The Burning Hypocrisy: Part XXXIV

It’s been suggested by some media pundits that Dick and Liz Cheney abruptly cancelling their appearance at an upcoming speaking engagement in Toronto due to “security concerns” the other day was nothing more than a publicity stunt to rollover existing ticket holders and hype the “Steynemite!” event featuring controversial author Mark Steyn and another loopy English ex-pat, Michael Coren. Certainly not a theory beyond the realm of plausibility…

Somewhat aside from that, it’s amusing that both Steyn and Coren vehemently promote themselves as champions of free speech – as do their legion of so-called “conservative” supporters, such as SDAMatt2a, the “owner” of the above-noted video. But in reality, do these folks actually “walk the walk” when it comes to the matter of free speech? In my experience, they most certainly do not:

That’s just one glaring example, but I could produce countless more where these phony advocates for free speech don’t practice what they preach.

By the way, I’m not sure why I got “blocked” by this particular individual. I think I made a couple of comments that took issue with remarks made by others, but it was nothing terribly heinous – certainly not of the calibre that would warrant being “blocked” from his channel. Some people, it seems, just can’t tolerate dissenting opinions. Apparently, their idea of “free speech” is limited to that which aligns with their own point of view.

Canada “Too Dangerous” for Cheney

As reported in local Toronto-area paper The National Post, former U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney won’t be appearing any time soon in Canada.

Ryan Ruppert, president of the ironically-named promotions company Spectre Live Corp., which had scheduled an upcoming appearance at the Toronto Convention Centre for Cheney and his loathsome daughter Liz, said the malevolent mass-murderer had cancelled the engagement, citing safety concerns.

“After speaking with their security advisors, they changed their mind on coming to the event,” Ruppert told CTV Network. They “decided it was better for their personal safety they stay out of Canada.”

Good!

Disappointed ticket holders for the event can either bring in their tickets for a refund, or go to a replacement talk by inflammatory racist Mark Steyn.

Sun “News” Drinking Game

Okay, so here’s what I propose… Take a shot every time you hear execrable termagant and furious runt Kathy Shaidle casually tell a blatant LIE during this 7:00 minute interview with addlebrained guest-host Mark Bonokoski (to be fair, his cognitive lapses and frequent misstatements of fact get a pass for our purposes).

Advance Warning: Immediately surrender your car keys to a friend before attempting. Also, do not plan on operating heavy machinery, chain saws, firearms, etc. any time soon.

Challenge: Presuming you’re conscious by the end of the exercise, what was your tally of the number of Shaidle’s falsehoods?

Fox & Fiends

Generally reviled former Vice-President Dick Cheney hit the “curvy couch” of Fox’s most unctuous right-wing sycophants this morning to promote his new book, In My Imagination…

Unsurprisingly, Cheney believes it imperative for the U.S. government to continue wasting a TRILLION dollars per year on the military, preferring instead to tackle the country’s troubling deficit problems by slashing entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. This from a man who when in office, cavalierly told former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, that “deficits don’t matter.”

Enough of 9/11 Already!

Arrrrgh. Another maudlin 9/11 commemorative is drawing closer – this time with even more dramatic intensity, being the 10th anniversary of the completely avoidable attacks on the American “homeland” that supposedly “changed everything” (i.e., provided a convenient excuse for the previous U.S. administration to launch two ruinous conflicts on the other side of the world in addition to a ridiculously absurd and heinously expensive “global war on terrorism”).

Surely, I’m not alone in being absolutely fed up with hearing about 9/11… whether it be the endless conspiracy theories concerning the event, the revisionist historical recollections of war criminals like Bush and Cheney, or the fake sentimentality of cynical political hacks like Guiliani (that have profited immensely from the tragedy, btw) trotted out for the occasion, it’s just all become soooo incredibly tiresome.

Update: Speaking of Rudy Guiliani, Lawrence O’Donnell rips “America’s Mayor” a new one in his “Rewrite” segment.

Naked News: Cheney’s Book & More…

There’s something wonderfully absurd about the “Naked News” that always makes me chuckle.

Now, what were those headlines again? I forget.

War Criminal!

As former Vice President Dick Cheney takes the podium at the CPAC convention, an audience member loudly denounces him as a “war criminal”…

What’s particularly funny about this clip is that if you listen closely to the chatter in the background, someone on stage can be heard to remark, “We’ve got a Canadian.” Heh.

OMG! We’re All Al Queda Now…

Based on the intrepid investigative efforts of Fox News and Liz Cheney’s tax-exempt “Keep America Scared Shitless Safe” political action committee, extreme radical liberal MSNBC TV host “Rachel Bin Maddow” exposes the pervasive activities of a nefarious terrorist sleeper cell that’s alleged to have infiltrated all aspects of the American government and mainstream media.

I suggest that Liz Cheney and her cardiac-challenged father, former shadow-President “Dick” Cheney be immediately transported to Gitmo and ruthlessly interrogated with “enhanced methods” of questioning (which are not torture!) until such time as they fully disclose every detail of exactly what they knew and precisely when they knew it regarding this latest terrorist conspiracy.

Cheney & The GOP: Masters of Disaster

Rachel Maddow resoundingly demolishes the Republican’s lying, hypocritical douchebaggery in response to last week’s attempted terror attack.

As for Dick Cheney’s latest mendacious tirade, perhaps this recent piece from James Fallows says it best: “The former vice president, Dick Cheney, has brought dishonor to himself, his office, and his country. I am not aware of a case of a former President or Vice President behaving as despicably as Cheney has done in the ten months since leaving power…. Cheney has acted as if utterly unconcerned with the welfare of his country, its armed forces, or the people now trying to make difficult decisions. He has put narrow score-settling interest far, far above national interest.”

Why the right-wing continues to venerate this utterly disgraceful coward, completely escapes me.

Political Tourettes Update: On yesterday’s Ed Show Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) delivered a stinging rebuke and challenge to Cheney.

So come on Dick, man up and debate Massa on Fox or wherever. I’m sure lots of folks would pay to see that contest.

Cheney: “A Man Who Frightens Easily”

Granted that Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration since leaving the State Department in 2005, but his assessment of Dick Cheney and the general fear mongering of the Bush administration in the post 9/11 environment is pretty insightful.

“Vice-President Cheney is a man who frightens easily. All you have to do is go back to his five deferments during the Vietnam conflict, his behaviour post 9/11, undisclosed locations and so forth.”

On a related note, here’s a great discussion with Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda discussing the obligations of President Obama under the Constitution with regards to the torture issue.