Mole's Progressive Democrat: Progressive Democrat Newsletter 295

UPDATE: Soon after compiling this newsletter, news came out that Osama bin Laden has been killed by US forces in Pakistan. What George W. Bush could not accomplish in 7 years (really 8 since he had been warned by Bill Clinton that bin Laden was a major threat), Barack Hussein Obama, born in Hawaii, accomplished in 2 years.

From Daily Kos:

Of course Fox News and the Republican Party (who never could catch bin Laden when in power...and in fact OPPOSED catching bin Laden when it was Clinton going after him) will continue to be assholes even in the face of this great victory. I am waiting for Trump to demand Osama bin Laden's long-form birth certificate so that he can be SURE the corpse had been born in Saudi Arabia to the second most powerful family in that country.

Osama bin Laden is representative not of Muslims, but of that most dangerous of people: someone who is so convinced he/she is right that they feel justified doing anything and everything, no matter who gets hurt. This is a type of person who is more often than not motivated by religion, like Osama bin Laden (a Muslim), "pastor" Fred Phelps (a Christian), etc. Most people who use the word "jihad" or "crusade" with any seriousness strikes me as being too close to this kind of religious fanatic. But people can also be motivated by ethnic or political motivations into fanaticism. Hitler's Nazism was racially and politically motivated. The Khmer Rouge and the Shining Path were motivated politically. Slobodan Milošević was motivated ethnically. All of these fanatics have more in common with Osama bin Laden than they would like to admit. And I am sorry to say but a significant minority within the modern Republican Party do as well, through a rabid mix of religious Christian extremism, political ideology, and all too often racism...plus a solid dose of greed. The teabagger movement, with its racist and often violent rhetoric, reminds me too much of some of the mobs in Muslim nations that looked to Osama bin Laden. I'd say the teabaggers haven't gone as far down the road as those mobs, but they need to look in a mirror and see what they really look like before they go further down that road. Before we shake our fingers at Muslims for the actions of bin Laden we should look to our own fanatics whose vitriol get ample air time on Fox News.

One thing to note about the death of Osama bin Laden. He was near Islamabad in Pakistan. This is supposed to be a place allied with the US, not with bin Laden, but, like Saudi Arabia, the internal politics in Pakistan mean that official alliances with the US are more than counter balanced by unofficial but often much closer alliances with groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Now on to domestic politics.

I think this says it all regarding Greedy Oil Party priorities:

(source: http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/03/paul-ryans-plan-tax-you-more)

Yep, the top 1% get the BIGGEST benefits from the Republican budget...BY FAR! And the bottom 90% pay more under the Republican plan. Blatant redistribution of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.

Regarding Obama's birth certificate, I think this gives some good insight (found at The Albany Project):

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Sunday, May 01, 2011

Progressive Democrat Newsletter 295

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