Short Memory

From Glenn Beck:

I have never seen anything like this. The storyline of blaming Sarah Palin/Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck/the tea party/the right continues even though there is NO EVIDENCE SUPPORTING IT. 

 

Really, Glenn? You've never seen anything like this? Really? You must have been asleep during the '80s, because I remember having seen  a few things like this.

I remember the movie Taxi Driver being blamed for John Hinckley's assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.


I remember heavy metal music being blamed for teen suicides.



I remember "gangsta rap" being blamed for all kinds of violence. (see)



I remember Dungeons and Dragons being blamed for a whole bunch of murders and suicides.



I remember Beavis and Butthead being blamed for kids starting fires. (see)



I remember sex-ed classes being blamed for teen pregnancies.





I remember Bill Clinton being blamed for teen blowjobs.



More recently, I remember video games being blamed for the Virginia Tech massacre.
(see: Dr. Phil Suggests Video Games to Blame for Virginia Tech Shootings)

I remember South Park being blamed for a redheaded kid getting beat up at school. (see)

I remember the show Jackass being blamed for a kid setting himself on fire.

So if you want to make the point that it's not fair to blame Sarah Palin, yeah you probably have a point. As far as we know, the shooter was not motivated by her or by any other political figure (although we don't yet know much about him, he may well turn out to be a teabagger, who knows)? But don't pretend like this is some unprecedented phenomenon. Especially when we remember headlines like these:

Glenn Beck Blames UAH Killings on Far-left Political Extremism

Glenn Beck blames atheists for America's problems

Glenn Beck blames the Holocaust on Charles Darwin

Glenn Beck thinks 'political correctness' is driving people to shooting rampages

 

Glenn Beck Blames Health and Spiritual Problems On Walter Lippmann. Really.

Beck Blames California Wildfires On The ‘Damn Environmentalists’

 

Glenn Beck Blames George Soros for Low Ranking in Time Person of the Year Poll

Glenn Beck blames Weathermen for Homer Simpson

 Funny how it's only when you and/or one of your right-wing nutjob buddies is getting blamed that it becomes so important not to point fingers.

The Birds Are Dying Because of um. . . The Gay?

I can't say for sure if this lady is serious, but it sure seems like she is. I would have guessed this was some sort of performance art/stand-up comedy, except Right-Wing Watch seems to think she's for real.



If the birds are dropping dead from the gay, shouldn't they be dropping somewhere more gay-friendly than Arkansas? And if the problem is the repeal of DADT, why would it be happening in the home of the guy who gave us DADT? There is some really convoluted "reasoning" going on here.

Of Course They Were Cross-Hairs

How stupid do they think we are?

Obviously, these are cross-hairs.



 That doesn't mean that SarahPac is responsible for this Congresswoman's being shot. I have no idea whether this particular act of right-wing domestic terrorism was inspired by Sarah Palin or her gun-sight map. He may never have have seen the map, who knows? He may very well have been inspired by Palin, or he may not have. That's not the point. I mean, it is a very important point, it's just not the one I'm making.

The point I'm making is that it's utterly pathetic for Palin's defenders to take to the airwaves en masse to claim that "oh, no, these aren't cross-hairs, they're um. . . surveyor's symbols, yeah that's it, surveyor's symbols."

If those are surveyor's symbols, what are they symbols of? They don't make any sense unless they are cross-hairs.

Why can't they at least be honest and say "we meant those cross-hairs symbolically, we meant that those districts should be targeted politically." Why do they have to go through the whole pearl-clutching "why I never!" routine acting like it never occurred to them that anyone might think those were gun sights! Obviously this lady knows what gun-sights look like.


And it's not like she doesn't traffic in violent gun imagery






And you know who DOES think the symbol is a "bullseye?" Sarah Palin.

 

By the way, Sarah, a bullseye looks like this:



The symbol you used was a cross-hairs or gunsight. But that's not really the point either.

snowbound

Coming from California, I've never been snowbound before. It's got my mind in a weird sorta funk. Probably why I haven't posted anything for a couple of days.

Steve King is my New Favorite Congressman.

 And by favorite, I mean most unintentionally entertaining. I've decide that since this country seems hell-bent on electing the most ridiculous  embarrassments we can find, I'm just going to go with it and enjoy the show.  Steve King is like a character created by Stephen King. If Stephen King decided to do comedy. He's a one-man circus side-show.

Check out his dumpster-baby argument. This is just a new level of bizarre reasoning. Some babies die right after birth and get tossed in garbage cans, therefore the interstate commerce clause does not apply. Game set and match!



And remember last year, his jaw-dropping defense of the man who crashed a plane into the IRS building which segues into a ludicrous fantasy about a national sales tax and the IRS with their thumb in his kitchen playing football or something, I get kinda lost halfway through, and the clip is only a minute and a half long.



And his opposition to food safety:



Oh, sure food will be safer, but on the other hand, who cares? I am totally opposed to government regulating food safety via the FDA, government must regulate food via the USDA. Also, there should be no regulation. We can solve the problem of unsafe foods without passing laws. Also there is no problem. I think I've made my point!


And die you know that one in five Britons and Canadians die from socialized medicine? 20% of the population dies each year, so both countries should be pretty much empty by now.



I know, that's Louie Gohmert saying that, but it's funny so I'm leaving it in.

Also, there's something weird going on with horses:



And maybe the most ridiculous claim ever made by anyone since Baron Munchhausen: "they'll be dancing in the streets because of his middle name"



I'm not saying we shouldn't elect a black guy, I'm just saying "think of the visual." I'm not saying he's a Muslim terrorist-sympathizer, I'm just saying that some people might think that he's a Muslim terrorist-sympathizer which would make him a Muslim terrorist-sympathizer. Also, He's a Muslim terrorist-sympathizer because of his middle name.

Wow, I'm not sure I've ever seen a more ridiculous person than Steve King, my new favorite Congressman.