I Wonder Where He Got That Idea From...

Today brings news of another tragic shooting, this time in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania where a gunman has shot and killed 3 police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance. But check out what at least was his percieved motivation.

From the AP

PITTSBURGH – A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. Friends said he feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Three officers were killed, said a police official at the scene who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard would only say that at least five officers were wounded, but wouldn't give any other details.

Police planned to release more details at a mid-afternoon news conference Saturday.

The man who fired at the officers was arrested after a several-hour standoff. One witness reported hearing hundreds of shots.

The shootings occurred just two weeks after four police officers were fatally shot March 21 in Oakland, Calif., in the deadliest day for U.S. law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001.

Police did not immediately release the gunman's identity, but his friends at the scene described him as a young man who thought the Obama administration would ban guns.

One friend, Edward Perkovic, said the gunman feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said he feared that President Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he "wasn't violently against Obama."

Now maybe this guy was just crazy or paranoid or depressed, but what is it that would make him believe that President Obama was coming to take his guns to the point where it would motivate him to this kind of violence? Well most of us who have spent anytime on progressive and liberal blogs have a clue as to who is responsible for provoking this kind of dangerous behavior through their fear mongering and smears. But coincidentally there is an op ed by Charles Blow in the New York Times this morning that damn near foreshadowed this incident.

But, it’s not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They’re talking about a revolution.

Some simply lace their unscrupulous screeds with loaded language about the fall of the Republic. We have to “rise up” and “take back our country.” Others have been much more explicit.
For example, Chuck Norris, the preeminent black belt and prospective Red Shirt, wrote earlier this month on the conservative blog WorldNetDaily: “How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?”

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, imagining herself as some sort of Delacroixian Liberty from the Land of the Lakes, urged her fellow Minnesotans to be “armed and dangerous,” ready to bust caps over cap-and-trade, I presume.

And between his tears, Glenn Beck, the self-professed “rodeo clown,” keeps warning of an impending insurrection by saying that he believes that we are heading for “depression” and “revolution” and then gaming out that revolution on his show last month. “Think the unthinkable” he said. Indeed.

All this talk of revolution is revolting, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

As the comedian Bill Maher pointed out, strong language can poison weak minds, as it did in the case of Timothy McVeigh. (We sometimes forget that not all dangerous men are trained by Al Qaeda.)

At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota.

Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling.

I swear you would almost think Blow wrote his article AFTER the shootout this morning. Yet he didn't and that should tell you something. Yes we have first amendment rights to free speech in this country but what these irresponsible assholes are doing on the right wing fringe of this country is especially harmful and dangerous and if they are not called on the carpet for their bullshit you can expect more of these kinds of deadly interactions to occur between their weakminded followers and innocent bystanders. The shit has gone too far and its high times someone said so. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Blow took up the call today but there should be a lot more where that came from by the Villagers and our elected officials. Including the colleagues of Michele Bachmann.