Don't make our freedoms the next casualty

Before they had even removed all the bodies of the victims from the parking lot at the scene of the Tucson shooting on Saturday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik and elements of the press were already blaming the Tea Party, Sarah Palin and “vitriolic political rhetoric” for Jared Loughner's alledged behavior in this horrific tragedy.   If you had that nagging feeling that there was a double standard in reporting but you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, there is, and it stinks.

Fourteen months ago thirteen people were murdered at Ft. Hood by a single gunman, thirty were wounded.  And in spite of the fact that many witnesses reported that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan shouted Allahu Akbar as he murdered fellow soldiers in cold blood, there were repeated admonitions from the press to “not jump to conclusions” as chronicled in an excellent piece by Byron York in Sunday’s Washington Examiner. 

One MSNBC report on Major Hasan’s murderous behavior, twenty four hours after the fact, mentioned, yep, “political rhetoric” was a possible catalyst.  And, two and a half months later an 86 page Army report on the shooting even had Time Magazine asking; Why No Mention of Islam?

There were a lot of the usual mindless gasbags pontificating on the Tucson killings.   By the end of the weekend several Democrat congressmen were repeating the rant of “vitriolic rhetoric.”

I have chosen MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann as the winner of the Sanctimonious Tirade Based on Absolutely Zero Evidence Award. His diatribe is nine minutes long and if you can stomach it, you should watch it just to familiarize yourself of the depth of his psychosis.

In no particular order Olbermann calls out Lt. Col. Alan West, Sharon Angle, Sarah Palin, Jesse Kelly, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.  There has been no indication that the gunman Jared Loughner had any connection with any of these candidates or watched the TV shows of any of the above hosts.  But, as usual that didn’t stop Olbermann, or anyone else.

There seems to be a blatent effort to blame everyone the left is afraid of before the real facts, whatever they may be, are disclosed.

And, let me be clear; the goal of all this bloviating is not to change the rhetoric, but to end it, or at least vastly reduce it.  If blaming everyone who has complained about the abuses and incompetent fiascos of this Administration and Congress intimidates those with honest criticism into silence, they win. 

The start of the attack on free speech began with an unlikely source, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.  About seven minutes into a press conference to bring everyone up to speed on the facts of the case, Dupnik blurted out his first complaint about “vitriolic rhetoric” naming talk radio as the first offender.  “That may be free speech, but it is not without consequences,” said Dupnik in a blinding glimpse of the bloody obvious.

He also laments that we are not the “...nice United States of America that most of us grew up in.” 

Memo to Sheriff Dupnik:  Unless one was born after 1981, the America that most of us grew up in was peppered with violence, high profile killings and attempted assassinations:

My memory includes:

President John F. Kennedy killed on November 22, 1962

Malcolm X killed on February 21, 1965

Martin Luther King killed on April 4, 1968

Bobby Kennedy killed on June 6, 1968

George Wallace wounded May 15, 1972

President Gerald Ford had two attempts on his life; September 5, 1975 and September 22, 1975

John Lennon killed on December 8, 1980

Ronald Reagan wounded March 30, 1981

I remember some “vitriolic rhetoric” from H. Rap Brown in the 1960s, “Burn baby, burn.” And "If America don't come around, we're gonna burn it down".  And I also remember riots, and fires and deaths. 

That is not to excuse anything or anyone exhorting violence or doing violence at any time in our history, but let’s knock off the hysterics.  Exercising your freedoms has always had consequences. 

Let me just mention a few.

When Martin Luther posted his Disputation for the Clarification of the Power of Indulgences, aka the 95 Theses, on the door of Fredrick’s Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, he inadvertantly kicked off a revolution that ripped western civilization apart.

The Boston Tea Party had consequences.  It resulted in the British Parliament quartering troops in Boston, shutting down the Port of Boston and imposing martial law.  And the consequence of that was the uniting of the colonies.

Published in 1776, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. In plain language, Paine spoke to the common people of America and was the first to openly ask for independence from Great Britain.  There were consequences, of course.

The Declaration of Independence had consequences, too.  Violent consequences with a good outcome history has judged.

And one other clarification. 

The rhetoric hasn’t led to anger, the anger has led to the rhetoric. 

Yes, many Americans are angry at what they see as an incompetent government that can’t seem to do anything but spend more and more taxpayer money, or money borrowed from the Chinese thus saddling future generations with a debt share that rivals banana republics. 

When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said with stupefying seriousness that they had to pass the healthcare bill to find out what was in it...a bill that effectively takes over one sixth of the U.S. economy, and threatens one of the best healthcare delivery systems in the world, yeah, thoughtful people got a little angry at that, especially when poll after poll showed the American people didn’t want that kind of overhaul in the first place. 

Yes, words do indeed have consequences.  Case in point; November 2, 2010.   

My question to all the hysterical people who are blaming, without a shred of evidence, free speech for this terrible incident is this;

Once you start censoring where does it stop?

Is censoring speech to mollify potentially radical Muslims next?  You could make the case that freedom of speech got Theo Van Gogh murdered.

Would censorship of free speech include music videos?  I have a particular one in mind. 

It’s called, “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” by Drowning Pool.

The lyrics:

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Beaten, why for (why for)
Can't take much more
Here we go here we go here we go, now

One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me

One, something's got to give
Two, something's got to give
Three, something's got to give
Now!

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Now!

Push me again (again)
This is the end
Here we go here we go here we go, now

One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me

One, something's got to give
Two, something's got to give
Three, something's got to give
Now!

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Skin to skin, blood and bone
You're all by yourself but you're not alone
You wanted in and now you're here
Driven by hate, consumed by fear

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

One, nothing wrong with me
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me

One, something's got to give
Two, something's got to give
Three, something's got to give
Now!

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor

Hey... Go!
Hey... Go!
Hey... Go!
Hey... Go!

It has been viewed over 28 million times on YouTube

“Let the bodies hit the floor” is said, screamed really, 26 times.

The video ends in a morgue.  What are the consequences of watching that, repeatedly?

I picked “Let the bodies hit the floor” because we know for certain that Jared Lee Loughner was fond of that song.  He made his own music video where, as some kind of grim reaper, he sets fire to an American flag to the words of "Let the bodies hit the floor."

How many times did Jared Loughner listen to that song do you think?  Ten times?  Twenty?  Fifty?  More?

How about books?  Are there some books we should ban? 

Arthur Bremer, is the assassin whose real target was President Richard Nixon, but who ended up shooting George Wallace in 1972.  Ten days before paralyzing Wallace with a gunshot to the chest, Bremer checked two books out of the Milwaukee, WI public library that described the assassination of Senator Bobby Kennedy:  "RFK Must Die" and "Sirhan."  Should we ban books?

How about movies?  Certainly movies have more consequences than words because they have moving images and tell a story and depict an event.

Arthur Bremer’s story inspired the 1976 movie, "Taxi Driver" which I have no evidence that Jared Loughner ever watched…but John Hinckley, Jr. did. 

"Taxi Driver" inspired Hinckley's failed assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.  In addition to President Reagan, also wounded in that attack were Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty, and White House press secretary James Brady, the most seriously wounded and permanently disabled.

"Taxi Driver" was nominated for four Academy Awards and a slew of other awards in this country and around the world, winning many. Want to ban movies?  How about this one?  We know for a fact that a consequence of this movie was to inspire an “unbalanced” person.

Sheriff Dupnik was given a chance to soften his own rhetoric Sunday afternoon on FOX News, he didn't back down.  "I think we're the tombstone of the United States of America," Dupnik said.  Saturday he called Arizona the “Mecca” of hatred and bigotry.  Presumably because of the passage of the wildly popular SB 1070 to deal with illegal immigration. 

I do wonder if Sheriff Dupnik's obstinance isn't a diversion from something embarrassing that has been uncovered in the investigation of Jared Loughner.  Is Jared Loughner a product of Sheriff Dupnik's office?

Without any corroborating evidence at all, CBS's Bob Shieffer opined that, "words have consequence."

Other  comments by those ignorant of the details:

"The sheriff out there in Tucson, I think he's got it right," Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the assistant minority whip, told "Fox News Sunday." "Words do have consequences. And I think that we have to really -- this is nothing new. I've been saying this for a long time now."

"I think the Sheriff was right," added Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation." 

Wolf Blitzer did a segment on CNN where Sarah Palin’s name was mentioned 8 times in less than 90 seconds about her targeting of political races in the last election.  

However, I have heard nothing in the Lame Stream Media about the Daily Kos putting a “Bullseye” on Gabrielle Giffords.

Nothing, for that matter, about a post on the Daily Kos two days prior to her unfortunate shooting saying "Gabrielle Giffords is dead to me now.”  Not a word.

No comment either from Olbermann, or Shieffer, or Steny Hoyer or anybody about A campaign statement made in 2008 by Barack Obama, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,,,Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl." 

How nice.

I, for one, am not going to change my rhetoric.  And I'm mad.  I'm mad at the corruption in the government regardling the failure to enforce our immigration and employment laws.  And, I am not changing a thing about how I say what I think will inform, educate and motivate citizens to address the immigration issue in our country.

And, yes, it is a dangerous world out there, ours is a lot less hazardous than most.  But, I didn't stop driving when someone ran a red light and crashed into my car, head on.  I didn't stop flying after 9-11, I became more vigilant.  And am certainly not going to soften my rhetoric on the most important issue affecting the future of our country because a bunch of incompetent whiners on the public payroll want to capitalize on a terrible tragedy.

A congresswoman has been critically wounded.  A federal judge has been shot and killed.  A nine year old child is dead.  Four others have been murdered, eighteen people are wounded and the liars on the left seek to make a political gain out of this tragedy.

You're all pathetic.

I'm not willing to see any of our freedoms become the next casualty of this mayhem just so you can save your puny political careers.  You've just proven to us all, once again, that you're not worthy of any respect.

Time passes and memories fade, it's inevitable.  But don't forget about this. 

Rick Oltman is the founder of The Immigration Tea Party

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You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. -- Winston Churchill