This grim morning

More on the Giffords shooting and the climate of rage
As Bloggers and commentators assess blame for the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, it's pretty clear almost everybody is filtering what little we really know about the alleged shooter through their own politics and ideology. You don't need a Ph. D in Psychology to know Jared Loughner is a deeply troubled, possibly crazy young man. Was he driven to that point by ideology – or did he latch on to scattered ideologies because of his mental collapse? I'm more inclined to believe the latter, althoug...

Tuscon killings
The attempted Assassination of US House Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the Murder of 6 people in the group is a depressing topic about which there doesn't seem to be much useful to say, beyond what Gail Collins says about the inexplicable fixation of the gun lobby of ensuring easy access to semi-automatic weapons (as opposed to plain old single round pistols). But in the particularly idiotic talking points revolving around the relative significance of Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto in Jar...

Mein Kampf & The Communist Manifesto
Two big things in the news today: 1. California is expected to reveal its state Budget. I cannot imagine that there . . . Go George F. Will writes a paean to new House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton today. It includes this . . . Go Earlier today, GOP chairman Michael Steele released a statement on the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. “I am deeply shocked . . . Go A Glimpse Into Our Future? No, not The Onion -- but close: CNN's Anderson Cooper. Enjoy. . . . Go ...

Putting the blame where it belongs [Reader Post]
On November 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire at a troop readiness center in Ft. Hood, Texas, killing 13 people. Within hours of the killings, the world knew that Hasan reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar!” before he began shooting, visited websites associated with Islamist violence, wrote Internet postings justifying Muslim Suicide bombings, considered U.S. forces his enemy, opposed American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars on Islam, and told a neighbor shortly before th...

Irony Alert?
Words of supposed wisdom from Gary Hart: Gradually, over time, political Rhetoric used by politicians and the media has become more inflamatory. The degree to which violent words and phrases are considered commonplace is striking. Candidates are “targeted”. An opponent is “in the crosshairs”. Liberals have to be “eliminated”. Opponents are “enemies”. This kind of language eminates [sic] largely from those who claim to defend American Democracy ag...

Alexander & Goldman Show to discuss shooting of Gabrielle Giffords tonight
Join us tonight on our Phoenix Radio Show, the Alexander & Goldman Show tonight as we discuss the shooting of Arizona’s Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords earlier today. We’ll be giving live updates and analysis of this tragic event here in Arizona. While Giffords has been given an optimistic chance of recovery, Federal Court Judge John Roll, a Bush-appointee, and at least one other person have been reported dead. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, lists The Communist Manife...

Jared Loughner, Arizona Shooter, Appears to be a Lunatic
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. The man who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, including a 9-year-old girl who died, today in Arizona is Jared Lee Loughner, the AP reports. YouTube videos posted by a man with that same name include rantings about "mind control and brainwash methods" and an incoherent obsession with grammar and years: Elsewhere he lists Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf among his favorite books, and a video of a person in a mask burning an A...

More Loughner details: 9/11 Truther, perhaps an occultist?
Among the tragedies of mass Murders is the bitter truth that the murderer will often for a time become more famous than the Victims.  Perhaps that is especially true with true lunatics, as the public struggles to understand exactly what triggered the murder spree.  That will be the case for at least the next few days as more details emerge about Jared Lee Loughner and the very strange life he led in the years prior to killing at least six people and gravely wounding several others, including...

The Left Hypocritically Exploits Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' Shooting
Just hours after Saturday's tragic shooting incident in Tucson, Arizona, numerous news sources on the left from CNN to the Huffington Post were casting blame upon Sarah Palin, Tea Parties, and Second Amendment supporters. Hoping the shooter had right-leaning views, the Left immediately started portraying Jared Lee Loughner as a Right Wing nut. Even as information trickled in revealing Loughner had some left-leaning political views, the left ignored it and ran with their own spin, labeling hi...

Rationalizing the irrational
Oh, yes.  Politics will be spun, lies will pass straight-faced through the elite-owned media, and outrageous language will issue from those talking heads, cravenly kneeling at their masters' feet as they beg scraps from the table.  May their chains weigh lightly on their wrists as they obediently lick the hands that feed them. J.R. Dunn, consulting editor of American Thinker has a rational reaction to last Saturday’s Tuscon massacre:  "I have no intention of trying to draw a...

Bit of a stretch
Bit Of A Stretch by digby The intertubes are screeching with right wingers insisting that despite his obvious mental problems, anti-government Rhetoric and Paulite goldbug obsessions, the fact that he cited "To Kill A Mockingbird" "The Communist Manifesto" and "Main Kampf" means that Jared Loughner is a left winger. Let's just say that we don't really know much right now and anything's possible, but the fact that he shot a Democratic congresswoman in the head argues just a little bit against...

In praise of connecting the mouth to the brain before using
"American Journalists know how to be exquisitely sensitive when they want to be. As the Washington Examiner’s Byron York pointed out on Sunday, after Major Nidal Hasan shot up Fort Hood while shouting “Allahu Akhbar!” the press was full of cautions about not drawing premature conclusions about a connection to Islamist Terrorism. “Where,” asked Mr. York, “was that caution after the shootings in Arizona?" — Wall Street Journal Initiating violence against government

Man Charged for Pro-NKorea Twitter Post
(NewsCore) - Prosecutors in Seoul pressed charges against a South Korean man for posting pro-North Korean messages on Twitter and other Social Networking sites, Yonhap news agency reported Monday. The 54-year-old man, known only as Cho, was arrested for allegedly posting 100 online messages and video clips on Twitter and other websites praising the Communist regime in Pyongyang between 2009 and October last year. Some messages reportedly praised North Korea's decision to transfer power from lead...

Atheism and the Arizona shootings
Now that a few extra hours have past, the expected analysis of Jared Loughner and what he was and what he wanted to accomplish is shifting into high gear. Many on the left have brazenly accused the right of being the root cause of the attack. Some have pointed a finger at the Second Amendment, which is supported by no less than Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords herself. Others blame the general vitriol which all too often passes for political debate these days. Yet few point out that the shooter ...

China may launch first-ever property tax in Q1
Shanghai/Beijing | Sun Jan 9, 2011 9:38pm EST Shanghai/Beijing (Reuters) - China is set to further clamp down on the country's buoyant Housing Market by imposing a long-debated Property Tax for the first time in the southwestern city of Chongqing, domestic media reported on Monday. Chongqing has "in principle" won approval from the Ministry of Finance and may introduce the Property Tax as early as this quarter, the China Securities Journal cited the city's government as saying. Analysts expec...

The differences between Vietnam and Cuba
One of the favorite arguments used by anti-embargo politicians and Lobbyists is that "engagement" with Vietnam's totalitarian regime has brought reforms to that Communist country and we should therefore do the same with Cuba. They say there are no differences between Vietnam and Cuba, and the archaic and outdated embargo is to blame for the Human Rights violations carried out by the Castro Dictatorship. I used to disagree with this argument, but after reading this article I have changed my mind:...

UN to wrap up Nepal peace mission on Saturday
The United Nations will wrap up its peace mission in Nepal and it was unclear who would monitor the thousands of former Communist rebel fighters and their weapons confined in camps across the country, an official said Monday. The chief of the U.N.'s peace mission in Nepal, Karin Landgren, said operations will cease Saturday after four years. Landgren said it was still Undecided who will assume monitoring responsibilities. The government and major political parties were expected to reach a decisi...

So Much For Cuban Economic Reform
The Communist Party affirms that 'central planning and not the market will be supreme. With his characteristic intellectual wit, Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner defines Communism as "the time countries waste between Capitalism and capitalism." By this account, the Cuban government is now in its 52nd year of wasted time waiting for prosperity. Much has been made of economic reforms promised by Raúl Castro, including by the Cuban president himself. "We can either rectify the situation,"...

A Portrait of a Disturbed Assailant
Saturday’s tragic shooting in Arizona still poses more questions than answers. But nearly all of the available reports paint a picture of the alleged gunman, Jared Loughner, as an individual who suffers from severe Mental Illness. At a local community college, according to the New York Times, Loughner had a history of outbursts that frightened Students and instructors so much that administrators called police—and, eventually, forced him to withdraw. One teacher later told USA Today,...

Lefty Attitude Its Amazing
Remember the idiot progressive in Chicago that was late with the Military Ballots? From UPI - Delaney admitted in October that he had failed to send out 1,297 Absentee Ballots to military personnel in time to comply with Military and Overseas Empowerment Act, known as MOVE, which requires Absentee Ballots sent out 45 days in advance. Delaney said he was actually waiting for a court decision on whether the Constitution Party should be included on the ballot and did not want to send absentee bal...

Bill to block Brookfield zoo tax clears legislature
Amid discussions of an income Tax Increase last week, the Illinois House unanimously passed a measure prohibiting the village of Brookfield from implementing an amusement tax on Brookfield Zoo. The Senate approved the measure in November, but that didn't stop Brookfield from approving the 25-cent tax in December. If the state measure is signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, it could lead to further disputes between the village and the zoo. "We believe we have a valid amusement tax," Brookfield Vi...

Chicagoans suffer from nation's highest gas prices
Morton Grove gas price, Jan. 3, 2011 While the Illinois General Assembly ponders raising the state Income Tax by 75 percent, residents in Chicago pay the nation's highest Gasoline prices. The price of regular in the city is $3.35 per gallon, which is 27 cents higher than the national average, according to the Lundberg Survey. Suburban Cook County, where I live, gets a little bit of a break, but when I filled up last week, I paid $3.32 a gallon. At $2.73 a gallon, drivers in Salt Lake City pay th...

EPA: Markham man 'chronic' violator of dumping laws
Promising to Crack Down on those who illegally dump garbage in poor, urban pockets of southern Cook County, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is targeting a prominent Markham businessman who in 2009 scored a $6 million waste removal contract with the city of Chicago. EPA officials describe Jim Bracken, owner of Brackenbox Inc. Dumpster service as well as a transfer and Recycling center in Markham, as a "chronic" violator of environmental regulations, and referred his case to the sta...

After AZ shootings, Rep. Denny Davis told hes next
Stumble This! After Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot on Saturday, Congressman Danny Davis' (D-IL) office reportedly received a threatening email warning that "Danny Davis is next." Davis, a Democrat from Chicago's West Side who has represented Illinois's 7th Congressional District since 1997, said he would normally ignore a threat such as this, but thought he should take action in light of the recent shooting. "You know some things are cranks, some things are pranks," Rep. Davi...

Calmer heads prevailing, so far
* The Arizona shooting rampage has nerves a bit on edge in Springfield. Statehouse security yesterday was normal, which means fairly light. Nobody was stationed at the end of the northern drive entrance when I went by a few times, but a handful of guards were inside the building. As I’ve already told you, security at today’s Inauguration events will be tightened, but it won’t be over the top… Illinois State Police plan to beef up security a bit when Gov. Pat Quinn and ...