George Orwell Predicted The Wingnuts

The more you read George Orwell's 1984 masterpiece, the scarier it becomes especially as we live in the year 2007. What he predicted in 1948 is coming true by leaps and bounds in George Bush's America. Bush couldn't do it alone, neo-con think tanks, Fox News and the right wing blogosphere help him to try and move that Overton Window further and further over the precipice of sanity. Well, Orwell even predicted Michelle Malkin and the rest of her horde.

From A Tiny Revolution:

The Scott Beauchamp affair is reminding me of this, from 1984:

A Party member...is supposed to live in a continuous frenzy of hatred of foreign enemies and internal traitors, triumph over victories, and self-abasement before the power and wisdom of the Party. The discontents produced by his bare, unsatisfying life are deliberately turned outwards and dissipated by such devices as the Two Minutes Hate, and the speculations which might possibly induce a sceptical or rebellious attitude are killed in advance by his early acquired inner discipline...called, in Newspeak, crimestop. Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.

At first it seems amazing that Orwell could have precisely described today's right-wing blurgh world sixty years ago. But the right-wing blurghs are just an outgrowth of human nature, which never changes. (In particular I'm always been struck by the consistency with which such people are unable to understand analogies.)

No further analysis needed, Orwell covered them in one paragraph. Protective stupidity for George Bush is what they do best.

Max B Confronts Shrilly Michelle Malkin

Max goes on another adventure, this time meeting the ever so annoying miscreant known as Michelle Malkin. To her credit she tries to defend herself, but it is all just a bunch of BS....enjoy the show!

Malkin And The Moustache Man

I would never, ever, never-ever call Fox News "fair and balanced," even I had a gun held to my head. I just wouldn't be able to live with myself. Though to their credit, they let one wacko Republican by the name of Geraldo Rivera counter certified wingnut Michelle Malkin for attacking him on one of their programs. Geraldo completely obliterates Malkin for the lunacy that comes out of her mouth. Maybe it was the shouting match between him and Bill O that lit some sort of fire under him. Of course in the end, I wouldn't want to touch either one of them with a ten foot pole.

WingerLand!

Thanks to Anominousone on YouTube for creating this brilliant clip of rightwing radio and television nuts with all the evidence that goes along with it.

Politicizing Yesterday's Tragedy At Virginia Tech

I was completely shocked to hear the news about yesterday's tragic episode on the campus of Virginia Tech. That tremendous amount of life, so many of them just starting out their lives at college, is beyond words. My heart goes out their families and friends, not to mention the students that will live with a slight edge of terror at was once their safe school. Politics has no reason to pop it's ugly head up here but somehow a few Republican pundits and bloggers managed to do just that.

From Media Matters:

In the wake of a deadly shooting rampage that killed over 30 people on the campus of Virginia Tech University, host John Gibson asked on the April 16 edition of Fox News' The Big Story: "So, theoretically, in this lecture hall where all 31 were killed, there could have been someone with a carry permit carrying their gun to shoot the shooter?" Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano replied: "No," adding, "Virginia lets you carry a gun at a gas station or a bank or a stadium, but not on a college campus, where you may protect kids."

Napolitano and Gibson's comments echo those of right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin, who, citing an op-ed written by a Virginia Tech spokesperson, noted on her weblog that the university prohibits handguns. She then quoted a weblog post from "Andrew's Dad," who wrote: "Just imagine if students were armed. We no longer need to imag[in]e what will happen when they are not armed." Malkin also quoted an email from "[r]eader Kevin" who claimed: "Imagine if sensible CCW [Concealed Carry Weapon] laws allowed people to defend themselves, this tragedy could have been avoided."

To bring up handgun laws and attack those who fight to keep guns out of the hands of criminals in this matter is atrocious. They don't seem to get the fact that Virginia's lenient laws helped aid this mass murderer. Of course it is true that people kill people and the guns are merely the tool, but making it easier for nut jobs like yesterday's murderer to access them and use them is just plain crazy. Besides that, it is just insane to think that a college student would carry a concealed weapon to class even if they were allowed to. College is for learning (and partying too), not for protecting yourself against mass murderers.

No matter how you feel about guns (though this story might stir your emotions on it) it is undeniably wrong to bring politics into this terrible tale that was shown on the news yesterday.

Michelle Malkin: Political Prostitute

I certainly have no love lost for Michelle Malkin. She is a disgusting excuse for a human being and offers herself up for fame and fortune by sacrificing anything that resembles dignity or empathy that is commonly found in people. While covering for Bill O. on the Falafel Factor, she got into a heated exchange with Malik Shabazz, who is no angel in his own right. Fox News can't even carry on a civilized debate anymore and this exchange clearly shows it.

From the Brad Blog:

It really doesn't get any worse than this Michelle Malkin (filling in for Bill O'Reilly) interview of Malik Shabazz Thursday night on Fox "News". There is so much wrong with the exchange that no analysis can do it justice. The clip picks up about halfway through a discussion on the Duke lacrosse case. Here is a taste:

Shabazz: Will you apologize for being a political prostitute for Bill O'Reilly, a white-male-chauvinist-racist, as a woman of color?

Malkin: You want to call me a whore on national TV?

Shabazz: Yes.

Malkin: There is only one whore on this split-screen and it's you Mr. Shabazz.

Shabazz: As a woman of color, you should be ashamed of yourself...

Really, they should both be ashamed of themselves. They are both shills in different spheres. Michelle panders to the right and Shabazz, well, I'll leave it to the ADL to describe him. The point is, neither of them should be on television. The only result of putting those gigantic egos on the same screen is a shouting match, and that was exactly what happenend.

Rush Limbaugh's Excellent Award

I feel that putting the word 'excellent' together with Rush Limbaugh in a sentence is a travesty in itself. However when an organization in media gives that lame excuse for a man an award in 'media excellence,' it is downright nauseating. Don't worry though, the Media Research Center aims to find 'liberal bias' in the corporate media so there is no reason to give creedence to them, the award and especially Rush Limbaugh.

More from Crooks and Liars:

Here are just a few examples of Rush's "media excellence," including even, yes, an attack on the man who the award he won is named after:

Rush Limbaugh attacks Michael J. Fox: ” …he was either off the medication or he was acting. He is an actor, after all.”

Latching onto L.A. Times op-ed, Limbaugh sings "Barack, The Magic Negro"

Limbaugh: Gonzales is "under fire by white liberal racists in the Senate"

Limbaugh: "Could we not say that if Obama wins … he will own Al Sharpton?"

And on and on and on. What "excellence!"

The only thing that can compare to that is Michelle Malkin receiving an "Accuracy in Media Award." Yes, that Michelle Malkin:

Limbaugh...and Malkin's egos are big enough as it is, does society have to allow this bullshit to take place? Yeah, yeah, I know, freedom of speech and all that jazz. Nevertheless, it still amazes me that this crap goes on. Perhaps one day the talking-head parrots of the right-wing will lose their gigantic microphones and talk to an audience more befitting of them, like the loony bin.