Or The League Of Morons (You Think It's Safe?)

“'I think it’s safe to call them a cult now."

-- Aye Chihuahua, looking at a bunch of the new Obama videos (below) and, apparently, a little slow on the up-take, on his blog Flopping Aces.

NewAgers: Beware What You Wish For

“'Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working.' I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.

-- Instapundit, with an email from a reader who works in a mainstream media newsroom, which I found on Little Green Footballs.

Maybe someone can tell me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first American election where the media is actually trying to manufacture the outcome, isn't it? And, of course, the Democratic Party has no problem with that - not one peep about unfairness, or even an attempt to hide the appearance of a double-standard - no, the Left will now do anything to win, no matter how ugly; no matter how low. And, I guess, they think no one notices - or that they'll get away with it. I don't think so. People don't like being manipulated, y'know?

It keeps looking, more and more, like these apocalyptic NewAgers I've spoken to are gonna get what they, repeatedly, say they want:

Civil War.

So, I think, Barack Obama better start considering campaigning in a Pope-Mobile.*

*This is not - I repeat: not - a threat against Barack Obama. Just an acknowledgment that shit's looking awful sketchy out there now, and the MSM bears a lot of responsibility for it: they're just not doing their job. I don't think anybody today minds losing a political contest, but the appearance of being railroaded can get under people's skin - and this certainly looks like we're being railroaded.

And the MSM is driving the train.

Our Little Press Problem (Ain't So Little After All)

"Yes, they don't just cover for each other, they actually sleep together: David Gregory and BETH WILKINSON. Wilkinson served as the bankrupt Fannie Mae's executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary from February 2006 until just a few days ago when things got too ugly.

Beth Wilkinson and her lefty hubby, NBC's David Gregory. Yep, you can really tell they're looking out for you and all the little people. Don't they just look like they deserve to be bailed out by that tax paying pig farmer from Nebraska?

But don't worry, because David Gregory would never go on the air to report about this crisis without a disclaimer about his wife's role...oh wait....yes he would. and Oh yeah, financial records indicate that Beth Wilkinson has contributed $4,600 to Obama’s presidential campaign."

-- Neocon Express, ever-so-accurately describing the disaster American journalism has become and why.

Listen To The Master

Hat Tip: The Anchoress

John McCain Told Them (Bill Clinton Says So)

Fact Check: Did McCain warn about Fannie, Freddie 2 years ago?

The Statement: A television ad titled "Rein," released Tuesday, September 30 by Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, repeats a claim McCain has made repeatedly on the campaign trail — that he called for more oversight of lending institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. "John McCain fought to rein in Fannie and Freddie," the ad's narrators says, before citing media reports on McCain's efforts.

Get the facts!

The Facts: In May 2006, McCain was speaking on the Senate floor in support of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Act of 2005, a plan he had co-sponsored. In the speech, he cited a federal report, saying that "Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets." He also noted a $3.8 million fine Freddie Mac had recently paid to the Federal Elections Commission over problems with disclosure of its political lobbying.

"These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform," McCain said in the speech. He urged senators to support changing how the institutions were overseen by the government. "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole," McCain said in the speech.

The legislation, which never became law, would have moved oversight of Fannie and Freddie from the department of Housing and Urban Development to an independent Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Agency.

The Verdict: True. While it's impossible to know what the impact of his legislation would have been, the ad accurately describes McCain's stance and comments.

-- CNN Politics.com.

How Bullshit Is Clearly Illustrated

"More than 80 million adults in the United States are estimated to use some form of alternative medicine, from herbs and megavitamins to yoga and acupuncture. But while sweeping claims are made for these treatments, the scientific evidence for them often lags far behind: studies and clinical trials, when they exist at all, can be shoddy in design and too small to yield reliable insights.

Now the federal government is working hard to raise the standards of evidence, seeking to distinguish between what is effective, useless and harmful or even dangerous.

'The research has been making steady progress,' said Dr. Josephine P. Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health. 'It’s reasonably new that rigorous methods are being used to study these health practices.'

The need for rigor can be striking. For instance, a 2004 Harvard study identified 181 research papers on yoga therapy reporting that it could be used to treat an impressive array of ailments — including asthma, heart disease, hypertension, depression, back pain, bronchitis, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, insomnia, lung disease and high blood pressure.

It turned out that only 40 percent of the studies used randomized controlled trials — the usual way of establishing reliable knowledge about whether a drug, diet or other intervention is really safe and effective. In such trials, scientists randomly assign patients to treatment or control groups with the aim of eliminating bias from clinician and patient decisions.

Sat Bir S. Khalsa, the study’s author and a sleep researcher at the Harvard Medical School, said an added complication was that 'the vast majority of these studies have been small,' averaging 30 or fewer subjects per arm of the randomized trial. The smaller the sample size, he warned, the greater the risk of error, including false positives and false negatives.

Critics of alternative medicine have seized on that weakness. R. Barker Bausell, a senior research methodologist at the University of Maryland and the author of 'Snake Oil Science' (Oxford, 2007), says small studies often have a built-in conflict of interest: they need to show positive results to win grants for larger investigations.

'All these things conspire to produce false positives,' Dr. Bausell said in an interview. 'They make the results extremely questionable.'”

-- William J. Broad, giving up the kind of information cultists couldn't care less about, even in the New York Times.

Cultism: The Road To War

This first video is using images from the 80's, filmed in Ceausescu's Romania. It is translated and captioned in English.



This second video is very recent, perhaps only days old.

Do you see any difference? We don't.

Hat Tip: Transsylvania Phoenix (TMR altered TP's text slightly.)

Our friend, David Hollander, sent these to us as a very clear warning. He, and TMR, think using kids like this is despicable. Here's our message to the Obots who would stoop so low:



Disaster is "change" too.

This Ain't No Blaze Of Glory

"The party should be over for the Democrats who brought us to this pass. If Obama wins, it means hiring an arsonist to fight a fire.”

-- Mona Charen, on the grotesque confluence of deceptive forces determined to burn America alive - and all while blaming the Republicans - and ignoring Real Clear Politics.

Let's be clear here: the Democrats have the majority - they had the votes, without the Republicans, to pass the bailout bill - the Republicans don't owe those assholes "cover" for the disaster the Democrats created. This whole thing of blaming the Republicans is bullshit.

Throw the Democrats responsible in jail and you might get a different response but, under these circumstances, with Nancy Pelosi talking shit, the Republican Party owes them nothing. You want to pass this bill for the good of the country? Fine. Bring some honesty to the process:

Fuck why they did it - start throwing some Democrats in jail for squandering/losing/stealing our $700 billion.

Democrats: Fannie And Freddie Are Fine

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, these are the people the Left wants to hand our country to - the people who are now blaming the Republicans for the melt down, when it was they - the Democrats - who caused this. They never had a deal as they claimed (another lie) and even the Democrats didn't vote in lock-step for this thing. They couldn't even pass it on their own, and they're the majority in congress. Watch this video. Here's the proof. They can't deny it. And you've got to understand it.

The Democratic Party is not our friends. They. Are. Liars. And anyone believing them after this is a fool. It's not Wall Street - it's Washington. And it wasn't the Republicans, or deregulation, but Democrats and lying. That's the whole deal in a nutshell:

Don't let them keep playing "hide the pea" with the truth.

Democrats: They Can't Face You. They Can't Face Truth. They Can't Even Face Themselves.

"Attempts to critique Obama are met with vitriol from partisan loyalists and members of the mainstream media. Respecting diversity is anathema to his legionnaires. The arguer, rather than the argument, becomes the focus for their irrational blowback. In their minds, the only acceptable way to describe the Democratic nominee is as the savior of our polity. Deconstructing his associations is forbidden. That Obama knows more radicals than moderates is blatantly obvious, but bringing it up is an act of hate. This practice showcases how rooted in emotion the political left is."

-- Bernard Chapin, while documenting the underhanded tactics the Obama campaign uses to quiet their opponents, but not Pajamas Media.

I Didn't Do It (The Democrats Did)

"There are two essential problems with [the bailout] analysis: it is factually false and morally unwise.

Rep. Barney Frank was elected by a majority of the people of his district in Massachusetts. Senator Chris Dodd is brought to us by many but not all of the voters of Connecticut. And so on. Most of us never had the chance to vote for or against these solons. So why should we be blamed?

The regulatory changes that led us to this point were the work of lobbyists, bureaucrats and lawmakers including Dodd and Frank and corrupt executives, like Raines and Johnson. We know or can know their names.

The idea of blaming 'all of us' is a way to avoid blaming those who did the deeds and reaped their ill-gotten gains.

What about cheap mortgages? Sure, some of us took them when they were offered. But who offered them and why? Yes, it is the Clinton-era changes to the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to lend more for “affordable housing.” Law firms, including ones connected to Obama, sued banks that failed to meet their low-income quotas for mortgages. Bankers were not driven by greed, as everyone says, but by fear. Fear of the baying hounds of regulators and lawyers would call them racist and ruin their careers. But who unleashed the hounds on the bankers?"

-- Richard Miniter, saying what I've already been saying, but for Pajamas Media.

The bailout just failed, kids, so it's clear the Democrats aren't as politically powerful as they think. (Their own guys had to turn on them for this not to happen.) Now we get to see if who's to blame for our financial security gets noticed. Time's on the side of the Republicans now:

The Dems are in trouble.

Dear John: It's Pronounced I'm-A-Nut-Job

This is cute - and a welcome break from the other nonsense I'm seeing out there today.

Hat Tip: Wonkette

Sarah Palin: Driving People Mad

"My reaction to [Sarah Palin], and the way the Republican Party threw her in our faces, and the pandering and hypocrisy that was behind their decision to do so, was immediate, visceral, and indeed, vicious. I have crossed every line I believed should never be crossed in public discourse -- I have criticized not only her policies and her record, but her hair, her personal style, her accent, her abilities as a mother, etc. I've also begun to suffer personally and professionally. I bore my friends with my constant tirades against her, and am constantly distracted from my work by my need to continually update myself on the latest criticism, and indeed, ridicule, of her. In my hatred for her, I have begun to hate myself.

Enjoy this story?

Thanks for your support.

I don't want this woman ruining my life before she even gets a chance to ruin our country. How do I stop? Is there a self-help group for this?"

-- "A Hater", seeking help - and blaming Sarah Palin - for her over-the-top Democratic Party-inspired hatred that Sarah Palin is even alive, on Slate.com.

We're The Dumb Making Scum Look Good

"The true farce and disgrace [of the debate] is that this increasingly glassy-eyed old blunderer and war criminal, who has been wrong on everything since he first authorized illicit wiretapping for the Nixon gang, should be cited as an authority by either nominee, let alone by both of them. Meanwhile, I repeat my question from two weeks ago: Does Sen. Obama appreciate, or do his peacenik fans and fundraisers realize, just how much war he is promising them if he is elected? Once again on Sept. 26 in Mississippi—at the end of a week when American and Pakistani forces had engaged in their first actual direct firefight—he repeated his intention of ignoring the Pakistani frontier when it came to hot pursuit of al-Qaida. Out-hawked on this point, as he was nearly out-doved on the Kissinger one, McCain was moderate by comparison."

-- Christopher Hitchens, drunkenly being more clear-eyed than most, for Slate.com.

Betrayal, Betrayal, And More Betrayal, With Meditation And NewAge Spirituality At The Center Of The Whole Damn Thing

"I remember being like, 'That isn't my dad. Who is this?' Then once I reached the age when it was maybe acceptable to listen ... it really just wasn't what I was interested in, in seeing my dad that way, and also the content."

As a child, Emily first performed in the choir at her Reform temple in Roslyn, N.Y., where she sang at children's services and Jewish camp. She continued to perform in high school; but studying acting at New York University did not mesh well with her intuitive approach to theater, she said.

She further felt lost then, she said, because her parents had recently divorced: "All the time there was my dad on the radio with women, doing whatever, I had such a strong knowingness and belief in my parents' marriage," she said. "The loss of that bond between mother and father -- I can't tell you how shattering that was."

Asked if she foresaw the divorce, the actress responded, "Living this character on the radio, there's only so much you can say, 'It's not me' before you embody it -- I think that's a bit of what happened." She said she has come to understand that her father has been in the process of "integrating all selves," which is important for every person to do.

After graduating from NYU, however, Stern said she "was spiritually at a point of real distress." Besides the loss of her family life -- including the celebration of Jewish holidays with all her grandparents -- she felt artistically uninspired until she was cast in the play "Kabbalah," at the Jewish Theatre of New York. The religious satire touched on celebrity obsession with Jewish mysticism, and Stern was cast as the female lead, pop superstar Madonna. Since the play involved revelation, the cast was required to appear nude at the end of the show.

Despite her father's warnings that the press would have a field day if Howard Stern's daughter performed naked, she said she accepted the role because she loved the production. Then "Kabbalah" received a terrible review in The New York Times and nude pictures of her surfaced on the Web. Emily said the director broke his promise to her by using her image and singling her out as Howard Stern's daughter for promotional purposes. She quit the show, the director spoke out against her in the press and Howard Stern's attorneys threatened to file a lawsuit in order to stop the director from continuing to trash her, she said.

-- Naomi Pfefferman, on Howard Stern's daughter - who says her whole family practices transcendental meditation - for The Jewish Journal.

Sit In The Dark To See The Light

"'I really wanted a bigger canvass,' [Bill Maher] said.

Such was the genesis of 'Religulous,' his controversial documentary in which he travels the globe interviewing Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Jews for Jesus, Jesus impersonators and Scientologists. Attempting to put doubt in their mind, Maher instead winds up getting the old heave-ho.

To him, organized religion is the longest-running comedy act around. How else to explain religious lore, such as the ability to speak in tongues, live inside a whale, walk on water or father a child at age 500?

'I would like people who think more like me to understand that it is OK to stand up and say, 'We're not the crazy ones. The crazy ones are the people with the talking snake,'... "

-- Ruthe Stein, reviewing the new documentary on atheism, for the SFGate.

Media-By-Ass

“Not knowing much about history has become a theme in this campaign. Senator Joe Biden, the vice-presidential candidate — who isn’t getting slammed daily by the media or being told by former friends to pack up the diaper bag and go home — said during an interview with Katie Couric, 'Part of what a leader does . . . to instill confidence is demonstrate that he or she knows what they’re talking about and communicates to people, if you listen to me and follow what I’m suggesting we can fix this. When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘look, here’s what happened.’

Funny that Katie, who hammered Sarah Palin for her less-than- illuminating answers, didn’t point out to Senator Biden — and to the millions watching — that Hoover, not Roosevelt, was President in 1929; that no one at the time was yet watching television; and that it was shocking that someone who had been a senator for 35 years did not know some basic facts of history. If Sarah Palin had made such a mistake, Katie (and the rest of the media who pass over Biden’s serial gaffes) would have pounced, and it would have led the news, hour after hour.”

-- Myrna Blyth, showing she knows more about history - and journalistic ethics - than Katie Couric, for the National Review.

Now That's Dedication

“I have a bracelet, too, it’s right here on my wrist, I’ll never forget the sacred memory of good old what’s-his-name." *

-- David Kahane, on Barack Obama's winning debate performance, for the National Review.

*The soldier's parents have asked Barack Obama not to wear the bracelet any longer.

Psychics: The Second Wave Of Predators

Take a look at these two ugly, evil gargoyles, making a living on the backs of the dead. They're, both, enough to make you vomit. Montel Williams, as a military veteran, ought to be ashamed to be involved with these ghouls. He's doing wrong - evil - and it's a crime the police allow fraud such as this to be perpetrated on the public. This is crime. And everyone ought to know it by now.

Obama's NewAge Narcissism? That's Mine!

"Within the minds of Barack and Michelle Obama resides the grandiose, even megalomaniacal notion that they have the power to make the world as-it-is into the world-as-it-should be. Second, the Obamas look to talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey, as their "global role model" to effect this change. Third, as the Obamas' model for change, Oprah relentlessly promotes the grandiose New Age religion of her guru, Eckhart Tolle."

-- Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr., saying nothing new to me, but maybe it is to the American Thinker.

It hurts to think I can write about this very subject as much as I have - practically dedicate this blog to it - and have to struggle to get it noticed, but Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. writes one piece and gets on the front page of the American Thinker. Mind you, I'm not dissing Mr. Johnson but the elitism that makes this information, coming out of his mouth, worth more than when it comes out of mine.

Click on the tags for Oprah, Obama, Michelle, or any number of the other characters out there, and there's more than enough information to make the case that this is a real phenomena and no matter which aspect you approach it from - but especially as a form of cultism - I was there first, and saying it the loudest, but, apparently, I'm not of the right social class (or don't have enough class) to make the work I've done matter. I don't know.

I do know it sucks.

UPDATE - 9/28/08, 9:41PM:

I was at work when I wrote to the American Thinker, so I didn't have time to add links, etc., to my comment. I've since added some here.

You have to dig deep into this site to grasp the ground I've personally covered, and I hope you do: the stakes are too high now for it all to be for nothing. Mr. Johnson was only scratching the surface. (For instance, before me, there was Ted Patrick.) Go back to the beginning of the blog and work your way forward, by month and year (sorry but it's the only way) and I'll continue to fill in the blanks as I continue on, trying to keep the perspective of new AT visitors in mind.

NewAge is a moving target, working on many levels and in a variety of fields. I'm happy to discuss this, and related topics, with anyone and everyone at any time. It's been my life for three years now, and I know it pretty darn well.

Donations are gladly accepted - and badly needed.

CMC

P.S.

Anyone that can put me in touch with Mr. Johnson (I will be making attempts to contact him myself) would be doing us all a big favor.

With The Hands Of The Left All Over It

"CHINA'S NEW slave empire in Africa? 'We have come a long way from Cecil Rhodes to Bob Geldof, but we still have not brought much happiness with us, and even Nelson Mandela's vaunted 'Rainbow Nation' in South Africa is careering rapidly towards banana republic status. Now a new great power, China, is scrambling for wealth, power and influence in this sad continent, without a single illusion or pretence.'"

-- Peter Hitchens, probably wondering if there might be another way, by way of the Instapundit.

The Left is remarkable. Always claiming they know better while everything they touch goes to hell. Whether it's America's foreign policy, or even Africa, if the Left is involved it's just a recipe for disaster. They're really just a disruptive force, standing in the way of progress while calling themselves "progressives", slapping the hands of everyone else away, and braying about anyone who doesn't go along. It's just pitiful.

That's all I've really got to say about this story: it's just too damn depressing.

Something's Slipping Out (The Truth)

"Mid-debate, I have to say that John McCain is sort of kicking Obama to the curb."

-- Katie Allison Granju, gaining a lot of credibility for openly admitting what most Democrats adamantly refused to acknowledge, on Because I Said So.

Pretty Funky For A White Guy

Over at Little Green Footballs, Chuck Johnson noticed:

"Associated Press Democratic shill Ron Fournier is working overtime promoting the view that if Barack Obama loses the election, racism will be to blame.

In every other circumstance, the Associated Press avoids printing racial slurs and uses silly phrases like “the N word”, but for some reason in this article there it is—“the N word,” spelled out in all its ugliness, big as life.”

Yep, they'll do anything to promote their boy, Barry. But I'm not surprised, because, as I've noted too many times, you've got to have core values in order to break them and the Democrats just aren't there yet. One day, "nigger" is the worst word in the world, requiring a childish euphemism, and the next day - when they want to win an election - they'll hold it up for all to see like a rabbit out of a hat.

TMR, of course, doesn't like hypocrisy, so it also doesn't suffer such qualms.

It's the same thing with the charge that Republicans are “condescending” and “mean”. Really? What do you call this? Or, even better yet, this:



I think it's safe to say, when it comes to blatant hypocrisy, nobody can top the Democrats for going back on their "beliefs". This election season we've seen them as "feminists" who attack women they don't want to see succeed (both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin) anti-racists who, all of a sudden, don't mind the army of racists around their candidate; "anti-censorship" folks who have attempted, multiple times, to block the free speech of others, and whatever else they can back-track on, as long as it's in full view of others.

Like I said, they stand for nothing. And, like Martin Luther King said, they'll fall for anything. Or, at least, that's how Barack's supporters are looking, to me, so far:

They claim the Republican Party is full of shit but, as Lao Stinky reminds us (also by way of Little Green Footballs), "Refusing to dive into a sewer doesn’t mean you’re cleaner than everyone else."