Sapere Aude!

"Little Winstons" Trying to Edit Wikipedia Paul Revere Page

You've probably heard about Sarah Palin's family vacation.  She's riding around the country learning about American History.  Some of news coverage of the tour indicates she definately needs an educational vacation this summer.  She either doesn't quite understand what Paul Revere actually did or cannot communicate her understanding clearly.  In typical Palin fashion, she is refusing to admit any fault in either her understanding of US History or of her ability to communiate it clearly, she doubled-down on it.  The "great communicator" she is not.  Some of her supporters have taken things a little further.  From Little Green Footballs:

Man, you’ve gotta almost admire the sheer blind dedication of Sarah Palin’s wingnut acolytes.

Now they’re trying like crazy to edit the Wikipedia page for “Paul Revere” to make it match Palin’s botched version of history. Here’s the Revision history of Paul Revere; check out the edits that are being reversed.

Also see the discussion page for an entertaining exchange between Wikipedia editors and a would-be revisionist.

via littlegreenfootballs.com

In George Orwell's 1984  - which, I think, is a much better referrence our current economic predicament than Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged - the main character, Winston, works in The Ministry of Truth.  His job is to go back and revise the content past documents that make up "the official record" so that it suits the political leadership's current political purposes.  But, in order for the machine to work, enough people have to be willing to do this kind of work.  Totalitarian regimes require a measure of popular support in order to carry out their plans.  It looks like some Palin supporters are willing to do this kind of work.  They're Palin's "little Winstons."  Thankfully, Wikipedia is not the official record.

Sarah Palin's Next Reality TV Series: Running for President

As a journalist, watching the flailing press coverage of Sarah Palin's bus tour has been the most sobering experience since Donald Trump helicoptered into New Hampshire masquerading as a presidential candidate and a horde of reporters hung on his every word.

Most observers acknowledge that Palin's so-called "One Nation" tour doesn't have a coherent point, and even that Palin would be a weak presidential candidate. And yet, literally scores of reporters -- as many as 200 -- are following Palin around as she busily fails to say anything meaningful. Reporters unlucky enough to be assigned to cover Palin on Memorial Day created a #wheressarah Twitter hashtag as they raced around trying to guess where she would land next.

via www.salon.com

I guess running for President is Sarah Palin's next reality TV series.  Unlike "Sarah Palin's Alaska," this one isn't on TLC or network television.  Like Donald Trump's short lived reality show about his decision whether or not to run for President, Palin's show airs on cable news channels and is shot in a documentary/reality-show style.  It follows follows reporters 'tracking down the hard news' about whether Palin is going to run in 2012.  Be sure and check your favorite cable news channel for more information.  Or, just turn on Fox News.

Skepticism about Michele Bachmann's Divine Calling

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appears to be inching ever closer to a run for president -- and as she has now said in her latest public statements, her prayers on the subject have now yielded a calling from God himself.

via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

 If God wants Michele Bachmann to be a Congresswoman or President, then he should give the rest of us a clear, public, and unambiguous sign that this is his will so that we don't act contrary to divine will and thus immorally.  I doubt we'll get such a sign.

Obama, Seth Meyers Rip Trump at White House Correspondent's Dinner

Trump has made a target of himself by playing up the birther nonsense so I do not feel bad for him. Obama and Seth Meyers both nailed him. Obama is up first.

Next up, Seth Meyers.

Where Did John Galt's Ideas Get Us?

Here's the trailer for a movie based on Ayn Rand's book  Atlas Shrugged.

And, here's where John Galt's ideas got us.

American Casino movie trailer from Leslie and Andrew Cockburn on Vimeo.

 

Shocker: Michelle Bachmann Does Not Know Jack About US History . . .

Or perhaps she's intentionally misrepresenting it for some reason.

(via Huff Post) 

The Word: Disintegration

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Disintegration
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

Bill Maher on the Founding Fathers and the Tea Party (1/14)

Here are last week's new rules from Bill Maher.

Jan. 14, 2011 Clip - New Rule: Founding Fathers

Left vs. Right Coverage of O'Donnell on the Constitution

Here is Fox News' story on O'Donnell's debate appearance.

Trying to demonstrate her grasp of constitutional law after recently blanking on examples of Supreme Court rulings she opposes, Delaware Republican U.S. Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell on Tuesday found herself chided by a debate panelist – in front of a roomful of legal scholars – for not memorizing the U.S. Constitution.

[. . .]

"I'm sorry, I didn't bring my Constitution with me," O'Donnell chuckled. "Fortunately, senators don't have to memorize the Constitution. Can you remind me of what the other ones are?"

And, here is Salon.com's coverage of the story, with a video clip. Fox News paints O'Donnell as a victim of meanies on the panel.  But, she's the one running around running her mouth about the Constitution and then demonstrates that she doesn't get some pretty basic parts of it, like the First Amendement.  I don't really care if she doesn't have all the amendments memorized, but most people understand that the First Amendment implies there's a separation between church and state and that the government cannot sanction a religion.  Of course, Fox doesn't report that part of it.  You can bet that if I was running for office and talking about adhereing to the Constitution that I'd know them all by heart though.

Twisted Sister vs. Christine O'Donnell on Evolution

Bill Maher has promised to play a clip of Christine O'Donnell from Politically Incorrect until she comes on Real Time.  Here's last night's clip, in which Dee Snider from Twister Sister demonstrates he knows more about evolutionary theory than O'Donnell.

O'Donnell calls evolution a myth then demonstrates she doesn't know what evolutionary theory really claims when she asks why monkeys do not continue to evolve into humans as if evolution claims monkeys give birth to homo sapiens.  Of course, that's not what evolutionary theory claims at all as even an Intelligent Design theorist will tell you.  Dee Snider corrects her by explaining that it takes a long time.