On the Tuesday edition of the Daily Show, host Jon Stewart had a segment about the cable channels reaction to the shooting at the US Holocaust Museum. He attempted to ridicule MSNBC’s blaming the right and the pundits Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Rielly blaming the left for setting off the alleged shooter. Unfortunately, Stewart and his writers missed the point of those reports and bought into the mainstream reporting that the shooter was a “lone wolf” crazy person.
There have been several killings by people later linked to right wing extremism. I know their extreme views didn’t kill the people – the people who pulled the trigger did – but think what it is like to listen the recent increase in Doomsday talk by the stars of right wing talk shows like Limbaugh and O’Reilly.
Everyday your warped view of the world is validated by the people you listen to on the TV and radio and you get to the point where you HAVE to do something. So while people like Limbaugh and O’Reilly didn’t kill anyone – their rhetoric – which has been more shrill since Obama took office – creates the powder keg and match that sets off people like the museum shooter who are not very rational in the first place.
The whole time Bush Jr. was in office I can’t think of any domestic terrorist killings happening because he was in office or from people irrationally afraid of his policies.
As promised, here are some of my favorite songs from one of my favorite years – 1976. That year I had my first transistor radio that also had an FM band so not only did I get to listen to WFIN and CKLW but also WIOT in Toledo. There were a bunch of hits that I loved that year and I remember that summer, camping with the family at Sulphur Lake near Arlington and the only thing that I constantly had besides my swim trunks was my transistor radio.
*Note* I had a problem coming up with a good 10th song to mesh with this list. My first choice “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot was a favorite but just killed the buzz of this list.
But if you want to see that one, follow the next link:
President Obama starts a trip to the Middle East this week where he will speak in Cairo. It is a chance to restart our strained relations with the rational Islamic people in the area. One messy area that seems to avoid cleaning up all the time is the problems between Israel and the Palestinian people. There is a solution to the problem and President Obama wants both sides to “buy a ticket”.
The President drew some harsh feedback when he expressed the view that Israel needs to stop building settlements in disputed land and to prepare for a two-state solution.
In a column by Thomas Friedman, in the New York Times, Obama also sees what the Palestinians must do:
There are a lot of Israelis, “who recognize that their current path is unsustainable, and they need to make some tough choices on settlements to achieve a two-state solution — that is in their long-term interest — but not enough folks are willing to recognize that publicly.”
There are a lot of Palestinians who “recognize that the constant incitement and negative rhetoric with respect to Israel” has not delivered a single “benefit to their people and had they taken a more constructive approach and sought the moral high ground” they would be much better off today — but they won’t say it aloud.
When it comes to dealing with the Middle East, the president noted, “there is a Kabuki dance going on constantly. That is what I would like to see broken down. I am going to be holding up a mirror and saying: ‘Here is the situation, and the U.S. is prepared to work with all of you to deal with these problems. But we can’t impose a solution. You are all going to have to make some tough decisions.’ Leaders have to lead, and, hopefully, they will get supported by their people.”
I have never understood the “Israel is always right…” part of US foriegn policy. I understand their need to be safe but that seemed to be contradicted by the building of settlements, treating the Arab population as 2nd class citizens or worse, and their program of targeted killing of “enemies”.
I also never understood the Palestinians negative actions whenever some progress was being made. I understand they have been treated poorly by Israel but the circle of violence has to end some how and they give up the moral high ground when they let people like Hamas start firing rockets etc….
The obvious solution is to set up two states. Now we need each side to buy a ticket.
Ihave always had a beef with the conservative pundit class, the talking heads on the various cable channels and talk radio. The main one is they like to lie to their audience and play into any bias the audience member already has like hating women, foreigners, and liberals. They never seem to get that some people do get influenced by them and their rhetoric. They accuse the left of doing the same thing when they complain about liberal bias but feign outrage when told their toxic views can do the same to others. Words have meaning or else why say them? I don’t support domestic terrorism and I don’t think conservative talking heads should either.
On the June 1st edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, he pointed to the constant verbal attacks on Dr George Tiller, the doctor murdered on Sunday, by Fox News talking head Bill O’Reilly and how Mr. O’Reilly refuses to accept some of the blame for the egging on the person who pulled the trigger with his inflammatory speech.
Here is the segment:
Don’t get me wrong. I support free speech including views I disagree with but there is a line not to be crossed at least by reasonable people.
Not once during the 8 year nightmare that was the Bush administration did I hear any left side pundits suggest that Bush be taken out in some way other than through legal means like impeachment.
As exasperating as it was being led down the stupid road by the lead ignorant cuss that was our President at the time, no one wished ill will toward him beyond making fun of his speeches, mannerisms, etc….
What O’Reilly fails to do is acknowledge that Tiller’s murder was something illegal and stupid.
O’Reilly tried to blame the left and Randall Terry, of Operation Rescue, almost gleefully gloated about the murder:
Terry: The point that must be emphasized over, and over, and over again: pro-life leaders and the pro-life movement are not responsible for George Tiller’s death. George Tiller was a mass-murder and, horrifically, he reaped what he sowed.
Q: So who is responsible …
Terry: The man who shot him is responsible …
Q: … because that makes it sound like you were saying that he [Tiller] is responsible.
Terry: The man who shot him is responsible.
Q: What did you mean by “he reaped what he sowed”?
Terry: He was a mass-murder. He sowed death. And then he reaped death in a horrifying way.
The event came to an utterly bizarre ending when Terry said that Tiller’s murder “can be a teaching moment for what child-killing is really all about” … and then seemed to ask those in attendance if they’d be willing to buy him lunch – he likes Guinness and chicken wings
Conservatives like that almost never accept responsibility for their words or actions even when they demand others do the same.
That’s why I refuse to listen or watch their shows at all and ask my friends to do the same. I don’t support domestic terrorism and I don’t think conservative talking heads should either.
Iguess I shouldn’t be shocked at the shrill hate and bigorty expressed by so-called political leaders over the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court. It seems if you aren’t a white male then you get subjected to some of the bile festering inside other white males who HATE anyone who isn’t one of them. I’m just glad evolution is taking over and soon the white male group will be shoved into the dust bin of relevance.
One of the funnier arguments is the one complaining about reverse discrimination because white males weren’t considered even though the current court has a majority of white males. It is like the argument the christian right makes when complaining about losing their special status when there are churches on almost every street corner.
The sad part is these white male bigots – like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan, and Tom Tancredo – have to make shit up to fit their shrill arguments.
One comment I liked that summed up my feelings on the issue was this:
The bottom line is, these charges of racism are pitiful projections by angry white men who know the battle against Sotomayor was lost before it began, but who have to continue pandering to their fans to remain relevant. And after all, someone has to do the heavy lifting for the political division of the Republican Party.
