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Glenn Beck has a special "documentary" he's going to show his audience today on Fox News titled "Live Free Or Die," and what's evident is that the entire show is going to be predicated on expanding on Jonah Goldberg's fraudulent thesis in his bestselling book, Liberal Fascism, namely, that fascism is "properly understood" as "a phenomenon of the left."

What's apparent is that Beck intends to leap from this fraudulent beginning to the bizarre conclusion that the progressive movement has always produced genocide -- mostly by equating fascists with communists with progressives, which is part of the underlying illogic of Goldberg's thesis. It seems he will be promoting the conclusion that President Obama is leading America on a path to genocide as well.

Indeed, anyone who's been watching Beck's show the past year is aware that his continually building thesis about Obama -- that he is secretly a black radical Marxist/fascist/socialist/whateverist intent on creating a totalitarian regime in America -- is largely built on Liberal Fascism and its thesis. Beck has

had Goldberg on numerous times to promote the fraud. And his long-running attacks on the progressive movement as the "cancer" destroying the country -- which has been the entire point of Beck's show this week, including the conclusion that progressives may try to assassinate Obama if he moves to the center -- have been nakedly drawn straight from Goldberg's Planet Bizarro version of history. (The giveaway has been Beck's running insistence that Woodrow Wilson is at the root of this evil.)

Towards the end of yesterday's segment, Beck fretted that "the academic wing" of the progressive movement was going to attack him viciously for his "documentary." Goldberg notes that he's faced the same for his book -- though in reality, academics have been largely silent on the subject of Liberal Fascism.

That, however, is about to end.

I've already explained in some depth exactly why Goldberg's thesis is so profoundly dishonest, especially when it comes to the mountain of historical facts that contradict his claims, which he simply elides. But I'm not an academic -- just a journalist who has real-life experience writing about real American fascists.

Academic historians, in fact, have tended to shy away from tackling Goldberg's book, precisely because it is such an obvious work of propagandistic polemics, and his methodology so shabby, that they haven't considered the work (such as it is) contained therein to be worthy of academic consideration.

But because Goldberg's fraudulent thesis has now become conventional wisdom on the American Right -- and particularly among the Tea Party set, where signs equating liberals to fascists and Obama to Hitler have become commonplace -- many historians, especially those who have specialized in the serious study of fascism, have come to the realization that calling out Goldberg for his fraud is long overdue.

To that end, I began organizing last fall a series of essays from academic historians and political scientists critiquing Liberal Fascism. The essays are now ready, and this Monday, Jan. 25, they will be presented at History News Network.

In addition to my introductory essay, there will be essays by four widely acknowledged experts on fascism:

-- Robert O. Paxton, professor emeritus at Columbia University and the author of The Anatomy of Fascism.

-- Roger Griffin, professor of political science at Oxford Brookes and the author of The Nature of Fascism.

-- Matthew Feldman, professor of history at University of Northampton, and a co-editor of several academic texts on fascism.

-- Chip Berlet, senior researcher at Political Research Associates and the co-author (with Matthew Lyons) of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort.

Beck will probably believe this response from academics is inspired by his show today, but only in a purely accidental sense: It's been in the works for some months now, and was more inspired by the broad absorption of Goldberg's thesis as conventional wisdom -- of which Beck's constant promotion of it is a not-insignificant part. Let's just say the timing will indeed be serendipitous.

Incidentally, Beck gave us a little preview of the "documentary" on his Tuesday show:

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Perfect timing for CNN. Hugo Chavez gets cut off as he berates the U.S. for the genocide of our indigenous Americans, and CNN switches to live coverage of the G20 protests. The anchors are too dumb to realize the police are using sonic cannons, instead referring to it as "an annoying siren."

Our America grows more authoritarian by the day, and the election hasn't changed that. Citizens are seen as the enemy, corporate interests are sacred and the police are the ultimate authority, answering to no one. They deploy weapons developed for war zones against civilian populations - and nothing happens. The media? Don't make me laugh.

PITTSBURGH — Hours after the Group of 20 meeting ended, the protests did not.

The police here arrested 110 people on Friday night, according to the mayor’s office. They dispersed hundreds of students milling near the University of Pittsburgh with pepper spray and smoke canisters in a scene reminiscent of the previous night’s disturbances on the first day of the economic summit.

The group, estimated at close to 500 people, gathered near Schenley Plaza around 10 p.m., with students saying they were drawn because they were angry over how the riot police treated students at Thursday’s gathering. Some students said their curiosity was piqued by a university message warning them to stay off the streets.

The police used a loudspeaker to announce that the plaza assembly was unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse about 11 p.m. Soon afterward, plumes of white smoke could be seen rising near Bigelow Boulevard and officers beating cadence on plastic shields with long batons marched down Forbes Avenue, driving back students, onlookers and journalists. A block north, as people scattered, officers fired projectiles at a young man riding a scooter down Fifth Avenue, knocking him to the ground and arresting him.

It was the second consecutive night of turbulence in the bustling streets surrounding the university, where crowds of bar-hoppers were largely displaced by fleets of police vans, armored vehicles and phalanxes of officers wearing helmets, padded vests and shiny plastic shin guards.

On Friday morning a flier had circulated instructing people to gather again at the university to protest Thursday night’s events. The police then had rushed towards students in a dormitory courtyard and squirted pepper spray after black clad protesters dashed though nearby streets, smashing the windows of a University of Pittsburgh police sub station and several restaurants. Those protesters had also ignited a dumpster, which they rolled into the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Oakland Avenue before fleeing into the university campus.

Dillon Snyder, 18, a freshman at the university, said he was retreating from clouds of white smoke on Thursday, when he was struck above his right elbow with a kind of projectile fired by police.

On Saturday, he said his elbow was still sore, as he reflected on the events on his campus over the past two nights.

“There was really no reason for such extreme action,” he said. “The guns, the rubber bullets and the dogs probably did more to incite people.”

Oh, and watch Sean Hannity berate these protesters, who turn the table on him:

Outta the Cornfield:  Last year's Memorial Day post will be next year's as well

The Seminal: War and the reasons

Leftist Grandpa: The 'Terror Plot' that wasn't

AverageBro: Well, at least you've got Lebron...

The Existentialist Cowboy: When you die in America, it will be because you are NOT RICH

Words of Power: Of Yeats, Genocide, and the Blogosphere - Looming deadlines that frame our future and determine our legacy

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American speed skater Joey Cheek has done a great deal to bring global attention to the immense suffering of the people of Darfur, forming Team Darfur and even going so far as donating his $40k Olympic bonus to the cause in 2006. Unfortunately, the gold and silver medalist was punished for his activism by the Chinese government -- who has contributed to the genocide in Darfur by fueling and supporting Sudan's murderous military government -- when they revoked his visa this week, preventing him from attending this year's Olympics in Beijing.

During the opening ceremony NBC's Bob Costas discussed the controversy surrounding Cheek and the Chinese government, noting that he made it clear he would not protest the Chinese government during the Olympics:

Costas: "Joey Cheek had planned to invoke the Olympic truce, the time-honored concept of an Olympic truce, to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. He did not intend to directly protest the Chinese government. The fact that they pulled his visa is so contrary to the Olympic ideal it is simply outrageous."

I wondered if NBC was going to cave on this or take a stand and defend Cheek against the reprehensible actions of the Chinese government. I applaud Costas for choosing the latter.

Download | play Download | play (h/t SilentPatriot)

Joe Lieberman is taking a page out of Dick Cheney's playbook and carefully connected al-Qaeda to Iran with an answer he gave to Nora O'Donnell on MSNBC moments ago. Much has been made of McCain's foreign policy gaffe on his middle east tour when he said that Shia/Iran was training the Sunni/al-Qaeda. Lieberman had to whisper the correct answer in his ear at that time to correct that fallacy. However, we can see a clear pattern of deception the Senator from CT is using to try and once again confuse the American public about the nonexistent ties between al-Qaeda and Iran.

Liebermann: ...we can do it on conditions on the ground, but if we just pull out there will be chaos, maybe genocide and al-Qaeda and Iran will win.

Al-Qaeda is a very small percentage of the resistance that is on going in Iraq as we all know. Why hasn't Holy Joe addressed the ethnic cleansing that has already occurred in Iraq between the Sunni and Shia's militias in Baghdad alone? Joe can't do that and admit the horror that he has enabled already. His only hope is to confuse the public into thinking that al-Qaeda is aligned with Iran. Have you no decency, sir?

I'm Manila Ryce, and today is my final round-up. You can catch me at my own blog, The Largest Minority, after today.

If being a perpetual liar is cool, then the Neocons are Miles Davis. It's almost as difficult to get 100% incorrect on a multiple choice exam as it is to get 100% correct, so perhaps they do deserve some credit for being so consistently wrong.

Groups of poor people fighting each other over pennies isn't just the latest reality show from Fox, it's the strategy of the American bourgeoisie. Samurai Frog is a dirt poor blogger, and as such, would like to share a crazy street corner rant on immigration with you.

If you're looking for a non-profit, non-partisan quiz with the sole intention of informing voters, Glassbooth.org can fix your itch. You can see where every candidate stands on every issue in relation to you, and then curse the fact that the "electable" frontrunners are the furthest from everyone's positions.

I've linked him previously, but you can never get enough Noam Chomsky. In conjunction with this post, Chomsky asks " Do the Democrats have a different answer on Iran?" Here's a spoiler alert: With the exception of Kucinich and Gravel, the answer is no.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. It's a strategy for Iraq. The civilian death toll is higher than that of Darfur, yet we refrain from describing the holocaust in Iraq as genocide for political reasons. Holocaust denial is always acceptable for America when it's politically inconvenient. Just ask the Armenians.

Activist blogger and underwear model Bob Morris from Politics in the Zeros takes over tomorrow. Submit to him here: Bob (dot) Morris (at) Gmail (dot) com

The 'Tude:  Muslims in Afghanistan?  Who knew?

Connecting.the.Dots: Almost six years after the Twin Towers fell, the attack has claimed two more lives and injured others, but this time the work of terrorists from the Middle East was apparently abetted by good old-fashioned home-grown crime and corruption.

Intrepid Liberal Journal:  Government lies about the Drug War: a podcast interview with criminal justice professor, Matthew Robinson.

Talk To Action: The Distiguished Panel of Judges named Dr. Gary Cass, "Theocrat of the Week".  They applaud his efforts to head off Darfur-scale genocide against America's Christians.

Consortiumblog: While writing his new book about the Bush presidency, Robert Parry was surprised at how often former Vice President Al Gore turned up making tragically prescient comments.

Looks like we're losing--at least for the time being--two of my favorite bloggers; Bob Geiger and Max Sawicky.  They'll be missed.

I think it's important to remember that there's a whole world out there while the media focuses solely on Beltway politics. Here's a chance for you to encourage responsibility and humanity from American corporations (don't snicker) for Darfur

The situation in Darfur continues to get worse and George Clooney spoke to the U.N. Security Council today about the problems and to urge help.

Clooney: So after September 30th, you won’t need the U.N. You will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and head stones.

Download | play - WMV Download | play - QT

God bless George Clooney and his dedication to this crisis. The right likes to attack "liberal Hollywood" for speaking out on political matters but isn't that their right and responsibility as Americans? As fellow members of the human race? Clooney (and every other person on the face of this earth) has that right and responsibility to do their part in trying to bring an end to preventable mass killing and suffering.

(H/T Mike for the post)

here's some of the transcript

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