AZ sheriff blames political rhetoric

[Smiling JOe]

I'm certainly not blaming George Washington, I mean Barack Obama, for the shooting, nor am I blaming Sarah Palin. If either were to blame, we would all be shooting people and we are not, so the reason for the fruit loop going postal is something else, not rhetoric.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

WHO was quoting the Untouchables? So he is going gangsta on Philly?

OMC..You're are both so right. Three years of ugly, hateful rhetoric from Palin is balanced by a poor choice of words meant to induce the crowds of Philly into a blood-lust for republican babies!!!!!! Pulease....She dishes hate and gets paid for it, she can't take it too well, though, and cries victim when the real victims are recovering or dead. I have no sympathies for her. You reap what you have sown in this life. Next thing you know, she'll be Palin' around with terrorist, or insulting someones wife to try and score points, just because the lady wants you to get your kids off the couch. I can't even believe this is America, to let a Muslin be President. I didn't even know cloth could vote

My bottom line about Obama and Palin is this; I didn't like either at the start of the campaign, but about halfway through it and watching her rallies of anger and ugliness, I decided to vote for Obama, because I sure as hell was not going to vote for anyone that talked as much trash as she did. She lost my vote with the very same thing we are discussing here, trash talking and dehumanizing her opponents.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Since talk of gun control is also in this thread, I thought I would do a bit of reading on real statistical data regarding murder rates and gun control. I found an independent site which has much data showing stats comparing local to national levels in places where gun control was stepped up, or stepped down. Gun Control

 

[30A Skunkape]

As much as the left 'hates' Palin, let there be no doubt that their various groups use her for fundraising purposes. Dick Cheney just isn't so scary anymore...

 

[Alicia Leonard]

As much as the left 'hates' Palin, let there be no doubt that their various groups use her for fundraising purposes. Dick Cheney just isn't so scary anymore...

Yeah, he'll just shoot you in the face...:shock: and then you'll have to apologize to him.

I love guns and enjoy them, but guns and mouths are similar. Both can be loaded and people need to be responsible when shooting them off.

 

[NotDeadYet]

I found an independent site which has much data showing stats comparing local to national levels in places where gun control was stepped up, or stepped down. Gun Control

Dig a little deeper. The guy who runs this site and co-authored the page you linked is suspect for independence, in my opinion. He has some extreme views, including a book he wrote "proving" the literal truth of the bible with his supposed facts and definitions, etc. He's a former atheist who read the bible cover to cover and decided it was true after all, became a Christian and wrote a book to convince other rational thinkers likewise.

 

[30A Skunkape]

I am a bit surprised that nobody has commented on the outstanding article regarding the twisted world of Jared Loughner that ran in yesterday's New York Times. It is long, and I would post a link but I think you have to have a password to read the entire piece, so I will not. I found the following sentence very interesting in light of the almost immediate fingering of the right as the driving force behind this guy's actions:

He became intrigued by anti-government conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetuated by the government and that the country's central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of the government.

Two points here. First, I will take credit for betting Loughner was more likely a viewer of the conspiracy TV shows than a visitor at any mainstream political website. I have dug a little deeper and went to Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory website today, and sure enough, the September 11 and big bank scams are there...shockingly, there is a hint that a new conspiracy, that being Jared Loughner was not the lone gunman that was shooting at the murder scene, is unfolding...good grief. As an aside, I find it interesting that the word 'scam' is used prominently on the Conspiracy Theory website. This word was one of Loughner's favorites-his education was, in his words, a scam. His bank was a scam. Not being able to enlist in the military was a scam. Coincidence? Maybe but I doubt it. Second point-If Palin, Limbaugh, Beck at al were in Loughner's brain, why did he bristle at the site of Bush?

A calm analysis later in the paper produced a valid conclusion regarding American reaction to spectacular news events. In essence, it said that historically all Americans pretty much got their news from one or two sources and came to their own conclusions over the periods of days to weeks to years. Contrast that with today; when news breaks, and instinctively one goes to one of their two or three trusted sources, be they Fox News, Daily Kos, Drudge, Huffington, MSNBC, and inevitably one of these sources will produce an opinion or spin that will resonate as rational and absolute truth within the preconditioned belief set of the media patron. All sense of reason is gone and the big debate is on.

At any rate, it was a great read, I suggest everyone pick up a copy of yesterday's New York Times.

 

[30ashopper]

I am a bit surprised that nobody has commented on the outstanding article regarding the twisted world of Jared Loughner that ran in yesterday's New York Times. It is long, and I would post a link but I think you have to have a password to read the entire piece, so I will not. I found the following sentence very interesting in light of the almost immediate fingering of the right as the driving force behind this guy's actions:

He became intrigued by anti-government conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetuated by the government and that the country's central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of the government.

Two points here. First, I will take credit for betting Loughner was more likely a viewer of the conspiracy TV shows than a visitor at any mainstream political website. I have dug a little deeper and went to Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory website today, and sure enough, the September 11 and big bank scams are there...shockingly, there is a hint that a new conspiracy, that being Jared Loughner was not the lone gunman that was shooting at the murder scene, is unfolding...good grief. As an aside, I find it interesting that the word 'scam' is used prominently on the Conspiracy Theory website. This word was one of Loughner's favorites-his education was, in his words, a scam. His bank was a scam. Not being able to enlist in the military was a scam. Coincidence? Maybe but I doubt it. Second point-If Palin, Limbaugh, Beck at al were in Loughner's brain, why did he bristle at the site of Bush?

A calm analysis later in the paper produced a valid conclusion regarding American reaction to spectacular news events. In essence, it said that historically all Americans pretty much got their news from one or two sources and came to their own conclusions over the periods of days to weeks to years. Contrast that with today; when news breaks, and instinctively one goes to one of their two or three trusted sources, be they Fox News, Daily Kos, Drudge, Huffington, MSNBC, and inevitably one of these sources will produce an opinion or spin that will resonate as rational and absolute truth within the preconditioned belief set of the media patron. All sense of reason is gone and the big debate is on.

At any rate, it was a great read, I suggest everyone pick up a copy of yesterday's New York Times.

If he is paranoid schizophrenic, any conspiracy theory he came across he might have adopted. 9/11 truthers, birthers, the FED, government control through things like money and grammar, JFK, faked Apollo moon landings.. there's a lot out there for someone with an illness like that to latch onto.

 

[scooterbug44]

...there's a lot out there for someone with an illness like that to latch onto.

So maybe it's a bad idea to constantly use false and/or misleading information to rile people up?

 

[30ashopper]

So maybe it's a bad idea to constantly use false and/or misleading information to rile people up?

Maybe, although what can you do, there are crazy people out there who honestly believe this stuff. Like for example, people often tell me Elvis is dead. Now we all know he isn't, he's living the quite life in some small town working at Burger King. But people still claim he isn't, and when I hear that it makes me mad sometimes, but I don't pull a gun out and shoot them, at least, I haven't yet.