Apropos of Nothing

When I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull as a young lad, I thought it was a really cool science fiction/fantasy story about intelligent seagulls. It never occurred to me that there was any sort of underlying, subliminal Christian evangelist messaging going on. I never even thought about it that way until I read something that mentioned it on the Net somewhere.

I Believe I Can Fly

Tonight I learned that there's no need to worry, and no need for government to lift a finger to help me, because I can solve all my problems myself. Bobby Jindal told me so:

Americans can do anything!

I don't need to worry about half of my meager retirement savings going poof; I wasn't going to be able to retire anyway, right? And I don't need to worry about being fired and losing my health insurance; I'll be fine, because I can do anything.

Yes, Americans can do anything. Look at Katrina, a totally incompetent group of Republican government disaster response managers behaved totally incompetently; that proves that government doesn't ever work, and it's much better to have individuals take care of their own problems, because Americans can do anything (although unfortunately that includes being incompetent disaster response managers).

Have A Nice Day

From the manifesto of raving lunatic Jim Adkisson, who shot up a church in Tennessee last July:

“Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them....

“This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. I’d like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I know those people were inaccessible to me. I couldn’t get to the generals & high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people. Someone had to get the ball rolling. I volunteered. I hope others do the same. It’s the only way we can rid America of this cancerous pestilence.”

“I thought I’d do something good for this Country Kill Democrats til the cops kill me....Liberals are a pest like termites. Millions of them Each little bite contributes to the downfall of this great nation. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is to kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather. I’d like to encourage other like minded people to do what I’ve done. If life aint worth living anymore don’t just kill yourself. do something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals.

I know I feel better, knowing that there are people who think like this in this country. Of course, Adkisson's ravings have nothing whatsoever to do with what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and dozens more of their kind are saying on their radio shows and TV programs night after night, 24/7/365 (just as Sara at Orcinus says). Nothing at all.

When law enforcement officials searched Adkisson’s home, they found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

Here's a golden oldie for you:

"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too."

• Ann Coulter, address before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Jan. 2002

Yep, we can indeed. Old Jim did Annie one better. He actually killed some.

And just to contrast, when prominent conservatives/Republicans get shot?

• Ronald Reagan got shot because lunatic John Hinckley wanted to get laid by Jodie Foster.
• Squeaky Fromme tried to shoot Gerald Ford presumably because he wouldn't pardon Charles Manson. (Did you know Squeaky is supposed to get out this year? August 16th, according to Wikipedia)
  

One Heartbeat Away

VP ex-candidate Sarah Palin, from an AP story:

Palin said she named Bristol in part for Bristol, Conn. _ home of the sports network ESPN.

"When I was in high school, my desire was to be a sportscaster," she said. "Until I learned that you'd have to move to Bristol, Connecticut. It was far away. So instead, I had a daughter and named her Bristol."

Thanks, Mom!

Fatuous

In an online exchange with his paper's readers this week, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller pointed out that "there is a diminishing supply of quality journalism, and a growing demand. By quality journalism, I mean the kind that involves experienced reporters going places, bearing witness, digging into records, developing sources, checking and double-checking, backed by editors who try to enforce high standards. I mean journalism that, however imperfect, labors hard to be trustworthy, to supply you with the information you need to be an engaged citizen. The supply of this kind of journalism is declining because it is hard, expensive, sometimes dangerous work."

No, Mr. Keller, it's not because it's hard, expensive, sometimes dangerous work. It's because you and your corporate masters don't want that kind of work done, you don't want it in your newspapers. The wrong people might get witness borne on them, their records exposed. Can't have that.

You don't practice "quality journalism" because you don't want to. If you did, you would.

(h/t Eschaton and cab drollery)