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It is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty

by: Mike Hoefer

Sat Jan 08, 2011 at 22:23:57 PM EST
Remember this Photo? From our biggest diary of all time

Emphasis mine

He says he moved here to New Hampshire from Arizona about a year ago, because it's a "live free or die" state -- and he thought Arizona was becoming too restrictive with its gun laws. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com...

It is this sort of rhetoric "It's time the water the tree of liberty" that has lead to the tragedy in Arizona today. All the rightwing hate radio blabbermouths have blood on their microphones tonight.

AND! Imagine what would have happend if a gunman did this in the State House the envisioned by the NH Republican Party.

... Tragedy in Concord NH today as several lawmakers and members of the gallery returned fire when a distraught gunman opened fire on on a young woman testifying on behalf of Mariage Equity. A third grader from Keene on a field trip to the capitol was caught in the crossfire and  is in critical condition at Concord Hospital... Stay tuned for more information as it become available...

One of the saddest days for our country in a long time.
Mike Hoefer :: It is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty
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It is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty | 92 comments
Alex Jones (0.00 / 0)
is I think the doorstep this will end up on, if I had to guess.

But I'll wait and see.


The Crosshairs Killer (4.00 / 2)
The scumbag has been dubbed.

(h/t Dick Howe for the graphic)

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden
Rep. Steve Farley (AZ) (0.00 / 0)
just on local TV (kold.com) there decrying this image.

Also said his daughters told him with tears in his eyes not to be in politics anymore.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

[ Parent ]
This is offensive! (2.00 / 2)
Posting an "imagine if" like that is crossing the line of good taste.

I happen to know the person pictured, and he'd be offended by the insinuation.

The 'ban' that was in effect would have allowed the exact same thing to occur, so your 'imagine if' could have happened (or been worse) under the old Democratic controlled House as well.

This is frankly FAR worse than some planecrash joke, or any of the other things in recent memory.

Shame on you, Sir!  Shame on you!

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

fuck you, Seth (2.00 / 4)
what's crossing the line of good taste is killing people. What's crossing the line is graphics with crosshairs targeting Congresspeople. The endless stream of violent rhetoric from the Teabaglican factions - THAT  is crossing the line.

I've listened to you defend this shit here all day today. Not once have you ever owned up to the fact that the violent hate speak emanating from YOUR party has created a climate of anger and divisiveness in this country - and could lead to incidents like this.

Kindly STFU and take your nonsense elsewhere. You don't belong here.  

[ Parent ]
Hmm... _my_ party? (0.00 / 0)
[Taking this with a grain of salt, but worth mentioning... still needs to be validated by other sources.]

Caitie Parker (who claims to have known Jared, last saw him in 2007) has been twittering about this, and says:

http://twitter.com/caitieparke...


He was a political radical & met Giffords once before in '07, asked her a question & he told me she was "stupid & unintelligent"
he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven't seen him in person since '07 in a sign language class
As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy.

So he was a "political radical" from the liberal left wing... according to this account of him.  Shall we agree that he's mentally ill?

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
Ratcheting (4.00 / 1)
From what I can surmise, my friends are condemning a rhetoric that glamorizes violent opposition to political adversaries.

I don't know if anyone has labled the killer a conservative.

They are saying assholes are ratcheting up, provoking violence.

Will you admit that? Cause I certaily know the killer was mentally ill. But did he hear the "pied piper?"

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
I wonder also about the pied piper (4.00 / 1)
To be clear, all the right wing blogs think the left uses this rhetoric, as much as you think the right does. And I've seen plenty of examples.

What would be the solution?

[ Parent ]
Refudiation? (4.00 / 1)
First, the right wallows in false equivalencies. Read Granite Grok and tell me the Left and the Right are on the same level.

Really the only time I was bothered by they Left was the "General Betrayus' remark. So, if MovOn is mentioned, I sqauwk. That's all. I don't like them and their tactics, so I don't tolerate them. Sometimes that is a problem, but so what.

I each person refused to tolerate the insanity, it would subside. Peer pressure is a powerful tool.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
I disagree either is worse than the other (0.00 / 0)
Really.

I think the problem is the medium. Personal interaction seldom elevates to the levels of contempt found online.

The medium creates an extreme delocalization, structurally similar to the current process of globalization, and with similar pathologies.

Peer pressure does't work well in this medium. How can I subject you to peer pressure if you think my opinion is worthless, because I'm a wingnut?

[ Parent ]
the Grok (0.00 / 0)
GraniteGrok is hardly the worst of the bunch. At least their rants make a modicum of sense.  An outsider like me can read the posts on the 'Grok and actually figure out what the hell it is they are yammering on about.  I have even seen some actual journalism going on.

N+BH's opposite colored counterpart RedHampshire has gone way downhill of late.  Someone who appears to be Joe Kelly Levasseur under a pseudonym has taken it over.  Joe Kelly is a handsome guy, he is not without charm, and he makes good pizza--- but the ability to make even a minimally coherent argument is not one of his talents.

[ Parent ]
The Grok (4.00 / 1)
how quickly you forget, Timothy - their reprehensible broadcast on Ray Buckley's birthday, where they wished him dead. The broadcast where they giggled like fratboys while making homophobic slurs.

I find your defense of those assclowns reprehensible.  

[ Parent ]
Fergus made political death 'jokes' n/t (4.00 / 1)


When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST
[ Parent ]
and he gets published in the UL (0.00 / 0)
JKL shouldn't be allowed to control the narrative that was my real peeve

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST
[ Parent ]
and he gets published in the UL (0.00 / 0)
JKL shouldn't be allowed to control the narrative that was my real peeve

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST
[ Parent ]
I'm just an unshaven dirty hippie blogger (0.00 / 0)
trying to make sense of it all, maybe laugh a little and change my pj's once a day.

I am really truly sorry for my upsetting post,this is the House that Dean Built(ambiguous huff), but at least Laura came out of lurkville to chastise me with an uprate to my downgrade.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

[ Parent ]
Bullshit. You are either deluding yourself (3.43 / 7)
or participating in the the Big Lie.

Right wing Republicans nominate candidates who circulate posters with crosshairs aimed at their opponents. They speak darkly at rallies of "Second Amendment remedies." And they hold rallies portraying the President as a crazed mass murderer.

When they complain about the left, they object that wearing "waffle" hats to a Jeb Bradley rally was disruptive.

The same thing, huh?

Sell this crap somewhere else, pal.

[ Parent ]
Thinking something doesn't make it true (4.00 / 1)
Unless, apparently, you're a Republican Chair of the US House Budget Committee.

Watch Glenn Beck for a week, then watch Rachel Maddow for a week, and explain to me how those are equal opposites. Not even close.

--
Freedom is not a fiscal issue. Hope 2012.

[ Parent ]
yes, your party. (4.00 / 3)
this was not the only attack on giffords, or her office--in fact, at the very moment she was being shot, police were investigating a "suspicious package" that had been left at one of her offices.

her offices had been attacked by others on several previous occasions.

people had been bringing guns to other events she had put on in the recent past.

this is not really about just one lone person acting out because of some irrationality caused by mental disability...this is really about how this guy seems to be one of many people who have been doing the same thing, on a smaller scale, ever since obama was inaugurated--and if you don't think the rhetoric from the right has anything at all to do with what is happening in arizona, and a lot of other places besides, then i have to respectfully suggest that you are dealing with a level of ignorance, willful or otherwise, that is indeed profound.

--we are making enemies faster than we can kill them

[ Parent ]
excellent (0.00 / 0)
twitter, of course, being an infallible source.

Even if she does know him, she hasn't seen him for three years. Of course he couldn't possibly change from being a liberal to being say a ....teabagger in 3 years.

It's interesting to see you teabaglicans grasping, fearfully, at even the silliest straws - like twitter.  

[ Parent ]
I did mention... (0.00 / 0)
that it needed more validation, and that she hadn't seen him since 2007.  Still seems solid info.
Not sure what other disclaimer you'd have liked to see me post, but perhaps you just didn't want me posting at all (No, say it isn't so...)

Like it or not, twitter, facebook, youtube, etc, are now as valid a source as any other... fact checking still applies, of course.

And not sure what fearful grasping you think I'm doing... I'd be the first to admit the rhetoric from certain folks on the right (and the left) needs to be toned down.  But from that, it doesn't follow that I blame them for things others do, especially mentally ill folks.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
false equivalency again, Seth (4.00 / 1)
the rhetoric of the right is not even remotely comparable to the left.
Your mendacity is showing.  
[ Parent ]
We have this saying (0.00 / 0)
and we say it, regardless of political stripe.

The internet is a big place.



"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden
[ Parent ]
The ban (4.00 / 2)
Prevents 10 - 15  (my guess) other people in the state house from also packing heat and turning our house of government into a shooting gallery if something like this happend.

Come on Seth do you think all the liberty activist that like to carry would not have returned fire if something like that happend in the state house gallery?

Do you not think innocents would be harmed in the cross fire?

Do you not think it could be my daughter on her class field trip?

Do you not agree with Justice Scalia that the right to bear arms does not apply to all areas of the public sphere?

What message is your friend trying to send by open carrying at an event with the POTUS?

Exacty what does he intend to water the "Tree of Liberty" with?


Hope > Fear




Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

[ Parent ]
Replies (2.00 / 2)
1) Your guess is quite low.  I would say double that, or triple that, and that's just on the House floor.  Depending on the turnout, could be that many just in the gallery on a slow session day.

2) Speculation about crossfire is just that... we could speculate that a single armed Trooper who returned fire could accidently hit someone as well - shall we disarm them as well?

3) Scalia's opinion was just that, an opinion (albeit a weighty one).  I think that given that today's shooting occurred in a supermarket, it's irrelevant.  If you think gun free zones do anything, history has already proven they do not, you merely refuse to accept those results as a reality.

4) I just talked to my friend to let him know about your offensive post, and he's been on TV many times to discuss it so you can certainly find out why from his own words on the record.  I offered to post his direct reply here, if you'd like.  He did mention that he was in the Gallery that day HCR6 was voted down, and that the rude loud folks were NOT the gun owners, as far as he could tell being right in the middle of it all.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
Some would say, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight" (4.00 / 5)
I say, "when did we become THAT country?"

Leave the weapons at home and have a conversation in which everybody should be able to participate--without fear.

Don't ever talk about "taking our country back" if you condone turning it into a lesser state by introducing violence into the political process, scaring good people out of their rightful participation.

--
Freedom is not a fiscal issue. Hope 2012.

[ Parent ]
I'll take my chances (4.00 / 3)
with the well trained NH State Trooper rather than the 90 (your number) legislators and members of the gallery that would open fire.

Tell me this, if you are carrying and have a clean shot at someone (bad actor) are you required to take the shot? (You know sort of like how a Dr. must treat someone if they have medical emergency) How do you live with yourself if you don't?

Can you really imagine the chaos of 90 people with firearms feeling like they have to respond to something like that? A food fight with live ammo.

But I suppose you are right, the "what if" is just that... I suppose it is just as likely that a topless liberty activist from Keene was able to take out the lone gunman with a clean shot from her Glock strapped open carry style to her leg allowing the testimony to continue the following day.

Either way, I don't want to read about it in our state house.

Most importantly, the people that fan the flames of the mentally unstable by holding signs that say things like "It's time to Water the Tree of Liberty" (I just happened to remember that photo from the earlier diary) or put  gun sites on maps targeting our elected officials need to understand what they are doing its rhetoric like that is making our county a less safe place.

Hope > Fear




Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

[ Parent ]
90? (0.00 / 0)
Your math needs some work... 10~15 x 2~3 = 20-45, plus some unknown number of gallery folks... is closer to 45-50 than 90... and most won't have a shot or time to react before it's all over.

The day the "topless liberty activist from Keene testifies with her Glock strapped to her leg", I really doubt anyone is going to mess with her in the first place. (and I hope to be there in person, let alone read about in the paper)

And both sides use violent rhetoric... sadly.  It's not just the right.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
That's a lie. (4.00 / 5)
Provide cites of political leaders on the left - of the same level of influence as Sarah Palin, Sharon Angle, and Rush Limbaugh - using violent rhetoric. (No such evidence exists.) Or expect to be TR'd when you repeat the lie.
[ Parent ]
I've stayed out until now.... (0.00 / 0)
But the fact is that Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God Blog out of NY) and Keth Olberman CONSTANTLY use language that demonizes and marginalizes their opposition.  Simply because they use bigger words and wear a smug smile when they say it instead of contorting their faces in blue-collar anger makes them no less gulty of division and hatred.

I am TIRED of this damned Us vs. Them mentality, with the assumption that the OTHER side are the bad guys.

The bad guy is in the Mirror.

[ Parent ]
If you don't see a difference between (4.00 / 1)
calling someone "the Worst Person in the World" and putting them in crosshairs, you have no business talking about equivalence.

And I've never heard of Joe Jarvis.

[ Parent ]
You can't pretend to have the moral upper hand... (0.00 / 0)
....simply be spewing hate and division with polysyllabic words.  The effect is the same...sometimes worse, in that the marginalization of poorly-educated conservatives simply deepens their own hatred and feelings of paranoia and helplessness.

The single biggest factor that kept me - the son of a fireman from the wrong side of the tracks - fromPjoining the Democratic party was the inncessant air of superiority and smugness against blue collar workers that I regualarly perceived both on Long Island (where wealthier communities were Democratic and poorer ones were GOP), and in Academia.

Joe Jervis was recently awarded the #1 Blog in New York City by the Village Voice.  

[ Parent ]
"Person" has two syllables (0.00 / 0)
So Olbermann is guilty on that count.

[ Parent ]
of course (0.00 / 0)
John McCain speaking of "elites" doesn't register with you at all.

[ Parent ]
Here's the thing, (0.00 / 0)
I'm well-informed. I put a lot of thought into my convictions. I believe that the things I believe have more merit than contradictory things that other people believe.

If that makes me smug, so be it.

It has never been adequately explained to me how a person of any background shows disrespect for the middle class by supporting the interests of the middle class.

I make no apologies for a good education, and I won't avoid polysyllabic words for the sake of it.  Incidentally, if I thought polysyllabic words were elitist, I would call them "big words".

--
Freedom is not a fiscal issue. Hope 2012.

[ Parent ]
I do believe it's getting in the way (0.00 / 0)
To the point that the thieves at the top don't get sufficient pressure on them.
[ Parent ]
Seth, this is actually an example of why I preferred the Open Carry option (0.00 / 0)
It's more effective as a deterrent. Even against nut jobs, at least if they have asperations of some mass kill.
[ Parent ]
And so it begins. (4.00 / 5)
As I noted, the cookbook of the violence-loving right is: Once someone is assassinated, say "This is a tragic example of why we need more gun freedoms."

Vile.

[ Parent ]
I think it's insane (4.00 / 2)
To suggest that's its preferable to be powerless against a madman shooter than to be equipped to respond.

And that is the only conclusion that can drawn from your thought experiment, as nothing under the previous rules would have prevented this hypothetical tragedy.

If anything, this tragedy makes me more likely to carry.

[ Parent ]
Perhaps we should give everyone a gun at the door then... (4.00 / 4)
maybe we can sell  ammo in the cafeteria.

What's insane is to think that we need guns in our house of government.


Hope > Fear




Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

[ Parent ]
how about a kevlar vest? starting tomorrow n/t (0.00 / 0)


When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST
[ Parent ]
It's about statistics (2.67 / 3)
As a person dispatched by Uncle Sam to exercise weapons drills with extreme prejudice, I know what you mean. Of course, my friends here on BH, likely have a much smaller comfort zone with weapons.

But they are not incorrect in assuming that large public places of official government buildings are a probable interest to nutbags, ...or terrorists.

So maybe, hero, you will get your wetdream of gunning down a perp. I know those silohuettes just don't quite scratch the itch.

Forgive me, I have assumed you have never flipped a switch to OFF.

My more insecure friends will assign your gun fetish to penis issues or other psycho dribble about how you have a sense of smallness that needs to be compensated by continually possessing the concealed power of life and death.

I figure that to be untrue. As most of us drive, we wield that power continually. To the point of routine.

But, the seduction of being hoisted up on the shoulders of our community, as a real live hero. That's better than being a rock star, huh?

Because, you can go your whole life, and I'm sure statistics will hold this up, never ever ever needing to draw a weapon. Hell, I was in a fucking WAR and most of the time the stock never met my face.

So you can go to Concord without you wubby.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
Funny stuff (0.00 / 0)
But I don't own a hand gun. Nice attempt at psycho analyzing a stranger across the web though. Perceptive.

This type of incident, however, coupled with the new position, makes me more likely to go buy one.

[ Parent ]
You don't know (0.00 / 0)
but normally I talk through the diarist to others, lurkers. Thanks for being a sport about it. It comes with logging in.

Plus, if I did make a penis joke. It was bound to come up.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
Yeah (4.00 / 1)
I'm expecting a fair amount of ribbing. I'd be giving some if the siuation was reversed.

Regards, and thanks for the service.

[ Parent ]
powerful with or without a gun (0.00 / 0)
The suspected Tucson gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, was reportedly initially tackled by two or more citizens--- not shot, tackled.  Tackling is something which you can do even when not equipped by a gun.  I saw an an interview with one man who says he was amongst those who tackled Loughner; that citizen had a gun but never unholstered it.  He said he was glad he had the gun, but he avoided using it.

I witnessed the scariest incident we have had in Concord recently, i.e., the demonstration in the gallery in March 2009. (A few reps who supported the resolution which had just failed ran upstairs in case we were were needed to make peace; I was one of them.) That incident has been magnified in people's memories over the years--- but even at the time it was not a pleasant moment. There were angry individuals making a fuss in the gallery, some of whom were wearing guns on their hips.  There were armed police in the gallery who did a great job: none of the cops ever unholstered their weapons or even touched them.

Since then I have seen the officers assigned to the State House deal with all sorts of situations.  I have ever seen (or even heard of) any of them firing his or her gun, brandishing it, or even pointing to it.  The gun is just one of the tools used to keep the peace, and it is not the most important.

[ Parent ]
typo (0.00 / 0)
I meant to say at the end, "I have never seen..."
[ Parent ]
Insinuation? (4.00 / 1)
Maybe you and your friend need to work on your interpretation of Tom Jefferson:

And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.It is its natural manure.

Your friend did NOT chosen to quote:

We shall have our follies without doubt. Some one or more of them will always be afloat. But ours will be the follies of enthusiasm, not of bigotry, not of Jesuitism. Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both. We are destined to be a barrier against the return of ignorance and barbarism.

So, if you are committed to non-violence how about swapping the tree of liberty quote for another Jefferson quote?

Education and free discussion are the antidotes
 And commit to it.

This, the daily work of a democracy, is not as exciting as protesting with thinly veiled threats of violence.    

whp

[ Parent ]
I'll pass it on... (0.00 / 0)
But it's not nearly as relevant a point.  One is about liberties, the other is about follies.
If you feel like you are losing your freedoms, calling for 'Education and free discussion' isn't going to be very clear to anyone.

And you do realize you don't actually live in a democracy, right?  You live in a Constitutional Republic.  Democracy is the rule of the majority over the minority, whereas we protect minorities' natural rights even against the majority's disagreements. (And yes, yes, there are Republicans who are poor at understanding that as well as Democrats... we DO need Education and Free discussion to reduce the follies on both sides)

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
don't be too quick to dismiss... (0.00 / 0)
We are a democracy albeit not a "majoritarian democracy" or a parliamentary democracy.  My point was to draw on a different part of the Jefferson legacy. Talk of watering the tree of liberty emphasizes a form of dissent and civil disobedience (violent resistance) that ought to be more than rare. Really, revolution is a last resort; and justifiable only when all avenues of representation and legal redress have been closed down -- in other words, only when a tyranny is established.

Jefferson's remark about follies and enthusiasms I take to be a reference to the normal state of democratic politics, or if you prefer, the politics of our constitutional republic. I do not believe this interpretation is farfetched.

In short, disagreements over rights/liberties are constantly in play in everyday politics as demonstrated in the politics around gun owner rights and control, and the right to health care, full employment,etc.

In the Tea Party it appears that every occasion for disagreement over rights dear to the party is an occasion for waving the "liberty" flag and for strongly "suggesting" that violence may need to be the answer. The threat of violence is inherent in the "Tea Party" as evidenced by their fixation on the Second Amendment and dramatized showing of guns.  There is nothing comparable in today's Left.  



whp

[ Parent ]
I could write an entire essay on this... (0.00 / 0)
And I'd like to, but I can't right now, due to time.
Whew, a lot of stuff to discuss in this one response, you touched on about 3-4 different connected points I'd argue with.

I promise to come back to this idea, and write on it here or elsewhere with a pointer to it.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
Our Constitutional Republic is a Representative Democracy (4.00 / 1)
"Democracy" comes from the Greek for "rule by the people". It does not mean "direct and uninhibited rule by a majority of the general public".

--
Freedom is not a fiscal issue. Hope 2012.
[ Parent ]
It is both (0.00 / 0)
They go hand in hand, to work together. Currently we lack strong enough federalist tensions, so that the representation is not very locally representative.
[ Parent ]
I pointed that out in response to Seth's inaccurate assertion that: (0.00 / 0)
And you do realize you don't actually live in a democracy, right?  You live in a Constitutional Republic.

Neither a constitutional republic nor a representative democracy necessitates a federal system. We happen to have a federal system, but the state of intergovernmental tension is a subject for a different thread.

--
Freedom is not a fiscal issue. Hope 2012.

[ Parent ]
Interesting Mike but ... (0.00 / 1)
It looks like he is a leftwing Kossack, not a Palin Republican. Here is a recent post that he put on the site, which is reportedly now taken down: http://twitpic.com/3o7s5c/full

Politizine.com
Huh. (4.00 / 3)
The gay Democratic activist with Latino ties who has been writing there since 2007 and the 22 year old gunman with the youtube account and bizarre writing style appear to be exactly the same person!

Or maybe not even close.


birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

[ Parent ]
I agree, different person... (0.00 / 0)
Weird coincidence, but certainly someone else.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.
[ Parent ]
That certainly clears it up (4.00 / 2)
I always believe every screen shot I see posted on the Internet. Especially ones that have been feverishly linked to at least three times within 10 minutes in the same blog by the same poster.

More leg-lifting. Yawn.

2012 is sooner than you think. Ready?

[ Parent ]
Look Again, Yo. (4.00 / 2)
BoyBlue continues to post on DKos.
http://www.dailykos.com/user/B...

He ain't the shooter.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

[ Parent ]
Maybe you should (0.00 / 0)
post that link in three or four other threads here, Jack. Just in case, you know.  

2012 is sooner than you think. Ready?
[ Parent ]
President Obama's Healthcare Town Hall in Portsmouth (0.00 / 0)
For those of you who think I am crazy, you're right. That day along with a few other Hampsters, I spent the day volunteering for the event. It was my first live Obama event.
Thank you Judy Stadtman!

I worked the magnetometer, at the school. I stood in front of it, between it and the door where people who had been waiting the heat of the event for hours, the heat and mugginess of the day, the anger, snaked. Inside I was as hyped up as I could be,(like the previous 72 hours)though outwardly ok.

I told brothe rtwomey at the time that I would not be responsible for anyone getting in on my watch who like to hurt BO, and the service would have to wait!

Given what went down outside, I want to thank Tim and BH you Mike for the diary. I held up the event telling everyone to empty their pockets, open handbags etc. I was worried because of the wackadoo factor outside. Finally the service, under whose direction I was, had me speed it up. I blame the insurance co.s and the dick army for ginning up the fear of the fringe then. I think our culture of violence is now officially out of control.I think all Federal officials will now get professional security back in their home districts. It's sad.

Next week all Congressional votes, and regularly scheduled business is canceled, from what I've heard. The Congress will remain in session, but they will undertake to investigate the incidents in Tucson, and where the country and they as public servants are headed. Gun control will certainly come up.



When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

On Vitriol in Politics (0.00 / 0)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01...

The original health care legislation stirred strong feelings that flared at angry town hall meetings held by many Democratic lawmakers during the summer of 2009. And there has been broader anger and suspicion rising about the government, its finances and its goals, with the discourse partially fueled by talk shows and Web sites.

Tea Party activists also condemned the shooting. Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation, noted on his Web site that Ms. Giffords is "a liberal," but added, "that does not matter now. No one should be a victim of violence because of their political beliefs."



When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST
[ Parent ]
The picture above (0.00 / 0)
is on this list of violence in the last couple of years.
No violence occurred that day... (0.00 / 0)
Well, mostly none... I know people who were spat upon by union supporters at that venue.  I think there is youtube video of that.

What I find more interesting is that while that page focuses on heavily on the 'Neo Nazis' with photos of them, it fails to note that on August 17, 2009, Chris Broughton who "openly carries a handgun and AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle to a health care rally in Phoenix", is black, despite linking to a video clearing showing him.

But let's not have the facts get in the way of your argument.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of an Federal Affirmative Action grant.

[ Parent ]
It is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty | 92 comments

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