The proof is in the Walgreen's pictures . . .

Police Describe Busy Hours Before a Gunman’s Attack
By MARC LACEY, JO BECKER and SAM DOLNICK
Published: January 14, 2011

The night before the rampage, authorities say, Mr. Loughner, 22, dropped off at a drugstore a roll of 35-millimeter film containing images he had shot of himself posing with a Glock semiautomatic pistol while wearing a red G-string. The authorities said he picked up the film early on the day of the shooting at a Walgreens in the same strip mall where he would later open fire at a citizens’ forum held by Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona.

Hmmmmmm cross dressing and playing naked with guns.

If ever existed smoking gun proof that Loughner was a right wing Republican, there you have it.



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Teabaggers -- equal opportunity haters . . .

This does not surprise this interested observer one fucking bit:

"The worst e-mails I received about the civility project were from conservatives with just unbelievable language about communists, and some words I wouldn't use in this phone call," DeMoss told The Times.

That was a quote from a conservative, evangelical with close ties to the Republican hiearchy who spent the 2 years since Obama's election as President making a sincere attempt to get our nation's 585 sitting representatives, senators and governors to sign a "civility pledge" which went as follows:

I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.
I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.
I will stand against incivility when I see it.

He abandoned the project not only because of a general lack of interest, but primarily because of vicious attacks from right wing conservatives.

So what does that tell you?

Along with the story of the black GOP state congressman from Arizona who, after last weekend's horrific carnage in Tucson, resigned this week because of Teabagger threats of violence towards himself, it tells me that these faux patriot gun goons on the far right will not hesitate to threaten physical violence to even their own party members for disagreeing with their warped agenda.

I mean truly -- what more proof is needed to convince you that the right wing in this country are the true radicals and the true un-American, democracy hating thugs?


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A Plea Heard . . . . . by some anyhow

By JULIE PACE and BEN FELLER, Associated Press Julie Pace And Ben Feller, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

TUCSON, Ariz. – Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way wounds." Following a hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her."

In a memorably dramatic moment, the president said that Giffords, who on Saturday was shot point-blank in the head, had opened her eyes for the first time shortly after his hospital visit. First lady Michelle Obama held hands with Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, as the news brought soaring cheers throughout the arena.

Speaking at a memorial in Tucson, Obama bluntly conceded that there is no way to know what triggered the shooting rampage that left six people dead, 13 others wounded and the nation shaken. He tried instead to leave indelible memories of the people who were gunned down and to rally the country to use the moment as a reflection on the nation's behavior and compassion.

"I believe we can be better," Obama said to a capacity crowd at the University of Arizona basketball arena — and to countless others watching around the country. "Those who died here, those who saved lives here — they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us."

In crafting his comments, Obama clearly sought a turning point in the raw debate that has defined national politics. After offering personal accounts of every person who died, he challenged anyone listening to think of how to honor their memories, and he was not shy about offering direction. He railed against any instinct to point blame or to drift into political pettiness or to latch onto simple explanations that may have no merit.

"At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized — at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do — it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds," the president said.

That last, italicized quote by President Obama is lofty and noble in nature, and I cannot say enough about the rightness of it, but there's one small, teensy little problem here. It does not take into account the fact that one side in this fractured discourse of ours is defiantly antagonistic towards any meaningful level of reconciliation and mutual understanding and for all intents and purposes have absolutely no inclination to learn from this incident and make positive adjustments in their attitudes and actions.

I offer as proof (just from these past few days since the Tucson tragedy):

This,

and this,

and this,

and this.

And if you need even more proof:

This,

and this,

and this.

It's a one-way conversation in dealing with these people. I see no evidence they acknowledge the seriousness of the issue or that they even care.

How are we to proceed with Obama's vision of national soulful reflection and compassion when one side is standing on the sidelines, making sure we all know that they are armed to the teeth, waving their Don't Tread On Me flags and sticking their middle fingers in the air?

I'm open to suggestions because by all the available evidence at hand, changing the mindset of these right-wing radicals is nothing short of a Sisyphean task.



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Maher speaketh...

Maher gets a couple of things wrong in this interview IMHO, but for the most part he's spot on.





The most devastating observation Maher makes, and it's one I've been making for quite some time myself here on this shitty little blog, is the one where he reviews some of the killer's paranoid views about government and currency and tyranny and in the same sentence draws a straight line to the garbage which Glenn Beck spews all over the airwaves on a daily basis on Fox News and his radio show.

Beck, simply stated, is part and parcel of the problem and until the mainstream media and decent thinking people recognize that fact and demand accountability from him and his handlers at Fox, odds are something like this awful tragedy is destined to occur again.



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Ohhhhhh noes!! Say it isn't so!!!

As much as I take a certain amount of satisfaction in performing the arduous task of pointing out right wing idiocy - - the cumulative effect of having to deal with the ceaseless amount of it day in and day out at times leaves me to not even want to comment on much of it these days. But occasionally a story crops up that is just too good to pass up -- especially something like this past bit of buffoonery:

Wed Jan 12, 2011 at 09:21:21 AM PST

One of the enduring right-wing obsessions the last two years has been Obama's use of teleprompters. Just do a Google search and countless results. Sure, it's idiotic -- every president and major public figure uses teleprompters. But reality and wingnuttery don't mix, and it's now an article of faith among wingnuts that teleprompters are mock-worthy and a sign of incompetence.

That's why Sarah Palin delivered this gem at a Tea Party conference:

“This is about the people, and it’s bigger than any one king or queen of a tea party, and it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter,” she said.

That was just one of several digs at President Obama.

Turns out Mama Grizzly has a bit of a TELEPROMPTER fetish of her own.

Anyhow, it's just another in a long list of tiresome examples of how low and how dumb the right has pushed the level of public discourse in our society. With all of the very serious problems facing this country these are the kinds of ridiculous non-issues that the far right and the GOP cynically flog ad nauseum in order to distract the American people from their own party's malfeasance and culpability in failing to govern America in a responsible manner.

I for one am fucking sick of it.


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They both do it?? I don't think so . . .

Here's my very uncomplicated take on the Tucson shootings:

While it's clear that a mentally disturbed individual perpetrated the tragedy in Tucson, reports trickling out describing Jared Loughner's paranoia over government mind control, his obsession with gold and silver as a national currency and the warped views he's expressed about patriotism and constitutional rights, reads like a road map of every single Tea Bagger grievance one can hear right-wing pundits screeching about 24x7 on AM talk radio, Cable TV (Glenn Beck), and conservative internet blogs.

Therefore it most certainly stands to reason that ---

When the conservative Republican leaders and their propaganda outlets in the media and on the internet repeatedly tell their supporters that Obama is a foreign born, Muslim socialist Nazi who wants to allow implementation of Sharia law and turn America into a communist/Muslim bastion, outside observers are going to make the logical connection.

When the conservative Republican leaders and their propaganda outlets in the media and on the internet repeatedly tell their supporters that Obama and liberals want to implement health care "death panels" for the old and infirm and developmentally disabled babies, outside observers are going to make the logical connection.

When the conservative Republican leaders and their propaganda outlets in the media and on the internet repeatedly tell their supporters that Obama and liberals wants to turn over control of the American government to the United Nations and put dissenters into "re-education camps", outside observers are going to make the logical connection.

When the conservative Republican leaders and their propaganda outlets in the media and on the internet repeatedly tell their supporters that Obama is coming to take away their guns, which is followed by record gun/ammunitions sales, outside observers are going to make the logical connection.

When the conservative Republican leaders and their propaganda outlets in the media and on the internet repeatedly feed their supporters unfounded conspiracy theories about government control, which is followed by a spike in hate group and militia membership, outside observers are going to make the logical connection.

Let's face reality here -- the power brokers on the right wanted a movement to help them gain back control of the government (which oddly they claim to despise). They got that movement with the Tea Party. They could have used more honest and inspirational messages to accomplish their political goal, but since they had none, they decided to go another route. Now they have to take responsibility for the mob mentality and other unintended consequences of their paranoid/delusional fear mongering and they are none too happy about it.

Tough fucking shit. Man up and do the responsible, adult thing.

And as for myself - I for one am not going to back down one iota from my assertions that the radical right is not only responsible for the vast majority of the violence-tinged rhetoric that currently permeates our political discourse, they have also been primarily responsible for the majority of the actual physical acts of political violence that have occurred in recent years in this country. That is a fact and not a matter of dispute.

Feel free to share your views as to why you believe I'm wrong.



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