I understand your feelings completely and even share them, but maybe not as vehemently as you do. I am not sure that Obama would lose in 2012 if he is the Democratic Party candidate, because we don’t know what will happen between now and the election. I have a feeling that, unfortunately, the GOP controlling Congress is going to be a total disaster for the country. Boehner is a corrupted fool trying to demagogue his way through the pallet loads of $100 bills that are being thrown at the GOP from everywhere, including from our foreign adversaries. Cantor is a dunce. McConnell is a traitor by bribery and McCain by actually being a traitor as a hostage in Viet Nam. Palin and Beck and O’Reilly and Bachmann run the right wing of the country, and Americans seem to be OK with that.

Well, they are for now. Money is going to keep sliding up the food chain and the rest of us will be writhing around in the pits below scrambling for the crumbs off of their table. The legal system will still punish people based on race, giving a black man 50 years in California for stealing $100 worth of kids’ videotapes while white white collar criminals who bilk people out of $millions will simply get probation. Politicians like John Ensign who are clearly guilty of abusing their office will stay in power. So will Jim DeMint. We have been scandalized so much that we have scandal fatigue and nothing lives in our minds longer than 24 hours unless Faux News keeps repeating it and repeating it, which is what they do every time they have anything damaging on the lefties.

Unlike you, I did not vote for Obama, I voted for Nader. I worked on the Obama campaign here in Iowa and then gave up on him, throwing my hands in the air as he walked back from important, key positions he had staked out in previous speeches. Or, in short, he took a hard turn to the right. That’s the way the Democrats do it, every single time. They need progressives at election time to get out the vote and operate the phone banks and put shoe leather on the street. As soon as they win, they’re done with us. We’re thrown off the bus and then run over a few times just to make a point. I had to laugh the other day, I saw a clip of Obama scolding progressives for not being thrilled with all the wonderful shit he’s done.

I’m not thrilled, and neither is anyone else I know. There is going to be a legal challenge to the health care reform that could tie it up in legal knots while insurance companies keep raping the nation and those who can’t afford it are just discarded as trash. Afghanistan has the potential to get very ugly at any time. There are scores of problems that should have been dealt with and have never been brought up because the politicians are too scared to rock the boat without some commitment from their President, and that’s not been forthcoming from Obama.

If Bush’s Presidency will be remembered of the one where our government lost its mind, then Obama’s will be remembered as the one where he lost the opportunity to fix the errors of the last one.

I agree with you. I hope Obama gets primaried by a strong progressive candidate like Russ Feingold. If Feingold managed to give Obama and the Wookie the boot, more power to them. I never thought I’d say this, but I have reached the point where I finally believe that things are so out of control that it doesn’t matter who gets elected. We’re all gonna get screwed.

-Wexler

PS You may notice that Quinn and I don’t always agree on everything. We believe that this actually makes us stronger and a better website.

-Quinn

First off, welcome to the site and thank you for your questions. It’s the first thing in the morning so I may not get all of them answered in one post, but I’ll do what I can. Also, no coffee yet, so you know what that means.

The first question I would like to address is the tone of this website. Quinn and I are website partners but we don’t always agree on everything and tone is one of the issues that comes up frequently. He always comes down on the side of civility and patience. I, on the other hand, have been posting in political forums for over a decade (almost never do now, though) and some of them get pretty rough.

Here’s the thing. Conservative politicos fight dirty. Fox News, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh are perfect examples of how the right wing has taken advantage of liberal complacency to build tools that slice liberal ideas to pieces every day. After Reagan rescinded the Fairness Doctrine and the FCC relaxed regulations on ownership of radio and TV outlets, it opened the floodgates for right wing hate speech which is pervasive in our culture. And it’s been detrimental to our nation.

For example, no matter where you stood about invading Iraq, the facts are in. There were no WMD, the intelligence was rigged, Saddam Hussein was a former CIA asset. One of our own. Why would America make such a colossal blunder? It’s because the right wing media took every leak from the Bush White House and amplified it to a roar. Because of their relationship with Fox, Bush’s crew felt like they could do anything and get positive coverage on it.

This is the long way around to addressing the issue of tone, but I’m working my way to that. After covering the Bush Administration closely I noticed that there were important news stories that should have been headline news regarding whether or not to invade Iraq that were largely unreported. They might get a few lines on the back pages of one of the papers, or even a front page, but it was almost as if people were entirely oblivious to public, factual information that clearly indicated that Iraq was not a threat to the US and had nothing to do with 9/11. However, the tone of the media noise machine made it seem as if we were about to be nuked by anthrax-spraying drones any minute now and we had to do something about 9/11, dammit, and anyone who says otherwise is a either a commie or a cheese-loving surrender monkey. Never mind that the UN weapons inspectors were nearly done with their task. Never mind that they said it was unlikely that they would find anything. Never mind that Scott Ritter said it was absurd to suggest that there could be a nuclear program in Iraq. Never mind that Tommy Franks warned that invading Iraq was going to end in a long stalemate that would require 3 times as many troops. (What? No candy and flowers thrown to the troops from adoring Iraqis?)

The tone of the media made this happen. I made the conscious decision a decade ago that I was going to dump the “politically correct”, meek, turn-the-other-cheek mentality of the typical lefty. American leftists are fighting for the survival of our country. We are trying to prevent this nation from turning into a fascist police state, and time is running short.

So when I cuss somebody out for their obvious ignorance and use harsh language to describe the dangerous, ludicrous crap that Glenn Beck takes on America every day there is a reason for it. I can understand why you don’t agree with my tone. But if it makes you stop and think, just for a second, that maybe you are a fool for believing that Beck is about anything other than Beck, it’s worth it. Believe me, I have better things to do than try to convince a pack of idiots that then need to understand that Glenn Beck is making shit up. Factoids are not the same as facts. Isolated facts taken out of context or misconstrued do not equal the truth, they equal hare-brained, unsupported allegations and smears. If you haven’t figured this out yet, you need to, and in a hurry.

I used to respect the Libertarians because I appreciate any political group that works against the 2 party system. But the Libs are a throwback from 2 centuries ago that do not grasp the fact that we live in the 21st century. The Libs spew platitudes and grandiose schemes, but when it comes right down to it they have no plan whatsoever as to how to run government and you are about to have your face rubbed in that with Senator Rand Paul, one of the biggest idiots that has ever made it to the US Senate.

I don’t need to defend Big Government. You are the one suggesting the change to the status quo. It’s your job to defend why the status quo needs to be changed, why it needs to be changed, and how you are going to fix it. You are arguing the need for change. What’s the need? Give me some examples. I might agree with your examples. Then give me some solutions, and I don’t want to hear Libertarian claptrap like “make the government smaller”. That’s not an answer, Mike, that’s a platitude. Listen carefully to Rand Paul, you are going to be smothered in platitudes.

What Glenn Beck says about AmeriCorps is that it’s Obama’s secret private army that is armed to the teeth and will be used to suppress the American people. He says it has a budget bigger than the Pentagon. WTF?????

I’m a socialist atheist, Mike, and I watch enough of Glenn’s show to provide information for this website. I’m not a lemming or a sheep like his viewers. I’m not a mastodon waiting to be stampeded over a cliff to buy Goldline products and lose 42% of my money the instant the bell on their cash register rings. I’m a trained engineer, which means that my mind has been trained to analyze and define problems and solutions and pick the one likely to succeed. In other words, I’m part of the educated class that Idiot America hates because we actually do the research, read the books, and provide real facts that are different from what Idiot America wants to believe.

Speaking of books, I want you to read one. Idiot America, by Charles Pierce. If you read that book and still think that Glenn Beck is on the right track, then there’s no hope for you.

But thanks for your comment.

-Wexler

I don’t hate everything conservative. I’m against illegal immigration, and affirmative action. Not everything is black and white.

This site is mainly for Beck, so we don’t often write about unrelated issues. If you’d like to discuss big government, I’d be delighted to do so.

1. Do you watch Glenn Beck’s show and/or Radio show?

2. Do you look up the “facts” that Glenn Beck presents on his shows? ex. Do you research the information Beck presents and where he possibly got it from?

3. Where do you get the information that you use to present your ideas about Beck as a liar?

4. Are you a Socialist, Democrat, Liberal, Independent?

5. What do you believe in?

I am literally lost as to what you believe in. I know Americorps quite well, and as far as I am concerned, yes they do some nice things. You get to live for free and do community service. There really isn’t anything wrong with that at all. However, it would be worth questioning just how much Americorps costs to the taxpayer to really determine whether or not it is worth it’s goal.

For example, if you can hire someone in a private sector job for cheaper than the cost for Americorps to host a citizen who works for free then Americorps is not worth its’ existence.

Please note, I do not know the answer, this is merely a question.

Now, to the hate issues. I understand you are against Glenn Beck and everything Republican, Libertarian, etc. etc.

However, rather than debunking someone’s ideas because something is a bunch of “Libertarian claptrap” would it not make more sense to prove WHY Big Government is more effective than limited Government allowing the people to solve their own problems?

If you clearly believe that Big Government is the answer to problems then would it not make sense to show us why?

Could you please just show some real evidence showing where limited Government is more costly and less effective than Big Government?

Also, is it at all possible to respond to this in a NICE, peaceful manner, or are you just going to spit out a bunch of profanities and scream about how republicans and people who have those viewpoints are a bunch of idiots?

Lee, do you actually get what Medicare is? It’s not a “benefit”. It’s something that workers PAY for in payroll deductions. You may not like it but even dyed-in-the-wool GOPERs all over the country who are on Medicare say it’s a great program. Even the discombobulated cognitive dissonance crowd screaming against health care reform in the summer 2009, saying “Keep your socialist hands off my Medicare”.

I agree with Bill in that you may have missed the Big Picture somehow. Instead of repeating total bullshit about AmeriCorps why don’t you go to their website and make an inquiry? It’s not like you’re asking to open negotiations with North Korea or something. Call them up, or email them, and ask to speak to a real person to see what AmeriCorps really does.

I think you’ll be surprised, and I hope you’ll approve.

-Wexler

PS your garbage about how charity hospitals were driven out of business by the mean old Big Government is just more Libertarian claptrap and anyone who believes that shit is wasting valuable lifespan living in a haze of misinformation. Come out of the haze… go to the light…

Well it seems that your experience in education is clear. You missed out, somehow. I have been in both private and public schools. Fact is, public schools perform better, by a wide margin, than private schools. The difference in private over public is simply this. In a private school, the instructors are paid to babysit and make you learn. In public, each student is on their own and must self motivate.

Once in the adult private sector, public school graduates perform better and succeed faster than thos in private schools. Why? Because, the students in public schools had to self motivate.

As for your disparaging comments of our President. I, having served my country in Afghanistan “the first time” and being in special forces in those days long ago, the kinds of things you are saying about Obama IS unpatriotic. Just like when people said Bush was a criminal. No different.

But I fought, killed and got wounded so scum like you can spew your drivel. You piss-ant.

Obama was elected by majority of electoral college votes and by majority of voters by a wide margin. He didn’t “steal” anything. Nobody “stole” America from anyone. Elections have consequences. We won, you lost.

OUR president is putting into place the policies and the rules that he was elected to do. He is doing the best he can. He DID take over the biggest mess that could have been left behind. Two unwinnable wars, a spent surplus, a more than doubling of the national debt from 5.1 trillion to 10.9 trillion. Torture, rendition, spying on American’s, American’s held in jail for years with no trial.

But a piss-ant like you forgets all that.