Read All About It In the Sunday Papers-Sept. 20 Edition

LEAD STORY: McClatchy Papers: Anti-Government Protests Racism By Another Name

Of course it is, and it has been since the beginning of the Obama Administration, but the ‘respectable’ media has failed to tell the story. Until now:

At about the same time (Nov. 5 after Obama had been declared the winner), newspaper Web sites were filled with millions of hateful messages about Obama, and the computer servers of two large white supremacist groups, the Council of Conservative Citizens and Stormfront.org, crashed because they got so much traffic.

“You immediately got the sense that something significant was happening,” said Mark Potok, who investigates hate groups as the director of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala.

Aided and abetted by Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, Rethugs have become comfortable letting their inner racist show:

            Last October, John McCain’s campaign ousted a Buchanan County, Va., McCain campaign official, Bobby May, for writing a newspaper column that said that if Obama were           elected he’d hire rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black and change the national anthem to the “Negro National Anthem” by James Weldon Johnson.

Diane Fedele, who was then the president of a Republican women’s club in San Bernardino County, Calif., resigned last October after she sent out a newsletter with a drawing of Obama on a bogus food-stamp coupon surrounded by ribs, watermelon and fried chicken.

 In May, Sherri Goforth, an aide to Republican state Sen. Diane Black of Tennessee, sent an e-mail to Republican staffers showing the first 43 U.S. presidents in stately poses, but Obama’s image, as the 44th president, was a pair of bright white cartoonish eyes on a black background.

In June, Diann Jones, the vice chairman of the Collin County Republican Party in Texas sent an e-mail to local Republican clubs calling a proposal for a $50 gun tax “another terrific idea from the black house and its minions.”

 Also in June, South Carolina Republican activist Rusty DePass compared an escaped gorilla from a Columbia zoo to first lady Michelle Obama’s ancestors.

At an August political forum, Republican U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas denied any racial intent when she said that the party was looking for a “great white hope” to lead the party into the future.

What concerns me even more is the winking and nodding largely led by Glenn Beck toward rising up against the government. We see this with all the guns showing up at ‘town hall’ events, and it’s scary. If something truly tragic happens, the blood will not only be on the hands of whomever pulled the trigger or even the Becks and Limbaughs for that matter. The blood will be on the hands of the media that failed to report on what was happening right here in America. 

Philadelphia Inquirer: Rendell and Legislature Screw Arts Community to Balance Budget

No doubt troglodyte Rethugs are slapping high-fives over this disgrace from Harrisburg:

The budget deal reached late Friday in Harrisburg, which includes an extension of the state sales tax to cultural performances and venues – including museums – has stunned and angered the arts community.”We heard nothing about this until late last night,” Peggy Amsterdam, head of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, said yesterday. “It must have been a very last-minute deal. Not only will it hit the arts organizations, but it will make it harder for people to pay.”

Senate Republicans, who had steadfastly opposed any new taxes, insisted on the fund.

Even though state officials said some portion of the new cultural sales tax would flow back to venues – and the exact nature of this remained murky – arts administrators pointed out that state support had already been radically reduced. In fact, in the case of historical museums and sites, it has been eliminated. Now cultural officials contend that audiences and visitors will be hit in the pocketbook, possibly reducing their desire to attend events and further reducing revenue.

“What we are really hoping for is a funding source that will help organizations operate in a stable manner,” said Hal Real, founder of World Cafe Live and board chair of the cultural alliance. “Now what we’re looking at is for these arts organizations to bail us all out.”

The $27.9 billion state spending plan announced Friday night includes expansion of the state sales tax to performing-arts programs – dance, music, theater – and other cultural venues, such as museums and zoos, to generate about $100 million.

The tax would not be imposed on movies or sports events.

Got that? Not big-bucks revenue-generating megabusinesses. Only struggling arts organizations. Gov. Fast Eddie Rendell (‘D’-Comcast) could not be reached for comment as he was preparing for his weekly vanity appearance on COMCAST’s “Eagles Post-Game Live”, but a mouthpiece for the ethically-challenged braggart stated, “We cannot do a budget without pain, and there is widespread pain in this budget.” Except for those who could most afford it.

NYTimes: Obama asks NY Gov. Paterson to Withdraw From Race

And he doesn’t even try to cover his tracks about the request:

“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”

The reason:

The move against a sitting Democratic governor represents an extraordinary intervention into a state political race by the president, and is a delicate one, given that Mr. Paterson is one of only two African-American governors in the nation.

But Mr. Obama’s political team and other party leaders have grown increasingly worried that the governor’s unpopularity could drag down Democratic members of Congress in New York, as well as the Democratic-controlled Legislature, in next fall’s election.

I’ve been around a long time and can’t recall anything quite like this. Now, if only Obama’s team would be anywhere near this decisive on health care reform…

SF Chronicle: Health Care’s ‘Gang of 6’ Reaps Big Health Lobbyists $$’s

Granted, a ‘dog bites man’ story, but no less the depressing for it:

“There is not a quid pro quo but there is an expectation that a contribution gives you a chance to be heard by the member,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money on politics and government.

 “Money is a huge consideration for members of Congress, who are constantly running for re-election,” she said. “Their constituents aren’t always running up to them on Capitol Hill. But these lobbyists are.”

The highlighted section is also what goes on in Dover every single session day. It is what we’re up against. As one political wag put it, “The surprise isn’t that they (Delaware legislators) sell out, it’s that they sell out so cheaply.”

Tom Carper made damn sure that he doesn’t sell out cheaply. But he’s long since sold his soul and his legacy to his real constituents–those who bundle tens of thousands for his endless campaigns. It probably wouldn’t hurt to call his office on Monday and let him know that you’re watching what he does on this. If for no other reason than just to piss off the tightly-wound Robo-Candidate.

The (UK) Guardian: The Utterly Despicable Silvio Berlusconi

It’s one thing to be a sexist pig. But it’s quite another to be a sexist pig Prime Minister who happily describes himself as an “end user” of women. Along with (of course) the Vatican, Berlusconi has tag-teamed to set back the feminist cause in Italy. But a backlash is beginning:

After a summer of sleaze in which Berlusconi has been variously accused of “frequenting minors”, sleeping with an escort girl and holding debauched parties at his Sardinian villa, a feminist backlash is gaining momentum. The target is not only Berlusconi but the wider culture of a country in which a prime minister could survive such allegations.

This summer a group of academics persuaded 15,000 people to sign a petition asking the wives of world leaders to boycott the G8 conference in Italy in protest at the plight of women in Berlusconi’s Italy.

Female judges, senators, nuns, historians and businesswomen circulated two more petitions calling for an end to sexism on television, while the European court of human rights will decide if Berlusconi can be sanctioned for sexism after two politicians, Donata Gottardi and Anna Paola Concia, complained to the court about his “continuous and repeated disrespectful statements about the lives and the dignity of women”.

A brief history lesson:

Times were not always so bad. Italian women can draw inspiration from a proud record of winning rights in the 1970s, when 20,000 feminists would fill Rome’s streets on protest marches. Despite fierce resistance from the Vatican, divorce was legalised in 1974 after a referendum, and parliament legalised abortion in 1978.

But in recent years the Vatican has been making up lost ground. Abortion may be legal, but women have reported Catholic doctors refusing to supply even morning-after pills. And in the prime minister the unreconstructed Italian male has found a 21st-century hero.

A sexist prime minister and a patriarchal church centuries behind the times. Perfect together.

The (UK) Independent: Eco-Campaigners Offer Proposals for UN Summit on Global Warming

A bunch of intriguing ideas worth considering.

Submitted in hopes that Unstable Isotope and those more expert on this issue than yours truly will take the topic to task.

Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I now join Fast Eddie Rendell in preparing for today’s Iggles’ game. Hope the COMCAST doesn’t go out again…