Education Isn't Everything but it is Something

Even though I have only recently started watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann, it saddens me to see his show go. I am not a guy who likes a certain political slant with my news, I like reading The Week from time to time which gives you both sides of the story for instance. Kieth and Rachel Maddow are definitely commenting from the left, no question about it and are going to tell the story with a left wing perspective...To a degree. What I was amazed to find when I recently started watching MSNBC (it wasn' t in HD) was not that they were making up crazy conspiracy theories like they do on Faux News, or that they were reporting on the hypothetical outcomes of certain news stories but what makes them left leaning is that they basically, as I do, spend most of their hour merely debunking all the lies from the right. Every show they go through a list of all the lies or made up nonsense from the right leaning pundits and politicians but are also very happy to point out all the contradictions of those on the right. And since the majority of the loud mouth teabaggers in this country are the ones who get the attention of the media, I say they do have a responsibility to debunk the myths and fantasies of the right.

Well, my point is, why do they get to sit from on top of their perch and point out the wrongs of other people?? Well, I'll tell you why. Because they are in a better position to do so. Just as a Climatologist is in a better position to tell you what is happening to the worlds ocean temperatures than Sarah Palin, and just as a Geologist is in a better position than Glenn Beck to tell you how old the Earth is or an Astronomer can explain to Bill Oreilly how the tides work, the people on MSNBC are educated! Highly educated compared to the mainstream pundits on the right. I know I have talked about this before but I don't think I have ever done a post about it so lets have a look at the education levels of these said pundits, Here's the big 3:

Rush Limbaugh: Graduated High school then flunked out of Southeast Missouri State

Sean Hannity: Graduated High school and dropped out of both NYU and Adelphi University but later received an honorary degree from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University (AKA, not a real degree, not a real college)

Glenn Beck: Did barely graduate High school and although he took (and dropped out of) a Theology class at Yale, he was never enrolled in college full time.

On the other hand you have:

Keith Olbermann: Enrolled at Cornell University at the age of 16 and got a B.A. degree

Rachel Maddow: Has a degree in public policy from Stanford and a Doctorate in Philosophy (politics) from Oxford University

Arianna Huffington: Holds a BA in Economics from Cambridge University's, Girton College

Now it starts to make sense why one side is prone to believe in fairy tales and other stories that couldn't possibly be true and why one side is constantly debunking these fairy tales.

Again, just because someone didn't graduate from a prestigious college doesn't make them an idiot and certainly anyone who graduates from an Ivy League school isn't automatically an expert on everything but it would certainly be hard to call them an idiot.

And when it comes to economic policy and or politics, who would you have more faith listening to...Glenn Beck? A guy who believes in magic underwear and smoked pot and drank every day for about 20 years of his life or someone who has an actual degree in policy and economics?? At least Bill Oreilly has a degree in history...Which proves my point, just because someone has a degree in history for instance, it doesn't mean that they understand everything...Like how the tides work for instance...Which if you were unaware, God controls them.

Sarah Has The Wisdom to Walk Through an Open Door (but that's about it)

There aren't enough words...

Gee, What Could Possibly Incite a Teabagger to Shoot People?

And you thought the guy flying his plane into the IRS building was the end of it??

So what incites these people to go bat shit crazy??

"Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: 'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!' - Sarah Palin - Twitter

"Gather your armies" - In A Rick Barber Campaign ad featuring close ups of guns.

"I hope that's not where we're going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out." - Sharon Angle, Senate Candidate Nevada

"The Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry...This is for us...This is for us when our government becomes tyrannical..." - Sharon Angle

"the second American revolution is being played out right now." - Glenn Beck

"There's a couple things shocking that I found yesterday...", "The other is what we are doing n Arizona...I think we are headed for civil war". - The Glenn Beck Program June 23rd 2010

We are at the point, Sean (Hannity), of revolution. And by that, what I mean, an orderly revolution.", "We have to rise up and say, 'no more. not on my watch. no more.'" - Michelle Bachman

"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." - Michelle Bachman

"We'll use the bullet box if we fail at the ballet box" - Catharine Crabill, former candidate for Virginia's 1st congressional district

More to come soon I am sure.

Not to mention all the "We came unarmed...this time" signs you see at the Klan, I mean, Teabagger rallies...Even though they are actually showing up armed. Or the head stomping at the Rand Paul rally or Sean Hannity placing poll questions on his web page asking his readers which type of treason appeals to them the most and offering the three answers: A. military coup, B. Armed Rebellion, C. War of Secession.

Personally, I vote for just Secession. All the red states can elect oil lobbyists as their politicians, go to war with Mexico, give every 8 year old an AK-47 and find a way to fund all their federally subsidized states on their own. We won't even fight you for it!!



And I wonder if this will all subside when we have get another white WASPy President again? I mean think about it, we elected the 1st Irish Catholic President in 1960 and haven't had another one since. And of course there were fears from southerners and everyone else that when we elected this non-WASP that the Pope would end up running the country but that never happened just as Obama has only lowered your taxes and expanded the rights of gun owners.

And let's not forget these nuts who were most definitely inspired by Glenn Beck:
Byron Williams (Oakland)
Richard Poplawski (Pittsburgh)
and the thwarted attacks by Kenneth Kimbley (Idaho)

And probably Joseph Stack as well.