Back from a brief “working vacation,” the esteemable Joseph Cannon is back with a few worthy thoughts on “conspiracy theories” as the GOP’s dismissive political tool of choice these days…whenever their back is against the wall.
His thoughts were spurred, in part, by Arizona Sec. of State Jan Brewer’s foolhardy shot at Election Reform advocates who loudly exercised their First Amendment Rights last week and dang near spoiled her precious re-election campaign announcement. She labeled these constituents as “anarchists” and “conspiracy theorists” as we reported that evening.
While I’m somewhat waylaid while working on several things at once of late, be sure to check in on the various anarchic trouble-makings of the conspiracy-theorist Cannon.
(In a related thought: At some point, following one Republican indictment after another on charges of conspiracy, one would think the wingnuts might want to find a fresh epithet to hurl against those of us who continue to point out their crimes long before the official indictments inevitably show up. It’s up to them, of course, but I’m just sayin’…)
This is my next book topic. "Conspiracy theorist" is another buzzword, used to label people who pose problems for big shots. "Liberal" is another, which Jan Brewer has broadened into "anarchist."
After the Civil War every former Confederate, and Democrats who hadn’t been abolitionists, were labeled as "traitors" by Republicans. It was nothing more or less than political strategy, "waving the bloody shirt." After World War I American went through the "Red scare," where Attorney General Palmer arrested and deported immigrants with socialist leanings and sent them to the new Soviet Union. Anarchists (some real, some imagined) were also targeted then (Sacco and Vanzetti were executed as part of this hysteria). After the 1970s and the Iran Hostage Crisis, "liberal" became the negative label of choice for bad people like us.
The idea is to disparage. In the case of "conspiracy theorist," the phrase has a double purpose, the second being to make accusations of misconduct seem frivolous. How ridiculous this can be is shown by the ongoing debate over Kennedy’s murder; a majority of Americans still disbelieves the Warren Commission (that has been true from the start), yet those who deny that Oswald was a lone assassin are called "conspiracy theorists." One look at the Zapruder film is enough to convert any conspiracy theorist into a criminologist…the fatal shot came from the grassy knoll, period.
Republicans who work in public service tend to be very establishmentarian in temperament. "Diebold is a wonderful company, they wouldn’t cheat!" is a typical attitude. Jan Brewer thinks that way, obviously. If a company has been around for 100 years, it’s presumed to be honest (how could it last so long if it were crooked?). Being listed on the N.Y.S.E. and a part of the Fortune 500, to a Republican, is prima facie proof of high standing.
Of course, Enron was a conspiracy theory at first.
The majority of the American body politic are conspiracy theorists. By conspiracy theorist I mean folk who think that since "it takes two to tango", when you see the neoCon dance, you know more than one is involved. That means it is a conspiracy.
A recent poll shows the body politic majority think that the president should get a warrant before spying on Americans (link here). They like the idea of obeying the 4th Amendment. It is good for everyone … especially those that do not like it, like the neoCon president.
The Supreme Court has weighed in and says clearly:
"In so holding, we necessarily reject the Government’s assertion that separation of powers principles mandate a heavily circumscribed role for the courts in such circumstances. Indeed, the position that the courts must forgo any examination of the individual case and focus exclusively on the legality of the broader detention scheme cannot be mandated by any reasonable view of separation of powers, as this approach serves only to condense power into a single branch of government. We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens. Youngstown Sheet & Tube, 343 U. S., at 587. Whatever power the United States Constitution envisions for the Executive in its exchanges with other nations or with enemy organizations in times of conflict, it most assuredly envisions a role for all three branches when individual liberties are at stake. Mistretta v. United States, 488 U. S. 361, 380 (1989) (it was ‘the central judgment of the Framers of the Constitution that, within our political scheme, the separation of governmental powers into three coordinate Branches is essential to the preservation of liberty‘); Home Building & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell, 290 U. S. 398, 426 (1934) (The war power ‘is a power to wage war successfully, and thus it permits the harnessing of the entire energies of the people in a supreme cooperative effort to preserve the nation. But even the war power does not remove constitutional limitations safeguarding essential liberties‘)." (Hamdi v. Rumsfeld).
Note that the Hamdi case was against the current administration so they know the score. But they are bent on disobeying the constitution, the courts, and the congress.
The writers of the federalist papers mentioned conspiracy theories and indicated that part of the constitution was designed to combat conspiracies to garner power and use it against the people.
This administration is one large conspiracy against the rights of the people and the other branches of government. It is the role model of neoCons and so no surprise that Arizona Sec. of State Jan Brewer’s foolhardy shot at Election Reform advocates would be framed that way.
OT ALERT:
Liberal opinion Question.
Is the economy in good shape?
The economy is somewhat like a turdball hanging off of a dogs hind den right now, (wondering if its going to fall off, or if you have to pull it off) and if you could read between the lines right now you might see it, but I doubt it
read this, it looks like somewhere in the not too distant future, there will be a massive US $ sell off from China and other countries, this might be a good thing though, as it’ll force the manufacturing back this way, or we’ll be entering a depression rivaling the early 30’s
(you remember Hoover don’t cha, he was a Republican too)
#4 Been catching bits and pieces of the dollar sell off by China. I tend to believe China has had it with the U.S. and since we seem to owe them our very souls I guess this is the beginning of the end to our once somewhat decent economy. The sleeping giant is awakening and I don’t think it is us. What is going to happen will make the depression look like a cakewalk. M4
From an email I just received. Enjoy:
BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLICANS (Feel free to sing along!)
Mine Eyes have seen the bungling of that stumbling moron Bush;
He has blathered all the drivel that the neo-cons can push;
He has lost sight of all reason ’cause his head is up his tush;
The Doofus marches on
I have heard him butcher syntax like a kindergarten fool;
There is warranted suspicion that he never went to school;
Should we fault him for the policies – or is he just their tool?
The lies keep piling on.
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
His wreckage will live on.
I have seen him cut the taxes of the billionaires’ lone heir;
As he spends another zillion on an aircraft carrier;
Let the smokestacks keep polluting – do we really need clean air?
The surplus is now gone.
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Your safety net is gone!
Now he’s got a mighty hankerin’ to bomb a prostrate state;
Though the whole world knows it’s crazy – and the U.N. says to wait;
When he doesn’t have the evidence, "We must prevaricate."
Diplomacy is done!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Diplomacy is done!
Oh, a trumped-up war is excellent; we have no moral bounds;
Should the reasons be disputed, we’ll just make up other grounds;
Enraging several billions – to his brainlessness redounds;
The Doofus marches on!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
Glory! Glory! How he’ll Screw Ya’!
THIS .. DOOOO …. FUSS …. MAR…CHES ON—–
–with thanks to someone named Paul
Some time ago a young congressman who questioned
the Official Story about an incident used to justify a
war of conquest was ridiculed as a conspiracy
theorist. The Representative had some experience in
Indian warfare, and thus was presumably
experienced in wars of conquest based on pretexts.
Because he wanted to know exactly where this
alleged attack on the US had taken place, his political
foes dubbed him "Spotty Lincoln".
An interesting article on conspiracy theory by a U
Minn professor of Philosophy can be read
here.
Dr. Fetzer has written a book about the Senator Paul
Wellstone plane crash that’s well worth a look.
According to the publisher’s blurb, at the time
of the crash 69% of Minnesotans blamed Wellstone’s
death on "a GOP conspiracy."
Good one Joan
Petgoat
I’m an old Minnesotan and I still believe that one
OT:
The economy has been in rapid decline for the past twenty or thirty years. This isn’t a liberal or conservative opinion, just reality.
The economy is in fair shape. Statistically, it’s slightly above average in historical terms. But the consumer spending component of G.D.P. has reached an ultra-dangerous 76% of the total.
This means the overall economy is too dependent on the consumer to keep spending. In turn, the consumer must be able to continue borrowing against home equity and on credit cards to allow this to happen. If interest rates rise even a couple of percentage points, that spending will slow. Then the whole house of cards could come crashing down.
BRAD, DAVID, and JOHN
HELP THE PRESIDENT!!!!!!
One of his chief neoCon philosophies was preemptive nuclear attack on enemies. That much is clear. What is not clear, because of his "you can run but you can’t hide" policy (spy on political opponents thru NSA), is how far the nuclear option would go.
He made the "you can run but you can’t hide" statement to John Kerry, and to al Queda. He was spying on both. He can read your mail, email, phone records, and everything else.
Would he nuke congress, the courts, or Iran? Don’t know for sure, but none of them can hide, they can only run. He has your number … uh … numbers.
Now bu$hit is trying to round up all photographs of himself (link here) with The A bomb off (Abramoff), and The Tom (Delay).
Surely, in time, he will also be rounding up photographs of himself with The Dick (Cheney).
If The Donald (Trump) runs for governor of New York, we can find those too.
Meanwhile, lets help the prez … lets get some photos of him and The A bomb off, him and The Tom, and him with "pretty boy" The Feeney.
Hey … I will settle for combos of each of the above … a nice family photo of him and the neoConvicts … conspiracy is back … it is a family affair !!!
No Joe Cannon is absolutely right.
I became a conspiracy-theorist when the media betrayed the truth. That is when it happened, for all of us.
I wear the label proudly! Some of those conspiracies are real, some of them not, its up to us to sort them out.
Doug E.
"Spotty Lincoln" was talking about the legitimacy of the Mexican War. He didn’t think it was legitimate; as a Congressman and a lawyer he expressed his opinion, and was reviled for a lack of patriotism.
That was in 1847-48. Things haven’t changed a lot. Today a Congressman thinks the Iraq War is likewise illegitimate (duh) and a newspaper reveals that the government has been spying illegally on Americans in support of that war (yuch). They’re both accused of aiding and comforting the enemy.
We need "spotty Lincoln" to come back and help us.
What makes a lot of conspiracy theories seem implausible to people who work for a living is the sheer size of it.
Crime investigators know, however, that large scale conspiracies do exist. A problem for investigators is that good behavior and bad behavior are often times mixed together in a conspiracy episode, and thus the difficulty.
The Abramoff conspiracy is a fact of American law and history, now that he has pled guilty to such a conspiracy.
The size of the conspiracy (link here), which easily went straight to the white house, can now be stated. And it is not a conspiracy theory it is conspiracy history.
So, in the final analysis, conspiracy theory is a term that identifies the first phase of a criminal investigation of this type.
The next phase, to a neoCon, is the denial phase.
I think that many of the neoCons are so psychotic that if they admit to themselves what they really are, they will have to struggle with suicide. It is the final punishment for not being intellectually honest.
Notice how far these mental perturbations have gone. In the article I cite to and link above, the MSM is still calling Abramoff a "controversial lobbyist". They can’t come to grips with the fact that one of the main factors of this neoCon political behavior is not controversy, but rather it is CRIME.
Abramoff is not controversial he is criminal. He is the head neoCon bribery master in the republican party. He is the neoCon role model.
And the MSM is so out of breath and faint that they can’t put the full facts down on paper yet.
#6 Joan….love the song, the music was playing in my head as I read it.
..Robert Lockwood Mills said on 1/8/2006 @ 11:31am PT…
" The economy is in fair shape. Statistically, it’s slightly above average in historical terms. But the consumer spending component of G.D.P. has reached an ultra-dangerous 76% of the total.
This means the overall economy is too dependent on the consumer to keep spending. In turn, the consumer must be able to continue borrowing against home equity and on credit cards to allow this to happen. If interest rates rise even a couple of percentage points, that spending will slow. Then the whole house of cards could come crashing down."
It’s the Republican way of setting up the next Democratic president. They’ve got the Chairmanship of the Federal Reserve Board (and probably quite a few seats on the Board), so they can increase the interest rates in a heartbeat, just to make a Dem look bad.
They did it in 2000 when the economy was humming along and they started increasing rates to slow the economy. Remember the "dot.com bust", they forced it to happen. They made Gore look bad.
In fact, they’ve lowered rates for Bush I and Bush II while increasing rates for Clinton/Gore. The consistency of this pattern is undeniable.
So, the second a Dem is elected president they should expect rapidly increasing interest rates. In fact, it might even start before the election — they know a Repub is very unlikely to win the next one after this Bush disaster.
They do it on foreign policy too: Eisenhower’s admin set up Kennedy for the Bay of Pigs. Bush I set up Clinton for Somalia abroad and Waco at home. It’s a despicable political tactic.
We should all be on the lookout to purge the neocons from everything….
Voting machine embargo is one piece of the overall pie
Now that the neocons go on to try to infect the independents, the whole entire society, "conspiracy theory" factor of these hoodlums needs to be exposed.
Doug