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Our number two video on the countdown of C&L's most viewed videos of 2011, courtesy of CNN's Anderson Cooper, who apparently thinks bringing on Christian evangelist Kirk Cameron, who starred in the Left Behind series to discuss the mysterious bird and fish deaths in Arkansas, is something that passes for "news" these days.

Heaven forbid they might be lagging behind Fox in the department of not only pushing for more religion in our government (as long as it's the right kind of religion and not those evil Muslims, don't you know), but doing their best to validate the views of right wing evangelicals as well.

From January of this year -- Anderson Cooper Brings on 'Left Behind' Actor Cameron to Discuss Bird and Fish Deaths in Arkansas -- Seriously?.

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Over the past several days, Fox News host Glenn Beck has explained that the unrest sweeping the Middle East augurs a New World Order jointly pursued by a combination of George Soros, radical Islamists and communist unions, all aided, apparently, by Google. But on Thursday, Beck literally turned apocalyptic, warning that the seeming chaos could be seen by the Shiite leadership in Iran as a portent of the coming of the 12th Imam, or what his guest Joel Richardson deemed the "Islamic Anti-Christ."

Of course, such hysterical warnings of the End of Days are nothing new for either Glenn Beck or Fox News.

As Media Matters summed up Beck's latest effort to get from here to eternity:

On today's edition of his Fox News show, Glenn Beck tied Islam to the Antichrist described in the New Testament. He even had a side-by-side comparison of the Antichrist and the "12th Imam" or "Mahdi" (terms Beck uses interchangeably to describe the figure many Muslims believe will guide believers in the end times) on his chalkboard.

And to help Beck discuss this connection, Beck hosted Joel Richardson, an anti-Muslim activist who says that Satan will use Islam "to fulfill the prophesies of the Bible" and has written a column headlined "What Obama and the Antichrist have in common."

If that sounds familiar, it should. Beck has been spouting the same Armageddon panic for years dating back to his days at CNN.

On March 30, 2007, Beck invited Left Behind co-creators Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jennings and "acclaimed author" Joel Rosenberg to debate whether the Iranian capture of a British gunboat crew was a sign of the Apocalypse. (Rosenberg, who joined Beck for his program last week, also appeared with him as far back as 2006.) Then as now, Beck appeared, well, rapturous at the prospect:

All this has had me wondering. The increased tension between Iran and the west, is it just one more piece in the puzzle, one more chess move towards the final apocalyptic vision of Iran`s maniacal leaders? Are we, indeed, living in the end times?...

Are the cataclysmic events of 9/11, Katrina, tsunami, famine and the threat of global pandemic signs we`re living in the end times?

One world government, one world economy, one world vision. Are we creeping even closer to the Book of Revelations` countdown to doomsday? And does an age-old prophecy foretell a Russian-Iranian alliance against Israel as well as a nuclear showdown? Apocalypse now?

Just one year later, Beck worried that the Anti-Christ might not be the Mahdi, but presidential candidate Barack Obama. In March 2008, he confessed his fears to End Times Texas Pastor (and John McCain endorser) John Hagee:

BECK: Let me ask you, because I got -- I get so much e-mail on this, and I think a lot of people do, and I`ve only got a couple of seconds. They say Glenn, you and the media, you`ve got to wake up. Barack Obama`s making people faint and cry and everything else. And he`s drawing people in.

There are people -- and they said this about Bill Clinton that actually believe he might be the anti-Christ. Odds that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ?

HAGEE: No chance. He has a lot of charisma. There`s a media love affair with him right now. He is a very formidable political person. I believe the best leader for America in the future is John McCain.

BECK: Thank you very much, Pastor. Back in just a second. That`s good news, at least where I stand.

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Of course, the rank hypocrites in the Republican party are lining up to try to force retention of the soon-to-expire Bush tax cuts in exchange for support on extending unemployment benefits. (And the deficit worries suddenly fly out the window, just like that.)

In other words, it will be at least another week before we see a vote:

Senate Democrats will remain one vote short of the 60 needed to reauthorize unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless at least until the end of the week, as West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin says he wants to wait until the state legislature has cleared up the law on how to fill the Senate seat left behind by the late Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).

Manchin previously said that he could name a replacement as soon as the beginning of the week, but on Monday his office told HuffPost he'd make his announcement by Sunday at the latest and Friday at the earliest.

"He intends to make the appointment by week's end," a spokesman said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has repeatedly said that Senate Democrats need Byrd's replacement to break the filibuster by Republicans and Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, whose approval -- had he decided to give it -- would have ended the endless debate that has already cut off unemployment checks to some 2.1 million people.

By the time Byrd's replacement is sworn in, more than 2.5 million people who've been out of work for longer than six months will have missed checks they would have received had Congress reauthorized the stimulus programs it allowed to lapse at the end of May. President Obama's 2009 stimulus bill and subsequent legislation gave the unemployed up to 99 weeks of benefits in some states. With the federally-funded extended benefits lapsed, in most states the unemployed are eligible for only 26 weeks of state-funded benefits.

Progressives have rightfully mourned the recent fate of New Orleans--a poor, predominately black city with a spectacular history that has been failed by our country over and over again.

I just returned from work and play in a city we hear less about, but it shares a lot in common with New Orleans--Detroit. AKA Motown, The 313, Rock City, The D. Detroit City, as the song goes, ain't nothin' to f with.

Most people react to Detroit the same way when they see it for the first time--something along the lines of "holy sh*t." It's frequently compared to a Third World country, with enormous vacant auto plants and many, many desperate people. It's a very dramatic landscape.

The Big 3 took what they needed from Detroit, and what they left behind is...how you say...challenging. There is tremendous poverty, hopelessness, crime, and violence.

But there is so much to love in Detroit. No, really.

I'm not a big Techno expert or anything, but the documentary above captures what I have grown to love about that place--it's rough, it's deprived and sometimes depraved, but out of much blight has risen one of the coolest creative scenes I've ever seen.

Seriously. If you're in the midwest, consider going to Detroit to see the sights this summer. There is remarkable stuff going on in Detroit, wonderful people...and they could definitely use the money. So come, won't you? I'll meet you just after the "continue reading" button.

Put down the pepper spray, we'll be fine. Probly.

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(h/t Emma's Mom)

I've said it more than once...I know that bigotry and racism have always been around, but I really miss the days when people (especially in positions of power) were loath to be so open about their irrational hatred. Is it me, or is Arizona proudly embracing the notion of being the xenophobic capital of the country?

The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The crackdown applies to classes deemed to have students who are learning English, mostly as a second language. Federal No Child Left Behind regulations call for students to be taught by persons fluent in English. The determination of fluency is left up to individual states.

Arizona seems to think that includes accents. Of course, they are wrong - accents do not by themselves measure fluency. And almost every person who is a native speaker of another language is going to have an accent when speaking English, unless they learned English at a young age.

"This is just one more indication of the incredible anti-immigrant sentiment in the state," said Bruce Merrill, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University who conducts public-opinion research.

Indeed. Arizona's action against immigrants didn't begin with the recent passage of the "show me your papers" bill, but it emboldened anti-immigrant sentiment in other states around the country, and apparently in the Arizona educational system too.

Arizona's education department has sent people into schools to audit teachers on comprehensible pronunciation, correct grammar and good writing. Teachers who fail are given the chance to improve, but if not, they must be fired or reassigned.

Oy vey. My in-laws immigrated here from Denmark in the 50s. They never lost their accents. My uncle, who immigrated here in the 60s from the Middle East, has never lost his accent (and how many immigrants who aren't children at the time of do?). My eldest's science teacher in middle school is a first generation American, whose family immigrated here from Mexico and for whom Spanish was the primary language spoken at home. She has a slight accent. All of these people I've mentioned were highly intelligent, highly educated people from whom you could learn much. But not in Arizona.

Makes me wonder if Arizona will ban Kindergarten Cop from the area video stores.

Ken Silverstein: Six questions for Gregory Johnsen on Yemen

SteveAudio: A non-story that's all over the news and the blogs

ShortsandPants: No Child Left Behind turned eight-years-old yesterday. Is our children learning yet?

Southern Beale: For Shame

Multi Medium: The value of moral clarity

his vorpal sword: Hart Hits the Jackpot!

David E’s Fablog: Race Riot, sponsored by corporate lobbyists

Glenn Greenwald: There's nothing new about right wing insanity...or stupidity

distributorcap NY: All American Children Left Behind

Scott Horton: Two Marine Generals take Cheney to the woodshed

$Blind In Texas$: I'm a Ninther

AMERICAblog News: One year after the fall of Lehman, few changes

(h/t Down with Tyranny for the graphic.)

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I've been asking members of Congress if they would forego their August recess to make sure health care won't get left behind. Why shouldn't republicans and democrats work instead of taking a holiday? Since I asked President Obama if he should demand that Congress stay in DC to work on health care in August the media has picked it up too and now we're getting statements from Congress saying they would work instead of taking a holiday.

I asked Blue America's Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) if he would give up the August recess to make sure legislation gets done. Here's his reply:

"I'm committed to passing health care reform and I'm extremely concerned that the window of opportunity is starting to close. Anything that can speed up Senate deliberation is valuable. And if keeping the Senate in session in August can move the bill forward, I'm absolutely committed to being here."

Sen. Merkley is committed to reforming health care and he now joins the list of members who have said they will work in August. Thanks so much Senator.

Senator Wyden

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Rep. James Clyburn

Sen. Jeff Merkley

Obsidian Wings: Farewell, Hilzoy

skippy the bush kangaroo: The same Republicans who scoffed at the CBO during the Bush administration's crazed spending and tax cutting, now revere the office's prognostications

AverageBro: Mr. "I Been Had" is back

A Tiny Revolution: Interview with Wendell Potter, a former head of corporate communications for CIGNA who finally listened to his conscience, left behind the blood money, and started talking about the evil he was doing as a shill for the health care denial industry.

Bitch Ph.D.: PUMAS are all about the white ladies

Danger Room: Company denies its Robots feed on the dead

The Mahablog: Drama Queen exits, stage right

The Moderate Voice: Happy Motoring America; Shafted Again

The Existentialist Cowboy: Texas: The Gulag wasteland Bush left behind

Bernard Avishai: While Prime Minister Netanyahu scoffs at Ahmedinajad’s beatings of peaceful demonstrators, his government does the same

open Democracy: The archaeology of Iran's regime

Vagabond Scholar: Diagrams On Conservatism