Slightly disappointed to learn, though I don’t quite know why, that the 9/11 Truth wackadoodle film Zeitgeist movie makes use of Lyndon Larouche hisownself.  I don’t even know why that is — maybe I was pegging a hope that the man found himself further on the fringe of the Fringe than this, or that if it were to make use of his org it’d pull in, say, a Jeffrey Steinberg.  But nonetheless, this review tells us he makes an appearance.

What is grating about it is the fact that the movie uses LaRouche as a reliable witness. Google him up, and it’s like turning a rock over: suddenly, cockroaches start squirming all over the place. This individual is anti-semite, covert fascist and, no surprise here, conspiracy theorist. He claims to be the real originator of the SDI (the Strategic Defense Initiative, the anti-missile project under Ronald Reagan dubbed “Star Wars”) – no mention of the real drivers of the project, Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham and the renowned scientist, and father of the hydrogen bomb, Dr. Edward Teller. LaRouche did some years in jail for tax evasion, and then him and his attorney started a campaign saying that his imprisonment was a “conspiracy” by government officials to discredit and destroy LaRouche and “brainwash” the population.

It’s all very surreal, until you learn that he was bullied and isolated in school – well, that explains it, he looks then very much like the mad scientist from Batman, except without superpowers or death rays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_Larouche

That’s someone who the movie presents, keeping a straight face, as a reliable source of information. Sigh.

But for my purposes, what is interesting here is the simple linking to the wikipedia page as a source of information. Despite the best efforts of the concerted Larouche tag team of wiki-editors. The latest wikipedia editing attempt is a push-back from an attempt to take out from the lede the name “Stanislav Menshikov”. A few key lines here:

It might be appropriate to mention that Menshikov has spoken at one or more LaRouche movement events, so is not an impartial commentator. Will Beback talk 20:48, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
At this point, I think that the most helpful thing that you could do would be to write a new BLP of Stanislav Menshikov, to replace the one that you just (Ctrl-click)”>deleted as part of your never-ending feud with the LaRouchies. –Leatherstocking (talk) 01:03, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
If he’s genuinely notable then someone unassociated with the LaRouche movment will write one. I have no feud with “the LaRouchies”, and I’d remind you to assume good faith and avoid baseless charges. Will Beback talk 01:55, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

I have no opinion on whether Menshikov warrents a wikipedia page, and I have only a marginal and detached belief he shouldn’t be mentioned in a lede. (Wait a few months and we’ll have a different ‘Big Name of the Month’ serving for Larouche’s back-up to suggest either “Big in Russia” or “Respected by Professors in Connecticut“!) But it is notable the reason for the deletion of the Menshikov post.

20:50, 22 May 2009 Will Beback (talk | contribs) deleted “Stanislav Menshikov” ‎ (G5: Creation by a banned user in violation of ban)

Ah, yes. Herschel Kurstofsky. And so the wikipedia game continues. As I discovered previously, a Larouchie theory at work is that to have a wikipedia page is to exist for purposes of a wikipedia reference, to not is to not. Also, (go down to the 6th section), be sure to buttress your points at tangeantal unrelated wikipedia entries they probably could give two whits about, ala Paul Krassner.

In other strange Internet sightings, follow this flow-chart regarding a posting about an Alex Jones video**:

flyinghotwing Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am  i have listened to …
i have listened to larouch and have gone to a meeting at his headquarters in LA and he does sound good…i also like ron paul because he stands for honesty and tells it like it is from within the house, i also like jesse ventura..larouche is a smart economics man……..what do you think about the creature from jekyll island?

LaRoucheisright Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am Yes of course he is … Yes of course he is
The only way to defeat this evil cabal is to join LaRouche ! You got to have a movement with a leader who knows how to win, and what to do.  Go look at LaRouchePACdotcom
listen to some of the youth members videos.
The movement we need produces youngsters like the LaRouche movement. This explanation of who predicted it is totally sophistic. Too complcated an idea to do in five hundred symbols. Listen to LaRouche if you want to understand the difference.

flyinghotwing Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am  is larouche better …
is larouche better than ron paul? why>

flyinghotwing Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am  who created the Fed …
who created the Fed? Jewish and anglo american banking interests…….same people behind the depression(s), the world wars for profit, the empires abroad for natural resources….its black nobility folks from Europe, and the U.S. and some Japanese ( trilateral connections) as well…………..

flyinghotwing Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am  the american …
the american corporation known as the united states (colonies) is part of the anglo american empire, british ruled from London via Rothschild. These Jewish European bankers are indeed in control, but they work with the Vatican asins as well…….so its really not just jews, its a conglomerate of evil conspirators…but give me proof of what you mean by the jewish american establishment…i mean i realize they are prominent with the creation of Israel, as well as banking and media interests

LaRoucheisright Says:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:05 am  Alex jones never …
Alex jones never talks about the solution. We must have a movement behind Lyndon LaRouche.
Alex Jones, Beck, and all the other populists are lying. This is all lies except the problem. Listen to LaRouche if you want to get out of this. Promote LaRouche, if you want to get out of this crisis with your life.

 … Okay, “Laroucheisright”, but… do you have any comment on that posting about the Jews?
A bit less important, Ron Paul supporters can sometimes pull to the same wave-length, So why no answer to the specific question “Is Larouche better than Ron Paul?”

It appears that he’s a busy blog commenter.  He has comments to make about Putin speaking about Georgia on Japanese television.  See here**.  I think he’s contradicts himself with these two comments:

Yes it is true Soros is as evil little creature as the Oligarchy has working for them. There is maybe no other that does more for the Empire than George Soros. AND

Maybe it is George W. Bush having a little fun.
Divide and conquer ya, the age old method of the British empire to destroy Nation States. Everyone knows Jr. is a cousin of the queen ya? And that his Grandfather Prescott bankrolled Adolph Hitler until he was forced to stop in 1942. If you want to stop fascism join Lyndon LaRouche.

I don’t know. Implicit is the suggestion that maybe the Bushes are as evil as Soros, and thus Soros can’t be “as evil as the Oligarchy has working for them.” Okay, never mind. That’s a stretch. “Laroucheisright” wins this round. But he loses this next round here **:

The only way to defeat this evil cabal is to join LaRouche ! You got to have a movement with a leader who knows how to win, and what to do.
Depends on one’s definition of “winning”, I suppose.

Incidentally, I need to pull back that “Beck” reference that I just pushed past. In order to shrug and nod to this factnet post. Basically, Glen Beck is swerving into the same conspiratorial and paranoid sources that Larouche is pulling back — Beck’s “Obama is unleasing Fascism with a Friendly Face” comes from dusting off what I guess is his new discovery of some the ugly parts of the Progressive Era. It’s not too hard to drive about the veins of partisan and philosophical discontent — whoop de doo — the Larouche org is swerving to the conservative side as opposed to the liberal side. Not quite completely, I guess, as he’ll still stand up against any reforms of Social Security, but good enough to — say, take on Medical Marijuana, and good enough to bring back the “Club for Life” and come out strong against Abortion and Obama’s Notre Dame speech. (And while I’m referencing factnet posts, I see a bit of symetry with this line:

Personally, I think it’s Lyn’s ham-handed response to the series of posts on Dennis King’s website on Abortion in the LaRouche Organization, including the two pieces by “Evil Witch” Kronberg.

AND THIS

What’s the point of calling out Tennenbaum in this way? What hoax or scheme is he talking about? Is this nothing more than rhetoric against those that have left the cult? And a warning to those still in it?

The Tennenbaum item is particularly interesting in light of “Revenire”‘s “friendly reminisces” of Tennenbaum (posted photograph), proving something or other to “earnest one”, aka Peter Tennenbaum (he of “New Revelations in Terror” fame). Factnet elicits elliptical responses from the org.

I may or may not post scattered stuff in the coming days in the comments section, but I’ll leave anyone bored enough to chew over this .

(* It should be noted that I do have some degree of respect for Congressman Ron Paul — your mileage may vary and I’ll say that it’s not exactly total–, and am leery of making that point the focus of the title of this blog post.)

** I think these originate from youtube and are computer-copied to these links.

One thought about the RNC remix of the old Lyndon Johnson “Daisy Ad” — other than the sight of Jim Webb and Harry Reid’s succumbing to the easy Demagougery of the Terrorists in the United States, which I could have made earlier this week —

We hear Lyndon Johnson’s words “These Are the Stakes” as the nuclear bomb is blasted. But the RNC left out his finishing words — “We must either Love each other, or we must Die”, which — granted has the “we must die” as an option, but at least that is balanced with the alternative of “Love each other”. The RNC doesn’t provide that option in their ad. I don’t know what the stakes are.

Dateline Kentucky:

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., acknowledged Tuesday that during a meeting in December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told him that “I was too old and I couldn’t win” a re-election battle in 2010.

Bunning, 77, went on to call McConnell, also a Kentucky Republican, a “control freak.” He also said he’ll fare well in Kentucky without McConnell’s endorsement in the Republican primary, since during the senior senator’s tenure as a member of the GOP leadership the Republicans have lost several seats and could lose more in 2010.
“If Mitch McConnell doesn’t endorse me that may be the best thing that could happen to me in Kentucky,” he told reporters during a conference call Tuesday.

Actually the problem isn’t that he’s too old.  It’s that he’s too senile.  But waiting in the wings:

Take a look at the Facebook group “Rand Paul For Senate 2010.”

You will see more than 2,000 members and messages from people all over the country, not just Kentucky, begging Paul to take the leap into politics.

Over the past few months when asked if he was going to run, Paul has said he would only if incumbent Senator Jim Bunning didn’t.

Well, Bunning is poised to run.

So where does this leave Paul’s political aspirations?

“We are forming an exploratory committee to run for the US Senate,” answers Paul.

That’s all that Paul would confirm when it comes to whether he’s decided to run for the Senate.

And I ask again: Ron Paul, you named your boy “Rand” — really? 

Dateline Idaho:

Monday, unhealed wounds were on display again as an Ada County magistrate sentenced Elmore County’s Republican vice chairman for making a pest of himself in state offices, particularly the office of Gov. Butch Otter. Although the judge gave Christopher Pentico the lightest possible sentence for trespassing, 30 days of probation with a cleared record once they are completed, Pentico’s supporters marched directly from the courthouse to Otter’s office.
“Idahoans for Liberty,” including organizers of recent Tea Party demonstrations and supporters of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, wanted Otter to pardon Pentico and stop enforcing the state trespass law against him.

There might be a question of the propriety of applying a law aimed at protecting private property to buildings owned by the public, but there is apparently little question Pentico, 42, has been a nuisance, and not just in Otter’s office. Still smoldering over a five-year-old dispute with Boise State University officials, he has also taken his complaint to Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, state school Superintendent Tom Luna, dozens of legislators and staff members of Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch.

“He seems to think that if he comes 12 times, the answer will be different than the 11th time,” Otter spokesman Jon Hanian said Monday.  […]

Last month, a majority of members of the Ada County Republican Central Committee forced a vote on a resolution charging Otter with violating Pentico’s rights, but failed to get the needed two-thirds margin for passage.

In addition, nine legislators signed a letter saying Pentico had acted responsibly and respectfully, and another, Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, testified in his behalf in court. […]

Today’s Idaho Republicans are another matter. There appears no way to reconcile those who want to serve in government and those who want to disown it.

Gawd, Idaho is weird.

Dateline South Carolina:

A fired-up Lindsey Graham, speaking to the South Carolina Republican Convention on Saturday, took a jab at Ron Paul and Libertarians, drawing some noisy protests from the crowd, as can be seen above and in an audience video here.

“We are not going to build a party around libertarian ideas,” he said. “Ron Paul is not the leader of this party.”

Graham described himself as “a Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Lindsey Graham, Caroll Campbell Republican, and winning matters to me. If it doesn’t matter to you, there’s the exit sign.”

It’s worth noting that in the 2008 Senate race, South Carolina Democratic primary voters managed to nominate a Paul-ite, so maybe Lindsey Graham’s suggestion to walk out the exit doors isn’t too ridiculous.

“I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives.”

— The Dick-ster.

I’m curious about how we arrive at such a number.  Why hundreds of thousands?  Why not millions?  Hundreds of millions?  BILLIONS?

I’m eating lunch, sitting on a bench in the park blocks downtown.  A group of school children — maybe age 10 — a few girls and a couple of boys come running up — pacing past the two adults that are heading with them.

“Teddy!  Teddy!  We Love you, Teddy!”

A very strange comment, I don’t know what it means.  I look around.  And again with “Teddy!  Teddy!  We Love you, Teddy!”  And I see that they are running up to the statue of Theodore Roosevelt riding his horse.

I admit to not having loved Teddy Roosevelt at that age, or any age, and am not sure I would have been as enthralled by a statue of him.  I do not believe that they ran up to old Abe Lincoln a couple blocks down in the same manner.  Anyway, one boy extols to the other boy that the Art Museum has pictures of naked women in it — though he reamins a unimpressed or unmoved — vaguely familiar territory if I had to try to place myself back to that age.

Later in the day, I’m on the Max train, riding past the stops in Old Town.  There is a similar group of kids, age I’d guess 14, goofing off.  One boy mock dry-humps another boy for the amusement of the others in the group, and for reaction from the crowd.  I am staring blankly out the window, and they all wave and grimmace at me and flash wide grins and thumbs up signs, conferring that they know I saw a mock dry-hump.  I keep a faceless expression.  It occurs to me that a few years ago they might have ran after the Teddy Roosevelt statue, and that the kids running after that statue will be in that other situation.  Strange world.

Vice President Joseph Biden has wandered off to a trip to the Balkans, and in Belgrade he is greeted by Serbian Nationalist Protesters — upset over the Kosovo War of 1999.

Question.

Regarding the third phtograph in this series.

The people holding the placard telling that “Putin Is Watching You”.

I don’t understand.

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

As a broad sweep, the Serbian Nationalists would be pro-Russian, I understand sketchingly, so —

Watching Biden, right?  Is this a taunt — Putin has Biden’s number?

I don’t get it.

“Marx is BACK”

I saw that plastered onto telephone poles and trees and the type of places these things are plastered.  It was for a conference or speaking engagement or lecture or meeting or some such for a “Young Socialists League” or some such.

I see no evidence that Marx has returned.  I suggest situations similar to an excerpt from Daniel Pinkwater’s The Neddiad — page 28

After breakfast, my father and Colonel Ken Krenwinkle went to the club car to play cards with the four Marsh Brothers, who happened to be on board. I was very excited at first, thinking the colonel had said “Marx Brothers,” but these were the Marshes, not the Marxes. They were sort of substitute, imitation Marx Brothers–they did the same sort of things as the Marx Brothers did in movies, only not as well. Their names were Gaucho, Harpy, Chicklet, and Gumball. I was disappointed, but I went along to watch them play pinochle with my father and the colonel. They were funny, but not all that funny. I got bored after a while, and went off to look out the windows.

Curls Marsh is speaking.

Meatime, I’m dodging the clipboard wielding petition and donation people, as always.  It’s a lousy job, but one that ends up a necessary stop-gap.  A duo threw out a rhyme that I can’t quite recall.  Something which rhymed “Hey, man in plaid” with some other phrases — though, I think they managed to get away from words that rhyme with “plaid”.  It sort of rubbed me the wrong way.  They were Greenpeace, and asked me to save the Polar Bear.  I didn’t say the thought that entered my mind due  to their noxiousness — “You know, maybe it’s time for the Great Polar Bear Phase Out.”  I have nothing against the polar bear, but am sort of annoyed that they are the face of Global Warming and Environmental Depredation at the expense of other creatures big and small.

I understand the various news weekly and political magazine’s coverage of the current problems of the Republican Party, expressed by this gallup survey,  but I have to wonder why National Geographic cares:

Not an elephant, though the article tells of the problems in resuscitating  fossilized creatures.  So maybe there’s a parallel with Michael Steele’s work on the Elephant.

Bill Clinton to Become Special Haiti Envoy.

It’s a title that seems like it should be fairly innocuous.  Nice enough for Bill Clinton, nice enough for Haiti, nice enough for the United Nations. There aren’t any visible wedges too make partisan points.

Unless you’re kind of petty.

As with in the comments section: