TN Church Gunman Killed Over Church's "Liberal Views"
AP:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Knoxville's police chief says the man accused of a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee church targeted the congregation because of its liberal social stance.
Chief Sterling Owen IV said Monday that police found a letter in Jim D. Adkisson's car. Owen said Adkisson was apparently frustrated over being out of work and had a "stated hatred of the liberal movement." The church is known for advocating women's and gay rights and founding an American Civil Liberties Union chapter. Read on...
Adkisson is obviously a very disturbed person, regardless of his political views. We will most likely learn more details in time, but the picture that's developing is one of a typical, uninformed Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Wiener-Savage fan -- an angry white male who has been brainwashed into thinking that everything wrong in America and around the world is the fault of the evil liberals. As with the church shootings in Colorado last December, the right will find some way to spin this story and turn Adkisson into an anti-Christian liberal whack job and blame it on the liberal media.
In response to the tragic church shootings in Colorado, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins naturally pointed the finger of blame at the "secular media." The senseless massacre of several deeply religious people by one of their own reflected, he claimed, "hostility that is being fomented in our culture from some in the secular media toward Christians." Of course, Perkins has it almost exactly backwards. Whether concerning abortion, gay Americans, immigration or judicial appointments, the line connecting the rhetoric of the Republican Party and the mainstream conservative movement to right-wing terror is a very short one.
John Amato: I wrote this a while ago. Why isn’t the 24/7 cable News playing up the Rudolph conviction?
White Supremacist ties and anti-Semitic values. 250 pounds of dynamite just waiting for the fuse to be lit. There should be hundreds of protesters camped outside the Atlanta courtroom lashing out at judges and prosecutors for not seeking the death penalty. James Dobson should be on FOX News declaring that "the whole legal system is out of control and are derailing our judicial system. We have the death penalty for a good reason. How could any civil minded judge go along with this plea bargain anyway?" I can see signs held up amid the gaggle of the press that reads: "God said an eye for an eye!" Oh wait, sorry....he's an anti-abortionist. He believes in the culture of life. He hates gays too. Sorry, my mistake.
Imagine if this was a liberal who attacked a church for being to conservative, can you say 24/7 coverage and a 5 day cycle?
The face of a regular Hannity listener.
Ah, these pro-life murders, life being only what they choose.
Lovely world we live in, huh?
OSF
One
Sick
Fu*k
I wonder which moron, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Malkin or Savage, will be the first to come to come to the shooter's defense.
Just to put it in context, liberal terrorists attack suvs, buildings and release monkeys from labs. In contrast the right likes to blow up federal buildings and people. Who would you rather live next to, an unhinged conservative or an unhinged liberal?
Anti -Liberal terrorist !!!.
So much for NO terrorist attacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXRlG_6Bk-8
Did anyone see further down in the story where it says this OSF lost his food stamps?
This guy was a Hannity listener to the freakin' core -
Nothing shows good, chrisitian values like walking into a church on a suicide rampage... Maybe someone ought to tell these people it's 2008 and the confederacy LOST.
Police shoudl ask him if he was O'Reilly,Hannity,Savage or Limbaugh radio listener.
I knew this would happen sooner or later.
We quit going to the local UCC because of the potential of something like this.
The expensive haircuts over at FOX should probably just STFU on this one, a moment of silence will do.
OT but can't decide... to... laugh... or... cry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_us/novak_brain_tumor
I'm from the area where this occurred. It doesn't surprise me one damn bit.
My neighbors scare the hell out of me. They're all wound up gob followers who honestly think that they need to be ready to kill for jebus because the "librul menace" is tearing their country apart. Not the last 8 years of nonstop war, waste, graft and financial destruction wrought by the reslugs and their "help the rich get richer" policies, no. It's got to be the libruls cause the bobble heads on faux noise tell them so.
You could set some of these idiots on fire and they'd be convinced they were burning because somewhere a gay man is happily married.
Randy @ 8:
It's not 'terror' if they're only killing 'libruls'. Didn't you get the handbook? ;)
Any legal experts out there? Can the families go after Rush, Savage, and others if this guy listened to them and in some way attributed to his actions. I mean they went after rock singers for their music.
As is every tragedy, this appears to be an unfortunate act of a crazy person but I too felt that it will be portrayed as the liberals fault (which are of course the victims here).
I have an idea though, just as a matter of curiosity, lets find out how many ways the S-C-L-M tries to spin this. I can already see the "One of their own" angle and I believe that it won't take long for someone to say it was God's response to their "pro-gay" ways. I can see Fox misnaming the occurrence on their ticker as a liberal attacking a conservative church getting it completely backwards, and I am sure they will surprise me with something I completely didn't expect.
I don't mean to make light of this tragedy, it is horrible and I can only imagine the scars these children will be burdened with for the rest of their life. To them my heart goes out and to those still in recovery, I hope it is speedy and complete.
But I just hate how the media and the politicians will make this tragedy into a few more votes for their side.
Imichael @ 17:
They should go after the CEOs and Executive Boards of the big media outlets including Clear Channel. I'm not holding my breath...
Thank god it wasn't a conservative church. The congregation would have just sat there and let him shoot them.
Well OBVIOUSLY this is all the liberals' fault! If there weren't any liberals in the church, then there would be no reason for this guy to go there and shoot people, right?
"Adkisson was apparently frustrated over being out of work and had a “stated hatred of the liberal movement.”
Ironic, considering it was on the Neo-con watch that he lost his job.
This is only going to get a lot worse before it's gets better. And when Obama gets in, white power groups are going to be on every corner,...
"Adkisson is obviously a very disturbed person, regardless of his political views."
Maybe we should leave it at that?
no doubt this assjacket voted for the boosh crime family.
I'd like to know more about HOW he came to target that church. Was that church singled out by other churches, or by the media or by hannity or limpballs?
Right-wing terrorist. Not criminal, not loony, but terrorist.
A conservative that was on welfare yet hated liberals so much he was willing to kill …. Go figure! What has happened to my country?
This dude lost his food stamps. He was too stupid to know he would not be getting food stamps to start with if not for liberals. I think the right wing nuts want their guns so they can kill all of us liberals off.
Is Jesus a liberal?
Amazing. A conservative man whose life is in the toilet because of conservative policies decides that killing a bunch of progressives will make him feel better.
This is what Fox News and right wing radio creates - terrorists.
SassySandy @ 27:
Perhaps his hostility was not the only thing aroused?
The guy obviously had mental problems. Sadly he was able to get a gun and walk into a church intending to shoot as many people as possible. Also sadly, he was able to succeed.
I see no reason to go beyond that. If we start spinning the story, how can we complain when someone else does?
Thank god this wasn't a conservative church. The congregation would have just sat there and let him shoot them.
I meant to quote 24, sorry.
Imichael @ 17:
I'm with ya...but didn't most of those trials or hearings or whatever end up with the rock bands winning?
Can anyone recollect the biblical parable that Perkins is always babbling about? The one about taking arms and striking one's enemies for the lord, or some such other nonsense?
Come on..."an angry white male who has been brainwashed"? You are just engaging in the same kind of blame game that you so often accuse the right of. Angry and white (and a coward in every sense of the word), yes, but brainwashed? You are going to give him (and those you accuse of brainwashing) that kind of excuse and power? You must then support that rock lyrics are responsible for suicides and video games are responsible for school shootings. Condemn the person and his actions. You do a disservice to the victims to say this man acted only after undue external influence.
Imichael @ 17:
Southern Poverty Law Center & St Morris of Dees has successfully sued KKK & its leaders for inciting skinheads to attacking people based on racial grounds. Talk to them.
The problem is likely to be establishing proximate cause, that is, was it reasonably foreseeable to a specific defendant (eg Limbaugh) that his actions would result in this harm?
You also have to remember that this is America, and even assholes have the right to rant - piss-poor judgment is a constitutional right! The presumption is that this fellow has the consciousness and responsibility for his own choices. Criminal acts are presumed to be unforeseeable - OTOH, what if they are specifically and clearly advocating criminal acts?
At some point, people (like Ann Coulter claiming that liberals should be executed) move into preliminary crimes (solicitation or attempt) but that requires specific preparations. Where Limbaugh or Coulter don't know that anybody is actually taking them seriously (seriously in the sense of literally), and has no control over who might be listening to them, it's probably a long shot.
If causation could be established, the better target might be their publishers or broadcasters, who are more likely more vulnerable to statistical issues like income.
jack-the-maniac @ 361:
How is it that people like Ann Coulter and Micheal Reagan aren't put in jail for trying to incite (and succeeding) people to commit murder?
How is it that Bill O'Reilly can talk about lynching people, and can say that victims of sexual crimes enjoyed what was done with him without facing lawsuits or being banned from the air permanently?
Mark my word, the GOP is trying to get the right wing worshipers dissenters for them.
solid @ 359:
If we get another term with the GOP, we WILL see a further rise in this behavior.
The a lot of poor and middle class republicans are going to want to attack, even kill someone. The media monsters they worship keep telling them to go out an do it. Not just hinting, but TELLING them to go out and hurt, and main and KILL.
Some of the media figureheads have been becoming less and less subtle about pushing for violence against liberals. Some, however, have been advocating murder (and it is MURDER) for quite some time.
When Manson told his followers to go out and kill, it got him put in jail forever. Why isn't the same thing happening to Coulter, Savage, Michael Regan and all the other purveyors of hate? They're just as guilty as Manson... and for the same reasons.
Snig @ 356:
A headline I hope to see sometime in the wake of this tragedy:
"The families of the victims of the July 2008 church shooting in Knoxville, TN have filed a multibillion dollar class-action lawsuit against Fox News, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly, claiming that the defendants inspired Jim Adkisson's actions. While the defendants would ordinarily be protected under the 1st Amendment, the suit argues that incitement to violence is not protected speech.
'These hate-mongers essentially gave Adkisson marching orders,' alledges the plaitiffs. 'We cannot expect these people to continue spewing hate, saying 'liberals are sub-human, liberals are devil's spawn, liberals hate America, liberals are destroying America, wer mussen die liberal ausrossen, etc.' without one of their loyal listeners eventually acting on their calls to violence. They are deliberately creating monsters, and our losses are proof of this.'
While this lawsuit has been compared to similar cases filed against the entertainment industry over school shootings that have failed due to the 1st Amendment, the plaintiffs pointed out that unlike the defendants in this case, videogame and movie makers do not actively encourage their customers to commit acts of violence in real life. Therefore, unlike these precident cases, right-wing hate speech against liberals is not protected because it is a deliberate attempt to incite violence."
THIS man is an example of why right-wingers in this country are so dangerous now. While there are some crazy liberals out there, most of them don't advocate violence to solve political disagreements. Liberals usually want to help others and fix problems. Conservative arguments, on the other hand are usually something along the lines of "HATE!!! I'm full of hate and I love it!!! I hate libruls, I hate f*gs, I hate n****rs, I hate women, I hate A-rabs, I WANT TO KILL THEM ALL!!!!! I want to splatter their brains all over their wives and children and then kill them too!!! I want to saw off their heads and take a bath in their blood!!! I can't wait till I go to heaven and get to pleasure myself watching them being tortured in hell for eternity!!! KILL KILL KILL DIE DIE DIE I HATE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!"
I'm so tired of people bitching about FoxNews. So there's a channel that has a conservative bias. Every media outlet that reports the news has some sort of bias right or left. While reporters are supposed to remain unbiased, pretty much every single one has some sort of political leaning, which shows up in their reporting.
That's not to say that I'm conservative, or liberal or standing in the middle. I'm just tired of people bitching. If it's such a problem, start your own godd*mn news network.
I just think it's funny that the people who preach tolerance and understanding have little tolerance for people who have an opposing viewpoint to them.
Why did God allow two people to be violently killed in His house? If I allowed two people to be shot to death in my house, and I had the power to stop it, you can bet the police would have some questions for me.
Right Wing Hate Speech on talk radio does get results..........doesn't it?
Fixed Noise Viewer: "Abortion clinic bombings are isolated incidents and they're not meant to kill people".
Fixed Noise Viewer: "Muslim bombings of buildings are rooted in a Jihadi Islamo-fascist ideology...............72 virgins..................your allah..............you sandni#$%ers".
CatAtomic @ 25:
Indeed, this domestic terrorist scumbag should get the death penalty.
JasonS @ 36:
Yeah, he's a pretty lazy bastard. Even for a myth.
if the church only had guns they could have prevented all this....
Sometimes a crazy man is just a crazy man. Tony Perkins never met a microphone he didn't love. Of course this was going to be his response. Simply by asking him what he thought, laid out the narrative for him. It gave him an opportunity to do what he does best, complain because the world doesn't see things the way he does.
Adkisson blaming liberals for his miserable life, just like McCain blaming Obama for gasoline prices, and energy crisis.
(Lifted from the Fox News story):
But police said Monday that the letter left by Adkisson in his vehicle detailed his inability to find a mechanical engineering job, which he blamed on liberals and gays.
"He did express that frustration that the liberal movement was getting more jobs," Owen said.
Confirms my theory that right wingers are permanent victims. Also not surprised at this. I know people who know my liberal politics but still feel compelled to tell me that "all liberals should be shot". Maybe I should start taking their threats seriously.
Jane @ 26:
It's totally cracked and defies all logic, doesn't it?!
paranoia @ 28:
If there is a real Jesus in which the Bible speaks of, then Jesus would undoubtedly be a liberal.
Isn't his beef with conservative groups who outsourced all the work
And what remains
Are given to Illegals?
?And maybe a beef against vegetarians.
Yet another reason why I think religion is a bad idea...
Do you get the feeling a that a lot of people don't know what "liberal" actually means?
paranoia @ 28:
You know he was... shared food and wine with others, at no price... and no strings attached.
Patricio @ 44:
Affirmative action gets added to mix in 3...2...1...
pissed off patricia @ 31:
I agree with you. It is sad that our country has gotten to this state. I work in a school and have to deal with the fact that school shootings are now almost commonplace. Now they're shooting up churches.
My church has gained a lot of attention locally because we're broken with the pack and now keep the Sabbath on Saturdays. It hasn't exactly made many friends in the conservative religious community. We're in a pretty rural location and now have 2 guys on watch in the halls while we're gathered. Sad.
pissed off patricia @ 31:
I do understand what you are saying, but I cannot help but wonder if some rant by a winger like Hammity or Limppuff sent him over the edge. And I really don't think that I'm trying to spin anything - you have probably heard some of the hateful rants that these people perpetrate. I guess that I'm saying: Here's a poor guy who's out of work and had been getting foodstamps...and he shoots those that he perceives as liberals? What misinformation would trigger this?
It's amazing. Fundamentalist nuts like Tony Perkins create monsters out of poor, misguided souls like this man, and then shirk any responsibility for their behavior AND then spin a tragedy to score political points.
My deepest sympathy goes out to those that lost their lives, to their family and friends and yes, even to the deranged soul that committed this heinous act. May all of them find peace.
As for Tony Perkins, he should pray that he does not receive the same level of callousness and selfishness that he has exhibited during this trying event, when the time for HIS judgement comes.
They have told me again and again that they are going to shoot me around here, my last place some 1 kept shooting a gun off out back of my house in the woods. they connect to me here online, and play with my head outside. I am trying to leave the town, but I am hurt, my truck is broken, ect ect ect. Can't get any help, basically most of my family disowned me,,,,,,, All basically happen after 911, I was trying to tell people that they will ruin the economy---------Being selfish I wanted he economy strong for my 30's so I could have a business build a house, have a family----------NOPE!
they have collectively took me down, seems like they are working together, from the lowest street cleaner to the governer, wait i think i am sitting on something,,,oh wait,, ooooo, here,,,, It's another state policeman up my ass, damn.
Every reich wing politician and Christ-o-fascist who enables these bigots, haters and sick f**ks I point my finger in your face and say the blood is on your hands too.
paranoia @ 28:
Yes.
"Guns don't kill people, right wing religious wackos kill people".
This wasn't a case of someone being out of work, becoming bitter, and turning to his guns for comfort was it?
paranoia @ 28:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv7SttbcHIk
Twisted Rightwing take on this: If those elite, terrorist-lovin' liberals had been packing heat they might have stopped this guy before he killed anyone.
jezsik @ 49:
In the US "liberal" is now being interpreted as anything that seems too permissive and doesn't agree with your point of view. "Liberal" is the new "pinko commie".
glad i dont go to church.
Adkisson's political and religious views are not insignificant as a part of his very disturbed mind/personality. It is a very typical values profile for a Rush Limbaugh or James Dobson fan: Sick. You are correct, Adkisson and the conservative right, whether political or religious, have "it almost exactly backwards." Thank goodness for the teachings of Jesus Christ, judge, who espoused love and forgiveness of all sinners; even the sick, conservative ones, too.
series100 @ 39:
Absolutely! Had this been a liberal (of course we all know THAT'S not very likely) the GOP would be calling for his head on a pike!
Being a member of the MoveOn (or KKK/liberNazi), I can't shoot a gun worth a damn with cheetoh fingers.
"The senseless massacre of several deeply religious people by one of their own"
"One of their own"? "ONE OF THEIR OWN"? Wasn't the whole motive the fact that Unitarian Universalists were NOT "one of his own"?
jezsik @ 49:
I'm guessing that Mr. Adkisson's definition was anyone who doesn't see the world the way he does. It must have been confusing for him to have to go to an office and get his Food Stamps with 'those' people there.
The only concievable way this will be kept in the 24/7 news cycle is if the liberal blogs keep it there. That's how conservative bloggers and talk radio operate, and that's how they get their agenda into the mainstream. This right-wing nutball represents the majority extremist conservatives out there...except he actually went out and did what most of them only fantasise about.
paranoia @ 28:
Absolutely Jesus was a liberal. We all know that.
StirFry @ 67:
I've got guns. Been shooting all my life. Care to find out if my aim is any good?
SassySandy @ 71:
And a rebel. He rebelled against His religious leaders and called them out for their greed and judgments.
"I'm not worried about guns in school. You know what I'm waiting for? Guns in CHURCH! And you watch, it'll happen too. Some nut will go fuckin' apeshit in a church and shoot up a bunch of parishoners and the papers will call him a "Disgruntled worshipper". You just watch." - George Carlin, circa 1999
God, I miss him so...
Pennis @ 65:
Yeah, but at least he wouldn't shoot him, Princess.
dennis @ 65:
Speakin for only myself Dennis, I sure as hell wouldn't help your sorry ass. In fact, if you were on fire and writhing in agony. I wouldn't EVEN waste a drop of piss on you.
And I happen to agree with Ruthless here, the fascist fucks are responsible for this as much as the shooter himself.
It had to come to this sooner or later. With the hate-charged atmosphere that we live in, thanks to the rethuglican doctrine being preached round-the-clock, from all corners and crevasses of the msm, it is surprising that more outbursts such as this isn't more common place. The root of all the spilled blood lies squarely and wholly at the feet of the GOP mongers. Nay, mongrels.
Lyon @ 74:
Would that he lived to see this...
Before we can say Tooty Fields, the reichwing are going to play this as our being hostile against guns.
They're quick to identify some whacko with the left, but claim their whacko's acted alone.
That's what the KKK does now.
Conservatism = terrorism
StirFry @ 67:
I prefer Tatos with Vinegar washed down with Idris Firey Red.
princess @ 65:
How typical of a reich-winger, princess. You don't condemn your fellow typical murderous reich-winger, instead you attempt to "verbal attack" a poster, princess. Sick.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 72:
If you're as good Cheney, no thanks.
65 princess
For someone who was on another thread earlier talking about obsessive/compulsive commenters why are you stil here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQkYGhmdMig
IdiotShrub @ 77:
I wonder what the US would look like if the government stopped giving religious leaders tax breaks and the power to influence laws?
dennis @ 65:
RP killed two innocent people? Why aren't the media all over this?
Limbaugh, Hannity and company should hang their heads in shame. They are the one's who help fuel this kind of hatred and they will try to spin this as some liberal plot to discredit conservatives. If they haven't already.
JohnnyThief @ 22:
He hated the "librul movement", but he received food stamps (i.e. a liberal concept).
paranoia @ 28:
Don't know but I'm pretty sure the easter bunny and santa clause are.
Mick @ 53:
I think we agree the guy was mentally ill. The thing is, when a person in mentally ill, rationale goes out the window. Yes, he may well have been influenced by something he heard or saw on tv, but the bottom line is he was a sick man before he was influenced.
Because we have freedom of speech and a so-called free country, we can't check everything everyone says lest it could be heard by a crazy person and acted on.
You won't find anyone who is more disgusted with the right wing part of our country than I am, I just don't think you can blame this event on verbiage from the right.
If Our Lord and Personal Savior(tm) Jesus H. Christ was about anything, it was hating and killing libruls at a church kiddie recital. Ignorant atheists...
That aside, one of the many disturbing aspects of the story is the "“stated hatred of the liberal movement" quote. Is someone who is liberal part of a "movement"? Or is this just framing that allows the group to be singled out, much like terr'rists?
Another foot soldier of the Republican Party. Would love to see Coulter, Limbaugh, Hannity and all the right wing hate mongers charged with accessory to these murders. It's time to hold all the domestic terrorists in the U.S. accountable.
dennis @ 65:
Poor bastard? If he killed a member of your family I doubt we'd see your "compassionate conservative" streak. You'd be saying fry his ass!
Btw Dennis...haven't you enlisted to fight in Iraq yet? 57 people were killed there today in that war McSame says is going so well. Your preznit needs you to suit up and go support the troops. When can we expect you to get out of your mothers basement and go help the war effort?
Sam @ 87:
Faux and the a.m. hate radio reich-wingers are very good at creating reich-wing terrorists.
This guy appears to be mentally ill. Listening to OReilly, Savage, Hannity etc. surely drove this poor sap deeper into madness.
Sam @ 87:
Probably makes them feel powerful, the sick turds.
Different Anonymous @ 91:
I had a "movement" this morning.....pretty sure it was due to the chili dog I had for lunch yesterday.
A lot of hate on this board, about 90% I would say.
Maybe those chickens
Are coming home
to roost?
ysbaddaden @ 79:
Um sorry...but the klan's been doin that for some time, and the Neo-Nazis are doin it too.
It's SOP for these sick fucks.
Ruthless People @ 93:
Yes, he's a "poor bastard" who is simply misunderstood....because, after all, he was doing the work of their Lords and Masters (i.e. Drugbaugh and Insane Vannity).
I'm a gun owning liberal. I'm also a Unitarian Universalist who attends services regularly. I also have a concealed carry permit in my state and I DO carry concealed when I go to church.
Why? I've been afraid of this EXACT thing happening-- some fanatical right-winger going to the "liberal fag church" and start blasting away. I'm sorry that this happened, but I'm not suprised.
Needless to say, I'm going to continue packing in church.
I guess the thought that this guy just might be mentally ill isn't possibility at all is it?
Figure that's far more likely of the case and all of this anger was focused on one group because of the illness (schizophrenic?).
Tim @ 98:
Angry blog posts merit the death penalty? Interesting idea of justice you got there, "Tim".
Is everyone starting to see why I dislike the South so much...(and to those right wingnut trolls and other con-servatives that live here...don't worry, the door won't be hitting me, I'll be kicking it down on my way out...)....
These states are stupid by birthright...let's take a look at a fraction of the stupidity...shall we??
1) The shoot first bills, Florida started them, Georgia just passed it a couple of months ago, and other states are starting to create their own Frankenstein versions of it...
Basically its the shoot first and ask questions later bill for 'personal defense rights'....there has never been a more idiotic bill passed, ever. If these con-servatives love the Wild West so much, and are foaming at the mouth for chaos and bullets....sign up, ship out, and enjoy...Iraq is waiting for you.
2) The legalization of carrying firearms in public...yep, now in Georgia, you can take your gun with you on Public transportation, to the restaurant, to the grocery store, yada, yada, yada... Oh, and carrying a license for it...merely a formality....
3) No alcohol sales on Sunday, yep, that's the "Lord's day"....I can't tell you how much money this has cost this state, but its apparent in school funding, road & infrastructure repairs, etc, etc. Well, thank God, you can bring your gun to the grocery store, blow everyone away, call it self defense or you 'felt threatened' BUT you can't buy beer in that store on Sunday....
4) No water conservation measures....yep, if you live down here, the Republican state leglislatures bow to the construction firms, monopolized power utilities, and what they want, they get. If it comes down to Georgia Power or the Southern Company getting their water for their Coal fired plants, etc, etc or the public getting it...guess who wins? Georgia has a 'governor' (Bubba) who prays for rain and believes the 'free market' forces can solve droughts....(no, that is not a missquote) instead of leglislating/enforcing rationing, and using regulation to ensure corporations don't waste the 2nd most valuable resource behind Oxygen for life itself...but nope, that wouldn't be Republican 'family values' in action...much better to leave it to voluntary controls by the corporations themselves...
5) The second question after 'how are you?' is 'what church do you go to?'..... Don't mind them getting personal...because that's what they're all about down here, getting personal... You can sense the con-servatives down here...they radiate some form of toxic karma that allows others to see them coming a mile away... You've got Jesus Pimps, Stepford Wives, Good Ol boy's, Redneck CEOs, Future GOP Madames/mistresses making Miley Cyrus look like Mother Theresa, Young Republican fight club wannabes, and just about anything you could ever dream of in nauseating quantity... An entire armada of self-hating, infinitely hypocritical drones for the corporatist 'you can get here too' Republicans running the show to bleed dry while voting against their own best interests
I could go on....but, those 5 should do it for you...now, I rail about the South all the time, probably because I've seen it go from decent to a con-servative Disneyland cesspool, but there are progressives, there are people who truly are moderates, there are decent libertarians down here...its not a completely lost cause, but it will certainly take 3 or 4 generations before the 'New South' lives up to its billing....
Tim @ 98:
And who exactly went into a Church to murder people because they hate liberals? Apparently your notion of "hate" is quite perverse. How telling....
Suprised foxnews.com actually seems to have the story right <.<
Tim @ 98:
Could you possibly be more vague?
Are you implying this is the beginning of unhinged conservotards killing liberals?
Are have I totally missed your point?
How very sad this is. Those poor people, they will be in my prayers...
I wonder how the wingnut persecution complex will play into this, you know, how they distort facts of certain facts of crimes to try to argue that Republicans are the frequent target of hate crimes?
I remember how furious I was about 4 years ago. A girl who was related to a family who attended my church in our small town was horribly murdered. It was clear that whoever did it meant it personally. While searching for articles on local news sites for more info on what happened, I found a blog post by some wingnut who clearly did not live in the area nor much about the case, where he tried to paint Maggie's murder as an anti-Republican hate crime because she worked for the local Republican party. I assume he came to his conclusion because we are a heavily Latino Democratic town, and we are barbarians after all and would not be able to tolerate one of our own working for the Republicans... *rolling eyes*
Eventually the case was solved, and the killer was her best friend's husband, who was also her co-worker....at the Republican party. I was right in my instincts that this was something deeply personal, and that blogger couldn't have been more wrong.
RIP Maggie
I'll wait on the wacko part,but it does show that the right wing thinks that all problems can be solved with a gun. It says that he was member of the church, so if he was so angry, just leave and go to another.
Obviously we need more guns on the market for law-abiding good Christian whitefolk to purchase, just like their forefathers who had to defend their White Womanhood against the red-skinned heathen who wouldn't get on board with Operation North American Freedom and who had to defend their tea chests against Big Government tax-and-spend liberal monarchists (Goldberg's next book) after Paul Revere rode his horse across the Atlantic Ocean and freed the lepers.
Van @ 101:
I hear ya man!
The man has a spaced-out look in his eyes, but he doesn't look contrite.
Tim @ 98:
When con-servatives take psychotic ideology and turn it into bloodsport...what the #@%* do you expect? You see the same on LGF, Freeperville, Powerline, etc, etc every single day...looks like one their posters crossed the final insanity threshold
Mike @ 7:
To imply that an unhinged liberal is somehow better/safer than an unhinged conservative is a specious argument. Crazy is crazy, and dangerous is dangerous -- regardless of the misguided politics behind it.
Incidents like these are invariably attacks by people against a person/group who is perceived to be responsible for their hardships. Sadly, there is so much hateful polarizing rhetoric saturating every form of media that any disgruntled person has an inexhaustible choice of 'enemies' choose from, fixating on that enemy until it ends in tragedy.
You might want to alter the title a little bit. I don't quite think it's saying what you're trying to say. It almost sounds like you are saying the guy was a congregant of the church and killed people because of the churches liberal views. That's not really what happened and it's probably not what you are intending to say. Maybe something like "TN Gunman Attacks Congregation over Church's Liberal Views" or something like that.
The dude was a right wingnut who couldn't find a job and blamed it on 'liberals' and so decided to walk into a liberal congregation of 200 with a shotgun in a guitar case (ala El Mariachi) and 76 shotgun shells and start murdering people during a play put on by children. Most likely because he expected them to just sit there and be murdered because of 'liberal cowardice'.
To his surprise it was the "unwashed liberal hippy peaceniks" of the congregation who jumped his ass and held him down until the police arrived. Good on you, UUs, I hope you kicked him a few times while you had him on the ground. The wingnuts will probably hold him up to be some kinda hero just like they did with Paul Ross Evans. It's a shame that one of your people died in the process but at least you took him down before a lot more people got killed.
Van @ 101:
Thanks for the interesting blog link, Van. I am a gun owning progressive. Matter of fact I just bought a new Glock 19 last Thursday. Anyhow, I hope you expand your blog and help educate our fellow leftists on the importance of preserving our right to own and carry.
Ok, so he is frustrated at being out of work (thanks to the republican economic policies), there was also a letter in his home telling him his food stamps will be reduced or cut off (another republican policy) he hated christians because of how his parents forced religion on him (wanna bet it was conservative, possibly fundamentalist, church he was forced to attend?)
and his problems are because of the liberals?
Looks like Fox News has done its job here.
Annaleigh @ 108:
I meant to say, "nor know much about the case." Whoops!
It's the same people who call themselves "conservative" and don't know what that means either.
Jebus is a muth @ 20:
I disagree.....if it was a church full of conservatives wouldn't most of them have been armed to the teeth???....and wouldn't they ALL have taken at least 6 shots at this guy???
...not exactly what Jesus had in mind......
pissed off patricia @ 90:
I'll remember that the next time Ann Coulter decides it's time to round up liberals and put us to death so we don't become traitors.
Marty @ 85:
Armegeddon? (sp?)
I think we would have riots in the streets then
pissed off patricia @ 90:
I partially agree. But Republican policies may very well have contributed to this also. Thirty years ago, before Reagan, there were more jobs and most jobs had medical insurance. Yes, he was a sick man, but he fell through the cracks that the Repugs have been widening for years. Well, for want of a nail the war was lost I guess. Lately I've been blaming crabgrass on repimplicans...
A foot soldier in the Savage Nation.
Hard Justice @ 114:
I have no problem saying that someone who burns an SUV is better than someone who murders two people.
It's safe to say: Conservatism is a mental disorder.
Acrana @ 106:
wow, im surprised the story just didn't disappear from the site after finding out about this guy.
They'll make up for it on the Fauxnews channel and defend the guy in some sick way. You can count on Orally to do it along with some blonde bimbo on his side.
I'm not being vague or implying anything. It's pretty straightforward.
The amount of hate being spewed from these and a multitude of other sites is palpable and quite destructive.
If you look at the posts on this and see the hatred that flows from them, can you not expect there to be a backlash from a nutcase?
StirFry @ 127:
Now, it will be interesting to see how O'Racist and Insean vannity will spin/defend this?
So how many more of these closet-cases are gonna come out if Barack is elected?
How come when a guy goes nuts and blames 'Liberals' the trolls always defend thier beliefs by blaming us? When O'Liely and Hannity and their ilk use the airways to smear, distort and bully people, we 'Liberals' are to blame? I understand the man was homeless and was turned down for food stamps. Don't the trolls realize without the support of 'Liberals" there would be no food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, etc...
peter @ 9:
This wasn't a terrorist attack.
A terrorist attack is a politically motivated act of violence or threat of violence with the intent of enacting political change in the targeted group.
He wasn't trying to make the UU's or Liberals change their ways. He was trying to blame them for what he perceived as an injustice (liberals were getting more jobs) and wanted to murder a few to punish them for these perceived injustices.
So if anything it was a hate crime but not a terrorist act.
Tim, I support murder @ 128:
IN other words, Tim is defending this murderous reich-winger. How telling and disgusting. All churches in your neighborhood should be notified.
paranoia @ 28:
Hell yeah he was! He was kind to the outcasts of society, promoted pacifism, and challenged the establishment's hypocrisy at every turn (that WAS what got him crucified after all). If he were here today, the Right Wing would definitely make him a target, and I figure more than a few brainwashed nutjobs like this guy would take a shot at him.
Drilling solves nothing (aka right wing hater) @ 113:
So 2 wrongs do make a right apparently.
dennis @ 65:
Yes, librofascimexicans have a well-established system to make sure no non-librulfagofascists are ever given a crumb from a librulblackofascists' plate.
If you are not already informed of the requisite paperwork, please sign up at your local librulgaylifestyleterror recruiting center, they are only too wiling to put their sekrit agenda for to work on you. Soon your brain will be poisoned with gay rays and medicare rays and fiscal responsibility rays.
A sad and horribly tragic, but logical conclusion (if one thinks about it for a moment) to expect after all the hate and intolerance that has been preached from the right in the form of talk radio nutjobs, narrow minded conservative politicians as well and fundamentalist preachers for too long to remember at this point. Yes, it has been long incubated and nurtured hate and intolerance towards those regarded as 'different' (regardless of what those differences are), along with the Bush administration and other economic theorists undermining of the middle class economically... And this is what the results are... and I suspect and fear this ain't the last example to be seen like this....It certainly wasn't the first.
If justice prevails in this matter, and it's adjudicated strictly on the merits of the case and its' circumstances, (if what we know now is the bulk of what there is to know on it), I'd expect to see life without the possibility of parole to be this losers ultimate fate and sentence...(which is much more humane than what he displayed to the victims)... I note he lost both his job and food stamps... In a world slowly going mad in a broader sense, these circumstances along with what the right has drilled into his brain for god knows how long, might have been enough to push this jerk over the edge.... However that is not an excuse to murder. The only thing that I think can save this guy from a needle, a gas pellet or the twilight of his life spent behind bars might be a diagnosis of an organic brain dysfunction, in which case institutionalization for the rest of his life in a mental ward for the criminally insane would be about right.. No matter how one slices it, this guys days as a free man are over... permanently..... Tennessee certainly isn't going to give this guy walk regardless of what rightwing flack comes to his defense...........
I appreciate some posters desires not to turn this thread into its own kind of witch hunt or spin city... Especially POP's post above is taken by me as I think Pat intends it to be.. I.E. lets not go off the deep end and be as bad as the right gets... But I would beg to differ only in the following manner. It is not spin or hyperbole to state the obvious or known facts. And the obvious is that the right in this nation has expended a lot of energy and resources since at least 1994, but truth be hold for better than 30 years really, in an effort to villify the left and progressive causes. And now, we see a man who proclaims his dispicable acts are in part the result of his own hate of these very institutions the right has spent all this time bad mouthing and slamming. Cause and effect???? You will have to decide for yourself. I've already indicated what I think about it.............JD
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 133:
You should learn to read or have someone who can splain it to you.
Tim, I support murder @ 135:
Equating blog posts to murder is obtuse. You're a complete and utter moron.
When the coming Depression hits there will be many more like this poor soul. People who have nothing have nothing to fear.
Tim @ 138:
Your post is quite revealing. You support murder because apparently you believe libruls post hateful things in the internet(s). When are you going to rebuke your fellow murderous reich-winger? It's quite telling that you haven't yet.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 116:
and how to complete their full array of tattoos and lose themselves in raptures of sex, methedrine, and video aggression?
Which well regulated militia was he a member of?
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