Israel Hired GOP's Professional Propagandist Frank Luntz to Sell Israel's War on Gaza

View of Jerusalem.

The usual piles of crap from the right to make mass killing and theft of land into a model of compassionate outreach has gone international as Frank Luntz helps Israel with their BS and Hasbara.

He says it is absolutely crucial to exude empathy for Palestinians: "Persuadables [sic] won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Show Empathy for BOTH sides!" This may explain why a number of Israeli spokesman are almost lachrymose about the plight of Palestinians being pounded by Israeli bombs and shells. In a sentence in bold type, underlined and with capitalisation, Dr Luntz says that Israeli spokesmen or political leaders must never, ever justify "the deliberate slaughter of innocent women and children" and they must aggressively challenge those who accuse Israel of such a crime. Israeli spokesmen struggled to be true to this prescription when 16 Palestinians were killed in a UN shelter in Gaza last Thursday.

Whoa, Dude.  Hitler would be so jealous.  If he'd only not shot himself and lived to be able to avail himself of your complete lack of moral fiber.  He and Eva could be living on the Riviera with your help and getting reparations from the rest of the world.

Avoid talking about borders in terms of pre- or post-1967, because it only serves to remind Americans of Israel's military history.

Um yeah, it just reminds us that you stole your land from others and are still stealing the little the Palestinians have left, and polluting what you don't outright grab.

Luntz also tells Israelis to avoid language that describes reality in Israel because it reminds Americans of the racists in the American South and Apartheid South Africa.

 Instead the American propaganda master says to claim that Palestinians want to demand land from Israelis.

"the right of return is a tough issue for Israelis to communicate effectively because much of Israeli language sounds like the 'separate but equal' words of the 1950s segregationists and the 1980s advocates of Apartheid. The fact is, Americans don't like, don't believe and don't accept the concept of 'separate but equal'."So how should spokesmen deal with what the booklet admits is a tough question? They should call it a "demand", on the grounds that Americans don't like people who make demands. "Then say 'Palestinians aren't content with their own state. Now they're demanding territory inside Israel'.".

Funny how there was no Israel until the land was taken from Palestinians.

Luntz also advises to treat Palestinians who left or were thrown out of Israel as illegal immigrants, not people seeking their homeland.

How about the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were expelled or fled in 1948 and in the following years, and who are not allowed to go back to their homes? Here Dr Luntz has subtle advice for spokesmen, saying that "the right of return is a tough issue for Israelis to communicate...

.... If nothing else works, say that the return of Palestinians would "derail the effort to achieve peace".

 Then again, maybe I should get into this and go demand a place of my own in Northern Sweden, because some of my ancestors were from Lapland with winter digs in France from whence my Huguenot peeps were driven under Louis the 14th.

After all the Israelis have shown that it's all cool.

Picture at top used via Creative Commons License Attribution (CC by 2.0) thanks to Flickr user gnuckx who has no connection to this blog or blogger.

Jordan Davis' Mother Testifies in DC on Stand Your Ground Laws

Jordan Davis was shot by Michael Dunn because he and his friends were playing loud music in a convenience store parking lot. They had no weapons on them.

Shorter URL: http://bit.ly/1h2e86J

Sandy Hook Shooting Faked?

Lovely.

NRA puppets have a new angle now. The Sandy Hook shooting was faked. And apparently front and center of this BS is a professor (It took them a while to find a Big Lie passer that could pronounce words correctly, I guess) working for the state of Florida.Way to go, wingers. Yur really gonna git that Baracks Obama now!

(Thank goodness the holidays are over. No turkeys/hams etc. need to be thrown on the floor for this whack-a-doodle theory.)

The rantings of today's fake news hosts like Limbaugh, Beck and most of those at FOX serve as a modern day whispering campaign for those who feel racial and sexual equality has disenfranchised them, just like the lies that created the Third Reich in Germany.

 Luckily, nothing bad came from that mind-control experiment.  Oh, Wait.

Our 39th president was impeached and almost removed from office for lies about consentual sex which would then be exposed to his wife who was not behind the investigation.  (How many of us would keep our families together if we had the same level of scrutiny aimed our way?)  But, BS over gun violence that is killing children teens and adults.  Oh, that's okay. Go right ahead.  Use your public trust to spout lies.

See what happens.

How about this though:  Tell us just what you buy with your check from the NRA.  Okay, Professor Tracy?  You owe the public that much transparency.  Will you get a new boat, add a sauna to your home, take a trip to the Caribbean or to Vail?  Come on, be a pal!  Tell us what you got.

A good short URL for this post is  http://x.co/s35G

Vagina Dialogues Performed On The Steps Of The Michigan Captiol Building

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The anti choice right wing leaders in the Michigan legislature banned a female representative for saying the word "vagina" in their chambers though they themselves feel they have a right to dominate women's vaginas and their lives with unreasonable rules  and prohibitions.  Michigan shows how fascist Republicans really are.  They have broken rules of proceedure long held in the chamber (and certified in their constitution) to enable themselves to de-certify voting rights, to destroy elected local government, and now to shut up a woman who is their equal for a ridiculous reason.

Michigan, it is time to clean house.  First, make sure you become fully certified to vote according to their racist rules, and then get to the polls in November and send them packing.

If you cannot vote yourself because of  unconstitutional post incarceration block, then help 10other people get to the polls, offer to babysit, drive, whatever it takes to get your friend and family fully registered and to the polls.  If you do, you have a much better chance of getting your right to vote back.  Because Republicans are intent to keep the poor and minorities from voting.   They have no right to block people formerly convicted of felonies.  In fact, most constitutional scholars say there is no reason to block people in prison from voting.  Stop this criminal destruction of rights, this year.

If you can vote, you can work to help others, too.  I don't meant to exclude you in getting your family and friends their proper representation.

Start with what you can do now.  Can you make sure everyone has a birth certificate and a photo ID?

Stop being controlled by people who do not care about you and you people, only about the money they can get from fat cats for selling out your rights to a decent life.

Video: How Many of Michigan's Appointed State Board Members are Corrupt? Maybe citizens should find out.

Michigan is up to tricks again.  State board can make decisions on subjects on which their board members have direct stakes in.

Reporting from Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Using a search engine I have found out more about the appointed board that is able to make these decisions on their own actions. It looks like a system primed for corruption, and it's powers go far beyond petitioning.

History and Duties The Board of State Canvassers was created by the State Constitution of 1850. Over the years, the structure of the board has changed. Currently, the Board is composed of four members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Two board members are selected from each of the two political parties receiving the greatest number of votes in the last election for Secretary of State. Board members serve four-year terms. The terms are staggered so that the term of a Republican seat and the term of a Democratic seat expire in February of each odd-numbered year. The duties of the Board of State Canvassers include: Canvassing and certifying statewide elections, elections for legislative districts that cross county lines and all judicial offices except Judge of the Probate Court. Conducting recounts for state-level offices. Canvassing nominating petitions filed with the Secretary of State. Canvassing state-level ballot proposal petitions. Assigning ballot designations and adopting ballot language for statewide ballot proposals. Approving electronic voting systems for use in the state.

This group works under the auspice of the Secretary of Stare, which is currently held by a Republican elected in the 2010 election, because the former Republican SOS couldn't be re-elected due to term limits.

 Ballotopedia's page on the race is at Michigan Secretary of State election, 2010.
It unfortunately, then uses a banner for Michigan Attorney General for the results table, but I think that was jut a slip up.  An AG is a lot different than an SOS. And indeed Ballotopedia  describes the 2010 race for MI AG differently at Michigan Attorney General election, 2010.

 The Michigan governor appoints 2 new members of the Board of  State Canvassers in odd numbered years, meaning that 2 of the board members would have been named in 2011 just months after Rick Snyder was elected Secretary of State for the first time. The head of the MI State Board of Canvasser, Democrat Julie Matusak was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder in  February 2011. And in fact, she is the member of the board with the least experience on it.  From: Governor appoints members to state boards and commissions. 

And if Governor Snyder gets re-elected then it is likely that Julie Matusak could be re-appointed in four years.    I could not find the salary for Board of State Canvassers on the Internet.  I did find a PDF of a picture of some state positions at the Detroit Free Press Governor's Appointees Salary Database.  Where a blurb notes that

There are currently 177 incumbents that hold positions appointed by the governor. Half or more of these individuals have annual salaries of $88,434 or more (median salary). Approximately 63% earn salaries at or more than $79,650 - what a Michigan legislator currently earns.

and then turns a person over to an app that offers a free trail but then appears to want money for future searches, and a lot of information I don't want to offer right now.

Apparently, though, such appointees  make good money.

This is beginning to smell like California under Schwarzenegger.  The Republican  former action star appointed lots of Democrats to well paid positions,  and gave them perks like using state vehicles to go home on weekends in an apparent gambit to gain their approval for his gambits on turning the state to the right, a constant effort in the Golden State.

Like California, Michigan has voted Democratic in presidential races for the majority of them in the last 50 years, and who's last governor before Rick Snyder rode in on the wave of lies used by the Republicans for the 2010 election was Democratic.  In fact there are more Democrats registered in Michigan than Republicans, leaving the right to work back to power, apparently, on racial division, through which whites heavily outnumber minorities. according to Wikipedia.

Race appears to have been used to pass the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative in 2006.  The MCRI was not a real civil rights law, but one that was 

... aimed at stopping the preferential treatment of minorities (by race, color, sex, or religion) in getting admission to colleges, jobs, and other publicly funded institutions. It was decried by some opponents as a repeal of the 1964 civil rights act.

according to Wikipedia on a page (linked above) showing the picture of California's own Ward Connerly, who could be viewed as a politician much like Newt Gingrich for his views on how minorities should be treated in education.

The collapse of the automobile market was a big part of the downfall of the state's economy, and a large part of that came from the GOP controlled Congress which continued to refuse to raise CAFE (fuel efficiency) standards through out the late 90s and the first six years of the Bush administration leaving the Detroit linked manufacturers to struggle when energy prices rose after 2000. (yes it fell during the great Recession because of the incredible downturn at the time) but, of course rose again as manufacturing started to recover, and not because of policies of the Obama administration except those which helped save our economy from complete collapse.

The latest recession that started during the later part of the Bush 43 years hurt the state greatly and also kept it from developing out of its dependence on the Detroit automobile manufacturing industry.

Unfortunately, the GOP has a huge propaganda machine, heavily funded by members of the 1% that are more eager than ever to throw money at it, since they have found they can control government through the party and craft laws that give them more of American's money while cutting funding to keep families and communities solvent.

We'd better keep and eye on Michigan.  We can either help stop the rape of their state by the 1%, or we can allow the right wing machine to sell all our rights to the multi-millionaires and billionaires that are already lining up behind Mitt Romney.

Video: MHP Show: Similar Patterns Arise After Previous Unjust Killings of Young Black Men. Trash the Victim's Past #Justice4Trayvon

Mellisa Harris Perry and her guests talk about how unjustified killings of young black men are followed by sources releasing "news" aimed at trashing the victim's character. We sure have seen that this time. It's part of the plan to get people to just accept the criminal action because, you know, he might have smoked some weed at some time.

That according to some right wingers is ample reason for a man with repeated management anger problems which could have lead to possible felony convictions, but for some mysterious reason (cough family connections? cough) didn't, to shoot an unarmed teen who was doing nothing but walking home that night.

He used the demon weeeeeeeeedddddddddddd! 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For politicians and their attendant journalists getting you to accept what happened as settled and done is more important than seeing a crime exposed and punished. But punishment deferred can become punishment abandoned, in which case it usually gives an abuser the feeling of safety that tells him or her to go ahead and do it again, even escalate his or her aggressive activities. This is why George Zimmerman needs to face trial if there is any possibility that prejudice not innocent personal safety issues led to the death of Trayvon Martin.

If a criminal is escalating his or her crimes, you have to ask who is the next victim?  Is it someone you love?

Pete Hoekstra's #Superbowl Ad More Wrong in it than the Racism

Pete Hoekstra's Super Bowl ad is a mess of incoherent right wing talking points that high lightt the hipocrisy of Republican attitudes toward jobs and world trade.

The ad itself was filmed in CA  and features a young woman with long black hair riding a bike between rice fields (yes, we do have all those props in California).  She comes up to the camera in her perfectly coiffed long "do" and starts right in with the sophomoric message she was paid to deliver (in partially broken English).

The text is straight out of the playbook of a 10th grade bully as she's forced to call Michigan's senator "Debby Spenditnow".  I bet that was a phrase order from Hoekstra himself and the articles available on this ad note that the lobbyist who wants to become the junior senator from Michigan does see himself as morally superior because he isn't interested in spending money.  Unfortunately, Hoekstra is probably telling the truth about his proclivity towards  not aiding US companies so they can compete with the highly subsidized businesses of China. But that lack of spending could be what is holding back efforts to protect American jobs from what really looks more and more like a trade war with China especially in environmental fields.

Hoekstra now says don't look at the racism of using the young actress (of Chinese descent according to Mr. Hoekstra) and her "broken" English, look at her use of English at all, supposedly a sign of superiority.  But, if Hoekstra wants more American students to learn Chinese,  he should be behind more money flowing to schools and colleges for just that purpose.

Wait, no.  Hoekstra believes you accomplish goals by not putting money into them.  What a novel idea!  It's like not paying your mortgage so you'll be more likely to keep your house.

There's only one problem with that idea.  It doesn't work.

In another report Hoekstra complained about the failure of Solyndra, yet he fails to see that once again, it appears that spending more money on American businesses would help them compete.  That fact is supported by fellow Republicans like a GOP primary candidate for a Wisconsin Senate seat, Mark Neuman, whose company, Neuman Solar Leasing has received a half million dollars from the government.  Because, Mr. Hoekstra, if Americans don't have foward looking businesses we can't compete.

And, in fact, spending money is exactly what the Chinese government did to get the powerhouse economy it has now.

Why wouldn't it work here, Mr. Hoekstra?

In fact, that money spending gimmick is also what brought this nation out of the Great Depression.  Yes, in the end the only way that the Republicans would allow President Roosevelt to spend enough to put a final cap on the Depression was to go to war.  Still the spending finally happened and it did it's job.

The big problem for the Republicans is that spending requires asking for taxes from the wealthy.   And that is anathema to the GOP.

It looks like the second half of the American game will be led by the same quarterback as the first half, and Pete Hoekstra won't be going to the Senate, if we spread the message that spending to grow the economy is the right thing to do.  We can settle up on paying down the debt later.

BTW, I have liked some of Fred Davis previous ads, like the Demon Sheep, and Christine O'Donnell's  "i'm not a witch" spot. 

That doesn't mean I'd follow their advice.

This ad, though, with its racism, sucks.

I like though that the Hoekstra camp had to pay a lot of cash to get it on the Superbowl.  I hope it depleted ol' Pete's coffers.

What we need to do is to educate our friends and families to counter the lies of such ads, then we don't have to worry about them.

Articles I read on the new Hoekstra ad:

Politico: Super Bowl ads: Pete Hoekstra's hits a nerve

AP News Break:  APNewsBreak: Super Bowl ad hits Sen. 'Spenditnow'  (at Deseret News)

On Hoekstra and Solyndra : Pete Hoekstra Predicts Michigan to Elect New Senator.


Web site Fred Davis Strategic Perception

California Man Released from Prison After Murder Conviction Is Overturned

This is rather ironic seeing a the guy's last name is Anthony, but I do have a point here.  A non-profit got involved in Obie Anthony's case.  Apparently they don't have enough resources  to check out the cases for  every convict imprisoned  for murder.  Also,  cops are much more adamant about convicting and punishing someone when an officer was killed, no matter who they have to convict, it seems they have to get the revenge.

Still, every person on death row should have special help in any state, and under any circumstances, whether an officer is down or no.  This should be a basic right.

See CBS News : Man released after murder conviction overturned

How to Boycott Georgia

Information on businesses based in Georgia is available on the Internet.

Wikipedia has some listed, but I don't think it's very complete.

If you know more Georgia businesses, why not add them there.

Google also brings up more sources of information like: 13 Georgia companies on 2009 Fortune 500 list Which lists biggies like Coca Cola, The Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Delta Airlines, AFLAC, Genuine Parts, etc. (Besides 13 companies on the Fortune 500 they also list 16 from the Fortune 1000.)

An Ask.com search brings up more articles that can be sources.

I do suggest boycotting businesses in Georgia.

Business owners and leaders make many decisions on which candidates to back in their part of the world and how many resources to put into backing them.

Too many times they chose to go with the candidate that will give them tax breaks, or who indulges in crony capitalism.

Another way that businesses can get better governance is to promote a quality news system, but by not doing so they gain power because their money in politics is the main factor in all kinds of races.

Does anyone even have a chance to know anything about all those judges we're supposed to be voting for every few years?

Meanwhile businesses ignore the racism and the urge to kill in the populace around them while they make pathetic ads trying to prove to people that the world will be perfect if they just buy the products their companies sell.

This really needs to stop.

Business leaders need to stop promoting the hucksters in government and become responsible members of society.