After the Arizona shooting, Rush Limbaugh blamed the media for trying to turn people against conservatives. Image: CC Gage Skidmore/Flickr

A moment of silence on the White House lawn was a gesture by President Obama for the victims of Jared Lee Loughner. The moment of silence was observed in places ranging from the U.S. Supreme court to the Detroit Auto Show. A moment of silence was not observed by right wing media personalities, who used the tragedy to draw attention to themselves.

Moment of silence falls on many places

A national moment of silence at 11 a.m. EST Monday was led by President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on the south lawn of the White House. The Supreme Court adjusted its schedule to observe the moment of silence and honor U.S. District Judge John McCarthy Roll, who was killed along with five others in Tucson, Ariz., Saturday. Rep Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded in the attack and 13 others were wounded. Other locations around the nation observing the moment of silence included the Detroit Auto Show, where the cacophony of the event fell silent for a minute before resuming at a more subdued level.

Shooting linked to toxic political environment

At a press conference after the shooting, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik said it was time for the country “to do a little soul-searching.” Dupnik blamed the increasingly toxic political environment in the U.S. for the shooting. A graphic on Sara Palin’s website showing Democratic congressional districts, which included Gifford’s, marked on a map with gunsight crosshairs got a lot of media attention. Pseudo-violent political rhetoric from such lawmakers as Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., and failed Nevada senatorial candidate Sharon Angle were used as examples in stories about the nature of political discourse in the U.S.

Moment of silence falls on deaf ears

Right wing media personalities such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh used the suggestion that the Arizona shooting may be a consequence to Republican rhetoric by blaming liberals and the mainstream media. Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats of playing politics with the shooting and the media of turning people against conservatives. Glenn Beck called Sarah Palin a victim of the tragedy and warned her to protect her family. He also used the occasion to tell his viewers to denounce progressives and those who wish to “tear down our system.”

Sources

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

CNN

Salon

With the National Inflation Association, it all comes back down to buying gold. Image: Flickr / covilha / CC-BY

This morning, the National Inflation Association was cited in a push for Food Insurance. The National Inflation Association is an organization, headed by Gerard Adams, that profits off fear of inflation. Given that Glenn Beck has gotten into trouble for pushing gold, and the National Inflation Association connection to gold, the statistics of the Association need to be carefully examined.

Who is behind the National Inflation Association

The National Inflation Association is run by Gerard Adams. Adams is a stock analyst who also runs the newsletter “Wall Street Grand,” which offers advice on which stocks to buy and sell. The National Inflation Association website states that:

“One of our missions at the National Inflation Association is to …profile companies that we believe will prosper in an inflationary environment. Typically we will bring to you producing, profitable, Gold and Silver companies.”

Given that Gerard Adams makes his living off the buying and selling of stocks, it is logical to assume that he stands to gain or lose based on the recommendations made about stocks by the Association.

The Glenn Beck connection to The National Inflation Association

On his November 9 radio show, Glenn Beck cited figures from the National Inflation Association in his push for “Food Insurance.” One of the stated sponsors of that hour of the show, Food Insurance has been giving Beck money to push their product. Beck has, in the past, been connected to improperly promoting gold and silver on his shows. Beck does endorse Goldline International, which is also one of the gold and silver dealers promoted and listed on the National Inflation Association website.

What this means for the National Inflation Association

The National Inflation Association is a group that encourages fear and worry about possible inflation in order to sell gold and silver. Many of the claims made by the National Inflation Association are highly questionable, such as the assumption that a depression leads to an increase, not a decrease, in most prices. In short, while the National Inflation Association may make some legitimate claims, the source of the material simply must be considered.

Sources

Media Matters
Politico
GerardAdams.com
Fact Checking the National Inflation Association
Business Insider
WhoIs for inflation.us

Unlike Auric Goldfinger, Glenn Beck doesn't appear to know gold (or Goldline, for that matter) as well as he thinks he does. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/BullionVault/Flickr)

A ubiquitous part of Glenn Beck’s programming is his endorsement of the gold vendor Goldline. Recent concerns over the value of the U.S. dollar have prompted many to turn their attention toward the market for gold, and Beck and Goldline have been eager to capitalize. However, as blogs like Mediaite and The Big Picture report, Goldline International is currently under legal investigation for its business practices. Glenn Beck may not be part of the investigation, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, but Fox News does not appreciate there being yet another problem with a sponsor of “The Glenn Beck Show.”

Understanding why the law is upset with Goldline

For a brief period of time – long before Goldline came into existence – the United States based its monetary system on a gold standard. Such a system of commodity money has its limitations, but fiscal conservatives praise the gold standard for its ability to place a government on a leash by limiting the potential for chronic deficit spending. Such people tend to believe Glenn Beck when he predicts that the U.S. dollar will collapse and says that buying gold is the only way to avoid economic gloom and doom. Conveniently, Beck gives his endorsement to Goldline, a company that, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney, is selling gold at overly inflated prices. Congressmen like New York Rep. Anthony Weiner and House Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush have taken a particular interest in the DA’s investigation of Goldline.

Where the DA claims Goldline has been dishonest

The Los Angeles DA claims that Goldline “grossly overcharges” for its coins. The Big Picture notes that markup on average is “90 percent above the melt value of the coin” and 47 percent higher than the competition, while one coin was valued by Goldline at 208 percent above melt value. Selling coins as high as twice that of melt value does not constitute a good investment for consumers, as the price of gold would have to double before a consumer could break even. Moreover, the DA takes issue with the claim some Goldline salespeople have made that they can give gold investment advice, but because they are not licensed investment advisers, Goldline salespeople cannot legally make that claim.

Rep. Anthony Weiner has heard enough

Anthony Weiner, who sits on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, has contacted the SEC and FTC regarding Goldline’s practices. He has proposed legislation that would require companies like Goldline to reveal their full business plan to consumers, markup included. Hearings on the matter will be held later this summer, according to The Big Picture.

In a public statement, Anthony Weiner said that “Goldline rips off consumers, uses misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics, and deliberately manipulates public fears of an impending government takeover – this is a trifecta of terrible business practices.” If Congress believes that Goldline is intentionally exploiting the public, self-proclaimed “rodeo clown” Glenn Beck will be forced to drop another sponsor.

Sources:

Mediaite

Rep. Weiner’s report on Goldline

The Big Picture

Wikipedia on the gold standard

Rep. Anthony Weiner versus Goldline

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) calls it “investing in America.”  After a 70-28 vote in the Senate, the $15 billion Democratic jobs bill to stimulate job creation has passed with 55 Democrats, 13 Republicans and two Independents saying yes. Considering just how far the American workforce and their pay day loans have to come, that $15 billion is considered to be “modest in scope,” as the New York Times puts it.

What will the jobs bill do?

Our recent coverage of the jobs bill referenced Fox News, which broke down the $15 billion bill into $13 billion in payroll tax breaks for employers who start hiring workers unemployed for 60 days or more; $35 million for “small business depreciation”; $2 billion for infrastructure bonds; and a highway bill extension.

Bipartisan support suggests it could speed through the House

This is turn would mean that the jobs bill gets to the president’s desk quickly. The only way Americans will be able to stimulate the economy long-term is if they are employed, so the current jobs bill comes at just the right time.

Newly elected Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts – a man who has attracted no small amount of controversy – was vital to the process of pushing the jobs bill through the Senate. While he doesn’t see the jobs bill as being perfect, he understands the importance of obtaining assistance for unemployed Americans as soon as possible. But if the House sends through a version “full of pork, waste, fraud and abuse,” Brown told the Times he’d vote against it. That’s the kind of “progressive Republican” that makes Glenn Beck’s flesh crawl.

Harry Reid is happy about the result

“We have a jobs agenda, not a jobs bill,” the Senate majority leader told the media. “We’re going to have more votes, and create more jobs.”

At this point, any opportunity – from astrophysicist to payday lender – is a good opportunity.

Cass Sunstein, the man who would replace Van Jones and could have been the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs if Republican senators had listened to all the information. (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)

So much of what the right-wing media has to say about President Obama’s collection of personal advisers – “czars” – tends to take on an attack mentality. Countless talking heads from Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity to the FOX News speaker of the moment compares each and every one of them to the tyrannical autocrats of Russia’s past, making sure to hammer home just how much Obama is supposedly acting like Stalin, Chairman Mao, etc. (expanding the questionable metaphor). A smear campaign that Glenn Beck takes responsibility for pushed former green jobs czar Van Jones to resign. That may not necessarily be a bad thing for Jones and the Obama administration, however. The Huffington Post suggests that Beck may have done Obama and the country a favor, in that he can better serve out in the field rather than being behind a desk.

But what’s the czar fascination? Did Obama invent this thing?

Hardly. The use of “czars” dates back to President Nixon, who appointed John Love and William Simon to serve as his energy czars. They have been used by each president since then, whether that president has been Republican or Democrat. There’s even a czar that has had a hand in overseeing mortgage loan restructuring. Interestingly, the president who created the largest number of “czar” posts was not in fact President Obama, but President George W. Bush. They aren’t appointed by Congress and they aren’t unconstitutional, no matter how much Glenn Beck cries. “Czar” is more of a nickname used for matters of convenience. Let’s say you had to give the actual title of the border czar. That would be the “Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary For International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs.” Quite a mouthful, huh? I’ll take czar and ignore the clowns who blaze Russian marches and other military music whenever the term is invoked. Here’s some more info about America’s czars, thanks to Rachel Maddow:

Now Cass Sunstein is under fire

According to the Washington Independent, Cass Sunstein was picked by President Obama to run the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. A Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, Cass Sunstein specializes in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law and law and behavioral economics. Thus, it would appear that he is very qualified for the position. The nomination was back in January, but he still hasn’t passed through Senate approval because Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) object to Sunstein’s stance against hunting.

This points to the major objections that have been voiced against Cass Sunstein, but many of them have been taken out of context. For an accurate depiction of Sunstein’s stance on hunting, gun rights and animal rights, see the video at the end of this article and listen to him say it himself. However, a Web site called StopSunstein.com is working hard to keep the misinformation train going. Banning guns, outlawing hunting and allowing animals to bring suit against abusers (with humans to represent them) were taken out of a larger context. Much of this material was torn from his book “Nudge,” which investigates the possibilities for libertarian paternalism as opposed to government control of systems in America. Basically, good behavior is what is encouraged.

The right decries big government… but they don’t like Cass Sunstein?

Yes, Cass Sunstein was praised by law professor Glenn Reynolds for being a man who could “show that the Obama Administration is perhaps willing to look at new and less intrusive approaches to regulation.” But apparently that isn’t good enough for Republican senators on Sunstein’s approval committee. Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey wrote that he didn’t think Sunstein “presents a good target for Republicans to attack.”

George Mason law professor Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy has acknowledged Cass Sunstein’s qualifications and states that while he doesn’t agree with the ideas Sunstein presents in the book “Nudge,” he’d be more comfortable with Sunstein in the post that the likely more liberal candidates who would apply for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Animals suing humans in court

That’s where Cass Sunstein is going to hear the most grief. Yet he wrote in a letter to Sen. Cornyn this past July 31 that “If confirmed, I certainly would not use my position at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to promote animal standing in civil litigation.” So Michael Vick can rest easy, but David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom cannot. Martosko drew up a hypothetical example where Sunstein could decide that the government could no longer buy eggs obtained from caged hens. While cage-free is certainly more humane, such regulation would rock that industry and possibly hamper government’s ability to meet demand.

Should hunting be banned? Should animals have more rights?

Cass Sunstein’s comments to his hearing committee indicate he actually doesn’t plan to ban hunting. But if he did ban sport hunting, what would be hurt but that industry itself and those who will have to find something else to do with their leisure time? And as far as animal rights and equating animal cruelty and death to perpetrating the same act upon humans, I say bring it on. Then maybe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would have had the stones to keep Michael Vick out of the NFL. Then he could work at being a good citizen in real life, where people don’t kill dogs for sport and need help from mortgage loan restructuring once in a while.

Related Video:

This is Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas' 2nd District. She wants a "Great White Hope" to counter Obama's black ways, apparently (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)

Ever heard the expression “Great White Hope” before? The phrase entered popular culture when boxing promoters in the early 20^th century where desperately searching for a white fighter who could defeat African-American heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. Yet it has so many other applications.

If you squint hard enough, it could mean nothing more than holding out for a great hero to ride in and save the day. However, appropriating the image of heroism and purity and permanently attaching them to the color white is bound to set people on edge. When it comes to politics in America, it’s painfully obvious that such an image is closely tied to the racism that runs rampant in this country. Such racism’s origins are partly religious in nature, but secular circles are no less guilty when all things are considered.

Cultural poverty

I see it as no mere coincidence that a Caucasian Republican politician who is admittedly “upset” over the Democratic control of Congress and the health care reform package President Obama (who is not Caucasian, incidentally) would call for a “great white hope” to counter that dragon on the doorstep. The politician is Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, and racism is alive and well. It is a kind of cultural poverty that a fax payday loan could never revitalize. Such a paucity of spiritual funds requires boatloads of paradigm smashing and empathy training.

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However, if your problems are merely budgetary in nature, click the button to apply for a fax payday loan now.

Does she think it’s OK because Glenn Beck paved the way?

Yes; Glenn Beck has made the statement that Obama hates white people. Beck labeled him a racist and has stood behind his statements. He’s lost a bevy of high-level sponsors because of it, too. I wonder if that makes him cry at night like a little sad-faced clown?

The Christian Science Monitor points out that such political foot-in-mouth disease runs rampant through this country. Virginia Senator George Allen called a man from Indian a “macaca,” which could mean either a monkey or a city in South Africa. Guess which one people chose to go with? Joe Biden said this of Obama in 2007 when he was an opponent in the presidential race: “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” A dream only a believer in the great white could come up with, eh Amtrak Joe?

Now comes Lynn Jenkins

Clearly she is another Republican who is unhappy about her party’s lack of power lately. She wants someone to step up and go toe-to-toe with Obama… a “great white hope.” She draws that racial line as many unthinking racist clones have done before. If I were a Caucasian conservative (I only meet half the requirements), I’d be disgusted by Jenkins’ reference. Even if she didn’t intend to sound racist, she should know a bit more about incendiary rhetoric, particularly since she’s an elected official who holds a high office. If I were one of her constituents in Kansas’ 2^nd District, I’d wonder if I’d made the right choice in electing her. Such language is political anathema. If she didn’t understand that, then Lynn Jenkins isn’t educated enough to be a political official.

Throw it in reverse, Lynn

Now she’s backpedaling. Apparently she doesn’t have the star power of a Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh, so she has to play by the rules of intelligent discourse. Damage control has begun, but Ms. Jenkins is not doing it herself. Oh no, that would be much too dangerous for a graduate of the Sarah Palin School of Interviewing. Jenkins’ spokeswoman did the apologizing for her. Not a moment worthy of praise. There’ll be no fax payday loan waiting for you!

Related Video:

(Just to show you stupidity isn’t color blind)