How the Tea Party still views America

How the Tea Party still views America

How to Test the Resolve of a Creationist

Gallup poll of [US] adults: Humans didn't evolve, 46%; evolution guided by God, 40%; evolution occurred by itself, 10%. Quoted by Adam L. Carley, Free Inquiry, Fall 1994

Thanks to Ethical Reporters Against Faux News for the steal.

How to Test the Resolve of a Creationist

Tea Party History Lesson

A history lesson from the Tea Party

In days of yore, giants strode the earth. We know and worship them them today as the Founding Fathers!

Thanks to Salon.com for the steer and Tom Tomorrow for the satire.

Tea Party History Lesson

Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally - Interviews With Participants

Bearing in mind Beck is a national disgrace, how does he want to restore the US's 'honour'? And what empowers him to do so?

Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" Rally - Interviews With Participants

So how can the USA fund healthcare...?

Bill Maher gives some options...

So how can the USA fund healthcare...?

"The Tea Party's Over"

Old Fart tells it like it is. Bye bye Teabaggers - oh how we'll miss your singular spelling! And it's great news for the 99.9998% of Americans who already think you're a tired joke!

"The Tea Party's Over"

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" -  by Tim Wise

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters - the black protesters - spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protesters — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America’s Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.

Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”

Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game Over.

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

The Teabagger Boogie

The Teabagger Boogie

Cartoon of the Day

Thanks to the gals at The Poltical Carnival for the image!

Cartoon of the Day

How to 'Teabag' - in words and images

How to 'Teabag' - in words and images

Internecine Sqaubbles: GOP/Teabaggers/Conservatives

It would appear that the Republican/Teabagger/Conservative 'family' have familial issues - like whether they like Sarah Palin or not - or whether they're in favour of free speech or whether to boo-off one of their own...

Internecine Sqaubbles: GOP/Teabaggers/Conservatives

The 'Fiscal Conservative' myth debunked

You've perhaps often read (and certainly heard) that Republicans, the Teabaggers and some, ahem, 'independents', all claim to be "fiscal conservatives".

This claim, and their ethos, is predicated on tax cuts (which, ironically results in the gov't generating less tax revenue for spending on the programmes to which they're committed), a reduction in said gov't spending (see previous point), and generally sees them protesting, rather vocally, when any suggestion is made other than the above two chief 'demands'.

You can see why gov't spending could be an issue, certainly if it gets out of control - as without the tax revenues to ensure the provision of it commitments (social services, Medicare, wars etc.) it then runs up a deficit - and 'fiscal conservatives' are avowedly against deficits!

With me so far? OK.

Then, and with no small irony, Reuters have just gone and pissed on the chips of, and given the lie to, these so-called fiscal conservatives, with the following deficit graph. You'll note that Clinton, a Democrat president, actually cleared the deficit and then operated at a not insubstantial surplus, whilst every other recent Republican president grew enormous deficits - most notably Reagan and both Bushs.

And yet, even with this being the case, Republicans, Teabaggers and 'independents' still vote for what they, incorrectly, perceive to be the party of 'fiscal conservatism', the Republicans/GOP?! 

I guess you can lead a horse to water....

The 'Fiscal Conservative' myth debunked

Tracing the roots of the Teabaggers...

Teabaggers - circa 1950 - note the liberal (no pun intended) and entirely inappropriate use of the word 'Communism'. As you can see, seems like little has changed, in their minds or vocabulary, since that time...

Tracing the roots of the Teabaggers...

Teabaggers: giving "patriotism" a bad name

The Teahadists

Revisionism, alarmist jingoism, confusion, paranoia, the politics of envy, inexactitude, outright lies, threats and, frankly, an object lack of education combine to illustrate the 'movement' of self-interest.

Just tragic.

Thanks to Larry Halstead and the keen eyes of The Political Carnival for the clip!

Teabaggers: giving "patriotism" a bad name

'Teabonics': a grammar & dictionary-free zone

These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests.

They all feature "creative" spelling or grammar.

This new dialect of the English language shall be known as "Teabonics." 

 See them all at this THIS LINK

Thanks to Daniel Bukszpan for the Flickr link

'Teabonics': a grammar & dictionary-free zone

That word 'change' comes round again to haunt the GOP & Teabaggers; and it's not about about healthcare: it's about a change in America. Click on the title below for the full article.

The Rage Is Not About Health Care

The Rage Is Not About Health Care

Healthcare: Teabaggers go to the Circus

Again, the Teabaggers long on hearsay, confusion and Fox News disinformation, but so short on any details or actual facts.

Healthcare: Teabaggers go to the Circus

When bumper-sticker sloganeering meets rampant paranoia

Thanks to New Left Media for their endeavours in putting this package together.

In February 2010, the group Tea Party Nation organized the first Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, a for-profit event. Some 600 people paid $550 to attend, and Sarah Palin was reportedly paid $115,000 to the be the keynote speaker. After criticism of the convention's cost, for-profit status, and payment to Palin, multiple national Tea Party organizations withdrew their participation.

But the event went on.

And so did the paranoid, conspiratorial assertions--that President Obama was born in another country, that he has covered up his college transcripts, that he is pushing a communist/socialist agenda, that he is protecting terrorists and endangering our country, etc.

The organizers of the convention made great efforts to limit access to the press, and even held "new-media training" sessions to help the Tea Partiers sound and look better on camera--the more people see inside this movement, the less they like it. But we got ourselves into the event, where the right-wing, fringe sentiments were on plain display.

That said, these Tea Partiers - at least those able to pay the cost of attendance - are more affluent than those at the 9.12 DC March, and more self-conscious of how they are portrayed in the media. There were fewer signs and homemade t-shirts here, but the attitudes, if more subtle in delivery, were the same.

 

When bumper-sticker sloganeering meets rampant paranoia

The Republican's Deficit of Honesty

The notion that the Tea Party movement is not about fear, lies, and an aversion to change is silly. If some of them could turn back time and nail themselves to the founding fathers, they would do.

There was no Tea Party when the US went from a surplus in 2000 to a deficit in 2008 because of unfunded wars and moronic/ill-advised/misconceived (delete as appropriate) tax cuts.

Where was their so-called "fiscal responsibility" movement then? Oh... You're right. It's just a coincidence that they sprouted under Obama.

PS: mainlining memories of Ronald Reagan, or simply regurgitating the line "I'm a fiscal conservative" doesn't actually address the very real problems which the US acquired as a direct result of electing a president, Bush jnr, with the IQ of a coffee table; nor does it absolve Republicans and Teabaggers alike from their head-in-the-sand ostrich management attitude to the devastation of the Bush administration's fiscal fuckwittage.


But Mark Fiore's satire says it much more succinctly and pointedly than that - enjoy!

The Republican's Deficit of Honesty

Learn to Speak Tea Bag

Given the chimps' Tea Party going on in Nashville, Tennessee, this week, here's an aide-mémoire on its vocabulary, argots, cadences and syntax (to say nothing of mindset): Mark Fiore's satirical animations are works of pleasure!

Learn to Speak Tea Bag