protests

The propaganda station is at their usual old tactics in swaying public opinion:

On the February 23 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade brought on a panel of guests to discuss the ongoing protests in Wisconsin, sparked by Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut benefits and eliminate most collective bargaining rights for some public employees. While talking to Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman, Kilmeade discussed the results of a recent USA Today/Gallup poll to falsely claim that "61 percent" of those polled are "in favor of taking [collective bargaining rights] away."

The poll Kilmeade is talking about is here, complete with this graphic:

Jonathon Weisman at the WSJ echoes something I have been saying all along:

Islamic radicals are seizing on protests against a planned Islamic community center near Manhattan's Ground Zero and anti-Muslim rhetoric elsewhere as a propaganda opportunity and are stepping up anti-U.S. chatter and threats on their websites.

One jihadist site vowed to conduct suicide bombings in Florida to avenge a threatened Koran burning, while others predicted an increase in terrorist recruits as a result of such actions.

"By Allah, the wars are heated and you Americans are the ones who…enflamed it," says one such posting. "By Allah you will be the first to taste its flames."

White House homeland security adviser John Brennan told reporters Friday that he had seen no evidence that the debate over the proposed Islamic center in Lower Manhattan, other mosque protests or the planned Koran burning had affected U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Of course hatred trumps common sense for so many in this country. It’s easy to burn a Koran or say no to a Mosque, but its hard to comprehend that these actions are alienating the second largest religion in the world. Does America really want a billion Muslims pissed off at us, instead of a few hundred radicals? 

This could prove interesting for the U.S.:

Large-scale protests appear to have overthrown the government of Kyrgyzstan, an important American ally in Central Asia, after violence between riot police officers and opposition demonstrators on Thursday killed at least 17 people.

The country’s president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, fled the capital, Bishkek, on his plane, and the opposition declared that it was forming its own government.

Earlier in the day, the police used bullets, tear gas and stun grenades against a crowd of thousands massing in front of the presidential office in Bishkek, according to witness accounts. At least 17 people were killed and others were wounded, officials said.

Opposition leaders said the toll was as high as 100 people, but that figure could not be confirmed.

The upheaval raised questions about the future of an important American air base that operates in Kyrgyzstan in support of the NATO mission in nearby Afghanistan. American officials said that as of Wednesday evening the base was functioning normally.

The Obama administration has sought to cultivate ties with Mr. Bakiyev, angering the opposition, after he vowed to close the American base on the outskirts of Bishkek last year. He reversed his decision after the American side agreed to concessions, including higher rent.

Wow the birther queen is crazier than we thought:

What is the real intention of this Kenyan, Indonesian communist usurper? Is it to provide security for us or to destroy our security? Judge for yourself.

Seeing targeted destruction of our economy, our security, dissipation of American jobs, massive corruption in the Government, Congress Department of Justice and Judiciary, it might be time to start rallies and protests using our second amendment right to bare arms and organise in militias.

I have “bare arms” right now since I am wearing a tank top. But seriously – why is this lady allowed to walk free? She might not be the epitome of a right wing extremist, but she is damn close.

During the Bush years any dissent we showed on the left from the Bush policies was met with a fear of retribution from our government. The Pentagon even spent resources spying on protestors during the Bush years. This at a time when our nation was in two very deadly wars.

Well here we are with a Democratic President in the White House, and now the Department of Homeland Security is looking into the threats from right wing extremists.

The revelation came from a declassified report (pdf here) put out by DHS. Now the right is screaming about it.

Now let’s think. Our Department of Homeland Security is taking a look at groups of people, who are out stock piling weapons and ammunition and even hinting at the assassination of our President. But now the very people, who just a couple of years ago were calling for left wing protestors to be jailed, are now crying foul.

Cry me a fucking river you bunch of hypocrites. This is America – love it or leave it. Our side of the debate was told that repeatedly for the past eight years and now that the tide has turned, the right has got their panties in a bunch.

When the left was under this kind of government scrutiny. Wait. When we were under a stronger scrutiny, considering the fact that the military was watching us, we didn’t run and stock pile guns and ammos and talk about killing Bush. We went about our business and continued our protests.

And finally. How many left wing extremists went out and killed police officers because of their hatred for George Bush? Yeah – that’s what I thought.

The NYPost issued an “apology” for their cartoon that sparked off the protests and debate this week. I put apology in quotes, because it really isn’t that much of an apology, but rather an issue of “if you don’t like it and you didn’t really complain then we are sorry”.

{[}]lt;p>I wonder how the NYPost would respond if the NYTimes published a cartoon depicting Murdoch being shot? That would be a fun experiment to conduct, but I think the NYTimes holds themselves to a much higher standard than a Murdoch propaganda company.

This is a new, and very sick trend in American politics:

LOS ANGELES – Letters containing a suspicious white powder were sent Thursday to Mormon temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City that were the sites of protests against the church's support of California's gay marriage ban.

The temple in the Westwood area of Los Angeles was evacuated before a hazardous materials crew determined the envelope's contents were not toxic, said FBI spokesman Jason Pack.

The temple in downtown Salt Lake City, where the church is based, received a similar envelope containing a white powder that spilled onto a clerk's hand.

I, like many on the left, was very disappointed when prop 8 passed, but actions like this help no one. It is domestic terrorism and hopefully the person who sent the letter will be caught and prosecuted. We can all disagree and voice our opposition without resorting to illegal actions.

That is what this is all about:

China faced a barrage of international condemnation from London to Canberra yesterday after it was revealed that it had launched a missile attack on an ageing weather satellite, a test that threatened to open a "Star Wars" space race.

Formal protests were lodged with the Beijing government, accompanied by expressions of concern from world leaders, including Tony Blair. The Bush administration is privately seething over the event and is believed to be preparing to turn the incident into a major diplomatic spat.

(emphasis mine)

Bush isn't mad because they can blow our satellites up. He is mad because they beat us. Is it shocking they did? Our country ranks low for education. Our brightest minds end up leaving to go to other countries, where they can work more freely. This whole "blowing satellites up" thing isn't new. This is Star Wars that Reagan was pushing for during his time in office. It has been talked about for at least 20 years. Now suck it up George - China beat us. Is it really a good time to piss them off more and possibly get Russia into the mix backing them? Democrats need to watch his actions on this also.