Supplies for the War On Christmas

It isn't often that I dabble my toes in the sludge at World Net Daily, but a link from Daily Kos to this screed lured me in...

check out WND's online store for your personal "Christmas-defense kit." What you'll find are three choices of bumper stickers:

• "This is America! And I'm going to say it: 'Merry Christmas!'"
• "It is STILL a wonderful life – Merry Christmas!"
• "Merry Christmas! An American Tradition"

They're all magnetized for seasonal use. Buy them separately or all together. Use them this year, next year and for many years to come.

In addition, there's the "Reason for the Season Auto Magnets," also perfect for your refrigerator or office file cabinet or desk. Part of every purchase goes to Christian charities.

It's the perfect way to make your statement this Christmas – that Jesus is the reason for the season. Buy one, buy 25, buy 50!

There's one more component of your Christmas-defense kit: It's the "Operation: Just Say 'Merry Christmas' Bracelet." They make great stocking stuffers, but why wait! Make your feelings about Christmas known to one and all. Wear them to pick up the kids, when you buy groceries and when you go to work. They're guaranteed to ward off the evil spirits of the ACLU grinches.

Read more: Get your Christmas-defense kit

So, here's the thing. First, doesn't it seem confrontational and not at all festive to rely on bumper stickers to convey your holiday message, presumably all about peace on earth and goodwill toward mankind? Are these people trying to get themselves keyed?

Second, I doubt that Jesus' message to his followers would be "buy one, buy 25, buy 50."

And, quite apart from the bankrupt philosophical viewpoint, this exposes decisively WND's most honest motivation in the whole "War on Christmas" hoopla - to score some $$$. It's part and parcel of what makes me laugh half the time I pass a so-called "Christian Supply" store. Who knew you required supplies, or that a prefabbed toolkit was needed?

I hope someday everyone will wake up to the absurdity of this whole thing and the "War on Christmas" can be consigned where it belongs: to the realm of mass delusion/deception. Until then...warm thoughts to you and yours, Gentle Reader, whether it's Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, Yule or Christmas or Saturnalia that you mark at this cocooning, renewing time of the year.

P.S.: Don't you love the phrase "magnetized for seasonal use"? Kind of like "sanitized for your protection"!

Pot, Kettle...Heeeere's Jeremiah!

Well, what do you know? A new week has barely begun and Jeremiah is out of the starting gate with a fresh-picked bushel of nonsense. He reads words that aren't written, sees things that aren't there, and himself (ab)uses every tactic for which he assails Those Evil Liberals. He tries to make it sound like it's about his favorite topic, but as usual with Jer it's mainly about the fear. Read on - we'll undoubtedly be getting a lot of this sort of thing over the coming news cycles, as health care reform finally comes to a head.

After opening with some "analysis" from the American Thinker blog (I won't link - suffice it to say that its staff frequent Dennis Miller's and Bill O'Reilly's programs, and one runs the aptly named site Right Wing Nuthouse), the madness begins...

All in all, all this bill amounts to is another one of the big-government, centralized-authority liberals (communists) pork barrel spending sprees. Something else to rob the elderly of their social security.

Health coverage for uninsured Americans is a "pork barrel"? Does Jer not understand the terminology? I mean, he's usually so precise - just look how he clearly and in great detail describes the common ideological ground between liberals and communists......with parentheses. He might also have noted that the elderly have Social Security thanks in large part to legislation enacted by lawmakers with more faith in "big" government and centralized authority than he possesses. Lots of dissonance bang-for-the-buck there, in just two sentences; however, we have much more ahead.

One might say that it "wouldn't be so bad" if the bill didn't contain abortion in it, but we know that the liberals couldn't be more dissatisfied if it didn't have abortion contained in it, because it is not only money for the Democrats coffers, but it plays right into their agenda..."there's unsustainable populations of people on this earth, we have to do something about global warming", blah, blah, blah, and that sort of pro-death, fear-scaremongering non-sense.

Setting aside the knot of quadruple negatives for the moment, I regret to inform Jeremiah that Words Mean What They Say, and the only way that abortion is mentioned in the health care reform language is to specifically disallow any kind of government funding for insurance covering the procedure. Continuing to insist that the facts are otherwise is just pathetic. It's like insisting that it's actually a bologna sandwich just because someone spread the peanut butter in a circle.

Interesting attempt to link advocacy for a woman's right to choose with a response to climate change, though, as though everyone but Jeremiah is pushing population control as a rationale for the first and a solution for the second. "Pro-death." Talk about your fearscaremongeringnonsense!

That's how communists a.k.a liberals work. If they can scare you into believing a lie to fulfill their pro-death mindset they'll go at extraordinary lengths to accomplish it.

Did you see what Jer did, just there? That "communists a.k.a [sic.] liberals" reference is just what he's talking about: extraordinary lengths to scare you into believing a lie! What a great example of...wait...do you mean to say that he didn't realize that he was engaged in precisely what he's complaining about? Oh. Never mind.

Even go so far as to pass such a pro-death bill behind closed-doors partisan sniping session.

Not that conservatives have ever done anything of the kind. Why, remember when they were trying to be so bi-partisan about things that they cut off hearings in the middle of Democratic testimony, and often wouldn't allow their opponents so much as the courtesy of meeting space? All terribly noble and aboveboard. The Founders would be so proud.

Bipartisanship and especially the will of the people is totally dismissed from the get-go, and of course, that's a perfect exemplar of fascism, given that the Democrats have it so clear on display for all to see.

The will of the people is dismissed? But, Jer, it's the "will of the people" that put the party you happen to dislike in the majority. It's called v-o-t-i-n-g. And I have two questions. First, can't you make up your mind? Communists, or fascists? Can't have it both ways, you know. (Or, more likely, you don't, and just like to use scary-sounding words.) And, second, if all these underhanded deals are happening, why would the Democrats make anything "clear on display for all to see," particularly evidence of fascism? Or are you hallucinating again? Too much Ovaltine will do that to you, I hear.

Of course abortion is what the bill is about, or else they would have scrapped their plan and went with the modified version by one of their own who has some modicum of sanity, Rep. Stupak.

See above, about Words Meaning What They Say, and no amount of declaiming to the contrary changing that core fact. No matter who's talking. But you know how he operates - when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail; when you're Jeremiah, everything's about abortion.

As for Stupak's "modifications," if you want fascism, then you've got it right there. His language would not only disallow government funding for insurance covering a medical procedure which - hate to break it to you, Jer - is still LEGAL in the US. It would go further and specify that no private funds can be used to purchase such insurance. Get that? Stupak would like to be able to tell all of us as individuals that we cannot spend our personal funds to purchase a legal product supporting a legal medical procedure. Forget government "getting between you and your doctor" - Bart Stupak would like to get between your bank account and your insurance agent and your doctor, all at once!

And Jeremiah calls that "sanity." Pull up your hip-waders. It's mighty deep out there...and I don't mean the water.

Barack Obama is nothing more than a dictator, and people who blindly follow him don't realize how truly dangerous he is, no, he is Dear Leader.

Funny, Stupak sounds a lot more dictatorial, by my reading. But I guess that, in any case, this proclamation puts the "communist" line to bed, if we're already a dictatorship...again, apparently, on no grounds stronger than "Jeremiah Says We Are." By the way, I doubt Jer knows that Dubya issued nearly 300 Executive Orders over the course of his administration, while Obama's current total sits at 44, well behind his predecessor's pace. And let's not even talk about how different Obama's attitude toward and use of Dubya's favorite toy, the "signing statement," has been.

What more reason do the American people have to wake up and smell the coffee? And no, that not the coffee-Astroturf party that the Liberals have going in response to the true Americans in the Tea Party.

Oh, this is rich. No, literally! I refer, of course, to the well-heeled corporate funders of the oh-so-grassroots "Tea Party" that the patriotic Bible-thumpers who populate Jeremiah's imaginary world adore. Americans For Prosperity. FreedomWorks. Koch Industries and the Scaife Foundation. Faux News, of course. Big-business conservatistas and master orchestrators of "spontaneous" movements, all.

Yet Jer thinks that the "coffee party" is the astroturf? The Coffee Party that started with an idea on a Facebook page a few weeks ago, and uses Google AdSense to defray its web hosting costs?

Follow the money, Jer. And consider switching to decaf. You're clearly too wound up to think straight.

But the kind of coffee where you wake up to in the morning and realize that reality has just struck...we need to get the Democrats out of power, and fast.

Well, if all comes together, Conservative prospects look to be pretty promising.

I know you're trying, Jeremiah. It's a thankless job, doing your daily darnedest to demonize everyone who doesn't hold your own arch-conservative views. Working tirelessly to persuade people to take positions against their own best interests and those of their families, neighbors and friends, all so that big business, Wall Street, talk radio and televangelism can continue to flourish at society's expense. And, especially, trying to enforce your own personal hangups on the morality and behavior of an entire gender, as if shoehorning a size 8 foot into a size 6 shoe.

Do yourself a favor and take a rest. Because when health care reform becomes a reality, and people realize they're benefiting from it more than not...that it offers them one of those rare patches of certain ground under their feet...that the sky hasn't, in fact, fallen? Then you'll regret all those lost hours beating your paranoia drum for nothing, and Conservative prospects will be less promising than ever.

Jeremiah Gets The Constitution Wrong AGAIN

Ronald Reagan once said,

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.
No more perfect time could that be realized than right now, when our leaders are moving us ever further toward total dependence on the government and away from our reliance upon God our Creator for our needs.

So I ask you, won't you pray for America, that the people of this nation would never forget that we are 'One Nation Under God.' That is how the founders of this country envisioned it when they drafted and signed the Constitution of this Republic.

- - - -

I took out the gratuitous link that shunted "pray for America" to an unhinged "one-world-order" screed. If you want it, you can get it via that first link. But, two salient points:

1) Jeremiah offers no objective evidence whatever in support of this "dependence on government" claim. Just a fellow Bible-thumping blog. Way to go, there.

2) I would refer Jer to the lowest common denominator of Internet references: Wikipedia. If he travels here and troubles himself to read the actual text of the original Constitution, he will realize - I hope - that the phrase "one Nation under God" not only conspicuously fails to appear, but that the sole reference to religion occurs in the signature line, in this form:

the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven

How a simple date citation in common usage at the time translates into reliance and endorsement of Jeremiah's preferred Big Dad In The Sky, I quite fail to see. Kind of like saying that your dating of the check on your latest Visa payment endorses the Mayan prediction regarding the 2012 end of the world.

But no doubt Jeremiah is channeling Franklin and Jefferson and Adams and knows their hearts and minds to the full. Yeah, right. More like he's channeling Beck and Hannity and cross-spouting their sanctimony.

YO, Jer. We're tired of you second-guessing the Founders' intents to reinforce your own prejudices and narrow-minded thinking. Broad-minded people are taking back a broad-minded country, whether you like it or not, and we're going to work hard to marginalize your own frankly bigoted and stupid viewpoints and expose them for what they are.

More Misinformation from Land O' Jer

Let's dissect his latest foray into passive-aggressive fearmongering:

Edging Ever Closer To Destruction

It's coming folks, and it's not long in the making, either. The Communist-in-Chief Mr. Obama and his co-communist-in-chief, Harry Reid return to Congress from a long holiday break, Reid being corrupted by a racially tinged gaffe...though, some would say that Reid was "seemingly" humbled after forcing an apology to Mr. Obama, but neither he or Obama are the slightest bit humbled. They are arrogant, boastful and proud, leading this nation down a path toward destruction. They are like ssssserpents in the grass.

So far, so typical. The usual loose collection of unsupported assertions and character assassinations, liberally (oops, there's that naughty word!) peppered throughout with the Red Menace.

Here's where it gets interesting and the debunking gets really fun:

Obama is supposedly going to bless Harry Reid with approval of his healthcare bill, thereby, blessing thousands of middle class taxpayers with a monumental increase on their yearly incomes, and increasing every year from there forward, so's you can watch your life savings slowly disappear. Make you angry? If not, it should!

Why, I'd be furious! If I thought that for one tiny instant any of it was true. Because it ain't.

The House bill increases income tax on couples earning over $1 million a year by 5.4%, and levies a 1% increase on couples earning more than $350,000 a year. Source

The Senate bill taxes "Cadillac" health care plans ($23,000+ in premiums per year for a family: or, put another way, more than double what my family was paying before we moved) and would increase the Medicare payroll tax by 0.5% (to a whopping 1.95%) on individuals earning $200,000+ or couples earning $250,000+ per year. Source

Now let's define "middle class." Using the most recent census data (2005), the median household income in the U.S. was a whopping $44,389 per year. Clearly this doesn't come anywhere close to the income earners being "monumentally" shat upon, according to Jer. In fact, the chart shows that only 1.17% of U.S. households earn $200,000 per year and up. So I guess that's how Jeremiah defines "middle" class - waaaay up there in the economic stratosphere.

But, wait, you say! The "median" is the literal mid-point of the spectrum. Wouldn't the "mean," or average, be a fairer criterion? OK, have it your way. The mean household income in 2004 was $60,528. Again, nowhere near that of the taxpayers who stand to be affected by either bill. Source

So, in short, Jer is once again dead wrong. This legislation won't cripple middle class Joe Averages. It will mildly inconvenience the investor class and rich/super-rich households, to the point that perhaps they might have to curtail their Mediterranean yacht excursions or vacations on Fantasy Island by a day or two.

Some would say our leaders are 'inept,' well, they are not inept when it comes to doing evil, but they sure are inept at doing good ... they know how to do good, they just don't have a desire to do good, because their hearts are hard like Pharaohs in Egypt were.

And, in closing, it's back to the old reliable fake-pious babbling and emotional claims backed up with zero facts, all with the Fox-News-like "some would say" strawman opener. It's a wonder that Jer even admits that Obama and his administration does actually "know how to do good." But don't worry. I'm sure that come this self-righteous prig's next post, Obama will be Beelzebub incarnate and all the Democratic Senators and Congresspeople his happy little imps.

Don't let the facts hit you in the posterior on the way out, Jeremiah!

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Al-Qaida Threatens 'October Surprise' Attack

After two major terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Yemen — along with a new U.S. push at insurgent strongholds along the Afghan border — U.S. intelligence is worried about a massive "October surprise" attack geared to sway the U.S. elections.

America's military and intelligence agencies intercepted a series of messages from al-Qaida's leadership last month that seemed designed to warn local cells to prepare for imminent attacks. One such operation may have been the attack that brought down a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad where the newly inaugurated president of Pakistan was scheduled to dine.

The attacks would likely be at American bases or allies abroad, since most experts think the group’s ability to penetrate the U.S. homeland has deteriorated since 9-11. Still, al-Qaida is aggressively recruiting both North African and European operatives who may have a greater ability to enter the United States and blend in before launching an attack, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

When in doubt, scare the living shit out of Americans into voting against their own best interests.
Fear, fear, fear. It's the only thing Republicans have left to sell.