Buck Naked Politics

To Geico: For God's Sake, Ignore the Tantruming Toddlers

Some people think that if you cave in to a toddler every time it shrieks, you'll become a hostage.  I don't know whether that's true with respect to children, but I know that it's spot-on in terms of adults.

That said, PR Web reports:

"Los Angeles actor, D.C. Douglas, says he was dropped from the upcoming GEICO "Shocking News" campaign after a group of Tea Party members harassed him and the insurance giant over a private voicemail the actor left for FreedomWorks. Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks, posted Mr. Douglas' cell phone number in a blog post on biggovernment.com, instructing readers to "Feel free to contact (him)… call his employer too. Let them know that you…are now in the market for car insurance." The next day, GEICO held auditions to replace Mr. Douglas' voice on the campaign.

"Mr. Douglas' message hardly warranted the mobilization of the Tea Party Movement. Upset by the recent gay and racial slurs slung by Tea Party members at Congressman Barney Frank and Representative John Lewis during the Health Care Reform Weekend, Mr. Douglas left his opinion of FreedomWorks' staff and followers on their company voicemail and included his phone number.

"'I called as a private citizen to make a complaint,' explains Mr. Douglas. 'Racism and homophobia are my Achilles heal, but unfortunately my message included inappropriate words and I am sorry for that. However, telling their members to harass my employer to get me fired is an egregiously disproportionate response to my actions.'"

Apparently, Mr. Douglas used cuss words, which I suspect shocked and offended even the most cable-addicted Tea Partiers.   Why stop at firing Mr. Douglas?  Why not subject him to severe domestic discipline?  Perhaps a few months in jail?

Incidentally, something has been plaguing me for months: what does Freedom Works mean?  My Oxford American Dictionary says that Freedom is a noun meaning "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants...."  In this context, the most sensible interpretation of Works is as a present tense verb meaning to function well.

Putting it all together, the group's message seems to be that freedom serves a valuable function in our society (and, thus, should be protected).

The big question: why would a group of self-styled freedom lovers go gunning after a fellow American for exercising his power to speak or think as he wants?

Back in the '80s, we had to contend with the so-called "Moral Majority," which was eventually re-labeled the "Oral Minority" because there weren't all that many of them (relative to the nation's population).  Though, they sure did squawk like chickens during a neck wringing.

Charlie Wilson Dies at 76

Former congressman Charlie Wilson died yesterday at age 76.  Our condolences to his family and friends. 

Wilson's funding of Afghanistan's anti-Soviet forces was the main topic in the film Charlie Wilson's War, whose cast included Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. and Amy Adams.

Florida Yogi Helps Veterans

by Deb Cupples | On Veterans Day, I cannot help thinking of the thousands of Americans who have returned home from foreign soil suffering injuries.  When I think of wounded veterans, I cannot help thinking of the Exalted Warrior Foundation, founded by Annie Okerin -- a fantastic yoga instructor and proprietor of Yogani Studios in South Tampa, Florida. 

For some years now, Yogani has been offering free yoga classes to veterans outside the hospital, in partnership with the Exalted Warrior Foundation.  Here's a bit about Okerlin's work with Veterans:

"The Exalted Warrior Foundation facilitates a yoga instruction program that is designed for wounded soldiers in military and veteran hospital facilities.

"Faced with the demands of both a physical and emotional recovery, yoga allows newly disabled veterans to reconnect both with themselves and their loved ones. Soldiers with amputations, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries have benefited greatly since the program began.

"The gentle movements of a yoga practice support the restoration of the body-mind connection. Practice varies from subtle breath work, accompanied with gentle stretching postures, for beginners to intense exertions, as the patients’ comfort with these healing techniques increases. Through practice, the soldier will begin to release the 'issues from the tissues....' "

There have been a lot of write-ups about Okerlin's work with vets and some news coverage (see videos at EWF home page).   If you'd like to donate to this non-profit foundation, click here.

Since 2006, Okerlin and staff have also been traveling to Walter Reed Army Medical Center  to work with severely wounded veterans, including amputees.  Okerlin's team has also started working in veterans' hospitals in Tampa and Brooklyn.

Another site worth checking out is Yoga for Vets, which has a list of yoga studios nationwide that offer at least four free classes to vets.

Good News Roundup

by Deb Cupples |  Balance is important.  Blogging about politics can make us forget that good news exists in the world and that there are good people out there helping create it.  I figured it would be nice to find a few positive news stories.

Charles Burrows was diagnosed with liver cancer more than four years ago.  The tumor was about the size of a baseball.  He was told that he had only a couple months to live.  About six months later, the tumor was gone.  As of three years later, the tumor has not come back.  Forbes has that story.

A pair of high-school sweethearts got married last weekend -- after having been kept apart for 50 years.  Gimundo has the story.

Via the Good News Network, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on a heroic runner:

White House Says Fox Isn't Really News: Duhhhhh!

by Deb Cupples |  I know, you know, we all know that Rupert Murdoch's Fox is all about editorializing, not reporting news. 

More accurately, the folks tend to selectively report news items so as to support certain people's political (and personal-financial) agendas.  If selective reporting (or omissions) won't work, the folks at Fox tend to spin facts or outright lie in order to promote their financial backers' agendas.

Mr. Murdoch has a constitutional right to editorialize -- and onlookers have a right to point out that Fox is editorializing.

All that said, a White House spokesperson has said it publicly, according to The Politico:

Jon Stewart Ponders 30 GOP Votes Against Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment

HuffPost:

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her Halliburton/KBR co-workers while working in Iraq and locked in a shipping container for over a day to prevent her from reporting her attack. The rape occurred outside of U.S. criminal jurisdiction, but to add serious insult to serious injury she was not allowed to sue KBR because her employment contract said that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration--a process that overwhelmingly favors corporations.

This year, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment that would deny defense contracts to companies that ask employees to sign away the right to sue.

Jon Stewart seems surprised.  I'm not.  Between protecting KBR/Halliburton's protection of rapists and protecting women from rape was a no-brainer -- fortunately for KBR/Halliburton.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape-Nuts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Punked! Insurance Companies Contend that Obama's Health Care Plans Will Increase Policy Costs by "Thousands"

by bartleby the scrivener | Ha ha ha!  So much for the industry's much-touted "collaboration."  When will our Dems ever learn, eh?  If you lie down with dogs, you get up with rabies. "[T]he insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected."  (WaPo)  Yep, and here's the big announcement. Apparently Congressional Dems didn't see that one coming.  I wonder why not?  As Josh Marshall says: this is news? 

Angered by the insurance industry's late-in-coming cost estimate, a spokesman for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont, questioned the credibility of the numbers.

"It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple," said the spokesman, Scott Mulhauser.  (Huffington Post) 

The administration too is up in arms.  

Progressives Ponder Obama's Nobel Prize Win for Not Being George W. Bush; Others Enjoy Wingnut-Baiting Bonus

by Damozel | Neener neener! Ha ha ha! (as Big Tent Democrat is wont to say, speaking for me only). 

Many progressives are disturbed by the award.  Tas of Comments from Left Field calls it ridiculous.  .

If the “feeling” about Obama is the “game changer”, then why not award the Nobel Peace Prize to the entire American electorate?  After all, we’re the ones whose feelings have changed — as shown by us collectively doing as much as possible to remove Republicans from power in Washington and treat the world better....

This prize should only be awarded to those who, as can be shown empirically, brought more peace to the world.  To throw the prize at Obama — or anybody else — who simply causes the Nobel committee to “feel good” only cheapens the award.

Maria of Crooked Timber wrote the post to which Tas is reacting.

[T]his isn’t about domestic politics, or about what he’s done yet. President Obama has changed how the world feels about America. He’s lifted the planet’s mood. This guy is global Prozac.

Obama: No Plans to Lower Troop Levels in Afghanistan

by bartleby the scrivener (photograph: US government work by Pete Souza from official Whitehouse photostream)| Obama told federal lawmakers he has no plans to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan, though he has not yet decided on the major troop buildup recommended by Gen. McChrystal, who has requested 40,000 more. (NYT)

"While some Democrats said they would support whatever he decided, others challenged him about sending more troops. And Republicans pressed him to order the escalation without delay, leading to a pointed exchange between the president and Senator John McCain of Arizona, his Republican opponent from last year’s election.

"Mr. McCain told the president that “time is not on our side.” He added, “This should not be a leisurely process,” according to several people in the room.

New FTC Advertising Guidelines Target Bloggers, Celebrities, and More

by Deb Cupples |   Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced updates to its "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising," which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities -- and disclosure of relevant connections between advertisers and endorsers (e.g., payments compensation, and maybe conflicts of interest).  Reportedly, the Guides have not been updated since 1980. 

The FTC's press release states:

Full of Win: Grayson on MSNBC -- The GOP is a "lie factory"

by Damozel | This is how you do it.  When civility gets you nothing but FAIL, this is how you counter the untrue jeering and the lies that just won't die.. This is what we send people to Congress for. From The Hill:

"America is sick of you, Republican Party; you're a lie factory, that's all you do," he told MSNBC on Thursday. "Why don't you work together with the Democrats to solve America's problems instead of making stuff up?"

Grayson then called the party a bunch of "no-mongers."...

"The people who should be apologizing are the Republicans, they're the ones who should apologize for dragging us all through the mud here while we're just trying to improve healthcare in America," he said. "That's all we're trying to do."

Thank you, Alan Grayson, for standing up to the bullies. 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

More About Right Wing Hate Speech and the Census Taker Lynching

Yesterday, my co-blogger Bartleby did a post about Bill Sparkman, the murdered census worker and substitute teacher whose body was found hanging from a tree in Clay County, Kentucky (Time Magazine).  The word "Fed" was written on Mr. Sparkman's chest.

Naturally, people are wondering whether anti-government hate speech from certain media had whipped some Kentucky residents into a frenzy.  Right Wing Watch posted a video containing examples of such frenzy stirring (below):

It's not just media folks.  As Bartleby points out, even some taxpayer-paid politicians got in on the game:

More Indicia that the Hanged Census Worker was Victim of Lynching; "Think Progress" Recaps Anti-Census Right-wing Hate Speech

by bartleby the scrivener | I say "lynching" because it is incredibly difficult for one person to hang another.  But that's just my theory.  Apparently one theory is that his death had some relationship to the local drug culture. Whatever.  Whoever killed him used his body to make a political statement.   From today's New York Times:

"[The] part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago....

"Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio [who discovered the body], told The Associated Press on Friday that he was certain from the gruesome scene that someone killed Sparkman....

"Weaver said he was in the rural Kentucky county for a family reunion and was visiting some family graves at the cemetery on Sept. 12 along with his wife and daughter when they saw the body.

"''The only thing he had on was a pair of socks,'' Weaver said. ''And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.''...

''And they even had duct tape around his neck,'' Weaver said. ''And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder.''...

"Both of the people briefed on the investigation confirmed Sparkman's Census Bureau ID was found taped to his head and shoulder area. Weaver said he couldn't tell if the tag was a Census ID because he didn't get close enough to read it. He could see writing on Sparkman's chest, and could read that it said ''fed.''"

Was the Hanging of the Census Worker Politically Motivated?

by Damozel | The AP reporter interviewed by Rachel Maddow (below) seems to think there is some ground for concern.

"I don't think federal law enforcement would still be involved a week and a half after the body was found if there wasn't still that very serious concern," he responded. "And they don't have all the answers yet. And some of the things they know they're not going to tell us because they're concerned that there may be perpetrators out there that they would very much like to catch. But ... part of the process we're in now is proving all the other alternate explanations."

Barrett added that "in the county where this death occurred, they have instructed their workers not to go door to door while this investigation continues. Clearly there's a great deal of concern within this census worker community in that area. (More at HuffPost.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Our Unreformed Financial System

by bartleby the scrivener | When the economic crisis hit last year, Paul Krugman and other progressives were hopeful that some good might be wrung out of the market's collapse.  What price such gossamer hopes now?   "The end of the world has been postponed," Krugman said at an economic seminar in Helsinki.   

Meanwhile, in an op-ed at NYT, Krugman points out that for the guys who brought about the collapse of Wall Street, it's now pretty much business as before:

"Even as the rest of the nation continues to suffer from rising unemployment and severe hardship, Wall Street paychecks are heading back to pre-crisis levels. And the industry is deploying its political clout to block even the most minimal reforms.

"The good news is that senior officials in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve seem to be losing patience with the industry’s selfishness. The bad news is that it’s not clear whether President Obama himself is ready, even now, to take on the bankers."

Obama's a smart guy, so why is he unable to understand the connection between the way the system rewards the financial industry movers and shakers and the need of banks for a massive bailout by American taxpayers?  Even I understand it.

SC Supreme Court Makes an Insurance Company Pay $10 Mil for Wrongfully Revoking Policy of 17 Year Old with HIV (& Other Tales of Health Care Rescission)

by bartleby the scrivener |  Murray Waas has the story:

"The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered an insurance company to pay $10 million for wrongly revoking the insurance policy of a 17-year-old college student after he tested positive for HIV. The court called the 2002 decision by the insurance company "reprehensible." ....

"In the ruling, Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal wrote: "We find ample support in the record that Fortis' conduct was reprehensible ... Fortis demonstrated an indifference to Mitchell's life and a reckless disregard to his health and safety."

"An investigation this summer by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and earlier ones by state regulators in California, New York and Connecticut, found that thousands of vulnerable and seriously ill policyholders have had their coverage canceled by many of the nation's largest insurance companies without any legal basis. The congressional committee found that three insurance companies alone made at least $300 million over five years from rescission....

Irving Kristol Dies at 89

Writer and professor Irving Kristol, whom the Washington Post calls the "leading architect of neoconservatism," died yesterday after battling lung cancer. 

He was 89. Our condolences to his friends, family and admirers.

Obama and Kayne West: Still More Distractions from Real Issues

ABC's Terry Moran reportedly "Twittered" that President Obama called Kayne West a "jackass" after Mr. West apparently had a public outburst.  The jackass remark was reportedly part of an off-the-record portion of an interview with Pres. Obama.  The Politico reports:

"[A]n ABC spokesperson explains to Politico: 

"'In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.'"

Oh well.  If ex-President Bush can get away with publicly accusing of terrorist-loving those Dem Congressmen who disagreed with him, perhaps our nation can refrain from freaking out over our current president's use of one of the word "jackass."  (Or is it two words: I never can remember?)

Now, ff President Obama had said "asshole," there might be grounds for actual impeachment, because that term steps a little too close to being a cuss-word.  Everyone knows that cussing qualifies as a "high crime" or "misdemeanor."

Then again, back in 2004, ex-Vice President Dick Cheney told Sen. Patrick Leahy to "Go F*ck himself." 

It'd be nice of our media would keep their eye more on the ball and less on the B-S.

Joe Wilson's Cry Built Upon a Lie: No Undocumented Aliens Would Benefit from Health Care Reform

by bartleby the scrivener | Eric Boehlert of Media Matters calls out the press for failing to address the fact that Joe Wilson's outburst was in sober fact entirely inaccurate, giving credit where due to Times' Michael Scherer for at least taking time to fact-check the President's Speech.  

"The President's seemingly simple statement that "the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally" is not hard to check. In the Senate Finance Committee's working framework for a health plan, which Obama's speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line, "No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits." Similarly, the major health-care-reform bill to pass out of committee in the House, H.R. 3200, contains Section 246, which is called "NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS." ....

"He was claiming something — benefits for illegal immigrants — that is expressly prohibited in the major legislative efforts in both houses of Congress. He was becoming the sideshow the President wanted to spotlight, and as such Wilson handed a great gift to his political enemies, for whom he clearly has little regard."(Time Magazine)

Times Journalist Freed in Afghanistan, Others Died

Via Memeorandum, today's New York Times reports:

"Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter held captive by militants in northern Afghanistan, was freed in a military commando raid early Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter, a British commando and an Afghan woman were killed in the raid.

"Gunmen seized Mr. Farrell and his interpreter, Sultan Munadi, on Saturday while they were working in a village near Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan.

"They were reporting on the aftermath of NATO airstrikes on Friday that exploded two fuel tankers hijacked by Taliban militants and killed scores of people, including an uncertain number of civilians."

See the rest of the story here.