The Hollywood Liberal

Tea Party Stiffs Vegas Resort
Some Tennessee tea partiers are in hot water with a Las Vegas gambling resort that’s accusing them of skipping out on a big hotel bill. On Monday Venetian Casino Resort filed suit against Tea Party Nation Corporation of Franklin, Tenn., alleging the group owes $642,144 for canceling a conservative conclave last year. The event, which had been scheduled for July 14-18, 2010, was first postponed until October and ultimately canceled. According to a contract attached to the complaint, the reservation included an agreement by Tea Party Nation to pay the resort $579,148 in the event of a cancellation, of which the resort alleges the group still owes $554,148.

Late Late Night FDL: Giving Him Something He Can Feel
En Vogue — Giving Him Something He Can Feel.

En Vogue — Giving Him Something He Can Feel.

What’s on your mind?

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Eh, close enough
Someday one of our wars is going to end…as long as there’s a negligible accomplishment.

The kind of victory Pyrrhus could appreciate.

Muammar Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he gives up power, France said on Wednesday, signalling a new effort to find a diplomatic solution to a five-month-old war that has failed to oust the resilient leader.

The United States said Gaddafi must quit, but whether he remained in Libya after that would be up to the Libyan people.

Couldn’t they at least suggest Elba?

Yet another great policy victory for our nation’s strategy of eventually fighting every possible nation. You better get ready Lichtenstein and Lesotho!

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Slapstick, Denial Highlight Murdochs’ Testimony
We seem to be expected to believe that the prime minister, the Murdochs, Mrs. Brooks and two of the most senior policemen in Britain, all were born yesterday.

By William Pfaff

We seem to be expected to believe that the prime minister, the Murdochs, Mrs. Brooks and two of the most senior policemen in Britain, all were born yesterday.

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A History of Rupert Murdoch
This brief history of Rupert Murdoch by Bruce Page, author of the book “The Murdoch Archipelago,” originally ran in 2009 as a straightforward antidote to Michael Wolff’s “sycophantic” (in Page’s view) 2008 book on the international media mogul, “The Man Who Owns the News.” Page traces the Murdoch family history from the early 20th century, when Rupert’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch, became chief editor of the Melbourne Herald in Australia, to the recent past. The feared Australian billionaire “began with an honorable path before him,” Page writes, before mobilizing his inheritance to strap together a powerful, vast tabloid and propaganda machine that enabled him to shape the behavior of international political figures as well as those who worked under him. —ARK CounterPunch: Rupert’s father, Sir Keith, founded the dynasty during World War I as a dirty-tricks minion for “Billy” Hughes, probably Australia’s nastiest prime minister. His cover myth as a heroic war reporter has been so thoroughly dismantled that now it impresses none but family retainers. At Versailles, Keith was Billy’s ever-present aide in striving to make the Peace Conference into a vicious cock-up, rich in racist and imperialist content. Curiously, the pair would have had zero leverage but for the failure of a plot of Keith’s, which sought in 1918 to remove Australia’s battlefield commander on the Western Front, John Monash, for being an unheroic Jew. (Monash wrote home that it was a bore having to fight a “pogrom” at the same time as fight Ludendorff.) The overall commander, General Douglas Haig, wouldn’t play: and Monash’s divisions led the British breakthrough at Amiens which, ruining Ludendorff, put Germany – suddenly, unexpectedly– at the Allies’ mercy. … This ironic history yields two items of present relevance. One, we see the core of the Murdoch business: offering political propaganda services, disguised thinly as journalism. Two, there’s the stunning Murdoch talent for seizing the wrong end of any available political or military stick. Keith’s estimate of Monash and Rupert’s of the pseudo-warrior Bush Jr. were reciprocals, to be sure, but identically crass. Read more

This brief history of Rupert Murdoch by Bruce Page, author of the book “The Murdoch Archipelago,” originally ran in 2009 as a straightforward antidote to Michael Wolff’s “sycophantic” (in Page’s view) 2008 book on the international media mogul, “The Man Who Owns the News.”

Page traces the Murdoch family history from the early 20th century, when Rupert’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch, became chief editor of the Melbourne Herald in Australia, to the recent past. The feared Australian billionaire “began with an honorable path before him,” Page writes, before mobilizing his inheritance to strap together a powerful, vast tabloid and propaganda machine that enabled him to shape the behavior of international political figures as well as those who worked under him. —ARK

CounterPunch:

Rupert’s father, Sir Keith, founded the dynasty during World War I as a dirty-tricks minion for “Billy” Hughes, probably Australia’s nastiest prime minister. His cover myth as a heroic war reporter has been so thoroughly dismantled that now it impresses none but family retainers.

At Versailles, Keith was Billy’s ever-present aide in striving to make the Peace Conference into a vicious cock-up, rich in racist and imperialist content. Curiously, the pair would have had zero leverage but for the failure of a plot of Keith’s, which sought in 1918 to remove Australia’s battlefield commander on the Western Front, John Monash, for being an unheroic Jew. (Monash wrote home that it was a bore having to fight a “pogrom” at the same time as fight Ludendorff.) The overall commander, General Douglas Haig, wouldn’t play: and Monash’s divisions led the British breakthrough at Amiens which, ruining Ludendorff, put Germany – suddenly, unexpectedly– at the Allies’ mercy.

… This ironic history yields two items of present relevance. One, we see the core of the Murdoch business: offering political propaganda services, disguised thinly as journalism. Two, there’s the stunning Murdoch talent for seizing the wrong end of any available political or military stick. Keith’s estimate of Monash and Rupert’s of the pseudo-warrior Bush Jr. were reciprocals, to be sure, but identically crass.

Read more

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Debt Ceiling Standoff Is Hurting Consumer Confidence, Goldman Economist Says
Washington is struggling to reach a deal on the debt ceiling, and American consumer confidence is slipping. Do these facts have anything to do with…

Shawn Lawrence Otto: Rick Perry Asked Why More Kids Are Getting Pregnant in Texas
Instead of providing fact-based information, Perry’s program uses fear and Jesus — over-emphasizing the risks of STDs leading to cervical cancer, radical hysterectomy and death — together with Christian morality.

Unions Smack Obama On Debt Talks, Walmart
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s rocky relationship with unions took a few more lumps Wednesday as labor groups pounded both a deficit-cutting proposal he embraced as…

Wash. Times ‘ Wolf “Lie[s]” To Accuse Obama Of Lying On Health Care

In a Washington Times column, Dr. Milton Wolf, a blogger who purports to be a distant cousin of the president, accused President Obama of lying about aspects of health care reform in claiming that health care reform would lower the deficit and that “there are no death panels,” among other things. In fact, most of Wolf’s accusations are based on persistent, long-debunked right-wing myths about health care reform.

Wolf Claims It Is A “Lie” That Health Care Reform Will Reduce Deficit

CLAIM: Health Care Reform Will Not Reduce The Deficit. In his list of “Obamacare falsehoods” that appeared in his Washington Times column, Wolf wrote “The deficit will be reduced: Lie.” [Washington Times, 3/20/10]

Wolf Falsely Claims Health Care Reform Includes “Death Panels”

CLAIM: The Health Care Reform Bill Includes “Death Panels.” In his column, Wolf further claimed one of the “Obamacare falsehoods” about health care reform is that it doesn’t contain “death panels.” [Washington Times,

[Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change, accessed 1/14/11]

IPCC: Most Of Recent Warming Is Very Likely Due To Increase In Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change — a scientific body compiling research from thousands of scientists — concluded in 2007 that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level” and that “most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely [defined in the report as a ‘>90%’ chance] due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [human-caused] GHG [greenhouse gas] concentrations.” [Pages 8 and 17, Synthesis Report, Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, 2007]

The Unbelievable Career Of John Boehner’s Congressional Predecessor
Ever wanted to know who to thank for House Speaker John Boehner’s congressional career? The late Ohio Republican Rep. Donald “Buz” Lukens was your man.

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Parliament Report: News International ‘Deliberately’ Tried To ‘Thwart’ Phone Hacking Investigation
The British House Of Commons released a scathing report Wednesday accusing Rupert Murdoch’s News International of “deliberately trying to thwart” the initial investigation into the News Of The World phone hacking allegations.

The Day of the Low Crust: Notes on the Demise of the Murdoch Media Empire
Fox’s new reality TV series “Murdoch & Son” premiered July 19th with a 2-hour debut featuring the ‘Old Man’ Rupert Murdoch testifying (but not under oath) and answering questions with his son James before a committee of the British Parliament. While there were occasional moments of hilarity, such as Rupe — a billionaire known for […]

When a Tax Increase is Also a Tax Cut
Wall Street Journal: “In one draft summary of the plan by the so-called Gang of Six Democrats and Republican senators, the authors said it would raise about $1.2 trillion in additional taxes to help shrink future deficits. But in another summary, also from the Gang of Six, the plan results in ‘net tax relief of approximately $1.5 trillion’ — a tax cut.”

“If lawmakers accept these competing views, Democrats could claim victory in their push for tax increases while Republicans could say they succeeded in opposing tax increases–a convenient solution to the current budget impasse.”

Brown Holds Double-Digit Leads in Ohio
A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio finds Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) way ahead of two potential challengers.

Brown leads State Treasurer Josh Mandel (R), 49% to 34%, and tops State Sen. Kevin Coughlin, 50% to 32%.

Six Ways To Get America Out From Under The Thumb Of Wall Street
A new report details the ways America can be free of the power wielded by the big banks that brought on the economic crisis.

‘Bath Salts’ Are the Latest U.S. Media Hysteria Drug
A new drug sold legally in head shops as "bath salts" is getting a lot of media attention that may be doing more harm than good.

How Rupert Murdoch Could Get His Hands On Your Kid’s Information–And It’s Legal
Rupert Murdoch hired former NYC schools chancellor Joel Klein to help him profit off of "school reform"–but progressive groups are raising the alarm.

Are Republicans Committing Treason?
The Republican Party no longer has Americans’ best interests at heart, and we are suffering because of it.

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Prevention as the Best Defense
President Obama and key members of Congress have finally acknowledged that any deal on the deficit must include reductions in Pentagon spending. The figures being discussed are far too small, but the principle has been accepted. But the underlying question…