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No Ordinary Cross Hairs
Christina Taylor Green might well have made the world a better place someday. According to reports, Christina had just been elected to her elementary school's Student Council. Her neighbor brought her along to Rep. Gifford's community event in the corner Safeway parking lot. He thought it would be of interest to this young, budding public servant.
Nine years old, a ballerina, a ball-player, a student councilmember and a beloved daughter, Christina Taylor Green was felled by a would-be assasin's bullet.
Tragedies do happen. Innocent people, even children, are caught in cross hairs every day in this country. But these were no ordinary cross hairs. These cross hairs appeared on the website of an immensely high-profile political leader, indeed that of a former U.S. Vice-presidential Candidate. Tea Party Spokesperson Sarah Palin. This map targeted, with the cross hairs of a gun barrel, Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). And to reinforce this map of "targets," Palin tweeted to conservatives last year "Don't Retreat...Reload."
These cross hairs hung in the air when 2010 Congressional-candidate Sharon Angle, another Tea Party favorite, said in an interview that people should exercise their Second Amendment Remedies.
These crosshairs were present at a campaign stunt which Gabby Giffords' Tea Party-backed Congressional opponent Jesse Kelly. Kelly's campaign event website posted a photo of him in his Marine uniform holding his gun, advertising a target shooting event: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
Palin, Angle, Kelly and the Tea Party neither pulled the trigger nor can be said to be responsible for the shootings. They have rightly decried the violence. The suspected shooter, Jared Lee Laughner's internet rants seem to indicate mental instability and radical right-wing delusions. But so far there is no indication that he believes he was following instructions from any particular public figures.
No, they are not "behind the shootings." But neither have they acknowledged the dangerous potential of their violent rhetoric. They have not repudiated their remarks or election tactics. They are not personally to blame for the tragedy. But can anyone say that they bear no responsibility for creating the cross hairs in which 18 innocent people were caught?
Pima County Arizona's Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said in the Press Conference following the shooting, "People tend to pooh-pooh this business about the vitriol that inflames American public opinion by the people who make a living off of that. That may be free speech but it's not without consequences."
So, no. These were no ordinary cross hairs. And in them a well-loved public servant, Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot through the brain. Six people were killed. Thirteen more were injured. And Christina, a child embarking on her own mission of public citizenship in her school, was caught in them and brutally murdered.
Incendiary rhetoric has ballooned in the past two years and has crafted the cruelest of cross hairs. This climate of hate threatens us all.
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131 Comments so far
Show AllIf the FBI can make a case against the Midwest Peace and Palestine activists, who never promoted violence, they can make a case against Palin.
Does anyone have a quote that indicates he came from the right?
Some of his writing seems imbecilic (sp?) but some seems to be relevant.
Yes, if a Republican had been shot the FBI would have already rounded up lefties, denied them due process, and tossed them in the gulag with Bradley Manning.
The Muslim terrorists did it would be resounding around the world and Congress would be called in for an emergency session to bomb the World. If this assassin had not been caught or had he committed suicide Muslim terrorists would be accused, the warmongering trumpeted and as it is the DHS,never having saved anyone, will lobby for increased funding to KEEP FEAR ALIVE.
The prez, Obomber, can order illegal assassinations of American citizens. Maybe this hater felt it was his right as well.
seriously? I think you need to be put on a watch list if you think this is true.
Oilybomber has explicitly claimed to have the universal executive extrajudicial legal power to execute any citizen of any nation including the USA, if that individual has been placed on a terrorist list.
This case was argued against and lost in New York federal court by thhe ACLU representing Mullah Alawri's (USA citizens) father.
I think Pres. Oilbomber ordered the hit and somehow convinced Mr. Loughner to carry it out. Perhaps Oilbomber has something on Loughner from back in their Chicago Mafia days.
Tanguero,
Haven't been following the news very closely?
Conspiracy to murder seems quite evident.
A little primer on the First Amendment and incitement--
Right up until the point where a speaker is whipping up--in person--a crowd, with words like "Take the guns, take the gasoline, Burn the church and shoot the priests!" it is protected speech.
Sick as it is--and as unfairly as the DOJ and press treat the issue--Palin's crosshairs bit falls well within the bounds of protected speech.
The Constitution does not protect us from the stupidity of the speaker. It requires--REQUIRES--us to do that.
Cheers.
Good point. But regardless of whether Palin's comments are actionable, they pander to the morons in this country who spend too much time cleaning their guns to learn to speak, read and write beyond a third grade level.
I wonder if there is a significant difference between what Palin has been doing, and what others who pander are doing. For example:
the ones who promote violence on TV to make money;
the ones who promote violence in the movies to make money; and
the ones who create violent video games to make money.
Palin makes lots of money while hiding behind her facebook page and twitter, without having to face anyone who might ask questions she cannot answer (which is most questions).
Perhaps this event will finally convince the right wing that she is too dangerous to trust with anything important. One can only hope.
Puffin re your example is there not an incitement to riot law in some states?
Though you are probably correct, I guess the distinction with a Mafia Don who says "someone needs to take care of this guy", would be he is in a informal organization whereas Palin has no direct informal links or is that debatable?.
Yes, there are incitement to riot laws.
The test on when free speech protections end is simply this: "Imminent Harm."
Heavy on the Imminent. That's why, when a KKK film replete with brandished weaponry and revolutionary (and hella racist, natch) talk, it was not prosecutable. It was a film, thus any harm caused could not be imminent.
The easiest example? Shouting "Fire" in a crowded theatre. The speech is not even political (together with religious, the most protected forms of speech), but the likelihood of harm from the audience stampede to the door is great. So the schmuck who yells it still goes down on manslaughter, free speech pleas notwithstanding.
Palin's warfare-metaphor heavy speech is just that: Warfare metaphor heavy. Tasteless, sure, and maybe even, in some very indirect way, the cause of this attack.
But I don't think so. The accused, if he did what they say he did, was One Fucked Up Dude. He just needed a direction to snap. Saying Palin caused this death (and I hate and loathe her together with all politicians) is like blaming Judas Priest for a teen-ager's suicide. The mafia Don is a leader of a very organized criminal conspiracy. Conspiracy hangs all who participated in it. A random audience member cannot, by definition, be in on the conspiracy. A live talk with the Don, however...
The attack and the suicides would have happened regardless, because some people are just that fucked up.
Remember, the enemy is the politicians and their masters, not the individual parties or demented souls like this attacker(s). Palin and the rest are there to distract us, to make us Be Thankful for the liberal crumbs that skitter off Pelosi's table [like that crap from Ms. Magazine, reprinted at Truthout and elsewhere]...
Forget about Palin. She's irrelevant. Even if she wins. But then, so is Obama, which is my point.
He seemed to be an extreme hater of the government....wouldn't "sedition" be the word for those who affected his insane brain?
Highkarate,
Alex Jones' site is saying that this kid is a lefty. Looks like both sides are in full mode to blame the other for what happened. Still haven't heard of a definitive motive - too early to know WHY it happened. There's likely more to the story than anyone is saying. Does reveal how completely useless DHS is - they've never stopped any attacks while justifying their 4th Amendment assault on citizens for their own protection. They can't protect only 535 Legislators with the billions of dollars they get, but try to convince the other 300 million citizens that they can protect us. DHS has shown to be a useless entity that unnecessarily devours federal revenue.
I recall that I was sent home from my 4th grade class on 22 November, '63. Since then - Malcolm, MLK, RFK, Wellstone, et. al. Whomever else is targeted by a particular group. I too can feel emotions like sorrow and outrage, but being surprised has been conditioned out of me.
Yes Senator Paul Wellstone was murdered under the radar.
Leftys don't hate the government (at least not since the 60s & 70s). That has been the sole bailiwick of the right ever since Reagan uttered those infamous 9 scariest words in the English language: I'm from the government, and I here to help.
Also, Leftys don't go ape over the fact that our currency is no longer gold or silver-based. And, on the whole, they are not conspiracy nuts.
So, no, I don't think he was a Lefty. I think he was an unbalanced person who has been fed a diet of vitriol and hate for the government by radio, TV, and the Internet for those who represent the government (gee, I wonder which side THAT describes?), and finally snapped. And the complete availability of semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles, which people CAN APPARENTLY BUY ON ANY STREET CORNER AND OPENLY CARRY IN ARIZONA WITHOUT ANY PROBLEM could have been helpful toward his planned carrying out of his deranged ideas.
America should be ashamed of itself.
I don't believe I called him an "ape"....I believe I said he "went ape".
And, I'm sorry...he WAS unbalanced, as illustrated by what they have discovered about him just the last two days.. And many of the people who listen to the fanatics on the right ARE unbalanced. That's the problem. It takes very little to send them over the edge....Dr. Tiller's killer, the Holocaust museum killer, et al.
And as to this: "Alex Jones' "The Obama Deception" can give you some stuff to chew on, just spit out the stuff that is hard to swallow...lol"--A person I thought was a good friend sent this to me when I innocently forwarded an e-mail that explained the good things about the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In return, I received from her that crazy screed from Alex Jones, which scared the crap out of me,(she listens to him on a regular basis), and she screamed that I was an idiot. I have not heard from her since.
So, I can see what you're saying....but I cannot absolve Faux Pravda, Beck, Bachmann, Palin, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Coulter...they are all hate merchants whose words have consequences. And we're seeing that all to frequently these days.
And, I AM a pacifist. Peace and love to you, as well.
I am honored, Dude....abide in peace and love, and I'll keep my rhetoric on the down low....but I'M not the one you should be worried about. I just have a feeling we haven't seen the last of situations like this. We're gonna need a lot of luck in the next 2 years.
Its Always (except for Malcolm and small plane "accidents"
Always a:
"Lone Crazed Gunman". RRRRRRRRRRRRightTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!!
I would say that he is an Alex Jones type gone wrong, just a guess, but.
That's a really really low brow cheap shot. Jones has never ever called for violence against anyone and unlike Sarah Palin he has not even hinted at it either.
I am probably as progressive as any of you guys and certainly more progressive than the Democratic party or Obama, but thats not exactly very hard to be to the left of the donkey these days as it keeps trying to appease the right ....yet I've been following Alex Jones for years and I think he's great. That does not mean I agree with him on everything. For instance he thinks global warming is a scam. I find that really difficult to believe, same with Peak Oil.
Jones was one of the most vocal critics of the Bush adninistration for those eight miserable years. So you cannot pigeon hole AJ that easily. It is true he is staunchly pro second amendmant, but as I understand it so was Gabby Gifford (at least to some degree and certainly more so that most of you). I mean there are differt points of view in the debate over gun control than just the polar extremes. I myself don't see why civilians need semi-automatic weapons. Where do you draw the line?
Alex Jones has been very supportive of the Tea Party, in my view, because the are rebellious. I personally think the Tea party are mostly bigots (but Alex Jones if definitely no bigot, I've met him several times), and Sarah Palin should be charged with iciting violence and terrorism. ...yet I really like Ron Paul (the only Republican I actually like and I despise the Republican Party like poison), but I don't agree with him on everything either and I am not so sure about his son. Rand does not appear to me to be Ron. If Republicans were all like Ron Paul, I think it would be far better for the country. Ron Paul has repeatedly spoken out taking positions that differ with the Republican Party, especially on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which both the democrats and republicans keeps funding. Obama says he's pulling the "combat" troops out of Iraq, or course he does not mean we are pulling the troops out, just the "combat" troops. Another Obama Orwellian doublethink deception.
It is true that the Joseph Paul Watson and Kurt Nimmo are saying that the shooter is a "lefty" because he had a copy of the communist manifesto. I am disappointed that they fail to also point out that he also had a copy of Mein Kampf...(and I think the world of the Watson brothers). So what does it all mean that he had these two polar opposite idealogical books? Don't really know. He also had Animal Farm, Brave New World and One Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest. Does that make him a lefty? Hardly.
There are many progagandists as well as that idiotic Southern Poverty Blah Blah Blah Council or whatever they call themselves who have attempted to slander Alex Jones and his readers/followers as violent......so I understand now how you meant it, but how people intrepret it is another matter.
I am an "Alex Jones type" and proud of it, and the last time I fired a gun was in sleep away camp forty years ago, and it was a BB gun. This event will be used to stiffle free speech and any criticism of the government by trying to portray anyone who dares to tell it like it is as some kind of terrorist nut case. This knife cuts in two directions.
Brings to mind:
"We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights, it was simply crosshairs like you'd see on maps...it never occurred to us that anybody would consider it violent"
--- Rebecca Mansour, SarahPAC staffer in an interview with talk radio host Tammy Bruce who then suggested that they could, in fact, be seen as "surveyor's symbols."
Peace brother
His writings suggest mental illness (schizophrenia?). The big question is the possible accomplice.
The people are losing ground. For years Edgar Hoover kept insisting "The FBI is an investigative body. We do not make arrests" In hell they didn't. They arrested anybody and everybody who was called a commie by somebody else. They just didn't happen to notice the lynchings, beatings, violence of any kind against black citizens.
Justice is whatever the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, says it is. Just like all law enforcement officials they also consider it their prerogative to look the other way when somebody is, in their opinion, getting what is coming to them.
I live in a rural area. The State Agricultural Extension Service, ever since I can remember, just were not aware of any black farmers. If any black farmers tried to register for a state program they probably tried only once.
Republicans look a lot like red necked dirt farmers: ignorant, hard working but shiftless, easily manipulated. I feel like I can talk this way because my father and grandfather and great grandfather fit the description. The few times I tried to talk to them I went away so ashamed of them, angry at them, and feeling helpless that I just avoided discussions with them.
I'm still considered an oddity in this community---not that I give a shit.
None of them even now can see that it is being poor that is killing them, or that the black population is their ally, not their enemy.
If I objected to a racial joke I would get "There ain't no harm in me, it's just talk."
Imbesilic rhetoric is hardly a diqualifier for GOP/Tea Party status. More like a reqirement.
Gee, the USA government murders hundreds of thousands of people around the world with the motive of stealing those peoples resources.
Where is the outrage over those murders?
Gee, what a waste: the shooter would have made a great hired killer for the USA government, but Army rejected his enlistment.
Ummm, have you read this site much?
[Where is the outrage over those murders?]
In every thread where those numbers are brought up. In every thread that mentions the foreign wars that the USA has launched. Like this thread, even in the ones that don't directly mention the millions murdered in the name of the corporations of the united states.
The army rejected him, probably because he wouldn't have fired on the orders of his superiors. He was too nuts to join the army, yet he still was able to get his gun...
The second amendment is working out very well for you, eh?
This proves that scanners and groping of bodies are needed at malls throughout the country, just as Janet Napolitano[?] the head of DHS declared recently.
You know, I think you're right. That's exactly how this thing is going to get twisted and played (and swallowed by a good portion of the populace).
The US military takes in plenty of unstable recruits, Jared just couldn't act normal. This guy, with veiled racist comments, his meandering lines of unreason, and whatever other manifestations of sever psychological instability, was even rejected by the US Army. This must have really done a job on whatever kind of tortured, paranoid ego he already had. He was probably ready to explode, and it just took a little Beckian crap to put him over the edge.
Great comments and as usual the USG/MIC,Mafia Industrial Complex,politician and hate mongers will never even acknowledge this incident and in fact it may serve to the likes of Beck,Limbaugh,O'reailly to increase their incendiary hate rhetoric because being able to influence unstable and/or the hate mongers of this society thereby giving themselves a sense of power just as the NAZI's reveled in when in power. For the USG and the politicians to offer an apology to the 9 year old girl for contributing and encouraging violent acts against the world including the USA because of the pretend christian[biblical harlots]doctrine[babel] of "I'm not responsible because god told me to do and/or say it or Satan made me do it but I'm not responsible". That the allure of the pretend christians,I'm not responsible.
This was off MSN front page article about a possible 2nd suspect in the shooting. Jesse Kelly's spokesman has this to say
"I don't see the connection," between the fundraisers featuring weapons and Saturday's shooting, said John Ellinwood, Kelly's spokesman. "I don't know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don't see the connection.
Hello!!!
Reality is they do get it. And this is the kind of thing that Faux News Will Dumb Down it's viewers with. Last evening when this had happened, you only found out about it reading news articles or CNN. Major networks didnt want to interupt there normal programing.
Oh they get it alright. IMHO, they KNOW what they do agitates their base, and if it sends a few unstable folks over the top, so be it. So far I have not seen a single Republican on M$M condemn rhetoric that Sarah Palin used. As a matter of fact when someone started to say Sarah Plains rhetoric might have contributed to the shootings, Faux news abruptly cut to a commercial (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/fox-news-abruptly-cuts-tucson-vigil-mourner-mentions-sarah-palin/).
My guess is you'll just see a temporary ratcheting back on the real vicious rhetoric, then it will be once again full steam ahead.
Regardless of the shooter's actual motivations or of whether he was manipulated one way or another to engage in these acts, I suspect that some well-paid sophists of the right are working on a strategy to turn this tragedy into a positive for certain potential presidential candidates. I would not be surprised at all if Ms. Palin is thrown under the bus by the elites of her party, and then subsequently those same elites bemoan the fact that she was treated so shabbily by the "liberal media" and warn the people to guard against "liberal chicanery." Of course for most of us it would only mean that the R crime family rules instead of the D crime family, but it is still somewhat disturbing in that the R family always seems to be ahead in the race to the bottom (though Barry is a talented and resourceful runner and may take the lead).
Very true 2 comments. I read an article that said the 2 parties take turns being in charge. It is one fing game to these whores who do not represent us. Jefferson did have it right. When our leaders no longer represent us we need to act. But first we have to have all people see that it is both parties screwing us. I like the idea of a no shopping day. Or no flying day. Bring the country to it's knees. But the people that keep voting Republican are just too damned stupid to realize they are being used.
It will be interesting to hear how the lunatic fringe spins this on the radio particularly Rush and Fox News.
They'll come up with some way of blaming either the victim or BO.
The beat goes on!
I think they are either saying the shooter was an apolitical wacko or a pinko commie who burns american flags
They already have as they are calling the people who posted Palin's cross hairs map " IRRESPONSIBLE" !
Of course they don't see the connection, the brain protects itself from cognitive dissonance. So much of the structure of American culture is built on violence that it's impossible for most people to even realize it's influencing their every thought. Just sit down and watch the NFL games today and try to step back and notice how odd it is that they glorify having their men and women in far away lands (175 according to the announcers!) killing brown people in order to secure our American right to revel in the violence of modern day gladiators on the field.
http://theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com/
Wonder how "Mama Grizzly" would be reacting this morning had it been her young daughter gunned down; knowing someone had put a detailed map on the Internet showing the world through the cross hairs of a gun where her child lived, and had been advocating gun violence against others?
Has she once considered that "As ye sow, so shall ye reap?"
Hopefully Sarah Palin will someday be staring down a lawsuit brought on by the angry and sad parents of that poor 9 year old girl, and prison time for inciting to violence and making what were essentially death threats, similar to a Fatwa. I doubt the sincerity of her statement yesterday about the shooting. She is just covering her ass.
Bears have taught people a lot of things, healing practices and survival skills. They gather herbs and roots, they dig for medicine. If you are in the company of bears you are in a sacred place. A political gathering today is filled with predator like ideas no matter the words, the ideas are often harmfull. The idea of planting something and then reaping it is simple but there are other matters to consider. A mama grizzly would not have waited until this morning.
Idle curiosity here, but am wondering what day Arizonans are celebrating Kristallnacht this year. And why don't they do it on the date it actually happened?
Oh yeah...they're sub-morons. Coordinating the fun with the actual date is high-order calculus. My bad!
Seriously, surely HALF of America is made up of actual human beings, the rest being scum-of-the-earth/trash/douche-droplets. Insane Money Worshippers. Until the human half actually DOES something about that, the country is going down the tubes, I'm afraid.
And don't let them cause your eyes to glaze with endlessly tedious talk of economics. They're only explaining HOW pigs act. Get them to explain WHY pigs are pigs. It's like the differnce between brain/neural activity and actual thoughts. The first, an attempt to map correlation, the second deals with essence.
I hope that's no too far-out.
The problem is that the half of America that are actual human beings rarely are allowed to discuss the important issues on M$M, so their message never gets heard. Only those that spew the ideas the rich want heard are allowed on the airwaves. So for many Americans acting like the pigs you describe is the only thing they know.
The right wing werdos were putting out this hate message in the 2010 midterm election with the Kentucky senate candidate telling his backers to beat up on a woman which one of them proceeded to do just that. Then that case in in the congressperson race in Virginia a similar roughing up of those opposed to that Tea Party candidate seemed to have the sanction from the top. These people aren't just doing this without encouragement all out by the far right and further right.
Sarah Palin and the rest of that fruit cake crowd know just what they're doing and they can stop playing stupid. They have sanctioned this senseless violence completely unprecedented in major party campaigns to my knowledge.
Yes Glen Taylor, Henry Wallace's running mate in 1948 did get beat up in Alabama when he addressed an integrated audience in that campaign, but he wasn't a major party candidate not that that made it right. But this kind of thing is now becoming national and being taking out on major party candidates and their perceived supporters in a completely new way never seen before in US history. We are entering a new dark age if this insanity contines without more stanidng up to this madness.
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This is basciallly a good article. I just say those such as in the Tea Party can't escape their hate rhetoric. We have a perfect right to call them on it.
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This is basciallly a good article. I just say those such as in the Tea Party can't escape their hate rhetoric. We have a perfect right to call them on it.
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Excellent. You're right.
Hopefully some criminal charges can be made against Ms. Palin, that would help put her in her place and discourage her and others from insane incitements to needless violence.
See my comment on the scope of the First Amendment. No charges can be brought.