my lunch listenings...

[Tzalaran]

well, i usually listen to sports talk radio because there aren't many good radio stations in Lincoln, NE. i've gotten so sick of Jim Rome's arrogance that i can't stand to listen to him anymore, which leaves me horrible pop and country music stations (uggh), evangelical radio (ugh), and Fox News talk radio (the lesser of 3 evils i suppose...).

Rush Limbaugh is on during my lunch time, so i've been listening to his hatred of liberals and devisive politics for the past few days. today i caught his taglines, and they floored me.

1) Rush Limbaugh; Reporting News, Making News.

i'll get to number 2 in a second. does anyone else see something wrong with this slogan? The news he is reporting is disgustingly biased, and i can understand that not everyone shares the liberal viewpoint because i've never shared the liberal viewpoint. i'm more of a middle of the road political view, libertarian being the only party i've ever found myself following because of their views on small government and personal freedoms.

Making News is not accurate: Making news up, or even making lies would be more appropriate.

2) Rush Limbaugh; One Nation, One Voice.

OMGWTF?!?! so now he is the self appointed speaker for america. no wonder this country has gone straight to hell. This guy is every bit the whacko that he rails against, just in a neo conservative semi fascist sense. biased media is destroying freedom, justice, and honor, and their continual manipulation of their audience is furthering the problems that this country faces.

Rush Prothero lies about Obama's education, energy, tax, and health care plans, and then brings up Obama calling Palin a pig (another distorted lie) as justification that Obama can't run on his issues and has to result to political mudslinging in order to get elected.

Prothero continues to suck up to his sycophantic callers and distort everything that is really going on. The republican's have not spoken about one issue aside from drilling, and lying about Obama's tax plan to justify their own. There has been no outline of a platform, and yet these people continue to speak about Obama as the mudslinging candidate, and that he can't stand up on the issues of today. such filth and lies, and then he had the gall to say that he loves it when these uppidy liberals get whats coming to them, and that Obama is now reaping what he has sown.

pathetic. Rush Prothero can't even say anything about his own candidate positions except to say that all good conservatives completely agree with their policies. he has a huge crush on Palin, and jumps through hoops to put her in a good light. absolutely disgusting.

i have nothing against John McCain, nor do i have anything against Sarah Palin. i'm sure they are both fine people once you get to know them.

what i have a problem with is that they have ignored all issues central to this campaign except for drill, war, and no taxes (a lie by the way, all pretax deductions under the current system will get taxed, that is a tax increase my friends). They are hoping to win the election based on personality and that is revolting. i'm interested in what your ideas are to move the country forward from this huge hole that GWB has gotten us into, and all i hear about is their personality?!?

get into policy stands, quit making up lies and slandering your opponent, and get to some honest debate on the issues instead of your fear and smear swift boat campaign promoting personality like some god damn junior high school student council election. if you can throw mud everywhere, don't expect to stay clean and cry to the refs when your opponent fights back.

Obama has taken a high road for the vast majority of his presidential campaign, and he is talking about issues more than anything else. the McCain campaign has been swiftBoating, lying, and trying to make this election into a popularity contest. that is the polar opposite of where McCain stood just 8 short years ago, and yet he wonders why people are doubting his honor and integrity...

(Prothero comes from 'V for Vendetta', he is the Voice of London in that movie. check it out if you haven't seen it...)

[Tzalaran]

i got to catch the local senate debate yesterday, well, the end of it anyway. up front, i wish Hagel was running again. i think he is a good senator, and has been a voice of reason for the people of Nebraska. also up front, i detest Mike Johanns and think that he was the worst governor and mayor of Lincoln in my lifetime.

always been a fan of Steve Larrik, the green party candidate. voted for him in 2004 for congress, and anytime he is on the ballot he gets my vote.

except in this election. Scott Kleeb earned my vote based on his performance and the platform outlined on his website. Johanns couldn't say anything that wasn't about what he did in the past, and showed the typical politician ability to twist his opponents views into worse than his. Kleeb and Larrik both had great points, and are both highly qualified to serve in the senate.

that was my good lunch break, and i doubt it will get that good again for a while...

Prothero was back to his typical antics, but today i'm going to talk about a sound bite that he plays as a commercial.

He's talking to Sen. Kerry, and a couple other Democratic senators about how many times the conservatives crossed the aisle to compromise and then states. "yes, i remember all of those because we did it too much!"

wow, the true spirit of compromise aren't we Prothero? that is the problem in a microcosm. without compromise, there is no progress in our government. yet the voice of conservatism sees no need to reach middle ground because anyone with a brain can see he is always right. please...

what a joke.

[sepienh]

Obama has taken a high road for the vast majority of his presidential campaign, and he is talking about issues more than anything else...REALLY? I loved your point on the news and speaking for the people, however, I wouldn't leave it to Fox or Rush. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, TMZ and every other crack pot with a camera twists the news. Hell now a days all you have to do is insinuate something and leave it up to Americans to decide...ya that's a great idea. This coming from a country where most Americans have no clue what the hell the candidates are saying but yet are so *ucking opinionated come election year. Seriously, read a book just once. ARRRRRR! Okay and really lets be honest...I get it most hate Pres. Bush. Don't blame them, but BOTH candidates have done a crappy job this election explanining...key word explaining their plans and HOW they are going to go about actually doing it. Obama might have done well bringing up the issues, but just as McCain he has FAILED to convince any open minded, educated American that he actually has a working plan that he could actually get passed in 4 years.

I mean lets look at this. A president has 4 years right? Wrong, they have 2. The first year is setting up their cabinet and drafting their 4 yr policy. The next two they are, hopefully (as long as nothing goes wrong in the world) convincing America and Congress (which by the way changes reps & senators during this time) to pass their said plans. Then they spend the last year trying to get reelected. Americans really have to think about this. What happens if he fails or doesn't live up to his promises. Who's to blame? Obama? McCain? No... it's you America. You voted for him. You should have done the research. You should have actually followed politics passed November (i.e. local/state/national congressional elections and Gov. races). Being an informed citizen takes more than watching CSPAN, CNN or (Barf) Fox News and deciding who to vote for based on your lot in life. We are a nation of 50 different "nation/states". When you vote America keep that in mind. Your vote should be based on what is best for the country not you.

That being said, Rush is a loser and his freedom of speech should be revoked...good night.

[Tzalaran]

nice to see someone else post here. Welcome.

i generally attempt to get 4-5 different perspectives on a situation before i come to any conclusion, seems to me that you get a much better understanding of what is really going on that way. i prefer to read transcripts of what was said, and don't rely on the journalists who are editorializing what happened so much.

i think that Obama used the Democratic convention to outline the policies as well as he could. all of the minor speakers were speaking specifically on one topic or another, and giving examples of things being done now on small scales that could be applied across the nation to everyone's advantage. i know that most people don't watch the conventions on C-Span, so i don't expect that most people to know that information. This is why i feel much more comfortable with Obama's vision for the country than McCain's.

i think we also need to get away from the powerful president and court model that our democracy has slipped to, and return back to where the 3 branches of the government are more equal. much of the power of the president is due to the person in the job, and we need to stay away from leaders who take the job to wield the power of the US. it is much better to lead through example than to attempt to bully your adversaries.

Rush is very annoying, although from what i've heard lately he is losing steam...

[sepienh]

Thanks for your reply...I love your ideology. It is very revolutionary, however, I'd really love to see you try and name one president who, " return back to where the 3 branches of the government are more equal. much of the power of the president is due to the person in the job, and we need to stay away from leaders who take the job to wield the power of the US. it is much better to lead through example than to attempt to bully your adversaries."

It has just never happened. Not even under Washington himself. There will never be Utopian cooperation between all three branches as long as we operate under a party system (especially just a two party system). It just can't happen and it has to do with party mechanics.

I said it last night and it still rings true, your argument isn't new and quite frankly I agree, however, NOTHING is going to change (NOTHING) until all Americans start taking their democratic responsibilities seriously and not just a couple of months every four years.

Whether it be Obama or McCain, the President is not the most powerful person in America. The power is with Congress and the individual state legislatures. If you really want change for the "average American", if you want universal health care, if you want to feel "safe" in your "free" world, then you need to pay attention to who you put in Washington every two years and not every four.

[Tzalaran]

you're right, washington didn't do anything and let the congress run everything in an attempt to break from the monarchy model from England.

i think we might need more cooperation between all parties in the 3 branches of government. The 3 branches should work together like a well oiled machine for our government to work properly, and right now it seems that 2 of the groups always try to go in different directions and not work together.

i wholeheartedly agree with you that the 2 party system is fatally flawed and that the public needs to be more politically involved on a daily basis, not just once every 4 years.

[Tzalaran]

OK. i'm fucking enraged about what Prothero was talking about today.

he is blaming the entire market failure of the past few weeks on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is a stretch in and of itself when credit swaps are the real tangible culprit from every economist that i've read, just so he can pin this on Obama because of Franklin Raines, which is also misleading when Raines is not on Obama's staff. combine the credit swaps with a ridiculously low interest rate around 2003 and that is what caused the lending for real estate that created the housing bubble, and credit everyone participating in private and public sectors for not expecting the bubble to pop.

Then he went on a rant about how moderates and independents are just "spineless linguine waiting to turn democrat". Republicans then wonder why people don't see them as bi partisan. what a joke.

here is what got me yelling at the radio though. his latest joke, "What do Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden have in common? They both know people who have bombed the Pentagon."
Ayers connection to Obama is tenuous at best, and to claim that Obama shares Ayers old view of the american government is blatantly false. i won't bother mentioning how it was "allegedly" a 747 that hit the Pentagon not a bomb (and i'm of the opinion that it wasn't a plane that hit the Pentagon, but a missle that was fired by US aircraft because of the lack of wing imprints in the collision area on the Pentagon and the fact that there was no trace of debris from the supposed 747 found, but that is really a conspiracy theory for another time). To claim this as "truth" is horrible propaganda propelling the ignorant masses to flock under this racists banner, and propel the radical hate messages that you hear at republican rallies.

Then there was a caller who tied Obama in to Lee Corsi's expulsion from Kenya because of what he was doing there with no work visa. Corsi is a proven liar, his "best selling book" is only best selling because of pre-orders to the Republican party in an attempt to smear Obama before the election. There is a lengthy document that goes lie by lie through the Corsi book on fightthesmears website. its a 54 page .pdf file that i read through and the factual perversions by Corsi are an affront to literature. This woman who called in about it was pathetically harping on this as a reason that we shouldn't trust Obama, because he has his hands in Africa and is pulling strings there. first, i think Obama is a bit preoccupied to be worrying about some fascist who is over trying to dig up dirt in Kenya. second, if Obama was behind it, he is very proficient at multitasking and it only proves that he is more prepared to deal with multiple crisis at once better than McCain...

overall, i'm thoroughly disgusted by these people and hate to think that i live in the same country that they do. i thought all these civil rights issues were done with a decade before i was born, but it seems that racism is alive and well in the USA and now they just hide behind the conservative label. To agree with radicals who scream "terrorist" and "Kill Him" at McCain/Palin rallies is only feeding the fire of hatred and racism that have scarred this country for far too long. This whole episode just shows how out of touch and sick the right wing media and their precious footsoldiers really are. brainwashed sheep clinging to their moral justifications solely because of abortion, when they are in truth practicing racism, hatred, and hypocrisy and provide no ideas for solutions to the mess that the Bush/Cheney/McCain administration has gotten us into.

anyone who agrees with these lunatics makes me sick. i see absolutely no difference between Prothero's footsoldiers and the Islamic fundamentalists that attacked us on 9/11. both groups refuse to see any point of view other than their own, believe that they are the chosen ones, and will use any tactic that they can conceive to achieve their victory with no regard to the well being of anyone but themselves. they are nothing but hypocrites, going against the tenets of their faith because to them the end justifies the means, no matter what their "holy" books says to the contrary.

pathetic.

[Tzalaran]

i refrained from screaming today, but only barely.

first, a caller from the "triangle of the revolution" came on the air, and Prothero declared, "Well, we might just have to have another one (revolution)." i find that extremely hypocritical after his deriding the African American community for considering rioting if there are any voter discrepancies in this election, claiming that they were extremists who didn't care about democracy when McCain was up in the polls.

the caller that really raised my anger was the one who stated that these people who are at Palin rallies screaming hate speech are actually Obama plants into the rallies, and not the fans of McCain/Palin. Rush took that and ran with it, claiming that the "drive by left wing media are putting these people into the crowd to make news." show me any proof of that before throwing out the claim. there is nothing that can substantiate this outrageous claim, yet not 1 minute after it being brought up Prothero is attempting to claim it as "truth".

the next caller then was speaking about the rally she attended at lehigh university, claiming that no extremists were in attendance, and that it was all older women with their children, students, and small business owners. She claimed there were 5 protesters there who were attempting to rile up the crowd with their anti republican hate speech, and Prothero decided to run with this and how the left wing media was planting all of these in an attempt to diminish the honest appeal that Palin has to average americans.

i guess i'm very glad to not be an "average" american then. Palin has one appeal: sex. they wont' let her speak, so aside from her inciteful rhetoric on the stump, and her 5 children (the older two of which one is in the military to avoid legal issues and the other is pregnant and being forced into marriage...), and watching her attempt to avoid an ethics probe that she pledged to cooperate with initially, there is nothing to be known about her except for her looks. Her debate performance was pathetic, not even answering the questions put in front of her, and it was better than her sit down interviews, but she can sure shoot out one liners and has proven she is nothing more than the attack pit bull. incite the base but other than that stand aside and look good.

There is nothing about the right wing media that isn't about inciting hatred of liberals and moderates, smearing Obama with unfounded claims of being muslim/a terrorist/untrustworthy/unpatriotic, and trying to pin the current financial crisis on the democrats. the economic crisis is a result of poor judgment by wall street executives and main street banks attempting to profit by low federal interest rates. credit swaps, sub prime loans, and lack of regulatory bodies for the banking industry caused the problems, and that is not a partisan issue. it is an ethical business issue, and i see no help for the low people on the totem pole coming by any of the resolutions that congress has enacted (and for the last time Prothero, the bailout was a REPUBLICAN bill, penned by the REPUBLICAN treasury secretary and REPUBLICAN president, not Frank, Pelosi, and Dodd like you want people to believe).

The rest of the world agrees that Obama would be a better president, in a worldwide poll, there is only one country where McCain is not a 2-1 loser in the election: The United states of america. This election is a referendum on the U.S. by the rest of the world. i've heard many times from my friends overseas and their media outlets that if McCain is elected by the U.S., their support for america is done, and we are no different from the Islamic fundamentalists that caused 9/11. i have to agree with them.

the neocons (and McCain likes to think of himself as the first neocon...) have run this countries economy and people into the ground with their stupidity, and i will no longer support a government that is run by these people. my wife and i decided that should McCain become president, we are moving to Holland and becoming citizens there, even if we have to sell everything we own to do it. i refuse to be governed by the ignorance of the hypocritical United States of Jesusland any more.

[Tzalaran]

i guess Rush is running out of steam, that or i just caught him in the boring stretch of his show. All i could catch him talking about was how Pelosi, Obama, and Frank were the cause of all problems in the United States, and how through ACORN they were subverting democracy. oh yeah, he also claimed that Obama will take full credit for the stock market recovery today, and was basically saying that Obama takes credit when the sun comes up and so on...

The thing that i really don't understand is how he always claims that the conservatives try to bring people together, but he is always labeling people "liberals", "democrats", or "drive by media". this seems divisive to me, and i wonder how well this unifies people that aren't republican...

on a funny note, i got to see a video today that claims that the "Federation of Light" will appear in Earthspace for 3 days beginning October 14, 2008. it is supposed to be a massive spaceship that will appear over the Southern Hemisphere, near Alabama ( ???WTF, thought that was in the Northern Hemisphere, but i guess i'll have to go back to geography class ;D) So first thing tomorrow i'll look to the south to see if they have landed.
a buddy of mine stated that Obama will remove his head and show himself to be part of the FoL, but i told him it would be McCain coming out of his shell like the martian from Total Recall (show my age there don't i...). anyway, found that to be amusing so thought i'd share.

[Tzalaran]

So today Prothero had Palin join him on his show. I'd never heard him suck up to anyone before, so it was kinda enjoyable for that, but the things they said really were outrageous. Repetition of the lies about Obama voting 94 times for tax increases, how small business will be wrecked by his policies, how he has no idea on how to create jobs, and the constant claims of voter fraud by ACORN.

OK, ACORN only registers people to vote, so its not voter fraud until Heywood Jablome actually appears to cast a ballot. the 94 votes has been debunked many times, yet they cling to it like the stink on pigs. Small businesses won't really be all that hurt by Obama's policies, and there is much reason to believe that they will be helped more than under a McCain administration which will make it impossible for them to provide health care for their employees.

as far as the job creation front, this is the biggest lie of the entire show. With his energy initiatives alone there will be a massive influx of jobs creating, maintaining, and installing wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuel plants, not to mention all the infrastructure improvements that will need workers to accomplish. i'm so sick of the republicans lying and screaming louder than their detractors in the hopes that their lies will be believed.

i find it very amusing that the republicans are trying to pin ACORN on Obama, when McCain and many other republicans have been known to work with the organization.

and if you wanna talk about voter fraud, all you have to do is look at Ohio in 2004 and Florida in 2000 and you can see the Republicans hands with all kinds of dirt on them. They are unethical and amoral to the extreme, and the fact that they continue to claim the moral high ground is absolutely appalling.

i can't wait for this election to be over just so i don't have to hear them continue their stream of lies anymore.

[Tzalaran]

ahhhhh. Rush back to his antics, but this time i didn't get angry, just baffled. This whole week he has spoken of Obama as if he is already president elect, and is doing all he can to change that, but the slight undertone of this election being a foregone conclusion was still present.

Prothero first called the infomercial tonight a "pre-inaugural address", and had to do a preemptive speech on it. more on that later.

a caller asked Prothero what she should be thinking about while watching it. Prothero stated that Obama's speech style is designed to hypnotize the affluent and intellectuals, and that she should remember the whole time that "The speaker is a Socialist." After which, Prothero informed this lady that she shouldn't watch it to form her own opinion, but he will tell her what to think of it tomorrow. She was relieved and thanked him repeatedly.

And the right wing claims that Obama supporters are brainwashed and told what to think... He flat out told her not to think for herself, and that it is better to just let him think for her because he is immune to Obama's hypnotism even though he is an intellectual.

Baffling to say the least.

The preemptive pre-inaugural speech was oddly true, surprising for Prothero. He summarized what has been going on under the Bush administration for the past 8 years well, but then claimed it was all Obama's fault. Prothero then went on about how Obama hated the constitution, a strange claim about a constitutional lawyer, because it didn't allow him to provide his form of welfare. He went on explaining how Obama wants to take from the middle class to give to the poor, increasing welfare for all his supporters and taking money from the hard working conservatives.

What a load of crap.

I find it puzzling that Prothero demeans Obama for being a socialist, while his chosen candidate, Sarah Palin, enacted socialism in her state by distributing checks on Oil taxes to all residents of her state because they, "believe that all citizens of Alaska should share in the wealth of their abundant natural resources." There is no greater socialist agenda than that, yet they decry Obama's plans as Socialist in a negative, hateful way.

Prothero, thy name is hypocrisy, and it is disgusting that you find yourself fit to be the thinker for all of america. Were you in charge of thought in this country it would be a matter of hours before stupidity reigned. to honestly push your listeners to not think for themselves is a disservice to all americans, and your overinflated ego has absolutely no basis outside the small walls that you have built for yourself.

[Tzalaran]

so today Rush decided to give us the numbers on Exxon's record profits and record tax payments.

$14,000,000,000 in profits ($14 billion), paying $35,000,000 ($35 million) in taxes on that profit. doing the math, that is a .25% tax rate.

now, Prothero was on the side of the Oil companies screaming about that record tax dollar amount, and he has a point. that is alot of dollars to spend on taxes.

but the fact that i, making under $50,000 per year with my wife pay a 35% tax rate, the percent they pay makes me sick. I could understand if these companies were Grossing 14 billion, but it is PROFITS. They are robbing from the poor by gouging us at the pump for the past year, and raking in billions and paying less than 1% of their profits in taxes.

Where is the fairness? We are back to the days of Robber Barons breaking the backs of the american people and making off like bandits to live their lifestyle of the rich and famous while we struggle to eat.

Honestly, i have no problem paying taxes because without that revenue the government cannot support the military or the necessary programs, but why should i be getting audited on my taxes for less than $50,000 gross income when they are paying less than 1% and i'm paying 35%? there is something fundamentally wrong with this picture, and Exxon is using the government to fatten its own pockets, bankrupting the country in the process, and they claim to be patriotic. give me a break.

This, although legal, is highly unethical. What else can you expect from these corrupt, ethic violating, underhanded greed machines we currently have in office. the greed in this country is making me sick.