I used to listen to Rush but stopped when he kept going on about "trickle down" economics. I saw through the "frame" - Rush would ask, "when was the last time a POOR man gave you a job?". I stopped listening, but while not listening to Rush, I still considered myself a conservative...
But then, the Glenn Beck show and his website's msg board, MADE me open my eyes and see the light!
http://www.glennbeck.com (if you can stomach it.
The thing that broke it for HIM was that, one day, this KOOK Glenn Beck (very similar to Bush, once hooked on drugs and alcohol but worked his way out of it via being "Born Again") was going on and on, "The only reason you're not RICH is because YOU CHOOSE to be rich."
Now, I happen to have a business degree and accounting experience, and I know that for every business that "makes it" in this economy, there's like 4-5 that DON'T. *Most* very successful business people that I know, in fact, have failed on more than one occassion. Does that mean they "CHOOSE" not to succeed? Of course not.
But Beck persisted. A man called the show, said that as he was a paraplegic, Beck's assertion had its limits, especially for someone such as himself. Beck said, "Look at Steven Hawking! *He's* rich! The only reason you're not rich is because you have chosen not to be rich!"
Without going into details of other things which led up to that, that was the straw that broke it for me for talk radio. I almost threw my radio out the window.
I was still a member of the Glenn Beck "insiders" at the time, and I started posting a number of leading questions. The replies (or lack of them) was amazing.
Example one:
"Glenn says that the only reason one isn't rich because they've chosen not to be. Can someone tell me, is it possible for EVERYONE in an economy to be rich? I mean, do there HAVE to be losers along with the winners? If there HAS to be losers, then Glenn must be wrong, eh?"
No replies.
Example two: (tax "fairness")
(now PLEASE, my REAL feelings about how much we should be taxing the rich goes WAY BEYOND what the DNC seems to be willing to do - this is a loaded, baiting, trick question)
"Of course, flat taxes seem fair, but as Glenn explained, rich people don't use government services any more than poor people do so (f*cking BS, btw), shouldn't we just tax all people, rich and poor, the same AMOUNT, rather than as a percentage of their income?"
Believe it or not, the few replies I got said that it WOULD be more fair, but not politically viable!
This was just before the pro-war rallies he sponsored for Clear Channel, culminating in a tribute to that grand neo-con fairy tale herself, Jessica Lynch.
The thing that finally broke it for me was the *VERY* *FIRST* *DAY* of the Iraqi invasion.
To review that time, the administration (and all talk radio hosts) said, *time and again*, we *KNEW* that there were WMD's and furthermore (Colin Powell said), they *knew* exactly where they were, but to reveal that would compromise their intelligence. The rest of the world, I figured, didn't have access to the information WE had and so we MUST know something they DON'T.
Now, let's review some basic definitions.
There is a MILE'S WIDE DIFFERENCE between someone saying "I know this" versus, "I think this" or "I believe this to be true" or "I gather this" or, "I'm assuming".
So, being a Fox news watcher at the time, I foamed at the mouth for when the revelation would come, "This is Geraldo Rivera standing outside a field in Western Iraq. I am standing here after having the army clear away the protecting Iraqi troops here. What you see behind me is a field of barrels, FILLED with weaponized anthrax like the kind Colin Powell showed the UN. We've counted over 1,023 barrels so far, and it seems the field goes on and on."
Unfortunately, it turned out to be YET ANOTHER "Al Capone's Vault" - and nothing.
Hey, if they ******KNEW****** where the WMD's were - wouldn't they reveal *JUST ONE*, so as to prove to the world we were right?
But they didn't KNOW. THEY'RE LIARS. When you don't know something, don't say you KNOW it. Playing around with the word "is" and the definition of "sex" isn't turning our backs on the UN (which WE put together) and the binding treaties we've signed over LIES.
They ask for loyalty? I ask for truth and honesty. It's a two way street, and they failed to deliver when it was most important.
Look, I've looked into the eyes of darkness. I've drunk from the Devil's cup. I know their language and the way they THINK.
It's difficult for me to look back on the stuff I used to listen to, and the attitude I *used* to have as a result of these poisonous ideas, but I'm recovered now.
Some people see my handle and complain to the admins that I'm some kind of "mole". But after all, if I were truly "infiltrating" this BBS, would I really use this handle?
After having been "converted" (thanks with Thom Hartmann) I believe we're facing the greatest danger in our nation's and indeed the world's history, greater than Hitler, considering all we've sacrificed to get where we are today. I am sincerely trying to help to stop this country from going back to the 1880's.
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