Where's the Outrage?

Conservatives are going to stomp and hold their breath until Sir Paul McCartney apologizes.

From C&L:
…little moments like these remind us of the puckish rebel of his youth:

McCartney ended the evening taking a baseless cheap shot at former President George W. Bush.

“After the last eight years, it’s great to have a President who knows what a library is,” McCartney quipped.

Republicans seem to have forgotten that The Beatles always had a way of poking fun at conservatives — and they never were compelled to hold their tongues, either.

Which is why John Boehner immediately put up a big whine:

“Like millions of other Americans, I have always had a good impression of Paul McCartney and thought of him as a classy guy, but I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of grace and respect he displayed at the White House,” Boehner told HUMAN EVENTS. “I hope he’ll apologize to the American people for his conduct which demeaned him, the White House and President Obama.”

Ed. note: Why would John Boehner think that he needed to comment on something that Paul McCartney said? Who cares? Seriously, why comment? His comment just makes him sound more moronic.

Tags: Fun, House of Representatives, Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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Every now and then, America goes into this trance. I don’t know if it is a response to our feeling threatened or what but we do have these periods in our history which are difficult to explain. The McCarthy era, in which your reputation could be destroyed by one senator mentioning your name, is a fine example. During this time period being a communist was awful, but knowing a communist was almost as bad. Simply being associated with a communist could get you called out in public. You could lose your job. You could be ostracized by your friends. You had to be more patriotic than Captain America in order to withstand the scrutiny.

This leads me to today. I believe that we are on the tail end of one of these periods that is going to be difficult to explain to our children. From September 11 until now, there was almost a race to see who could be the most patriotic. We saw that race play out on our TV screens with Fox News being the winner. No one was more apple pie than Fox. ABC, CNN, NBC and CBS tried to pull out the American flag and to move more to the right in their television coverage, but they never got the audience. Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly were kings of the hill. They had millions of viewers every night. Then, almost out of nowhere, came someone who is even more patriotic than they were — Glenn Beck. With sagging ratings, CNN threw a Hail Mary and pulled Glenn Beck out from radio. He really didn’t have a television background (to the best of my knowledge). He instantly made news. After a couple years, he moved from CNN to his natural home at Fox News.

I’ve never really understood Glenn Beck’s appeal. I don’t understand the crying. I don’t understand the hyperbole. I don’t understand how everything is related to Hitler. I don’t understand how when you’re doing a news show, you can get the facts wrong and Americans don’t seem to care. I just don’t get that. I don’t know how you can come out and say that the president of the United States hates white people and that there are no significant repercussions. This is much like what happened in the McCarthy era. McCarthy just said stuff. He had no data to back it up. Glenn Beck is almost exactly the same. He just spouts things and people believe it. I have no idea why. I guarantee you if I said those things on the air my family would have me committed and rightly so.

So an Israeli raid on a flotilla draws international condemnation. The official position of the United States is somewhat muted. Glenn Beck and Fox News would never let an opportunity like this go to waste. They know that conservatives have this knee-jerk reaction to support Israel no matter what they’ve done. So, Glenn Beck shows news footage that everybody else has. This is not exclusive to Fox News. Why does he imply that this is an exclusive? Because his audience never questioned him. I am hopeful that we will return to a time when Americans want facts more than they want the Glenn Becks of the world.

Watch the video as Jon Stewart points out that Glenn Beck is simply a lying sack…

Tags: Obama administration, Party Politics, The Daily Show by ecthompson md
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In what is certainly a dream matchup for the NBA, tonight the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics. Here are two storied franchises which tangled in the ’60s, in the ’70s and most recently in the ’80s. Everybody remembers the great teams of the 1980s. With Larry Bird and the Celtics taking on Magic Johnson and the Lakers, the games were epic. For those of us who were really into basketball in the middle ’80s, we still remember these teams extremely fondly. Both teams played tremendous basketball. Both teams had five great starters and one or two outstanding people coming off the bench.

Kobe Bryant versus Ray Allen

That was then. Now we have Kobe Bryant and the Lakers versus Kevin Garnet, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce and the Celtics. I think that Kobe Bryant is playing the best basketball of his career. He is now smart enough to know when to pass and when to keep the ball. He knows it is possible to win without scoring 50 points every game. As a matter fact, as his body ages, he had to learn this if he wants more championships. In my opinion, his team played a somewhat disappointing game six against the Phoenix Suns. The rest of the team, with the exception of Ron Artest, played mediocre at best. Ron Artest was the ex-factor. In spite of being a bunion on the foot of modern basketball he still knows how to play.

This is going to be an extremely interesting matchup. The age of the Boston Celtics is extremely important. Basketball is a young man’s game. Therefore, if I’m the Lakers I’m going to try to run. Fast breaks, quick outlet passes, very little set offense. I’m going to try to act like the Phoenix Suns. I wanted to tire the Boston Celtics. I want to see Kevin Garnet and Paul Pierce bent over with their hands on their knees. I think the Lakers can do this. The advantage of pushing the ball will not come until the third or fourth game of the series.

I think the Boston Celtics match up pretty well in a set offense. I think they have the height and the strength to match up with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Celtics need to stay healthy. They need to slow the game down. In my opinion, the big three — Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet — have become the little three. They have become complementary to Rajon Rondo. In my opinion, he is the key to the series. He is extremely quick. If he’s able to take advantage of Derek Fisher, this is going to be a long series for the Lakers. Rondo is the key to the Celtics’ success. If he plays well, he will pull the little three along with him and Boston will win another championship title.

I know that there are some that are going to freak out because I didn’t say that Kobe Bryant is the key to the series. In my opinion, he is not. Kobe Bryant is going to play great basketball. This is a given. Just as the sun will rise in the east and set in the west tomorrow, Kobe Bryant will do everything that he can to win. The Celtics are not going to be able to stop Kobe. Therefore, the Celtics must stop everybody else. The Celtics must dominate the glass. They must slow down the game. They have to prevent those long three-pointers by Derek Fisher and the other Lakers. They have to stop that little two-man game that Kobe Bryant has with Pau Gasol. They have to keep Lamar Odom in check. Bynum and Artest must be neutralized. This is how the Boston Celtics can win this series in five or six games.

This series will be worth the price of admission. Hype this all you want. The stars will be there. Tom Cruise, Spike Lee, Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman and others will be at courtside. Turn up the hype machine. This will be a great series.

This is my two cents.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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Tags: Business, Taxes by ecthompson md
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I don’t know how other bloggers like Steve or Markos come up with their ideas of what to talk about. I don’t know if they sit down in front of the computer, like I do, and scan multiple news sites before they find something that clicks. Sometimes, I can spend more than an hour just looking for the right thing to write about. Anyway, I threw a few ideas together in tonight’s grab bag.

• I’m not sure what went wrong when Israel decided to stop a flotilla in international waters. The flotilla was heading for Gaza. They suspected weapons or terrorists or both. Several people are dead. Turkey and Israel are pointing fingers at each other and we’re in the middle.
• The guys over at Crooks and Liars have written a new book called Over the Cliff: How Obama’s Election Drove the American Right Insane. I’m buying a copy and I hope you are too.
• Labor unions are pulling out all the stops against Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, who has consistently sided with big business over labor.
• If you and I and all of our friends in the progressive blogosphere donate $50 to help strengthen financial reform, could we change Congress? Could we change the bill? I doubt it. The financial sector is simply awash in truckloads of money.
• The teeth in the financial reform bill was an amendment named after Sherrod Brown and Ted Kaufman. The Brown-Kaufman amendment would’ve limited the size of banks and held the amount of risk that they could take. How did 27 Democrats vote against this amendment? How did this amendment go up in flames so quickly? It is clearly a testament to the power of Wall Street.
• I know that people are clamoring for president Obama to do something with this oil spill but for the life of me I can’t think of what it is he would need to do. Send in the Navy? And do what? How would the Navy stop the oil spill? By the way, how come we’ve been drilling off the coasts of the United States for over 30 years and we don’t have a viable plan of how to fix it if something goes wrong?
• The Prince of Persia is really a good movie. My wife and I just saw it and we both enjoyed it. It is a little clichéd at times but still very enjoyable.
• Finally, I feel sorry for Al Gore and Tipper Gore. They should be able to suffer through their divorce in private.

Tags: Big Oil, Economy, Israel by ecthompson md
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