Mad Santa

One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for is annual trip, but there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.
Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.
When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.
Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great Christmas tree.
The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?"
Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Get ready...........

From The News Tribune:

Question: In general, when you think about the term "local" news, do you generally think about news from…

 

The Puget Sound area

The Seattle area

The Tacoma area

Your own and neighboring communities

The South Sound

Your local town/community

Other

Don't know

The Puget Sound area

704

42%

The Seattle area

21

1%

The Tacoma area

441

27%

Your own and neighboring communities

96

6%

The South Sound

306

18%

Your local town/community

82

5%

Other

5

0%

Don't know

6

0%

Total Votes:  1661

The Atheist Strikes Again!

JoeVoter Today 05:20 AM in reply to sidrat38

He was talking about a prostitute, not a homosexual.

Throughout the Bible, the act of homosexuality is forbidden, and although God gave them up to their vile passions, the eternal punishment for all sin remains. Every last one of us is guilty of sin, and will be equally judged. Christ gives us the one and only way to avoid that eternal judgment.

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools"

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/19/1479426/dont-ask-opponents-celebrate-policys.html#disqus_thread#ixzz18fhsL2zc

Hey Meatball!  yeah, YOU!

There is ONE vague reference to homosexuality in the Old Testicle and some other blather in the New.  That's it.

Oh noes, teh ghays are taking over

Today the Olympian's resident fascist homophobes fell all over themselves freaking out over the repeal of DADT. Caestus (aka Sondrak) quickly devolved into burbling her usual Dadaisms to herself, JoetheIndependentBathroomCruiser strapped on the Rapture Helmet and went all jihady on us, but 2Edged out-did the rest of the sock drawer morans with a 13 hour long stream of obsessive perverted droolings. From that tower of Right Wing thought:

Hey, Just for your info, I don't look down at my junk after a night of hot sex with my wife, wondering if, what is that spot, and an itch.


I know Baby Monkey Going Backwards on a Pig is a shoe-in for the Thursties, but surely this bit of obscene incoherence deserves an honorable mention.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/19/1479426/dont-ask-opponents-celebrate-policys.html#disqus_thread#ixzz18cbrTxGA

The "No Labels" Party

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Something to Cheer About

By Donna Brazile | December 16th, 2010


The U.S. Congress is fast approaching the end of its lame duck session, and its weary members are anxious to return home for the season of good will. Now is a good time to survey the latest news to see where America is and where it might end up before federal lawmakers return next early in the New Year.


Let’s start with some good cheer. This past week, seasoned political veterans of both major political parties came together in New York City to launch a movement called “No Labels.” They will focus on finding politicians “who are genuinely willing to work across party lines to solve problems.” Note the word “genuinely.”

Two of its founders are the skilled and experienced Washington insiders Republican Mark McKinnon and Democrat Nancy Jacobson.

McKinnon and Jacobson occupy the middle ground. They are but two of 1,000 founders who make up a long list of political “heavy-hitters.” Can this nonaligned movement replace the insurgent tea party Republicans? Time will tell.

One thing for sure is they’ve used their connections to attract an incredible array of political and celebrity endorsements, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and retiring Indiana senator Evan Bayh. Rapper star AKON donated an appearance and performed a song he wrote: “No Labels.”

I hear the approaching sound of a thousand trumpets calling the hopeless to unite. Watch this one. They’ve been working low-key since last spring and are ready to beat to a nonpartisan roll call.

Next up: What’s the matter with the tea party movement? I warned, though many of you readers disagreed, that tea party candidates who ran as Republicans would have a price to pay. Now, those who won are indebted for party campaign funding and subject to the Republican leadership discipline.

The tea party patriots have found this prediction true. Before the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 4, they will have circled the nation’s capitol raising money from lobbyists seeking earmarks and other political favors.

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank uncovered instances of tea party-elect congressmen and women, who ran on pledges of no “business as usual,” now making the pork-gathering rounds of powerhouse lobbyists’ holiday parties, or accepting party fundraising checks made payable to them but sent to a suburban address, not their home town. Hmmm.

Sweet irony. After two years of hard work to portray President Obama as a card-carrying socialist, and using that canard to justify their obstructions, the Republican leadership reaped their fruits: Obama had no choice but to agree to an extended tax holiday for the wealthy.

The rolling thunder from the conservative movement continues to paint Obama as simply “the other.” Yes, the other conservative preventing a tax increase on the middle class while ordering a pay freeze on federal workers’ salaries. Mr. President, just say no next time, and save the taxpayers from borrowing billions from China to keep your critics satisfied.

Meanwhile, card-carrying socialists are more than a little insulted by the Republican assertion that the president borrowed their agenda.

Billy Wharton, co-chair of the Socialist USA Party, told the Christian Science Monitor this summer that he not only would not call Obama a socialist, “I am not even sure he’s a liberal…”

Roger that, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
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I'm psychic!!

Pageviews all time history

20,007

Look what happens

A guy takes off for a day or two and look what happens -

Pageviews all time history

19,953

20,000 pageviews by tomorrow!!!!!

Senate voted to repeal the ban on gays openly serving in the U.S. military

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Shortly after 2:30 pm today, PST, the Senate voted to repeal DADT!  It is now almost 3:15 pm, PST.  I just refreshed the Olympian's home page, and they STILL HAVE NOT POSTED IT TO THEIR SITE!!!!

The News Tribune has posted it at least, with a date stamp of 3:09 pm.
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Some Lowbrow

Haven't we been saying this?!

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Study: Fox News Viewers Misunderstand Issues More than Others
by Adam Buckman Dec 17th, 2010

Fox News Channel viewers were more likely to misunderstand a host of issues and subjects during this fall’s election season than people who relied more on other news sources such as MSNBC, PBS and the network evening newscasts, according to a study just released by the University of Maryland.

To be clear, the study doesn’t say FNC or any other TV news organization deliberately fed misinformation to its viewers. Instead, the study attempted to assess the ability of members of FNC’s audience, and others, to process or understand information correctly.

As a result, the study concluded that, when issues were misunderstood, they were misunderstood most of the time by a greater percentage of the FNC audience than any other group.

The findings were so unflattering to FNC’s audience that one of the channel’s top execs fired back at the university in a New York Times story:
“The latest Princeton Review ranked the University of Maryland among the top schools for having ‘Students Who Study The Least’ and being the ‘Best Party School’,” said Michael Clemente, senior vice president of new for FNC. “Given these fine academic distinctions, we’ll regard the study with the same level of veracity it was ‘researched’ with.”

Here’s an example of how the study presents its findings:

On the issue of President Obama’s birth, and whether he is a natural born citizen of the United States, a question that some people strongly believe is a question: The study found that 63 percent of those who said they watch FNC everyday believe either that the president was not born in the U.S., or that it’s still unclear whether he was born here. By contrast, 41 percent of daily CNN viewers felt the same way, 39 percent of daily MSNBC users and 43 percent of network news viewers.

Of those who said they never watch FNC, 32 percent believed his origins are “unclear.”

Other issues studied by the University of Maryland researchers were economic in nature, concerning the effectiveness and consequences of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus programs for one thing, and for another, whether taxes for the average person increased, decreased or stayed the same during the past year or so.

According to the summary issued by the university, the study was undertaken mostly to assess the effect of political advertising on the public’s understanding of various issues, in an election year in which there were few hard and fast rules governing the accuracy of campaign commercials.

“Following the first election since the Supreme Court has struck down limits on election-related advertising, a new poll finds that 9 in 10 voters said that in the 2010 election they encountered information they believed was misleading or false, with 56 percent saying this occurred frequently,” the study concluded. “A goal of the study was to determine whether Americans perceived that the information [they received from the media they consumed] was reliable, or whether they perceived a high level of misinformation.”

A story on HuffingtonPost.com put in another way: “Overall, 90 percent of respondents said they felt they had heard false information being given to them during the 2010 election campaign.”

It’s an illuminating study, though digesting all of its findings is not the easiest task. And that might have been the problem in the weeks and months leading up to the elections too, when TV viewers and the rest of the electorate were forced to sift through information that often took the form of conflicting claims and counterclaims, all issued in the clamor of political campaign advertising and the high-decibel, partisan debates on the cable talk shows.
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Reality!?! I don't need no stinkin' reality!

This is what happens when you smoke too much right wing pipe. This drivel was posted in reply to an article on a insurance company survey revealing the Olympia metro area is the safest place in America.


LOOK AROUND before you open your mouth and remove all doubt. This ain't a color thang, it's a leftist bigot thang, and Olympia has turned into a very intolerant place for the gays and jews, thanks to the oh so tolerant kids at ESC. You just go right ahead ragging about whitey, sometimes nostalgia IS funny, the rest of us know what's really going on down there, Islamic bigots run free harassing gays and jews, while preaching about tolerance.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/17/1477286/olympia-again-named-most-secure.html#disqus_thread#ixzz18QAtrAyc

Dear God, did the mother of this child drink for nine months?

Greenmail

On a 5-1 vote, the board voted Thursday to stop its process of drafting a rule change that could have allowed pharmacists to refer patients to another pharmacy for "time-sensitive" medication, including Plan B and hundreds of other drugs. Individual pharmacists can still refuse to fill a prescription on moral grounds, but patients must receive their prescription onsite without delay.

Pharmacists who oppose the Plan B drug have sued the state, but that lawsuit was delayed when the board decided over the summer to begin a new rulemaking process.
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/16/1476871/washington-pharmacy-board-wont.html#ixzz18NxjcVe7

So the Pharmacy board took the approach of avoiding the greenmail suit?  Sounds about right.

What will Storman's do for publicity now?  Refuse to sell insulin?

They can always jump on the praying in the end zone by a kid that already figured he can do something else to honor his God.

radec must have taken a break from regular reading to check ThurstonBlog

www.chicas-sexis-desnudas.coop-russia.info

This showed up on our "referring sites" with one referred.
ThustonBlog does not guarantee the safety of this site, so click the link at your own peril.

Doomsqual provided one explanation for us

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It appears to me that Caestus might be one of those let out of a mental hospital.....  how else do we explain that non sequitur below?
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doomsqual  Just now

If this 19 yr old adult is handy with an axe to kill pets and brag about it to his family elders then has he used an axe to kill anything or anyone else? He didn't just suddenly have this drastic personality change to an crazed blood soaked axe murderer did he?

With the mental hospitals and prisons letting more persons out to reduce overcrowding and for cost cutting then i'm sure this fine butcher-to-be or future taxidermist will be living in the woods or tent city soon.....next to you......and your doggies.....

Caestus  Just now in reply to doomsqual

But at least you'll know why whale crap has krill in it.

So there's that.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/16/1476192/teen-kills-family-dogs-with-axe.html#disqus_thread#ixzz18LsrjvDN::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Plan B unchanged

WASHINGTON PHARMACY BOARD WON'T CHANGE 'PLAN B' RULE

Here are some of the comments on this article,  including some from our stalkers (cough, cough):


JoeVoter   Today 06:47 PM
The left will continue to support murder of the innocent in particular, and perversion in general.

sane012672   Today 07:03 PM in reply to JoeVoter
murder? what planet are you from? this is why joevoter's shouldn't be allowed to vote. The general public is too misinformed and ignorant to have a say. People should be required to educate themselves on the issues and on the facts. Using mideval church doctrine to make up your mind for you reminds me of radical terrorists justifying their acts with 2000 year old "facts".

Chris98501   Today 07:14 PM in reply to JoeVoter
Perversion? Where is that coming from? Get your mind out of the gutter. There are plenty of unperverted people who have sex without particularly wanting to have children. And before you complain much more about the "murder of the innocent," I'd like to know what you ate for dinner.

radec   Today 09:06 PM in reply to Chris98501
LOL! I can't believe how many ignorant people there are in the word. Murder definition: "the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law"
So unless JoeVoter is a cannibal, then your anaology is stupid and pointless. You must be hanging out at the local left wing hate blog, those doofus' think caribou hunting is murder!

spinnaker_   Today 07:23 PM in reply to JoeVoter
While the right will continue to ignore the welfare of children after they're born.

lipstickonapig   Today 08:14 PM
Freedom 1 / Oppressors 0

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Page View stats skyrocketing!!!

Was it something we said?

To our more refined friends....

Since our mention on Olyblog, there has been some talk and banter about our content.  As publisher of this fine piece of journalism, I feel the need to reaffirm the mission statement of ThurstonBlog.

FUN.

Kinda simple, huh?  I don't, nor do any other authors, intend on making this an intellectual piece.  Oh, from time to time we'll address something serious or discuss national politics, or even local politics, but the primary objective, since Day One has been to poke The News Tribune Jr. in the eye, along with the right wing fascists who have taken over the comments section.  In short, ThurstonBlog is a pie in the face.

If anyone has misunderstood our mission - we don't really give a rat's ass.

Clear enough?

ThurstonBlog Awards

Although we came to life on December 2, 2009, let's pretend like January 1, 2011 is our birthday and time for the First Annual ThurstonBlog Awards (The Thursties????)

Now, this will require some research of content in 2010 and December of 2009.  Once you've found a nominee, submit a post, with a link to the Blog as follows:

For the category - LAUGHED UNTIL I CRIED -

http://thurstonblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/baby-monkey-going-backwards-on-pig.html

Baby Monkey Going Backwards on a Pig!!!

Look what I found

While checking to see if the Asheville, NC had the guts to print my letter about their letterwriter in our (COUGH) daily newspaper...

Sarah Palin: America’s Full-Time Professional Duelist
The template for the perpetual Sarah Palin feud was set last Valentine’s Day. The animated series Family Guy aired an episode in which a character with Down Syndrome said her mother was the former Governor of Alaska. From her platform as a paid Fox News contributor, Palin pounced on the moment to condemn Seth MacFarlane. “Cruel and cold-hearted people who would do such a thing,” she said on Bill O’Reilly’s The Factor. She also used the occasion to demand then-Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel step down for using the word “retard.” When asked, Palin said Rush Limbaugh - who constantly uses the r-word - is “using satire.”

Following Palin’s determination of what satire is, the actress Andrea Fay Friedman who played the character with Down Syndrome - who also fittingly has Down Syndrome - made a statement to the press: “I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor…My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.”

So the mold of Sarah Palin’s taking to the airwaves to blast someone using incorrect facts solidified. If she had just done a little Google research, when asked about the episode she could have graciously said, “I would be proud for such an accomplished actress like Miss Friedman to be my daughter.” Instead Palin appeared volatile, insulting and ignorant.

During the same appearance in which she slammed McFarland, Palin also pronounced to O’Reilly, “Let’s not call each other names because it invalidates what our arguments are all about.”

Uh huh.

This is the same woman who refers to her critics as “jerks.” Palin called CBS-affiliates “corrupt bastards” in the same week she called reporters “impotent and limp and gutless.” She called the McCain campaign’s Steve Schmidt a liar and in her book said he was “rotund.” She called journalist Joe McGinnis a “pervert” and implied he was a peeping tom. She labeled feminists as a “cackle of rads.” She blasted Alaska bloggers as “bored, anonymous and pathetic.” She deemed David Letterman “sexually perverted” after accusing him of making a rape joke about her then 14-year-old daughter. And don’t forget when she accused her opponent/enemy of “palling around with terrorists” and still refers to him as “Barack Hussein.”

How’s that not name-y because it invalidates your argument thingy working out for ya?

In fact, Palin is now our nation’s only full-time professional duelist. She fights with everyone. Her entire post-quitting career is centered on flame wars, most of which she starts. They are often petty, sanctimonious, trumped-up jabs which do nothing but make the media talk about her more. And she’s monetized the drama. She’s gone pro. Yes, she’s found the formula Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian pioneered: shameless and shallow sells. I’m inexplicably addicted to the show Jerseylicious, and if it weren’t for conflict it would just be a bunch of frosted-lipped spandex-clad women cutting hair. Instead it’s World War III in a rhinestone-studded turnpike-adjacent strip mall. That’s what makes it a show.

The media loves conflict. It’s easy to cover verbal battles. And so we do.

Palin has dueled with McCain staffer Nicolle Wallace; father of her grandson Levi Johnston; Ashley Judd; Karl Rove; Politico; Alaska teacher Kathleen Gustafson; Arnold Schwarzenegger; columnists Maureen Dowd, Peggy Noonan and Kathleen Parker; Reality TV mom Kate Gosselin; Ben Bernanke; Katie Couric; Senator Lisa Murkowski; Congressman Spencer Bachus; Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Gawker; and, Barbara Bush -- just to name a few.

The common denominator in all these feuds? Sarah Palin.

Besides viciously accusing men with whom she disagrees as somehow being sex perverts, while at the same time granting a pass for indiscretions to men with whom she agrees (Limbaugh), Palin’s main accusation is that people are lying. They are “making stuff up.” Yes, according to the trumpeter of the “death panel” canard, everyone else is a liar. It’s just a coincidence everyone Palin encounters isn’t truthful. Poor, Barracuda.

Palin has gotten a couple of number-one hits with the same old song. That’s why it’s all starting to sound alike.

I’ve watched enough nature shows to know that if a real Mama Grizzly fought this much of the time - we’d have to assume the beast was rabid.

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Copyright 2010 TinaDupuy.com

Broke 200 yesterday/today!

For the first time, ThurstonBlog broke the 200 mark (202) on page views for one 24 hour period.

Guess Who was caught shoveling snow before his Fairy Princess Party

I know my diaper is somewhere in this snow.

The House found its backbone!

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House votes to repeal ban on open gays in military
The House voted Wednesday to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that for 17 years has forced gays desiring to serve in the military to conceal their sexual identity. The 250-175 vote propels the issue to the Senate for what could be the last chance for now to end the 1993 law that forbids recruiters from asking about sexual orientation while prohibiting soldiers from acknowledging that they are gay.
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Close it down!!!

FROM DOUG CORKUM - "Another entertaining Apple Cup was tainted by the action of a few "fans" who felt compelled to throw ice-hardened snowballs and water bottles at members of the UW band, their fans and football players. I for one, am sick and tired of this criminal behavior and believe the universities should be taking action. "
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/14/1473426/treat-fan-assaults-as-criminal.html#ixzz18CgAEo27

Of the 6 comments - from the usual suspects - not one called for the closing of WSU.

You gotta love anyone that comes up with OLIMPIAN....

From the News Tribune, Jr. -
The Christmas newsletter composed by the South Sound law firm of Morgan Hill was in poor taste and should have never seen the light of day.
The flier distributed in the Thurston County Courthouse was an attempt at parody that went over the line, too easily interpreted as racial stereotyping.

To their credit, lawyers in the law firm have apologized for their poor judgment. But the criticism that their attempt to be funny was at the expense of the black community can’t be discounted.

Each year around the holidays, the law firm circulates a satirical newsletter under the heading that reads “The Olimpian.” It is filled with mock news stories, altered photographs and fictitious articles that make fun of local attorneys and judges.

This year’s newsletter stepped out of bounds with a story designed to ridicule outgoing Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, who was reported during the campaign to state that blacks were “overrepresented in the prison population because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes.” He went on to say in the Seattle Times article Oct. 22 that “certain minority groups” are “disproportionately represented in prison because they have a crime problem.”

So the Morgan Hill newsletter played off these racist remarks, showing Sanders standing next to O.J. Simpson and Denzel Washington in front of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

The fictitious article went on to say that while black people are not genetically inclined toward eating fried chicken, they do, in fact, eat a lot of fried chicken.”

The lasting legacy of racism and discrimination in our society is too great to be blind to the fact some people would be offended by this attempt at satire.

Enough said.
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/15/1474612/local-law-firms-attempt-at-satire.html#ixzz18CQ1r7Pv

All I can say is...go to Morgan Hill's website. http://www.morganhilllawoffice.com/?the-olimpian.html  More than anything, The Olimpian parodies The Olympian and some of real life.  As usual, The Olympian has an agenda but they hide behind faux outrage.

Does anyone remember the "Tammy McGee Death Threat" on ThurstonBlog? 

You'd think that the employees of The News Tribune Jr could find something better to do with their time.....or what is left of their time.

20,000 in no time.....

With the sudden surge of activity, since the Olyblog mention of ThurstonBlog, we will hit 20,000 page views within a couple of days.  Close to 50 Olybloggers are visiting ThurstonBlog each day, along with other locals and our worldwide audience.

Sometimes one picture says it all

This is what a radec looks like.

Surprised?
Neither am I

Poor Radec

From Olyblog.net

Tue, 12/14/2010 - 4:51pm — radec

ThurstonBlog

Apparantly [sic] many of those posting on ThurstonBlog do not know how to play nice either. If you view their blog it is full of personal attacks, vile language, and hate towards those that have a different opinion. It is really disappointing because I was so looking forward to being a contributor, that is until I was attacked with a word I cannot use here. I would not recommend that site to anyone who likes civil discourse.

Poor little radec. It had to open an Olyblog account to whine about us over there.

Come on radec, share some of your fascist droolings with the granola eaters over there and see how long you last.

Olyblog overtakes SondraK!!!!

In our all time list of referring sites, Olyblog has overtaken SondraK!

Must be the good taste of Olyblog readers.

WOW 175!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our 24 hour total from Sunday 4pm to Monday 4pm was 175 page views.

Now there are two possibilities:

IndyJoe kept looking at the post that remarked about his AIDS stupidity, over and over and over....

Or....

A nice notice from Thad at Olyblog.net! (Thanks to Laurian also)

I'm sure it was the push from Thad. 

I don't think IndyJoe can count beyond his fingers and toes and you know he keeps track of his Thurstonblog pageviews.

Of course they do-- but we already knew that!

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Fox News slants language of health care
By JOEL CONNELLY

As Congress took up health care reform last year, considering a "public option" to give insurers competition, marching orders went down to the troops from Bill Salmon, Washington, D.C., managing editor at Fox News.


The memo is a roadmap on how to subtly slant news, and get the right wing's "amen corner" fired up and ready to go.

"Subject: friendly reminder: lets not slip back into calling the 'public option'," wrote Salmon.
"1) Please use the term 'government-run health insurance' or, when brevity is a concern, 'government option' whenever possible; 2) When it is necessary to use the term 'public option' (which is, after all, firmly ensconced in the nation's lexicon) use the qualifier 'so-called' as in "the so-called public option'."

The timely advice came soon after Republican pollster Frank Luntz had offered on-air counsel to Fox host Sean Hannity.

"If you call it a public option, the American people are split," Luntz said. "If you call it a government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it."

"A grat point, and from now on, I'm going to call it the government option because that is what it is," replied Hannity, getting the message. Soon, his boss did too.

Luntz is famous for writing memos on tactics for spinning issues, particularly on how to seed doubt in the public's mind. And he gives sales advice, telling House Republicans how to market Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract With America."

Of course, both sides massage their message. Bill Clinton used to pour over the crosstabs of polls that test-marketed not only themes, but slogans and possible wording of speeches.

But the political right, and its corporate paymasters, carry the art to new heights of cynicism. A famous 2003 Luntz missive advised Republicans on "the environmental communications battle" -- specifically, how to create doubt on climate issues.

The phrase "global warming" had to be jettisoned in favor of "climate change," Luntz wrote, and the GOP should start using the phrase "conservationist" to describe its stands. Why? Because "environmentalist" carries negative connotations and "most people" believe environmentalists are "extremists."

On global warming, oops, climate change, Luntz advised: "The scientific debate is closing (against us) but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to change the science.

"Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate."

The create-doubt strategy, honed in the 1960's by the tobacco industry, has been followed. Its greatest success is demonizing "cap and trade" (a 2008 McCain campaign theme) and flummoxing energy/climate legislation in the current Congress.

Behind the facade of Astroturf populism, Big Oil, Big Coal and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have breathed new life into the carbon economy and thwarted a national transition to new technologies.

Luntz popped up again this year as Congress took up new oversight of Wall Street. He penning a 17-page memo "The Language of Financial Reform" on how to redicted public anger.

The message: Take attention away from hedge funds, derivatives, insider trading and bank bailouts. Reframe the issue into a battle against government bureaucrats.

"This is your critical advantage," Luntz advised anti-reform forces. "Washington's incompetence is the common ground on which you can build support."

"Ordinarily, calling for a new government program 'to protect consumers' would be extrarodinarily popular. But these are not ordinary times. The American people are not just saying 'no,' but 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats and more legislation crafted by special interests."

Luntz saw urged deployment of these themes to block creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Foes needed to stress cost and regulation and (unnamed) damages the agency would do to "small business owners."

A twist on Obama's 2008 campaign theme was thrown in: "A new agency with new bureaucrats is not change we can believe in. It's not change at all."

Congress did create the consumer agency. It remains to be seen whether the new Republican-run House, with former lobbyists in key staff positions, will sabotage its operations.

Sammon's memo was obtained and released last week by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. Howard Kurtz, longtime media reporter at The Washington Post, now with The Daily Beast, took a look at how quickly the message was massaged."

On "Special Report," the night of the memo, Washington, D.C. anchor Bret Baier started by promising "a look at the fight over government-run health insurance in the Senate reform bill." Capital correspondent Jim Angle spoke of "a government insurance plan, the so-called public option."

As Kurtz notes, 24 hours earlier, Baier kept referring to "the public option," a phrase also used by conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer.

The "iron triangle" of the political right -- corporations, conservative image-makers and right-wing media -- play their audience like Keith Richards plays the guitar.


The goal is always the same, demonize government as a means to throttle reform and preserve the status quo for its privileged beneficiaries.


Language is a tactic, to be deployed broadly and on all fronts.

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Stormfront comes to the Olympian

A comment on an LTE on the nedd to address population growth.

Pomade 15 minutes ago

The Caucasian races need to step it up, they are being replaced. Wake up and make some more, we need you. Wake up.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/13/1472389/time-to-get-serious-about-population.html#disqus_thread#ixzz180fmNrrg

Mein Führer, I can valk!


Oh the nuggets of wisdom dripping from the mouths of our neighbors.

The Bullied Brain

A friend just posted this article to her facebook page, and it seems relevant to today's postings here. It could even help explain some of the damaged behaviors that certain folks demonstrate on the O's comment sections.

In the wake of several tragedies that have made bullying a high-profile issue, it’s becoming clear that harassment by one’s peers is something more than just a rite of passage. Bullied kids are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suicidal. They struggle in school — when they decide to show up at all. They are more likely to carry weapons, get in fights, and use drugs.

But when it comes to the actual harm bullying does, the picture grows murkier. The psychological torment that victims feel is real. But perhaps because many of us have experienced this sort of schoolyard cruelty and lived to tell the tale, peer harassment is still commonly written off as a “soft” form of abuse — one that leaves no obvious injuries and that most victims simply get over. It’s easy to imagine that, painful as bullying can be, all it hurts is our feelings.

A new wave of research into bullying’s effects, however, is now suggesting something more than that — that in fact, bullying can leave an indelible imprint on a teen’s brain at a time when it is still growing and developing. Being ostracized by one’s peers, it seems, can throw adolescent hormones even further out of whack, lead to reduced connectivity in the brain, and even sabotage the growth of new neurons.

These neurological scars, it turns out, closely resemble those borne by children who are physically and sexually abused in early childhood. Neuroscientists now know that the human brain continues to grow and change long after the first few years of life. By revealing the internal physiological damage that bullying can do, researchers are recasting it not as merely an unfortunate rite of passage but as a serious form of childhood trauma.

To read the rest of the article, here is the link:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/11/28/inside_the_bullied_brain/?page=1

Something To Cleanse The Palette

To hell with the homophobes.

Today's homophobic hate speech

justiceis 2 hours ago

Society has let gays be who there are, it's called, "AIDS".


Fucking asshole.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/12/1471516/time-to-let-gays-be-who-they-are.html#disqus_thread#ixzz17vbb4Wbf

From the News Tribune Jr......

PETE ALLEN; Asheville, NC | • Published December 11, 2010

  I recently read on the national newswire a story that was quite shocking. It appears that a local Tumwater football player named Ronnie Hastie was flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct call. This occurred during a game with East Valley.

  The reason this made national news was because the flag was thrown for — prayer.

  It appears that Ronnie took a knee for several seconds, pointed toward heaven and gave thanks to God for the blessing of a touchdown.
  I am not sure how Tacoma or Olympia residents feel about Ronnie praying. I am not sure how the referee, coach or school officials feel about Ronnie praying. I will say that I and many other American know how we feel about Ronnie praying.
  All I can say is that if this act did not delay the game, disrupt the game, or was intended to demean or demoralize an opponent — then it is legal, regardless of any sports rulebook.
  I am not sure if the school board or school administrators have consulted their attorney regarding this. If not, they may want to do so very quickly. There is no valid public interest in a penalty for this conduct.
  Neither could a rule that necessitates a call for this conduct be upheld. Whether on field, or off, Ronnie has a legal, First Amendment right to express through speech or other means his religious or personal views as an individual.
  The school did not mandate his conduct, but neither can they disallow his conduct.

  Ronnie, keep pointing to the heavens.
Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/11/1470586/tumwater-player-had-a-right-to.html#ixzz17ruFZsfG

Well, we've got people in North Carolina using our Daily Kinda Newspaper as a proselyting tool for their religious agenda.

Hey, Pete, let me clue you in.  I'm the follower of two religious schools that were in the State Playoffs this year (one took the championship) and none of their players have to put on a spectacle for God.  First of all, God knows they scored - right?  If any player wants to thank God for their score, all they have to do is hand the ball to the referee run on over to the sidelines and in a quiet, non-showmanship manner, say "thanks, God".

As long as you are going to spread your religious manure our way, I'll send you back a little taste of Matthew 6:5 - "be not like the hypocrites, praying in public to be seen by men"

The boy broke a rule - 17 times.  Officials are afraid of Christians pulling their martyrism (as you've so perfectly demonstrated 3,000 miles away), thus they ignored him.  They were wrong.  The coach was wrong for not counciling him about the rules.

If all the other Christian players can get it right, Ronnie can.  Oh wait....the kid said he wouldn't do it anymore.  It's just you buttheads that keep beating the drum.

And gay soldiers don't worry about THEIR careers if 'Don't Ask' is NOT lifted??

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Chaplains Worry About Careers If 'Don't Ask' Is Lifted
While most military personnel see no problem serving with openly gay comrades, some military chaplains are bristling. Many of the 3,000 chaplains are evangelical and believe repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy may affect how they do their jobs.
[snipped]
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Wikileaks gone wild

According to TNT Editorial Board: Obama didn't get mugged in deal with GOP

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TNT editorial:

Obama didn't get mugged in deal with GOP


There’s a lot more to Obama’s tax-cut deal with Republicans than you’d imagine from the Democratic hand-wringing over it.
[snipped]
But a closer look at the deal – the actual deal, not the symbolic one – tells a different story.
[snipped]
This is a far more complex deal than partisan rhetoric (and moaning) makes it out to be. Economists are impressed, and are raising their projections for job creation and growth on the assumption that Congress will ratify the deal.

In politics, where symbolism reigns, it’s often easier to get angry over the other side’s wins than celebrate one’s own. In this case, congressional Democrats ought to voice their anguish, pocket their victories, approve the deal and move on.

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Christine O'Donnell topped herself

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"Today marks a lot of tragedy... Tragedy comes in threes. Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards' passing and Barack Obama's announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits." 
-- Christine O'Donnell
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Christine O'Donnell Is Right About Pearl Harbor
Christine O'Donnell, tragedy, and the rule of three
Christine O'Donnell Calls Extending Unemployment Benefits a "Tragedy"
O’Donnell compares tax deal to Pearl Harbor, Edwards’s death
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Takes one to no one

A comment on Comcast about Sarah Palin's murder of a caribou for the camera

Cheryl Dec 6th, 2010 | 6:17 pm

I agree with Sandra, the world is crazy…. Save the whales, and kill the babies! God gave us dominion over the animals, to use in a responsible way. I think Sarah Pallan is a strong,
intelligent and fearless woman who puts up with a lot of criticism. Kudos to you and your family. I am sure that 90% of the people in America have no idea what it would take to survive in Alaska. Thanks for showing us, Sarah!

Cheryl must not be aware that PALIN gets paid $250,000 per episode and doesn't need to shoot an animal to feed her family and "survive" in Alaska.  Oh and you just have to love how God gets involved.....

Brainiest cities!

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Brainiest Cities: Portfolio Study

Olympia is #37!  When they did the study on Olympia, they must not have read any of the comments made to the Olympian's articles-- if they had, that would have drastically lowered the stats!  ROTFLMBO

Other Washington cities/towns:  #16, Seattle; #46, Bremerton; #61, Spokane; #119, Kennewick.
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Priorities de Olympian

I wonder when the Publisher of The Olympian will run another of his humorous editorials asking what readers want.

I have to really laugh and cry at the same time as I think about how Tammy McGee goes out of her way to make sure I don't post because I didn't buy into her "death threat" whining and yet the pure hate of Olympia simmers over on this:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/04/1462346/city-of-olympia-tries-to-end-toy.html#disqus_thread#ixzz17CirVh5T

Someone said that the Toy Run had to pay $1400 in fees for municipality support.  Well, no shit, Sherlock?  Since when do the CONS want any tax money to be spent unless it's to kiss Rob McKenna's ass or something similar?

The Toy Run should sell sponsorships.  I'd be glad to help them.  It's a great cause.

I just don't see why The Olympian can't find the "off" button when threads get so divisive, but Tammy can delete my comments in her sleep.

Snollygoster

Snollygoster is a politician with no interest in issues or principles.

Now That's Creepy

This all began over a bullshit letter by Gail Early claiming the City of Olympia is out to end the Toy Run. It took under an hour before the usual fascists were spewing their all so special blend of hatred and murder.

glenn 10 hours ago

We have enemies of our country - we read their drool everyday. Now they have attacked something so generous from the heart that they have exposeed [sic] themselves for what they are - subhuman.

Sage 1 in reply to glenn

Wow. Just wow. Enemies of the country? You mean the intellectuals, the socialists and the Jews?

myolivercat in reply to Sage 1
NOT JUST THE PINK (pink pig) skinned no eyebrows or, lashes egotistical creeps like you !


Yes folks, that is verbatim. I think someone is a little too fond of Silence of the Lambs. That and really bad mind altering drugs. My guess is hard liquor and Oxycontin.

So, let me get this straight. Call a Tea Bagger a Tea Bagger and get your comment deleted, but call for the skinning of a human being in a truly horrifying spasm of torture porn is hunky dory.

Is anyone in charge at the Olympian?
Oh yeah. That ship sailed years ago.


Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/04/1462346/city-of-olympia-tries-to-end-toy.html#disqus_thread#ixzz17CirVh5T

Merger??????????

Go to http://www.thenewstribune.com/ and click on the subhead link to the story about the Tumwater football player.

Here is where you will end up:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/02/1460808/hasties-td-prayer-creates-national.html

They aren't even pretending to be two newspapers any longer.  The difference is - you cannot use your Disqus account from the Trib in the Zip.

How long before there is one newspaper - The South Sound News Tribune?

Something To Consider When It Comes To New Years Resolutions

HOLY CRAP!!!

ThurstonBlog has been spiking like mad during the last 24 hours!!!

117 comments, and the "day" wraps at 4pm PST.

I think the buttwipes love to raise hell on The Olympian and then see if we comment about them.

Caestus the Sock was in full cry all day Thursday!

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http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/02/1459932/unwitting-gesture.html
http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/02/1459921/pity-the-members-of-the-middle.html
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See the attached comments for the details.

Kitty Pattycake

Guess Who

JoeVoter 37 minutes ago

The referee should be thrown out for "unsportsmanlike conduct" for throwing the penalty flag at the kid.
My guess is that he is a far leftist or an anti Christian bigot.

I hope the entire fan entourage kneels and points to the sky when he makes another touchdown on Saturday.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/12/02/1459932/unwitting-gesture.html#ixzz170o5KyXt

radec 2 hours ago

It wasn't called the previous times because there is no rule being broken. This referee MADE UP a rule. The player was not drawing attention to himself and he returned the ball to the ref after the 2 second kneel. There was no rule broken, period.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/12/02/1448317/touchdown-gesture-points-to-controversy.html#ixzz170ocaxZG

Ever notice that radec and JoeVoter are never in the same place together?

When old friends drop in to celebrate

First_Lefty 1 hour ago Well, the coaches of several Christian schools disagree, radec, but you serve yourself by being ridiculous on the subject, so enjoy! I'm disappointed that you didn't use your OIdLefty moniker and wish ThurstonBlog a Happy First Anniversary. Lefty out. radec 1 hour ago

Moderator, the comment below from first lefty is advertising a specific website. I believe that is against the rules of spam and advertising on these posts. Please remove the comment or better yet ban first lefty from commenting.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/12/02/1448317/touchdown-gesture-points-to-controversy.html#ixzz170ZJdmMo

Hey, Asswipe!  I don't think the Trib moderators take orders from you the way TM does.

HAPPY THURSTOBLOG DAY!

Can we say HYPOCRITE? Yes, we can!!

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Anti-earmark Tea Party Caucus takes $1 billion in earmarks


Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.

According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.
"It's disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. "There's going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks."

In founding the caucus in July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she was giving voice to Americans who were sick of government overspending.

[snipped]

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) takes the prize as the tea partier with his name on the most earmarks. Rehberg's office requested funding for 88 projects, either solely or by co-signing earmark requests with Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D), at a cost of $100,514,200. On his own, Rehberg requested 20 earmarks valued at more than $9.6 million.

[snipped]

A list of Tea Party Caucus members and their earmark requests in Fiscal Year 2010, courtesy of Citizens Against Government Waste's Pig Book:

[snipped]

Happy Birthday, ThurstonBlog!

18,059 (as of 7:20 am 12/2/2010) page views later.

toy run is this saturday!

Please contribute to this worthy cause, if you can..

enjoy the bikes!

And Now Introducing................Alcoholic Whipped Cream

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The federal government ordered the makers of Four Loko to change its dangerous combination of caffeine and alcohol to something safer. However, it's not just beverages getting the controversial boost, its whipped cream too.
It might look like a regular can of whipped cream, but if you take a closer look at the label, you'll see why some university students are really buzzing about whipped lightning.
"I think it's awesome, you can throw it on some Jell-O shots. It'd be fantastic," UCF student Bo Frisby said.
The whipped treat comes in different flavors, and it's infused with alcohol. The alcohol content is fairly high, 18 percent by volume, that's more than three times the amount found in most beers.
Liquor stores around the UCF area said the new form of booze is flying off the shelves.
"I'm not surprised, it's college. I'm not surprised at all actually. I'm actually shocked they didn't come up with it sooner," UCF student John Washington said.
But critics said it might not be the best idea.
"I mean if people already get high off whipped cream bottles, you put alcohol into that mix, it's not exactly a good combination," UCF student Lisette Diaz said.
Students said the thing that makes it dangerous is if they put it with things like Jell-O shots, where the alcohol flavor is already masked, they could get extremely intoxicated without realizing how much alcohol they've had.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Florida said it's never even heard of the alcoholic whipped cream, but would be concerned about the high level of alcohol packed in something most people consider dessert.
"Even regular whipped cream is something people don't use in moderation, alcoholic whipped cream, I don't know if that would be a good idea," Diaz said.
The State Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco said alcoholic whipped cream is regulated, like any other alcoholic beverage.

http://www.wftv.com/news/25920599/detail.html

How long till they take away the new toy?