidential debate.

“In 2010 when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I’m a gay soldier and I didn’t want to lose my job,” Stephen Hill, a U.S. soldier serving Iraq, told the candidates. “Under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that have been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”

The question was met by loud boos from the audience of Republican voters.

But those boos quickly turned to enthusiastic cheers as Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum explained that gays shouldn’t have the “special privilege” of being able to serve openly.

“Going forward, we would reinstitute [the gay ban] if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be reinstituted. But as far as the people that are in, I would not throw them out be unfair to them because they policy of this administration, but we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past, which was sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone, keep it to yourself, heterosexual or homosexual.”

The conservative gay rights group GOProud immediately called for an apology from Santorum.

“That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done — put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life,” the group wrote in a media advisory. “It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.”..............

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-22-11

Fox's "Straight News" Division Parrots GOP Attack On DOJ Investigators Into Fast And Furious
Fox "straight news" anchor Bret Baier and Fox News correspondent William La Jeunesse attacked the Department of Justice's inspector general for releasing audio tapes related to the ATF's failed Fast and Furious program. At no point did Baier or La Jeunesse note that the inspector general's office says the tapes were released in order to comply with the constitutional rights of the targets of a criminal investigation. Read More

Fox Hosts Peter Schiff To Attack Minimum Wage
Fox & Friends hosted author and businessman Peter Schiff to claim that the minimum wage negatively affects employment among the young and poor. In fact, studies have found that there is no relationship between changes in the minimum wage and teen unemployment or overall unemployment. Read More

Stocks Collapse Worldwide On News About Meg Whitman

Unloved corporate failure Meg Whitman was last seen insisting that she should be governor of California because goddammit, she paid $141 million to be governor of California. And now the former eBay executive has re-appeared on the public stage, with news that she will be hired to run the ruined tech company Hewlett Packard. The rumor/announcement was greeted by a global plunge in all stocks, led by a collapse in all technology shares. Why can’t she just leave Earth alone? Aren’t things bad enough without Meg Whitman? READ MORE »

Sarah Palin Will Continue To Think About Running If You Send Her Money

Man, who knows how to monetize “doing nothing” better than grifter-quitter grandma Sarah Palin? Palin’s SarahPAC sent out a letter asking for more donations in order to help Sarah in “making her decision of whether or not to run for office,” because Sarah Palin is the kind of narcissistic psycho hosebeast who believes she is entitled to a paycheck for the time she spends holding debates with herself in the mirror.

Palin has been steadily pushing back her imaginary deadline for announcing a run, originally claiming she was going to make a decision about running by the end of September but then recently saying, eh, November maybe, whatever. Waiting around, who knew it could be so profitable? READ MORE »

Federal Reserve To GOP: Take A Hike!

TPM

Responding to the bleak economic outlook, and the weak prospects for reduced unemployment in the months ahead, the Federal Reserve has announced a new round of monetary stimulus, disregarding a Republican political push to dissuade them from tinkering with the economy.

In a new iteration of Quantitative Easing -- that Fed watchers are calling "Operation Twist" -- the Federal Reserve will swap $400 billion worth of medium term bonds for longer term bonds over the next nine months,to drive down long-term interest rates to encourage immediate investment. Separately, it will take steps to drive down mortgage interest rates.

It's the first significant action the Fed has taken to juice the economy since a modest second round of monetary stimulus ended several months ago. However, the Fed says it continues to expect unemployment to drop slowly and for inflation to remain below the target rate -- meaning it isn't attempting to spur immediate spending and investment by raising the expectation that prices will soon rise. Though the hope is that the new easing will accomplish that on its own.

Politically, the action is sure to rankle Republicans, both in the presidential primary, where chairman Ben Bernanke has become a whipping boy, and on Capitol Hill, where leaders have more cautiously criticized Fed policy.

Read the full Fed statement below the fold.

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in August indicates that economic growth remains slow. Recent indicators point to continuing weakness in overall labor market conditions, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Household spending has been increasing at only a modest pace in recent months despite some recovery in sales of motor vehicles as supply-chain disruptions eased. Investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector remains depressed. However, business investment in equipment and software continues to expand. Inflation appears to have moderated since earlier in the year as prices of energy and some commodities have declined from their peaks. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee continues to expect some pickup in the pace of recovery over coming quarters but anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. Moreover, there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets. The Committee also anticipates that inflation will settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below those consistent with the Committee's dual mandate as the effects of past energy and other commodity price increases dissipate further. However, the Committee will continue to pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.

To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee decided today to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities. The Committee intends to purchase, by the end of June 2012, $400 billion of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 6 years to 30 years and to sell an equal amount of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 years or less. This program should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate.

To help support conditions in mortgage markets, the Committee will now reinvest principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the Committee will maintain its existing policy of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction.

The Committee also decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.

The Committee discussed the range of policy tools available to promote a stronger economic recovery in a context of price stability. It will continue to assess the economic outlook in light of incoming information and is prepared to employ its tools as appropriate.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Janet L. Yellen. Voting against the action were Richard W. Fisher, Narayana Kocherlakota, and Charles I. Plosser, who did not support additional policy accommodation at this time.

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-21-11

Fox Aims For Obama But Accidentally Attacks Private Regulators*
On Fox News, Andrea Tantaros and Dana Perino suggested that the Obama Administration was trying to "crush the job creators" by imposing a $15,000 fine on Peter Schiff for "hiring too many workers." However, Schiff's fine was imposed by a private entity. Read More

Eric Bolling: Fox's Conspiracy Man
Fox host Eric Bolling has recently pushed the conspiracy theory that Palestinians are timing their request for the United Nations to recognize their statehood status in order to make President Obama look "pro-Israel." Bolling has repeatedly used his Fox platform to push conspiracy theories against the president. Read More

REPORT: Economists Shut Out Of Debt-Ceiling Debate
A Media Matters analysis of evening cable news programs reveals that just 4.1 percent of guests who discussed the debt-ceiling debate were actual economists. This lack of credible economic experts helped create a media environment in which political and media figures could spread misinformation. Read More

Fox Reporter Uses Outdated Figure To Scaremonger About "Unfunded Liabilities"
Fox News reporter Jim Angle claimed Social Security and Medicare have "$46 trillion in unfunded liabilities," even though more recent data shows a significantly lower figure. Experts have said that the term "unfunded liabilities" is a "scare tactic" used by detractors of Social Security and Medicare, and that it's "misleading" to report future obligation costs without putting them into context by describing what share of the economy they represent. Read More

Progressive Economists Refute AP, Defend The Buffett Rule
The conservative media have echoed the criticisms made by a misleading Associated Press "fact check" of President Obama's statements about taxation and the Buffett Rule he has been promoting. Progressive economists have rebutted the AP's criticisms and lent support to his proposals. Read More

Limbaugh Uses Economic Falsehoods To Attack Jobs Bill
Rush Limbaugh has resorted to repeating discredited or misleading claims - that "the rich are not richer than they've ever been" and that the number of millionaires in the U.S. has decreased -- in order to dismiss President Obama's newly proposed jobs plan. Read More

Birthers Fighting Among Themselves About Going After Marco Rubio

One of the birther factions — apparently there’s more than one, even though we have always thought of them as a single amoebic mass of crazy — is starting some hilarious shit about the GOP’s anointed son Florida Senator Marco Rubio with claims that he is not a “natural born citizen,” because he has Cuban parents (the fashionable birther argument du jour is to declare the existence of anyone whose parents were not born in a white country to be totally unconstitutional).

As far as we can tell this is just some inane species of butt hurt retaliation toward the GOP for having grown politically bored with exploiting birther nonsense, but this has other birthers going all nuclear over the claims that Rubio, a notorious teabagger, is a secret communist infiltrator. READ MORE »

Republican Thugs Warn Ben Bernanke Not To Try To Fix Economy

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke with his unenviable job of trying to save the crumbling American economy with interest rate tweaks is sort of like a firefighter standing before a Texas wildfire who gets to shoot at it with a water pistol while everyone yells at him about the size and type of his water pistol.

The GOP leadership, on the other hand, is more like a different firefighter who stands a little further away and fires torpedoes into the blaze in the hopes that he will be elected winner of the smoldering remains after his colleagues have been burned alive.

To that end, top Republican Senate and House leaders sent a strongly-worded letter to Bernanke Tuesday warning him to leave off his latest plan to stimulate the economy, because it has a near-zero chance of making everything slightly less terrible that still rhetorically counts for more than “doing nothing, screw everybody,” as the GOP strategic plan outlines. READ MORE »

Hundred Millionaire Mitt Romney Tells Crowd He, Too, Is Middle Class

Moneybags Mitt Romney, a man who has by one estimate about as many dollars as there are adult humans in the United States, is trying desperately to woo his way into ordinary conservative voters’ reluctant panties with outlandish claims that he is somehow “one of them” instead of just the guy who “owns them,” but he fails at this because his pick-up lines are just awkward. Mittens told a group of town hall attendees that he is part of the “80 to 90 percent of us” who belong to the middle class, which is demonstrably neither the portion of people who are middle class in the United States nor the part of it that Mitt Romney belongs to. Mitt, he’s so smooth! READ MORE »

GOP Leaders Write Unprecedented Letter Urging The Federal Reserve To Keep Unemployment High

THINK PROGRESS

In a move without precedent in the modern era, Republican congressional leaders including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) have penned a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urging him not to take any steps to help the economy.

The context for the letter is a special two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee being held precisely in order that FOMC members can inform themselves about the options available. For those of us who are frustrated with the prospect of endless mass unemployment, it was an exciting sign that the federal agency with primary responsibility for managing the short-term fluctuations in the economy is prepared to stop debating whether to end the recession and start debating how. Conservatives, meanwhile, have been increasingly outspoken about their desire to continue or even intensify the hard-money policies that are strangling the economy. When Rick Perry suggested he would treat Bernanke “pretty ugly” if he dared take steps to boost economic growth, his language and tone met with considerable criticism from other conservatives but at a subsequent debate GOP Presidential contenders uniformly agreed agreed that Bernanke should be fired for pursuing unduly stimulative policies.

The truth is the reverse. The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to focus on employment and price stability. On prices, the Bernanke Fed has presided over unusually low inflation while unemployment is unusually high. The question facing FOMC members today is whether they’ll face up to that reality and take the additional steps they need to fulfill their mandate, or will they back down in the face of extraordinary efforts to politicize their work.

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-20-11

Fox "Straight News" Correspondent Pushes Falsehood That Social Security "May Run Out Of Money"
On Fox News' Your World, Fox's chief political correspondent Carl Cameron defended Gov. Rick Perry's attack on Social Security, claiming that Social Security "may run out of money." In fact, Social Security will pay full benefits until 2036, even if no changes are made to the program, and even after 2036, Social Security will be able to pay "three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2085." Read More

Right-Wing Media Defend The Rich Unless The Rich Person Is Named Warren Buffett
Following President Obama's introduction of a plan for "economic growth and deficit reduction," the right-wing media have rushed to defend the rich from the proposed tax increases. However, the one rich person they are not defending is Warren Buffett, a billionaire who has argued that the country's wealthiest individuals should no longer be "coddled" by a "billionaire-friendly Congress" and should instead pay higher taxes. Read More

Fox's Varney Demonizes UAW's "Sweetheart Deal" With GM By Telling Half The Story
Fox Business host Stuart Varney claimed that the United Auto Workers received a "sweetheart deal" from General Motors, largely because the deal includes a $5,000 signing bonus for every worker. But Varney didn't mention that the signing bonus reportedly takes the place of cost-of-living wage increases in the deal or that the deal will reopen a Tennessee assembly plant and reduce GM's overall labor costs during the lifetime of the contract. Read More

Fox Fabricates Headlines During NFL Coverage, Calls Them ‘Actual Headlines’

Fox Fabricates Headlines During NFL Coverage, Calls Them ‘Actual Headlines’

During its week one coverage of a game between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons, Fox broadcast network used graphics of fabricated newspaper headlines to outline a story about embattled Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Fox NFL analyst Daryl Johnston referred to the headlines — which read, “Cutler Leaves With Injury,” “Cutler Lacks Courage,” and “Cutler’s No Leader” — as “actual headlines from the local papers here in Chicago.” The headlines supposedly referred to criticism Cutler received for sitting out the second half of Chicago’s playoff loss last season. The Chicago Tribune, however, didn’t recognize the headlines, and got Fox — whose parent company News Corporation is under investigation for phone-hacking and other journalistic malpractice issues — to admit that the headlines were fake. Watch the segment, courtesy of SportsGrid:

Bachmann Vows To Save Successful Gov’t-Funded Factory From Itself

Hoo-wee, Michele Bachmann is back in Waterloo, Iowa where she was hatched, spouting as usual just “the complete opposite of whatever is actually the case in reality.” So what this time?

Bachmann rambled a righteous yarn about the devilry and downfall of government spending and regulation Monday as she stood promising growth in front of a booming traffic-signal factory, one that is just doing really super well for itself because of the surge in infrastructure repair projects, which, oh hey, who pays for infrastructure projects?

Who knows, probably the mystery billionaire fairy nymphs that go around financing public works projects when government red tape isn’t tangled in their wings. Whoever they are, Michele Bachmann is on their team to save this factory (that, again, is doing well despite the downturn). READ MORE »

Clinton Says GOP Climate Deniers Making The U.S. ‘Look Like A Joke’

TPM

Former President Bill Clinton has some tough words for Republican climate-change deniers: quit making the U.S. "look like a joke."

Kicking off his Clinton Global Initiative in New York, the former president said Americans should make it "politically unacceptable" for people to engage in climate change denial, according to Politico.

"I mean, it makes us -- we look like a joke, right?" Clinton said. "You can't win the nomination of one of the major parties in the country if you admit that scientists are right?"

Clinton's three-day conference -- held in New York at the same time as the United Nations' General Assembly -- comes a week after former Vice President Al Gore called out climate change deniers. Gore, at a climate event in New York, said that carbon polluters are the "biggest source of campaign contribution," which he said surely influences politicians.

Major Graham Donor Indicted For Illegal Contributions, Defrauding Govt. Of At Least $3.6M

TPM

A major campaign contributor to Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) allegedly defrauded the federal government out of at least $3.6 million that was supposed to be used to research vaccines to combat deadly diseases.

Jian-Yun "John" Dong, the president of the South Carolina-based biotechnology firm GenPhar, and his estranged wife are accused of making at least $31,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Graham and his political action committee. GenPhar was Graham's sixth largest contributor between 2005 and 2010, with $46,269 in donations coming from GenPhar employees.

The indictments came down in April, but federal authorities didn't unseal the charges until Monday. Federal prosecutors allege Dong took $30,000 from a German national and funneled that money to support Graham's reelection. Graham's treasurer said that they were cooperating with federal authorities.

"Campaign officials met with authorities in October 2010 and provided information pertinent to the investigation," said Thad Westbrook, treasurer of Lindsey Graham for Senate and Fund for America's Future. "Our campaign has and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation."

Most of the money Dong is accused of taking apparently came from a $4.2 million grant GenPhar received in 2005. The Post and Courier reports:..........................................

GOP Gov. Nikki Haley Can’t Back Up Drug Testing Claim

TPM

Oops! South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on Monday said she can't back up a claim she made about job seekers' drug use in her state.

Earlier, Haley claimed that about half of the applicants at a nuclear site in South Carolina failed a drug test -- evidence she used to justify the need to drug screen applicants for unemployment benefits. But it turns out that less than 1 percent of applicants failed the drug test, the Associated Press reports.

"I've never felt like I had to back up what people tell me," Haley told the Associated Press. "You assume that you're given good information. And now I'm learning through you guys that I have to be careful before I say something."

"I'm not going to say it anymore," she added.

Haley said she was at the Savannah River Site nuclear reservation and heard the drug testing claim from people there, a comment that "had a huge impact" on her.

"It is the reason you're hearing me look into whether we can do drug testing," she said. "It's the reason you hear me focus so much on job training. Somebody can't say that and it not stick you in the gut."

Despite the evidence against it, Haley is still seeking drug tests tied to applicants for unemployment benefits, according to the report.

Read the rest here.

Rhode Island GOP Lawmaker Turns Out To Be Wanted Fugitive

Massachusetts has discovered a new place to try to hunt down its wanted criminals: the Rhode Island state legislature! It seems kind of obvious in retrospect, only because the Ocean State is kind of a sad, drug-addled dump from what we hear.

Rep. Daniel Gordon Jr. was arrested in Rhode Island for failing to appear in Massachusetts court on charges of evading a police officer, although technically the fun part of this story is that the Rhode Island State Police also discovered in the process that the freshman Republican lawmaker has been in jail on and off in Massachusetts for the last two decades on a dizzying array of assault, attempted murder and drug charges.

Normally this might not be a necessarily bad thing for a lawmaker, because being a violent asshole is a kind of fast-track qualification for political success. But instead, this is all super bad for Gordon, because he is coincidentally also the kind of asshole who is constantly harassing everyone on the Internet, which is unforgivable. READ MORE »

The Most Patriotic Thing You Can Do

Mark Cuban

Bust your ass and get rich.

Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes.

When you make a shitload of money. Do something positive with it. If you are smart enough to make it, you will be smart enough to know where to put it to work.

I don’t care what anyone says. Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefiting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make the more of a financial impact you can have.

I’m not against government involvement in times of need. I am for recognizing that big public companies will continue to cut jobs in an effort to prop up stock prices, which in turn stimulates the need for more government involvement. Every cut job by the big companies extracts a cost on the American people in one way or another.

Entrepreneurs are needed to create and grow companies to absorb those people in new jobs. If entrepreneurs don’t create those jobs, the government ends up having to spend more money to help them one way or another.

So be Patriotic. Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes , your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write. Your 2nd thought will be “what a great problem to have”, and your 3rd should be a recognition that in paying your taxes you are helping to support millions of Americans that are not as fortunate as you.

In these times of “The Great Recession” we shouldn’t be trying to shift the benefits of wealth behind some curtain. We should be celebrating and encouraging people to make as much money as they can. Profits equal tax money. While some people might find it distasteful to pay taxes. I don’t. I find it Patriotic.

I’m not saying that the government’s use of tax money is the most efficient use of our hard-earned capital. It obviously is not. In a perfect world, there would be a better option. We don’t live in a perfect world. We don’t live in a perfect time. We live in a time where the government plays a big role in an effort to help lead us out this Great Recession. That’s reality.

So I will repeat my point. Get out there and make a boatload of money. Enjoy the shit out your money. Pay your taxes.

It’s the most Patriotic thing you can do.

Righteous Christian Pat Boone: Obama is a Kenya-Born Muslim

International Business Times

Former singing star and now Republican activist Pat Boone has repeated his assertions that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore illegible to be in the White House.

In an appearance at a Republican convention in Los Angeles, Boone, a member of the Beverly Hills Tea Party, told reporters: “I was in Kenya a year and a half ago and everybody said, ‘You know, he [Obama] was born here.”

He added: “Why else would he be hiding all his records? He is spending millions of dollars so we do not have his records. And experts have already looked at and been able to verify that this long form document is a fraud. But the media ignores it; a total fraud. A photoshopped fraud.”

Boone also doesn’t think Obama is a Christian.

“Growing up in Indonesia, he [Obama] used to read the Koran in Arabic, so that was instilled in him as a young boy,” Boone said. “He hasn’t celebrated any Christian holidays in the White House, but he does Ramadan.”

Obama has long been one of Boone’s obsessions.

In February of this year, Boone said Christians need to mobilize in order to remove Obama from office in 2012.

“We are determined, we Christians and conservatives — not all Christians — to relieve him of his command,” Boone reportedly said....................

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-19-11

Fox Again Cries "Class Warfare"
Fox has once again accused President Obama of engaging in "class warfare," this time in response to Obama's deficit-reduction plan, which reportedly calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy. Read More

What The Press Is Getting Wrong About Solyndra
In the rush to cover the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer that received a loan guarantee from the federal government, many news media outlets have misrepresented or omitted key facts. Read More

Bad Medicine: Fox News Physicians Are A Prescription For Misinformation, Scientific And Otherwise
From Dr. Keith Ablow's unscientific attacks on Chaz Bono to Dr. Manny Alvarez's baseless suggestion that Tylenol will soon be moved behind the counter because of the Affordable Care Act, Fox News' "Medical A-Team" experts routinely advance misinformation, sometimes using their medical credentials to give credence to their arguments. Read More

Multi-Millionaire Rep. John Fleming Can’t Afford Obama’s Rich People Tax

House Republicans are flapping their jowls across the airwaves today complaining about Barack Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on the super-rich, because it’s a lot harder to survive on half a million dollars than your average middle-class hobo socialist who lives on a salary of $40,000 thinks it is. Louisiana Rep. John Fleming will make this point with math, by explaining that he grosses $6.3 million a year from his businesses, but he only takes home around $400,000 per year after expenses. And then he stares at anchor Chris Jansing blankly, because, uh, yeah, that was his point. What part of that wasn’t clear? Only $400,000, that’s what he wanted to say. Helloooo? READ MORE »

‘John Boehner Is A Socialist’

Andrew Breitbart Longing To Shoot The Next Person Who Insults Him

Screw Barack Obama and the pussy liberals with their “class warfare.” Conservative anger bear furry and professional Twitter troll Andrew Breitbart wants “warfare warfare,” because he is just murderously sick and tired of being called a homo by everyone, on Twitter.

HOW DARE THESE PEOPLE. Andrew Breitbart is the world’s biggest victim, Andrew Breitbart in case you had forgotten about him during the time it took you to read those other words, Andrew Breitbart, and he is not afraid to “fire the first shot” in the bloody national civil war between conservatives and liberals that is about to start, tomorrow probably, over the mean things the Internet is saying about Andrew Breitbart.

Bring it on, General Janeane Garofalo (?), you and your army of socialist space robots do not stand a chance. Video of Andrew Breitbart’s insane call to war, after the jump! READ MORE »