I just thought you should know a few things about the people you helped into their graves and hospital beds this weekend.
Yes, you.
You false patriots who bring assault rifles to political rallies, you hack politicians and media personalities who lied through your stinking teeth about "death panels" and "Obama is coming for your guns" and "He isn't a citizen" and "He's a secret Muslim" and "Sharia Law is coming to America," you who spread this bastard gospel and you who swallowed it whole, I am talking to you, because this was your doing just as surely as it was the doing of the deranged damned soul who pulled the trigger. The poison you injected into our culture is deeply culpable for this carnage.
You who worship Jesus at the top of your lungs (in defiance of Christ's own teachings on the matter of worship, by the way) helped put several churchgoers into their graves and into the hospital. You who shriek about the sanctity of marriage helped cut down a man who was about to be married. You who crow with ceaseless abandon about military service and the nobility of our fighting forces helped to critically wound the wife of a Naval aviator who fought for you in a war. You who hold September 11 as your sword and shield helped put a little girl born on that day into the ground.
You helped. Yes, damn you, you helped.
"We're better then the Democrats. You don't see any Republicans running to a microphone to blame a Democrat for the shooting in Arizona, do you?"- The Oxy-d out Pigboy, live on the radio in Tulsa
Hey Pigboy, he SHOT a DEMOCRAT!
You're right - nobody is blaming the Democrats for this shooting.
From GlennBeck.com:
Nothing says "stop the violence" like pretending (and "pretending" is the right word) to be a bad-ass motherf'r with a gun.
I wonder who he thinks he's shooting.
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Tom DeLay sentenced to three years of dancing behind the bars
Hopefully that hammer will come in handy while breaking up rocks on the chain gang:
A judge has ordered U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002.
The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. DeLay was once one of the most powerful men in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives.
Slimy, mean little man. I found this part amusing.
Hastert, an Illinois Republican who was House speaker from 1999 to 2006, testified that DeLay was not motivated by power but for a need to help others. Hastert talked about DeLay's conservative and religious values, his efforts to provide tax relief for his constituents in Texas, his work helping foster children and the help he provided to the family of one of the police officers who was killed in a 1998 shooting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
"That's the real Tom DeLay that a lot of people never got to see," Hastert said.
Yeah, right. A real Mother Teresa. Shut up, Hastert.
I'd love to think that others watching DeLay get his just deserts could learn and possibly be deterred from going down the same path. It ain't about to happen. Greedy, self-serving, egocentric, power-hungry bastards tend to view themselves as omnipotent demi-gods and demi-gods, as we all know, don't need no stinkin' lessons from anyone.
As for DeLay, these words sum up who this creep is.
"I can't be remorseful for something I don't think I did."
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Republicans worship a Constitution they don't understand
Keep reading: http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2011/01/republicans-worship-constitution-they.html
In the 1950s, fertility started to plummet. Since the 1980s, when the birth rate fell below 1.5 children per woman, Japan has, in effect, had a one-child policy—though, unlike in China, it was self-imposed. It came as a shock to demographers when the 2005 census showed that the number of deaths exceeded that of births for the first time: the population had started to shrink two years ahead of schedule. The 2010 census results are currently being processed and preliminary results are due in February 2011."Another billion people have crowded this planet in just the last ten years. But keep cranking out those babies or NOM will say, "This is what a dying culture looks like."
Unlike many elected officials, particularly Republicans, who cower when Limbaugh attacks them, Dupnik went on ABC News and criticized Limbaugh by name for his role in inciting hatred and violence. Good for him.
At the entrance to a military base in southern Afghanistan, US Army Staff Sergeant Andrew Cunningham hands out money to locals employed to help rebuild their villages devastated by war.This is why there never should have been "American boots on the ground" in Afghanistan. The minute we declared we wanted to "win hearts and minds" (remember that?) obliged us to rebuild what we broke (somehow, we now own everything the Soviets broke too, go figure) and stop the drug lords (except for the Pals of Karzai). Being the only common understanding with them is "we have the cash and you want it", we'll be subsidizing Afghan society until my nieces and nephews have grandchildren.
...
Men from the 101st Airborne are now taking steps to help the population rebuild villages and irrigation canals through a cash-for-work scheme, part of the counterinsurgency plan to keep locals from backing the Taliban rebels.
...
...And next week they'll be Sarge's pal again. Tomorrow, they'll put a bullet in Sarge's head if a Taliban gives them $50. Once (if) we leave, the Taliban will kill Karzai (if he doesn't leave for Zurich with his bankbook
Later on the military base, about 100 workers are left annoyed when Cunningham runs out of money to pay them.
They will have to wait for their pay until next week -- more frustration for a population which has faced years of it.
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From the Guardian, "BP shuts Alaska pipeline after leak":
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Money quote:
And as long as we continue to play this foolish game of "both sides are just as bad," and rely on trusty old ablism to dismiss Jared Lee Loughner as a crackpot—dutifully ignoring that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators; carefully pretending that the existence of people with mental illness who are potentially dangerous somehow absolves us of responsibility for violent rhetoric, as opposed to serving to underline precisely why it's irresponsible—it will be inevitable again.Word.
Let's get this straight: This shit doesn't happen in a void. It happens in a culture rife with violent political rhetoric, and it's time for conservatives to pull up their goddamn bootstraps and get to work doing the hard business of self-reflection.
This is one problem the invisible hand of the market can't fix for them—unless, perhaps, it's holding a mirror.
The FBI and U.S. Capitol Police arrested an individual suspected of making a threat to the Colorado Democrat's state office, said Adam Bozzi, the senator's communications director.
"We can confirm that there was a threat against Senator Bennet's office and that the FBI is working with the Capitol Police to have arrested the individual responsible for the threat," Bozzi said in a statement.
Lawmakers are pushing three identical bills to exempt Kentucky-made guns and ammunition from federal background checks, dealer licenses and other national regulations if the items remain in the state.Beat that, Texas!The effort comes as a recent report shows Kentucky is one of the nation's biggest exporters of guns that cross state lines - legally or illegally - and end up at crime scenes in other states, often in cities with tight gun ownership restrictions.
At the same time, one lawmaker who opposes the proposed legislation is pointing to Saturday's mass shooting in Arizona, which left six dead and wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and many others, as evidence Kentucky's guns laws should be strengthened, not weakened."This is just an effort to pander to the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party movement, which is shameful given the attempted assassination of a congresswoman over the weekend," said Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville.
Hushup, Mary Lou! You're gonna make us lose gun-nut first place.
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This terrifies us -- we remember that Heath Schuler couldn't hit a wide receiver with a football more than half the time. "Both Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) told POLITICO they will be carrying their guns in their home districts for protection. Both lawmakers hold a conceal and carry permit, but will not carry their weapons in the District of Columbia. ... Shuler, who received a serious death threat in 2009, says he is planning to carry his weapon more often and boost security at his district events. He's even encouraging his staffers to get their own conceal to carry permits. ... "You never think something like this will happen, but then it does," Shuler said "After the elections, I let my guard down. Now I know I need to have [my gun] on me. We're going to need to do a much better job of with security at these events."
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The "Christian Right" is gonna be pissed about this. Passport applications are going gender-neutral. Instead of asking for "father" and "mother" they will now ask for "parent one" and parent two."
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Forty-Eight Hours That is how long it took for the "tea party" jackasses to start fundraising off the tragedy in Tucson.
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Dumb Rep. Bob Brady Wants To Make Crosshairs On Maps Illegal
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David Frum Asks Important Question: 'Did Pot Trigger Giffords Shooting?
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If David Frum explanations for shootings aren't dumb enough for you, the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, has written up legislation to end assassination attempts directed at legislators: make "members of Congress and people who work for them" from Arizona undergo "firearms training, using firearms confiscated by the state." Sounds like fun! Thank God the fine assault weapons owners of Arizona have found a way to let crazed 22-year-olds shoot at people with their assault weapons in peace, as the founders intended. Never mind that this would never actually work or be useful or constitutional. The important thing is that we can blame future shooting deaths on members of Congress and their staffs not being good with guns, instead of on our gun laws.
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