DOWNLOADS: (771)

PLAYS: (5314)

Embed

Boy, am I glad Ed Schultz dealt with this. It's been a Fox theme since yesterday, beginning on Megyn Kelly's show and continuing on all the way through tonight's O'Reilly Factor. It goes like this: Unlike here after Katrina, and the Haiti and Chile earthquakes (translate that to where black people and Hispanics live), there has been no looting in Japan. Glenn Beck took it out to an extreme on his show today and then came on O'Reilly to tell everyone how noble the Japanese are for not looting after a disaster.

Of course, the whole idea of "looting" supposes that there is a) anything left after a disaster to take; and b) those who take are doing so with the motive of enriching themselves in some way, which makes no sense in areas where dire need supplants more banal motives. The areas most heavily affected by the earthquake were virtually destroyed by the tsunami. When ships sit on top of buildings and homes are reduced to rubble, there isn't much left to "loot." What's left behind is need and desperation.

But if you really want to understand why you're not seeing a whole lot of stories about looting in Japan, Slate has an excellent article explaining Japanese culture and society that will enlighten you.

There's a race-related overtone that's really insidious here, with Beck insinuating that the Japanese people are somehow superior to Americans, Haitians and Chileans, more noble. More good. It's quite subtle, but Ed sees it too. He also completely unwraps the idea of "no looting" and indeed, the idea of looting at all.

Ed points out there is looting going on in Japan. But is it looting when there's deep, desperate need? As Ed points out, "What is looting, when you're trying to survive?"

It's the framing that I noticed and also what Ed picked up on.

See, it always comes back to Beck's vision of America. With Barack Obama as President, America just isn't what it should be. We don't have respect for our fellow man, we don't even have respect for where we live? Glenn Beck is using false information about looting in Japan to say America isn't good enough?

Let's remind Beck about the volunteers who went to the Gulf Coast to help clean up the BP oil spill. We should also remind him about the people who helped rescue their fellow man from the flood waters of Katrina. And Beck, let's not forget about the first responders who ran in to the twin towers back on September 11th, 2001. Let's remind him that yes, there are looters in America and yes, there are looters in Japan, but no matter what country they're from, people in crisis do their best to stick together, to help one another, and to survive. Survive.

Also, what IS up with that fake Oval office set Beck's pontificating from? Is this how Fox plans to rehabilitate him? Take away the chalkboard and put him in a big desk flanked with flags? It's offensive. Tonight Bill O'Reilly referred to him as a "Fox News Analyst." A Fox News analyst? Really?

Whiskey Fire: Postal workers who handle letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole say more letters ask for basics — coats, socks and shoes — rather than Barbie dolls, video games and computers. But on Wall Street it's gonna be a very merry, fat bonus Christmas

Empire Burlesque: Spooky Action ay a Distance: Strangulators of Truth Strike Again

Informed Comment: Shocking? Um...no. U.S State Dept. cables released by Wikileaks show that in September of 2008, BP experienced a platform disaster in the Caspian Sea very similar to last summer's Deep Water Horizon explosion

field negro: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be negroes

OurFuture: Germany's economy shows government "interference" works

BagNews: Broke-Beck Mountains of Madness

BTC News: Nobody could have predicted the disaster that is Homeland Security

Facing South: The real story of racism at the USDA, and why it probably won't be seen anywhere else

Scott Horton : Another audacious whitewash at DOJ

Pruning Shears: Putting Geneva down the memory hole

jaysays: Federal Hate Crimes case illustrates Christian myopia

FavStocks: More than weather heating up in DC: Rush-Waxman bill puts Toxic Chemicals Safety Act reform back on the front burner

Cronyism: Brown is a Fraud

"Now, an investigation by TIME has found discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time of his nomination in 2001 to the job as deputy chief of FEMA. (Brown became Director of FEMA, succeeding Allbaugh, in 2003.)...read on"

The problem with this type of cronyism is that many human lives have been lost at the cost of his appointment. Brown should be arrested on the spot for fraud. Allbaugh can pass him shanks from the adjoining cell.

(Update): Kevin Drum has much more on Brown and the rest of his cronies."The story also notes a "brain drain" of experienced disaster professionals at FEMA's lower levels, "hastened in part by the appointment of leaders without backgrounds in emergency management." Wonderful....read on"

Delay's Rapture Delayed

via Swift Report: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been in the hot seat for months over alleged ethics violations. But the white-hot glare of the media spotlight pales in comparison to the heat that the Texas Republican will experience if ethics charges result in Mr. DeLay being 'left behind' to face a seven-year period of war, disease, famine and natural disaster known as the Tribulation...read on

Fareed Zakaria gave the collective American media a much needed drubbing for their ridiculously trivial coverage of the catastrophic BP Gulf oil spill. Rather than looking for solutions or presenting a history of BP safety violations to show a long history of negligent behavior, or advocating for sensible regulations to protect the country, what did the media focus their energies on? Whether or not Obama appeared angry enough about the disaster.

This whole discussion is a terrible example of how the media can trivialize political discussion. The presidency is a serious job, the most serious job in the country. And here we are, asking the man to dress the part, to play-act the emotions. Give us satisfaction by just doing something, even if it’s all phony stuff, designed to give the impression of action.

Hard to argue with that.

Queen - Somebody To Love

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe

I am an optimistic person by nature, I really am. But I think that I have reached a point of uncharacteristic despair over the state of the world. I had hoped that we would reach a certain level of sanity after the Orwellian Bush/Cheney years, but instead the crazy has amped up to all new bewildering levels. And unfortunately, our media has failed us miserably by playing into the crazy without ever calling it that.

And we're going to have more of that this Sunday. The oil spill in the Gulf appears to be boring the Villagers with Coast Guard Commander Thad Allen appearing only on Face the Nation, which will also feature the Republican governors of the Gulf states. What's a little generational catastrophic environmental disaster to the Beltway Bubble? Navel gazing and sweeping pronouncements on the health of the majority party after the primaries of last week is a much more fun discussion, with Steny Hoyer and John Boehner on This Week, James Clyburn and Mike Pence on State of the Union, and Carly Fiorina on Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday. In the "What possible relevance do you have to be on a news show" category, GWB's non-Jenna daughter, Barbara Bush, is also on Fox New Sunday.

ABC's "This Week" - House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Govs. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., Haley Barbour, R-Miss., and Bob Riley, R-Ala.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; Carly Fiorina, the Republican nominee for Senate from California.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Savannah Guthrie, John Heilemann, Rick Stengel, Helene Cooper. Topics: How Obama Can Take Charge of the Gulf Oil Crisis. Is the Rise of the New Right Making Regular Republicans Harder To Elect? Meter Qestions: Will President Obama Pass An Energy Bill This Year? YES: 6, NO: 6; Will the political damage to the President over the handling of the spill be long-lasting? YES: 5, No: 7.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Riley; Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - It's the worst oil spill in US history and the media seems to want one thing from Obama: to see him get mad. In "Fareed's Take" this week, Fareed gets mad -- at the media's absurd demand that the President "show some emotion" instead of dealing with the many weighty issues on his plate. Plus Paul Wolfowitz, and the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister who says the activists onboard the flotilla had ties to Al Qaeda.

"Fox News Sunday" - Fiorina; Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Barbara Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

It sounds like the President isn't all that impressed with BP's Tony Hayward. With regard to the now-famous interview with Matt Lauer where he looks for "asses to kick", MSNBC also reports the following remarks:

The BP executive last month complained about the amount of time he is spending dealing with the disaster, saying "I would like my life back," and also played down the spill's effect. The Gulf was "a big ocean," he said, adding "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest."

"He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements," Obama told TODAY.

The president also defended not having spoken to Hayward since the disaster began 50 days ago.

"I have not spoken to him directly," he told Lauer. "Here's the reason. Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he's gonna say all the right things to me. I'm not interested in words. I'm interested in actions."

Works for me. I encourage the President to start kicking ass by handing out some high-level pink slips.

As long as I'm posting a little bit of fluffy quoting around the Gulf disaster, perhaps a roundup of our most recent posts about it might be helpful, given how much news there is about so many different aspects of the disaster.

Here we go:

Expert Simmons says well may be gushing between 100-150 barrels per day. Cheryl Attkisson at CBS confirms lowball leak estimates.

Ever-cognizant of Maureen Dowd's dreams, President Obama looks for asses to kick. The sun shines on BP and the Bush administration as more information comes to light about how BP was able to fast-track their drilling permits, thanks to the Gang of Four (aka Bush, Cheney, DeLay, and Barton).

Dick Cheney hides behind daughter Liz Cheney's skirts and lets her fight his battles. Adm. Thad Allen describes the oil as "an insidious enemy," BP employees weren't sure who was in charge, and Haley Barbour visits the River Denial.

Since we're not an all-oil, all-the-time blog, posts on Gaza, Elena Kagan, unemployment, and the right-wing noise machine are also good reads.

Bonus: My inner history wonk sings when I see Newstalgia posts like this one. Take a minute to walk back to the 70's and listen to the Silent Majority: Mexican-Americans in the 70's.

I am pretty sure that President Obama will feel disgusted, because what he will encounter when he gets into this oil is disgusting. The oil lining the beaches of this beautiful coast stinks. It stinks, it's oily, it's sticky, it's toxic...

..disgusted that American leaders screamed "drill, baby, drill" all in the name of whoring themselves for a few votes during the few months that gasoline prices were rising...

...This is not Hurricane Katrina. This isn't another Katrina. This isn't another anything. This is a whole new thing, happening to us. This is America's Deepwater Horizon disaster. We all own it forever.

And right now, right here in Grand Isle and all along the Gulf coast there are really only three things that matter: stopping the oil from flowing; protecting the coast and the ocean from the millions of gallons of oil that have already spilled; and making sure that this never, ever happens again.

You can diagnose whether we have a functioning media in this country by whether or not the country understands that this is a vile environmental megadisaster. You can diagnose whether we have a functioning political system in this country by whether or not the result of this megadisaster is change.

Big Oil has been too rich to care about what it was putting us all at risk for. And we've been too cowardly to change direction and break free from them. If that changes because of our national disgust at this disaster, then America's political system in 2010 works. If it doesn't change, then it doesn't work.

I have watched this segment three times, and every time I watch it, I cry. She says the same thing I said a couple of weeks ago, but it's something else again to hear and watch it with an inset live feed behind her showing oil spewing out from the guts of hell while we all look at the earth carnage left behind.

How can we not change after seeing scenes like that? Yes, we all own it. It is our disaster. Not President Obama's alone, not even BP's alone. Let's change it.