Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Barbara Allen from the Songcatcher soundtrack.

Thanks to Jim Parris.

Kochstarter!

HuffPo

"Citizen Koch," a highly regarded documentary about the billionaire Koch brothers and the growing influence of money in politics after the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, suffered a major setback earlier this year when PBS pulled the film and the $150,000 in funding that had been promised. Scrambling to find a way to distribute their film, Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin turned to Kickstarter in a highly successful move that recently surpassed the funds they had previously expected to receive from public television.
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“Thanks to thousands of small donors, the public will be able to see this film," Deal said in a release. “We hope public television executives get the message that when they allow private interests to dictate their programming and funding decisions, the public will take notice and take action.”

Reports at the time of PBS' decision to pull the film from its stations suggested that executives had bowed to pressure from David Koch, a major donor to powerful PBS affiliates. Deal and Lessin's work focuses heavily on the election of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and his subsequent push to curtail union rights in the state, a push that led to massive backlash in Madison in 2011. Some reviews have suggested that much of the material is partisan and unkind to the Kochs, who are at one point described on screen as "TWO BILLIONAIRE EXTREMISTS."

That's about right.

I've kicked down to Kickstarter for a coupla projects, but I feel a little guilty for not knowing about this one. This is an important film and needs to be be seen far and wide. The Kochsuckers have pretty much funded the Teabaggers and bought our political process lock, stock, and barrel. They're not alone of course, but they need to be made an example of if we want democracy back.

A thought on the embassy closings

What if the al Qaeda bigwigs, knowing full well the western world is listening in on them, did their 20-something person conference call to make plans for a big attack without actually planning to do it? What if the phone conference was enough? What if it was the whole plan all along?

If so, al Qaeda must be laffin' their asses off at the reaction.

Tinfoil Hat Brigade Rides Again!

Jonathan Chait, links (if you must) at site.

The new right-wing book of the moment is American Betrayal, by Diana West, which offers the thesis that American foreign policy under presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower was secretly controlled by the Soviet Union. If this sounds like the sort of tract that would be written by somebody who thinks Joe McCarthy was absolutely right about everything, well, that’s exactly what Diana West does believe. She’s also quite the birther.

But her book has managed to attract quite a bit of support from respectable and semi-respectable outlets on the right. The Heritage Foundation feted West, Amity Shlaes blurbed it, the American Spectator and Daily Caller issued raves, and Breitbart is actually serializing the book.

That pretty much tells you all you need to know.

Blaming the U.S. for provoking Pearl Harbor is the sort of claim that might offend modern conservatives, except that West further argues that America was controlled by the Soviets all along. Likewise, she tells us, the U.S. could have supported anti-Hitler Nazis and ended the war, but didn’t, because its goal was to help the Soviets occupy Eastern Europe. (“The war had to last long enough for the Soviet Army to roll into the heart of Europe on those fleets of Lend-Lease Dodge and Studebaker trucks Uncle Sam had generously provided.”)
...

Our readers may not grasp just what it takes to be called a right-wing kook in Front Page Magazine by Ron Radosh. The bar is high. Radosh himself is quite conservative (he’s called President Obama a socialist). FrontPageMag is … well, suffice to say, its official motto is “Inside Every Liberal Is A Totalitarian Screaming to Get Out” — which is surely more evocative, if less credibility-rendering, than "All the news that’s fit to print." It currently features stories with such headlines as “Islamic Group in America: We’ll Impose Sharia on Christians” and “Seven More Reasons to Impeach Eric Holder.”

Indeed! Being called crazy by the certifiably insane makes you the Bull Goose Loony!

Daddy's 5th Deferment Fraudulently _________

Fill in the blank with whatever you want. Heh.

From Wyoming's News Source via TPM.

Senate candidate Liz Cheney improperly received a state resident fishing license based on an application with incorrect information, according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department records.

Cheney, who last month announced she will challenge Sen. Mike Enzi in the 2014 Republican primary, received her resident license just 72 days after closing on her Wilson house in May 2012. State law requires residents live in the state 365 consecutive days before they can receive a resident hunting or fishing license, which are cheaper than out-of-state licenses.

Cheney’s application also lists her as a 10-year resident of Wyoming.

The Game and Fish records are incorrect, Cheney told the Star-Tribune.

“The clerk must have made a mistake,” she said. “I never claimed to be a 10-year resident.”

That's about par for the course, privileged rich white lady, blame the clerk. It is not in the Cheneys' makeup to ever admit a mistake. Or worse.

It has been my experience that every government form, application, etc. has at the bottom a phrase something like "I hereby certify the above to be true and correct". Directly below that is your signature.

Should this ever go to court, which is unlikely, the opposing lawyer will simply show her the form and ask "Is that your signature?"

Who will she blame then? Don't worry, she'll find somebody.

There are penalties for submitting incorrect information on an application, he said.

The fine for a false statement on the application is $220 and is a misdemeanor, he said. If Game and Fish imposes the fine and Cheney chooses to contest the fine in court, a judge could ratchet up the fine to $1,000.

“At this point we’re going to follow up on this like any other residency issues,” Nelson said. “It’s at the initial stages of verification.”

Yes, they are no doubt "verifying" whether or not to take on the Voldemorts Cheneys over such a small matter. After much carping and floundering, probably not.

100 percent all natural lies

If it's Wednesday it must be Morford going on about food labelling and bottled water.

Here is all natural. Or rather, “all natural.” Here is this completely empty phrase/marketing ploy that has been in use for decades and which adorns hundreds of food products from here to peanut butter marshmallow bacon-wrapped blueberry graham cracker deep-fried microwave pizza colon bombs.
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Once in a great while, someone will complain (read: sue) loudly enough, and a given company is forced to sigh an evil sigh and remove the words “all natural” from a particular label, given how the product is actually derived from old motor oil, pulverized cardboard and the tears of tortured migrant workers. You know, more or less.

"The tears of tortured migrant workers" can be found on the label as "sodium".

But maybe these lies are just a little bit important? After all, the wise ones tell us the simple truths are the most profound. It’s why we seek out “all natural” or drink water in the first place, because they’re supposedly pure, unspoiled, free of politicized bulls–t and corporate lies.

And when we find out they’re not, that we’ve been lied to and casually insulted for years and even decades, well, something cracks, and bitterness and cynicism sneak in. And baby, those are the most dangerous poisons of all.

Pah. In this political environment they are the stuff of life and nourishment for the soul.

Are ya pissed off yet today?

You will be, but I doubt you'll be very surprised.

Young Progressive Voices

Audio Emerges Proving Secret Conservative Organization Behind Benghazi “Scandal”

Groundswell, the conservative behind-the-scenes organization that forms a coalition between prominent Republicans, right wing media, and conservative activists to wage a “30-front war against Obama and progressives” has been revealed to have played a role in the hype and false scandalization of the Benghazi “controversy.” A secret tape released by Crooks And Liars (audio below) has detailed the cooperation between House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ginni Thomas (the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas), former Rep. Allen West, as well as high-ranking members of Judicial Watch and Breitbart. The meeting was presided over by Catherine Engelbrecht, one of the founders of the voter suppression group, True The Vote.

All the usual suspects.

True The Vote and Groundswell also played an interesting role in the false IRS scandal, when conservatives exploded in rage after the IRS investigated the tax-free status of obviously conservatively partisan nonprofits, despite later finding out that progressive groups were targeted as well.

Crooks And Liars establishes a timeline of events, showing the role of political operatives in engineering the false scandal:

On May 8, 2013, True the Vote is a facilitator and presenter at a meeting where Ginni Thomas and others are key players. TTV presents their plan to attack “the left” for daring to register voters. They’re committed to stopping them from challenging any and all efforts to disenfranchise voters. Or as they describe it, securing the vote. Others might call it democracy corrupted.

The wingers are losing and they know it. They are despicable in their death throes. I can live with it as long as I get to feel schadenfreude when I hear their death rattle.

Repugs are scared shitless of Hil

Good. They know... TPM.

Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus on Monday called on both NBC and CNN to drop their planned film productions of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or face losing their partnerships with the RNC for 2016 presidential primary debates.

There's more, and you can read the actual letter.

Here's one reaction:

Plouffe: RNC Should Hold Debates In ‘Sealed Fox Studio’ To Hide ‘Crazy Sh*t’

Bwahahahaha! No shit! The less people know about their candidates and agenda, the better for them. And the worse for the nation. The Repugs know that too.

Update:

Reince: NBC, CNN Are Hillary’s ‘Campaign Operatives’

Fine with me. Remember, "Reince Priebus" without the vowels is "RNC PR BS". Heh.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Residents in Washington, D.C. Looking Forward to Significant Crime Reduction in August
When Congress leaves town.

GAO: USDA Has Paid Out Millions to Dead Farmers
To stay competitive with foreign dead farmers.

"Yeah, Gramps stinks. We'd bury him but we want his check."

Manning Acquitted on Aiding the Enemy
But still faces up to 136 years for making the government look bad.

Limbaugh Losing His Radio Outlet
You'll still be able to hear him within a couple of blocks of his house.

There goes the neighborhood...

New Zealand Man Building 3-D Printed Aston Martin
To tool around town with his inflatable woman.