Monthly Archives: May 2012
Study Proves That Fox News Makes You Stupid
As if you did not already know, please be advised that watching Fox News makes you stupid. Indeed, the most recent (of many) studies reveals that watching Fox News actually makes you less informed than watching no news at all. Repeat: People who watch no news at all are better informed than those who watch Fox News. Anyone surprised?
Business Insider reports that Fairleigh Dickinson University’s newest PublicMind survey found that someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer 1.04 domestic questions correctly compared to 1.22 for those who watched no news at all. Those watching only “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”answered 1.42 questions correctly and people who only listened to NPR or only watched Sunday morning political talk shows answered 1.51 questions correctly.
- Fox said less than 10% of Obama’s Cabinet appointees have worked in the private sector. – False
- Fox said, White House Political Director served as right-hand man to the ACORN chief – False
- Fox said Texas Board of Education may eliminate references to Christmas and the Constitution from textbooks – False
- Fox said Health Care Reform is a govt. takeover of health care – False and the PolitiFact 2010 “Lie of the Year”
- Fox said the Muslim Brotherhood has openly stated that they want to declare war on Israel – False
- Fox said American troops have never been under the formal control of another nation – False
- Fox said Gov. Rick Scott’s approval ratings have climbed since election – False
- Fox said Massachusetts’ health care plan is wildly unpopular among state residents – False
- Fox said there’s been more debt under Obama than all other presidents combined – False
- Fox said Health care bill includes death panels – False and the PolitiFact 2009 “Lie of the Year”
- Fox said “Cash For Clunkers” will give govt. complete access to your home computer – False
- Fox said halting Gulf drilling costs $8 Billion a day in imports – False
- Fox said Democrats plan largest tax increase in history – False
- Fox said Eric Holder was involved in the dismissal of criminal charges against New Black panthers – False
- Fox said Obama voted “present” in the U.S. Senate quite often – False
- Fox said John Holdren proposed forced abortions and putting sterilants in drinking water – False
- Fox said labor union president Andy Stern is most frequent visitor at white house – False
- Fox said America is the only country with automatic citizenship upon birth – False
- Fox said Bill O’Reilly never called George tiller a baby killer only reporting what others called him – False
- Fox said only fox news picked up that Anita Dunn said Mao was one of her favorite philosophers – False and
- Fox said nobody at Fox news ever said you’re going to jail if you don’t buy health insurance – False
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
“Strange Brew” song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_NholHANoY
STRANGE CREW
(sung to the Cream song “Strange Brew”)
Strange crew
They’ve got there at Fox News
Does that Sean Hannity have a new hairdo?
And will Bill O’Reilly go back on “The View”
No clue
And what will Glenn Beck do?
Strange crew
They’ve got there at Fox News
There’s a long-faced sullen man that’s named Brit Hume
And a blonde-haired guy named Ann Coulter, too
Pee-you
That’s just to name a few
Strange crew
They’ve got there at Fox News
(Misinformation break)
They have a dumb Alaskan known as Sarah P.
And a weekend wimp named Mike Huckabee
Good Lord
Could they be more abhorred?
Strange crew
They’ve got there at Fox News
Strange crew, strange crew
Strange crew, strange crew
Strange crew
They’ve got there at Fox News
Tuesday Morning Coffee (or Tea) – 97
Just a few newsworthy items (and comments thereon) that have been making their way through the political universe this past week but may have escaped your attention. Please ponder and maybe chuckle a bit before enjoying a wonderful day during this unofficial first workday of summer!
BREAKING NEWS: This week’s episode of “Creepy Old Fat Men” stars conservative radio shock jock Rush Limbaugh. Media Matters reports that last week the drug-addicted Limbaugh told a 14 year old girl who called into the program that she is a “Rush babe”. He then said, “See, folks, this program has no boundaries. We have people from all three sexes, we have people from all religions, we have people from all genders, all demographics, all ages. A 14-year-old Rush babe.” Ewww! After listening to Limbaugh, you feel like you need a shower.
THIS JUST IN: Want to know how to lose the Latino vote? Just ask Mitt Romney. Talking Points Memo reports that Romney addressed a luncheon hosted by the Latino Coalition Wednesday. Immigration was not mentioned once, either in the address or in a pre-screened Q&A session. Romney’s lack of any reference to immigration on Wednesday was especially glaring given that the Latino Coalition has strongly advocated for comprehensive immigration reforms in recent years. The the latest polls show Romney trailing with Latinos by the same disastrous margins that brought down John McCain.
BREAKING NEWS: Speaking of Mitt Romney, he was given a foreign policy spanking last week by none other than GOP foreign policy heavyweight Colin Powell. In reference to Romney’s labeling of Russia as the United States’ “No. 1 geopolitical foe, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, “Come on, Mitt, think. That isn’t the case.” MSNBC reports that Powell added, “Let’s not go creating enemies where none need exist… let’s not hyperbolize the situation.”
THIS JUST IN: Speaking of Colin Powell, did you realize that last week he endorsed gay marriage? The Hill reports that he said, “As I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones. And they are [as] stable a family as my family is. And they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married under the laws of their state or the laws of the country, however that turns out — it seems to be the laws of the state,” during an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” Good for you, Mr. Powell!
BREAKING NEWS: Remember Newt Gingrich? before running for President he liked to brag that his business ventures pulled in more than $110 million over the past decade. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to Newt’s quitting the presidential race. Reuters reports that “the vestiges of this empire are mired in debt, as is Gingrich’s campaign fund” and they “are going bankrupt.” Gingrich, you might recall, told the American people he knew how to get the nation out of debt. Not so much.
THIS JUST IN: Speaking of Newt Gingrich, remember when the philanderer’s personal financial disclosure campaign filing revealed he had a line of credit of up to $1 million with the store, in addition to a revolving charge account at the high-end Tiffany & Co. jewelry store? Well, perhaps Gingrich’s recent financial collapse has also had a negative effect on the tony jeweler. Tiffany & Co. cut its outlook for both sales and profit for the year, citing a slowdown in demand for its jewelry. As the result of that announcement, its shares fell more than 8 percent in premarket trading.
BREAKING NEWS: Best quote of the week: at an event in Iowa, President Obama said “Governor Romney came to Des Moines last week and warned of a prairie fire of debt, but he left out some facts. His speech was more like a cow pie of distortion.”
THIS JUST IN: This weeks episode of “Republicans Eating Their Young” features George F. Will. Thinkprogress writes, “During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, columnist George Will slammed Romney for sharing a stage with the self-promoting businessman. Describing Trump as a ”bloviating ignoramus,” Will said, “I do not understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is gonna vote for him [Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me…Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics. Again, I don’t understand the benefit. What is Romney seeking? ”
BREAKING NEWS: This weeks episode of “Republicans Eating Their Young- Part Two” features Meghan McCain. The Senator’s daughter wrote a column in The Daily Beast this week in which she called out Republicans for their hate speech. She said, “Last week, I went on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show PoliticsNation to talk about extremism in the Republican Party. As a socially liberal Republican, this happens to be a topic I know a lot about. On the show, I told Sharpton that many Republicans treat me like a freak, especially the extreme-right members of my party. I went on to say that I don’t understand the appeal of extreme bloggers such as Michelle Malkin and the late Andrew Breitbart. That’s all I said, but it only took a few hours before my comments were posted out of context on a variety of blogs that suggested I was viciously attacking Breitbart. My Twitter feed exploded with insults, including the suggestion that I should kill myself.”
Please remember to click on the song link below to not only familiarize yourselves with the tune of today’s song parody about the Meghan McCain /Michelle Malkin rivalry, but also so that you will have more fun singing along.
We Can Work It Out song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn_ZdX6nQvw
THEY CAN’T WORK IT OUT
(sung to The Beatles song “We Can Work It Out”)
Try to see Malkin’s way
All she does is keep on squawking till she can’t go on
Try to see McCain’s way
Just a kid foregoing all the love of neocons
They can’t work it out
They can’t work it out
All Meghan is saying
Neocons were wrong and moved way too far to the right
But Michelle is saying
McCain’s a kid that must learn to hate with lips locked tight
They can’t work it out
They can’t work it out
No one shall abort for it’s a crime
Keep fussing and fighting, my friends
G.O.P. group thought by Fox is fine
Broadcast from six till after ten
But to see Malkin’s way
So easy to tell that the far right is so damn wrong
She can’t see McCain’s way
And the chance that the right will fall apart before too long
They can’t work it out
They can’t work it out
Sight is very short in Malkin time
Nonplussing and fighting with friends
McCain’s only thought, not worth a dime
But she still “tweets” time and again
They should hit the highway
They emit a smell that is both ripe and very strong
Passing through a doorway
That will hit them in the ass as we shout out, “So Long!”
They can’t work it out
They can’t work it out
Memorial Day Observance
In honor of Memorial Day there will be no substantive Lynnrockets” Blast-Off post today. Please use the time that you might normally devote to reading this blog to pay observance to those men and women who died while serving in our military. You might also take the opportunity to honor those family members and close friends who have left us.
Lynnrockets’ Blast-Off will return to its regularly scheduled shenanigans tomorrow.
Mitt(wit) Romney Has A New Scandal
The USA Today is reporting that Mitt Romney is being very secretive as to the identities “of the fundraisers helping him collect the millions of dollars he needs to win the White House, even as he promises them special access perks.”
This is an important development because it undermines any claim to campaign transparency by Romney. It also leads to the perception that secret deals will cut for those Wall Street bankers and private equity company executives who are most likely to be Romney’s largest contributors.
The USA Today further reports that,
“Romney is not required by law to disclose the identities of his fundraisers with the exception of those who work as federal lobbyists. Releasing the names of bundlers, however, has been standard in presidential campaigns for more than a decade.
Republican George W. Bush established the pattern in the 2000 election, revealing the names of fundraisers who collected at least $100,000. He repeated the practice in 2004. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee four years ago, had disclosed his fundraisers by this point in the 2008 campaign, releasing a list of 106 bundlers on April 18 of that year.
President Obama has released his fundraiser list every three months during this campaign.”
Campaign-finance watchdogs have pressed for Romney to disclose his bundlers. “Should he be elected, these people will be first in line seeking benefits from the new administration and the public won’t even know who these people are and whether they are being rewarded for their role in getting Romney elected,” said Taylor Lincoln, a research director at Public Citizen.
Here’s hoping the main stream media keeps this issue in the spotlight and continues to press Romney to release names. Here’s also hoping that Romney fails to comply and thereby keeps this scandal alive through election day.
Lynnrockets wishes all of you faithful Rocketeers an enjoyable memorial Day Weekend!
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
The Beverly Hillbillies Theme song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFI-hhndCek
THE ROMNEY HILLBILLY
(sung to the theme of “The Beverly Hillbillies”)
Come and listen to a story ‘bout a man named Mitt
A rich profiteer who’s been known to pitch a fit.
Unlike Scott Brown he won’t model in the nude,
He likes to run for office but he doesn’t have a clue.
Knowledge that is, Hates Polls, Sanity.
Well the one thing we know is Mitt’s a millionaire,
Pinstriped suits and plastic molded hair.
Inside the beltway is the place he wants to be,
So he strapped his dog on top and drove down to D.C.
Washington that is, Lobbyists, Big black cars.
(flip-flop break)
Well now its time to say good-bye to Mitt and all his friends,
He will lose this year’s election and that will be his end
He never will return again cuz of the Tea Party,
They much prefer Santorum and his beastiality.
Man on dog, that is, Ring a bell?, Take your pants off.
Don’t come back now, y’hear?
Scott “Nudist” Brown’s Tomahawk Chop Backfires
For the last month or so, Scott Brown, the Republican Senator from Massachusetts and his private attack dog, the Boston Herald (Republican) have waged a war against his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren as the result of her contention that family lore is that she has Native American ancestry. The Brown campaign and the tabloid have made countless accusations and written scores of articles (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) in an attempt to smear the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Despite their best efforts, neither Brown nor the rag have been able to show that Warren’s career was in any way advanced by her claim to have Native American ancestry. Indeed, every one of her employers has emphatically stated that they either had no idea of her ancestry or that it had absolutely no effect on their decision to hire her at numerous top level law schools. It now appears that the entire jointly executed smear campaign has actually backfired.
The Boston Globe reports that Elizabeth Warren “has pulled into a virtual tie with US Senator Scott Brown, according to a new Suffolk University/7News poll.” The poll reveals that,
“Warren, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has the support of 47 percent of likely voters in Massachusetts, compared to 48 percent for Brown, a dead heat in a poll with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
That is a significant shift from the last Suffolk poll in February when Warren, a consumer advocate and Harvard Law School professor, trailed Brown, a Wrentham Republican, 49 percent to 40 percent.”
Yes, the poll shows that Elizabeth Warren has actually gained 7 points in the poll while Brown is losing support all since the mud-slinging by Brown and Co. began. The poll was conducted between May 20th and May 22nd and will certainly “help Warren fend off criticism from political insiders who complained that she had bungled her response to the issue by not confronting it more directly.”
Importantly, “Forty-nine percent said they believe Warren is telling the truth about being part Native American, compared to 28 percent who said they believe she is not being honest and 23 percent who said they were not sure.”
Voters do not appear to be punishing Warren for it, said Suffolk’s pollster, David Paleologos. “I’m not saying there was no damage from the Native American thing, but if you zoom out to see what the net effect was, it was minimal,” he said. “What we can conclude is people do not believe it is a significant story. It’s considered a nonstory.”
Former state treasurer and major GOP player in Massachusetts, Joe Malone said, “This has been like a fender-bender on the side of the road. They’re slowing down to look, but it’s not changing where they’re heading.”
The Hill reports, “In Massachusetts — where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1 but independents make up more than half the electorate — voters have a history of shrugging off scandals that would in other states prove fatal. Brown’s predecessor, former Sen. Edward Kennedy (D), survived the Chappaquiddick incident to win reelection for another four decades. Rep. Barney Frank (D) survived a prostitution scandal, and Gov. Deval Patrick (D) outlived a $46,000 Cadillac he leased with taxpayer dollars during his first weeks in office.”
The Boston Globe also reports that Elizabeth Warren “could benefit from President Barack Obama’s strong standing in Massachusetts, and the surge of Democrats he could bring to the polls in November. In the presidential race, Obama crushed former governor Mitt Romney by 25 points, 59 percent to 34 percent in Massachusetts, a reflection of how far Romney has fallen out of favor in the state he once governed.”
Here is an interesting spot which appeared on “Morning Joe” yesterday where even former Republican Congressman and Scott Brown supporter Joe Scarborough was gushing over Elizabeth Warren:
watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MSK2S2t4nsA
Elizabeth Warren can now get back to forcing the clothing-challenged Scott Brown to talk about the issues that are important to the Massachusetts electorate. One of those issues is why did the conservative Forbes magazine name Scott Brown as one of “Wall Street’s Favorite Congressmen”?
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
Send In The Clowns song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGekq3Jt5Go
SEND IN SCOTT BROWN
(sung to the Judy Collins song “Send In The Clowns”)
Claims he’s not rich
Poses while bare
Drives an old truck around town
Mitt Romney hair
This is Scott Brown
And with a kiss
Scott does approve
Of tearing Medicare down
He is a boob
This is Scott Brown
Yes. It’s Scott Brown
Made many stops on his book tour
But he refuses to reveal his child molester
Though he may molest again, Scott Brown does not care
Turns a blind eye
Brown does not care
Scott Brown’s a farce
His end is near
He’s not what the Tea Party wants…
Sorry, Scott dear!
He is just a clown
So Mr. Brown
Don’t bother next year
(plagiarism break)
Isn’t it rich?
Sometime next year
He will be unemployed late in his career
Yes, so long Scott Brown
We’re done with Scott Brown
Let’s stand up and cheer.
Sarah Palin: The Gaffe Gift That Keeps On Giving
Sarah Palin was a gift to Democrats during the 2008 Presidential election cycle. She not only sunk any chance that the Republicans had of keeping the White House, but her constant mishaps and blunders entertained even those who do not follow politics. Remember when she could not name a single newspaper or magazine which she reads to keep current on the affairs of the nation? Remember when she said health care reform “is all about job creation”? Remember when she could not remember Joe Biden’s name (O’Biden)? Remember when she was incapable of describing the job of the Vice President to an elementary school student? Best of all, she inspired Tina Fey to create one of the most accurate and funny politician portrayals in the history of comedic politician portrayals.
Thankfully, the former ex-quitting half-term Governor of Alaska continued to entertain us even after she blew the election. In May of 2010, Palin appeared on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” to talk about the controversy over the “National Day of Prayer”, during which, she boldly announced that the US should base its laws on The Bible, just as the Founding Fathers intended. Speaking of the Founding Fathers, when asked about the “under God” reference in the Pledge of Allegiance, Palin said, “If it was good enough for the Founding Fathers, its good enough for me” (of course the Pledge of Allegiance was not written until more than 100 years after the Founding Fathers). How about when she wrote in her book “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag” that, “Susan B. Anthony saw the fight for the rights of the unborn as part of the broader fight for women’s rights.”? Remember her 2009 interview on “Good Morning America” when she referenced the fictitious “White House Department of Law”? Was there anyone who did not laugh out loud in 2011 when, during her “bus tour” stop in Boston, she said that Paul Revere rode on horseback and “”warned, uh, the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells…”” (Even American school kids of course, are aware Revere actually rode from Boston to Lexington warning the COLONISTS that the British Army was marching in their direction).
Guess what? The “Sarah Palin Stupid Train” continues to roll down the tracks of our tears of laughter!
We can thank the Topeka Capital-Journal of Kansas for exposing Sarah Palin’s latest blunder. It seems that lots of Kansas voters received a robo-call from Palin in which she solicited them to vote for the Tea Party endorsed Ted Cruz for the U.S. Senate. She said, “Ted Cruz is a true conservative you can trust to stand on principle and change the way Washington does business. Today, through May 25, please vote early for Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate.” Palin ended the call by saying, “Join me. Choose Cruz for Senate.”
That is quite a ringing endorsement from Sarah Palin. Question is, why would she be asking Kansans to vote for a man who is running for the U.S. Senate seat in TEXAS?
Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up!
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
American Pie song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvx7RcEX8w4
ALASKAN PIE
(sung to the Don McLean song “American Pie”)
A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
Palin’s slutty flight attendant style
And when she blew her only chance
With John McCain in the Big Dance
In light of the pregnancy of her child
In February she did shiver
When Levi sold her down the river
Bad news at her doorstep
She didn’t have no more pep
The allegations she denied
Of all those gifts that she did hide
She took Alaskans for a ride
As she cajoled and lied
So bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
Did you quit the job you love
After talking with God up above?
Did the good Lord tell you so?
Are you still pals with Plumber Joe?
Do dead fish still “go with the flow”?
And can Todd’s sister score me some good blow?
Well you know that your prospects are grim
’cause you’re way way out there on a limb
You’re sure to have the blues
Man, you screwed up those interviews
You’re just a lonely mid-aged “hockey mom”
With real deep frustration and a man that’s dumb
You’re just a third rate school alum
Today your future died
We started singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
Now for two years all you did was drone
Remember Sarkozy on the phone?
But just what will your future be?
Will you pester us like a has-been queen?
Will you pout and whine like a spoiled teen?
In a voice that sounds so shrill and mean,
Oh, and when you leave Wasilla town
Take along your beauty pageant crown
And bridges that you burned
Oh, please never return
And those hits you took will leave some marks
A “Barracuda” is no shark
And you were always in the dark
Today your future died
We were singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
Helter skelter you are sure to swelter
The ice in your veins may even melt-ah
Ethics problems coming fast
You’re landing hard on your ass
No throwing stones in a house of glass
When you’re starring in a demon cleansing mass
Now your thinning hair reeks with perfume
You’re a spaceman cuz you see the moon
Your fans would shout and dance
Oh, to your “drill baby drill” chants!
Katie Couric made you squirm and squeal
And that was when your fate was sealed
Do you recall what was revealed
The day your future died?
We started singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
Oh, and then that look upon your face
Not knowing a Supreme Court case
Forget about the Bush Doctrine
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick
Sarah Palin’s no “Maverick”
Cuz she’s just a “Barbie” to Todd’s “Ken”
As we watched you on that debate stage
Your hands were clenched in fists of rage
Everyone then could tell
You were praying for the bell
And as you hoped that you could land a right,
To salvage something of the night
We saw Biden laughing with delight
That day your future died
Joe was singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
Palin’s a girl who has the blues
And she cannot handle interviews
She quit her job and walked away
She could not take it any more
She hightailed it right out the door
Just like a scared child, she up and ran away
And in the streets the voters beamed,
The good Lord had fulfilled their dreams
Sherry Johnston was tokin’
The “barracuda” broken
We did not really want to boast
But “Mama Bear” was finally toast
She’ll write about it through her ghost
That day her future died.
And we were singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
We were singing
Bye-bye Miss Alaska bye-bye
You were shady and darn lazy
With a crazy beehive
And your background boys were making turkey head pie
Then you quit on the third day of July
Quit on the third day of July
The Limbaugh Limbo: How Low Can Rush’s Ratings Go?
It looks like radical right-wing radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh is sustaining even more damage than originally contemplated as the result of his Sandra Fluke controversy. Back in April, Ms. Fluke became newsworthy when she aired her belief that religiously affiliated employers (such as Georgetown Law School where she is a student) should be forced to provide the same contraceptive health care insurance coverage to women as all other (non-religiously affiliated) employers.
Fluke’s comments sent Rush Limbaugh into an on-air public tirade against her. In a lengthy three day long diatribe, he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute”. Limbaugh also said that Fluke was having so much sex she couldn’t walk to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress. He also said, “So, if we’re gonna sit here, and if we’re gonna have a part in this, then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke: And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we are getting for our money.”
Unfortunately for Limbaugh however, he came out looking like a bully and the public reacted accordingly. A massive threatened boycott against those national businesses that continued to support Limbaugh by means of advertising on his program led to a sponsor evacuation. Some 168 national sponsors stopped advertising on Limbaugh’s radio program and at least 2 stations dropped his show. Indeed, for a lengthy period on his flagship station WABC, his commercial time consisted only of free public service announcements while his online feed featured dead air. The Stop Rush Project provides a detailed listing of all national advertisers who have dropped or are avoiding placing ads on Limbaugh’s program.
Thereafter, the National Organization for Women (NOW) focused upon persuading local business sponsors to cease associating themselves with Limbaugh’s program. NOW organized a series of protests at local radio affiliates who carry the Limbaugh program in an effort to convince those stations and local advertisers to sever ties with Limbaugh. Some of the cities where the protests were held included, Washington, D.C., New York City, Phoenix, AZ, Indianapolis, IN, Columbia, MO, Toledo, OH, Grand Rapids, MI, and West Palm Beach, FL. The message that the National Organization for Women sent is that the pressure is not going to stop. Any advertiser who supports, or radio station that carries Rush Limbaugh will be held accountable.
NOW President Terry O’Neill said, “For more than two decades, Rush Limbaugh has degraded women, people of color and anyone who doesn’t look or think like him. Like bullies everywhere, Limbaugh uses the age-old tactic of savaging one woman for the purpose of intimidating all women away from the public square. Rush’s hostile, hateful speech is destructive to our public discourse, our communities and our democracy…NOW is proud to stand with Sandra Fluke and everyone Limbaugh has degraded and insulted over the years. We hope that women’s rights and social justice supporters around the country will join us in this campaign.”
The anti-Limbaugh movement seems to have worked. Limbaugh’s radio listening ratings have plummeted since the Fluke controversy. Politico reports,
“The conservative radio host’s ratings fell 27 percent in the key 25-54 demo in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, according to a selection of the March 29-April 25 Arbitron ratings provided by an industry source.
Limbaugh’s detractors attribute the losses to a rejection of the show following his controversial comments about the Georgetown law student.
‘Clearly Sandra Fluke isn’t the only one who didn’t like Rush calling her a ‘slut’ given how many viewers that comment incinerated,’ one radio insider said.”
First the drug-addicted Limbaugh loses his advertisers and then he loses his listeners. This looks like the demise of Glenn Beck all over again. How low can Rush go?
Please click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the song parody.
Puff The Magic Dragon song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92fBySoAQaA&feature=fvst
RUSH THE TRAGIC MAGGOT
(sung to the Peter, Paul and Mary song “Puff The Magic Dragon”)
Rush the tragic maggot lives by the sea
Was born in 1951 in a state called Missouri
Limbaugh’s education went down in a flush
He made it two semesters and his family kept it hush, oh
Rush the tragic maggot had an injury
It was a pilonidal cyst in a place he could not see
Rush the magic maggot petitioned his country
Then they deemed him too unfit for the military
Therefore he did not travel off to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Limbaugh the rabid chickenhawk was deemed to be too frail
So he became a disc jockey and pursued his fame
Alas he was a failure as his music taste was lame, oh
Rush the tragic maggot found ABC
And began his talk radio stint shilling for the G.O.P.
Rush the tragic maggot tried football on Monday
But when he showed his racist trait they canned his ass hastily
The maggot talks forever and his voice sure annoys
Calls his listeners “ditto heads” while he’s making noise
Rush thinks that he matters and is gen’rally adored
Poor Rush does not realize he’s like a mouse that roars
The mike that he speaks into bigger, than his brain
His brain-dead thoughtless audience is his gravy train
“Operation Chaos” failed in a big way
Despite all Rush’s efforts the Dems won running away, oh
Rush the tragic maggot lives happily
He doctor shops his days away and frequents pharmacies
Rush the tragic maggot loves his Oxy-C
And when he’s feeling a bit down, there’s the blue pill known as “V”
Scott Brown: The People’s Plagiarist.
The local tabloid rag affectionately known as the Boston Herald (Republican) (which, as the result of low readership is printed and delivered by the city’s much more popular “newspaper of record”, The Boston Globe) has recently been planting the seed that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren may have plagiarized a few recipes in 1984 and had them printed in a cook book. The book in question is titled “Pow Wow Chow” and is a compilation of “special recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families.” Ms. Warren’s cousin edited the book and it was published by the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Boston Herald claims that two of the recipes contributed by Warren already appeared in a 1979 article of the Virgin Island Daily News by Pierre Franey of the New York Times News Service.
Plagiarism on behalf of Warren? Could be. Let’s wait to hear the response from her campaign. Nevertheless, these are only recipes we are talking about. They are not scholarly articles or political position statements on important issues. They are not even live public statements uttered by the candidate at a political event. Indeed, these recipes were submitted close to 30 years ago and there has been no claim that there has been a repeat occurrence.
Wat a second. What’s that…there is another example of Elizabeth Warren plagiarizing since the 1984 recipes? The National Review uncovered and reported on Warren plagiarizing in her very own book about economics in 2006? Say it isn’t so!
Huh? False alarm? In fact, there is no evidence that this plagiarism occurred? What about the aforementioned National Review article published just this week? That article, titled “Plagiarism In Elizabeth Warren’s 2006 Book”, specifically stated that her book “All Your Worth”, “includes a passage that appears to include parts of two paragraphs directly lifted from a book published in 2005, “Getting on the Money Track” by Rob Black. The story was picked-up and published by Glenn Beck and Brietbart and Republican Scott Brown’s campaign was sending it to anyone who they thought might spread the revelation.
It appears that The National Review made a fool of itself. Author Katrina Trinko reported that Warren’s book was published in 2006 and Black’s in 2005. She was wrong and MassLive.com reports that Trinko was forced to write a correction/retraction after her column had only been published for about an hour. Warren’s book was actually published in March 2005, while Black’s was published that October. (The paperback version of Warren’s book was published in 2006.) “. As such, it appears that “Getting on the Money Track” (published in October 2005) plagiarized from “All Your Worth”, not the other way around,” Trinko wrote in her correction. The National Review also scrubbed the original and incorrect story from its website.
OK then, what we are left with is a claim that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren may have provided a few recipes, which were not her own, to a Native American museum’s cookbook back in 1984. What about her Republican opponent, incumbent Senator Scott Brown? Does he have any plagiarism issues in his best? Well, as Sarah Palin would say, “You Betcha!”
Scott Brown was first caught plagiarizing (as far as we know) shortly after he won a special election in January 2010 shortly after the death of longtime Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. The Boston Globe reported at the time that the following passage which Brown placed on his Website as his “Personal Values Statement” was lifted virtually verbatim from Elizabeth Dole’s site and one of her public speeches:
“I was raised to believe that there are no limits to individual achievement and no excuses to justify indifference. From an early age, I was taught that success is measured not in material accumulations, but in service to others. I was encouraged to join causes larger than myself, to pursue positive change through a sense of mission, and to stand up for what I believe.”
Indeed, aside from the omission of an opening line — “I am Mary and John Hanford’s daughter” and a reference about her husband — in Dole’s speech, the Bay State Republican’s language is the same throughout.
The Washington Monthly reported that Brown initially blamed a summer intern for a technical mix-up, arguing that Dole’s website had served as a template for his own, and this was an inadvertent holdover. This did not explain, however, why two sentences from Dole’s speech — one about her parents’ names, and one about her husband — had been carefully removed from the copy-and-paste job.
“This kind of plagiarism makes me wonder how many things about Scott Brown are really genuine,” said Rodell Mollineau, president of American Bridge 21st Century. Mollineau also said, “The fact that he can’t come up with a personal values statement of his own, that he has to steal someone else’s, I think is very instructive of what kind of politician he is.”
To make matters even worse for the clothing-challenged Scott Brown, Politico revealed that the cover-up story involving the summer intern did not hold water. “Marcie Kinzel, a spokeswoman for Brown, told Reuters on Thursday that the senator’s website hasn’t been updated since around Feb. 2010 when her boss took office. One Democratic source told POLITICO that this timeline clearly doesn’t match up with the senator’s claims, since February would have been ‘well before any ‘summer intern’ would have been onboard. It seems Sen. Brown’s office is so busy trying to cover their tracks that they forgot to get their story straight before talking to the press,’ the source said. Also, Kevin Franck, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said it’s ‘hard to believe’ that a summer intern would have been responsible for parts of the website that Brown’s office says was launched in February.’ After he bragged about seeing fake Osama bin Laden pictures and his campaign was caught running fake twitter accounts to anonymously attack Democrats, it’s becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between Scott Brown’s truth and Scott Brown’s fiction.”‘
But wait, Scott Brown has plagiarized even more. The Boston Globe reported today, that back in 2011,
“Within three days of a “60 Minutes’’ broadcast that suggested some members of Congress were financially profiting from advance knowledge of government regulations, Brown introduced a measure blocking anyone in Congress from using nonpublic information to influence personal investments. Brown muscled his way into the headlines in a race against a fellow Senate freshman, Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who was drafting her own version of the same bill.
Brown has said that he does his homework and that he reads the bills that come before Congress. But in this instance, Brown’s measure was so hastily drafted that it contained exact language lifted from an earlier House bill (drafted by Democrats) on the same subject. And even after Brown’s draft was set aside by the Homeland Security Committee in favor of another version, Brown continued to claim credit in an encounter with President Obama.”
OK then, so there are two examples of Scott Brown plagiarizing on important political topics since he was elected a Republican U.S. Senator in 2010. That’s not so bad, right? It is not as if there are three examples of Scott Brown plagiarizing somebody else’s words. Oh no. There couldn’t possibly be a third example of Scott Brown plagiarism, could there?
Strike three! Just two months ago, while delivering an address at Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, Scott Brown told a joke about former Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Brown said, “I see that both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum now have Secret Service with them on the campaign trail. In Santorum’s case, I think it’s the first time he’s actually ever used protection.” Here he is live and in person:
Funny joke, but the problem is that Conan O’Brien told it on national television just two weeks earlier. during his late night show, O’Brien quipped, “As of today, Rick Santorum will be assigned Secret Service agents. This is the first time Santorum has agreed to use any kind of protection.”
In retrospect it no longer looks as if Scott Brown took back (as he called it) “the people’s seat” so much as he has become the people’s plagiarist. Like that proverbial emperor, this Senator has been exposed as having no clothes.
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvwDohEEQ1E
NUDE, DUDE, SCOTTIE BROWN
(sung to the Jim Croce song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”)
Well its nuthin’ like Chicago
We’re talkin’ ‘bout Boston Town
And if you like men bare
You’re gonna love it there
With Senator Scottie Brown
Now Scottie’s talkin’ double
He loved the Mass. health reform law
He voted for it like the flip-flopping Guvnor
Yet now he has declared war
And he’s nude, dude Scottie Brown
The nudist man in the whole damn town
On the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
Now Scottie he’s a rambler
And he likes to strip his clothes
And he shows the world his private things
Most everywhere he goes
His senate seat is just a rental
Leased by the Tea Party crew
He better have some fun cuz he’s soon to be done
Massachusetts is too damn Blue
And he’s nude, dude Scottie Brown
The nudist man in the whole damn town
On the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
Well Friday ‘bout a week ago
Scottie was not nice
He just shouted near and far
About all the horrors
Of health care and the price
Well he blasted dear Obama
That’s when Brown’s trouble began
Scottie Brown learned a lesson
‘Bout messin’ with the likes of a smarter man
And he’s nude, dude Scottie Brown
The nudist man in the whole damn town
On the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
You see, Scott Brown needs enlightening
He don’t give a damn ‘bout the poor
Scottie Brown’s big mouth should be muzzled
As he’s voted off of the floor
And he’s nude, dude Scottie Brown
The nudist man in the whole damn town
On the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
And he’s nude, dude Scottie Brown
The nudist man in the whole damn town
On the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
Yeah, on the issues he’s wrong
He won’t be in office long
Southern Rednecks Are Turning Blue
It now seems certain that the Republican Party will be progressively losing its stranglehold on the deep South as each election cycle passes.
CNN reports:
When presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears before Latino small-business owners in Washington on Tuesday, he’ll address a group whose explosive birth rates foreshadow a seismic political shift in GOP strongholds in the Deep South and Southwest.
“The Republicans’ problem is their voters are white, aging and dying off,” said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, who studies minority political engagement.
“There will come a time when they suffer catastrophic losses with the realization of the population changes.”
Over the next several generations, the wave of minority voters — who, according to U.S. Census figures released this week, now represent more than half of the nation’s population born in the past year — will become more of a power base in places like Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. That hold will extend across the Southwest all the way to California, experts say.
The coming political revolution could result in a massive changing of the guard on nearly every level of government, potential cultural clashes, and the type of political alliances that are now considered rare.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Southeastern states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee boast some of the greatest percentage increases in Latino population growth. They are also states where the percentage of Hispanics roughly doubled.
So far, Republican efforts to offer Latinos a place at the table have fallen short.
The nation’s Hispanics tend to vote Democratic, and overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008.
Romney in particular has stumbled with this critical voting bloc, after his comments suggesting that making the economic landscape tough for illegal immigrants will force them to “self deport.”
If Republicans continue to struggle to appeal to Latino voters, Spanish-language ads may not stave off a change that experts like Bositis see coming in the not too distant future, when states such as Georgia go purple and eventually blue.
“There’ll be a tipping point where you’ve got the Republicans in charge, but you’ll get to the point when the population becomes minority,” Bositis said. “When that happens the statewide offices will fall. Republican governors will fall. Things will change.”
This is all good news for the Democratic Party. The Dixiecrats will be returning.
Please click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the parody.
I Get A Kick Out Of You song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh4r_mrq4sk&ob=av2n
I GET A KICK THAT WE’RE BLUE
(sung to the Frank Sinatra song “I Get A Kick Out Of You”)
My state, thank God is not red, it is blue
We’re truly progressive, liberal yes it’s true
The only exception I know is the case
A few reps from the G.O.P., boy the Statehouse must be so lonely
Re-pub-licans now clearly see
They have been outpaced
I don’t care much for McCain
Giuliani doesn’t appeal to me
Herm Cain is without a damn clue
And Sarah Palin, “also, too”
Collins and Snowe they’re from Maine
It would be rich if they both made the switch
“Vacation-land” would be totally blue
Republicans would be so few
I get a kick every time the Grand Ole Party implodes before me
I get a kick cuz it’s clear to see, they obviously simply bore me
I don’t care much for McCain
Mike Huckabee doesn’t do much for me
Mitt Romney commands the flip-flopping crew
So I get a kick
Oh, it gives me a boot
I get a kick that we’re blue
Romney’s “Bully” Pulpit (Updated: New Music Video)
This Mitt Romney gay bullying issue seems to have legs. As we all know by now, The Washington Post published a story about the Republican nominee’s youth that is extremely unflattering. According to five of Romney’s exclusive prep-school classmates, when Romney was 18 years old he rounded up a group of friends to pin down another student who happened to be gay and haphazardly hacked off his hair. During the incident, the boy was terrified and reduced to tears. By the way, the five witnesses were all eyewitnesses to the event. The Post also recounted another incident in which Romney shouted “atta girl” to a different student at the all-boys’ school who, years later, came out as being gay. Of course there is also the example of Romney bullying his dog, Seamus by means of strapping him to the roof of his care for a 12 hour trip to Canada during which time the terrified pet was reduced to defecating all over the vehicle (Seamus’ sexual orientation is unknown).
There is a particularly disturbing aspect to Romney’s reaction to the bullying incident in high school. During an interview on Fox News (where else?), Romney laughingly remarked, “I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some may have gone too far. And for that I apologize. If there was anything I said that was offensive to someone, I certainly am sorry about that. There was no harm intended.” He went on to say he did not remember the incidents from long ago, but didn’t dispute that they happened. He stressed that he didn’t know either student was gay. He said, “I had no idea what that individual’s sexual orientation might be.” So which one is it? If Romney is to be believed when he says he does not remember the incidents, then how can he remember that he had no idea of his victims’ sexual orientations? He cannot have it both ways. And making matters worse, he actually laughed while speaking about these incidents and referred to bullying as mere “hijinks and pranks”.
Also last week, Romney’s openly gay foreign policy spokesman, Richard Grenell, resigned, implying that social conservatives had driven him out of the job, which once again thrust the gay issue into the campaign. But we digress. As mentioned above, the Romney bullying story is gaining traction and is now finding its way on to late night television.
Last night Comedian Bill Maher was a guest on Conan O’Brien’s show and the topic was Romney’s bullying (BTW, who is the guy sitting to Maher’s right? He looks very familiar).
Here’s hoping the spotlight stays on Romney and this issue for quite some time leading up to the election.
UPDATE: “Mitt Romney, the Demon Barber of Wall Street” video
Please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.
“Mack The Knife” song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEllHMWkXEU
MITT THE KNIFE
(sung to the Bobby Darin song “Mack The Knife”)
Oh, that Mitt babe, has straight teeth, dear
And he shows them pearly white
And a jackknife plus a sharp switchblade
Romney keeps them out of sight
You know when that Mitt bites, with his teeth, babe
Bully stories start to spread
Cranebrook School though is just so preppy
So there’s never, never a long-haired head
On a sidewalk, blue Sunday mornin’, oh yeah
Lies a young lad, who fears for life
There’s someone sneakin’ ‘round a corner
Yes that someone is Mitt the Knife
There’s a “sissy”, down by the bubbler, don’t you know?
With a blond-dyed shag, just a droopin’ on down
Oh, Mitt Romney is just, he’s hiding in wait there
Five or maybe ten of Mitt’s boys circling round
Now d’ja hear ‘bout Richie Grenell? He disappeared babe
After bringin’ in, all that donor cash
But Mitt Romney says, “Rich is too gay”, yeah
So Romney dumped Grenell, in the trash
Ol’ Mitt’s a liar, ho, ho, yeah and he’s tawdry
Gay adoption oh yeah, upon that Romney frowns
There’s a hate storm on the right, babe
Now that Romney rules their town…
Ol’ Mitt’s a liar and he’s tawdry
Look out civil unions oh yeah, upon them Romney frowns
There’s a hate storm on the right, babe
Now that Romney’s………….. in our town…
Look out, ol’ Mitt he’s back!
Lynnrockets' Blast-Off 