We talked about this again on the air today, so I'm giving this post a bump. Watch it if you haven't yet. I promise, if you start the day off with this, you'll feel good the rest of the day.

The left most certainly didn't like the spectacle of the tea parties and FairTax rallies on tax day. Liberals would much prefer that you just file your tax return and shut the hell up. After all .. this protesting government thing is something that rightwing extremists do, right? I think that we all knew that the left would try to find ways to denigrate the protests ... and here you go.

Princess Nancy has come forward with her own theory as to how these rightwing extremists came to be protesting our government spending habits and our tax code. You'll love this. Nancy Pelosi actually believes that these tea parties are supported by ... ready for the class-warfare card? ... "the high-end." That's just another way of saying the evil, filthy, disgusting rich. Here's her quote:

"This initiative is funded by the high-end. We call it 'astroturf'; it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturfed by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."

So there you have it, folks. Rich people were behind this. They're somehow using the masses to protest taxes so that the evil rich won't have to pay their "fair share" of taxes. Why is it only the "great" middle class that is deserving of a tax cut? Is Princess Nancy implying that the evil rich don't actually work to earn any of that money? Hmmmm. You know, of course, that she actually does believe that. Oh .. by the way, Nancy and her husband are worth in the tens of millions.

Why the "Astroturf" word? Well ... and let's see if we can follow this: The tea party movement is not true grassroots. It's fake. Fake because it's promoted and financed by some rich people .. and Fox News, of course. Fake grass = Astroturf. Get it? Unusually clever for liberals, I'd say.

Oh and by the way, guess who happens to be known as the master of "astroturfing" in Washington? Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod. Basically what it happens is a corporation or political party creates the impression of something being caused by spontaneous "grassroots" behavior .. when in fact it is very much manufactured.

So this is what Nancy Pelosi believes the tea party movement to be all about. And therefore, your anger and your frustration is not worthy of her time because it is coming from an artificial source.

I don't think there was anything false or manufactured about what happened on April 15th. Do you? But that's how the Democrats are going to get around this ... by pretending that your actions aren't fueled by genuine concern for your children's future.

Wouldn't you like to see Pelosi just reduced to another one of the 435 members of the House of Representatives? What a day that would be ... and that day only comes around when the actual productive people get off their duffs and actually vote when the next election comes around.

I hope that by now, the name Susan Roesgen is a household name. I hope it is a name that is equated with idiocy. I'm sorry, folks. There is no other way to put it. Her little tirade at the tea parties the other day was an embarrassment for CNN.

A blogger has now released footage of what happened after Susan Roesgen decided that her tea party coverage was "no longer suitable for family viewing" .... It seems as though the tea party protestors had their way with her. Gotta love it. Warning: bad words.

Also ... if you're wondering why Roesgen targeted Fox News in her rant, this might clear that up for you. About once a week Drudge profiles the ratings for the cable news networks. Here, through the magic of cut-and-paste, is the latest:

Total viewers Wednesday from 8:00 to 11:00 PM:

FOXNEWS 3,390,000
MSNBC 1,210,000
CNN 1,070,000
CNN HEADLINE 909,000

See that? Fox News has three times plus the viewers that CNN draws in. And you wonder why CNN takes shots at Fox?

Viewership for specific shows:

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,980,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,239,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,947,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,740,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,401,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,185,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,777,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,499,000
COMEDY COLBERT 1,446,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,336,000
CNN KING 1,292,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,149,000
CNN COOPER 1,021,000

So now you know why Anderson Cooper was grumbling about the tea parties. Looks like he's feeding on the bottom of the fish tank here.

This information came from an radio industry email overnight. We've learned something that we already knew. A lot of people out there have a rough time accepting responsibility for their own actions. If you spend too much ... if you run up a huge balance on your credit card ... it just must be somebody's else's fault, right?

It would seem that this is so. A new Harris Poll tells us that most - not just some, but most ... Americans believe the media is in some part responsible for the current economic crisis. And how would that be? Because the media, through advertising, made these poor pitiful people go out there and buy things they couldn't afford. Fifty-four percent of these Americans actually blame talk shows as having some responsibility.

Some specific findings from Harris:

• Ad agencies took the brunt of the blame, with 66% of people saying they believe the agencies are somewhat responsible and 33% attributing complete or a great deal of responsibility.
• Print media, including newspapers and magazines, are the next most culpable, with 59% of Americans pointing a finger at the medium.
• Other media that got shares of the blame include news and information Web sites (56%), cable news programs (54%) and networks and local news programs (53%).

This brings smiles to those handsome leftist faces out there. The mantra of the left is that people cannot be held responsible for their actions and that government, therefore the government must be there to take care of them.

The more you think about this the more depressing it gets.

President Obama is in Mexico right now. He is there to tell the Mexican government that he is willing to do anything he can to help in their battle against drugs and violence. And that includes ..... slowing down the dangerous flow of weapons from the United States.

The question now remains: how is he planning to do that?

Well we know one thing is for sure (or do we?) He is not going to reinstate an assault weapons ban (or will he?). (Although, he did make that promise when he was running for president and he still maintains that the ban makes sense.) Eric Holder recently brought up the idea of instating the ban and both parties said no to the idea.

Instead, Obama said that he wants to focus on enforcing existing laws that make it illegal to send assault weapons across the border.

These weapons pose a danger in Mexico. Fine. I get it. Now ... take a look at the statistics for crime brought to us by the wonderful Mexican invasion of the US. Specifically, look at assaults and deaths from drunk driving. I would be interested in knowing where the higher death toll is: Deaths from drunk illegal drivers in the U.S.; or deaths from assault weapons in Mexico.

We are still experiencing fallout from that DHS report about right wing extremists. Janet Napolitano has now decided that she will apologize to veterans after the report says that troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were at risk of being recruited by right-wing extremists.

A homeland security official says that when the report was sent to the office of civil rights and civil liberties, that it rejected some of the language in the report. But clearly the agency issued it anyway, and it is now being attributed to "a breakdown of the agency's internal process."

Gee, ya think?

But Janet's apology doesn't seem to be enough for some. Republican Rep. Peter King has asked for a hearing to investigate the DHS report about right-wing extremists.

We'll see how far that goes.

I am not sure that anything can top the idiotic coverage of the Chicago tea party by CNN's Susan Roesgen. But here's something to last you through the weekend.

John Zeigler went to ask questions outside an event hosted by USC's Annenberg School of Journalism. The event was a ceremony honoring Katie Couric with the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. I know, I know ... you can stop laughing. So at this event, hosted by a journalism school, to honor excellence in journalism, take a look at what happens to John Zeigler.

Link:

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Hillary Clinton has decided that the United States is ready to talk to Cuba.

Nancy Pelosi wants to set up a commission to investigate the failures of Wall Street, similar to what was done after the crash in 1929. No commission, however, to investigate congressional failures.

Democrats in Texas are upset with Governor Rick Perry for discussing the idea of succession at a tea party rally.

Dianne Feinstein is going to investigate indications of new wiretap violations by the NSA.

Eric Holder has decided that he is not going to prosecute CIA agents for using waterboarding on terrorist suspects. Democrats must be beside themselves.

Ohio wants to replace laid-off janitors at the statehouse with prison inmates. The union has something to say about this.

One out of every ten people born in Mexico lives in the United States. If you're shocked, you're not paying attention.

US regulators are slowly releasing details about their bank "stress tests," to try and figure out how our financial sector is truly doing.

I think you'll find this Canadian report on the tea party protests particularly humorous. All you right-wing extremists!

How much money does it cost the states to spend federal stimulus money? Yeah, spending money to spend money.

A lawsuit has been filed by Bloomberg to expose the $2 trillion in bank loans that are being made in "secrecy."

New York Governor David Patterson says that gay marriage is a civil right and is proposing a bill to make it legal.

Uh oh ... are lamestream media outlets being accused of Obama "bashing"? Say it ain't so!

Someone in Missouri is facing up to a year in prison for posting a photo of his ballot for mayor online.