Two models of church-based international development.

Dennis Gruending has researched and written about the lobbying efforts that neocon fundamentalist religious organizations have directed against progressive and ecumenical groups in Canada and in particular, those working in international development.

Kairos, for example, and earlier this year Peace and Development. The fear, the anger and the hatred that religious rightwingnuts of all christofascist tendencies have directed towards their humanitarian work is quite savage.

There's been much speculation about what motivated Stevie Spiteful and his merry band of Harpocrites to cut CIDA funding to KAIROS.

The most obvious and clear reason would be its role in facilitating discussion about the Alberta tar sands.

But I think there's another reason. In November, the PMO issued a statement condemning the blood-thirsty homophobic laws the Ugandan parliament may ratify. This was consistent with previous statements he made that his government would not reverse Canadian laws that recognize equal rights for gay men and lesbians with respect to marriage.

So the Con/reformaTory "base" is seething with discontent and malevolence because its fundamentalist religious initiatives are not receiving the government support they claim as their due for electing Harper to power. And it's not a stretch to imagine the model of international network building these rightwing religious fundamentalists would emulate.

Thus Stevie Spiteful's only recourse, in order to appease those hostile grassroots astro-turf christofascist groups is a grand and dramatic gesture - ergo, a MASSIVE slash & burn cut to Kairos' funding.

As a bonus, he reaps the benefits of re-directing that money towards his own narcissistic the PMO public relations needs or any other purpose.

Sexism? When rightwingnuts do it, it's okay by them.

Glenn Beck, Limbaugh's current rival for the religious fundamentalist zealots, teabaggers and assorted rightwing batshit crazy nutters' dream presidential ticket has unceremoniously dumped Sarah Palin. This we hear from the ever-vigilent C. C. - Uh oh ... the honeymoon's over ...

From Think Progress:

In recent days, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has indicated that she may be open to a conservative presidential dream ticket in 2012: Palin-Beck (or Beck-Palin). “I can envision a couple of different combinations, if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running for anything in the future, and I’m not there yet,” Palin told Newsmax. “But Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He’s a hoot.”

Fox and Friends plugged the idea yesterday morning and asked Palin whether she would run with Beck. She kept the door open, saying, “I don’t know. We’ll see, we’ll see.”

But just a few hours later on his radio show, Beck shot down the idea, saying he was “absolutely” ruling out a Palin-Beck ticket. He explained that if he had the number two job, Palin would always be “yapping” like they were in “the kitchen”.

Pity poor Dodo. Yet another situation that will be wrenching her allegiances asunder.

See, Dodo venerates Beck and she idolizes Palin.

But ... wait. C. C. has another scoop. It appears that Dodo is currently fixated on a new US coin that has just been minted. Shrieeekkk!!! No white men!!! Reverse racism!!!

Once again, Dodo is massively, one might say mammothfully wrong. The people portrayed on the platinum coin are, from the top, a young woman of Asian ancestry, a young First Nations man, a young Black man and a young androgenous person of northern European ancestry.

What will Dodo do? Castigate Beck for dissing her beloved Sarah? I'll wager she will be silent, as most neocon rightwingers are when confronted with the essential malevolence of teabaggers.

MASSIVE FAIL for teabaggers in NY23

As CC points out in his post: So ... how's that Sarah Palin worship working out, Maria?, Palin's role in mobilizing support against Hoffman may have been the tipping point for many moderate Republicans in that state. More about the odious teabaggers meddling in these DJ! blogposts by fern hill.

Virginia governor-elect, Republican also received the poisoned-apple "benefit" of Palin's robocalls.

In a bizarre twist that is typical of the rightwing batshit crazy rhetoric screeched by teabaggers and religious fundies, there is a lot of chest-thumping and crowing with regard to Hoffman's "victory".

Glenn Beck's acolytes' capacity for self-delusion is bottomless, it seems.

Fabricated ... huh?

Has the US rightwing conservative media, including FoxNews which is basically infaux-tainment, finally jumped the shark? Or perhaps it actually happened when I wasn't paying attention. Or perhaps this little brouhaha is a variation of Poe's Law?

Rush Limbaugh is attempting to purchase a NFL franchise. In response to this, CNN and others have publicized a great number of racists quotes attributed to Limbaugh. Mark Steyn claims that these are all fabrications and challenges those who are repeating this information to provide documentation that Limbaugh actually uttered pronouncements such as:

Limbaugh called illegal immigrants an "invasive species." Referring to an April 1, 2005, federal court ruling that prohibited shipping boats from dumping of ballast water containing "invasive species," including some types of mollusks, into U.S. waters, Limbaugh described illegal immigrants as an "invasive species" that U.S. courts willingly permit to enter the country.

Limbaugh repeatedly calls Native Americans "Injuns." Media Matters for America documented at least four separate instances of Limbaugh using this slur on his program.

More, much more from Media Matters.

In response to this documentation, Steyn sneers:

"So where are these racist soundbites? Where's the audio? Where's the transcript? Name the year."

Poe's Law at work. It would be testerically funny, if it were parody.

The monarchy has been restored in Italy.

Clearly unhappy that, although he has direct and indirect control over most of his country's media, the world press keeps reporting his sexual peccadilloes and his legal imbroglios, Silvio Berlusconi has directed his tourism minister to launch a campaign to revive Italy's image.

How very Louis XIV. L'État, c'est moi! - à la Berlusconi.

An emergency taskforce is to be established within a month to monitor airwaves and news-stands the world over for coverage of Italy and bombard foreign newsrooms with good news about the country.

The plan was announced by the tourism minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, who said a crack team of young journalists and communications experts would be assembled to stamp out bad news.

"Their first job will be to monitor all the foreign press, including dailies, periodicals and TV in every latitude, from Japan to Peru," she told Corriere della Sera today. The second task will be to "bombard those newsrooms with truthful and positive news", and reveal to the world "a generous, truthful and audacious Italy – the Italy of entrepreneurs, art, cultural events and our products".

Berlusconi attacked the foreign press yesterdayfor criticising himself and Italy, days after the country's constitutional court stripped him of legal immunity, a ruling which means he again faces prosecution for fraud and bribing British tax adviser David Mills.

... Berlusconi, who owns Italy's largest private television network and has indirect influence over the state RAI network, has said he will now make radio and TV appearances to explain to Italians why his upcoming trials are "farcical".

Yesterday the international press reported yet another Berlusconi freudian slip. He complained bitterly that:

... he has paid millions of euros to consultants and judges during his court appearances.

He also claims he is:

...“absolutely the most persecuted by the judiciary in all of the history of the entire world”. He had been forced to endure 106 trials and investigations ...

Which makes us wonder how the investigations in the construction companies which used sub-standard building materials and techniques in L'Aquila are proceeding. Unbelievable though it may seem, there are far, far worse prime ministers than Stevie Harpoon.

The photo of Silvio was found at this blogsite.

Palin Wows the Crowd.

Funny thing about that word "Wow". It can cover a multitude of meanings. Palin spoke at the invitation of the brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. If you recall, there were some questions raised about the purpose of that engagement.

Her performance, which was closed to the media, divided opinion. Some of those who attended praised her forthright views on government social and economic intervention and others walked out early in disgust.

"She was brilliant," said a European delegate, on condition of anonymity. "She said America was spending a lot of money and it was a temporary solution. Normal people are having to pay more and more but things don't get better. The rich will leave the country and the poor will get poorer."

Two US delegates left early, with one saying "it was awful, we couldn't stand it any longer". He declined to be identified. ...

One Asian delegate complained she devoted too much time to her home state of Alaska. "It was almost more of a speech promoting investment in Alaska," he said, declining to be named. "As fund managers we want to hear about the United States as a whole, not just about Alaska. And she criticised Obama a lot but offered no solutions." ...

There were no apparent gaffes though from Palin, who was mocked during last year's presidential campaign for her lack of experience in foreign affairs and for her verbal blunders. ... "It was fairly right-wing populist stuff,' one US delegate said. Palin blasted Obama's proposals on healthcare, reiterating a previous statement made to the press that the plan would include a bureaucratic "death panel" that would decide who gets assistance, he said.

Another from the United States said: "She frightens me because she strikes a chord with a certain segment of the population and I don't like it."

CLSA, an arm of French bank Credit Agricole, said it closed Palin's session to the media after she indicated that she would have to adjust her speech if reporters were present.

From here.

Wow indeed.

Update: More about Palin's speech here.

Fred Malek, a friend and Palin adviser, told Associated Press: "You can read a lot of things into [her speech] – 'Is she trying to burnish her foreign policy credentials?' and the like. But really, it's a trip that will be beneficial to her knowledge base and will defray some legal and other bills that she has."

Earlier this month, Karl Rove told Fox News that Palin would require extensive preparation ... "She's not going to be able to just get on a plane and take out a pad, [as] she wings her way to Hong Kong and scribbles out a few notes."

What an interesting observation. Is that Palin's habitual, or standard operating procedure in how she approaches speaking engagements?

US Conservatives for Patients' Rights are Cons and Liars?

Quelle surprise - not.

Two British women have claimed they were duped into becoming the stars of a campaign to sabotage Barack Obama's healthcare reforms. Furious Kate Spall and Katie Brickell claim that their views on the NHS have been misrepresented by a free market campaign group opposed to Mr Obama's reforms in a bid to discredit the UK system.

Their anger came amid a growing backlash in the UK over the portrayal of the NHS by conservatives in America ...

JJ at unrepentant old hippie, wrote about how "Investors Business Daily" lied and then lied some more about Stephen Hawking and services available to UK patients also suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease from the NHS.

Mr Hawking himself defended the health system as he accepted America's highest honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this week, saying: 'I wouldn't be here if not for the NHS'. ...

Ms Spall and Ms Brickell both agreed to appear in a documentary on healthcare reform. But neither knew that the footage would be used as part of a TV advertising campaign carried on US networks. Although standing by her views, Ms Spall said she was horrified by how the CPR had used her words.

'What I said is what I believe, and I stand by it, but the context it has been used in is something I was not aware would happen,' she said. 'The irony is that I campaign for exactly the people that socialised healthcare supports. I would not align myself with this group at all.'

Ms Brickell ... said her words had been 'skewed out of proportion' by the CPR. 'My point was not that the NHS shouldn't exist or that it was a bad thing. I think that our health service is not perfect but to get better it needs more public money, not less. I didn't realise it was having such a political impact.'

Dr Karol Sikora, a British cancer specialist who has often spoken out against the NHS, said he had also fallen victim to the same technique. He told the Guardian: 'They came and saw me in my office about a month ago and I gather I am appearing in some advert. They didn't tell me that would happen.' ...

CPR was set up by Richard Scott, a multimillionaire who founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation.

From here. Imagine that. "Conservatives for Patients' Rights" is funded by an organization actually working to conserve corporate rights in the provision of health care in the US.

Will Canadian Shona Holmes recant what she said and claim that she was also duped? Unlikely, as she would have to pay back the money that "Americans for Prosperity" probably gave her to sell out our public health care system.

Of Vultures and Rovian tactics.

Look who just found a way to grab headlines and ooze his way back onto the 2012 presidential wannabe candidates bandwagon. From Think Progress:

Yet another prominent Republican has endorsed former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s astonishingly false claim, which she doubled down on today, that health care reform will lead to “death panels.” At the “GOPAC” political action committee convention in Illinois today, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said that though there are no “death panels” in any legislation, they would probably happen any way...

Mmm. Now if you put the Karl Rove thinking cap on to decode what's happening here, and you try to subsume yourself in that logic, one idea emerges. The concept of "death panels" is one that Republicans find quite intriguing and that might be quite useful to rid themselves of "inconvenient" people - the Helen Thomases, the Jimmy Carters, all the elderly and wise detractors and critics of their political regime.

Remember, that is one of the classic Rovian tactic - engineer a pre-emptive attack on your opponents that puts them in the position of defending themselves. Double whammy if you accuse them of doing something you've done or would do.

A Giuliani/Palin/ or Palin/Giuliani presidential ticket for the GOP? Stranger things can happen - and have.

Bonus reading - wherein Chris Kelly lets you ponder whether Sarah Palin is the new Harvey Lee Oswald.

Are We There Yet?

One of the scariest things I've read in a loooong time.

All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate speech turned into intimidation and violence, and the president of the United States seized for himself powers only demanded by history's worst dictators. With each new outrage, the small handful of us who'd made ourselves experts on right-wing culture and politics would hear once again from worried readers: Is this it? Have we finally become a fascist state? Are we there yet?

And every time this question got asked, people like Chip Berlet and Dave Neiwert and Fred Clarkson and yours truly would look up from our maps like a parent on a long drive, and smile a wan smile of reassurance. "Wellll...we're on a bad road, and if we don't change course, we could end up there soon enough. But there's also still plenty of time and opportunity to turn back. Watch, but don't worry. As bad as this looks: no -- we are not there yet."

In tracking the mileage on this trip to perdition, many of us relied on the work of historian Robert Paxton, who is probably the world's pre-eminent scholar on the subject of how countries turn fascist. In a 1998 paper published in The Journal of Modern History, Paxton argued that the best way to recognize emerging fascist movements isn't by their rhetoric, their politics, or their aesthetics. Rather, he said, mature democracies turn fascist by a recognizable process, a set of five stages that may be the most important family resemblance that links all the whole motley collection of 20th Century fascisms together. According to our reading of Paxton's stages, we weren't there yet. There were certain signs -- one in particular -- we were keeping an eye out for, and we just weren't seeing it.

And now we are. In fact, if you know what you're looking for, it's suddenly everywhere. It's odd that I haven't been asked for quite a while; but if you asked me today, I'd tell you that if we're not there right now, we've certainly taken that last turn into the parking lot and are now looking for a space. Either way, our fascist American future now looms very large in the front windshield -- and those of us who value American democracy need to understand how we got here, what's changing now, and what's at stake in the very near future if these people are allowed to win -- or even hold their ground.

It's long but worthwhile.

Sorry if you don't sleep well tonight.