Fox News Watchdog

It would be naive to believe ONLY Republican politicians have a history of friendly relations with companies we’ve come to know as Big Oil. But they are the only group that has repeatedly and very publicly done underhanded things to nurture these relations and to cover for transgressions by the oil companies.

A good example of recent cover-up (by the republican Bush administration) has been well laid out on the following website:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/05/03/bp-oil-slick-the-result-of-republican-doj-and-regulatory-policy/

And for some more background from another source:

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/347/oil-politics.html

Anyone surprised by any of these claims has been living in a cardboard box for the last 40 years. Do you really think W was in office because of his prowess as an intellectual and leader? Or perhaps it has something to do with his ties to oil, his origins as a Texan politician, and offspring of the most corrupt political family in the history of this country. You can look at all Gulf Coast states politicians and see a long crumb trail of money leading from them back to Big Oil. Democrats and Republicans alike. But only the Republicans seem to do this with pride, and when they have the opportunity they do everything to deregulate and cater to the oil industry. We are witnessing the reason for regulation of Big Oil. When the bottom line is accumulation of wealth and the compromise is potential destruction of the environment or someone else, rarely does an oil company (or any company for that matter) chose a righteous course:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/60-minutes-airs-riveting-interview-with-deepwater-horizon-survivor/

If I were a Republican I’d be very motivated to toss as much blame on the current administration while I could and still have an audience to do so. There are (for them) important elections coming and when the Fox News watching public are reminded of the truth about their Big Oil ties (that will be brought to light when the hearings and trials start) there’s going to be collective hell to pay from all directions.

The presumption that any and all response from an attack on the USA should be tenfold the impact of the original strike is preposterous. There’s no place for nuclear weapons in conventional warfare of the 21st century kind. This isn’t the difference between a hand gun and a grenade.

The problem isn’t that a nuclear free world is bad, it’s that Obama wants to restrict its use, and anything Obama does and supports (including saving kittens from a flood) would be seen as an attack on the American people, constitution, and a grand conspiracy of the most sinister sorts by the WHITE conservative minority. Those kittens are commies, don’t you know? KKFC (Killing Kittens for Christ, or Killer Kentucky Fried Chicken <– either way, it can only result in the purist of evil!)

The fact anyone would support the use of nuclear weapons, in any situation, is a revealing picture of the moral vacuum in this country’s most fundamentalist groups. It’s a clear indicator of their complete absence of humanity and hopeless perspective of the world nurtured in their protectionist cave. The ends they will go to discredit their ideological opponents.

The more vocal and ignorant voices in our current political atmosphere would like nothing more than to obliterate the rest of the world if it means they get to watch Nascar and drink beer without fear of “terrorism”. At least until the next fear fad comes along. Next time it could be beer drinking Nascar fans who are singled out as the latest curse and cause for an end of days. The hunter can become the hunted if they run out of bullets, which they seem to be spraying arbitrarily into the political landscape with reckless abandon.

I can hear them now… “Keep talking Pinko, while I reload”.

So let’s not forget the reality of what the Tea Party movement is, what it stands for, who the major players really are, and why interested agencies like Fox News and the Republican Party are hanging on their every move.

Prior to Obama leading in the election there was very little “movement” to be found. There were Republicans, there were Democrats, and there were the ‘other’ politically minded folks (libertarians, independents, etc). It was only AFTER it appeared Obama stood a real chance at winning, and especially AFTER he actually won, that this movement started making any noise and the media interests started taking note. Had McCain won I would bet my lifetime of wages that this movement would never had existed post-election. McCain, most importantly, was white. Secondly, he was republican. Lastly, he had Sarah Palin and her rebellious attitude that embodies their platform: “We don’t like, we don’t know why, and we don’t know what to do about it.” It’s that loosely grounded uncertainty that has reasonable, level minded political folk like me worried about the direction this movement is heading to secure our country’s future. It seems those most concerned with tomorrow don’t even truly understand what’s going on around them today.

Most of the Tea Party members are white republicans. I’m being kind, I could say ALL members and probably be spot-on. The only man of color in the republican party supposedly runs it. If you can believe that.

This movement is nothing more than a re-branding of the core republican ideology. White, disenfranchised Christians. Their tenants are exactly what the republican party has always stood for. But these people, rather than invest their time in the (actual) Party, have decided that associating themselves with the losing team would be more detrimental than trying to create and market a new brand.

Don’t let the denial of their conservative roots fool you. The Tea Party is nothing more than a splinter cell of the Republican Party.

Most people who’ve graduated the 6th grade and have watched Glenn Beck for more than 3 minutes know he’s not the sharpest tool in the drawer. Well, this about demonstrates why. Jon Stewart tears into Glenn when he unwittingly denounces everything and everyone of being progressive, then loosely (with invisible ink) ties progress to communism. The finale – he learned all about this at the library, a government run public institution!

The BBC posted an interesting article about how Americans often vote and/or form beliefs contrary to their own well being or benefit.

Last year, in a series of “town-hall meetings” across the country, Americans got the chance to debate President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms.

What happened was an explosion of rage and barely suppressed violence.

Polling evidence suggests that the numbers who think the reforms go too far are nearly matched by those who think they do not go far enough.

But it is striking that the people who most dislike the whole idea of healthcare reform – the ones who think it is socialist, godless, a step on the road to a police state – are often the ones it seems designed to help.

In Texas, where barely two-thirds of the population have full health insurance and over a fifth of all children have no cover at all, opposition to the legislation is currently running at 87%.

Another source for similar discussion can be had by picking up a copy of What’s the Matter with Kansas?.