A Letter to Rush Limbaugh :: rogerebert.com :: Opinion 

To: Rush Limbaugh
From: Roger Ebert
You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.
Having followed President Obama’s suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims. …

Tens of thousands are believed still alive beneath the rubble. You twisted their suffering into an opportunity to demean the character of the President of the United States.

You have a sizable listening audience. You apparently know how to please them. Anybody given a $400 million contract must know what he is doing.
That’s what offends me. You know exactly what you’re doing.

A Letter to Rush Limbaugh :: rogerebert.com :: Opinion

Honestly, I think owning a gun is crazy, unless you exclusively use it to hunt for food your family needs. Otherwise, if you *need* a gun, you should reexamine your life – something is wrong. This is just my opinion and I’m entitled to it. A gun is a ridiculous thing to desire and own. The more guns you want, the sicker you may be. Finally, if carrying a gun in public makes you feel better/safer/stronger/freer, you are fucked up beyond my comprehension. Enjoy your rights and consider seeking better ways to spend your time and money. peace, mjh

Protesters: Guns welcome – Alamogordo Daily News

[P]rotesters are being encouraged to bring a gun to demonstrate their ability to open carry. It’s legal to openly carry a firearm in New Mexico by anyone over the age of 19. A person can openly carry in most places, except in a bar, jail or prison, a school and other places.

According to Cameron Stern, deputy records/archive clerk with the city of Alamogordo, the groups applied on Monday for a permit to conduct the protest, which is also being called an "open carry event."

The permit request, he said, was forwarded to the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety because protesters are being encouraged to bring firearms.

Protesters: Guns welcome – Alamogordo Daily News

The Republicans know how to game the system. Yet, when they’re beat, they’re sore losers. Noble. They’ve been scorching fields and salting the earth for 40 years in their win-at-all-costs effort to destroy public confidence in government.

Think Progress » Steele: Democrats Were Trying To ‘Flip The Bird To The American People’ By Voting On Health Reform Last Night

[T]he only reason why Congress held the cloture vote at 1am this morning, was because Republicans filibustered the bill. Last night, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) offered a unanimous consent agreement to move the 1 a.m. vote to 9 a.m. this morning if Republicans agreed to forgo the optional 30 hours of debate between each cloture vote and still pass the final legislation before Christmas. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), who had also sternly criticized the early morning vote, objected to the measure.

Think Progress » Steele: Democrats Were Trying To ‘Flip The Bird To The American People’ By Voting On Health Reform Last Night

Think Progress » Matalin slurs health reform advocates as ‘health care jihadists.’ 

Yesterday on CNN, Republican strategist and CNN contributor Mary Matalin railed against Democrats for pushing forward with health reform efforts. “They’ve been on this jihad for 70 years, and they’re going to throw over all their competitive seats to do it,” she said, adding:

And I don’t know what kind of party that is. That leaves left in the Democratic Party the urban centers, this is tyranny of the minority. Two-thirds of the country don’t want this. And one-third of these jihadists, these health care jihadists do. I guess that’s how democracy in the Obama era works.

Moments later, she smeared the prior efforts to establish Social Security and Medicare as “entitlement jihads” as well.

Think Progress » Matalin slurs health reform advocates as ‘health care jihadists.’

Homicide rates linked to trust in government, sense of belonging, study suggests 

In his analysis, Roth found four factors that relate to the homicide rate in parts of the United States and western Europe throughout the past four centuries: the belief that one’s government is stable and its justice and legal systems are unbiased and effective; a feeling of trust in government officials and a belief in their legitimacy; a sense of patriotism and solidarity with fellow citizens; and a belief that one’s position is society is satisfactory and that one can command respect without resorting to violence.

When those feelings and beliefs are strong, homicide rates are generally low, regardless of the time or place, Roth said. But when people are unsure about their government leaders, don’t feel connected to the rest of society, and feel they don’t have opportunity to command respect in the community, homicide rates go up.

This theory helps explain why the United States generally has had one of the highest murder rates since the mid-nineteenth century of any advanced Western democracy, Roth said.

"As Americans, so many of us hate or distrust our government. You can see it today in the anti-government rallies in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. It’s been part of our culture since the very beginning, but especially since the Civil War, and it is one reason why we have such a high homicide rate," he said.

Homicide rates linked to trust in government, sense of belonging, study suggests

Cal Thomas 

This is about liberal Democrats realizing their decades-old dream of complete control of our lives. Every move you make, every breath you take, they’ll be watching you. Except, of course, when it comes to terrorists who want to destroy America faster than the liberals do.

Cal Thomas

Apparently, Cal has forgotten that it was the conservative Republicans that compelled sheep-like citizens to take off their shoes for the good of the Fatherland, er, Homeland. That an incensed flock of conservative chicken hawks waged war all over the globe. That conservative Republicans rammed the horribly named PATRIOT act down our throats while pushing those who objected into “Free Speech Zones,” cages located off the beaten path. That self-professed freedom-loving conservatives created CIA prisons and tortured anyone — anyone! — they chose to without taking any “personal responsibility” for their own crimes.

Cal has every right to be an idiot and to make his idiocy well-known. Sadly, each column he writes now is a loaded rifle tossed into the hands of an even bigger idiot who sees himself as saving the nation from blacks, browns, women, gays, hippies, the young, Democrats, whatever. To these dangerous fools, the nation is only what they accept and nothing more and they will kill to have their way. Thomas, Krauthammer, Beck – is Lush Limbaugh still around? — Palin, ad nauseum, are the rabble rousers. Blood will be on their hands.

Religion inspired the best in us all? Yeah, right.

 Think Progress » New Right-Wing Craze Prays That Obama’s ‘Days Be Few’

Commentators have noted that it’s unclear whether the intent is to hope for an end to Obama’s time in office — or an end to his life. But a look at the lines in the rest of the psalm hint at the latter:

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Think Progress » New Right-Wing Craze Prays That Obama’s ‘Days Be Few’

Let me know when someone on the Right denounces this one. I won’t hold my breath.

Update 11/21/09: Still waiting for Conservative condemnation of this one, but Cafe Press has done the right thing.

Think Progress » Cafe Press Bans All ‘Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8? Merchandise 

Yesterday, Cafe Press announced that it was again reversing itself and removing all the merchandise in response to strong public pressure:

The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we’ve received and weighed the nature of the calls we’ve received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

The results of the Cafe Press poll were 76 percent calling the slogan “overly inflammatory and inappropriate” and 22 percent saying it was fair.

Think Progress » Cafe Press Bans All ‘Pray For Obama: Psalm 109:8? Merchandise

LOL?

Think Progress » Utah lawmaker claims he doesn’t ‘mind’ gays, but ‘I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time.’

BUTTARS: I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time. Certainly not in my kid’s face.

Think Progress » Utah lawmaker claims he doesn’t ‘mind’ gays, but ‘I don’t want ‘em stuffing it down my throat all the time.’