January 9th, 2011
The evidence is now in, and what little seems to be known about accused Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner from people that knew him was that “he was leftwing” and “liberal in wanting to change the way the world was run, we both wanted to. He took it to an extreme I never would’ve.”
Does that mean that Arizona Democratic Congressman Gabrielle Giffords was shot by a “left wing extremist?” No. When you read his manifesto, you see that his political leanings, such as they are, were not “left” or “right” so much as “completely farking loony toons batshit insane.” His manifestos jump from subject to subject more quickly than a jittering tweaker flips channels on a TV remote. To paraphrase an entry in the Bulwer-Lytton contest, ideas seem to tumble around randomly in his head, making and breaking connections like a load of laundry in a dryer without Cling Free. They have some of the same quality of argument as Time Cube Guy: It’s less that his manifesto is wrong than that you can’t actually understand what he’s trying to say.
(Boing Boing has even more of his manifestos up, and the Time Cube Guy vibe only gets stronger. Except for the fact that Gene Ray never killed anyone…)
Loughner’s liberalism didn’t make him crazy, his crazy made him crazy.
I mean, how crazy do you have to be to expelled from a pre-algebra class? “Solve for X.” “Admit it! X is a total lie!!!! There is no X, only Zuul!”
Which makes it all the more galling how quickly The Usual Left Wing Suspects tried to pin his deeds on the Tea Party in general and Sarah Palin specifically. Never mind that military terminology has been in politics for a long time, or that liberals have done the exact thing they’re now jumping on Palin for.
Every time anyone even remotely connected to conservative causes commits a violent act, the nutroots and their media enablers are quick to label them a “right wing extremist,” but anyone with demonstrable left wing sympathies is a “lone nut.” (Indeed, they’re pretty blatant about it.) Indeed, one of the most famous assassins in American history was a known communist sympathizer who defected to the Soviet Union, but you never hear Lee Harvey Oswald described by the media as a “left-wing extremist.”
And don’t forget that the far left’s open and oft-stated desire to assassinate George W. Bush. Thus the attempt by prominent liberals to make Loughner a Tea Partier is more than a little contemptible. But such contemptible behavior is no longer surprising; it’s merely what they do.
(Hat tips to Instapundit (more than once), Powerline, and a few random Fark posters.)
Tags: Gabrielle Giffords, Guns, Jared Lee Loughner, media bias, Media Matters, MSM, Paul Krugman, Sarah Palin, Tea Party
Posted in Democrats, Guns, Media Watch | 3 Comments »
January 8th, 2011
Here is part of the alleged manifesto of accused Gabrielle Giffords shooter Jared Laughner (which comes from people doing screen caps of his purported videos):
Hello, and welcome my classified leak of information that’s of the United States Military to the student body and you. Firstly, I want you to understand this from the start. Did you know grammar is double blind, listener? Secondly, if you want to understand the start of revelatory thoughts then listen to this video. I’ll look at you mother fuckin Anarchists who have a problem with them illegal illiterate pigs. :-D If you’re a citizen in the United States as of now, then your constitution is the United States. You’re a citizen in the United States as of now. Thus, your constitution is the United States. Laugh. I’ll let you in on their little cruel joke that’s genocidal. They’re argument is appeal to force on their jurisdiction with lack of proof of evidence. Each subject is in question for the location! The police don’t quite get paid correctly with them dirty front runners under section 10? Their country’s alliances are able to make illegal trades under section 10. Eh! I’m a Nihilist, not someone who put who put trust in god! What is section 10 you ask? If you make a purchase then it’s illegal under section 10 and amendment 1 of the United States constitution. You make a purchase. Therefore, it’s illegal under section 10 and amendment 1 of the United States constitution. We need a drum roll for those front runners in the election; those illegal teachers, pigs, and politicians of yours are under illegal authority of their constitution. Those dirty pigs think they know the damn year. Thirdly, tell them mother fuckers to count from 0 to whenever they feel a threat to stop their count. We can all hope they add new numbers and letters to their count down. Did you run out of breath around the trillions, listener? Well, B.C.E is yet to start for Ad to begin! What does this mean for a citizen in any country? Those illegal military personal are able to sign into a country that they can’t find with an impossible date! How did you trust your child with them fraud teachers and front runners, listener? Did you now know that the teachers, pigs, and front runners are treasonous! You shouldn’t jump to conclusion with your education plan. The constitution as of now, which is in use by the current power pigs, aren’t able to protect the bill of rights! Do you now have enough information to know the two wars are illegal! What is your date of time, listener? Fourthly, those applications that are with background checks break the United States constitution! What’s your riot name? I’ll catch you! Top secret: Why don’t people control the money system? Their Current Currency(1/1) / Your new infinite currency (1/~infinte) This is a selcte information of revoluntary thoughts! Section 10 – Powers prohibited of States No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. Each subject is unlocatible!
If that is indeed his real manifesto, then the only political faction he seems to belong to is The Republic of Loony Tunes. It seems like something more from an Ionesco play or a Monty Python skit than a political assassin.
Nothing to add except linking to this Radley Balko bit, which pretty much sums it all up.
Tags: Gabrielle Giffords, Guns, Jared Laughner, Jared Lee Loughner, manifesto, spree shooter, volume shooter
Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns | 2 Comments »
January 6th, 2011
I hope everyone had a Happy New Year. Here’s a roundup from the world of Jihad, where things aren’t nearly so happy:
- Salman Rushdie explains the Islamist threat:
One of the things that liberal opinion in the West doesn’t understand is that there actually is an enemy. There actually is an enemy that means us harm. And they’re not just going to go away if you’re nice to them.
- Prosecutor gives plea bargain deal to a man who murdered his own daughter in Arizona so as to ensure “there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs.” You’re doing it wrong.
- Police in the UK are monitoring roughly 500 jihadists at any given time.
- Muslim cocaine dealer outraged at Nebraska prisons serving him pork.
- She’s baaaaack…
- I think I’m going to have to add Creeping Sharia to the blog roll. Lots of good information there.
- “While WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is celebrating his $1 million-plus book deal on a 600-acre estate and enjoying his status as a lefty fringe hero, former cartoonist Molly Norris is in hiding.”
- To prove you’re a moderate and that the Ground Zero Mosque will not represent a threat, do you: C.) Kick off your speaking tour in front of a Hamas-linked font group?
- Jihadis attending CPAC? Having attended CPAC way back in the dim mists of time, I doubt there is terribly much damage they can do, assuming they don’t detonate a bomb…
- Newly elected Florida congressman Allen West appointed to the House Armed Services Committee. “If truth has become hate speech, then you might as well lock me up, because I’m not shutting up.”
- Coptic Pope Shenouda may cancel Christmas over Islamist threats. No word on whether Shenouda was born in Arizona or lives in a condo made of ston-a.
- In related news, there have been over over 150 Copts targeted for attack.
- Then again, Egyptians are crazy.
(Hat tips: JihadWatch, Creeping Sharia, Michael Totten, etc.)
Tags: Egypt, Ground Zero Mosque, Hamas, Helen Thomas, honor killing, Jihad, Molly Norris, Salman Rushdie, This Week in Jihad
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »
January 6th, 2011
It is well known that one of the biggest reasons for columnist David Brooks’ otherwise inexplicable swoon over Obama was his natty dressing style. “I remember distinctly an image of—we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at his pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I’m thinking, a) he’s going to be president and b) he’ll be a very good president.”
However, Obama may have just lost the all-important Brooks vote due to this image:
Can David Brooks possibly love an Obama that can’t even button a jacket correctly? Sure, you and I may think “Eh, it happens.” But we’re not hyper-fashion-aware columnists for The New York Times.
Also, does anyone doubt that if Bush misbuttoned his jacket, it would have instantly been proclaimed a sign of mental deficiency across the lefty blogosphere?
Tags: Bush43, Buttongate, David Brooks, George W. Bush, MSM, Obama
Posted in Democrats, Media Watch | 14 Comments »
January 4th, 2011
This is not good news. Imagine if the governor of California or Texas were assassinated in broad daylight by his own bodyguard. Well, that’s what happened to Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in Pakistan. Of course, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was also assassinated, and Indian PM Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards, in large measure due to policies regarding Sikhs in the Indian portion of Punjab.
As for who is responsible, who knows? It could be a freelance jihadist, it could be al Quada, it could be Taliban, or it could be some of the Islamist elements of the Pakistani ISI. (Given the circumstances, I’m assuming it wasn’t Kashmiri nationalists, though stranger things have happened.) In any case, it’s bad news for a nuclear-armed nation that always seems to be inching ever closer to become a failed state.
I don’t have any particular insight into Pakistani, so I direct you to the odd piece by the ever-interesting Christopher Hitchens, which are long on insight and short on hope. Sometimes, as in the Middle East, there are simply no good options.
Tags: assassination, Christopher Hitchens, Islam, Islamist, Jihad, Pakistan, Pakistani ISI, Punjab, Salman Taseer, Sikh
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | 1 Comment »
January 1st, 2011
This year is the hundredth anniversary of John Moses Browning’s Colt M1911 automatic pistol, the basis of pretty much every automatic handgun. The design is so successful that, to the untrained eye, a .45 automatic manufactured today will look very much the original 1911. Here, for example is my own Kimber .45, purchased in the mid-1990s:
Compare this to the original M1911, and the even closer (and only slightly revised) M1911A from 1926:
The M1911 deign has really stood the test of time. You’d be hard-pressed to find a device of similar complexity still in common use today that hasn’t undergone radical modification. Hats off to the far-sighted shade of John Moses Browning.
Tags: Guns, handguns, John Moses Browning, Kimber .45, M1911, M1911A
Posted in Guns | 6 Comments »
December 30th, 2010
One last batch of Jihad news to tide you over until the New Year:
- Smoking and guns, no, but Jihad, yes: Mayor Bloomberg is working behind the scenes to get the Ground Zero Mosque built.
- Seven anti-slavery activists head to prison. Sadly, this is not a repeat from 1859.
- Speaking of repeats, yes, Islamists are still pissed over those Danish cartoons. Molly Norris unavailable for comment. And of course, this is obligatory:
- And speaking of Danish cartoon riots, Syria helped foment them.
- And speaking of Molly Norris, here’s an interview with Karen Lugo on why there should be a Molly Norris Day.
- Iraq’s banned Ba’ath Party is getting back together, an idea that should prove to be as popular as reuniting the 2008 Detroit Lions…
- Sharia law comes to Thailand.
- I’m no longer surprised at Muslim “honor killings.” But most killers don’t off their own mother in a courtroom.
- Speaking of honor killings, Iraqi man kills his daughter because she was recruited by al-Qaida as a suicide bomber. Ummm, you’re still doing it wrong…
- This week’s weird thing for Muslims throwing a hissy fit over is (rolls dice) Top Gear hosts wearing burkas.
- The true meaning of Kwanzaa. I knew Kwanzaa was a naked attempt to promote Marxism in the black community, but I never realized the guy who invented it spent four years in prison for torturing a woman with a soldering iron.
- “Food. I need food.” “Here, have a grenade instead.” BOOOM!
Tags: al Qaeda, cartoons, Ground Zero Mosque, honor killing, Iraq, Jihad, Karen Lugo, Kwanzaa, Michael Bloomberg, Molly Norris, Ronald McKinley Everett, slavery, This Week in Jihad, Top Gear
Posted in Jihad, Media Watch | No Comments »
December 29th, 2010
This post by Ann Althouse (and the ensuing comments) got me thinking about just what is the worst liberal song of all time? Being a man of action, I went ahead and created a poll:
A few notes on my criteria:
- It had to be a popular song people would actually recognize (which meant everything by Rage Against the Machine was right out)
- It had to suck (so things like the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” and many Dead Kennedys songs were exempt because they kicked ass)
- Only one song per artist (I mean, I really could have used just about everything off Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut otherwise)
- It had to have a certain self-righteous pretentiousness about it, so anything that was actually funny was exempt.
So go ahead and vote for your favorite musical slice of Suckitude.
Tags: Fail, music, poll, Suckitude
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
December 29th, 2010
The Massachusetts Criminal Justice System seems to be especially unclear on the idea that, if a career felon is in jail on “three concurrent life sentences,” you don’t let him out on parole. Their lack of clarity on that issue cost 35-year police veteran John “Jack” Maguire his life.
(Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
Tags: Crime, Dominic Cinelli, John "Jack" Maguire, Kevin Dingwell, Massachusetts, murder, Scott Hanwright, Woburn
Posted in Crime | 1 Comment »
December 28th, 2010
Last week I mentioned that China’s Housing bubble is already worse than America and Japan’s respective bubbles.
Today the Wall Street Journal provides even more confirmation:
It’s impossible to say definitively that a market has strayed into bubble territory until after the collapse. But prices rising out of the reach of average buyers is one indicator. Housing prices in the U.S. peaked at 6.4 times average annual earnings this decade. In Beijing, the figure is 22 times.
The figures get even worse when you consider that the “shadow market” (i.e., banks making “off book” loans) means the bubble is even worse than it seems:
Local governments and banks have set up off-balance sheet vehicles to conceal loans and keep the spending boom going. Fitch Ratings estimates that not only did banks exceed the central bank’s 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) cap on lending for this year, they made an additional three trillion yuan of these shadow loans.
Something that can’t go on forever won’t. That’s especially true of a housing boom in a country aging as rapidly as China (which Mark Steyn famously said “will get old before it gets rich”); and don’t forget that a rapidly aging populace was also a factor in Japan’s own “lost decade.”
The big question is whether China’s housing bubble or Europe’s Sovereign Debt Crisis pops first. The aftershocks of both will certainly be felt in our own economy…
Tags: bubble, China, Economics, Japan, Mark Steyn
Posted in Economics, Foreign Policy | 2 Comments »
