A Deadly Shooting in Tucson Territory!

Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others were shot Saturday at a political event near Tucson Arizona.


I think it's worth noting that the congresswoman represents Arizona's District 8.  Yes, the same congresswoman and the same district that were put in the cross-hairs of a rifle sight by Sarah Palin last year.

Coincidence?

I'm not so sure.

Please don't misunderstand.  I don't mean to say, or even imply that Sarah Palin, or anyone else on the left or the right is responsible for this tragedy in Tucson.  I don't even believe that.  This was obviously the act of a single loan, mentally disturbed and obviously unbalanced gunmen.

I do believe however, that the recent escalation of vitriolic and incendiary rhetoric in our political discourse is dividing our nation like no other time since perhaps maybe the Civil War.  An Horrendously Bloody War That Had Us Fighting - Region against Region, State against State and Brother against Brother.

All This at a Time, When What Our Nation Really Needs Most, Is Unity and Healing. 

Which is not something very likely to be achieved, when we hear irresponsible rhetoric like...

"Be Armed and Ready"

"Don't Retreat;  Instead - Reload"

"We'll Beat Them with Ballots Not Bullets, 
But If the Ballots Fail, We'll Have the Bullets Ready"

"If need be, We Can Always Use  Second Amendment   Remedies!" (Right to Bear Arms)

You may recall, I blogged about the divisive nature of this type rhetoric back in March of last year. 

Please take a moment to click on this blog link to see how very prophetic the blog post really was...

http://eddieoreilly.blogspot.com/2010/03/hostile-and-violent-backlash-shows.html

It is perhaps also worth noting that Arizona is one of only three states that permits people to carry handguns and concealed weapons without a permit. 

It's also the same state where people showed up protesting Obama campaign rallies with rifles and machine guns.

Just Thinking


Please feel free to comment below, ( just click on the word "Comments" if the panel is not open).  And don't forget to check out my other blog   Agnostic Thinking 

President Obama Finally Addresses The BP Oil Spill!

On April 20, 2010 the Worst Man-Made Ecological Disaster in the History of Mankind occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.  Today some 3 1/2 weeks later, President Obama has finally addressed the issue head on and expressed Outrage and Disgust...




While I welcome the President's Moratorium on All New Offshore Drilling.  I Think It Should Be a Permanent Ban and not just a temporary one.  Taking 30 days to further study the issue doesn't sound like genuine outrage and disgust to me.  Nor does it sound like a serious solution.  It sounds more like polite lip service to a politically volatile topic that's too hot to handle right now.

I Would Personally Prefer and Immediate Halt to All Deep Water Drilling (i.e. drilling at depths of more than 1000 feet).  According to the Associated Press, there are at least 30 other drilling platforms currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico alone. They are all using the same kind of reckless technology that made this environmental catastrophe possible. 

Technology that the "Tea Party Crowd" has routinely endorsed by chanting "Drill Baby Drill". 

Technology that the industry has always called "Fail-Safe". 

Technology that John McCain and Sarah Palin called "Proven and Foolproof ". 

Technology that on March 31, 2010 - The President himself called, "Completely Safe and Reliable". 

Then on April 20, 2010 just three short weeks later, this disaster happened.  Now I don't know for sure, if the President is really outraged and disgusted or not.  But I do know this much, I Sure Am!

Just Thinking

 Please feel free to comment below, ( just click on the word "Comments" if the panel is not open). Or you can e-mail me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.  And don't forget to check out my new blog   Agnostic Thinking  found at the following address...    http://www.AgnosticThinking.BlogSpot.Com/  Dedicated just to Agnostic/Atheism, Rational Thinking, Gay Subculture And Related Topics.

Mount Limbaugh and other Volcanic Eruptions in the News!

-
The Volatile Mount Limbaugh, Erupt's Again as he declares...
 
"... If There Is a Future Incident Such As The Oklahoma City Bombing,  the Blame Is Squarely on the Shoulders of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama."

Well, of course, now doesn't that make perfect sense.  If there's another act of domestic terrorism.  It will clearly be the fault of Bill Clinton.  All because the former president, accurately and appropriately warned us that conditions today are eerily similar to those that existed in 1995.

The Volatile, Incendiary, Rebellious and Riotous Rhetoric from the Right will have had Nothing to Do with It.

Rush, Glenn, Sean and other seditious talkshow hosts who have been continually and deliberately fanning the flames of discontent in this country, will have played no role in any new act of Domestic Insurgency.

The fact that right-wing militia groups and tea party sympathizers have held demonstrations and protests today in all 50 states, Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing will obviously be irrelevant. 

The fact that where permitted by law, and has encouraged by the likes of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, many of these protesters will be armed,  Well All of That Will Be Irrelevant Too!


The only thing that matters is - that if anything does happen, according to Rush, it'll all be Clinton's fault...

Rush Limbaugh, whose outlandish opinions and inflammatory rhetoric routinely fire up wingnuts coast-to-coast has really outdone himself this time. 

Just Thinking

Please feel free to comment below, ( just click on the word "Comments" if the panel is not open). Or you can e-mail me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted. 

And don't forget to check out my new blog   Agnostic Thinking  found at the following address...   

http://www.AgnosticThinking.BlogSpot.Com/  Dedicated just to Agnostic/Atheism, Rational Thinking, Gay Subculture And Related Topics.

Sarah Palin Is Laughing All the Way to the Bank!

ABC News  reports that since Sister Sarah stepped down as Governor of Alaska last July.  She has earned some 12,000,000 + dollars!  Well,  Thank You Jesus and how about a big "Okey-Doke" for that! 

Sarah of course claims.  The only reason she traded in her 125 grand a year salary for 12 million was to be closer to the people.  She's so Good That Way!  - She Cares, She Really Cares!

Now comes word that Ms. Palin has signed A Multimillion Dollar a Year Contract with Discovery Communications.

That's right, the Environmentally Friendly Group, Home to the "Science Channel",  "Animal Planet", "Planet Earth",  TreeHugger.Com  and of course the Discovery Channel;  will actually be hosting A Well-Known Anti-Environmentalist Like Sarah Palin.

If you agree that this is totally and completely absurd, I urge you to sign the  Credo Action Petition  asking Discovery to Cancel the Program.  It will only take a minute or two of your time and you never know.  It just might make a difference.   Click Here To Sign The Petition 

Also, help spread the word and ask your friends to sign too.

Just Thinking

Please feel free to comment below, ( just click on the word "Comments" if the panel is not open). Or you can e-mail me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted. 

And don't forget to check out my new blog   Agnostic Thinking  found at the following address...   

http://www.AgnosticThinking.BlogSpot.Com/  Dedicated just to Agnostic/Atheism, Rational Thinking, Gay Subculture And Related Topics.

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire! - The Top Lies of 2009!

The following is a blog post I started to write in late December of 2009.  Since I failed to finish it at that time.  It's been sitting in my "Draft File" until now.  When I finally completed it.

As an American, I believe in the Constitution, and I believe in freedom of speech.  I also believe we're all entitled to our own opinion, but I don't believe that were entitled to our own set of facts.  Truth after all is Truth And Lies Are Lies!   We should always endeavor to remember that a half truth - is a whole lie.  With that thought in mind, let's look at some of the biggest lies and fabricated deceptions of 2009.

"The Birther Movement"  This is the ridiculous notion that Barack Obama is not really a citizen.  It's ludicrous I know, and yet the rumor still persists.  I just got an e-mail about it the other day.  This of course is spurred on by conservative talk-show hosts, right-wing Republicans.  And of course Sister Sarah  (Palin).  This despite the fact that even our conservative Supreme Court has declared his birth certificate to be valid.

"The System Worked!"  said Cabinet Secretary and head of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, with reference to the failed Christmas Day bombing event. -Yes it's true, even Democrats try this, but at least she knew enough to retract the statement hours later. 

"Health Care is Socialism"  No - Health Care is a basic Human Right!  (or it least it should be in an ethical society)  Bailing out Wall Street bankers while they collect million-dollar bonuses.  Now that's Socialism!  Unless of course you believe that socialism is only for the rich and capitalism is only for the poor and uninsured.

"DEATH  PANELS" " Sarah Palin claims on her Facebook page that  "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

-- No Sarah, such a Lie is downright evil and you should be ashamed of yourself !  -- Needless to say, none of the health care bills before Congress ever contained anything even remotely similar to a Death Panel.  It takes a Devious and Evil mind to conjure that one up, but Sarah was apparently up to the task.  - Just Thinking...

Note:  The  "Pants on Fire"  graphic is from the St. Petersburg Times,  PolitiFact.Com  website.

Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.

Sarah Palin for President in 2012!!

A Sarah Palin candidacy in 2012?   Is it possible?   Could it be true?

I Sure Hope So!!

As has been reported by most American media, and carried live by all the major news networks,
on Saturday night, Sarah Palin delivered the keynote speech at the first "National Tea Party Convention" in Nashville.  The People for the American Way called it  "A broad, right-wing political barn burner!"

It incorporated Religious Right rhetorical swipes and jabs at President Obama's foreign policy - things the Tea Party movement itself has never been about. But it also included plenty of obligatory red meat attacks on the Democrats' agenda and Obama administration initiatives famously unpopular with that crowd such as The Stimulus Plan & Health Care Reform.

To the amusement of many pundits and casual political observers  (such as myself)  Palin was seen on camera checking crib notes she had written on her hand as she delivered the speech...

This from the woman who has repeatedly criticized President Obama for using a Teleprompter. (Something that all presidents and serious candidates have been using for decades)  Something that Sarah however, much to the dismay of the McCain campaign in 2008, proved to be incapable of reading.

She taunted the millions of Americans who, driven by a sincere desire for change, were inspired by Barack Obama's candidacy for president:  "How is that hopey-changey stuff working out for you?" She asked.  (Contemptible Bitch!)

Beyond the theatrics, her speech was full of empty rhetoric aimed at capitalizing on the anti-establishment rage that defines the Tea Party movement. It was filled with blatant lies, riddled with inaccuracies and bent the truth repeatedly.  (Fox News has taught her well!)  But more important than what it lacked,  is what it revealed and acknowledged:

1. That the Right is running on empty. They have no ideas or solutions for dealing with the significant problems that we face. Their movement at this time is all about exploiting and inciting the rage of disaffected and frustrated Americans.

2. As the Tea Party movement becomes increasingly co-opted by the Republican establishment, the tea party narrative has managed to become the narrative of the Extreme Right Wing.

Personally I'm fine with all of this, since polls seem to indicate in a general election the "Extreme-Right"  is supported by, at best,  no more than 23% of the American Voters. So I say let Palin Run!   A Palin candidacy in 2012 would only ensure a Democratic Victory. 

So Sarah, You Go Girl!

Run Sarah - Run!

 - Just Thinking...


Please feel free to comment below or email me direct at eddieoreilly@hotmail.com and your comment will be posted.