Need I say more

"Today has been set aside to honor the victims of the Tucson massacre. And Sarah Palin has apparently decided she's one of them," - Josh Marshall.

Randomness continued There is no equivalence

Andrew Sullivan has a few thoughts I wanted to pass along

"If the [North Koreans] start anything, I say nuke ‘em. And not with just a few bombs," - Glenn Reynolds.

"I’m not filling out this [census] form. I dare them to try and come throw me in jail. I dare them to. Pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door," - CNN's Erick Erickson.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed," - South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, on people who receive government aid.

“[NPR executives] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism," - Roger Ailes.

I have referenced Sullivan before and here again I think is a solid sentiment from a moderate libertarian (if such thing exist)

Random thoughts on the unthinkable.

Still jotting thoughts. We know it is common in times of war to dehumanize our enemy. "Japs", "Gook", "Savages". I am guessing (as I have been very fortunate, not to be in this position) it is somewhat easier to deal with taking out life if that life is less then human.

Is it possible, that while Laughner was not influenced directly by cross hairs or speaking of watering the tree of liberty with blood, that our opponent is not merely wrong but evil, Un-American and tyrannical and the conspiratorial talk of Obama and his Democrats trying to undermine America allowed him a similiar sense of less than human. Is this the atmospherics that are being discussed. Is it possible that a person who is struggling with reality may more easily convince himself that such an action is reasonable. I don't pretend to know the answer.

A couple of other random thoughts.

Does the fact that his target was specifically a politician and a sitting member of the House of Representatives make it "political" by default?

Does the atmosphere of heavy metal, rap etc contribute to the radicalizing of the disturb can you argue that music does and pundits and politicians don't or vice versa.

Last thing for now. Even if you are convinced that absolutely nothing said or done over the past 2 and half years contributed to this attack, isn't appropriate to take a look and see if your actions and speech are acceptable. Does this not call for a time for self-reflection instead of knee-jerk defensiveness.

Consideration

In continuing the dissection of the America's reaction to the shootings in Tucson here is an article that I think makes a very strong and objective argument. It is admittedly from a left leaning site. However, it is a very reasoned perspective. Please take a look it expresses a lot of the various thoughts running through the current diaglogue.

American Prospect

As we debate what kind of rhetoric is and isn't objectionable, it would help if we could make some specific distinctions and keep some important things in mind. To that end:

A terrorist by any other name?

My obsession over the past few days has been the reaction to the Tucson Assassination and Terror attacks. I am reading and listening as much as I can. At this time there is too much emotion and sentiment to put everything into a nice little box. Here is just one of the many thoughts that have crossed my mind. Should this attack be referred to as a terrorist attack. How many times since 9/11 have we been warned about the potential of a terrorist running into a mall with an automatic weapon and opening fire. If the main goal of a terrorist is to cause terror was this suspect successful. Below is a quote that I came across in my reading.



Rasmussen Reports

Tierney, who described the alleged shooter as nonideological, thinks his friend's motive was "mainly to just promote chaos. He wanted the media to freak out about this whole thing."

Enough already

6 innocent people are dead. Several more are injured. Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, and Laura Ingraham are the victims.

Give it a fucking rest. Even if people were directly blaming you (and they are not), and no one is going to take away your freedom of speech, just give it break.

Shut the fuck up for a little bit. Okay. Zip it. You'll have plenty of time to spew what ever it is you want to spew. No, you come back the first the day on the air and spend 30 seconds saying how bad you feel for the families and the next hours of how the left does it (bullshit). Give it a GD break.

A couple of thoughts

I have a couple of thoughts that have been running around in my head I just wanted to jot down. Not going to spend much time building the case.

First, in a way is a follow up form an earlier post regarding turning the corner. Reports are that apparel sales are up 10% sounds like a good sign, still you never know until everything is all wrapped and final numbers are released sometime next early next year. The other thing is that Obama has had a good 6 weeks since the election. His tax compromise is proving to be very popular and possibly helping chance the dynamic of the current President - Congress relations. There has been a food safety bill passed, DADT ended, START is going to pass, and the possible passage of the 9/11 first responders health bill. All these are successes for the President and a number of Republican Senators are looking like Deadenders on these matters, looking at you McCain.


The second thought ties in to the above. A number of these successes have been a result of help from a handful of moderate Senators. I have thought for several months now that Joe Lieberman, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins could exercise real power over the Senate if they so choose. Now add into the mix Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, and Joe Manchin into the mix and you have 6 swing votes that could truly affect the work that gets done in the Senate.

Now keep in mind President Obama has played very nice with Snowe, Collins, and Brown. He voiced his opinion to keep Lieberman closer as opposed to throw him overboard. There was a long period where these actions were and are still extremely bewildering to many who have so stronly supported in the election. These actions haven't really seen any payoffs until these last few weeks. It was Collins and Lieberman that saved the DADT repeal. Brown has been instrumental in that vote as well as the START treaty passage. Murkowski seems to have sowed a bit of independence as a result of having to go the write in path to regain her Senate Seat. Manchin is a wildcard (I guess that is another word for chicken) we will have to watch to see if he continues to vote as a republican or provide the occasional Democratic vote in the Senate.l

The repeal of DADT has passed the cloture vote Update: Passes the Senate!

I suggested a couple of days that once it became obvious that DADT would fall more senators would get behind it. Well I was close, final vote was 43 - 33 (with 24 choosing not to go on the record) last vote was 57 - 43. Picking up 6 more votes.

Congratulations to Republican Senators Brown, Collins, Snowe, Kirk, Murkawski. Congratulations to (ahem, hard to say) Senator Lieberman for resurrecting the vote and to Majority Leader Reed.

It is a good day in America.


Final vote count on passage
65 - 31. That is a pretty large jump from the earlier 57 - 43 picking up 8 yes votes and losing 12 no votes.

Once again congratulations America.


PS: on a very umimportant side note. It was a thrill seeing Mr. McCain flailing in the wind. Yes Mr. McCain "That one" beat your ass once again, should be used to it by now I'd think.

Quotes of the Day No make the Week, or more like the Holiday Season

"It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority laid out...without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just senators themselves but all of the staff,"

Republican Senator Jon Kyl said, according to MSNBC.

In response to the concept of working the week between Christmas and New Years as disprecting Christians and their families.

"It just goes to show the disconnect between those we elect to represent us and those who get out there to do the work. Because I'm here to say you won't find a single New York City fireman who considers it a sign of disrespect to work in a New York City Firehouse on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day."

New York City Fireman, First Responder, Cancer patient

What a difference a year makes - Joe Lieberman edition

I awake this morning with hopeful news that the repeal of DADT may finally be imminent. The hero of the day is none other than Senator Joe Lieberman. I am not going to formulate any opinions, simply will point out that it was just a year ago that Senator Lieberman was the thorniest of the thorns in the sides of Democrats. He essentially was a one man road block to the passage of the Public Option.

Today he is potentially being heralded as a civil rghts hero.

It appears that the Senate has 62 votes to pass the repeal of DADT. Senators Lieberman and Senator Collins have kept this issue alive long enough for the House to pass it and force the Senate to have to decide whether or not to proceed with a vote.

A summary: the President campaigned for the repeal and is asking for it, the Republican appointed Secretary of Defense is for it, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is in favor, 70% of the troops state it would not be a problem, and the general public approve of the repeal by about 75%. We now have 38 Republican Senators from southern and rural states who may run out the clock on our Service Men and Women who have volunteered to serve us. If this happens, it will morally wrong and the grandest example of how broken the Senate is procedurally.

(a possibility to watch out for if it makes it for a vote, and it is destined to pass you may see a number of Senators who are currently on the wrong side of history decide to vote for the repeal. So history can show their support. I suspect if that happens we will see far more than 42 votes to pass the repeal.)