Require youths to listen to Rush

LIBERALS SEEK BAN ON METAPHORS IN WAKE OF ARIZONA SHOOTING (Ann Coulter)
After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we've got to pass Obama's agenda immediately and stop using metaphors. At least I think that's what the Mainstream Media are trying to tell me. Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all Conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in Murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner. Of course, to make their case, ...

Limbaugh believes being called out for his violent rhetoric is part of a conspiracy to silence 'all of talk radio, Fox News'
Well, they say that paranoia is an indicator of oncoming senility, but that would mean Rush Limbaugh has been getting senile for the past twenty years. In any event, he was in prime form yesterday: This is not an isolated event. Every time something like this happens, some disaster, it doesn't take 30 minutes for the media to start speculating that it's Talk Radio, and now Fox News and the blogs on the right and everything else. I got a lot of people who sent me e-mails yesterday: "Rush, I thoug...

Obama praised for leadership after U.S. shooting
Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Postmedia News · Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011 TUCSON, Arizona — John Jewell did not vote for Barack Obama — and he never voted for Gabrielle Giffords either, for that matter. But as the 59-year-old Tucsonan paid silent tribute to Ms. Giffords on Thursday outside the Hospital where the Arizona congresswoman is recovering from her gunshot wound, he had a message for his president: Well done. On the day after Mr. Obama rallied Americans to beg...

Did Pima County Sheriff Dupnik ignore Jared Loughner's warning signs before Gabrielle Giffords shooting?
Almost immediately after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords and several others by Jared Lee Loughner, Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik began politicizing the tragedy [1]. Part of that politicization was justified, part was not. Specifically, considering the role that an overly hostile political environment might have played in the tragedy and urging calm is acceptable, but naming specific persons (Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh) as possible contributing factors is not. In any case, ...

An Eclipse of Tragedy and Opportunity: When Media Spin Transforms
While many Americans were enjoying a brief weekend break from the tedium of a typical work week, Tucson, Arizona saw a tragic drama unfold that would shock the entire country. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, while conducting a neighborhood meeting at a Grocery Store in Tucson, was shot in the head by a lone assassin along with 19 others at the meeting. A Federal District Judge, John Roll, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, was killed along with a nine year old girl who was born on ...

Mitchell Bard: Right Wing Media Lies and the Arizona Tragedy
In the days since the massacre in Arizona, the mainstream political media (and much online discussion) have zeroed in on one question: Did the uncivil political discourse (with violent imagery) of the Glenn Becks, Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins of the world create an environment that encouraged or allowed an unhinged character to go on a Shooting Spree aimed at a Democratic congresswoman. I would like to focus on a related question: Are the Right Wing pundits telling the truth? The reason for...

Beating a dead horse
An example of violent conservative imagery Gallup: Most Doubt Political Rhetoric a Major Factor in Ariz. Shootings A new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds Americans dubious that the heated language used in politics today was a major factor that influenced the alleged gunman in last week’s shootings in Tucson, Ariz. Twenty percent say such rhetoric was a major factor in the shootings, while 22% cite it as a minor factor; 42% say it was not a factor at all. Democrats are more likely than indepen...

A Tale of Two Speeches: Roundup and Reactions
As far as I can tell, the reaction to Palin's video statement and President Obama's Speech has been pretty disparate, and interesting. One theme shines through: Both were commenting on the same event, but the focus was very, very different. The video is The Nation's John Nichols commenting on the differences and similarities. His conclusion: If Democrats claim the mantle of civic involvement and responsibility, that's not such a bad thing. Tristero over at Digby's blog thinks this Speech transce...

It's NOT about civility
Here's Steve Benan on Rush Limbaugh on Monday: QUOTE OF THE DAY.... Rush Limbaugh actually said this on the air today. He wasn't kidding. "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 a Democrat [sic] Party -- the Democrat [sic] Party -- is attempting to find anybody but him to blame. "He knows if he plays his cards right that he's just a 'Victim.' He's the latest in a n...

AIMs Kincaid Takes Up Banner for Racist Organization
It’s one thing to falsely accuse an organization of connections that haven’t been verified. It’s another thing altogether to claim that an organization isn’t what it is. In the immediate wake of the Jan. 9 Tucson shooting — in which six people died and 13, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, were injured — Fox News ran with a document supposedly leaked from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggesting that the presumed shooter, Jared Lee Loug

Election in Sight, Possible GOP Presidential Candidates Stay Coy
On January 16, 2007, then-candidate Barack Obama released the video at left announcing that he was forming a presidential Exploratory Committee. It was essentially an announcement that he would be seeking the presidency - one that came almost 22 months before the election. Mr. Obama was far from the first to jump into the ring. As Slate's David Weigel noted this week, 14 Candidates announced they would be running for president or creating an exploratory committee before Mr. Obama released tha...

Totalitarians Try To Smear Ron Paul
Writes the left-wing San Francisco Weekly, after OD’ing on Jared Loughner YouTubes: Principal among [Loughner's rantings] are his concern about “currency that’s not backed by gold and silver…. As Potok notes, [this] is a boilerplate notion of the radical right, closely linked to Conspiracy theories about the Federal Reserve being run by shadowy international Bankers…. Both ideas are cherished by the Patriot movement…. As has been well-documented, ‘Patr...

Fool For The Ages
From Richard Baehr of American Thinker Paul Krugman is  back to discussing Income Inequality on his blog, following a very negative reaction to his disgraceful column on the Tucson shootings, in which he led a left wing chorus arguing that Gabrielle Giffords was brought down by a gunman undoubtedly influenced by Arizona’s climate of hate, engendered by Talk Radio, Sarah Palin, Fox News, and other assorted villains on the right. Krugman writes for the New York Times, and the paper’...

After The Arizona Massacre, The Issue Almost No One Is Talking About But On Which (Hopefully) We Can Agree
As President Obama lifted the hearts of the nation Wednesday night, I find my own heart lifted. He's entirely right to move past assigning blame for the massacre in Arizona, and I feel called, as the president asks, to live up to the expectations of Christina Taylor Green, the little 9-year-old girl who was murdered while coming to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. (I say that, it must be noted, as one who earlier pointed my finger squarely at Sarah Palin for fueling political ill-will leading up ...

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Krugman?
James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal on “the Manichaean wing of American Liberalism:” As we have noted, the New York Times’s response to last weekend’s murders in Tucson was to instigate a witch hunt against Republican politicians and “particularly” against members of the independent (nonliberal) media. This appealed to what one might call the Manichaean wing of American Liberalism: those who mistake political disagreement for enmity, who are so strongly...

The Hypocrisy of the CBC's Mark Kelley
A comment in this earlier thread is well worth repeating here: The other night I was watching Connect with Mark Kelley on CBC. They pulled out the old Sarah Palin target map and talked about the heightened Rhetoric...days after the shooting. I thought it was too much so I e-mailed the show with my concerns... To his credit he replied back to me directly... ---- Thanks for the email. Blaming us for politicising the shooting is rich. Have you followed anything that has happened in Arizona in th...

Rush Limbaugh Takes Down Straight Shooter Billboard in Tucson
Celebrity Endorsements: Money for Nothing? A spokesman for the shock jock’s syndicate says a Tucson billboard featuring Limbaugh’s name, the phrase “straight shooter” and bullet hole imagery was designed by a local station and removed after the shooting massacre that took place in that city. UPDATE: The billboard was removed on Monday, a spokeswoman for Limbaugh’s syndicator told Politico. “The ad campaign was created by a local Tucson talk Radio Station to pr...

Former Judge to AZ Sheriff: Shut Up Before You Do Any More Damage to the Prosecutions Case
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 By Nicholas Ballasy Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Louis Gohmert (R.-Texas), a former prosecutor and judge and a current member of the House Judiciary Committee, is offering some advice to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, who has gained national attention since Saturday for his suggestions that radio and television Talk Shows were somehow responsible for the shooting attack in Tucson that took the lives of 6 people and wounded 14 ot

Hullabaloo
Just Words by digby Chris Kromm at the institute of Southern Studies takes up the issue of whether or not violent Rhetoric in this must read piece. He notes this is not a new discussion and that there's fairly recent evidence to look at: After a failed run for Governor as a liberal, Wallace resuscitated his career by becoming a staunch opponent of integration and the "integratin', scalawaggin', carpetbaggin' liars" that favored change. His message: When it came to the Federal Government, "res...

Obama Urges Americans to 'Stay United'
President Barack Obama called on Americans to stay united on Wednesday evening during a memorial service in memory of the people who were killed and to honor those who were injured in the Tucson, Ariz., shooting last Saturday. It was a chance for Arizonans as well as all Americans to remember and begin to heal. At times, the crowd of 14,000 was moved to tears and at other times they were moved to tears of joy, as President Obama remembered each of the six people killed and voiced America's ho...

Clear Channel Yanks 'Straight Shooter' Limbaugh Ad In Tucson
Several weeks ago, NewsTalk 790 KNST in Tucson put up a billboard to advertise Rush Limbaugh's Radio Show. The text reads, "Rush Limbaugh/Straight Shooter," and the ad is riddled with images of bullet holes. In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others on Saturday, KNST's parent company, Clear Channel, decided to take down the billboard. In a statement to TPM, Clear Channel, which also manages the billboard, said the ad "used the common expression 'straight shoot...

Rush Limbaugh 'Straight Shooter' Tucson Billboard Removed
aolnews via tpm CLEAR CHANNEL STATEMENT : "Starting several weeks before the recent tragic incident in Tucson, Clear Channel Outdoor had been displaying an ad campaign created by a local Tucson talk Radio Station to promote its broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio program. This particular ad - which used the common expression "straight shooter" to describe Mr. Limbaugh's candid and direct style -- was designed and contracted for by the local station's promotion departmen...

Rush Limbaugh Billboard in Arizona
What kind of Mad Men are in Arizona at that Radio Station that would promote bullets for a radio Talk Show personality that lives on Hate Speech and that defies the government?  Especially after the shootings on January 8th, 2011 of a democrat US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who lies in a Hospital fighting for her life from a bullet hole to her head from an insane young man who had a certain target and who thought the government was brainwashing him. What message does this radio station...

Are All These Calls for Civility Really Just Calls for Censorship?
Yes. Let's just look at how things progressed this past weekend. Within moments of the news of the shootings various members of the left, aided by the idiot Sheriff Dumb*** of Pima County and many in the Mainstream Media, began to claim that people like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and others were somehow complicit in this shooting because of their "heated political Rhetoric". None of those accusations were deemed to be uncivil. However, when Palin and Limbaugh responded to those ...

Tom Athans: Tucson: Is Talk Media Off the Hook?
At a time when we most needed it, President Barack Obama put in perspective the tragic events that took place in Tucson and offered words of healing to a profoundly affected nation. His remarks allowed all of us to grieve with the families of the Victims and, contrary to what's been happening in the media this past week, gave us direction on where to properly place our sorrow. However, as I awoke to the morning news, it was clear that those within the talk media world heard something differen...