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The alleged shooter cited Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto, which says a lot about his ideological coherence. Either that, or how both Hitler and Marx inspired legions of mass murderers, and continue to do so.
What I find deeply disturbing is the fact that this incident, tragic though it is, has run up over 118 posts, yet the murder of Salman Taseer (and the huge support for the killing, in Pakistan), the recent mass murder of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the fact that Copts had to cancel their Christmas services over death threats in Canada hasn't registered a blip on Rabble/Babble. At the mere mention of such blasphemies, posts are closed and posters banned. Also, would the moderators mind applying phrases like "tcrypto-fascist right" and "the underside of their catroonish, inflated and highly pitched rhetoric is blood, violence and death" to political and religious movements other than the Usual Suspects (Western Christian conservatives)? You know--the ones who claim they come in peace...
Say what?
Whatever the killer's particular twisted motives, Giffords was a constant target for her vocal opposition to Arizona's draconian immigration law, and vocal support for Obamacare.
She was a prime target for Palin and the Tea Party. They ran against her. Gun play is a constant theme winding around 'removing the blight and threat from America'. Thats not a case of "exert your right to bear arms" FULL STOP "we need to get rid of these people".
When I said last year that people will be killed, I figured it would be some loner lunatic... not likely a member of an organized 'militia' or any one that brings their assault weapons to a rally.
If anyone with the politics to be here on this board, sees this connection as 'speculative', its because you are making an effort to wave it away.
Example:
[And leaving aside the rhetorical excess that not a word has been said about 'poor Obama,' or that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party is evil. Ruthless, single minded, dangerous, and at least potentially murderous in their targeting, yes, that is the topic after all.]
If you were in the US, you would know that you were in those crosshairs too. Of course the organized and stirred right wing is going to look first to public officials with legislative power.
But on Babble, since the targets were unclean, thats them, and the concern is only for the bystanders. What threat?
Immigration rights activist killed in Yuma, Arizona. Cesar Romero was shot by an unknown gunman as he was speaking to a vigil at a Immigration and Naturalization Services bureau office. Mr. Romero....
And when this happens....
So what is the big fuss? Where was/is the outrage at the people being killed daily in Pakistan and Afghanistan? What threat?
Canadians visit the USA more than any other country, many of us visit the USA on a regular basis, a lot of us have friends and relatives there, the USA is our closest neighbour, and we have more in common with Americans than any other society on the planet. Most Canadians live within 50 miles of the USA. No kidding an incident like this in the USA is going to generate a lot of comments and opinions from Canadians.
I wonder what Michael Moore has to say, or will have to say, about this very tragic event.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
The HSCA concluded in 1979 that:
The USA became a military dictatorship in 1947 with the sigining of the National Security Act. JFK was merely a figurehead president of a cosmetic government in Washington D.C.
Okay, where to start.
First, any poster, including Unionist, is entitled to post what they like, within babble policy guidelines. Content of said posts may be on topic or they may be off-topic. As a moderator I like to generally suggest that one sticks to the topic of the thread, and not have posts that indicate that the topic is unworthy and other topics should be talked about instead. But that's me. In that vein, I found most of Unionist's posts here to be baiting, taunting and on the verge of trolling. Even as I take his vaild points to heart, they did not belong in this thread. In my opinion.
Subsequently, any poster may respond, or choose not to respond, to any other poster. This isn't anyone's responsibility except you, the one doing the posting and writing.
Second, getting all riled up over what is and isn't paid attention to on babble doesn't make a good topic for discussion. If you want Topic A discussed, start a thread on it. If people want to comment, they will.
Third, there is a difference between rabble (the website) and babble (a discussion board that's a part of rabble). rabble provides news, opinion, progressive commentary from a left-wing anti-oppressive perspective, delivered through a number of different media. But since rabble doesn't have a gajillion writers all over the world, and this incident happened less than 24 hours ago, there's no possible way for rabble to have a story out on this, especially on the weekend. I'm sure there will be articles on rabble about this incident during the upcoming week.
And lastly, I need to respectfully request that any new thread on the topic of the shootings in Arizona stick to the topic as much as possible. If the topic doesn't interest you, stay out of it.
Closing for length.