Keith Olbermann is not a madman, he just ate some bad oysters: We watch, because were paid to

Metaphors Don't Kill People; People Kill People
metaphor: a figure of Speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our god.” Sticks and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me. ~Nursery rhyme The recent tragedy in Arizona managed to unleash the pundits on both sides of the aisle. In this world where there must be a root cause for every wrinkle in the landscape and every calamity that befalls us, eve...

The Arizona Tragedy and the American Reaction
The story dominating American conversation this week is the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. In shock, after a mentally troubled assassin named Jared Lee Loughner shoots a round from his 9mm Glock through the brain of beloved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and then turns his weapon on the crowd and kills 6 bystanders while wounding 13 others — America mourns. Giffords is alive today and fighting for her life, the extent of the damage caused by her wound still unknown. There are positive signs...

Rampage prompts political maneuvering (AP)
WASHINGTON – Democrats, Republicans and independent groups across the ideological spectrum are seeking political profit from the shooting rampage that left six dead and Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded, often moderating their Rhetoric in pursuit of their goals. Often, but not always. Two days after shootings, the conservative Tea Party Express issued a Fundraising appeal that said accused gunman Jared Loughner's actions in the months leading to the shooting were "more consistent w...

What Americans Need to Do Now, After the Shooting and Tragedy In Arizona
This week President Obama helped the nation mourn in Tucson. Today let's celebrate American Democracy and the freedoms we enjoy and not let a nut with a gun in any way interfere with a full-throated, passionate dialogue that is as American as apple pie. For in order for Democracy to thrive it's imperative that we resist the impulse to tell opinionated people who are exercising Political Speech that its their fault for inciting deranged people from acting out their darkest fantasies. On the contr...

alicublog
THE PERSECUTION AND Assassination OF Sarah Palin AS PERFORMED BY THE INMATES AT THE Cato Institute UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON. Lawyers, Guns & Money informs me that the Washington Times has gone Sarah Palin's blood Libel malarkey one better, declaring that recent criticism of La Palin is "simply the latest round of an ongoing Pogrom against conservative thinkers." A pogrom, yet! Their persecution mania was already so far beyond parody that I hardly know what to call this ...

Michael Steele loses bid for re-election as RNC chair
Michael Steele is out as RNC chairman. Reince Priebus, former chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, unseated Steele in Friday's vote among GOP memebers and will be taking over the number one spot on the Republican National Committee. Steele withdrew his name from consideration after the fourth round of voting after he realized he had little chance of winning another term. Priebus has aligned himself with the Tea Party movement, which Republicans credit with their recent takeover of the House of Represe...

The Tucson Massacres The Hall Of Shame: Liberals Who Used Tragedy To Smear The Right
G.I. Wood Shop Inc. Mrs. Peel Oh…My Valve! V The K’s Caption This! An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later. The massacre in Tucson was a horrendous tragedy. Everyone in the country, of every ideological stripe, should have been allowed to mourn the Victims’ deaths and injuries without the imposition of having to defend people who had nothing at all to do with it. But where normal people saw tragedy, the Far Left saw opportunity. They  jumped at th...

Progressive European media tell truth about Arizona shooting
They made every effort to hide the truth – similar to the Catholic Church covering up thousandfold Child Abuse. For years the ruling classes within the Racist rat hole of Arizona ignored the rightful rebellion of the angry young Comrade Jared Lee Loughner being severely suppressed by structures of fascism and patriarchy throughout the years. Also being denied sexual liberation Comrade Loughner began obiding his own laws and acquired spiritual ammunition for his struggle against...

The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, we followed Tunisia as its President dissolved the government, and a State of Emergency was declared. Larison stressed the importance of Tunisians deposing an autocrat on their own, without US intervention and Andrew debated Evgeny Morozov on how instrumentalTwitter was. We rounded up reax and reports from the ground in Tunisia here, here, and here, and the role of Wikipedia in the coup here and here. Sarah Palin said sorry seven times (last year), Limbaugh sunk to new lows,...

A Note To Glenn Beck: I Reserve My Rights
At at one point not too long ago I called Glenn Beck possibly "the great conservative hope”.  But I will freely admit that the man drives me bonkers when he goes off into his own little world of self-reflection.  Not only am I certain that he knows the location of each and every piece of lint in the crevasses of his bellybutton, but I am also convinced he has given each of them names and converses with them regularly. Beck’s hard edges have softened at times over the past s...

Bozell Column: No Tucson Lectures for 'Artists'
Within minutes of the news breaking that Jared Lee Loughner had killed six and wounded 12 in a rampage outside a Tucson safeway store, including a critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the news media immediately leapt to the conclusion that the harsh tone of our political discourse – led by conservative Talk Radio -- surely must be to blame. That narrative turned out to be hogwash, but another one has emerged during the investigation into Loughner’s psyche, yet virtually no one...

A Special Warning to ALL COMRADES
I am well aware that everyone here at the Cube is anticipating and preparing for the worst day in humyn history – that day being the Fourth of July – and have all written down and remembered what they should do to stop the celebration of that offensive day (I do believe Meow pontificated on what you should do, so there will be no excuse for failure). With that said, I also want to remind you that going to thishateful website is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! All Party memb...

A Climate of Slander
Jan 24, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 18 • By THE SCRAPBOOK Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Liberal pundits suffered a psychotic break last week, metaphorically speaking, of course. When a gunman opened fire on Representative -Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd that had gathered to hear her speak in Tucson, they were certain that Conservatives must, somehow, be to blame. So the liberal intelligentsia rushed to erect a gallows in the public square (metaphorically speaking, a...

Trying to erase tear down this wall.
It is my first instinct to treat this report of Ronald Reagan Jr’s… commentary… by simply letting it pass by without a response.  For those not wishing to click through, the boy (use of term deliberate) is indulging elderly liberal fetishists everywhere by making the claim that his father was suffering from Alzheimer’s as far back as the 1984 debates*, as well as ‘details’ regarding a supposed operation in 1989 that had even the US News & World Report d...

Palin to speak at gun convention
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Safari Club International (SCI) gun convention on Jan. 29. According to the organization's Web site, the event is sold out. News of the Speech comes a little less than a week after the Mass Shooting in Tucson that left federal judge John Roll, 9-year old Christina Green and four others dead, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 12 others wounded. A graphic featuring the image of crosshairs over Gifford...

Mike's Blog Roundup
Joe. My. God: GOP Rep, Duncan Hunter to introduce bill to blockafe DADT Repeal certification Comments are restricted to Registered Users only. Will President Obama keep his promise to strengthen Social Security in upcoming SOTU? Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner: Separated at birth? Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner: Separated at birth? Glenn Beck and Jared Loughner: Separated at birth?...

Loughner Posed in G-String with Gun
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The suspect in the Mass Shooting in Arizona posed for photos with a gun, dressed only in a bright red G-string, and had the film developed on the eve of the rampage that killed six people and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, authorities said Friday. The most detailed timeline of Jared Loughner's busy 11 hours before the shooting was released by the Pima County Sheriff's Office. It begins with Loughner dropping off the 35mm film at a Walgreens at 11:35 p.m. Jan. 7, t...

Paging Keith Olbermann
He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right. Move on, Keith, move on. One of my favorite Candidates of this past cycle is Nick Popaditch; see more about him here, here, and here. He's . . . Go Ick: WASHINGTON, Ind. — Police say an Ohio man accused of having sex with a corpse told investigators he didn't at . . . Go Thomas Melady, former U.S. ambassador t...

Naming Names: Some Of The Liberals Who Were Overjoyed About The Tucson Shooting
Sadly, there have always been mentally disturbed people who've acted out violently. Sometimes it's against their families, at their jobs, schools, places of employment -- and sometimes it's against famous targets. Most people, when they hear about events of this sort, feel sorrow for the senseless loss of innocent life. We wonder why God allows bad things to happen to good people and we mourn for those affected, their families, and friends. This is how most Americans feel, but it's not how all A...

Naming Names: Some Of The Liberals Who Were Overjoyed About The Tucson Shooting
Sadly, there have always been mentally disturbed people who’ve acted out violently. Sometimes it’s against their families, at their jobs, schools, places of employment — and sometimes it’s against famous targets. Most people, when they hear about events of this sort, feel sorrow for the senseless loss of innocent life. We wonder why God allows bad things to happen to good people and we mourn for those affected, their families, and friends. This is how most Americans fee...

Saturday Snips
By John Ballard Another Saturday, another assignment. No time to blog long reflections, but here is this morning's surfing collection... While the US was preoccupied with snow and other distractions, Tunisia was experiencing a revolution. Literally, not figuratively. To use the metaphor of a baby's birth, the water has broken and labor has begun. The newborn is still in the birth canal and we still don't know what it will look like. Or if it will live. But those not paying attenti...

It Wasnt Enough
Hate to get all depressing on a Friday night, but I’m afraid “The Editors” at Esquire correctly assess the chances of civility: ... [T]he most remarkable thing about what happened in Oklahoma City is how little it matters today. The president of the United States gave a fine Speech Wednesday night in Tucson at the memorial for the people Jared Loughner shot. The only mention of Oklahoma City in connection with the president’s Speech was to compare it with the Speech tha...

Obama: Time to tackle nation's challenges again
President Barack Obama speaks at a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's shootings at McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. Citing "great challenges for us to solve," President Barack Obama is pledging to work with Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting that killed six, grievously wounded a member of Congress and brought legislative debate to a virtual standstill. In his weekly radio and Internet address...

Analysis: Palin isn't retreating, she's reloading (The Christian Science Monitor)
Say one thing for Sarah Palin: She heeds her own advice. Coming only days after Ms. Palin was drawn into the Arizona shooting drama, news that the former Alaska Governor and potential presidential aspirant will headline a gun-friendly hunting convention Jan. 29 fits her famous stump phrase: "Don't retreat, reload." It is a philosophy that defines Palin as a political figure and also points to how closely her own public persona echoes that of the American gun culture she promotes....

NYT Film Critic Accidentally Writes Column About Politics
As I was reading Friday’s movie reviews in the NYT, the headline “Defy the Elite! Wait, Which Elite?” jumped out at me.  Since I’ve always been fascinated by the right’s success in appropriating that term, I clicked over to read A.O. Scott’s essay.  Looks like movie and entertainment critics are in the same boat we are: [Neal] Gabler begins with the assertion that, “as anyone who has ever wiggled in his seat at a classical music concert or stared in disb