Congress has passed legislation extending the Unpatriotic Act, without even any modifications to protect peoples' privacy. The official name of this legislation which attacks American values is the "Patriot Act," and so many, even on the left, have gone along with this.

In two previous postings, I have referred to the Club for Growth (of Income Inequality). The official name lacks the part in parentheses. The organization has no real interest in spurring overall economic growth. If they did, they would oppose tax cuts for the rich which repress economic growth instead of making them mandatory for any politician they support. The Club for Growth (of Income Inequality) is made up of extremely wealthy Republicans, many of them in Manhattan. They spend large amounts of money running primary challenges against conservative, but not batshit crazy, Republicans in order to save much larger amounts of taxes.

This is part of a larger project by the far right to deceive the American public about the nature of their goals and practices. Here are some examples of deceptive organizational organizational names and what the organizations actually do.

"Family Research Council"
Promotes and disseminates propaganda promoting bigotry, discrimination, and violence against women, non Christians, and queers. Promotes religious extremism.

"National Right to Work Committee"
Opposes the rights of employees to form and maintain unions. Opposes legislation which protects employees who want to join unions from intimidation, harassment, and firing by union busting employers. Demonizes unions and union members with bizarre propaganda.

"National Right to Life"
Promotes bigotry, discrimination, and violence against women. Opposes life saving condom distribution and AIDS education programs. Promotes religious extremism. Demonizes abortion providers to such an extreme extent that it results in terrorist threats and attacks.

"Keep America Safe"
Works to frighten Americans so much that they will go along with policies that endanger our national security and economic well being in order to further enrich the super rich.

"Accuracy in Media"
Works to maintain and enforce the far right slant of corporate media propaganda and to censor information which would lead people to question far right ideology.

"Reason Magazine"
Uses bizarre and illogical rationalizations to promote wealthy and corporate interests at the expense of the middle class and the poor.

"Center for Individual Rights"
Promotes discrimination on the basis of race and sex.

"Concerned Women for America"
A militant, fundamentalist hate group largely controlled by men.

I'm sure you could list more organizations if you put your mind to it, but I've made my point. The far right knows it can not win political debates honestly and transparently, so they deceive and manipulate the public as much as possible in order to try to win in the political arena.

If you notice a similarity between the US right's practices and the fictional totalitarian socialist regime in 1984, you are quite correct. The author, George Orwell as a democratic socialist who saw the dangers in terms of what was around at that time, the late 1940s. He didn't foresee that the US right would adopt many of the practices of deception that are commonly described as "Orwellian" as an homage to his book, largely because the well funded rightist reaction of the late 20th Century was only in its infancy.

Major corporate media outlets happily go along with the deceptive naming of far right organizations because it advances the agendas of wealthy owners and advertisers. In today's USA, we are propagandized at as relentlessly as citizens of the old Soviet Empire. The main difference is that the field of propaganda has advanced since then, making it more effective.

 

Photo: fredthompson (Toomey is on the right.)

"Those Republican Apostates" is the name of a tantrum on Townhall.com by former Club for Growth (of income inequality) President Pat Toomey where he slams Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.

This weird rhetoric wasn't just in the headline. Here's a quote from the opinion piece. (bolding mine)

In the end, the support from the three “moderates” was crucial to passing the stimulus bill. Because of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s absence, the GOP needed only one more Senate vote to mount a sustainable filibuster. Had even one of the apostates stood strong, Republicans would have been able to fashion a genuine compromise bill.

Sound familiar? It should. San Francisco Chronicle 7/2/06 (bolding mine):

"There will be no bargaining with the crusaders and the apostates" in Iraq, bin Laden said in a clear reference to efforts by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to draw insurgent groups into negotiations and amnesty agreements with his government. "There will be no half-solutions." Al-Maliki and his appointed predecessors since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq would be punished as soon as American military forces are defeated, he said.

Pat Toomey always was a fanatic, but his rhetoric has started to resemble that of Osama bin Laden. That Toomey is the favorite to win the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania shows just how crazy that party has become.

Specter didn't jump. He was pushed.

Some examples of the people that made being a Gopper execrable for Specter:

FireAndreaMitchell.com

Its not like it even matters benedict Arlen Specter after voting for the porkulus bill, and his previous libtard voting record, made him a RINO, much like Olympia Snowe, John McCain, etc. At least now its official. Spectar will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning. Specter’s decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota. (Former senator Norm Coleman is appealing Franken’s victory in the state Supreme Court.)

The Conservative Gentleman (What an ironic blog title, BTW.)

This is why we have no respect for the elderly in this country. It is why we toss them into institutions like so much trash into a container. Men like Specter have no self-respect, thus no dignity. So desperate is he to keep his seat in the Senate he has sold his soul to the opposition, become like them, men and women without a shred of decency.

We would have respected you more, you piece of filth, if you’d said, “I relinquish all party affiliation, and will vote my conscience until the end of my term at which time I will not seek reelection.” But you could not say such a thing, you lack the courage.

Quick Daily Hits:

Specter’s departure to the Democrat party is intended to be a slap in the face, maybe a nail in the coffin, of the Republican Party. Not going to work, Arlen, because we all know who you are anyways. It’s Senators like you who have weakened the Republican Party. It’s “Republicans” like you who lose the GOP votes in national elections. We need leaders with backbone who can stand for conservative principles.

To one of the all-time hypocrites who ever made politics his career, I say, See ya, Arlen, don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out. Thanks for finally owning up to who you’ve always been anyways. If you’re going to be a pain in Republican Party’s neck anyways, it’s about time you just set up shop on the other side of the aisle.

One rightist nutjob put Specter's home address on his blog. (No, I'm not going to link to it.)

Remember when Michael Steele tried to put a reasonable facade in front of the GOP. That's over:

WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today:

"Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not.

Let's be honest-Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."

The claim that Specter has a "left-wing voting record" is absolutely giggle worthy.

The rightists don't realize that they are not a majority in this country. They never were. Even worse for them, the failures of the Bush regime's rightist policies have further discredited them. The AWOL Rapture has taken much of the starch out of the Christian Taliban.

Instead of trying to work with moderates, the Palin/Limbaugh Goppers are engaging in a purge. The whole thing has been started by The Club for Growth (of Income Inequality) which is mostly made up of super rich Republicans in the very same NYC that far right talkers demonize.

Could it be that the GOP is headed towards being a third party?