:: The Rational Radical Blog ::

Monday, May 08, 2006

Coulter: Media Hiding Great Economy

"It’s amazing how well the economy is doing,” she said, "but the mainstream media has a vested interest in not pointing out how well the economy is doing.

"As someone else has pointed out in the past," she continued, "whenever a Republican president is elected, suddenly the media notices homeless people again.”

Yup, stupid Americans can't tell how well the economy is doing from their own personal finances, they need the media to tell them, right Ann? People with empty pocketbooks and wallets, struggling to get by, just need the media to enlighten them on the how wonderful Bush's economy is, and that's what they'll believe. A right-wing fantasy. See my podcast about this.

Jack Clark 11:03 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114715461694913560

Killing of Gays Accelerates in Iraq

Campaign groups have warned of a surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias following an anti-gay and anti-lesbian fatwa issued by Iraq's most prominent Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Ali Hili, the co-ordinator of a group of exiled Iraqi gay men who monitor homophobic attacks inside Iraq, said the fatwa had instigated a "witch-hunt of lesbian and gay Iraqis, including violent beatings, kidnappings and assassinations".

...Grand Ayatollah Sistani recently issued a fatwa on his website calling for the execution of gays in the "worst, most severe way".

...Another fatwa from the late and much revered Ayatollah Abul Qassim Khoei allows followers to kill gays "with a sword, or burn him alive, or tie his hands and feet and hurl him down from a high place".

...A number of public homophobic murders by the Badr militia have terrified Iraq's gay community. Last September, Hayder Faiek, a transsexual, was burnt to death by Badr militias in the main street of Baghdad's al-Karada district.

Yet more freedom and democracy, Bushian-style. I wonder if the right-wing pseudo-Christian homophobes approve.

Jack Clark 10:33 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114689363561367552

Torture "Widespread" under U.S. Custody: Amnesty

Torture and inhumane treatment are 'widespread' in U.S.-run detention centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere despite Washington's denials, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

Building good will all over the globe, that's the Bushian way!

Jack Clark 11:13 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114680962821133971

Podcast #39 Is UP!! Debunking Right-Wing Propaganda: U.S. Economy Not Strong, NOT Benefiting All Americans / A Listener's Take On Immigration

If all you knew was what George W. Bush and the right-wing echo machine told you, you'd think that the U.S. economy was thriving in a way that benefits all Americans. Not so. It's quite the opposite. Facts and figures will be liberally employed to bust this right-wing propaganda.

A listener gives us his take on what the immigration debate is really all about.


For those who aren't familiar with podcasts (like me until recently!), podcasts are a series of mp3 audio files that you download to your computer or portable music device (iPod or other) and then can listen to whenever you want.

You don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts.

Podcast software like iTunes will automatically check a podcast at intervals you specify, and download any new installments.

iTunes is free and very easy to use. http://www.apple.com/itunes/

In iTunes, if you want to subscribe to my podcast, just click on Advanced at the top right, then choose Subscribe to Podcast, and paste in the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/blasttheright

That's the URL to use for other podcast-friendly software programs as well.

Alternatively, you can just manually download new episodes from my podcast home page as they become available. Here is a link to my podcast's home page: http://www.therationalradical.com/podcast.html

Enjoy!!

Jack Clark 2:36 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114677904710937534

Bolivian Nationalizes the Oil and Gas Sector

President Evo Morales of Bolivia ordered the military to occupy energy fields around the country on Monday as he placed Bolivia's oil and gas reserves under state control.

Surrounded by soldiers at an oil field operated by the Brazilian energy giant Petróleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, Mr. Morales ordered foreign producers to relinquish control of all fields and channel future sales of hydrocarbons through the state-owned energy company.

He gave foreign companies 180 days to renegotiate existing contracts with the government, or leave the country.

"The time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources," Mr. Morales declared, according to The Associated Press. "The looting by the foreign companies has ended."

The decree is the latest step by Latin America governments from Venezuela to Ecuador to assert greater control over the energy sector, moves that have sent shivers through foreign producers.

Don't you just feel so sorry for the "foreign producers," AKA plundering multinationals?

Jack Clark 10:38 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114663471413846592

John Kenneth Galbraith RIP

Very few, if any of the obituaries and tributes are citing my favorite Galbraith line: "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." Doesn't that sum up everything that comes out of a right-winger's mouth that has anything to do with money?

Jack Clark 9:44 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114654509573195449

Chuck Pennacchio for United States Senate 2006

Got an email from a Pennacchio supporter. The establishment-supported candidate in the primary is bad news. Check out the site for more info.

Jack Clark 10:28 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114637490948915532

Listener's New Blog: Empires Fall

I checked it out briefly, seems well-written and intelligent. So you right-wingers, therefore, won't be able to understand it. Everyone else, check it out!

Jack Clark 10:21 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114637451553493161

Human Rights Take Backseat to Oil

Searching for energy supplies and allies against Iran, the Bush administration is reaching out to leaders who rule countries that are rich in oil and gas but accused of authoritarian rule and human rights violations.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea are all getting special attention. The effort sometimes seems at odds with President Bush's stated second-term goal of spreading democracy.

"If those countries were not oil producers, we would probably not be meeting with their leaders," said Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst with the Brookings Institution. "There is some tension with Bush's democracy-promotion agenda. They are pulling in different directions."

What's the big deal about supporting governments that torture, we do it as well. And their lack of freedom of the press, etc? The Bushians are jealous, not condemnatory.

Jack Clark 10:35 PM [+]  0 comments   
Post #114628894762763036