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Avi Lewis talks to Cornel West, professor of African American Studies at Princeton, hip hop artist, and one of the most controversial academics in the US about the state of democracy for African-Americans in the US today, US foreign policy, global recession, and his dispute with Lawrence Summers.

Many of the toughest sentencing laws responsible for the explosion of the U.S. prison population were drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which helps corporations write model legislation. Now a new exposé reveals ALEC has paved the way for states and corporations to replace unionized workers with prison labor. We speak with Mike Elk, contributing labor reporter at The Nation magazine. He says ALEC and private prison companies “put a mass amount of people in jail, and then they created a situation where they could exploit that.” Elk notes that in 2005 more than 14 million pounds of beef infected with rat feces processed by inmates were not recalled, in order to avoid drawing attention to how many products are made by prison labor.

Ads for the DVD show Jones’ eyes above the words, “Death camps Are Real.”

Jones’ Obama Deception film claims that “Obama is continuing the process of transforming America into something that resembles Nazi Germany, with forced National Service, domestic civilian spies, warrantless wiretaps, the destruction of the Second Amendment, FEMA camps and Martial Law.”

An April 17, 1999, Austin American-Statesman article (retrieved from Nexis) reported that, even then, Jones believed that FEMA was “building hundreds of concentration camps on military bases with separate areas for men, women and women with children.”

BP oil spill a deliberate act. Jones has pushed the theory that the BP oil spill was a deliberate attack. Jones co-wrote a June 8 article headlined, “Evidence Points To BP Oil Spill False Flag.” A false flag event is an operation carried out by a powerful entity to deceive the public into thinking it was carried out by someone else. False flag examples cited by conspiracy theorists include the Oklahoma City bombing, and 9-11 attacks. From Jones’ article on Infowars.com:

- Sales of shares and stocks in days and weeks beforehand

- Halliburton link, acquisition of cleanup company days before explosion

- BP report cites undocumented tampering with well sealing equipment

- Government uses disaster to push for Carbon Tax, Nationalization talk

Troubling evidence surrounding the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20th suggests that the incident could have been manufactured.

Jones has discussed “evidence” that the spill was a false flag event on his radio program. A program posted on Jones’ YouTube channel on June 20 states that Jones “reveals why he is now sure it’s a 100% false flag event to usher in the global carbon tax talked about at the G-20 summit.”

Additionally, Jones has pushed numerous other conspiracy theories about weather control, mass sterilization, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, among others.

Jones was pretty good in A Scanner Darkly. That was a work of fiction. He is not so good at nonfiction, unfortunately for all of us American citizens and citizens of the world that want to reduce pollution, normalize immigration, and promote global cooperation and unity … .

(Editor’s note: Whatever your political beliefs, we can all agree that people say the dumbest things. Below, you’ll find some some stupid conservative quotes put together by Sasha Brown-Worsham. For equally stupid — and funny — gaffs made by their liberal counterparts, read  50 Dumb Liberal Quotes.)

When politicians and pundits mess up, flub their words, or make Freudian slips, they often do so in the most spectacularly hilarious ways.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle reminded us not to lose our minds. (That would be a truly terrible loss, after all.) And Sarah Palin volunteered that that she was keeping an eye on Putin — and on all of Russia — from her perch up there in Alaska (you betcha!).

Below, you’ll find 50 more of the dumbest conservative quotes we’ve come across.

No matter what your politics, we hope you’ll have a good laugh.

1.  “When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
2.  “We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” ~ President George W. Bush
3.  “The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
4. ”My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.” ~ South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, arguing against government food assistance for poor residents.
5. “The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.” ~ Jerry Falwell
6.  ”Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you.” ~ Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina)
7. ”We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.” ~ Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
8. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” ~ George W. Bush
9. ”Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
10. “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Chanukah.” ~ President George W. Bush
11. “Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.” ~ Rep. Michelle Bachmann
12. ”The greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession or even another terrorist attack. The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias.” ~ Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)
13. “He is purple - the gay-pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle - the gay pride symbol.” ~ Jerry Falwell’s warning to parents that “Tinky Winky,” a character on Teletubbies, may be gay
14. “Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.” ~ Dan Quayle
15. ”The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” ~ Pat Robertson
16. “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.” ~ Sarah Palin
17. “‘Refudiate,’ ‘misunderestimate,’ ‘wee-wee’d up.’ English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!’” ~ Sarah Palin
18. “Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant — they’re quite clear — that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the Ten Commandments.” ~ Sarah Palin
19. “What I don’t know is what the unexpected might be.” ~ John McCain
20. “We have a lot of work to do. It’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” ~ John McCain (the countries share no common border)
21. “I love California; I practically grew up in Phoenix.” ~ Dan Quayle
22. “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president.” ~ Ann Coulter
23. ”I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I’m not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it’s an interesting coincidence.” ~ Rep. Michele Bachmann
24. “We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.” ~ Ann Coulter
25. “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” ~ George W. Bush
26. “Do you have blacks, too?” ~ George W. Bush
27. ”We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals.” ~ Ann Coulter
28. “When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, ‘Oh shut up’ I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining.” ~ Glenn Beck
29. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” ~ George W. Bush
30.  “Well, I learned a lot….I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries” ~ Ronald Reagan
31. ”I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
32. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” ~ George W. Bush
33. “Exercise freaks … are the ones putting stress on the health care system.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
34. “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” ~ George W. Bush
35. “Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.” ~ Jerry Falwell
36. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” ~ George W. Bush
37. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” ~ Ronald Reagan
38. “Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.” ~ Jerry Falwell
39. ”It may be a blessing in disguise. … Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” ~ Pat Robertson
40. “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” ~Jerry Falwell
41. “Facts are stupid things.” ~ Ronald Reagan
42. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” ~ George W. Bush
43. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on —shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” ~ George W. Bush
44. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” ~ George W. Bush
45. “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles.” ~ Ronald Reagan
46. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” ~ George W. Bush
    
47. “I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.” ~ Donald Rumsfeld
48. “She wears little eye-patch underwear. So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And so, we had made love Wednesday—a lot! And so she’ll, she’s all, ‘I am going up and down the stairs, and you’re dripping out of me!’ So messy!” ~ State Rep. Mike Duvall (R-Calif.) on a live mic referring to an affair with a lobbyist
49. “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.”  ~ George W. Bush
50. “I think I was unprepared for war.” ~ George W. Bush

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The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors. The Chamber has promised to spend an unprecedented $75 million to defeat candidates like Jack Conway, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), and Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). As of Sept. 15th, the Chamber had aired more than 8,000 ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates alone, according to a study from the Wesleyan Media Project. The Chamber’s spending has dwarfed every other issue group and most political party candidate committee spending. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the Chamber funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding. And while the Chamber will likely assert it has internal controls, foreign money is fungible, permitting the Chamber to run its unprecedented attack campaign. According to legal experts consulted by ThinkProgress, the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections.

In recent years, the Chamber has become very aggressive with its fundraising, opening offices abroad and helping to found foreign chapters (known as Business Councils or “AmChams”). While many of these foreign operations include American businesses with interests overseas, the Chamber has also spearheaded an effort to raise money from foreign corporations, including ones controlled by foreign governments. These foreign members of the Chamber send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the foreign members fund their local Chamber, which in turn, transfers dues payments back to the Chamber’s H Street office in Washington DC. These funds are commingled to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) account which is the vehicle for the attack ads:

– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created a large presence in the small, oil-rich country of Bahrain. In 2006, the Chamber created a local affiliate called the “U.S.-Bahrain Business Council” (USBBC), an organization to help businesses in Bahrain take advantage of the Chamber’s “network of government and business relationships in the US and worldwide.” As the USBBC’s bylaws state, it is not an actual separate entity, rather it is simply an office of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 501(c)(6) trade association. Many of the USBBC’s board members are Bahrainian, including Aluminum Bahrain, Gulf Air, Midal Cables, the Nass Group, Bahrain Maritime & Mercantile International, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (state-owned), Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, and First Leasing Bank. With each of these foreign board members to the USBBC contributing at least $10,000 annually, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raises well over $100,000 a year in money from foreign businesses through its operation in Bahrain. Notably, the membership form provided by the USBBC directs applicants to send or wire their money directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The membership form also explicitly states that the foreign-owned firms are welcomed.

– Like the Chamber’s involvement in Bahrain, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce operates in India through a group called “U.S.-India Business Council” (USIBC), which has offices around the world but is headquartered in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dozens of Indian businesses, including some of India’s largest corporations like the State Bank of India (state-run) and ICICI Bank, are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through the USIBC. Annual membership dues range from $7,500 to $15,000 or more, and the money is given directly into the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) bank account. Like the USBBC, the USIBC generates well over $200,000 a year in dues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from foreign businesses. On the USIBC website, many of the groups lobbying goals advocate changing American policy to help businesses in India. Under the manufacturing policy goal, USIBC boasts that it “can play a helpful role in guiding U.S. companies to India, while supporting various policy initiatives that will enhance India’s reputation as a major manufacturing and investment hub.”

– Many foreign “AmChams” or Business Councils operate outside the direct sphere of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce but nonetheless send dues money back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For instance, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is a separate entity based in Cairo that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars from both Egyptian firms and American businesses. However, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt calls itself “the most active affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the” Middle East. Another foreign chamber, like the Abu Dhabi AmCham, which includes American firms and Esnaad, a subsidiary of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, claims that it is a a “dues paying member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and part of the global network of American Chambers of Commerce.” In Russia, the relationship between the American Chamber of Commerce there and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce here is opaque. This might be because many of the dues-paying members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia are Russian state-run companies, like VTB Bank, and controlled by the Russian government. Asked by ThinkProgress if the Russian Chambers pay dues back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ksenia Forsheneva, the membership development manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, replied, “Unfortunately the information that you require is closed for the public.”
[….]