A PERSONAL NOTE

Eric Fuller, a Giffords supporter, was at the Safeway last Saturday and was wounded by the assassin Jared Loughner.  He spoke with Democracy Now and according to POLITICO said this:

“This woman is a spotless, purest, sweetest lamb in the world, gunned down … The only word I could think of is outraged.”

I have canvassed for Giffords and Grijalva in 2006, 2008 and 2010 and I would describe myself as a liberal. I apoke with Giffords for a minute or so when she came to canvassing headquarters and thanked us for our hard work. She also struck me as a very sweet person.

WAYNE LaPIERRE: "THE GUYS WITH GUNS MAKE THE RULES"

LaPierre is the head of the NRA and made this statement in a speech at CPAC in 2009. And they wonder why some of us are getting fed up with the right-wing wackos. (h/t Kyle at Right Wing Watch)

I CAN'T BLAME THIS GUY

Speaking to the Guardian, Trent Humphries tried to blame Giffords for the shooting

Shooting victim removed from meeting for beligerence
Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
Posted: Saturday, January 15, 2011 3:00 pm

A man who was injured in last weekend’s shootings at a northwest-side grocery store was taken into custody Saturday, accused of making a threatening comment during a town hall meeting, authorities said. Fuller, a naval air veteran, was shot in the left knee and hit in the back with bullet fragments during the shootings.

James Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed for a mental health evaluation after the taping of a town hall organized for ABC’s “This Week,” said Deputy Jason Ogan, a Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Fuller was attending the event at St. Odilia Catholic Church with other people involved in the Jan. 8 shootings that killed six people and wounded 13, including Giffords.

During the taping, Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries was making a comment when Fuller reportedly turned around, snapped a photo of Humphries with his camera and said, “You’re dead,” Ogan said.

“After he made the comment, he began verbalizing too, pointing to the side of his head making gestures like, ‘You’re crazy’,” said sheriff’s Bureau Chief Rick Kastigar, who attended the event.

MARK "FOAMER" LEVIN IS UPSET WITH THE TRUTH

Chris Matthews gave an accurate description of Mark Levin's radio show:

People like Mark Levin, Michael Savage, for example who every time you listen to them are furious, furious at the left with anger that’s just builds and builds in their voice and by the time they go to commercial, they’re just in some rage, every night, with ugly talk. Ugly sounding talk. And it never changes. It never modulates.

Now the little turd Levin is threatening to sue Matthews and any other MSNBC host who points out what a hateful little bastard he is.  I really hope at least one of them makes a compilation of the krazy things Levin has said and plays it on air.

Over at the American Spectator, the commenters are mostly on Foamer's side.   If you haven't heard Foamer, Media Matters has a few clips.

JON JUSTICE PLAYS "HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE"

Just as Karl Frisch noted, one of our local radio gasbags asserts that violence is an individual act ("Ultimately it's the responsibility of the individual") and whatever is said on talk radio is irrelevant but contradicts himself once he's on the receiving end:

Conservative talk radio rhetoric is hot topic
January 13, 2011|By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times

"He said ignorant statements that caused death threats against me," Justice counters. "Never in there would I advocate violence against any individual, including Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik."

AN IDENTICAL BILLBOARD AD WAS UP VERY NEAR TO WHERE I LIVE

The one near me was on Stone Avenue near where it meets 6th Avenue and 18th Street. It was changed after the election.  The one above is near  Ina and I-10 and was still up until  yesterday.

LET'S SAY SOMETHING HAPPENS TO PALIN OR A RADIO GASBAG

Should that happen, let's keep in mind these words from the Old Testament:

Exodus 21:24 NRS

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Deuteronomy 19:21 NRS

Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Leviticus 24:20 NRS

fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.

ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE SCRUBBING

Palin, Beck and now Paul Mirengoff at Powerline have all had second thoughts about their posts.  In Mirengoff's case, he strongly objected to the opening prayer at last night's memorial for the Giffords attack:

As for the "ugly," I'm afraid I must cite the opening "prayer" by Native American Carlos Gonzales. It was apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing, with lots of references to "the creator" but no mention of God. Several of the victims were, as I understand it, quite religious in that quaint Christian kind of way (none, to my knowledge, was a Yaqui). They (and their families) likely would have appreciated a prayer more closely aligned with their religious beliefs.

But it wasn't just Gonzales's prayer that was "ugly" under the circumstances. Before he ever got to the prayer, Gonzales provided us with a mini-auto biography and made several references to Mexico, the country from which (he informed us) his family came to Arizona in the mid 19th century. I'm not sure why Gonzales felt that Mexico needed to intrude into this service, but I have an idea.

In any event, the invocation could have used more God, less Mexico, and less Carlos Gonzales. "

KARL FRISCH NAILS THE LATEST BAGGER BRAINSTORM

He was on the Stephanie Miller Show and gave a perfect diagnosis of the latest winger nonsense:

1) Violent rhetoric doesn't lead to violence

2) Criticism of violent rhetoric DOES lead to violence

OK, AN HOUR IS ALL I CAN TAKE

So far, Jon Justice hasn't said anything about losing an advertiser.

A LOT OF PEOPLE SHOWED UP FOR THE MEMORIAL

A little over 13,000 were in McKale Center and about the same number went to the football stadium pictured below.

THE JON JUSTICE BOYCOTT HAS ITS FIRST VICTORY!

The Three Sonorans called for a boycott of the advertisers who support the hate monger Justice a few days ago and now has its first confirmed cancellation.  The next two advertisers on the list are:

Five Star Termite & Pest Control (One person already canceled a $600+ job with them.)
1002 South Pantano
Tucson, AZ 85710
(520) 886-0045

Stuttgart Autohaus (I talked to the owner and he supports Jon Justice, his mockery of Isabel Garcia, defends Arpaio, and said he strongly disagrees with Dupnik’s statement.)
614 East Glenn Street
Tucson, AZ 85705
(520) 884-8800

TUCSON TIDBITS

On my way to the library, I passed a sports bar and one of the TVs was tuned in to the memorial service.  On my way back, the local buses were displaying the slogan "Together We Thrive" on their electronic signs.

FATS LIMBAUGH SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE IN TUCSON

Rush Limbaugh: Jared Loughner Has 'Full Support' Of Democratic Party
Speaking on his radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh said that Loughner was getting the exact attention that he wanted:

"What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party in this country. He's sitting there in jail. He knows what's going on, he knows that...the Democrat party is attempting to find anybody but him to blame."

EVEN AZ REPUBLICANS ARE AFRAID OF THE BAGGERS...

Arizona GOP Official Resigns, Citing Tea Party Threats: 'I Don't Want to Take a Bullet'
POLITICS DAILY
1/12/2011

Several GOP officials from the same area in Arizona have resigned following last week's shooting rampage in Tucson, including a district chairman who said threats from local tea party members caused him to be worried for the safety of himself and his family.

Anthony Miller, 43, stepped down earlier this week as chair of Republican District 20 after his wife expressed concerns about "constant verbal attacks" against him since helping Sen. John McCain win reelection in November, The Arizona Republic reported.

"I wasn't going to resign but decided to quit after what happened Saturday," Miller told The Huffington Post Wednesday. "I love the Republican Party but I don't want to take a bullet for anyone."

District spokesman Jeff Kolb also quit, citing the threats against Miller.

BECK ALSO SCRUBS HIS SITE

Just as Palin removed her now infamous crosshairs image from the Internet, Beck has removed from his site the picture that shows him with a semi-automatic hand gun.

YAHOO NEWS CLOSES ANOTHER PALIN THREAD

It's the thread for "Palin's words reach back to sordid history" and comments have been closed after only 168 comments.   Yahoo did this before.

A SUGGESTION FOR THE LOCAL HATE RADIO STATIONS

I live in Tucson and the local stations who broadcast the Prophets of Deceit are KNST, KQTH and KVOI. Out of respect for the dead and the injured, I think they should all go silent for one day this week.

This is how you can contact them:

Paul Birmingham, KNST, Paul@790KNST.com 
Ryan McCredden, KQTH, dthomas@journalbroadcastgroup.com
Doug Martin, KVOI, doug@kvoi.com

CONNECTIONS: GIFFORDS, PALIN, AND THE BAGGERS

(h/t Randi Rhodes and Andrew Sullivan)

The radio gasbags and the rest of the Noise Machine are desperately trying to distance Sarah Palin, the Baggers and talk radio from any connection to the Giffords shooting.   This should be another FAIL by these maggots for at least 3 reasons.

First of all, Gabby herself connected the Baggers and Palin to the anger directed against her on March 25, 2010¹:

MS. GUTHRIE: Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is one of at least 10 members who Democratic leaders say have been targeted because of their vote on health care. And she joins us this morning from Washington.

Congresswoman, I guess my first question is: What happened to your office in Tucson? And do you have any doubt that this is a direct result of your vote on health care?

REP. GIFFORDS: Well, obviously, we weren't there. The office closed after the health-care vote, and sometime between midnight and 2:00 a.m., we were alerted that the front door of our office, which is a glass-panel door, had been either kicked out, shot out or just basically destroyed.

Whether or not it was a direct effect -- obviously, we weren't there. The police are investigating. There are federal authorities investigating. But, obviously, the coincidence of this happening, it's fairly likely, but obviously we don't know at this point.

MR. TODD: Are you afraid? Are you fearful today?

REP. GIFFORDS: You know, I'm not. We have had hundreds and hundreds of protestors over the course of the last several months. Our office corner has really become an area where the Tea Party movement congregates. And the rhetoric is incredibly heated, not just the calls, but the e-mails, the slurs.

[SNIP]

MS. GUTHRIE: Do you think Republican members of the House, the Republican leadership, should have spoken out more forcefully to denounce this violence? Or are you satisfied with what they've said? For example, the minority leader, John Boehner, was on Fox News denouncing violence.

REP. GIFFORDS: I think it's important for all leaders, not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. There's certainly a lot of independents out there that may not even resonate towards. But community leaders, figures in our community to say, look, we can't stand for this.

I mean, this is a situation where -- I mean, people really need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and, you know, even things, for example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list. But the thing is the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district.

When people do that, they've got to realize there's consequences to that action.

Second, Gabby's father had no doubt about the hatred when asked by the NY Post:

The congresswoman’s father Spencer Gifford, 75, was rushing to the hospital when asked if his 40-year-old daughter had any enemies.

"Yeah," he told The Post. "The whole Tea Party."

Third, Jared Loughner's You Tube posts show that he has at least 3 4 characteristics that link him to the Baggers,the Becksters and other conservative freaks:

1) Paranoid delusions about the Federal government
2) Absurd claims about constitutionality based on the 10th Amendment
3) A need to return to the gold standard
4) Supports the abolition of the Federal Reserve

¹Federal News Service
March 25, 2010 Thursday
MSNBC "THE DAILY RUNDOWN" INTERVIEW WITH REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE GIFFORDS
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS (D-AZ);
SUBJECT: THREATS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH-CARE REFORM SUPPORTERS;
INTERVIEWERS: CHUCK TODD AND SAVANNAH GUTHRIE
LENGTH: 951 words

SHOCKER!

The GOP-dominated Arizona state legislature does the right thing.

AZ lawmakers OK law to bar picketers
Posted: Jan 11, 2011 4:57 PM Updated: Jan 11, 2011 5:14 PM

Reporter: April Madison

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - State Representative, (R) Kirk Adams, told KGUN 9, "The courts have long upheld that we DON'T have the right to dictate or prevent speech but we CAN regulate time, manner, and place."

And that's exactly what the Arizona Legislature has done. Tuesday, it approved emergency legislation to head off picketing by the Topeka, Kansas Westboro Baptist Church, at the funeral service for 9-year-old Christina Greene. The Westboro Baptist Church, or WBC, is a widely described hate group known for their picketing of military funerals to draw attention to it's views.

I have to ask: WHY IS HATE RADIO ANY DIFFERENT FROM THE WESTBORO FREAKS?

A LITTLE PUSH BACK IN TUCSON

The blog Three Sonorans has decided to try to get John Justice of KNST, one of Tucson's local hate radio gasbags, off the air!   They also report that the NY Times has written about our local hate and ignorance merchants.

THIS IS A DISTURBING STATISTIC

From the AZ Daily Star article in the previous post:

Some mentally ill people don't seek help because they don't realize how sick they are, said H. Clarke Romans, executive director of the local branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Studies suggest there are 60,000 to 100,000 seriously mentally ill people in the Tucson area, but fewer than 20,000 are being treated in the public mental-health system, Romans said.

Tucson has a population of about 550,000, so at a minimum 1 out of 9.25 persons has a serious mental problem.

AN EXAMPLE FROM THE 90S

I had completely forgotten about this incident.

Suspect's erratic past telling, experts say
Carol Ann Alaimo and Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 12:00 am

"To me, it suggests possible paranoid schizophrenia," said Dr. Jonas Rappeport of Maryland, a retired forensic psychiatrist who assessed defendants convicted in assassination attempts on former President Ronald Reagan and former Alabama Gov.George Wallace.

It's common for schizophrenia sufferers to think there is a conspiracy against them, said Tyrone Cannon, a neuroscientist and expert in schizophrenia at UCLA's Brain Research Institute

Cannon cautiously agreed with Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik's claim that extreme political rhetoric could influence the actions of mentally unbalanced people. Though it's hard to prove cause and effect, it's possible such talk could reinforce a person's existing fears or delusions, he said.

"It's already happened," said Rappeport, the Maryland psychiatrist, citing the 1994 case of a Colorado man who sprayed the White House with gunfire in what he thought was an attack on President Bill Clinton.


The suspect said he'd been motivated by a conservative talk show host in Colorado Springs. The host later quit.

The talk show host seems to have been Chuck Baker who was then on KVOR in Colorado Springs.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

First, the good news:

University of Arizona: Obamas to be at Tucson memorial event Wednesday
Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Monday, January 10, 2011 6:42 pm

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will visit Tucson to pay tribute to the victims of Saturday's mass shooting.

The president will speak at a memorial event at the University of Arizona on Wednesday night.

The event, "Together We Thrive: Tucson and America" starts at 6 p.m. at McKale Center and is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 4 p.m.

Now, the really bad news:

Westboro Baptist to Protest Funerals of Tucson Victims

I'm not sure how to organize a response but I hope we can block off these haters from even seeing the funerals.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

(h/t Wonkette)

SHERIFF DUPNIK IS TELLING THE TRUTH

I'm glad to see someone stand up to Fats Limbaugh and the Noise Machine.

Arizona Sheriff Blasts Rush Limbaugh for Spewing 'Irresponsible' Vitriol
By SARAH NETTER
Jan. 10, 2011
ABC News

The Arizona sheriff investigating the Tucson shooting that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded had harsh words today for those engaging in political rhetoric, calling conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh "irresponsible" for continuing the vitriol.

"The kind of rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said today. "[Limbaugh] attacks people, angers them against government, angers them against elected officials and that kind of behavior in my opinion is not without consequences."

Limbaugh today railed against the media and Dupnik for trying to draw a link between the heated political climate and the shooting rampage, calling the sheriff a "fool." But Dupnik stood by his assertions.

"The vitriol affects the [unstable] personality that we are talking about," he said. "You can say, 'Oh no, it doesn't,' but my opinion is that it does."

JARED LOUGHNER + CHRISTINE O'DONNELL???

You may recall O'Donnell admitting she dabbled in witchcraft and the NY Daily News has an interesting pic from Loughner's back yard:

MEAN JEAN SCHMIDT

I noted below that FAUX News thinks this bitter woman has something pertinent to say about the Giffords shooting and last night, Billy Cunningham had her on his radio show. The only thing that I recall now is that she said Giffords was Pollyannish.

THIS IS UNUSUAL

The Yahoo News thread, at the moment entitled "Suspect in Arizona shooting held without bail" currently has 63,206 Comments and is still active. The thread "Giffords tragedy could be a defining moment for Palin" only has 22,171 Comments and comments HAVE BEEN CLOSED.

UPDATE: A similar POLITICO thread about Palin is still open.

TWO THREE EXAMPLES OF BAGGER VIOLENT EXTREMISM

The most famous is from Sharron Angle, the Bagger candidate to replace Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). She was talking to a right-wing hate radio host at the time.

Manders: If we needed it at any time in history, it might be right now.

Angle: Well it's to defend ourselves. And you know, I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems.

A lesser known instance is directly from a conservative hate radio host, Joyce Kauffmann speaking at a Tea Party rally last summer:

“And I don’t care how this gets painted by the mainstream media. I don’t care if this shows up on YouTube, because I am convinced that the most important thing the founding fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will."

UPDATE:

THIS IS WHAT WE'RE TAKING ABOUT

A woman caller named Peg was the first caller Billy Cunningham took on his radio show last night and this is how she started:"Why didn't someone get Nancy Pelosi?"  Cunningham hung up on her and denounced her statement but at the end of that he said "Thank you for your call."

I suspect there are thousands of Pegs in America and they are sustained in their hatred by talk radio.

THERE WAS A VIGIL LAST NIGHT

This one for Giffords and the other victims. was held in front of the University Medical Center.

WHY ISN'T HUCKABEE DENOUNCING ARIZONA'S GOP?

The Huckster was interviewed by Sean Hannity and stated that government rationing of health care was unacceptable. He also said that rationing was a normal part of medical care and unfortunately the video below doesn't show Hannity's reaction to that claim.