So what's really wrong with America? Take a step into the insular world that is the Conservative Echo Chamber of Talk Radio, Cable News and the Internet and the answer is easy to find?but only if you're actually looking for it.

It is to the shame of America, that most of the millions of folks who listen to Rush and Sean and all the rest of the Talk Radio cabal and who tune in religiously (pun intended) to the FOX News Channel, are NOT looking for what is really wrong with America. They are looking for validation that what they wish to believe is the only right thing for America.

They are looking to affirm their prejudices and cling to their long held intolerance by surrounding themselves in a world of others like them. A world which shuts out all opposing view points, but one which most insidiously of all, creates the fiction that they are actually ?fair and balanced?.

The lengths to which they will go to convince themselves that they have examined all reasonable points of view and have come to the only correct one is astounding. And yet, unless you are actually interested in taking a real look at the many sides of the various issues of societal debate today, you will quickly find the affirmation you are seeking to feel that you are right and everyone else is not only wrong, but ?crazy?, ?whacko? and dead set on the ?destruction of America and all it stands for?.

This is what passes for ?debate? in the Media today.

For example, ?the Left is against keeping our country safe from terrorism? (presumably then, they are actually hoping that Americans will be slaughtered by the thousands), ?they want to destroy the institution of marriage? (presumably then the left is made of entirely Homosexuals who despise Heterosexuality?), and are otherwise ?against the Rule of Law? (presumably then, they want to create an Anarchist state in America.)

For anyone without the desperate need to validate their own hatred and/or shore up their own insupportably weak political positions by finding someone or something to demonize (Saddam, the French, the Gay Community, Trial Lawyers), the statements above are obviously absurd.

But to the desperate Right Wing, clinging to the fading fate of Institutional Bias and Racism, it's not only important to demonize from the get-go, it's important to take the fight to the Left by creating their own set of false assumptions and arguments which are then easily defeated by common sense.

In other words, the argument is framed that ?the Media is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Liberal Left?. This argument immediately discounts the FACT that more folks listen and watch Rush, Sean, Drudge, Fox and the rest of the clan combined each day than the sum total of those who glance at the ?Liberal? media combined in a full week. (An argument that cannot be debated even if you are foolish enough to buy the straw man assumption in the first place that the rest of the media are ?Liberal? and that the Right Wing Media is just fair and balanced ?opposition view?).

But absurd assumptions are beside the point when you're looking for people to agree with you and join your cause.

Absurd assumptions are where the Conservative Echo chamber starts the day, after receiving Marching Orders about what matters on the Drudge Report, and then they play the rest of it out by arguing one side of a debate that doesn't even exist.

This morning Sean Hannity is at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA, on his ?Hannitization of America? tour plugging his latest manifesto ?Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism?. He's playing to a pack of live foaming-at-the-mouth Right Wingers who break into a frenzied standing ovation after Sean's every sentence. It doesn't matter what he says, they're in favor it!

?Andy Rooney has employed hate speech because he described Pat Robertson as a ?whacko' after Robertson reported that God spoke to him to inform him that Bush would be re-elected in a ?blowout'?. {STANDING OVATION}.

?The Liberal Left wants to destroy the ?Institution of Marriage' in this country!? {STANDING OVATION}

?Democrats don't believe that Business should be able to profit from their hard work in this country!? {STANDING OVATION}

You know the story. It goes on and on. Take a look at Chaplin's classic The Great Dictator (1940) to see how easy it is to rally a crowd seeking a leader who will tell them what they want to believe. Simply create a false premise, argue the one side of it that represents any form of reason, and then add someone like the hapless Alan Colmes to the mix for a few minutes to give the impression that the issue has been debated fairly. Never mind the fact that the real debate has never been put on the table in the first place.

And if all else fails, despite all attempts to the contrary, should the real debate actually show it's face ? as in the issue of the Constitutionality of Gay Marriage ? we can always try and change said Constitution to reflect what we wish to be true. No matter how much it may violate the heretofore Death Worthy Cause of defending that same Constitution.

That's their game, and ? as far as they know ? they are winning. If the debate can be framed as Good versus Evil, who could possibly defend Evil? Who would want to? So as far as they are concerned, they are winning simply because there is nobody in their room, on their air, or on their bookshelves to tell them otherwise.

So the question remains: Are they winning?

They certainly have a lock on the Free Mass Media, dominating Talk Radio, Cable News and the Internet. They will forgo and/or twist their own values without blinking an eye at a moments notice if it keeps one of their own ?in power? (never mind the stuff they used to care about, like Fiscal Responsibility, States Rights, Right to Privacy and Conservative Interpretations of the Constitution that were once held so dear). They will buy enough books to re-affirm what they already believe in order to get the Super Stars of their Fallacious Strawman Debates (Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter, Ingraham etc.) to the top of the Best Seller Lists.

Winning a non-debate is easy. Who is there to defend the other side of the non-issue? They are counting on this. Appearance is everything.

So will they succeed in foisting their insular little world on the rest of the majority of Americans who actually do believe in Peace, Tolerance, Freedom, Property, Liberty and the Love of Constitution?

I don't know. I suppose we'll find out on November 2nd. They pulled it off once briefly (in 2000) and I suppose the question is whether America will fall for the same trick again.

If the Media is the Message, then the Message, no matter how falsely created and debated, wins the day. The Media is everything and the Right Wing owns it. No matter what you may hear when you tune into FOX NEWS or Rush.

If the people are smarter than to fall for that old trick ? and I have no real reason to believe that they are, even though they were smart enough to fend off the absurd attempted coup during the Clinton Era ? perhaps America can get back on course to become Ronald Reagan's ?Shining city on the hill? again. Though that won't happen if Sean Hannity and his insular, rabid, and determined band of Choir Preachers have anything to say about it.

"The fact of the matter is, we live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody...And I think that means that people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It's really no one else's business in terms of trying to regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard...The next step, then...is the question you ask of whether or not there ought to be some kind of official sanction, if you will, of the relationship. That matter is regulated by the states. I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy." - Dick Cheney on 'Gay Marriage' during the 2000 Vice-Presidential Debate

That was then. This is 2004. And now Vice President Cheney whistles a different tune. He now supports a ban on gay marriage.

Well, you could knock me over with a feather! A Republican as cynical hypocrite?! What were the odds?! Usually such occurences are happily overlooked by the Marching Band of Right Wing Footsoldiers in flyover country. But in this case, it makes the new GOP line against Kerry ("He's on both sides of every issue" - which he is, by the way!) a particularly hard sell. Even the Ditto Heads ought to be able to notice the transparency of that particular game as it relates to Election '04's number one social issue.

That said, by the time November rolls around, I don't believe it'll all make much of a difference either way what anybody has to say about it. The wall seems to be finally coming down, and the GOP and DNC are as powerless to stop it as East German Chancellor Erich Honecker was to stop the Berlin Wall from toppling in '89.

All eyes now on Chicago where Mayor Richard Daley has said that he'd have "no problem" with city commissioners offering marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

And so it goes. Another barrier falls. The greatest singular moment in History for the Gay Community since Stonewall. And it's about frickin' time.

UPDATE 2:21pm: And here goes New Mexico!

Irony Drippin' Quote of the Day:
"I have ultimate confidence in the American People's ability to separate B.S. from the truth." - Rush Limbaugh during the first broacast hour, 2/20/04

Long live the Dean!

And so it goes. Once again, I'm left without a candidate. As I was when they offed McCain in '00. And Jerry Brown before him in '92.

In all three cases, it was the Media, working at the behest of the two entrenched parties, who were the final undoing for each of them. The Republicrats like to play their own game, and don't much appreciate it when boys with new rules come to town. One way or another, such insurgents crying the King has no Clothes will be removed - thank you - by the Powers That Be. The Media is happy to make the assist. The overnight's call for a good story now. Never mind the better one that is lost over the next four years. That's the arrangement. And that - for now - is how it's going to stay.

No matter that McCain was RIGHT about the corruption of money in politics. No matter that Brown was RIGHT about the dirty dealings which would come back to haunt Clinton. Being RIGHT doesn't much matter in this process. Being a team player counts for everything. The "team" is not the RNC or the DNC. The "team" is the Washington Establishment, which incorporates all of the above, plus their Corporate Benefactors, plus The Media. And so, I suppose we'll just have to wait for next time to take another crack at changing that particular Status Quo.

So what are we now left with? Precious little.

Obviously, Dubya is off the table for anyone with an ounce of either intelligence or self-respect. So it's down to Kerry & Edwards on the Dem side. Both of whom - you'll forgive me - have failed to move me to do much more than change the channel to see if there's a Real World marathon on MTV whenever FOX or CNN forces me to sit through their dubious and predictable dribble.

As far as dribble goes, however, Edwards currently has the edge. He actually seems to have a point of view. About something (though I'm not altogether sure what that something is yet). And Kerry has nothing.

{{link http://www.bradfriedman....og/archives/00000009.htm As I said previously}}, at this point, it won't be won by a Democrat. It'll be lost by George W. Bush. And he's hard at work, getting the job done! We can all still hope for "Mission Accomplished" this November - the day that our Long National Nightmare might finally be over.

...Invented, adapted, or otherwise...

+ GENTLEMEN, START YOUR PANDERING!: Bush visits Daytona!
+ CASH & KERRY: The woes of Howard Dean!
+ PUTTING THE GRAVE IN GRAVITAS: The candidacy of John F. Kerry!
+ NICE GUYS FINISH SECOND: The John Edwards story!
+ BUSH'S SEMEN-STAINED DRESS: The story of David Kay!
+ DENIAL ISN'T JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT: This Week with Rush Limbaugh!
+ WHERE HAVE ALL THE CHENEY'S GONE?: The One Term Veep Nominee Says Goodbye!

(With various half-hearted thanks & apologies in part to Fox News, Jaime Robledo, Bill Mahr and my own good conscience.)

Bill O'Reilly's work and reputation well proceed me. So I needn't go into too many details on the Number One Cable News Personality. At least not with the other excellent bloggists, like Maddox hot on the trail in his latest scholarly article entitled: "Bill O'Reilly is a big blubbering vagina".

So just a quick note to mention that on tonight's "Talking Points", O'Reilly continued on his mad crusade as he totters ever closer to his emotional tipping point and the inevitable melt down to follow. He again railed against the "Smear Merchants on both the Right and the Left". He said he was going to call them out, by name, from here on out since these sleazeballs are destroying our American Way of life. Or something to that effect.

Okay.

And then he went on to his first guest of the evening, "Fox News Analyst", Dick Morris.

We report. You decide.

I sent Mr. O'Reilly an Email the other day, but it looks like this one won't be making it onto the air (not "pithy" enough?). So I'll post it here for you:

Any idea what the coming Fall of O'Reilly will be? Live boy? Dead girl? Married to his own mother? Keep those comments and email's coming...but remember, keep 'em pithy.

Having some problems with the COMMENTS FORM not appearing as it should on some Entry Pages! Attempting to fix now! Thanks for your patience...BF

They're falling apart over there! Even five minutes listening to Rush lets on that these guys are really worried!

Bout time, boyz!

Now should they be worried? In my opinion, John F. Kerry is none too scary. He's perfectly capable of screwing the entire pooch before this is all said and done with. It's not John F. Kerry the GOP needs to worry about. It's George W. Bush! And they should have been worried about him for the past four years!

Unfortunately, the GOP is soooo tied up with the idea of hanging onto power, instead of simply Governing, that they have blindly followed wherever Bush has blindly led them for the last four years. And yes, I say "four" not "three" since that would include the year that they foolishly destroyed John McCain to allow Bush to become their nominee.

It's their bed. They are now sleeping in it.

Enjoy what's left of Bush's tenure, boyz. Or, hope for Kerry to fumble - which seems to be the only hope you have left at this point. Which means you've still got plenty of hope!

The Canadians got it right.

Yeah, the picture's been up all week on Drudge but it seems worth re-posting.

15% of Canadians support George W. Bush.

The hell with making our enemies like us! We can't even get our friends to like us after 3 years of this "bozo" in the Whitehouse.

Of course, I should be fair and draw a distinction; The Canadians (and mostly everyone else in the world) hate George W. Bush and his pathetic administration. They don't hate America. That's a distinction you'd think hardly necessary to make, but when you've got the hopeless Right shouting "America Hater!" to anyone who points out what a tool Dubya really is, I guess one needs to nip that tactic in the bud. A pre-emptive retort, if you will.

Speaking of nips, I wish the media would spend more time on Janet Jackson. They always seem to overlook the important issues of the day by wasting our time with things that don't matter like; Our Complete Loss of Credibility on the World Stage, a Trillion Dollar Deficit by the Biggest Spending President in History, and the Daily Pointless Deaths of our Servicemen in Iraq.

Oh, when will that "Liberal Media" ever get their priorities straight?

It would be nice to get some news about the very important Martha Stewart trial too once in a while. Or Kerry's Botox. Or Scott Peterson. Or Kobe. Or Michael Jackson. Ya know, the pressing issues of the day.

Hard News. Fair & Balanced.

Bill Clinton believed there were WMD's. So did the French and the Germans and the British and the Russians and the UNITED NATIONS for Christ sake!

How many times will we have to sit around listening to Sean Hannity et al repeat that blather before we can find a Media-Approved-Liberal who is smart enough to pipe up and say "RIGHT, THEY DID! BUT THEY DIDN'T SEND OUR BOYS TO WAR FOR IT, YOU JACKOFF!".

You'd think the level of certitude required for a "Pre-emptive Strike" would be a bit higher than "Uh, well, geez, Bill Clinton said they were bad guys too!"

Just about everybody who reads this, and knows who Scott Ritter is, most likely owes him an apology.

Pardon me while I shake out this new Blog software. Among other nifty features, it will allow you - the friendly reader - to leave your comments. Hopefully you'll not take this responsibility lightly!

Trying to move beyond the death of our poor, sweet, Zim, which is not easy since there are reminders of her everywhere in the house. But I suppose that's to be expected for a while. Please forgive my momentary change in mood. I'm sure I'll be my old obnoxious self in no time.

Well, no time like the present.

There's RICIN IN THE SENATE! Duck!

This may seem like no laughing matter to you, but imagine how the Republicans feel! It was one thing when they were sending Anthrax to Tom Daschle and Dan Rather. But this is Bill Frist dammit! And now you'll see 'em get to the bottom of things!

In other news, it's the night of the Semi-Super Tuesday match up. A yawn since they did the job on Howard Dean. "Kerry's the frontrunner" blah, blah, blah. Okay. Let's see if he can be tripped up and we can get some fun into this chase again.

At least Dean has rubbed off on all the contenders, and they seem no longer afraid of being "unpatriotic" by blasting our "President". And so even Kerry seems willing to take the fight to them. That's a good thing. Let's see if he can keep it up and come up with any new ideas while he's at it. I'm not optimistic.

Edwards wins South Carolina! Duh. Tell me sumpin' I didn't know.

Someone better have a "wardrobe malfunction" soon, or we're gonna lose interest in this thing all together until after the convention.

Have been somewhat dispirited since our dear kitty, and one of my very best friends in the world ever, Zim, passed away a couple of days ago. She has left a huge hole in our lives and hearts...

But have been keeping myself occupied with setting up some proper Blogging software (which will allow Comments from readers here, and many other functions). So hopefully I will have that up, and something to say about things shortly.

R.I.P. Zim

Whaddaya know? Dean is not dead after all! Whodathunkit? I'd a thunk it. That's who.

Watch the Media subtly change their "Dean is Dead" message to "If Dean doesn't win soon he's gonna be dead anytime now...really...we swear!" message.

Also, watch them overplay the Kerry is King card between now and the next time a good idea occurs to them (or more accurately, is thrust upon them by actual voters).

I was pullin' for and predicting a slightly better show for Dean in New Hampshire, I'll admit. But he's anything but dead in the water right now. So - as Dean was in his speech tonight - I'll be a bit gracious for a change and say that the Media and I split the difference. Though even that was more gracious than I really feel like being. So much for gracious. Glad that's outta my system.

It's worth noting that Dean's speech was tremendous and should make a big difference in the coming weeks. It was fascinating watching him attempt to be Presidential. It didn't seem to come easy in the first few minutes, but after about 3 minutes (half an entire news cycle!) he settled in and got it just about right. Watch for more of that in the near future.

Out of the remaining candidates (the real candidates here, anyway - unfortunately Kusinich and Sharpton not included), I'm proud to say that none of them blow. For a change. That is, since Gephardt mercifully left the race anyway.

Sadly though, of the 4 or so viable right now, it's the least impressive amongst them who is currently at the top. Other than looking somewhat like a President of the United States (can't recall who said that John Kerry looks like he is actually from Mount Rushmore), I'm so far rather under-whelmed with him and can still only hope that the Democratic party impresses me this year and doesn't give him the nomination. That may be a lot to ask from the Democratic party.

None the less...with Kerry beginning to look like the front man - ruining Karl Roves previous ruined re-election strategy yet again, it's now back to the old-familiar sometimes-working sometimes-not GOP playbook. Here's what's left in their arsenal. The sum total of their re-election campaign. It goes something like this:

"Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal! Liberal!"

Having learned that it's gonna be a long time before they can really figure out exactly who they'll be running against, they can always fall back on the above all-purpose GOP fight song.

It may work. Better, at least, than last years now scrapped plan for '04, which went something like this:

"9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11! 9/11!"

With the failures in Iraq, I think even the shameless GOP will have trouble selling that message this year. Even from near the footprints of Ground Zero in NYC in early September where they plan to tread on the memories of some 3000 dead people to retain their cynical hold on power at this Fall's convention. It's too early to tell for certain, but I have a feeling that ain't gonna work for them either.

Wow...finally found a "pundit" who "gets it". At least in re: the New Hampshire horse race. And it was Bill Kristol, Neo-Con Extraordinaire of all people! He understood the truth. And that is; Tomorrow, all the folks claiming "Dean is Dead" will be surprised at Dean's showing. No wonder Kristol has the brains to be the secret mastermind behind the evil invasion of Iraq.

Anyway, lest this become the "Dean Blog", never fear. I'll have more to say about the other jackasses running for President soon enough. At least we can all breathe easy that the worthless Dick Gephardt is gone and well forgotten. But more Dem Chop Bustin' later...

FACTS:
+ I was right about Howard Dean's rant. It's kept him in the news, and the fact that he placed a disappointing 3rd place in Iowa out of the news.

+ Nobody was "frightened by Howard Dean" in that rant other than the Media who saw a story ("See! He's unstable!" - which, of course, he isn't).

+ Dean is coming back in the polls now, only 7 points behind Kerry according to Zogby, who was the only pollster to actually get it absolutely right in both the '00 and '96 elections. Everyone else got it wrong.

+ In case you need further proof, the Media continue to call Dean "dead". Nuff said.

+ The best thing that could happen for the Dems is this 4 (or 5 or 6) man scrum at the top. More media attention for the Dems than money can buy.

+ Those who have claimed - for the past year or more - that Bush is undefeatable were/are wrong. If you have any doubt, you must not have seen his State of the Union address. He's in big big trouble, as long as the Dems don't screw it up. Nominating Kerry might be a screw up. We'll see.

+ John Edwards will be the VEEP nominee to either Dean or Kerry.

+ Kerry (most likely) wins NH, but not by much. But it's enough to make him the new "front runner" and begin to receive the wrath of FOX and RUSH. Which is great for Dean.

In other news, David Kay has resigned his commission as top US WMD Seeker in Iraq. And has found a resounding nothing. Not good for Bush.

And in case you were wondering what all we actually were fighting for in Iraq, here's a picture of the next leader of Iraq - as soon as they are allowed the freedom of elections:

Ayatollah Sistani,
Next Leader of Iraq

Look like any one you know?

Ayatollah Khomeini,
Former Leader of Iran

I guess we really thought this one through, huh?

Okay...so it seems it's time to start a blog. Somebody's gotta.

It's been a tough week as we returned home from an otherwise lovely Winter Vacation. My Uncle Barry died suddenly and tragically, and now my cat, Zim, is critically ill. Can't do anything for Barry right now other than ponder the wonderful memory of his life and place a page for him in memoriam. Seeing Barry just a few weeks ago at my cousin Mitchell's Wedding was great. Tremendous, in fact, and hopefully that memory will stay with me for a long time.

Zim, on the other hand, is now being force fed in the hopes that she'll come around. She stopped eating while we were gone and has become incredibly skinny. As Barry had also lost a lot of weight when we saw him at the wedding for the last time, this particular turn of events has frightened us a great deal. So for now, we're hoping for the best.

I was moved to begin this blog after reading about two minutes of Howard Dean's blog. And after about 2 months of Desiree suggesting I either get my own radio show or, in lieu of that, start my own blog. Consider it done.

I was finally moved by the Dean Blog because this Tuesday is the New Hampshire Primary, and I'm trying to figure out if Dean is gonna come around in time to win it. All the pundits are currently saying that "Howard Dean is dead" - thus, we can be almost certain that Howard Dean will win the nomination. (See the pundits piss poor predictions prior to the Iowa Caucus if you have any doubts about the ability of the pundits to get it completely wrong).

I've got many other random Dean thoughts that have been accumulating over the past few weeks and months, and without a blog up until now, those thoughts have been stored only inside of Desi's ears. Poor Desi.

I'll try to get 'em out over time here. But for a start, here's one for ya. The pundits (or "conventional wisdom" if you will) have said that Howard Dean would be the Candidate easiest beat by Bush. You may as well translate this into "Dean will clobber Bush should he be nominated".

For the past several months, the Republicans have been doing their Briar Rabbit routine ("please don't throw me in the briar patch!") in regards to Howard Dean. Their repeated claims that they "can't wait for the Democrats to nominate Howard Dean" either means they think we're idiots, or it proves that they are idiots. Or both. I'm not yet sure which one is the case. But I can tell you this, if the Dems are smart enough to nominate Dean, he will mop the floor up with Dubya.

One other Dean thought for now; His now infamous "rant" after placing 3rd in Iowa, will later be regarded as a brilliant move on his part as it's brought him more attention than anything else could have. And he knows what to do with it. His poll numbers are now turning back up, he no longer has the pressure of being the pin-cushion front-runner, and with a near-Kerry finish in NH, he's poised to move big prior to the Feb 3rd primaries. As long as he doesn't move too fast and get Fox Newsed & Rushed again. 

We'll see.