A clown wearing a President Barack Obama mask appeared at a Missouri State Fair rodeo this weekend and the announcer asked the enthusiastic spectators if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.”
The antics led the state’s second highest-ranking official, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, to denounce the performance in a tweet Sunday. He said it was “disrespectful” to the president.
“We are better than this,” the Republican tweeted.
State Fair officials said the show in Sedalia was “inappropriate” and “does not reflect the opinions or standards” of the fair. “We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday’s rodeo badly missed that mark,” they said in a statement Sunday.
Perry Beam, who was among the spectators, said “everybody screamed” and “just went wild” as the announcer talked about having the bull run down the clown with the Obama mask.
“It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear. It was that level of enthusiasm,” Beam, a 48-year-old musician from Higginsville, said Sunday, referring to the reaction from the crowd that filled the fair’s grandstand.
He said another clown ran up to the one wearing the Obama mask, pretended to tickle him and played with the lips on the mask. About 15 minutes into the performance, the masked clown had to leave after a bull got too close, Beam said.
Beam was at the rodeo with his wife and a student they were hosting from Taiwan. He said they were having a good time until the end of the rodeo.
“It was the usual until the very end at bull riding,” he said. “As they were bringing the bulls into the chute and prepping them ... they bring out what looks like a dummy. The announcer says ‘Here’s our Obama dummy, or our dummy of Obama.
“They mentioned the president’s name, I don’t know, 100 times. It was sickening,” Beam said. “It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you’d see on TV.”
This, this is who now makes up the base of the Republican party.
By the way it should be noted that if Mr. Beam had NOT placed this picture on his Facebook page and described what had taken place that those of us who were not there would have NO idea that this kind of thing was going on.
But then again perhaps we have always known that this kind f thing has been going on, but just didn't want to believe it.
Personally I disagree with what the Lt. Governor and the State Fair officials had to say. Considering the description of the crowd response it seems to me that their state is not "better than this."
Is it any wonder that blocking everything that the President tries to do all but ensures the reelection of numerous southern Republicans back at home?
I am so deeply ashamed of my state today.
ReplyDeleteWorst part of this whole incident: the rodeo announcer who said all those vile things is a school superintendent. And we wonder where our children learn their bullying behavior.
Please feel free to contact the State Fair foundation to voice your displeasure with this man's actions. My family has already done so, with a promise to never again attend the fair if the man's actions are not publicly condemned.
Missouri State Fair Foundation
2503 West 16th Street
Sedalia, MO 65301
(660)-530-5620
msffoundation@sbcglobal.net
What's his name? His school board should hear about his conduct also too there.
DeleteIt was the CLOWN talking not the announcer.
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/12/obama-rodeo_n_3743617.html
During the bull riding portion of the rodeo, a clown wore a mask of Obama and asked the spectators if they wanted to see "Obama run down by a bull." Many in the audience responded enthusiastically.
The rodeo's announcer sought Monday to distance himself from the clown's actions.
Announcer Mark Ficken said through an attorney that the clown was wearing a live microphone and had given the announcer no advance notice about his skit.
Thank you for the address. I sent an e-mail immediately expressing my disgust at this.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete"It was the clown talking."
DeleteBull shit.
Thanks for the info Charlie. Sent an email to the MSFF. Also, too this superintendent's school board should be contacted. There needs to be disciplinary action on this guy. He should be fired.
DeleteI am also ashamed of my state for this. Worse, there are other clowns deeply embedded in the state legislature. They waste our [tax-funded] time discussing and passing into law garbage like the bill our governor recently vetoed. HB 436 would have nullified federal gun laws. So now the idjits are all blabbering away at each other about nullification.
DeleteThis version of politics was unleashed on us in 2008 by people who make Joe McCarthy seem perfectly reasonable.
The rodeo's announcer - whom some media initially identified as making the comments about Obama - sought Monday to distance himself from the clown's actions.
DeleteAnnouncer Mark Ficken said through an attorney that the clown was wearing a live microphone and had given the announcer no advance notice about the skit. Ficken is president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association and also is superintendent of the Boonville School District.
"He was as surprised as anyone with the appearance of an Obama-masked rodeo clown," said Ficken's attorney, Albert Watkins of St. Louis.
Watkins said Ficken's only comment during the event was to say, "Watch out for that bull Obama!" Watkins said that was meant as a warning for the clown's safety.
http://www.newswest9.com/story/23114772/mo-state-fair-bans-rodeo-clown-who-mocked-obama
Mo. State Fair Gives Lifetime Ban To Rodeo Clown Who Mocked Obama
DeleteThe Missouri State Fair on Monday imposed a lifetime ban on a rodeo clown whose depiction of President Barack Obama getting charged by a bull was widely criticized by Democratic and Republican officials alike.
The rodeo clown won’t be allowed to participate or perform at the fair again. Fair officials say they’re also reviewing whether to take any action against the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for Saturday’s event.
The entertainment during the bull riding contest featured a clown wearing a mask of Obama with an upside down broomstick attached to his backside. Spectators were asked if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.” Many in the audience responded enthusiastically.
Numerous Missouri officials denounced the act after video and photos were posted online. Some Democratic Missouri lawmakers suggested Monday that there should be financial consequences for the fair.
The fair said in a written statement announcing the clown’s ban that he had engaged in an “unconscionable stunt” that was “inappropriate and not in keeping with the Fair’s standards.” The fair’s press release did not identify the clown.
At least person defended him. David Berry, a Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association member who was at Saturday’s event, described the clown as a friend and said there was nothing offensive or unusual about his actions. Berry said the Obama character was meant to look like a dummy and that rodeo clowns have long performed such acts, often imitating sitting presidents.
“The joke is not that it was the president,” Berry said. “They drag out this person dressed like a dummy and all of the sudden this dummy just takes off running. That’s what’s funny.”
But other rodeo professionals said the Missouri fair stunt appeared to go too far.
“It’s not unheard of for a rodeo clown, depending on how he reads his audience, to play politics a little bit,” said Jim Bainbridge, the senior public relations coordinator at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. “But this crossed a line. Clearly, when you’re suggesting that the president should be injured, it kind of gets to a level of hostility that is inappropriate.”
Perry Beam, an attendee who posted a photo of the event on Facebook, has said it had the feeling of Ku Klux Klan rally. He said that, at one point, another clown ran up to the one wearing the Obama mask and played with the lips on the mask.
The rodeo’s announcer — whom some media initially identified as making the comments about Obama — sought Monday to distance himself from the clown’s actions.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/missouri-state-fair-bans-rodeo-clown-who-mocked-obama-for-life.php?ref=fpb
Looks like the officers of the association took their names off the website, but here's a cached copy for ya:
Deletehttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?safe=off&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=cache:missourirodeo.com/officers/&oq=cache:missourirodeo.com/officers/&gs_l=hp.3...1529.1529.0.3908.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....1...1c.1.24.psy-ab..1.0.0.t0KEEJlRK0U&pbx=1
Comparing the crowd to a KKK rally is really frightening and I'm sick and tired of these racists across the nation being as they are!
ReplyDeleteWe have a wonderful POTUS who has been elected TWICE by a large margin, is well educated, smart, community service guy, has a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters and is a kind, kind man! They dislike him because few of them can measure up to him and they don't like the fact he is black and has been so successful!
Thank God we have President Obama in the White House vs John McCain or Mitt Romney!
Republicans are showing themselves (across the nation) to be a disgrace to the American people and I expect we will see many of them lose their seats in the next election cycle.
They are NOT the Christians they profess to be, most have had affairs and divorces, some are gay and cover it up and they are very, very anti women and their rights!
Why any woman would belong to their party OR vote for a Republican is beyond me!
This is totally outside the realm of respect for the presidency and the person who represents Americans around the world with grace and class. Thankfully, President Obama is a wonderful ambassador for America. The Americans who applaud this spectacle in Missouri reflect the worst of our country. They all should be ashamed of their actions and apologize for their stupidity and racism.
ReplyDeleteJust remember how our lovely, kind, wise and gracious president is spending his time right now.
Deletehttp://theobamadiary.com/2013/08/11/tee-time-3/
He is such a good man that his very essence shines light on the dark, dank, demonic energies that come out of people who live in fear and hate and magnifies them for all the world to see, and reject.
His Light is so powerful that it shakes them to their core and all they can do is mewl and puke their vileness. They thrive on the red meat hate that is thrown their way, like hungry jackals, ready to rip apart anything, with no regard for decency.
They are the zombified expression of humankind. Walking around in a dead consciousness, starving for life-force.
They ARE bringing the KKK out of the shadows and back into the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteNo hatred of a liberal -- FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton -- can compare to the vile racist hate-mongering that's been let loose in this country. Fox and friends have led the charge.
Any real patriotic Republican would stand up and denounce this behavior every time it appears. But, no, they keep quiet, which is the same as joining in.
If Hillary Clinton is elected, as she may well be, the tide will turn and these crowds will say odious things about her as a woman.
The reality is that these often-poor, often-ignorant yahoos feel threatened by blacks and women who might take away the only shreds of dignity they think they have, and which they'll defend with their firearms.
Candidate Obama is right: they cling to their guns and religion.
You know the danger for our politicians is enormous, and I hope the NSA, which I mostly decry, is picking up intelligence about any of these domestic terrorists. The threat to our country is too great, and one of these
people is going to think he's a hero by attacking our government and its leaders.
Sarah Palin will go on Facebook to congratulate whoever does it. She, and they, are beneath contempt.
Sarah Palin was at the forefront of this racist crap against President Obama due to her starting it when she ran "second" on the ticket w/McCain. Thank God, they were beaten by a large majority!
DeleteSarah is also responsible for the killings in AZ and should be put in locks in Washington D.C. on the Congress steps for all to see! I'm sick of her and her ilk and it has to stop!
President Obama is an outstanding man and is doing a hell of a job in spite of the racist crap being promoted across the nation. Plus, he has had to deal w/the constant obstruction put forth by the Republicans in the U.S. Congress.
President Obama is doing a great job and don't forget that he is part white you racist pigs out there! Perhaps you should focus on how similar he is to you vs his being half black! he is perfect the way he is!
horse manure, that's unfair. I have never heard racist things about McCain or Palin. Saying she is responsible for killing in slanderous. Saying her and her ilk have to be stopped could be viewed as a threat. If you said that same phrase towards Obama you know everyone would cry racism and that person should be jailed for threatening harm. I do believe Obama was elected not only by the color of his skin, but the cool-aid and hype the media played inflating his portfolio to make him seam qualified when he was anything but. Racism isn't a one way road. As for being perfect, well the president is perfect at sabotaging our nation.
DeleteI think there are some heads that should roll on the State Fair committee. They and the State of Missouri look like idiots to Americans across the nation.
ReplyDeleteThis incident is beyond outrageous, juvenile, and hateful. I have worked with children for many years, and I have yet to work with a child who is as ill-behaved as today's republicans. This rodeo clown would never have pulled off such a stunt if he did not know in advance that it would be a big hit with the audience. Therefore, a tourist boycott of Missouri might well be in order. Let's start by boycotting all products connected to Monsanto (non-organic – and thus genetically-modiified – soy, corn, and wheat), Missouri's greatest evil-doer and biggest money-maker. Why not clean up two messes at the same time?
DeleteForget about an incident like this having Missouri look like idiots to only the USA. Actions like this speak volumes to the rest of the world. This is the "real America" Sara Palin gushed over.
Delete1236 pm. You speak of boycotting Monsanto and its products. Fine put people out of work, right?
DeleteRacism permeates our society. Why single out Missouri for boycotts?
Taking a stand for your principles is important, but do not include all Missourians in your wrath. Our state is rich with natural beauty and history.
If you think we are all uneducated redneck racists you are very wrong. JMO..
This just makes me so sad. I truly thought we had evovled past this and it makes me sick to find how wrong I was. I one hundred percent feel this is racially motivated.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that the man who stirred it all up holds such a position it makes me even sicker.
I notice that many of the people who hate him the most are losers who don't want to admit a black person is better than them (yes Palin family, I am looking at you too)
I'm black, and I know how you feel, Anon@11:02. Before Obama won in 2008, I thought I had good relationships with my fellow faculty members. It was all a dream, a delusion on my part. After President Obama won in November 2008, I found out how tenuous those relationships were. Faculty members I'd thought were beyond racism turned out to be the purveyors of it. Before Obama won the presidency, they had just been very good at covering up the way they really felt about Black Americans and other Persons of Color. Their post-election behavior was a real revelation for me into who/what they really are. My co-teacher didn't come to work that Wednesday after the election. She ans some of my department members had spent quite a bit of time engaging in Obama bashing. I sat in department meetings and listened to them, never expressing an opinion in order to avoid a confrontation, so I guess they thought everyone in the country agreed with their opinions of Obama. Thankfully, I retired at the end of the 2008-2009 school year after teaching for 33 years, and I'm glad I did. My former co-workers still have no idea how deeply they hurt me by the words/actions and actions they expressed after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. I can definitely say that it was a real eye-opener because these are the faculty members who were always talking about God, their church activities, and how they want to raise their kids to be Christians. It's all a sham. And, because this occurred in GA, I understand why a recent poll shows that some white southerners are more anti-black now than they were before 2008. No matter how much some republicans lie, they'll never convince me that their opposition to President Obama doesn't have at least a little something to do with his race in some way and that they're Bible-believing, Jesus-following Christians.
Delete11:02 and majii,
DeleteYou're right, but it will pass. Both my parents were born and raised in the county in Mississippi (Neshoba) that the three civil rights workers were killed in 1963, and we used to visit there every summer for a couple of weeks (we called it "the country" because we didn't know what backwoods rednecks were as kids). My brother and sister and I were kind of shocked at how everything was "nigger-this" or nigger-that" in the 60's and early 70's, except when they talked about the local tribe of Indians (Choctaws), which I think they regarded as "worse than the blacks".
It's changed incredibly in the 40 years or so since we began visiting, but it hadn't changed much prior to the 70's. I thank my parents for being progressive enough to teach us that people are people and everyone deserves respect. They taught us to help one another and to always help someone who was less fortunate than us, but don't rob them of their dignity; help someone if you can, but don't make a big deal about it and don't embarrass them. Not that we we well off by a long shot, but we had more than we needed. A lot of folks that we did things for were black but a lot were white, too. That's how we've raised our son, and he gets it too. So when someone, black or white or any other skin pigmentation, brings us a sack of tomatoes or some fresh beans or peas, we're never to proud to accept and say thanks. But it does make me feel proud that I'll sometimes hear an old friend has passed by the house and left some fresh squash or a watermelon and told my son his "papaw was always a good man" and "didn't never think he was too good to stop and help somebody just like it was his own grandma."
Human beings are pretty ethnocentric, in general, and they always fear that which if foreign or different. Education and exposure to other cultures (even within our large, diverse country) bring us all closer wher we should be.
I'm so sorry you worked there 33 years but still had to face that type of disrespect. I can be rather unpolished at times when I'm exposed to rudeness towards an older person or someone being bullied in general, so had I been one of your peers working there I might've not had a friend the following year after you retired, because I would've exploded to hear racist nonsense in idle chatter. Either that, or my sarcasm would've cut them off at the knees. There's no place for bigotry and bullying. Enjoy your retirement. In thirty-three years, you've accomplished more than you'll ever realize in making the world a better place. It might not seem that way because you were fighting on the front lines. But you have. And thanks. We need more like you.
But, but, poor Sarah and Bristol and Chuck, Jr. with all their Servant's Hearts as reluctant leaders are so much more picked on as they soldier on with God on their Side working to progress the oh so sorry state that is the state of the union and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteYou want to see thick skin? You want to see hard workers? Look at the family in the White House.
The Show-me-State showed the rest of America a lack of class when the rodeo at the Missouri State Fair disintegrated into a modern day minstrel show featuring a rodeo clown impersonating President Obama.
ReplyDeleteVideo:
The clown, a white man, wearing an Obama mask, depicted the president as a bumbling and feckless black man worthy of derision and ridicule. The announcer proudly boasted “We’re gonna smoke Obama” as they sicked a bull on the hapless clown. A common theme in 19th Century minstrel shows was smoking black men like tobacco or roasting them alive. The racist caricature of Obama in this modern reincarnation of the minstrel show, was chased by a bull in front of a family audience at a tax payer sponsored event.
While apologists for the stunt are quick to argue that if it had been a white president nobody would be “crying racism”, they are missing the point. The Missouri State Fair has been operating since 1901 and through the administration’s of William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Harbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the president’s likeness was never subjected to being attacked by a bull at a State Fair sanctioned event. Nineteen consecutive white presidents with no clowns donning presidential masks and no derisive crowds cheering for the president to be trampled under foot by a raging bull.
With the announcer ginning up the crowd to cheer the misfortunes of the Obama-faced clown the Missouri State Fair went from a family friendly event to a symbolic lynch mob, hooting and hollering for the trampling of an African-American president. If the event organizers thought this was humor, they merely demonstrated their insensitivity and lack of class. Only the most politically and socially tone deaf person could somehow not recognize the racial undertones of having a bumbling white dude dressed in “black face” impersonate the president while the bull symbolically attempts to gore him to death to raucous cheers from the metaphorical lynch mob in the stands.
Defenders of the rodeo stunt lament that those of us on the left who criticize the antics of the clown and the announcer are violating their right to free speech. However,
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/12/obama-mocking-minstrel-show-missouri-state-fair-full-bull.html
Well-stated. And no, the people who are appalled by this 'stunt' aren't violating anyone's right to free speech. They are merely advocating that everyone, but particularly those claiming to be on God's side, show by their behavior and speech that they truly love their neighbors as themselves. Because they repeatedly show that they are incapable and unwilling to perform this most simple, basic act of human courtesy and respect, they prove that they are neither Christian nor member's of God's kingdom.
DeleteThere's a reason they call this "flyover country".
ReplyDelete;-)
A Tennessee judge has stirred controversy by ordering 7 month-old Messiah DeShawn Martin‘s first name to be changed to “Martin,” on the sound legal basis that “”The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” a ruling that will surely be a crushing disappointment to the likes of Major Garrett, Greg Sargent, and Rep. Steve King (R-IA). While the ruling itself is truly outrageous, and seems to stand little chance of being upheld, the kicker to this story is the name of the county in which Judge Lu Ann Ballew presides.
ReplyDeleteJudge Ballew was supposed to be settling a dispute, between Messiah’s parents, over the child’s last name, but took it upon herself to change his first name, too. From WBIR:
The name change was part of Judge Ballew’s case; however, the parents did not think the first name would be changed.
Judge Ballew ordered the 7-month-old’s name be “Martin DeShawn McCullough.” It includes both parent’s last names but leaves out Messiah.
“The word Messiah is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” Judge Ballew said.
Martin responded saying, “I was shocked. I never intended on naming my son Messiah because it means God and I didn’t think a judge could make me change my baby’s name because of her religious beliefs.”
The decision, which mom Jaleesa Martin is appealing, is outrageous on several levels. Aside from the obvious imposition of her own religion (“Messiah” is not a term exclusively reserved for Jesus), the judge’s actions evoke the sick specter of slave owners enforcing name changes on their slaves, while also resting on the dubious legal theory that a proper name that’s also a title must be earned.
But if those grounds for appeal are unsuccessful, there’s also a case to be made that Judge Ballew lacks standing, because when you’re the Child Support Magistrate for a place called Cocke County, you don’t really have any business telling anyone to change their name:
Ballew said the name Messiah could cause problems if the child grows up in Cocke County, which has a large Christian population.
It doesn’t stop there, either, because you know the old saying: you can take the Christian out of Cocke, but you can’t take the Cocke out of the Christian.
Martin’s appeal will be heard on September 17. Here’s the report on Messiah’s name change, from WBIR:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/judge-who-changed-babys-name-from-messiah-to-martin-is-from-what-county/
This case is beyond outrageous. The judge should not only be sanctioned, but disbarred. There is no ground in law for her to change any child's first name, or to use her cloak of state authority to invade the privacy of those before her, make decisions about this that are not before her to decide, or tell 'darker-skinned' people what they should believe or what to name their children. NO WAY on earth would this judge have contemplated a forced first-name change on a white, wealthy child. That is because there is no legal authority, none, zippo, nada, zero, that permits this kind of thing.
DeleteJust by means of perspective, Tennessee is the only state of which I am aware that passed a law many decades ago that declared that pi equals 3. The stupid: even way back then, they had to legislate while guided by it.
Oh fuck, it looks like the frothy one is gonna run for prez again...
ReplyDeleteRick Santorum in Iowa: The Term ‘Middle Class’ is ‘Marxism Talk’
Is there such thing as “class” in America? Not if you ask Rick Santorum. The once and possibly future GOP presidential candidate spoke to a Republican gathering in Lyon County, Iowa late last week and shared this piece of advice with his party: “Don’t use the term the other side uses.” That includes the “middle class.”
Santorum proceeded to tear into President Obama for constantly invoking the term “middle class” in his speeches about the economy. “Since when in America do we have classes?” Santorum asked. “Since when in America are people stuck in areas or defined places called a class? That’s Marxism talk.”
He said that every time Republicans used the term “middle class” they are “buying into” Democrats’ “rhetoric of dividing America.” Instead, Santorum insisted “there’s no class in America” and it’s a place where “everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
Watch video below, via RWW:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rick-santorum-in-iowa-the-term-middle-class-is-marxism-talk/
It WAS a place where anyone could succeed until the GOP decided that the rich and white males were better than anyone else. Who put the policies in place to make the corporations and the CEOS better than anyone else? Who took away the unions whose purpose was to equalize the playing field? Who wants women in the bedroom, the nursery and the kitchen, but never the Board Room? Who is gutting public education to insert religion into all schools, thus dumbing down and indoctrinating children? Hint: it isn't Santorum's 'other guys.'
DeleteOne more thought: isn;t a 'classless society' socialism?
DeleteSantorum insisted “there’s no class in America” and it’s a place where “everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
DeleteIt's not Marxism and it's not Socialism.
From Wikipedia: "Fascism borrowed theories and terminology from socialism but applied them to what it saw as the more significant conflict between nations and races rather than to class conflict, and focused on ending the divisions between classes within the nation."
Eight seconds was about all it took for state officials and the Missouri State Fair itself to condemn the use of a rodeo clown dressed up like President Barack Obama.
ReplyDeleteVideo of the incident, which went viral Sunday night, shows the clown taunting bulls, and a report of the incident claims an announcer stoked the crowd by asking if anyone wanted to see Obama get run over.
“I know I’m a clown, he’s running acting like one, doesn’t know he is one!” another rodeo clown said of the Obama clown.
“The State Fair is funded by taxpayer dollars, and is supposed to be a place where we can all bring our families and celebrate the state that we love,” Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said. “The young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse—that somehow it’s ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the president of our great nation.”
Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, a Republican, condemned the stunt via Twitter:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/state-officials-condemn-obama-rodeo-clown-stunt-were-better-than-this/
O/T but this just pisses me off no end:
ReplyDeletehttp://nymag.com/thecut/2013/08/steubenville-inspired-youth-program-misses-point.html
The program is not designed to teach males not to rape, but to not record it if they do. Here's the first line from the article:
"With the hopes of preventing another rape like the one that played out in nearby Steubenville, Ohio, a West Virginia federal prosecutor has launched a youth education program at eleven local football teams. Teaching kids not to take advantage of their drunk friends, right? Not exactly: U.S. attorney William J. Ihlenfeld hopes to prevent the next Steubenville by educating athletes about “being responsible when and making posts on the Internet,” the AP reports. That way if anyone gets raped, the thinking goes, at least no football player gets caught."
This needs to be spread far and wide and this fucking idiot shamed in to backing off this idiocy.
I just want to say, thank you very much John McCain & Sarah Palin for unleashing the hounds of racist hell.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian Publishes Another Deliberately Shocking Yet Self-Debunking NSA Article
ReplyDeletehttp://thedailybanter.com/2013/08/shocker-the-guardian-publishes-another-sensational-yet-self-debunking-nsa-article/
http://thedailybanter.com/2013/08/the-top-nine-most-egregiously-inaccurate-nsa-stories-so-far/
Congressional Freshmen For Sale - GREED IS RAMPANT.
ReplyDeletehttp://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2013/08/congressional-freshmen-for-sale.html
They are getting SOOOO desperate that they are now floating the I word. Do notice that the article got a FAIL on the site.
ReplyDeleteRepublican Congressman: We Probably Have The Votes To Impeach Obama
Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold said that Republicans could secure the votes to impeach Barack Obama in the House of Representatives. Farenthold was speaking at an open house held at a Civic Center in Luling, Texas, Saturday according to a YouTube video description and the Congressman’s online schedule. His answer came from a constituent’s question about conspiracy theories surrounding President Obama’s birth certificate.
“I think unfortunately the horse is already out of the barn on this, on the whole birth certificate issue,” Farenthold said. “The original Congress when his eligibility came up should have looked into it and they didn’t. I’m not sure how we fix it.”
“You tie into a question I get a lot: ‘If everyone’s so unhappy with the president’s done, why don’t you impeach him?’” Farenthold continued. “I’ll give you a real frank answer about that: If we were to impeach the president tomorrow, you could probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it. But it would go to the Senate and he wouldn’t be convicted.”
The Texas congressman then described the impeachment process, mentioning the vote in the House and the trial in the Senate. Farenthold then said that the failed attempt to remove President Bill Clinton from office through the impeach process actually damaged the country.
Farenthold said he was speaking “half in jest and half seriously,” about Clinton because “it’s easy to laugh at President Clinton.”
“What message do we sent to America if we impeach Obama and he gets away with what he’s impeached for and he is found innocent? What then do we say is OK?” the Congressman concluded. “Aside from the fact that it wouldn’t be effective, I think there’s some potential damage to society that would be done with a failed attempt at impeachment.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/republican-congressman-we-probably-have-the-votes-to-impeach
House Republicans Are Aching To Impeach President Obama For His ‘Crimes’
DeleteRep. Blake Farenthold admitted to constituents that House Republicans would impeach President Obama tomorrow if they could get him convicted in the Senate.
Video:
The fact that President Obama hasn’t committed anything remotely resembling an impeachable offense is of no concern to Republicans. Actually, Farenthold’s comments explain a lot. House Republicans aren’t just fishing for an Obama scandal that they can use to their political advantage. They are looking for the magic scandal that they can use to remove President Obama from office.
Outside of the fake scandals that Republicans have tried to cook up, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the IRS to name three, the Obama administration has been remarkably scandal free. This fact has caused congressional Republicans to turn every little imagined slight into a high crime that the president should be impeached for. After decades of presidents that have been plagued by second term scandals, Obama is maintaining his scandal free record. The fact must drive Republicans crazy.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/12/house-republicans-aching-impeach-president-obama-crimes.html
Spokeswoman Won’t Say If Rep. Farenthold Is A Birther
A spokeswoman for Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) repeatedly declined Monday to say whether or not the congressman believes President Barack Obama is an American citizen, telling TPM it's a "moot point."
TPM reached out to Farenthold's office after a video surfaced showing Farenthold telling a birther at a town hall last week that Congress should have done more to investigate Obama's birth certificate, lamenting that "the horse is already out of the barn" on the issue. Birthers generally believe in a widely debunked conspiracy theory that Obama is not a natural born citizen and, because of that, is ineligible to be President.
The congressman also told the constituent that the House likely has sufficient support to impeach the President, but it would be a fruitless effort because the Senate would never back a conviction.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/spokeswoman-won-t-say-if-rep-farenthold-is
Talk about weaseling out on that response!
Is anyone surprised that this creep is a Rep. from Texas, home of wingnuts like Ted Cruz (the reincarnation of Joe McCarthy), Jeb Hensarling (separated at birth from Sean Hannity), Joe Barton (the reincarnation of the banjo player in "Deliverance"), Louie Gohmert ("don't cast aspersions on my asparagus"), and Michael Burgess (male fetuses are just "boys being boys")?
Delete...But the incident represents a larger issue for the committee working to give Republicans the Senate majority in 2014: trying to get the most electable conservative candidates through to a general election without completely alienating their conservative base.
ReplyDelete“Look, it’s a challenging time for the NRSC. They have to back their incumbents and at the same time, tread a very careful line making sure that they are recruiting top-tier candidates that don’t run necessarily afoul of conservatives in a state. It’s really a razor’s edge for these guys,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. “The hope is we can navigate these waters so we don’t have Republican Senate candidates saying stupid things that will backfire 90 days before the election.”
A combination of Democratic retirements and incumbents defending their seats in red states have set up a good map for the NRSC. But the map had looked good in 2012 too, and Democrats actually expanded their majority.
For Republicans, the painful memory of Missouri’s Todd Akin or Indiana’s Richard Mourdock is still fresh. In Mourdock’s case, he beat out incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Lugar in a primary only to go on to lose to Democrat Joe Donnelly in the general election. And Akin, who famously declared that pregnancies in the case of “legitimate rape” were rare, lost to Sen. Claire McCaskill in a state that was once seen as a prime pick-up opportunity for the GOP. Alternately, backing a candidate too early in a cycle can backfire as well. For example, early 2010 support for then-Republican Charlie Crist ended up being somewhat embarrassing when Marco Rubio eventually won the seat.
So this cycle, the committee has been taking steps to try to avoid a repeat of their 2012 disappointments. They’ve been working to stay in consistent communication with conservative groups (which is why they sent someone to the RedState event in the first place). Several of the top political strategists at the committee came up in the conservative wing of the party. And they’ve met with any Republican running who wants to meet with them in states where there’s no clear frontrunner for the GOP candidacy to offer advice, staff help, or even telling those who want to run their chances of winning are slim to none.
In Alaska, they even met with Joe Miller, a tea party Republican who lost in 2010 to Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski— after he beat her in the primary. So when Miller announced he’d challenge Democrat Mark Begich, the NRSC flatly told him his negatives were too high not only for a general election, but probably a Republican primary as well.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/gop-strains-to-win-back-senate-while-keeping-conservative
Aside from the misuse of personal information, the primary reason I left FaceBook was what was posted one day. Someone posted a caricature of President Obama as Hitler.
ReplyDeleteI slammed the person for it and was expecting others to do the same since it was insulting to the Office of the President AT THE VERY LEAST!
NO ONE backed me up or commented positively to my complaint! So I told them ALL to f**k off and quit.
I refused to take the insults and hypocrisy of church and religion. Why should I hang around with a**holes in other locations?
Like these shits.
I agree completely that there should be an investigation and punishment for those responsible. Will it happen? Doubtful. For all their "outcry" over the "incident" they won't push it. Bets anyone?
Comments at the newspaper show that we are far from getting anywhere in this country with racism:
ReplyDelete"racism doesn't exist anymore except in democrat circles. kids growing up today don't know what it is until dems force it on them for power and votes."
Clueless.
I hear he is already trying to distance himself. These guys seem to forget that the simple fact that the President was elected, and re-elected by significant margins means that they are in the minority. And a school superintendent who promotes such disrespect and hatred of the President, should certainly face some consequences. One can only hope.
ReplyDeleteMissouri. The Show Me State, or The Show Me Stupid State?
ReplyDeleteThis is the reason I left Missouri two years ago. As a female democrat I was the total minority at all social, religious and other functions. It is sickening the way they joke and disrespect our President as well as any democrat.
ReplyDelete1:09 here. I got tired of hearing the slavery and lynching jokes.
DeleteWhen you go to the library and look up the names used in the lynching jokes and find those were the names of people lynched in that county, that is a speechless moment. The descendants of those who probably either strung them up or stood in the crowd and cheered remembered to pass the joke on to the next generation.
One thing for sure. These same assholes telling the lynching jokes were sure to tell you THEY went to church on Sunday. Then they tell me they are worried about my soul because they didn't see me on Sunday? Fuck Missouri.
Missouri, sounds a lot like "Misery" to me. Home to Branson, the redneck capital of entertainment and busloads of GOP grayhairs staying in $70/night hotels and eating at buffets. Also home of the 1812 New Madrid earthquake, strongest quake recorded in what was thought to be a non seismic area. Perhaps another quake will come and shake some sense into these assbackwards middle American freaks?
ReplyDeleteLots of folks pick on Alaska due to the Palin family once having lived here but now, Missouri, it's your turn on the hot seat!
They have schools in Missouri? Huh, who'd have thunk it.
ReplyDeleteOh dear God, the description of this gives me chills; it's just awful. The atmosphere would give anyone that sense that they hope their tan isn't too dark.
ReplyDeleteRacism is alive and well. And the photo also has the broom stuck up the backside of the clown. (A broom?) If this doesn't cry 'Obama needs to go back to sweeping floors', what does? Really great family values entertainment............NOT!
How would these people deal with an African-American Republican President? I doubt it would be any different. If a Herman Cain or Adam West believe it would be any different for them, they'd better think again.
ReplyDeleteWith these racists, color comes before party politics.
Hey, now, be fair! Republicans absolutely ADORE black people! At least, the ones who are willing to insult, demean, and demonize other black folks for the Fox news hosts' amusement, while having their lips pressed firmly to the crack of white Republican ass. The Republicans love black people SO MUCH that they would never DREAM of patronizing and insulting ANY black person by placing them into a better job position, or electing them to high office. Repubs know that it would be deeply insulting to all American blacks if we were to elect one! Giving them power and opportunities is insulting to black people, according to Fox idiots. It suggests they are victims who can't attain high office without a bunch of people helping them. They need to get boot-strappy like Sarah Palin and quit your job and run around whining about your idiotic face So to prove our love and good will, we will do that...
DeleteThe stupid also extends to Northern California. At our county fair's rodeo over the weekend, we had a Bill Clinton rodeo clown.
ReplyDeleteOur county is about 50/50 progressives/yahoos. Yet going to the rodeo, you'd think that we're a bunch of fundy tea-tards.
Missouri is now on my no-visit list.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Aside from redneck old people going to Branson there really is NO reason to visit MO. There's a reason they call it "flyover country" ya know.
DeleteThe comments on this subject are as inflammatory and derogatory as any on a right wing blog. Look at what you've written - read it again. Hatred, snobbery, vicious innuendo.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are bigots everywhere - you probably have a few in your own families. I'll never forget driving through Alabama coming home from Destin - confederate flags everywhere! I don't hold every person in Alabama responsible for this arcane practice.
What happened to the progressive person who wants to educate? Why stoop to the level of ignorant vile people?
In two generations racism will ebb and people will pick on someone besides blacks, gays and atheists. Perhaps people will rebel against the robots taking over society. Hey, it could happen ;-)
Have a look at the 2012 electoral map. It's obvious who the voters are that are deciding who leads this country, and here's a hint, it doesn't include much of middle america nor the south.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/election-map-2012/president/
FYI - just reported on KMOV tv in St. Louis, Mark Ficken has resigned from his position and the rodeo clown has been banned from Missouri rodeos for LIFE.
ReplyDeleteRush Limbaugh Blames Obama for Missouri State Fair’s Racist Rodeo Clown
ReplyDeleteRush Limbaugh is blaming Obama for the racist mocking of the president by a rodeo clown at the Missouri State Fair.
Limbaugh claims that the racist incident occurred because Obama has diminished the presidency.
Transcript: Can be found at the link, and boy is it a douzy of a leap from rational thought!
Limbaugh believes that because President Obama went on The Tonight Show, his opponents now have free reign to be as racist as they want. Limbaugh has been pushing the bogus argument that somehow Barack Obama harmed the office of the presidency by going on a late night talk show. He is trying to argue that Barack Obama delegitimized his presidency by having a chat with Jay Leno.
This is more blame the victim nonsense from the right. They can’t take responsibility for the seeds that their racist attacks against President Obama have sown, so spend their time dreaming up ways to blame the president. The thought process that started as a justification for their racism against Obama has grown to include all minorities. This type of thinking is also visible in the way that conservatives blame Trayvon Martin for his own death.
Rush Limbaugh has always used anything that Obama has said or done to argue that the president has diminished the office, but what he really means is that the presidency has been diminished because a black man is living in the White House.
His blaming of Obama isn’t about talk shows. It’s about defending the racist attitudes of Republicans towards Barack Obama by any means necessary. No matter how much Republicans protest, they can’t hide their racism by blaming the victim.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/12/rush-limbaugh-blames-obama-missouri-state-fairs-racist-rodeo-clown.html
Well it takes one clown to know another, right Rush?
The fucking asshole, Rush Limbaugh, and the bitch, Sarah Palin, are the ones that really piled on as to the racism issue against President Obama! Those two have led the chants!
DeleteI, an I'm sure many others feel this way too, would love to see the fat ass Limbaugh and the evil, racist Palin put in chains on the steps of Congress for all to admonish in any manner they see fit! I'll wager both of them would cry their eyes out!!! May they both rest in hell when they leave this earth.
During the day he is mild mannered, Mr. Ficken, Superintendent of Schools, Pettis County R-12 School District in Missouri, but start the music and let the rodeo begin and he becomes Mark Ficken Rodeo Announcer Extraordinaire. Mark has one of the voices you can just listen to all day and never get tired of hearing it. But what really makes him a great announcer is his knowledge of the sport.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rodeoattitude.com/dir_hd/mark_ficken/about_me.htm
Mr. Ficken (the announcer) and event organizers should have ended IMMEDIATELY the "clown" performance when they saw the mask. The "clown's" live microphone should have been silenced and the "clown" directed to leave IMMEDIATELY.
ReplyDeletePretending that only the "clown" was responsible is absurd. If some idiot "clown" had started some overtly sexual performance, the event organizers would have stepped in. If they don't have that kind of control, they shouldn't be running a family event.
The people in charge that let this disgusting performance proceed should admit their fault and apologize. Weaseling out is comically juvenile.
I don't know this for a fact in this particular situation, but in some counties, the Supt of Education is an elected position, so there might've been political as well as economic pressure on him. I'm not excusing the lack of leadership and institutional control, but I've seen situations where someone who was trying to do the right thing was made a scapegoat and "run out of town" for trying to shame people that just can't be shamed.
DeleteSo if you're the superintendent, do you stick around and try to do some good in the long run by (after the fact) apologizing humbly for not taking action and taking responsibility for the embarrassing situation, or do you risk your position? I'm not advocating for going along to get along, but the answers are easier to make for someone else than it is for ourselves sometimes.
Just food for thought.
The photos showed a broom up the butt of 'supposed' President Obama! Whoever led this and riled up the crowd to act like the former KKK crowds needs to be stung up by his feet!
DeleteThis racist stuff against our wonderful POTUS needs to be stopped immediately. Sarah Palin started it in the campaign w/McCain and it's grown since then. (i.e. the deaths in AZ for which she was also responsible!)
President Obama is an outstanding man and the fat, white, old Republican angry guys (McConnell, McCain, et al) can in no way compare to him!
Judge Throws Out Racism Claims In Paula Deen Lawsuit
ReplyDeleteA judge threw out the racism claims on Monday, saying that Jackson, who is white, doesn't have the standing to sue Deen and Hiers for race discrimination, according to the AP.
The sexual harassment claims contained in the lawsuit might still go forward.
http://www.businessinsider.com/judge-throws-out-racism-claims-in-paula-deen-lawsuit-2013-8
What does that even MEAN? If racism happened, it happened, and someone witnessed or experienced it. What kind of 'standing' does one have to have to see something for what it is? This is utter bullshit.
5:54
DeleteIt doesn't mean that there can't be a lawsuit, but an aggrieved party has to file it, not just someone who witnessed it. It's not against civil law or criminal law for someone to offend another person, even if it's a fellow employee or supervisor. Even if the white lady " proves" that it was a hostile workplace, it wasn't hostile towards the white lady.
Common law: you cannot claim damages if you are not the party harmed. The damages were against the black employees, if anyone. As a white employee, you might've been offended and felt empathy for others, but you were not harmed.
ReplyDeleteThink of it like this: you witness a slip-and-fall at a store. Even though your heart goes out and you may have a world of empathy for the person injured, even a loved one, but you have no legal standing to sue for damages, emotional or economic, just because you witnessed it. If you're the guardian of a minor harmed in that situation, you could file on behalf of the child, but not yourself.
I hope this isn't a repeat, but I'm not sure if I deleted the 1st one because I was interrupted by dogs running back inside after it rained here and I didn't know it had started yet. [ Thanks Obama!!! jk, of course ;~)]
There's a thin line between genius and insanity. These bigoted racists idiots just erased that line.
ReplyDeleteNot all Missourians are like this- I'm a Joplinite (the reddest "city" in Missouri), and I've been following this blog since '09.
ReplyDeleteWe're split about 50/50.
:(
Can you imagine how these audiences would have reacted if, in say 2007, a clown with a George W. Bush face had appeared and been treated in a similar way. The audience would have been horrified, the act would have immediately been pulled, the fair and the state would have been branded "unpatriotic" and accused of "not loving the troops." Missouri products would have been boycotted and Branson would have emptied out of senior citizens. I guess the difference is that the current president is of mixed-race parentage so any kind of nastiness or cruelty can be done. All in the name of "fun," of course, but really in the name of racism. Wasn't it the KKK of Springfiled that offered recently to do neighborhood watches?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom