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29 Aug 2010 11:46

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Politics: Glenn Beck awkwardly tries to reclaim civil rights movement, fails

  • If it’s not the essence, then we’ve been sold a pack of lies. The essence is that everyone deserves a shot — the content of character not the color of skin.
  • Glenn Beck • Explaining that his goal for yesterday’s march was to take the civil rights movement “from politics” and back to the “people of faith who believe you have an equal right to justice.” Beck made the comments today on “Fox News Sunday.” And he doesn’t agree with even that part of the civil rights movement, either. He claims that King’s speech, on top of voting rights, dealt with economic issues. He says “full and fair employment” and “decent housing” were part of what King was trying to sell, “but that’s a part of it that I don’t agree with.” Does Beck even know what he’s saying anymore? Seriously? There’s so much loopy logic in his treatment of civil rights that we can’t believe anyone takes it seriously. It’s like he accidentally backed into the civil rights debate because of his awful timing and is trying to back himself out of it. And failing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2010 10:49

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Politics: Glenn Beck’s rally drew lots of people; here’s an estimate

  • 87,000 showed up, give or take a few source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 18:15

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Politics: Sharpton’s “Reclaim the Dream” fails to escape Glenn Beck’s shadow

  • People are clear in what Dr. King’s dream was about, and we will not react to those who try to distort that dream.
  • The Rev. Al Sharpton • Speaking at an event in honor of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech today. The event, which was held at a D.C. high school instead of the National Mall (Glenn Beck’s peeps got that spot) worked as a giant reaction to the Beck event, rather than an event of its own merit. Which is to say that they kept bringing up the Beck event in various ways. “When I look at my television, I don’t see the King crowd of blacks and whites together,” said D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. NAACP leader Ben Jealous brought it up explicitly: “We are not sure what the message of the Beck rally is, since he told them to leave their signs at home.” Honestly, Sharpton’s event shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be a celebration. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 14:03

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Politics: “Restoring Honor” rally: No signs or you’ll get accosted

  • Counter-protesters, take note. While Beck has pushed hard to not make the rally a rage-fueled event, a couple moments have cropped up. One counter-protester, Ben Thielen, carried a sign that said, “It’s because of the 1st Amendment that Glenn Beck can spew his filth on the steps.” After showing off the sign, he was accosted by one woman, who started yelling “No signs!” at him and left him with some (probably overstated) red marks. “She just came up to me and said, ‘No signs!’ and clawed me like a wild animal,” he said. Meanwhile, a bunch of “Don’t tread on me” flags were waved around. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 13:47

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Politics: Glenn Beck did it: “Restoring Honor” is filled to the brim with people

  • Something beyond imagination is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.
  • Glenn Beck • During a speech he made at the Restoring Honor thang, which has drawn a small handful of people. Beyond our personal issues with the quote, mainly because we personally prefer nonreligious Humanism, the scope of what Beck has put together is pretty impressive. “We are humbled that you are here,” he said. “The reflecting pool holds about 200,000 people. This field back here holds about 250- to 300,000 people. They are not only full here, they’re full in that field, they’re full behind me, and they are now across the street approaching the Washington Monument.” So yeah, this thing was kind of a hit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 19 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 12:30

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Politics: Twitter’s taking in Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Aug 2010 12:22

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Politics: The Koch Brothers and Americans for Prosperity: Who are they?

  • Who are the Koch brothers? In what has to be one of the best senses of timing ever, The New Yorker just put up a lengthy article about Charles and David Koch, multi-billionaires, the owners of Koch Industries, and two long-time libertarian leaners who back the Americans for Prosperity organization, which has been something of a root backer of the Modern Tea Party movement. And thanks to a just-filed IRS complaint regarding the ad series above, we’ll be hearing more about the Koch Brothers in the next couple of weeks.
  • longtime libertariansThe brothers have deep roots in the libertarian movement, and David Koch actually ran for vice-president 30 years ago. The brothers found the process wasteful, and decided to work behind the scenes instead. So they ended up underwriting the libertarian movement. Then the Tea Party came along.
  • Very hands-offUnlike other big financial backers of political leaders like George Soros, they go out of their way to be hands-off from what their money does, and instead let the money do the work. While they’re very active in the philanthropy community, their Americans for Prosperity work does not bear their signature.
  • Tax-exempt statusAmericans for Prosperity is in a bit of trouble right now because they’ve been running ads that are inherently political in possible violation of their tax-exempt status, which says their work has to be nonpartisan. The organization says that their work is protected by the first amendment. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Aug 2010 22:52

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Politics: DC bloggers to Glenn Beck rallygoers: Visit the freaking city!

  • Local Bloggers don’t really care about the rally. They see so many of them that they’re pretty much old hat at this point. In fact, sites like DCist or We Love DC didn’t even give tomorrow’s Glenn Beck rally a second notice until this hilarious guide hit the popular consciousness, starting on those blogs and eventually making its way onto Rachel Maddow’s show. They neutered it and turned it into a PR opportunity. (Smart move.) As a DC-based blog, we would like to point out a couple of things: One, we just saw a couple using the Metro tonight who blocked the aisle on the train with a couple of hunting-camo lawn chairs. Two, the nice thing about DC is that it’s a diverse city, so you might want to consider hitting U Street and checking out a show at The Black Cat. Trust us. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 22:15

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Politics: Fidel Castro convinced Osama bin Laden is a U.S. spy

  • Who showed that he [Bin Laden] is indeed a CIA agent was WikiLeaks. It proved it with documents.
  • Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro • Saying some crazy crap about Osama bin Laden, the CIA, George W. Bush and Wikileaks. We wish we could add more to this, but we simply can’t. It’s just too crazy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 14:05

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Politics: Is the NY Post complicit in recent anti-Muslim incidents?

  • There’s some perspective. There’s been a bit of disagreement with some about whether the NYC cabbie slasher was part of a larger trend of anti-Muslim hatred (see, he worked for a leftist pro-Islam organization), to which this Colbert clip does a good job of putting it into perspective. The New York Post is willing to call the alleged attacker a “disgrace” on its front page, but it’s also worth noting that they had weeks of anti-Muslim headlines before that. And well, there was another incident which could clearly be connected to the recent anti-Muslim vibe going around NYC. Is it possible that weeks of angry New York Post covers had nothing to do with either of these incidents? Sure. But let’s just say that they didn’t really help, either. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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