We have a true test of character in front of us now.
We now know for certain the AZ shooter was a deranged, apolitical, stalker who had nursed a dangerous obsession with Congresswoman Giffords. As the truth final comes out, the picture of Jared Loughner is not that of a right wing political zealot motivated by the words of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh or the Tea Party:
On Tuesday, after a search of the Loughners’ home, federal investigators found a letter from Rep. Giffords’s office in which Mr. Loughner had scribbled the words “Die Cops” and “Die Bitch,” said Capt. Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Capt. Nanos, who was briefed on the findings, said Mr. Loughner had also referenced an assassination in handwritten notes on the letter.
Journal Community
The letter, dated 2007, was a form document sent by the staff of Rep. Giffords to thank Mr. Loughner for attending one of her events.
From a thank you note the twisted mind of Jared Loughner concluded Gabrielle Giffords had to die. Maybe it was is 9-11 Truther streak that caused him to take an act of gratitude and turn it into a rationale for mass murder?
What is known right now is that loose-lipped Sheriff who claimed Loughner was the product of heated political rhetoric (rhetoric a vast majority of voters found compelling as they tossed over 60 Dems on the street) has something to hide. A public servant hiding public records from the public:
Sheriff’s Department and community-college officials in Pima County are refusing to release a wide range of public documents about the man charged in Saturday’s shooting rampage that left six dead and more than a dozen wounded.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Pima Community College have declined to release documents that could shed light on run-ins they had with 22-year-old Jared Loughner in the months prior to the shooting.
The Arizona Public Records Law requires that records be “open to inspection by any person at all times” unless officials can prove releasing the information would violate rights of privacy or confidentiality or otherwise harm the best interests of the state.
Sheriff Dupnik apparently thinks the truth about Loughner and his numerous run ins is not in the interest of the state – he being the state of course.
It is well past the time we test the true character of all those left wing Casandra’s who claimed put a target on Sarah Palin and other conservatives with their outrageous and false claims of fault. It is a simple test: are those who wrongfully accused the AZ shooting on conservative political activity mature and professional enough to admit they were wrong and make public apologies?
Crickets chirping …..
And what about all those new death threats on Sarah Palin – are those responsible for the heated and clearly false rhetoric going to take steps publicly to tone down the heat on her by admitting they were wrong? A true test of character is upon us – many will fail.
Glenn Beck was on a rare roll last night when he began to uncover all the hidden violent rhetoric and imagery in American Society. I suggest we help those loony Democrats identify all the violations of peaceful speech out there, so they can rally the thought police (a.k.a. Amerikan Gestapo) and rid this country of evil. Here is one of Beck’s examples of violent imagery and labeling – the ‘Shot Glass‘:
Another example “Fruit Punch” – blood red of course:
The disturbing “Swordfish”:
The capitalist version of placing the bull’s eye:
Who in their right mind celebrates “Hammer Time”
What about the clearly explosive “Bombshell”
What’s the message behind this game?
Of course this game is off limits from censorship I am sure:
So, any other undiscovered symbols of violence and hate? Please add them in the comments section. We need to help the loony left get over their insecurity.
The loudest voices trying to lay blame on conservative voices over the shootings in AZ are apparently the ones closest to being at fault. As we learned yesterday, the delusional and dangerous Jared Loughner was the product of endless drug abuse and 9-11 Truther propaganda. He was around 12 years old when 9-11 happened, but since that time he concluded that government was the culprit on that evil day and he was sent to the Earth to save us from it.
His twisted journey began long before Sarah Palin was even known outside Alaska. Loughner’s stalker like obsession of centrist Gabrielle Giffords goes back to 2007. He is more left wing anarchist than anything else.
The ones I want to question are his parents, who seemed to let their child sink into the abyss without any care or concern. Or maybe I am being too harsh, and there were cries of help – cries that were ignored: Continue Reading »
Mistrust of government was Loughner’s defining conviction, the friends said. He believed the U.S. government was behind 9/11, and worried that governments were maneuvering to create a unified monetary system (“a New World Order currency” one friend said) so that social elites and bureaucrats could control the rest of the world.
Many leading Democrats in Congress have fed the Truther madness (Kucinich to name one). Now the screaming liberal media have put themselves in a corner. Will they call out the mad ones on the left who gave this troubled soul the seed of his hatred, which resulted in another violent act emanating from the liberal left?
And the Birthers on the right better take notice: these ridiculous conspiracy theories, which become more extreme as evidence and logic shoot down their premises and the result is even more radical theories, lead straight to hell.
Update: A history lesson on left wing hate from Malkin. Glass houses shattering everywhere in the face of this tragedy and so many dead. In honor of the young dead girl in this tragedy, born on 9-11, it is time to for the far left and far right to cease and desist. Time for peace negotiations so no other young girl has to die because of radicalized politics.
Addendum: If there ever was a clear example of why we should not legalize Marijuana due to how it destroys lives, Jared Loughner is that example. A quiet, talented gentle kid turned into a delusional pot head, who then turned into a mass murderer. Having seen how drugs can destroy people up close and first hand, I am not surprised at this well worn story. – end update
While the left wing drama queens all moan about how threatened they feel after being told to take a hike by the American people, the real story behind the shooting of conservative Democrat is the mental obsession of the shooter, who seems to be more a twisted stalker than any political radical:
Accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner appeared to have been long obsessed with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
A safe at Mr. Loughner’s home contained a form letter from Ms. Giffords’ office thanking him for attending a 2007 “Congress on your Corner” event in Tucson.
…
Mr. Loughner had complained to a friend about how he was treated by the Arizona lawmaker during an event several years ago, which aggravated Mr. Loughner, according to the friend.
Authorities allege Mr. Loughner’s anger exploded on Saturday. Shortly after 10 a.m., as U.S. District Court Judge John Roll greeted Ms. Giffords in front of a Safeway supermarket, authorities charged Mr. Loughner fired a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol into the back of her head. In the seconds that followed, say authorities, Mr. Loughner shot 19 others, six fatally, including the judge and a 9-year-old girl, before his gun jammed and he was wrestled to the ground.
Classic rejected stalker mentality. If Loughner could not have her, no one would.
Which brings us to all the real political radicals on the left now putting their sites on Sarah Palin. The left wing malcontents always enjoy an overabundance of projection. In all their lame and misguided calls against political threats, they threaten the one American women they fear the most – Governor Sarah Palin.
How many folks like Andrew Sullivan, sickenly obsessed with Sarah’s latest child and the gutter rumors that surround him, will finally twitch from rabid verbal assaults to physical ones? How many Daily Kos nut jobs will finally snap, and think ‘an eye for an eye’, even though there is no proof Rep Giffords – traitor to Speaker Pelosi – was ever really targeted by the right wing. I fathom to see the logic in going after a left of center conservative Dem when there are far left Dems all over the country which want to destroy America at its core values. It is this lack of basic logic which makes the left wings false accusations all the more pathetic.
The left may have already lit the fuse. Stinging from the recent national rebuke (and it was a big diss – make no mistake) there are enough border line violent thugs on the left who probably will pop off now. If the left can beat a man for selling “Don’t Tread On Me” signs at a local school or rampage through cities hosting economic summits, their desire to lash out must have hit the breaking point this weekend.
And we will all know whose heated rhetoric it will be who caused the real political radicals to explode over what is clearly a stalker.
We are all stunned and saddened by the madness that played out in Tuvson yesterday. Some of us started researching the insane postings of the shooter as the news broke yesterday and we quickly realized he was a very disturbed individual. He listed as favorite readings The Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf. One thing is for sure he was not part of any main stream political movement. But that is not how the media is spinning this.
The killer was an older version of the Columbine killers – a social outcast with a tortured mind. Another case like the VA Tech murderer, or those killed by obsessed and mentally unstable stalkers.
The news media has been laying out the hints about some connection to the Tea Party or heated political rhetoric. That is absurd. Anyone leaning towards Mein Kampf or The Communist Manifesto is not going to be comfortable in the Tea Party.
This is a national and personal tragedy. The myriad of young and promising lives snuffed out is simply horrifying. But even worse are the political vultures already circling and attempting to achieve some political gain, make some lame political connection, that favors their side. Disgusting.
The left wing is hurting from the political smack down they took last November. But those hurt feelings are not going to be a reasonable or allowable excuse for trying to use this tragedy for political gain.
That would make them almost as grotesque as the mad young man who decided to make a statement through mass murder. Whatever worms of insanity that worked their way on the tortured mind of the shooter, his purpose was to send a terrifying message – to force the country to look at him and his rambling thoughts. Left wing media outlets and personalities who decry political debate as the source of this tragedy are playing with fire. They are heating up the political climate themselves, throwing disparaging hints about good people who have opposing political views and are fed up with deaf, dumb and blind pols in DC.
The last thing we need is to trigger another nut-job into transitioning from rhetoric into terrorist action. If any connection can be made here, it is how the mass murder of innocents (a.k.a terrorism) is the preferred method of gaining media attention. That is the model being followed here – not that of the non-violent Tea Party movement.
Addendum: As I finished this post ABC News broadcast a disgusting quote about people being in the ‘cross hairs’ of Sarah Palin’s PAC. In a story about heated rhetoric, it does not get more heated or pathetic than this.
Update: Shooter was a flag burner, so there was no way he was a Tea Party type or friend of Sarah Palin. As I said, the media has been disgusting over this tragedy. Will never watch ABC News again.
Holiday seasons are notoriously bad times to sample long term trends. If you want to measure productivity don’t do it on a short work week – especially if it is normal for people to take off early the last work day. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas people are usually at their most optimistic or pessimistic (depending on their situation). Views of the economy will be more extreme than the rest of the year. Consumer activity during this period does not reflect the consumer spending the rest of the year.
Same thing with unemployment and employment. People are either temporarily employed for a short time, or the unemployed are busy attempting to make the best of their holidays and putting off first time claims until later. Worst yet, compassionate employers prefer to wait until after the holidays to dish out the bad news of lay offs.
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The employment survey, the normal focus of attention, showed overall growth in payrolls of only 103,000. That was well below expectations, especially after a disappointing November report and a remarkably high estimate from private- sector payroll processor ADP earlier this week.
Yet the household survey, from which the unemployment rate is calculated, sent a completely different message. It showed an extra 297,000 people in jobs and 260,000 fewer people in the labour force. The combination of the two was enough to cause a drop in the unemployment rate from 9.8 to 9.4 per cent.
I guess the liberal news media is still trying to spin a silver lining for the Dems out of the black economic clouds that have built up from the liberal deficit spending madness. I tend to look at indicators like how many people are still on extended unemployment as compared to a year ago (the heart of the great democrat recession of the 21st century). By that measure the Jan 1, 2011 data shows nearly 3 times as many people on Extended Unemployment benefits now than a year ago (929,570 now as compared to 316,988).
The number of people on Extended Benefits is a long term number which does not shift due to number of work days per week. Therefore don’t expect some magical relief from the Democrat spending binges. The only way to fix this is to shrink government dramatically, and end the accumulation of generational debt that is crushing us. Until then, fuggettaboudit.
Call it the John Edwards brand of sleazy science combined with sleazy law. It is the method by which unscrupulous lawyers and scientists coordinate to make millions of dollars in complex lawsuits in front of juries who don’t have the education and training to sit in judgment:
In 1985, Edwards represented a five-year-old child born with cerebral palsy – a child whose mother’s doctor did not choose to perform an immediate Caesarean delivery when a fetal monitor showed she was in distress. Edwards won a $6.5 million verdict for his client, but five weeks later, the presiding judge sustained the verdict, but overturned the award on grounds that it was “excessive” and that it appeared “to have been given under the influence of passion and prejudice,” adding that in his opinion “the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.”[35] He offered the plaintiffs $3.25 million, half of the jury’s award, but the child’s family appealed the case and received $4.25 million in a settlement.[35] Winning this case established the North Carolina precedent of physician and hospital liability for failing to determine if the patient understood the risks of a particular procedure.[36]
After this trial, Edwards gained national attention as a plaintiff’s lawyer. He filed at least twenty similar lawsuits in the years following and achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million for his clients. Similar lawsuits followed across the country. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide, perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits, Edwards said, “The question is, would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don’t intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?”[35]
Caesarean is not natural, and therefore may not be better for mother or child. The greedy idiot John Edwards does not know for sure – nor does he care. He made his millions, got his mansion and mistress and became a slimy US Senator. The new American success story for those on the left.
An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study’s author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study — and that there was “no doubt” Wakefield was responsible.
…
Wakefield has been unable to reproduce his results in the face of criticism, and other researchers have been unable to match them. Most of his co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers — a serious conflict of interest he failed to disclose. After years on controversy, the Lancet, the prestigious journal that originally published the research, retracted Wakefield’s paper last February.
…
According to BMJ, Wakefield received more than 435,000 pounds ($674,000) from the lawyers.
Scientists who testify in court get paid. I would not be surprised if they get paid contingent on winning the lawsuit. Science has been distorted from learning the truth about reality and making progress for humankind to do what it takes to make a quick buck. And the result of this greed is always disaster – just like with Edwards:
The now-discredited paper panicked many parents and led to a sharp drop in the number of children getting the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates dropped sharply in Britain after its publication, falling as low as 80% by 2004. Measles cases have gone up sharply in the ensuing years.
In the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than in any other year since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, the CDC reported.
“But perhaps as important as the scare’s effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it,” the BMJ editorial states.
It should be criminal to divert public funds and energies like this for personal gain. But then that would require all scientist to be held accountable for the public damage they do – which would mean the IPCC and others in on the global warming scam would be in serious trouble for their false theories and fudged data:
This is a potentially huge story with a nasty smell of conspiracy about it. There appears to be a concerted effort to whitewash serious failings at the Met Office, with the assistance of a senior climate change propagandist at the BBC who is fully bought in to the Met Office’s warmist agenda.
The Telegraph reports today that: ‘The Met Office knew that Britain was facing an early and exceptionally cold winter but failed to warn the public, hampering preparations for some of the coldest weather on record.’ The
H/T WUWT. It is liberal ‘news’ outlets (a.k.a propaganda outlets) that keep the truth of these scams from being fully exposed. The above story notes how the MET office actually publicly predicted above average warming – per their liberal propaganda desires. But to claim now they knew it would be bitterly cold and nasty in the UK, and hid this fact with the knowledge of other government entities, is truly a stark admission. Even if the MET were trying to cover up their earlier arrogance and incompetence, to admit the truth was hidden in order to protect the remnants of the man-made global warming scam (worth trillions of dollars) is worst yet.
Britain is expending massive amounts of money on the global warming scam. Billions of pounds are being diverted from needed projects and efforts and people’s lives to chase a mythical ghost. The fact the MET office now admits it is in collusion with members of Parliament and the BBC to hide their little scam is incredible. But is it surprising given all the other false data, covered up date (hide the decline boys!) and exaggerated pronouncements we have seen since Climategate broke (someone get Al Gore back on stage screaming the end of the world is here – I always like a good clown show)?
01/12/11 is going to be an interesting date for America. It will be on this day (next Wednesday) that the GOP led House will have a vote on repealing Obamacare.
House Republicans have set Jan. 12 as their day to vote on a repeal of President Obama’s health-care law, after a midterm election in which they campaigned against the landmark legislation as a government takeover of the health industry.
Everyone knows the bill will not pass in its entirety. The liberal Dems were so obsessed with their madness they gladly committed political suicide to achieve their life long fantasy of government run health care. They will gladly stand in the way of this effort as well. With Obama in the White House and Reid running the Senate there is little chance this vote can succeed legislatively and roll back Obamacare and the damage it is already doing to health care plans.
But politically it will be enormous. It will be a test vote to see if the GOP is in sync with the people of America – especially the center. Recall that Obamacare was passed on hyperpartisan votes with no GOP support and a good number of centrist Democrat defections. The irony of Obamacare was that bipartisanship existed in opposing the government take over of our private health care.
For the second time this month, 60% of Likely Voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the national health care law, while the number who expect health care costs to increase is at its highest level since August.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 49% Strongly Favor repeal of the plan. Thirty-eight percent (38%) oppose the law’s repeal, including 29% who Strongly Oppose repeal.
This will set the stage for later votes on pieces of Obamacare which could easily survive. For example, the Medicare prescription drug change to close the donut hole and require high income seniors to pay more for their drugs is fine with me and most people. And I think insurance companies should never reject anyone for pre-existing conditions. They should offer someone with a costly condition a fair premium price (meaning it will be higher than for those without any serious conditions), but they cannot reject them. Same with throwing people off insurance while being treated for an expensive condition. There could be a reasonable rate increase over time, if there is proof the individual did not pay into health care pools when they were healthy.
Because that is the rub in health care costs vs premiums. If you have been covered during most of your life you have paid into the pool (it does not matter that you did not pay into a specific company’s pool, because which pool has been dictated by where you work). As long as a sufficient number of people pay in over a sufficient period of time when they are generally healthy, the pool of money will cover those few facing costly treatments. So premiums need to reflect not only your condition, but your history of paying your part into the pool.
This does not imply health care should become social security or medicare (the lame liberal solution). It simply means rate increases are capped based on your life time history of participating in health insurance.
And to make sure there is a sufficient pool for the needy each year, there needs to be limits on needless or useless costs for the healthy. We cannot eliminate screening, but maybe we can do it more efficiently. It would seem two of the biggest drains on the health care dollar pool is frivolous law suits and frivolous paperwork from the inept federal government. Coming in third would be fraudulent claims.
So there is a lot that could be done to eliminate Obamacare and put in its place a small number of focused regulations that require the free market to treat people humanely, and in return government can reduce the unnecessary burdens of lawsuits and paperwork, while policing abuses. At least it is a better step than an approach that begins with millions of people getting waivers so they don’t lose their health care or high risk plans no one wants and which are too costly the first year they are tried. Obamacare is a failure already. After this vote, hearings on what to salvage (and how) could gain wide public support.
But the GOP does need to remember – the number one priority above starving out Obamacare is jobs. Yes, they are tied together – especially for those of us in small businesses. But it is not sufficiently linked to warrant obsessing about it. This is a two year window to turn the ship of state and swing public support behind a new libertarian direction. The GOP still has to win that support – they did not get a mandate to be just as arrogant as the liberals were in the last Congress.
Hungary, Poland, and three other nations take over citizens’ pension money to make up government budget shortfalls.
People’s retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don’t want to reduce spending or make privatizations. As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends.
Emphasis mine. Since when is it ‘logical’ to steal the savings of old people? In the US anyone who tried to pull this stunt should be tried and thrown behind bars. This is why there have to be limits on government. This is why there has to be individual rights that cannot be stolen by bloated and greedy government machine.
This is why the GOP House is so damn important to the survival of our nation.