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Showing posts with label Extremism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Extremism. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2011

Note To The Far Right : CUT. IT. OUT... Pretty Please

Seriously folks, get your act together.

Here is the deal as I see it (me being a conservative voter)- In 2008, Barack Obama, a man with no experience to warrant a position like the President of the United States of America, was elected as the President of the United States of America.

Why?

Voters turned against Republicans, pure and simple. They were the tipping point.

In 2010, after a far left extreme liberal agenda was jammed down America's throat, debt rising at unimaginable speed, government spending reaching monumental levels, bailouts mania, stimulus that stimulated nothing but higher unemployment and Obamacare, voters turned, yet again, and handed a victory to the GOP on the largest scale in over 70 years.

They did with the promise from the GOP that they would get serious on spending cuts, work on job creation and get the ball rolling to lower our debt.

From the 2008 election to the 2010 midterms, many of us, myself included, watched and wrote about the far left liberal so-called progressive extremists tearing the Democratic party apart, piece by piece, insisting that for the "good" of all, the far left liberal agenda should be shoved down American's throats and Americans would understand afterward what a wonderful thing Democrats had done.

How'd that work out? Huh? Huh?

Hint: 2010 Midterm elections.

So here we are, April 2011. A budget deal was negotiated, one that should have been passed last year while Democrats held the House, the Senate and White House, but the hard choices that needed to be made were too much of a "political hot potato," so they kicked the can down the road and the deal had to be made between a Republican controlled House of Representatives, a Democratically controlled Senate and a Democratically controlled White House.

The deal was made. Government didn't shut down, the GOP set the tone of discussion to surround spending, deficits and job creation by the end, and even had Obama and Harry Reid touting spending cuts as historic and the largest ever seen.

The GOP did so in a manner which kept voters (you know the people that will determine what direction and what message to send in 2012)engaged, informed and took into account that voters would rather see the major battle fought over trillions and not just billions. Those same voters, the majority, (which again for those that are slow, determine the outcome of elections) did not want to see a government shutdown over billions when the real fight is to come to cut spending by trillions.

Now I see hardcore conservatives, who admittedly are taking a principled stand, criticizing the size and scope of the deal that was made. I see them willing to tear into anyone that dares look at the good the GOP has done with the first initial battle.

Whether they admit it or not, there was plenty of good done. Starting with setting the public debate stage with the proper theme of debt, spending and jobs.

Lets take a quick look at what the GOP has accomplished, being in control of only the House of Representatives: (Via The Politico)

***The $40 billion in cuts was not only historically high, it was more than Boehner himself wanted to push for a few short months ago.

***Earmarks, which many thought would never go away, are now taboo - even to earmark addicts like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who reluctantly gave them up after the 2010 election.

***Deficits are all the rage on Capitol Hill, and will be until Congress wends its way through the debt limit fight and the next budget. The word “deficit” appeared in 470 documents in the Congressional Record between the beginning of January and the end of March, more than in any session’s opening since 1995, according to a review by POLITICO. And Americans listened: Asked by Gallup to identify the most important problem facing the nation, 13 percent said “federal debt” in March of this year, up from 8 percent a year ago.

***The broader budget debate is now fought on the tea party’s terms: It’s not whether to reduce government, it’s by how much. This helps explain why serious centrist commentators and even some liberals PRAISED a $6 trillion budget cut plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). Remember how a similar plan was received two years ago?

***Thanks to a pickup of 675 legislative seats in 2010 - many because of these budget principles

***The most sweeping work is getting done in states. Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana are now working, real-time labs for discovering how much the party can cut government - without cutting off the support of independents. A GOP senator told us the party studies what happens in these state showdowns to test the limits of what will work here. One early finding: Many think Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went too far, too fast by gutting union power without first educating the public.

***The real fight over spending erupted in late spring of 2009, and consider the results: The GOP won the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey in 2009; the Scott Brown Senate race in Massachusetts in early 2010; then won back the House, picked up Senate seats and captured the most state legislative seats in a single year since Watergate — all in November of last year.

Most Republicans and moderate conservatives are looking at the big picture, seeing the messaging war won, the stage for the future battle set to fight the bigger fight over trillions and time being bought to inform the public each step of the way so that the majority of the public is behind them.

All that in a few short months.

I took a political leanings test once, assumed I would come out as a moderate conservative, and was extremely surprised to see the test tell me I was in the top 10 percent of "ulta-conservative".... wow, really? I thought I was mellow.

The reason I tell you about that test is because I happen to agree with the hardcore far right extreme conservatives on quite a few of their political beliefs.

I believe the budget deal should have been fought over trillions (as the 2012 budget battle will be with Paul Ryan's GOP's Path to Prosperity). I believe a government that spends more than it takes in will go bankrupt, it is unsustainable. I believe saving billions in the face of a $14 trillion debt is ridiculous.

So far I agree with almost everything the far right wants and believes we need as a country.

So, why am I telling the far right to CUT. IT. OUT?

I disagree with how they want those goals achieved and how they are prepared to tear the Republican party into pieces as the far left progressives did with the Democratic party.

Back to the top everyone:

From the 2008 election to the 2010 midterms, many of us, myself included, watched and wrote about the far left liberal so-called progressive extremists tearing the Democratic party apart, piece by piece, insisting that for the "good" of all, the far left liberal agenda should be shoved down American's throats and Americans would understand afterward what a wonderful thing Democrats had done.


I am watching the far right head down the same path as the far left extreme portion of the Democratic party did from 2008 to 2010. I am watching the far right encourage Republican politicians to make the same mistakes the far left liberals forced their politicians to make from 2008 to 2010.

The principles, to which I agree with them on most issues, of the far right and their own thoughts on how our Representatives should achieve those principles, seem to be more important to them than the majority of the public and the voters in the upcoming elections.

Voters, the majority of them, must be behind everything that is done. They must have time to research the available information. They must be given time and the respect shown to them to decide issues for themselves without being told "you have to pass it to learn what is in it" (Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare quote)

Inevitably we see the argument how politicians shouldn't make their decisions based on "polls" and for the most part that is true but politicians are elected to represent their constituents and if the majority of voters turn against a party as they did Republicans in 2008 and Democrats in 2010, those voters can and will replace those politicians they feel did not represent them.

Most Tea Party supporters seem to have found a good balance here. They are arguing that more needs to be done at the same time acknowledging the limitations the politicians have to work with.

Ever heard the expression "pick your battles"?

The war is the 2012 budget, the one just passed was simply a skirmish to set the stage.

Politicians- Please do not make the same mistake Obama/Reid/Pelosi made. Do not allow the extreme portion of the GOP party to cause you to lose the majority of voters.

Far right- Please do not make the same mistakes the far left liberal so-called progressives made. Don't rip the Republican party to shreds when we will need them to unite and fight the biggest war to come.

We are all on the same side here. Can we start acting like it?

I am begging you... CUT. IT. OUT. Pretty please.

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Reporter, Lara Logan, Sexually Assaulted While Covering Protests In Egypt: Reactions, Good, Bad And Ugly

CBS News released the story of their own reporter, Lara Logan, being separated from her crew while covering the protest in Egypt then being brutally beaten and sexually assaulted before being rescued and returning to the U.S. to recover.

On Friday, Feb. 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a "60 Minutes" story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.

In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently home recovering.


Reactions to this news have been mixed. Many think that one places themselves into danger when covering violence, in America or across the world and that people like Logan and CNN's Anderson Copper, who was recently attacked, understand the dangers of their jobs before going in.

Be that as it may, being beaten and sexually assaulted for doing the job, whether people approve of that job or those doing the job, is not a reason to show a lack of sympathy and outright hostility towards the victim, when anyone is harmed doing it.

Yet, hostility is exactly what I have seen as I browse the reactions to this story. Not just hostility, but in some cases people are actually claiming "she had it coming." (WARNING ALERT- horrendously offensive post on Logan's assault, linked only as an example of the vitriol I am seeing as I browse)

Jim Geraghty at NRO, provides examples of Nir Rosen, a fellow at the NYU Center for Law and Security, from his Twitter feed (account has now been deleted, but Geraghty captured the screen shots).

I’m sure Rosen will apologize at some point, and perhaps we’ll get some tut-tutting statement from NYU about the need for “civility” and “restraint” and “sensitivity.” Brows will be furrowed. Maybe they’ll hold a seminar about technology and emotional reactions to breaking news events.

But let’s just remember one thing going forward: Nir Rosen believed this was the right moment to let the world know that he “ran out of sympathy for her” and that we should “remember her role as a major war monger” and that we “have to find humor in the small things.”



Make no mistake, this post is not an attack on any political side of the aisle, I have seen sickeningly disgusting posts from both sides, with one even deciding to bash Muslims/Islam as a whole because of the attack.

So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. Or so we’d hope. But in the case of the media vis-a-vis Islam, that’s a hope that’s generally unanswered.

This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.

Now that’s all gone. How fitting that Lara Logan was “liberated” by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the “liberation.”

Hope you’re enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].


I will say the examples above are not representative of bloggers as a whole, no matter their political affiliation, and for that I am grateful. I see both sides condemning the few that are without moral conscience and highlighting all the comments, not just those from one "side" or another.

As an aside- Sexual assault does not always equal rape, yet I am seeing writers assume that because the words sexual assault were used it automatically means Logan was raped. Unless Logan, CBS News or someone familiar with the case confirms she was raped, folks should refer to it as CBS did, sexual assault. It makes the assault no less traumatizing, no less wrong and her injuries no less horrid.

[Update] In response to Nir Rosen's comments, which were mentioned above, via NRO, NYU Center for Law and Security has issued a formal statement:

From Karen J. Greenberg, Executive Director, Center on Law and Security:

Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line with his comments about Lara Logan. I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments. They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable. Mr. Rosen tells me that he misunderstood the severity of the attack on her in Cairo. He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted. However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted. We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.


As for Debbie Schlussel's comments about Muslims/Islam as a whole, let me say as an American Jew that has spent much time highlighting the acts of moderate Muslims that condemn the acts of the violent extremists, as well as the acts of those violent extremists that use the Islamic religion as some type of justification for their extremists actions, I find her comments no less disturbing than when I see attacks against Jews as a whole.

They say tragedy brings out the best and the worst in people. Today I have seen that proven unquestioningly true.

I find extremism from the far left and the far right to be just as disgusting as violence in the name of religion. Extremist bloggers just use their keyboards in place of bombs, fists and weapons.

[Update #2] TMZ reports Logan is vowing to be back to work within weeks.

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

More Poll Respondents See Democratic Party Dominated By Extremists Than GOP

While Democrats have done their best to connect the GOP to Tea Party supporters and to paint Tea Party supporters as a fringe group of extremists, thereby implying the GOP is made up of extremists, the voters are not buying it.

Obama, Pelosi and Reid have represented the extreme portion of their party base at the exclusion of Independents, centrists, moderates and conservatives and the midterm election results will reflect whether the country approves of that representation or not.

In the new The Hill poll recently released, not only did it find that 8 out of 10 open House seats were showing Republicans beating out Democrats but now they report that 44 percent of voters see extremists as being the dominant influence of the Democratic Party.

This result comes from The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll, which found that 44 percent of likely voters say the Democratic Party is more dominated by its extreme elements, whereas 37 percent say it’s the Republican Party that is more dominated by extremists.

The revelations in a survey of 10 toss-up congressional districts across the country point to problems for Democrats, who are trying to motivate a disillusioned base and appeal to independents moving to the GOP ahead of the Nov. 2 election.


This result even crossed party lines with one-in-five Democrats, 22 percent, saying their own party was dominated by extremists, which is double the amount of Republicans that said the same thing about the GOP (11 percent).

Democratic leader such as Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Harry Reid are all far left liberal Democrats that have helped push the most liberally extreme agenda through the House and Senate in the last two years since Obama became president.

The voters have noticed and all the rhetoric to the contrary cannot change what the voters have watched unfold over the last couple of years.

“That’s real trouble for Democrats,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder of the Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank.

“All the press coverage has been about how these Tea Party candidates are fringe ideologues, and there have been high-profile examples of them proving the point,” he added. “Yet, still at this moment, you have independents saying, ‘I think the Democrats are a little more extreme than the Republicans.' "


Perhaps this is one reason we are seeing Blue Dog Democrats come out so hard against Pelosi, swearing to their constituents they will not vote for her as Speaker of the House if the Democrats should manage to retain control of the House of Representatives, going so far as to say they want a centrist as Speaker, calling her "divisive" and too "extreme".

If the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives, she will no longer be the Speaker and will not be able to set the agenda, push votes through on a strictly party line vote as she has done for the last years.

Harry Reid, another extreme Democrat, is up for reelection and the latest polling from Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, shows Angle up by two percentage points on Reid, 47 to 45 percent.

On October 8, 2010, Gallup found that the majority of likely voters are conservative and identify as or lean Republican, with 54 percent identifying themselves as politically conservative, 27 percent identifying as moderate and only 18 percent self identifying as liberal.

The Democratic Party leaders have allowed that 18 percent to push and prod them into passing legislation the majority of Americans opposed, basically following them right off a cliff because they consider them their "base."

Gallup's bottom line from that last linked report:

Gallup's first sketch of what the electorate may look like on Nov. 2 indicates that the enthusiasm gap favoring Republicans all year -- as well as the "thought" gap evident in a late August survey -- may well translate into highly disproportionate turnout among Republicans and conservatives on Election Day. That is a key reason Gallup's latest polling finds Republican candidates leading Democrats by 13- and 18-point margins, depending on turnout, in two estimates of the vote. Another is that political independents are aligning themselves with the Republican Party to a degree unprecedented in recent history.

In contrast to these extraordinary political patterns, the demographic composition of likely voters looks fairly normal relative to the profile of the electorate in 2006, as well as consistent with the trends seen since 1994 toward an older, more well-educated, and less substantially white, electorate.



At this point Obama seems to be in damage control mode, first giving that 18 percent of self identifying liberals something to hang their hat on after election night by blaming those nasty corporate outside groups (think Chamber of Commerce) for leveling the financial playing field against Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, via advertising.

Secondly, insisting that should the GOP obtain control of the House they will "have to get along with him"

Democratic strategist Doug Schoen thinks Obama has given up on the 2010 elections as he states "It's pretty clear to me based on this interview that the president is saying, 'I've given up, You're on your own."

(Correction made to this post)

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Eugenics, Environmentalism, and the Political Elite.

Those three words when connected should be frightening, but it is surprising how many people in society are proponents of Eugenics. It would shock you how many people who advocate "human rights" would love nothing more than to "decrease the surpluss population." And many of those are indeed as rich as Ebeneezer Scrooge.

The current economic climate is beginning to weigh heavily on the American people. While they struggle with day to day life to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head, the political elite are looking at the macrocosm view of the world’s problems. The current determination is that the world population is too large to sustain and it is causing environmental, economic, and societal damage.

The political elite have looked at the ever growing plight of humanity and the environment through eyes detached from individual grievances. The world community rather than the individual is argued to be of more importance, and how could anyone disagree? Yet the populace becomes concerned, even fearful when faced with the procedure for correcting the problems of overpopulation resulting in environmental rape.

For the rest of the story visit World News Heard Now
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