{"id":336,"date":"2009-08-07T00:55:15","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T00:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html"},"modified":"2009-08-07T00:55:15","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T00:55:15","slug":"republican-thugs-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html","title":{"rendered":"Thugs in Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the interesting things about these disruptions of democracy is how many of the hooligans are older<\/a>. 
\nMost are on Medicare, many are eligible for, and use, the VA.  Both are
\ngovernment programs with few critics other than the terminally ideological.  Both are superior to the private
\nalternatives.  Yet these ignorant beneficiaries of government involvement in providing medical  care are angry about government involvement in
\nmedicine!<\/p>\n

They ought to be old enough to know better. Perhaps most striking is the extraordinarily high level of anger combined with an extraordinarily high level of pure ignorance<\/a>.  They are scary because they are so invincibly confident in their ignorant righteousness.  Maybe Alzheimers is increasing among old white ‘conservatives.’ Sadly, it would seem so.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Republican Party continues its long war <\/a>on Medicare while posing as its defender.<\/p>\n

Lots of links on the increasing nastiness, including calls for right wingers to bring guns, and who’s behind it, below the fold.
 <\/p>\n


\nNew explicit threats of violence. Looney rightist urging people bring guns to town hall meetings, and “badly hurt” people<\/a>.  They really do want civil war.<\/p>\n

Salon: Two Town Halls Turn Into Near Riots<\/a><\/p>\n

More excellent analysis by Rachel Maddow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Rethuglican official claimed to be a regular citizen<\/a> while disrupting.  Lies as usual.  When a Republican official opens his or her mouth, never assume its the truth.<\/p>\n

See with your own eyes and hear with your own ears how Rethuglicans debate issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tampa [Florida]Tribune reports<\/a>,
\n“[Rep.] Castor tried to speak for nearly 15 minutes but the crowd drowned her
\nout, chanting, ‘You work for us,’ ‘Tyranny, tyranny,’ and ‘Read the
\nbill.’ She ultimately left the meeting early, further angering some
\nattendees.”<\/p>\n

Josh Marshall gives a big picture view<\/a>, with video.<\/p>\n

A good analysis of how the mainstream media has failed to inform<\/a> us of essential elements of the health care debate.<\/p>\n

Jamison Foser on how mainstream media such as AP does NOT report on the causes<\/a> of what is happening.<\/p>\n

What old white male conservatives watch:<\/p>\n

Glenn Beck’s hate speech<\/a> and even threats to kill Nancy Pelos<\/a>i.  It’s a joke, doncha know – he’s never responsible<\/a> when someone acts on the logic of his depravity- as with the murder of Dr. Tiller.<\/p>\n

Lou Dobbs’ lies on health care <\/a>and Obama.<\/p>\n

Rush Limbaugh’s hate speech<\/a> – Obama is like Hitler.<\/p>\n

To put this garbage in perspective, as well as the mainstream media’s double standard<\/a> –  one private video comparing Bush to Hitler became a national issue with infinite right wing whining, whereas when gasbag Limbaugh tells the same message to 15 million listeners, not a word is emitted from these same “journalists.”<\/p>\n

More and more I am thinking that genuine racism is far more prevalent at the upper levels of our society than I once did.  They are too sophisticated, usually, to show it explicitly, though Limbaugh does<\/a>.  (He once lost a sports announcing position because of his racism.)  But it shows in their double standards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the interesting things about these disruptions of democracy is how many of the hooligans are older.  Most are on Medicare, many are eligible for, and use, the VA.  Both are government programs with few critics other than the terminally ideological.  Both are superior to the private alternatives.  Yet these ignorant beneficiaries of government…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\nThugs in Action - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thugs in Action - A Pagan's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the interesting things about these disruptions of democracy is how many of the hooligans are older.  Most are on Medicare, many are eligible for, and use, the VA.  Both are government programs with few critics other than the terminally ideological.  Both are superior to the private alternatives.  Yet these ignorant beneficiaries of government…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Pagan's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-07T00:55:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gus diZerega\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thugs in Action - A Pagan's Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thugs in Action - A Pagan's Blog","og_description":"One of the interesting things about these disruptions of democracy is how many of the hooligans are older.  Most are on Medicare, many are eligible for, and use, the VA.  Both are government programs with few critics other than the terminally ideological.  Both are superior to the private alternatives.  Yet these ignorant beneficiaries of government…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html","og_site_name":"A Pagan's Blog","article_published_time":"2009-08-07T00:55:15+00:00","author":"Gus diZerega","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html","name":"Thugs in Action - A Pagan's Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-07T00:55:15+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-07T00:55:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/d94ab0155d2780a0526af373b5c543f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2009\/08\/republican-thugs-in-action.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thugs in Action"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/","name":"A Pagan's Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Gus diZerega","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/d94ab0155d2780a0526af373b5c543f2","name":"Gus diZerega","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/4f6\/4f6b5a87d91376eaf8d126df301ab8cdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/4f6\/4f6b5a87d91376eaf8d126df301ab8cdx96.jpg","caption":"Gus diZerega"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/author\/gdizerega"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}