Archive for category Authoritarianism
Conservative Patriot Gives In: “As half the nation is in sheer awe of this American Idol “rockstar” presidency.”
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Authoritarianism, Conservative, Laugh, Liars (politics), Tea Bag Party, Tea Party, The Koch Brothers, Tribalism & Blind Obedience to Authority on February 19, 2013
I’ve followed this Facebook page for several months. Its one of the best in it’s genre; an excellent reference for study of the authoritarian mind and an excellent resource for tracking the Tea Party memes since 2010.
Its run, and run well, by a single person. Id love to speak with him and find out how I’ve been “dumbed-down.”
He posted the following today:
Conservative Patriots of America: Folks, I cannot do this any longer, it is of NO use. As half the nation is in sheer awe of this American Idol “rockstar” presidency, and the mainstream media is further enabling the STUPIDITY & NONSENSE with the dumbing-down of the citizens, Obama has just played his 115th round of golf — lucky he, huh? Well, how about that UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, or the fact that he met with his now defunct “Jobs Council” only FOUR TIMES before dissolving it — or that National Debt, or that China owns us — I mean, REALLY, WHERE do I begin??
I have sat at my computer for nearly THREE YEARS wasting my time & energy on a matter that cannot be resolved. We are less than one month into the second term, and if any of you have any “foresight,” methinks you will agree with me that NOTHING is going to get done, NOTHING is going to get better, and NOTHING can be done about it. I’ve done what I can & that’s about it, there is nothing more I can do or say. I’ll be hanging Old Glory upside-down for the next four years.
Oh, and to the Trolls, P.S. Do NOT talk about Bush’s vacations, the world was a MUCH different place during Bush’s 2 terms — find something else to bring to the table on this presidency. Join us at: Conservative Patriots of America — on facebook.
Here’s a picture from his page that almost made me want to join up with them “patriots.”
Isn’t being anti-choice messing with family?
I sent him a Tweet asking him to contact me through Facebook. I hope he’ll give me an interview.
The Republican War on Research Continues
Posted by Glenden Brown in Activist groups, American People, Authoritarianism, congress, Conservative, Conservatives, Republicans on February 18, 2013
If you’ve read Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science, it will come as no surprise that Republicans in Congress are trying to stifle and defund government efforts at objective research. From Moshe Marvit:
Just before the November election, news leaked that the Congressional Research Service had been strongarmed by Senate Republicans into withdrawing a report that analyzed the last six decades of economic data and found, contrary to deeply held Republican dogma, that there was no correlation between top marginal tax rates and economic growth. Six weeks later, after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, we were reminded that 15 years ago the National Rifle Association successfully lobbied to kill all federal funding of gun research, leaving the public without solid information with which to debate gun control.
Now, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has begun calling for an end to federal funding for social science research, Paul Krugman has labeled the modern GOP “the ignorance caucus.”
“These days [Cantor's] party dislikes the whole idea of applying critical thinking and evidence to policy questions,” writes Krugman, who identifies an epistomelogical divide between the parties: “One side believes, at least in principle, in letting its policy views be shaped by facts; the other believes in suppressing the facts if they contradict its fixed beliefs.”
There’s an old line that facts have a liberal bias. So Republicans have decided to declare war on facts.
There’s a deeper problem here, of course. By depriving government agencies and government itself of research, Republicans are crippling the ability of government to make and implement good policy. Research showing no correlation between top marginal tax rates and economic growth strikes at Republican dogma. It also has the power to reshape public debate on the issue. It makes it harder for both sides to make good policy. It turns government into nothing more than a faith-based enterprise. It’s appalling. And it hurts us in both the short and long term.
Stuart Reid Uses Bad History Draws Bad Conclusions Yet Proposes Decent Policy Proposal
Posted by Glenden Brown in Authoritarianism, Equality, GLBT issues, Human Rights, Queer, Sex, Society, This Blog on October 28, 2012
Utah State Senator Stuart Reid recently floated a proposal that would create a program to educate parents about sexuality in the belief they would turn around and teach their children at home.
“My belief is the discussion really should be about parental responsibility,” said Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, who plans to sponsor the bill. “Our first instinct shouldn’t be to turn this over to the education community … It should first start in the home.”
Reid said it’s not that parents don’t understand sex, it’s more that they don’t know how to teach certain concepts to their kids or at what ages to begin. Reid said he envisions the State Office of Education holding training sessions across the state once or twice a year where parents would be given codes to access the online program. Reid said Monday he did not yet know how much it would cost the state to implement such a program.
There’s much to laud in Reid’s proposal. One of the major challenges facing parents is a lack of confidence and skill in discussing questions of sexuality with their children. Empowering parents with education and specific techniques is a good idea, especially since so few adults actually received good comprehensive sexuality education as young people. While I can foresee a host of problems in the way the adult program could be created and implemented (this being Utah with its attendant hangups about sexuality) nevertheless, the policy itself is a potential step in the right direction. Emphasis should be placed on the potential since Reid is operating from flawed knowledge of history and a serious misreading of current events.
A Grand Farewell to ALEC
Posted by Larry Bergan in 4th Estate (Media), ALEC, Authoritarianism, Capitalism, censorship, Corruption, Election Fraud, Energy Solutions, Global Warming, Lying, NRA, Occupy SLC, Prisons, Public Lands, Republicans, The Koch Brothers, Transparency, Utah Legislature on July 27, 2012
Was Alec Baldwin in Salt Lake? I didn’t hear anything on the news. 
He/she/it wouldn’t give a single interview to the press and prefer to remain unknown. How many freedoms did we lose this week?
War on Reality
Posted by Shane Smith in 4th Estate (Media), American People, Authoritarianism, Bailout, Climate Change, Conservatives, Economy, Global Warming, Philosophy on July 25, 2012
One of those things that everyone knows is true, but turns out not to be true after all, is that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this “truth” is questionable at best, but finally people seem to be waking up to the fact. Thinkprogress points out that:
A survey of forty economists from across the ideological and partisan spectrum has concluded that on some of its most cherished issues, the Republican Party has simply taken leave of economic reality. For instance, economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers noted that one of the results from the survey — run by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, which is hardly known for a left-wing slant — is an overwhelming agreement that the 2009 Recovery Act (i.e. the stimulus) brought down unemployment. But GOP leaders have spent years roundly denouncing the stimulus as a failure.
Confirmed: NSA Conducting Blanket Electronic Surveillance on Americans
Posted by Richard Warnick in Authoritarianism, Barack Obama, Civil liberties Infringement, National Politics, The Constitution, Wiretapping on July 24, 2012
Utah NSA data center
Via Raw Story:
Three National Security Agency whistle blowers told Viewpoint host Eliot Spitzer on Monday that the agency was gathering information on every person in the United States.
The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008 gave the NSA broad powers to monitor international phone calls and emails, and granted legal immunity to telecommunication companies that had participated in the Bush administration’s wiretapping program prior to 2008. But former senior official Thomas Drake, former senior analyst Kirk Wiebe, and former technical director William Binney said the NSA was not only monitoring international communications — the agency had been spying on “the entire country.”
Drake said there was a “key decision made shortly after 9/11, which began to rapidly turn the United States of America into the equivalent of a foreign nation for dragnet blanket electronic surveillance.”
Widespread domestic electronic surveillance without a warrant violates the U.S. Constitution. The secret FISA court established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act may issue warrants, but the Constitution clearly prohibits the issuance of blanket warrants.
The Fourth Amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The NSA simply does not have the authority to do what they are doing. Who can stop them?
UPDATE: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals answered my question. The warrantless surveillance of Americans is accountability-free. Even if you can prove you were under secret government surveillance (which is almost impossible), your case can still be thrown out of court using the so-called “state secrets privilege.”
Texas Republicans – Au courant with the Latest Trends in Medieval Thinking
Posted by Glenden Brown in Activist groups, Authoritarianism, Conservative, Homophobia, Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans on June 30, 2012
Texas Republicans released their party platform and the big ticket item was opposition to higher order thinking skills. Amanda Marcotte:
. . . the Texas Republican Party continues its grim, unwilling march toward the 17th century by updating its party platform. It’s the usual gathering of heavy-duty God talk, racist paranoia, Victorian-era attitudes toward marriage, crippling homophobia, and that bit of Texas right-wing weirdness that I’ve always been fond of, the abject fear that your child might learn that there are other ways of viewing the world other than holing up in a house with a gun in case today’s the day that reparations-seekers descend from black helicopters to kick down your door and confiscate your Bible. The obsession with giving total control over the minds and bodies of minors to their parents blows past creepy and right into Flowers in the Attic territory.
At Free Thought Blogs, you can read some quotes from the document. Marcotte is wrong – the 17th century would represent real intellectual advancement for Texas Republicans. The section on higher order thinking skills is priceless:
Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.
Don’t you just hate it when kids get all uppity and start questioning their parents? When kids learn that their parents aren’t perfect and all knowing?
At Kos, you’ll find a longer take on the document. It really is a masterpiece of medieval thinking grounded in repeated demands for obedience to pre-modern authority. When George Lakoff writes about strict father mentality, he is talking about the mindset behind the Texas platform. Identify authority, obey it, attack those who don’t. Yes, the best minds of the 12th century are at home in today’s Republican party.
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