Fallout from the Arizona shooting continues to reverberate from Washington DC to Orange County. Last week, Irvine City Council member and 2010 Democratic congressional candidate Beth Krom weighed in with a letter to the editor in the OC Register calling the right wing media to task for elevating the rhetoric.
Key points from Krom’s letter: “Whether the shooter in Saturday’s assault was mentally unstable is not the central question. Removing him from the street will not address the underlying interests of those who have driven the conflict and chaos that has made America more fractured over the past few years. When we allow political pundits who rely on ignorance and disinformation to gain credibility by virtue of their media overexposure we should not act surprised when their words incite hatred and aggression.
Our democracy requires an informed electorate, yet with all the sources of information at our disposal, we’ve never been more ignorant. That’s because the information we receive has never been more sensationalized or less credible. Media organizations seem to care little for the audience they serve, as long as they can hook the viewer and generate profits. Accuracy, context and journalistic integrity have become irrelevant in today’s sound-bite-driven world.
Free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy, but when irresponsible speech and the demonization of public officials lead to tragedy, the First Amendment is not a shield for accountability.”
We’ll note that Krom’s father, Irv Weinstein, was a trusted anchorman in Buffalo, NY, so she well knows the importance of journalism, ethics, and the responsibilities that come with free speech.
Krom is right about the right wing media’s success in inflamming attacks on the non-conservative elements of America (which goes much deeper than Blue State/Red State). Check out this list of right wing attacks on those who don’t share their views.
And Krom’s letter has sparked a mini-outrage. Despite her not listing anything about The Fairness Doctrine, the issue has come up in Orange County conservative media circles with Rep. Ed Royce weighing in with his own Letter to the Editor. It appears below:
“Former Irvine mayor Beth Krom’s letter to the editor blames the Arizona massacre on “highly charged anti-government rhetoric.” President Obama’s opponents are to blame, in her view, with the Tea Party being the main culprit. But what about the guy who pulled the trigger?
There is no evidence that Jared Lee Loughner is a Tea Party member. Pundits have scoured his readings to ascribe political motives. For what it is worth, favorite books included “The Communist Manifesto” and “Animal Farm.”
A far more likely explanation is mental illness. A former classmate said of Loughner, “It almost seemed like he was on his own planet, because his comments would have nothing to do with what we were talking about.” In fact, half the rampage murders in the U.S. are committed by the seriously mentally ill. Either way, Krom’s claim that the assailant’s mental health “is not the central question” reveals her political motives.
By politicizing Loughner, Krom can launch into a harangue against the media, specifically “conservative” media. It is sensationalized, inaccurate and profit-driven, she writes. Never mind that the “mainstream” media outlets routinely spew vitriol on conservatives. Worse, Krom hints at firm government control of the media.
In the aftermath, the third-ranking Democrat in the House has called for bringing back the so-called, “Fairness Doctrine.” Until abolished in the late 1980s, the Federal Communications Commission required broadcasters to report all sides to issues. Since it was so difficult to ensure this balance and with fear of lawsuits, broadcasters simply dropped controversial subjects. It wasn’t “fair” …“ it chilled debate.
Free speech, to survive, does require responsibility, as Beth Krom argues. We should all check ourselves. But I don’t recognize the “bully tactics and mob mentality” in America that she does. More troublingly, the remedy of state-controlled media is far, far worse than the media’s shortcomings.”
Let’s Edit Royce here for a second: “By politicizing Loughner, Krom Sarah Palin can launch into a harangue against the media, specifically “conservative liberal” media. It is sensationalized, inaccurate and profit-driven, she writes. Never mind that the “mainstream conservative” media outlets routinely spew vitriol on conservatives liberals.”
Quite frankly, there are similarities between Krom’s letter and a statement issued by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in her infamous “blood libel” speech. Palin said: “Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”
And Royce seems to miss the point on the Fairness Doctrine too.
As a radio news director in the 1980s, the Fairness Doctrine was hardly as difficult to adhere to as Royce describes. If we had a political story, if couldn’t air until you got comment from the other side. It was actually pretty easy to pull off and we usually produced two versions of the same story, one that led with the right wing point of view and one they led with the left wing point of view. Stories were alternated until replaced by something else in the news cycle. And because of the requirement for balance, it made for a better story.
What seems lost of Royce is that the Fairness Doctrine only applies to media that use the public airwaves. It wouldn’t apply to Fox News at all. It wouldn’t apply to MSNBC. It would apply to ABC, NBC, CBS, local Fox News affiliates, NPR and local broadcast radio and TV stations. Nothing on satellite or cable TV only.
Royce should probably know that conservative media gets low marks when it comes to the trust factor. Fox news is the lowest rated network when it comes to trustworthiness. From the survey: “The study was released on Wednesday. It is the second annual TV news trust poll PPP has conducted. The poll finds that PBS is the most trusted news outlet by a wide margin, with 50 percent of respondents saying they trust it, as opposed to 30 who don’t.
Fox News is the second-most trusted network, but also the most distrusted one, with 42 percent trusting it and 46 percent not trusting it. That’s as compared to the 43 percent who said they didn’t trust CNN, CBS or ABC. But Fox News was one of only two networks that saw its distrust levels increase from last year’s study. Last year, 37 percent of respondents said they didn’t trust Fox–a nine-point difference from the 2011 poll.”
Royce, who voted to repeal Healthcare Reform this week, is part of a party that is using deliberately inaccurate messaging to justify the repeal of healthcare.
From today’s LA Times, David Lazarus documents the GOPs misinformation campaign: “And the Republicans have outdone themselves for misinforming the American people about what the reform law will and will not do.
Aside from scurrilous talk of “death panels” and “socialized medicine,” House Republicans have reimagined healthcare reform as a jobs bill, rather than as a long-overdue revamping of how medical treatment is accessed and delivered in a country with about 50 million people lacking insurance coverage.
They titled their legislation the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.” They claimed that 650,000 jobs will be lost if the law is allowed to stand.
And don’t take their word for it, House Republicans insisted. That alarming job-loss figure is attributable to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Except it isn’t.
What the budget office actually estimated in a report last year was that the reform law “will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount, roughly half a percent, primarily by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply.”
In other words, there will be a small reduction in the amount of work that gets done because some people will voluntarily choose to work less. For example, a worker might retire early because healthcare will be more readily available.
That’s not an estimate of job loss or production. It’s an estimate of labor performed by workers.
But House Republicans donned their fuzzy-math hats and seized upon that half-percent number as representing a portion of the roughly 131 million jobs in the U.S. economy. Half a percent of 131 million is 650,000. Therefore, 650,000 jobs will be lost.
That’s not what the budget office said or even implied. If not a deliberate invention by healthcare reform foes, it was a gross misreading of what the budget office had actually concluded.”
Lastly, Jim Bieber, head the Bieber Communications, a PR firm catering to conservatives, chimes in on The Flash Report with an angry diatribe at Krom as well. Bieber also citing the Fairness Doctrine in this column.
The campaign to silence political speech from conservatives comes on two fronts. Liberal activists are attempting to intimidate and shame conservatives into limiting their expressiveness and passionate anger at public policy and public officials. Liberal legislators are calling for laws to regulate political commentary…..While nothing can be done to stop the liberal smear machine from re-writing history, proposed legislation banning the use of threatening symbols in campaign literature could criminalize political speech. As a political consultant that specializes in producing voter persuasion mail, I often use imagery to convey or stimulate anger. For over 15 years, I have produced campaign literature that has played off some combat metaphor or some kind of conflict. I have produced campaign literature that included graphics of bullet holes, angry mobs, boxing gloves, dunce caps, clenched fists, hammers, snarling dogs, bulldozers and even crosshairs from a gun scope without a single fatality attributed to the brochures that were mailed out. If some liberals get their way, I or the campaigns that contract with me, would be reported and charged for engaging in the production of imagery that could be perceived as threatening.”
Translation: Bieber has confessed to running his own conservative smear machine that specializes in using inflammatory rhetoric against Democratic candidates and positions. But dame those Liberals for running a smear machine to rewrite history.
I have to wonder if Bieber or Royce will be critical of Palin for accusing the Arizona shooter of having “leftist” ties with no evidence that he had any. Will Royce and Bieber ignore the litany of videos of Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly repeating hateful rhetoric or audio clips of Rush Limbaugh doing the same? Media Matters has those videos and more.
Nazi Health Care by a different name, – “Limits to Medical Treatmentsâ€.
Limits to care: Dr. Donald Berwick,
who was appointed by President Obama
to head the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, has said he will limit
medical treatments: “The decision is
not whether or not we will ration care
— the decision is whether we will ration
with our eyes open.â€
http://www.jbs.org/component/content/article/6439
“New World of ObamaCare PDFâ€
………………………………………………………………………………..
26 state Attorney Generals join lawsuit to repeal ObamaCare
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/5978-26-states-now-part-of-florida-lawsuit-against-obamacare-but-is-nullification-a-better-choice
No one is ever going to accuse Royce of being a smart man.
I once read a quote by him where he blamed the housing crisis on Barney Frank via legislation that was passed in 1998. I blew my water through my nose at that one. Given that Frank was in the minority party at the time. If Frank was controlling the GOP, he should be given credit for being a far more powerful pol.
What 1998 legislation?
Blame Barney Frank
June 18th, 2010 • 5:14 PM
Glass-Steagall, Campaigns, Mass-Strike, Editorial Statements
Barney Frank and the New York Democrats jump to defend Wall Street. We ridicule their lies about a ban on derivatives in a mean-spirited way.
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/14888
6 minute video
More at http://www.LaRouchePAC.com > “Search†> enter “Barney Frankâ€
Dan-
I guess Congressman Royce and I mentioned the Fairness Doctrine in relation to the tragedy in Tucson because Congressman Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in Congress, used the incident to call for the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine. That solves the mystery of our supposed randomness in referring to the Fairness Doctrine.
It’s just silly to make the argument that conservatives dominate with the volume and level of meanness of angry rhetoric.
Here are two gems on liberal civility –
The speaker at the White House Correspondence Dinner calls Limbaugh a terrorist and a traitor, suggested that he be tortured and wished him dead while Obama laughs.
“ He just wants the country to fail. To me, that’s treason He’s not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight.”
Sykes then said, “Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that’s what he needs.”
Future Democrat Candidate Alec Baldwin talking about killing a Republican Congressman
“I’m thinking to myself if we were in other countries, we would all, right now, all of us together, . . . would go down to Washington and we would stone [Republican U.S. Representative] Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death! Wait! . . . Shut up! No, shut up! I’m not finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death, and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families.â€
They are so funny it just kills me. Or according to current liberal doctrine they and their speech can be held responsible if someone does gun me down.
If you’d like we can have a wager and donate the money to charity for who can produce the most and worse calls for violence against people of opposing ideologies.
Jim —
you couldn’t afford it. On Ann Coulter alone, you couldn’t. They we can start with Michelle Malkin and move on to Glenn Beck. Ever go to Media Matters Jim? How about Newshounds.us? What was different about what Beth Krom said from Sarah Palin, other than Palin saud the shooter was a “leftist” with no evidence to support such a claim?
And as far as the Fairness Doctrine goes, it should be reinstated — because it applies to the PUBLIC airwaves. It wouldn’t apply to Glenn Beck’s Fox news program but it would apply to his radio broadcast. It never prevented me from doing a political news story when I was in radio news and the argument presented by Royce is bogus. Quite frankly, why is Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio, but there’s no Ed Schultz (or any other liberal talk show)?
And so you know, correct style is “Democratic” candidate. I am a Democrat, but it’s “Democratic Party” not the “Democrat” Party.
In case you didn’t know, the White House Correspondence dinner is a comedic affair. Presidents (including Bush) have been known to cut funny videos. If this is the best you can do to demonstrate “liberal” hate, you’ve done a poor job.
Caitie Parker, wrote she went to high school, college and was in a band with the gunman. She said she hadn’t seen him since 2007.
Parker wrote of Loughner, “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal and oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy.”
Dan – You need to lead the way and set the example on the fairness doctrine. Its, as you say, pretty easy to pull off.
“If we had a political story, if couldn’t air until you got comment from the other side. It was actually pretty easy to pull off and we usually produced two versions of the same story, one that led with the right wing point of view and one they led with the left wing point of view.”
Next time there’s some item you want to write about check in with me or another OC Conservative and we’ll give you our thoughts and you can post them alongside yours. This will make your blog better! And remember there are only two points of view liberal & conservative so it will be a snap. Its not the 80s anymore so you don’t have to wait for a fax to come over. You can provide all points of view with a click of the keyboard. I know you don’t HAVE to do it becasue somehow the world wide web is different than AM / FM UHF & VHF. You’ll do it to show how easy it is and how it only benifits YOU.
I look forward to being a featured commentator on your blog – making you better.
And Catie Parker is ..who exactly?
And it makes perfect sense that a liberal would target and shoot a Democratic Congresswoman.
The guy was crazy Jim. Pretty simple.
Come on and comment any time you want Jim; the Internet is like the printing press and the comments section is an excellent place to provide the fairness and balance you don’t get on Fox News.
But AM/FM/UHF/VHF operate on the limited public broadcast spectrum and fairness should be well represented. And remember, this means that ABC, CBS, NBC and NPR all have to carry conservative points of view as well. But in my experience, only conservatives are terrified of the Fairness Doctrine.
Perhaps you can ask Andrew Breitbart to start releasing unedited footage from Acorn undercover tapes so we can get the full story instead of the one he wanted to tell.
The guy was crazy Jim. Pretty simple.
Congratulations Dan you made our point.
Now I think you need to tell that to the Sheriff of Tuscon and every other liberal mouthpiece. It is anything but that simple to them.
Don’t reigate me to the “comments section” I deserve and expect EQUAL time on your blog. Its simple to do, will improve the blog, benifit readers and you can demonstrate the importance of ‘fairness’
Please reread who Caitie Parker is, she went to high school, college and was in a band with the gunman
Sorry Jim, I was just watching an old video of Michelle Bachman telling Americans to be “armed and dangerous” on healthcare reform. Just after hearing Sharon Angle talk about “second amendment rememdies.” What do you supposed you think she meant? Man up Jim.
What’s the over/under on Boehner weeping at tonight’s SOTU?
Do you think Jon Fleischman will afford me the same equal time on Flash Report Jim? What about Chip Hanlon?
The Internet is very different from the public airwaves and the limited public spectrum Jim, though I’ll get back to you if net netrality kicks in somehow. You should for the Fairness Doctrine; imagine CBS and NBC to give you guys equal time even though you already get considerable equal time there. Why are conservatives so afraid of open debate? http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/gop_aides_irked_with_cnn_for_a.html
Quoting Sharron Angle: “People are looking towards the second amendment remedies and saying my goodness, what can we do to turn our country around.â€
Angle again: “The first thing we need to do is take out blank.†The exact quote: “The first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.â€
Quoting Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): “I want people in blank armed and dangerous on this issue [of the energy tax] because we need to fight back.â€
Quoting Glenn Beck: “I want to kill blank with a shovel.†The exact quote: “I want to kill Charlie Rangel with a shovel.â€
Beck again: “Every night I get down on my knees and pray blank will burst into flames.†The exact quote: “Every night I get down on my knees and pray Dennis Kucinich will burst into flames.â€
Quoting Texas GOP candidate Stephen Broden: â€Our nation was founded on violence. I don’t think that we should ever remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms.’ ‘ The exact quote: â€Our nation was founded on violence. The option is on the table. I don’t think that we should ever remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms.’ ‘
Quoting Sarah Palin: “Don’t retreat, reload.â€
Quoting would-be Alan West chief of staff Joyce Kaufman: “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.â€
•During the April 9 edition of his Fox News program, Glenn Beck claimed to be imitating Obama while pouring liquid from a gasoline can — which he later stated was water — on an “average American.” Beck said during his demonstration: “President Obama, why don’t you just set us on fire? … We didn’t vote to lose the republic.”
•In an April 9 NewsBusters.org post, associate editor Noel Sheppard repeatedly used the acronym WACO — which he wrote stood for the “War Against Conservative Opinion” — in discussing how “liberal bloggers blamed right-leaning media members — in particular, Fox News’s Glenn Beck — for the shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”
•On the April 1 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin said of “the Obama plan” for the economy: “I view it as economic child abuse. I’ve been calling it that for the longest time because our children are being compelled to work for generations that will be dead for money that’s already spent. Their opportunities will be limited. Their liberty will be limited. And we’re enslaving them to a future that our ancestors didn’t create for us.”
•In a March 31 post on RedState.com, while discussing a Washington county’s ban on certain kinds of dishwasher detergent, managing editor Erick Erickson wrote of politicians: “At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?” Erickson later added: “Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.”
•During the March 31 edition of Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto, while discussing Obama’s foreign and economic policies, Fox News contributor Dick Morris said: “Those crazies in Montana who say, ‘We’re going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.’s going to take over’ — well, they’re beginning to have a case.”
•During the March 30 edition his Fox News program, Beck aired a graphic portraying Obama and Democrats as vampires and said, “The government is full of vampires, and they are trying to suck the lifeblood out of the economy.” Beck then suggested “driv[ing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers.”
•On the March 26 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson hosted Michael Franzese, the former caporegime of La Cosa Nostra’s Colombo crime family, to discuss similarities in the way Democratic leaders and progressive figures are “operating” and “the way we used to operate on the street.” Kilmeade began the segment by asking, “So, is this a big stretch to think that, all of a sudden, the Washington, D.C., has become our Godfather?” Asked by Carlson what he would “call” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Franzese replied that Geithner is “like an underboss to me. I mean, he’s doing the work of, you know, the whole family, and he’s kind of the guy out front, and looking to exercise control.” When Kilmeade later asked how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) would fit “in the mob,” Franzese replied that Pelosi and Frank are like “the lady and the guy that Obama is kind of stuck with to appease the rest of the family,” and he also referred to Obama as “the boss.”
•During the March 25 edition of Sean Hannity’s radio program, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Hannity she is calling for “an orderly revolution” so that Democrats can’t “achieve their ends any longer.” In response to Bachmann’s statement, Hannity said: “Well, I’m inspired by what you’re saying, Congresswoman, and I only hope that your fellow Republicans get as energetic and as outspoken as you are here.” From Hannity’s radio program:
BACHMANN: At this point, the American people — it’s like Thomas Jefferson said, a revolution every now and then is a good thing. We are at the point, Sean, of revolution. And by that, what I mean — an orderly revolution, where the people of this country wake up and get up and make a decision that this is not going to happen on their watch. It won’t be our children and grandchildren that are in debt. It is we who are in debt. We will be bankrupt in this country inside of 10 years if we don’t get a grip. And we can’t let the Democrats achieve their ends any longer.
HANNITY: Well, I’m inspired by what you’re saying, Congresswoman, and I only hope that your fellow Republicans get as energetic and as outspoken as you are here.
Bachmann later stated: “[W]e can never forget that the Founders were rebelling against a governmental authority that abused their taxation power. And that was the tyranny. That’s exactly what’s happening right now. And we have to — we have to rise up and say, ‘No more. Not on my watch. No more.’ ” At the conclusion of the interview, Hannity encouraged Bachmann to “keep going, and I promise you, as they attack you, you’re going to have conservatives like myself in your corner, I promise you.” Hannity then added: “Boy, that was inspiring.”
•In a March 12 column for the conservative news site WorldNetDaily.com, Erik Rush wrote that Obama is a “closet communist” and “pathological liar.” Rush then compared Obama to a rapist, writing: “A few weeks ago, a television commentator in the alternative press suggested that Obama seemed to be attempting to ‘ram it through,’ in reference to the urgency with which he promoted the stimulus bill. Indeed — like the proverbial cellblock rapist, our president is ‘ramming’ as much of his Marxist agenda down our collective throats as quickly as he can. One would think he fears that someone might come around the corner at any second and catch him.” Rush’s column was noted on Media Matters editor Terry Krepel’s ConWebWatch blog.
•In a March 9 post on FoxNews.com’s Fox Forum, Sheppard defended Rush Limbaugh’s repeated statements that he hopes Barack Obama fails by invoking secessionists during the Civil War, writing:
Is it really wrong or even unpatriotic to want the president and/or his policies to fail? Hasn’t this likely been the case in this country since its very birth?
It is an indisputable, historical fact that many Colonists did not support independence from England, and were hoping with all their heart and all their soul that President George Washington would fail.
Less than a century later, likely half the nation hoped President Abraham Lincoln didn’t succeed in defeating the Confederacy.
The argument today is that wishing ill upon President Obama is unpatriotic because of the fragile condition of our economy — but it is a metaphysical certitude that Washington and Lincoln presided over a much weaker nation than what we are facing in 2009.
•In his March 9 column for WorldNetDaily, actor and political activist Chuck Norris wrote: “How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority according to America’s Declaration of Independence.” Norris also wrote, “On Glenn Beck’s radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, ‘I may run for president of Texas.’ That need may be a reality sooner than we think.”
•Interviewing Norris on the March 3 edition of his radio program, according to a transcript posted on his website, Beck stated: “Somebody asked me this morning, they said, you really believe that there’s going to be trouble in the future. And I said, if this country starts to spiral out of control and, you know, and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control. … Americans will, they just, they won’t stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up. And they said, where’s that going to come from? And I said Texas, it’s going to come from Texas.” Beck then asked Norris, “Do you agree with that, Chuck, or not?” to which Norris replied, “Oh, yeah. You know, Texas is a republic, you know. … [W]e could break off from the union if we wanted to.” Beck responded, “You do, you call me,” adding: “Seriously, you do. I don’t mind having that lone star on my flag. I really don’t mind it. I’ve been out with a seam ripper looking at my flag going, I don’t know, California could go.”
•In his March 4 WorldNetDaily column, Burt Prelutsky compared Obama to a spousal abuser, writing: “Frankly, I don’t know why anybody continues to hold Obama in high esteem. Maybe it’s like those women who marry charming fellows only to discover after the vows have been exchanged that he’s an abuser. In spite of the black eyes and split lips, the ladies are just too embarrassed to call the cops and have their friends and relatives discover what a dunderhead they’ve been.”
•In his February 25 WorldNetDaily column, Ellis Washington compared Obama to a mobster, writing:
How does the legend of Faust apply to [Republican Louisiana] Gov. [Bobby] Jindal’s refusal to accept all of the $100 million dollars Obama is offering the state of Louisiana as part of it’s share of stimulus package money. President Obama, like the suave, cosmopolitan Mephistopheles, has not only crafted and passed the largest wealth confiscation in the history of the world, but upon closer examination of the 1,000-plus pages of this bloated, complex and convoluted text, the devil is truly in the details.
[…]
It’s like the wedding scene of “The Godfather,” Part I, where Michael Corleone recalled his father (Vito Corleone) doing business through his muscleman, Lou Cabrachi: “Either your signature on this contract, or your brains on this contract.” President Barack Corleone’s so-called $787 billion economic stimulus package has offered America a deal with the devil.
•During the February 20 edition of Clear Channel’s The War Room with Quinn & Rose, a caller discussed a proposed “insurance bill for gun owners”:
CALLER: I don’t feel — it doesn’t matter if they pass an insurance bill for gun owners or not. They’re not getting the guns, flat-out. I mean, that’s just how it is. And they’ll find out what a sizable force is once they encounter a group of citizens that own guns. I think that’s one reason they’re attacking the First Amendment is to stop you guys from warning the rest of the public.
Co-host Jim Quinn replied: “Oh, sure, sure. I mean, it’s the crux of all the amendments. As a matter of fact, the Founding Fathers argued that the Second Amendment should have been the first. Because without the second, there is no first. Thanks, Travis. Yeah, when you hear that Quinn’s guns have been confiscated, you will know that Quinn is dead.”
•The slogan for RightWingNews.com — a conservative blog run by Townhall.com columnist John Hawkins — is: “Kneecapping Barack Obama at every opportunity.”
“Needless to say, no conservative has called for violence against anyone. Nor has any conservative engaged in any ‘rhetoric’ that was likely to lead to violence.” – Ann Coulter, 1/12/11
“My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building.” – Ann Coulter, 8/25/02
Yeah, and didn’t she shortly thereafter fantasize publicly about poisoning Justice Breyer?