Why Right-Wing Demagogues Are Trying to Peddle Ludicrous Conspiracy Theories

They took John Kerry, a decorated war veteran and slandered his war record while Bush was a deserter ...

Obama is still above 50% in the polls. The people he is losing are the people on the left ...

The Best Article on Alternet Today ...

According to Obama Global Capitalism Is an 'Abstraction,' Not Worth Protesting

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The doublespeak of Rev. Sun Myong Moon and the Washington Times is clearer now. He was on both sides of the Vietnam war, both sides of the Hippie movement and Redneck backlash, both sides of the political spectrum in the US and all sides of religion and Worldwide politics.

The Moon owned Wash Times created that story about John Kerry as it was he who was investigating the BCCI affair, a still open and unproven case by the FBI.

It seems he takes a clue directly out of the book from George Orwell's 1984, "The Theory of Oligarchal Collectivism".

The Moon "ministry of love" is a brain interfaced abstinence program under the NIH, even though his daughter in law, his former partner Park, the Government of North Korea who imprisoned him twice for sexual crimes, all say that Moon abuses women. Parks book was called, "The Six Marys".

He spent time in a US prison for fraud, yet he was crowned King in the Dirkson Office Building. His mind control program may reach further and higher than what has been publicized. He certainly had access to the technology for it. He may be the original Manchurian Candidate brainwasher.

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The conspiracy theory attacks on Clinton bogged down the entire government...

...except when it came to passing NAFTA, Welfare Reform, the Crime Bill, the Salvage Logging Rider, the war against Serbia, and the right was hardly stopping Gore from implementing "reinventing government", etc.,. Yes, the government was bogged down all right during Clinton time if you were looking for a progressive agenda, and you can blame Clinton for that.

...the right-wing media demagogues, corporate political operatives, Christian right theocrats, and economic libertarians have targeted healthcare reform and succeeded in sidetracking the public option and single-payer proposals....

Baucus and Obama have killed any public options. The Democrats control the Congress with a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, so I get tired of this line that it's the fault of the right that any public health care option was killed by the Republican right. The Democrats did it this time, just like Hillary killed health care reform 16 years ago.

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Strange bedfellows

Some very good points, but just as the right he criticizes go too far in seeing conspiracies everywhere, so does Mr Berlet go too far in dismissing problematic behaviors by calling them conspiracies.

Yes, we should 'challeng[e] an unfair economic system run on behalf of corporate and public interests,' but who exactly does Mr Berlet think is running that system, if not the banksters and Wall Street power brokers and their bought-and-paid-for Congress? True, the current economic crisis was not caused by secret wealthy elite acting conspiratorially; it was caused by not-so-secret banksters and Washington, working hand-in-hand, tearing down regulation quite publicly.

Not every concerted effort is a conspiracy, and concerted efforts should not be blithely dismissed by labeling them as such.

I don't have Obama's back and I never will. He advertises himself as a progressive, but he's not even the centrist Mr Berlet claims. His policies are much too far to the right. He's a militarist and a corporatist. He obviously loves power: he hasn't made any moves to give up Bush's un-Constitutionally grabbed powers.

His speech on health care: what a dud - though not nearly as bad as his actions.

As stated in the article, this hysterical nonsense preceded his inauguration - but it didn't prevent him from pushing through his Wall Street Giveaway or from expanding the war in Afghanistan (or bombing Pakistan).

Funny how the right-wing loonies' ability to hinder Obama varies in sync with his goals. (Ditto for the Democratic majority in Congress.)

The hysteria on the right is going to continue unabated, so why don't the Dems in Congress just push through progressive legislation? The squawking couldn't get much louder. No, wait, could it possibly be that the Dems don't want to pass progressive legislation?

Condemn the loonies, by all means. (I certainly do.) But don't use them as cover for Obama's lousy record. It's cheap and cowardly.

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Reminder: The Obama campaign freely used right-wing smears against the Clintons during the primaries. One helpful bloke at DailyKos did an entire summary of all the sh*t that was shoveled out about the Clintons.

Think about this. The O-holes used smears against fellow Democrats to win a primary. They are party traitors.

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Right up to the election, I saw so much on Alternet about how the GOP was conspiring to steal it.
I saw nothing, later, on how those conspiracies had come out.

There do exist conspiracies, and theories, on all sides, but conspiracy theory is easier than conspiracy practice.

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He had plenty of time to show what he was worth and he fucking blew it and the PUBLIC LAVA just keeps growing. This author like plenty others just don't get it. The more Obama betrays the left, the more rightwingers he's generating and with the way he and Congress are working hard to fail themselves, what's to be surprised at ? What we're witnessing right now are early signs of Obama's going "centrist" backfiring. Already, both VA and NJ are going red with this year's gubernatorial races and both Republicans are way ahead than ever before. If Obama were an economic populist, he wouldn't be in this mess.

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why is it that, when a democrat is in the white house, anyone who is critical is labeled a "right-wing peddler of conspiracy theories"? Whereas, when a republican is in critical people are labeled "leftists" and "anarchists," etc...?
This must be a conspiracy theory, huh?

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There would be a lot less conspiracy theories if the government and the establishment media didn't lie to us constantly.
We shouldn't be too worried about conspiracy theories. We should be much more concerned about conspiracy facts.

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Barack Obama has not impeached bush or frozen the Patriot Act to inactivitly. These two things are facts and not theory! That ACT is anti-American and unconstitutional to boot!

Paranoia does not begin to describe the emotion I feel. George W. Bush is a monster. For all his charm and down home mannerisms he is pure educated evil!

Now we have Obama following in his footsteps. The things he has done (or not done) for the health of the elderly and children is deplorable. This is not "Theory" it is fact, the plan he had for placing on the discussion table has taken a back seat to this illegal involvement in Afghanistan.

When am I going to learn that electing a President, does not necessarily gaurentee his fealty to his own party. This makes me livid but also scares the death out of me.

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"The rage is directed upwards against a caricature of the conspiratorial 'faceless bureaucrats,' 'banksters' and 'plutocrats' rather than challenging an unfair economic system run on behalf of the wealthy and corporate interests.

"The attacks and oppression generated by this populist white rage, however, is painfully felt by people lower on the socio-economic ladder, and historically this has been people of color, immigrants and other marginalized groups.

"It is this overarching counter-subversive conspiracy theory that has mobilized so many people; and the clueless Democrats have been caught unaware by the tactics of right-wing populism used successfully for the last 100 years and chronicled by dozens of authors.

"Conspiracism frames demonized enemies 'as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm.'

"Vigorous social movements pull political movements and politicians in their direction — not the other way around. We need to raise some hell in the streets and in the suites."
*****************************************
Aah, the poor “clueless Democrats” have to defend themselves against those “evil, right-wingers,” don't they?

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Haven't you noticed what has been missing from the right-wingers? Focus and facts. The protests, the "outrage", have no connection with what is, or what is planned. There is a complete disconnect between the rhetoric and reality. None of it has been about who and what President Obama is, or what he is doing. It's not about policies. It's not about what this administration is doing or hopes to accomplish. Every bit of it has been about an unnamed fear. What they fear is what is, to them, the unknown.

I want to see face-to-face discussions. Fear is like a cockroach -- shine a light on it, and it runs for cover. I want to see the fear-mongers publicly sit down with their opponents to dissect those dark, vague allegations. I want them to define just what it is that they are railing against, and shine some facts on those fears. Why not sit Beck or
Limbaugh (or any right-wing spokesperson) down with Keith Olbermann to examine those issues that are driving the "town-hallers"? Let's see if there is anything, absolutely anything, to the opposition to Obama beyond those delusions about Obama somehow being a threatening "outsider".

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If you believe you have the right to healthcare than you believe in the forced enslavement of others to pay for that right. You do not have the right to a product or service. The one right we should care about and should be guaranteed is the right to be left alone.
For these left-wing writers to continually bash the right is like rapists criticizing a murderer. This country was designed under the frame of the Constitution because the smart people who wrote it were well aware of the danger of a power grabbing central government. Maybe some of the so called tea baggers are misguided; most of them are people that are fed up with governments wasteful spending and corruption. Power corrupts. All free societies follow the same general path. Freedom to Corporatism to Socialism. The later two can both be defined as Fascism. Corporatism was officially bred in 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was enacted. The best way to reign in big government is to End the Fed. That should be our main focus.

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The fundamentalist Messianic conspiracy theory; it clouds their thinking and chains them to irrelevance. Who needs it?

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A BLAST FROM THE PAST ELECTION AS PROOF OF CONCEPT...

GOP'S KILLING FLOOR
linked text

OBAMA & HILLARY'S KILLING FLOOR
linked text

"Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic. But Henry Adams figured all that out back in the 1890s. 'We have a single system,' he wrote, and 'in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be bought and sold, the bread and circuses.'" : Gore Vidal - The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

BOTTOM LINE...

'We are watching a poorly staged rendition of Wag the Dog, interpreted for the morbidly stupid and performed by the criminally insane." - Jules Carlysle

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A PLOT, I SAY!!!

Another text book example of how these people are not only dumber than dog shit, they're insane.

It's ironic: they used to seem so comical. This isn't really funny anymore - or, at the very least - not quite as funny as it used to be.

It's interesting, in the twenties, Hitler and the Nazis seemed to be comic relief as well. With in time, however, the joke was over. If these assholes ever come to power again, the party's over.

On that happy note....

"America the Pitiful

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

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A government that has been sold to the highest Corporate bidders, politicians that have sold their souls to maintain power & perks for themselves and their families, a compliant MSM that is no longer objective but whose sole aim is infotainment and the dumbing down of Americans, blind allegiance to religious fundamentalism, blind allegiance to "Free-Market" fundamentals, all of these are real! The very real attacks against President Obama are distractions to divert "the public" attention away from the political whores that are selling out the American people! That is the real conspiracy!

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Well I guess somebody has got to do it! LOL

RT
Ultimate Anonymity

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This is quite a phenomenon we're seeing. I've been listening to Christian Radio lately not because I am a Christian but because I am fascinated by their way of thinking. They have a peculiar type of logic.

These people have loads of enemies and loads of fear. They are easily manipulated by those they consider authority figures on the basis of those enemies and fears.

They have their version of the ACLU which is the ACLJ that promotes their hysteria and fear which defines the environment they choose to live in. I love to listen to them. They use demagoguery in a way you might expect to hear in any fanatical group that feels itself oppressed. The ACLJ comes across, at least to me, as foaming at the mouth hysterical haranguing. But to these people it is the canary in the cave giving it's last flutter before an imminent disaster.

Goes to show that what you believe does indeed create an external reality.

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The elegance of the "manufacture of consent" ( google Bernais) is no better illustrated by how the people were propagandized to accept that Build 7 fell, in its own footprint without the assistance of pre-planted explosives.

We are living in a matrix whereby the media uses the control of information/knowledge to keep our "eyes wide shut."

Obama has betrayed the people: acting as a wolf in sheeps clothing. We had better wake the f**k up right now if we have any hope of preserving this republic.

This author has his head all the way up his own ass. Yes it is true that the "tea parties" have been co-opted by neo-con backers who want open borders, a North American Union and the destruction of the American Middle Class.

But such tactics are born to fail. The cauldron is beginning to boil and the revolution is beginning to grow legs. Let us just hope against historic precedent, that the "change we believe in" can be attained without violence. Let goodness help us all.

www.newagecitizen.com

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... there are people who can vote that believe them!

It's a bit like giving monkeys in the zoo loaded guns to play with...

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Republican for Democrat etc. and this piece could apply to the Bush years.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

What is shocking though, is how the author can argue that this right wing behavior is wrong yet he doesn't see that he argued for it when the left was out of office.

I still say, as a non American looking on from Africa, that the left wing media was just as abusive towards Bush ( and continue to be even now) as the left claims the right wing media is towards Obama.

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Those who believe in a great conspiracy of history, as opposed to an ad hoc conspiracy to achieve certain goals, are apt to engage in what they believe to be counter-conspiracies, an ad hoc reply to grand conspirators. The ad hoc conspiracies are then cited as evidence of grand conspiracies.
It might also be argued that conspiracies involving elites are in fact nothing but childishly simplistic versions of the arguments for class domination. It is the immature and conservative version of those same arguments advanced by Marx and Engels. Elites certainly exist and they certainly hold meetings where they engage in policy planning, the terms of which become the consensus for debate within the beltway, for the policy publications, and for those in the media who aspire to become commentators for the most prominent outlets.

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There are deeper reasons involving the psychology of conservatives and how power brokers manipulated it. See my post on the Fairness Doctrine blog (cross-posted at dailykos.com.) www.wdisam.com/fairdoc

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That the extremist right wingers (nearly all we hear is from the extremists) get away with all this blather is a commentary on the unbelieveable ignorance and stupidity of so much of this country's population. All this right wing trash is so obivously false that even a child should be able to recognize it for what it is. Or should that be what it isn't? Getting a health care bill or a global warming-related bill through should be a no-brainer and would be with a majority of even moderate education and intelligence. It also requires that people see the obvious connection between the massive campaign contributions by corporations and the votes of their senators and representative. I have seen reports that "Democratic" Sen. Baucus is said to have received some $3.9 millions in contributions from insurance companies and note his efforts to block any bill that provides any competition for the insurance companies. That much money for the low population level of a state like Montana certainly gives him a big edge when the population makes little effort to follow his votes. We can see here the parallel between the low performance level of the students in tests and the lack of reactions to these right wing lies. It shows how "superior" our education system is and how we have the "best medical system" that money can buy.

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Since Obama’s inauguration, there have been nine murders tied to white supremacist ideology laced with conspiracy theories.

Please specify.

... the recent book, Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash (South End Press), from which this article was drawn.

How can an article "drawn" from a book published in 1999 ("recent"?) describe the information given in the quote from the preceding question?

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in their backgrounds that went unknown to the general public until now!

Furthermore, Obama popped onto the presidential scene basically out of nowhere! Do we really know this man's background???

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The democrats did it too for 8 years when G.W.Bush was in office,so this article needs to reflect on the same question as too why the democraps did it for 8 years.. the same people who advocated for the crimes Bush and his adminstration did for 8 years.. the wars which were illegals and the Patriot act that was passed..

But now that Obama is president and he is doing the EXACT SAME THING and worst. These democraps are not doing any advocating, they are NOT protesting aginst the wars and crimes against humanity or anything that Obama is doing, which is exactly like Bush, except they are agreeing with Obama and using the stupid race card to justify their stupid reasons for being hypocritics...

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These "MORONIC AMERICAN BIGOTS" are getting far too much media exposure and they salivate because of it.
These "American idiots" who are in the minority should be ignored.
0 Online
0 Press
0 TV
0 everything
They will slide under their rocks and disappear.

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...hog up all the attention.

Besides, we are still in the last throes of a recession. Folks need hobbies!

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It is only fair! If the Democrats get to pretend that global warming is real, that humans are responsible for it and that legislation can help out the entire globe - even if destroys much of Americans' lifestyles and economy, then the Republicans get to play their fantasy games too! Besides, the GOP games are much cheaper and won't destroy whatever jobs are left quite so reliably as the carbon tax will.

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Politicians should not be trusted. People should be suspicious. There is no such thing as transparency in government.

The BS in Washington makes a fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Also, it is only a theory if it isn't true.

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I read that one on the cover of the National Enquirer.

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Hello all: If its true that many people in this world love conspiracy-theories about UFOs, E.T., Crop Circles, The New World Order (NWO), The Illuminati Order, The Mason Order, etc. And even if some of those conspiracy-theories are outrageous and scientifically wrong. This does not mean that the Ruling Classes which rule us are good and morally correct and the conspiracy theorists are wrong.

This article is fascist, anti-protests, anti-critical thinking. And this article legitmizes every thing that the US government does, and satanizes all critical thinking.

Even Karl Marx was a conspiracy theorist. Even Jesus Christ was a conspiracy theorist.

Everybody in this world who critisizes some thing that is wrong is a conspiracy theorist in a way.

So by satanizing conspiracy theories this article legimitizes The Israeli Lobby, The Military Industrial Complex And the crooked Jews that own and rule USA

.

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That's a joke. A few wingnuts get rowdy at town halls (that's what the things are FOR - it's called politics) and the administration is "hobbled"?

Boy, is that going deep for excuses. Deep in the manure, that is.

Nothing can hobble Democratic control of this government but the Dems themselves. They have it all.

They also have no excuses, so we get B.S. like this to cover up for them.

Don't fall for it. What you see is what you get. This is the Democratic Party agenda, out there naked for all to see. The Republicans and the wing-nuts don't matter. That's why they're so frantic.

Why aren't you?

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Conspiracy theories are NOT just a right wing thing. What about the 9/11 bunch on the left who swear the last administration planned the 9/11 terrorist attack on the WTC and that they even planted the bombs? Or the folks who swear that UFO secrets are being held in some desert areas of NV and AZ?

Or those on the left who swore that FEMA centers were being set up so the last administration could round up those whom they didn't like? Or that New Orleans levies were intentionally weakened so when Katrina hit more blacks would be killed?

Nut cases on all side of an issue come from both the right and left. Heck listen to CoastToCoastAm that Art Bell started decades ago and listen to the (start Twilight Zone music here) wild topics they discuss.

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Crazy lunatic thought drug money from cocaine sales in the USA was funding contras in Nicaragua and that the CIA knew about it and was letting it happen. What a maroon!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

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They're calling this a 'theory'? It seems intuitively obvious to the most oblivious observer...

"The core narrative of many popular conspiracy theories is that “the people” are held down by a conspiracy of wealthy secret elites manipulating a vast legion of corrupt politicians, mendacious journalists, propagandizing schoolteachers, nefarious bankers and hidden subversive cadres."

I mean, maybe the jist of this article is correct, as concerns Obama's nazi communism or his illuminati Kenyan agenda, but this particular quote seems out of place, simply because it is so damned TRUE. As for the 'propagandizing schoolteachers' part, I'm already pissed off that certain interpretations events of the recent past, whose perpetrators are as yet supremely ambiguous, are being taught as historic facts in my own children's schools. But I could simply get into the propaganda taught in university economics courses.

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It's time to make stuff up. They screwed up for 8 years. They only way they can continue their reign of nuttiness is to discredit the people trying get the country back on its feet. It's impossible to refer back to their leader (Bush) and how times were much better then. Becauce they weren't. So every new idea from Health Insurance to second thoughts on Afganistan is met with craziness. Sometime I try to be objective and wonder if they have a point, now and then. But they don't. It's just an ongoing need to disrupt progress. God forbid a new face in the White House should do what Bush never could, mostly because he didn't want to. They had their people running things and refuse to realize that it's someone else's turn. They have no good ideas to throw at us so they shout and holler and carry on like fools. Now I wouldn't dream of interferring with their right to free speech, but it's time that they shut up. If they had anything worthwhile to say we'd know by now. But they're reduced to lying and making stuff up. How much longer do we have to be polite and listen? Anna

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I have to admit the conspiracy theories go both ways. Although I will say there is a lot of hate going on towards Obama because of his race. There are so many Americans that are very racist still, I feel like we are still a very divided country when it comes to race. You would of thought we would of made more progress after all these years.


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Yacht crew jobs

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If Obama and the DNC had just let "birthers" pull his BC, or produce q copy like McCain had, it would be over. Instead, they fight a dozen lawsuites to keep it restricted, produce a modern summarized form making him the first "African American" in history and call people still asking why it's restricted racist.

If the plan wasn't to gut Medicare while callng it savings, and emphasize senior's "do not resuscitate" options, there wouldn't be the same concern.

We know the democrats ignore liberals, calling them radicals. Who can honestly believe they're listenng to conservative concerns either? They listen to the powerful business interests of different sectors. That's not the sAme thing as listening to both sides. Obama's bipartisan is to ignore liberals and conservatives, and open things to the highest bidder.

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Readers should be aware that Berlet not only correctly denies Rightwing conspiracy theories about Leftwing conspiracies, but also denies most if not all Leftwing conspiracy theories about criminal Rightwing conspiracies, sufficient in criminal magnitude to bring the entire Rightwing Establishment down if exposed. This curious and self defeating perspective is pervasive in the New York alternative media typified by Noam Chonsky, now with MIT, and Alexander Cockburn now writing from California. While they have very strong opinions on conspiracies in general, they cannot intelligently discuss any specific major Rightwing conspiracies since they are generally absent of any evidentiary details or facts in the cases. This embarassing situation has aided the Big Money Establishment (Yes Virginia, there is a "Big Money Establishment" and they are ruthless in pursuit of greed and power - how they got all that money and control, along with their inheritences). In taking these overreaching positions, they have made it impossible to expose those responsible on the Right for all the damage and havoc they have wrecked on our democracy, now become a plutocracy thanks to people like Berlet and his International/Leftist NYC associates.
For a better perspective try Michael Parenti (Talks and DVD's available from TUC Radio Who has a good talk on Conspiracies as well as the Kennedy assassination ("JFK" The Gangster Nature of the State"), a great and revealing talk. On talk radio we only have Peter B. Collins, though on rare occassions "Coast to Coast" has a legitiment conspiracy discussion with a knowledgable guest perhaps one or two times a year. (You see the real ones are by the Right and that gets awkward for most talk radio shows, and, as a consequence of our media, even for the alternative Left shows. (It's become an act of courage to speak the truth in this country today) A good website for information is CTKA, though not fully active now. Real History Archives is another good site in similar status. Check them out and be surprised at their thoroughness. Oil Empire is good for broad overviews. Until we create a real media, instead of a complicit spin machine for the Establishment and corporate interests, the criminals on the Right will continue to run our plutocracy.

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If Alternet championed the public interests it would not publish an article like this. Right-wing populists have legitimate gripes against elites, and these legitimate gripes are shared by left-wing populists. When has Alternet taken note of this common ground among the great majority of the people? Never.

The "tool of fear" dualism, seeing the world in a binary model, "in which the forces of good struggle against the forces of evil" happens to be an extremely valuable tool of mass self-determination. The public interests are the forces of good. Elite interests are the forces of evil. Now who is going to argue with this? I sense that nobody can argue with it, and still, most liberals are ready to ignore it and cling instead to.. well, nothing. Alternet has no viable alternative model. And so liberals remain in their liberal limbo like the conservatives remain in their conservative limbo. And this is exactly how the elites want the people - in limbo, unable to join together to finally stomp out the elite establishment.

Obviously the way to emancipate the people from elite oppression is for the people to embrace their common interests, join together, and form a united front against the elite establishment. Start by shifting your individual exchange/association away from the elites' power centers and toward your local community.

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What a comment:
"Many of these false claims recall those floated by right-wing conspiracy theorists in the armed citizens’ militia movement "

What a slur. A president that cannot even prove he is an American; who despises the Constitution and is dismantling the country with paying off his friends on Wall Street and is in hands with the corporate pill makers and you think it is some conspiracy.

Wise up. When two or more conspire together to accomplish some goal, it is a conspiracy. That is what conspire is all about. But then, you may have gone to some government school or collage and certainly know differently.

I am not sure we have had a "president" that has not been connected to the British Empire. "this constitution and the TREATIES are the law of the land" and the treaties are how we pay back the City of London banking cartel.

But then that is just a conspiracy theory even though founded in FACTS of HISTORY.

Well, just like your dollar bill that is a debt note with all the emblems on it - that certainly is no conspiracy, even though it was planned long before you were born.

But blame it all on conspirator theorists. Who know history and care not about your current stupid problems. Americans get exactly what they deserve in government and religion and morals.

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Powerful political and economic elites run this country as they do every country. Weapons of Mass destruction rationale for Iraq War WAS was a conspiracy n 2002-3 take us to war and bolster the Bush Administration who feared we won Afghanistan too quickly and needed another war to bolster patriotism and retain Republican control of executive and legislative branch. However, I find conspiracy theories such as the birther controversy or the 9/11 truther conspiracy to be a huge waste of time to prove or disprove a theory which bends the facts to fit the theory. I am not sure the article draw the distinction between actual conspiracies and 'conspiracy theories'. I recently rewatched Bob Roberts which is quite interesting 17 years later in the things that changed due to subsequent history and themes that remain the same. the Bugs Raplin character is interesting reflection of what can happen to those who try to expose what they perceive as conspiracy.

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If the plan wasn't to gut Medicare while callng it savings, and emphasize senior's "do not resuscitate" options, there wouldn't be the same concern.

We know the democrats ignore liberals, calling them radicals. Who can honestly believe they're listenng to conservative concerns either? They listen to the powerful business interests of different sectors. That's not the sAme thing as listening to both sides. Obama's bipartisan is to ignore liberals and путешествия путешественникам мир авиации кино постеры постеры к фильмам seropol5 conservatives, and open things to the highest bidder.

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