LA Times: Is O’Reilly a Moderate?

There’s a great post in the LA Times entertainment section (rightfully placed) which talks about the conservative, biased and unfair FOX and their band of entertainers. This particular post raises a very interesting question. In the time of political turmoil, is Bill O’Reilly a moderate?

According to the post:

The top-rated cable talk-show host has always been a contrarian, a self-described culture warrior who touts traditionalism while also favoring gay adoption and some gun-control measures. But in recent months, as the country’s political discourse has curdled, O’Reilly’s independent streak has become even more pronounced — particularly in contrast to Fox News’ newest star, Glenn Beck, who has rallied both passionate fans and detractors with his apocalyptic rhetoric about the Obama administration.

O’Reilly urged a national conference of conservatives to refrain from personal attacks on President Obama. He noted that employing fear in politics is a “double-edged sword” that “can lead to violence and heartbreak.” And he declared that he did not believe the president was a socialist, drawing mockery from radio host Rush Limbaugh. “Name-calling gets us nowhere,” O’Reilly replied mildly.

Read the rest here!

VA AG Ask Colleges to Rescind Discrimination Policies

From the Washington Post:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has asked the state’s public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school Thursday that their boards of visitors have no legal authority to adopt such statements.

In the letter, Cuccinelli (R) wrote that only the General Assembly can extend legal protections to gay state employees — a move the legislature has repeatedly declined to take, including as recently as this week.

“It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ’sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly,” he wrote.

Read more here!

The Hypocrisy of Anti-Gay Conservatives

They quote the Bible by selected verse casting homosexuals to Eternal Damnation. They seek to keep homosexuals from having the basic rights of equality and protection which most Americans take for granted. They support an archaic military rule that deprives talented and much needed human assets from joining or being relived of duty when the “truth” is found out about an individual. And in some cases they compare the homosexual lifestyle to that of pedophiles.

And yet while condemning a lifestyle or impeding advancement and making inflammatory comments about homosexuals, they are in a variety of ways themselves a part of the very lifestyle which they oppose or are participants in the darkest corners of illegality.

In 2006 Florida Republican Mark Foley, a six term Congressional representative, resigned over allegations he sent sexually explicit Internet messages to at least one underage male who was a former page at the Capitol. At the time ABC News reported that it had interviewed Foley, 52, about excerpts of instant messages provided by current and former pages under the age of 18. ABC reported that Foley, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual acts and body parts.

More at: Focus On The Rainbow!

Will the Pendulum Swing?

There is a powerful piece on the Atlantic by Mickey Edwards, who chaired CPAC for five years and served in Congress for 16 years, which explains why he was not in attendance at CPAC this year. To sum it up, he strongly feels the right wing has been taken over by…well, nuts!

Below is an excerpt from that post:

Today there are few things that set a “conservative’s” teeth on edge more than a defense of “civil liberties;” yet that is what American conservatism was all about—protecting the liberties of the people. It was a system designed to protect the people from an over-reaching government, not to protect the government from the people. American constitutionalism was a historical high-point in recognizing individual worth. Stop at CPAC today and you will find rooms full of ardent, zealous, fervent young men and women who believe the government should be allowed to torture (we condemned people at Nuremberg for doing that), who believe the government should be able to lock people up without charges and hold them indefinitely (something Henry VIII agreed was a proper exercise of government authority). Who believe the government should be able to read a citizen’s mail and listen in on a citizen’s phone calls, all without a warrant (the Constitution of course prohibits searches without a warrant, but nobody cares less about the Constitution than some of today’s ersatz conservatives).

I’m not at CPAC because I believe in America. I believe in liberty. I believe that governments should be held in check. I believe people matter. I believe in the flag not because of its shape or color but because of the principles it stands for—the principles in the Constitution, the principles repeated and underlined and highlighted and boldfaced and italicized in the Bill of Rights. The George W. whose presidency and precedents I admire was the first president, not the 43d. It is James Madison I admire, not John Yoo. Thomas Paine, not Glenn Beck. Jefferson, not Limbaugh.

My guess…This is a trend. For the past year there have been many, who have made a great deal of money by bashing President Obama, Gay Rights (which are realistically nothing more than equal rights for all citizens), health insurance reform, and so on. The problem is, the “tea-baggers” fail to realize they are a fringe group, and unlike their adversarial LGBT activist, they haven’t been denied anything. They haven’t been told they aren’t equal and that lack of inequality hasn’t been reinforced by laws that prevent them from being equal. As I’ve mentioned several times, the tea-baggers claim they want to take back America, yet who are they taking it back from? What have they lost? Nothing. I firmly believe that this fringe group went off the rails, and with every other train wreck, it’s in the news everyday. It’s all people talk about…for a relatively short period of time that is, then as with every other tragedy, it’s becomes lost in the archives. After all, we do live in the United States of Amnesia.

I can’t help but to believe this whole tea-party nonsense is nothing more than a really bad fad…worse than bell-bottoms or curly perms. But as with all fads, people jump on board quickly, but fall off just as quick. Yes, it’s been quite popular for kings and queens of the right wing nutery to spew their hateful rhetoric, and get people all fired up over a man of color being in the Oval Office…and giving recognition to minority groups at that. But, when the dust settles, people are still without jobs, people are still doing without health care and there are people in this country still legally being discriminated against. That is NOT the American way. People still recognize that there is an element of brokenness in this country, and people also recognize the efforts wasted on thwarting President Obama are exactly that, wasted efforts and wasted time. I firmly believe the pendulum is swinging, and the lack of tolerance, soon will be geared towards those who up to this point have refused to tolerate.

Somehow, during the years of the G W Bush regime, the crazy right wing lunatic fringe gained freedoms unrealized by everyday Americans. They were on top of the hill and no one could reach them. That’s where and when the deficit, corporate corruption, oppression and discrimination triumphed. It was easy to for the extreme right to bully their way into every facet of government, as George W held the door open for them. But now there’s a new king of the mountain and they are struggling to maintain their high positions. It’s never easy to be pushed down that hill, but they’re sliding on their own, and fortunately we have a president who is sending the message, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

I believe that Americans are starting to see, and admit, the right, in many instances is wrong. As much as I dislike Michele Bachmann, I still believe in her right as an American to live and speak freely, even if that means hiding in the bushes at LBGT rallies. The problem, Bachmann, and others like her on the right, don’t believe everyone should have those same freedoms. They feel they are part of exclusive American country club. One that doesn’t accept members who think different, look different, worship different or love different. But see, American is not a country club. American is a public course, where if you live here, you too get to play, regardless of race, color, religion, creed, gender and eventually sexual orientation.

I believe in America. I believe in the people as a whole. I believe eventually and gradually (taking from history here) Americans will accept and take in those of us who have been standing outside, just as America, eventually and gradually, accepted others who at one time where on the outside looking in. I believe those who have worked so fervently to exclude will become the excluded.  Just as with woman’s suffrage and Civil Rights for people of color, what’s right will prevail over those who stand far to the right. Perhaps it will take more government intervention to provide the catalyst of change (again taking from history) but it will, and one day, in the not too distant future, the tea-baggers and right wingers with their brand of intolerance and hate, will again be recognized for what they are…a minority on the far right…not the majority.  I believe in America and I think that people will come to see and understand the tea-baggers are nothing more than a detriment to the progress we all want and need.  I believe one day, the pendulum will swing, and “tea-baggers” will be a part of our American past.

The Flu Epidemic Hits CPAC

I know it’s been a pretty rough weekend for those of us who consider ourselves liberal. Those of us who consider ourselves equal to all other Americans, even though many of our fellow conservative Americans are fighting the good fight to keep equality a word in the dictionary.

Yes, it’s been a rough weekend. Almost like having the flu. I don’t think I could count the times I wanted to violently puke after having to swallow the bull rhetoric being spewed at the annual CPAC.

Of course, you’ve seen many low-lights from the event, as there certainly weren’t any highlights…except perhaps the infighting which is a clear cut indication that the GOP is not a unified coalition of those who believe in the rich getting richer while the rich screw everyone else…But there were some more notable moments that seem to have gone relatively un-noted.

One, Michele (Bat S–t Crazy) Bachmann’s statement which lit up the eyes and warmed the hearts and brought cheers from many anti-gay conservatives in attendance:

“It’s ‘take back Washington’ time. We’ve got the fever.”

Yes, and as I mentioned, those flu-like symptoms, perhaps they really did have fevers?

Confident of big GOP gains in November’s congressional elections, Bachmann called her Republican Party “the majority in waiting” and drew applause when she proclaimed, “We are in the middle of a political bull market.”

Now, in all sincerity, does Michele Bachmann even know what a “bull market” is?

And perhaps the flu is an epidemic in Minnesota? The state’s governor, Tim Pawlenty had this message to liberals:

“We’re planting the flag on constitutional grounds, and if you try to take our freedoms, we will fight back.”

“Take our freedoms”? Like what, the freedom to deny millions of Americans health insurance? The freedom to deny LGBT citizens equality? The freedom to run the American economy into the ground even worse than the Republican party already has?  What exactly was he talking about?

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