Hummer Drivers Believe They’re Defending America’s Frontier Against Anti-American Critics (Links)
Krugman: ‘most widely respected climate models’ show ‘hurtle toward catastrophe’ These days, dire warnings aren’t the delusional raving of cranks. Our relationship to the natural world is a Ponzi scheme Beyond the illegality of Madoff’s scam, why didn’t he consider his responsibility to his clients, to their future, and even to his own? Give birds a break. Lock up the cat Free-ranging felines do a lot of damage to the baby bird populations in neighborhoods. Gila National Forest threatened by off-road vehicles The well-funded off-road vehicle lobby is pressuring forest managers to add unnecessary roads and permit other destructive practices in the forest. Hummer drivers believe they’re defending America’s frontier against anti-American critics Hummer drivers believe they are defending America’s frontier lifestyle against anti-American critics, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, which researched attitudes toward owning and driving Hummers, which have become symbols to many of American greed and wastefulness. Children who are spanked have lower IQs Children who are spanked have lower IQs worldwide, including in the United States, according to groundbreaking new research. Pennsylvania gun nuts shoot, kill each other A car parked in the driveway bore a badge-shaped sticker that read “NRA law enforcement.” Boing Boing offers ‘nourishing soup and sandwiches’ to Ralph Lauren’s deathly ill models “Dude, her head’s bigger than her pelvis.” Ted Williams’ frozen head abused in cryogenics lab Workers at an Arizona cryogenics facility mutilated the frozen head of baseball legend Ted Williams—even using it for a bizarre batting practice, a new book claims.
Reason Number 325 Why I’ll Never Move to Texas (Links)
Krugman on the Need For Bipartisanship ‘What people usually mean [is that] you ought to get the center. We ought to get…the middle twenty Senators to agree on something. The middle twenty Senators are now all Democrats. The Republican party is now a rump on the right.’ Charles Grassley, Coward We should not ignore the sheer personal cowardice of many politicians. Town Hall Gun-Toters Thirsty for the ‘Blood of Tyrants’ The gun-toting protester in New Hampshire used the same Jefferson quote as Timothy McVeigh when he committed his act of mass murder. Did Rifle-Toting Protesters Help or Hurt Gun Rights? New laws are allowing more Americans to carry guns in public. But are gun-carrying protesters going too far? Complaint Over Doctor Who Posted Inkblot Test The doctor, James Heilman, defended his decision to publicize the images on Wikipedia and demystify the secretive Rorschach test. Seattle Times Editor: Bloggers Should Watch What They Say Ryan Blethen says that only trained journalists fully understand the difference between fact and opinion and the use of ‘red flag words.’ Reason Number 325 Why I’ll Never Move to Texas This fall, a 2007 Texas law goes into effect, having all public schools, under mandate, teaching the Bible
The Guns Are Out, the Risks Are Real (Links)
Cheney: We Didn’t Go Far Enough Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney believes that the Bush Administration’s policies should have been pushed much further. Whores on Terror The documentation of “sexual humiliation,” sodomy, and other forms of “enhanced interrogation” conducted by U.S. personnel are too extensive to be denied or pawned off on a couple of redneck privates. Ten of Obama’s Health-Care Missteps What the White House did wrong, in no particular order. Obama Isn’t Saying the Right Thing He should be saying, “Stop lying.” At Health Care Events, Guns Are Out, and the Risks Are Real It’s not enough for conservatives to repudiate violence, as some are belatedly beginning to do. Krugman: Extreme Opponents of Health Care Unappeasable “What they hate is the whole idea of any kind of health reform and more broadly what they hate is the whole idea of Democrats actually holding the White House.” In Alaska, Palin Leaves Behind Mismanaged Health Care System—Hundreds Die Waiting For Care The situation is so bad that the federal government has forbidden Alaska from signing up new people; no other state in the nation is under such a moratorium. A Case of Affinity Fraud The peddlers of anti-progressive lies are managing to convince a certain kind of American—white, socially conservative, etc.—that the hate-mongers are people like them; and, even more important, that progressives are Those People, people not like them. Them Versus Us By 1900, the U.S. had become more diverse and densely populated, with an industrial economy dominated by large corporations, and it had became abundantly clear that government power was necessary to regulate the marketplace, provide a safety net for the poor and elderly, and protect the environment. O’Reilly gloats that Fox’s ratings are due to its ‘fair and balanced’ approach You know how when someone says, “Now, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but…”, you can be certain that what will follow is them being a jerk. Ironic Divorce Protector of traditional marriage Doug Manchester is leaving his wife of 43 years.
Pastor Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church (Links)
An Incoherent Truth On health care, the conservative Democrats can’t extract major concessions on the shape of health care reform without dooming the whole project. What’s Cost Got to Do With It? Costs have skewed the debate on health care much like they have the debate on climate change—as if business-as-usual on either of them will be magically cost-free. Bush Officials: Where Are They Now? A guide to who’s cashing in. A Day of Reckoning for Bush’s ‘Torture’ Lawyers Eric Holder must decide whether to pursue Bush administration lawyers and one sitting federal judge who set the legal stage for officially sanctioned torture and other degrading practices that violated fundamental principles of international law. Barack Obama is More Likely Than Bush to Get Things Right We have a fox in the Oval Office, and he has replaced a hedgehog. U.S. Guns Fuel Canada And Mexico Crimes, UK Gun Crime Remains Rare Guns smuggled from the US arm criminals in Canada and Mexico, contributing to a higher murder rate in Canada and more intense drug crime conflict near the Mexican border, according to a study. Gun Flow South is a Crisis for Two Nations A report says the U.S. failure to curb smuggling has strengthened drug cartels. Pastor Urges His Flock to Bring Guns to Church In Louisville, Kentucky, Ken Pagano’s congregation is a sign that American gun culture is thriving despite, or perhaps because of, President Obama. Winning the Ultimate Battle: How Humans Could End War Optimists called the first world war “the war to end all wars.” She Broke the G.O.P. and Now She Owns It As the Republicans’ lone charismatic performer, Sarah Palin has come to represent a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances. Robert McNamara in Context Should the Vietnam-era secretary of defense be remembered as a public servant, hawk, technocrat, hero, or all of the above? Assassination: A Brief History Governments can bomb faceless troops of enemy conscripts with impunity, but are questioned closely about bombing photographable individuals. Numbers numb; identity humanizes. That’s the general rule. Does Religion Have a Monopoly on ‘Enchantment’? Weber linked rationalisation with ‘the disenchantment of the world,’ but is it fair to equate the lack of religion to an absence of magic and mystery? The Bachmann Comic So how is the new comic book about our favorite House GOP backbencher, Michele Bachmann (R-MN)?
Bill’O & Newt: Messing With Your Drug Life (Links)
Former CNN Anchor Moves to The Onion: In yet another sign that the line between real news and fake news is getting thinner, one of CNN’s main anchors during the 1980s and 1990s, Bobbie Battista, has taken a step through the looking glass and can now be seen anchoring reports online for ONN, The Onion News Network. ‘Sexting’ Hysteria Falsely Branded Educator as Child Pornographer: It was an incident that began innocently enough, but nearly ruined the life and three-decade career of a veteran high school teacher and administrator. Why are Gun Sales Up? First quarter results show that Sturm Ruger (RGR) stock is up 102% and Smith & Wesson (SWHC) stock is up 165%. Bill’O, Newt, Propose Forced Drug Testing for All Americans: O’Reilly: Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers—they execute them.
Have We Been Overlooking Our Home-Grown Terrorists?
Is the strange domestic terrorism case from Maine a part of a larger trend of increasingly violent expressions coming from the American far right since Barack Obama’s election? Rachel Maddow weighed in on this recently:
Should this guy have been [caught] before he died? And, post-9/11, have we focused too much on stopping Bin Laden again at the expense of potentially stopping the next Timothy McVeigh?
The Maine incident is only the latest in a long string of cases of serious domestic terrorism emerging from the extremist Right since 9/11. others. (more…)
Looking at Columbine, Ten Years Later
There have been other school shootings in the ten years since Columbine, horror scenes with even bigger body counts. But for some reason, Columbine is the crime that resonates…Perhaps it’s because the two Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, looked like…the boys next door…Perhaps it’s because they left a multimedia trail behind, images that haunt us still. Or perhaps it’s because the killings at Columbine–the stark contrast between the middle-class school in the serene setting and the sudden terror that descended that day–is still such a mystery, the turning point when we realized there is so much we may never understand…Even a decade later.
[WestWord]
Glenn Beck: Blame Liberal ‘Political Correctness’ for Shooting Rampages
In conversation with Bill O’Reilly yesterday on his Fox News show, Glenn Beck speculated that the cause of that murderous shooting rampage in Alabama might have been the shooter’s frustration with “political correctness”:
But as I’m listening to him. I’m thinking about the American people that feel disenfranchised right now. That feel like nobody’s hearing their voice. The government isn’t hearing their voice. Even if you call, they don’t listen to you on both sides. If you’re a conservative, you’re called a racist. You want to starve children…Yada yada yada. And every time they do speak out, they’re shut down by political correctness. How do you not have those people turn into that guy?
Glenn Beck and the ‘Coming Civil War’
Ryan Chittum looks at the wonderful public service currently being provided by Glenn Beck.
Beck’s show on Fox News raises apocalyptic free-for-all as a very real possibility. With images of swarthy people burning American flags, refugees, rioters, and military on the move, it was the very definition of public-service reporting, if by ‘public service’ you mean ‘losing your mind.’
More on the Gun Database Controversy in Tennessee
Still in the news: the Memphis newspaper that posted a searchable database of Tennesseans with concealed-carry permits. If nothing else, it’s a great example of advocates of two supposedly inalienable rights (1st amendment and 2nd amendment) fighting each other.
According to the New York Times, the Commercial Appeal only published what was already available to the public—they just made it easier to access. Tennessee is one of 19 states that gives the public access to gun permit information, but after database went online, some gun owners called it an invasion of privacy and (potentially) their homes. (Is securing one’s guns not an option in Tennesee?)
Obviously, accessibility is the real issue here, but some nuts aren’t being helpful by sending threatening letters to the Commercial Appeal:
As Drug War Rages, Arizona Attorney General Talks About Legalization and Gun Control
Crooks and Liars sums up a conversation between CNN’s Kiran Chetry and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard:
Since George Bush allowed the assault weapons ban to expire, the gun smuggling trade in the U.S. has skyrocketed and many of these weapons are ending up in the hands of Mexican drug lords and are responsible for thousands of murders. The right has been going bonkers, warning Democrats want to take everyone’s guns from them and turn us into a nation of dopers, but it’s high time they admit that our gun laws are aiding drug cartels and making it possible for them to get more drugs into our country.
On Gun Owners Making Threats to Prove That They’re Responsible
Sometimes gun owners make the case for stricter gun control by being themselves: after the Memphis Commercial Appeal listed people in Tennessee who have permits to carry concealed weapons, the publisher learned that “misunderstandings with people who carry guns can turn ugly.”
By late last week, Commercial Appeal executives were receiving as many as 600 e-mails a day, along with dozens of phone calls at home, at work and on their cell phones. Maps to their houses, with ominous warnings, had been posted online.
[Their] crime? Putting up a Web-only database that allows people to search by name or ZIP code for those who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Tennessee. The list came from the Tennessee Department of Safety and is available to anyone who wants it, simply by contacting the agency’s office. The state of Tennessee, to this point, has decided that the right to carry a concealed weapon comes with the responsibility of agreeing to have a public record of who is packing.
[Poynter]
Gillibrand Isn’t Afraid to Shoot You
Senator Dino Kirsten Gillibrand, who replaced Hillary Clinton in NY, easily passes Grover Norquist’s litmus test (see below) for what it takes to be Republican:
Newsday’s Tom Brune reports Gillibrand “and her husband, Jonathan, keep two rifles under their bed to protect their upstate home. Gillibrand said neither she nor her husband is a hunter.’
Here’s Norquist asking the all-important question at a debate between potential GOP chairmen:
[Politico]
Florida Gun Sellers Short On Bullets
What a crazy idea!
After what appears to be a run on bullets, gun dealers in the state of Florida are experiencing an ammunition shortage. What do you think?
“They should do what all the people in my state do—walk about completely unarmed. It’s kind of crazy, but it works.”
Sean Parham,
Billing Specialist
[Onion]
