California wingnut arrested outside Michigan mosque with explosives: Just another 'isolated incident'
Now, I don't know about you, but when an agitated man drives all the way from California to Dearborn, Michigan, with a trunk full of Class C explosives (high-end fireworks, mostly) and is arrested outside an Islamic center for making terrorist threats -- well hey, I just naturally assume that this has nothing, nothing whatsoever to do with the right-wing Islamophobic hatred that's regularly ginned up by radio and TV talkers.
From the Detroit Free Press:
About 700 people were attending a funeral inside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, the largest mosque in metro Detroit, when Dearborn police arrived to arrest a man in a car in the parking lot.
He had driven to Michigan from California and reportedly was overheard in a bar making threatening comments about Muslims or Arabs. His car was loaded with large, illegal fireworks, police said. Now, Roger Stockham, 63, is jailed on charges that include making a false report or threat of terrorism.
"He's very dangerous," said Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad.
Now, how do we know that this couldn't possibly have been a right-wing ideologue? Why, because he had been arrested back in 2002 for threatening President Bush -- which is always a certain sign of left-wing politics, according to every right-wing talker on the planet. From the Detroit News:
A decorated Army veteran accused of plotting to blow up a Metro Detroit mosque served time in federal prison for threatening to kill President George W. Bush and bomb a Vermont veterans' clinic in 2002.
Ah, but then we read the details of that particular arrest:
In the Vermont incident, he told authorities at the time of his arrest at a Veterans Affairs Department complex in Colchester that his minivan was full of explosives. A search found no explosives.
Before the arrest, Stockham called a local paper twice to say he was going to explode bombs in the neighborhood. In one call, he identified himself as "Hem Ahadin," saying he was "a local Muslim terrorist on a roll."
He ranted against the VA, the FBI and Bush, largely because of the things the president had said about Iraq in a speech earlier in the week.
According to affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, Stockham threatened to carry out "jihad," or holy war, against the VA office in White River, Vt.
In other words, the threat against Bush was made in the context of Stockham pretending to be an Islamic terrorist -- that is, he threatened Bush because he wanted his listeners to believe he was a Muslim, since he wanted authorities to assume whatever act he committed was an act of Islamist terrorism.
Most of all, the man had been diagnosed with (and treated for) mental illness on several occasions, which we all know means you can't possibly blame right-wing rhetoric for having helped inspire the act, right?
Yep, just another isolated incident.. We're up to 21 and counting, by the way.
Did the FBI give him the bomb?
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Not much difference between a car-load of "fireworks" in this instance, and the "collected but not assembled" assortment of "dangerous" components that the Times Square "bomber" had. No doubt, many more everyday household items to be placed on the terrorist watch-list. That, and far more extensive domestic repression is "on the table". I will give better than even odds that there is one or more FBI informants, agent provocateurs, or under-cover agents involved in this "terror" incident as well.
"Keep the fear alive" has become a Federal 300 days per year domestic road-show.
Must.repress.the.populace.more.
Must.justify.this.repression.
Must.justify.police.state.MICC.budget.
"War is not meant to be won or lost, but to be waged continuously." George Orwell, from "1984"
Sic semper tyrannis.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
He's just there to
killentertain the children.you can't blame right wing rhetoric anymore than you can blame left wing rhetoric for the acts of an unstable mind. Especially if the argument that is that the passion of the discourse must be lowered to some arbitrary state where it won't trigger those "canaries in the coal-mine" of mental health, the paranoid delusional.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Oh really? Then why is it ALWAYS a right winger going after a Fox News target. Pull your head out of your ass.
Though it isn't. The fact is that you can never prove a linkage in such a way as to moderate those Fox News voices and that's pretty much all there is to that. I see very little point in trying to figure out what is acceptably moderate language that won't set off the mentally disturbed. That pesky first amendment keeps getting in the way.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
We're talking about social norms. You know, basic decency. Living up to the responsibilities that come with your freedoms. That sort of thing.
Speech that demonizes and dehumanizes whole groups is already de facto irresponsible. It's already repellent and deserves our approbation. N'est-ce pas?
These incidents underscore just how profoundly irresponsible it is -- and why, as a society, it deserves profound condemnation.
That's what I emphasize in my piece for the Investigative Fund: The speech that helps fuel these kinds of crimes is already prima facie irresponsible. The fact that it also unleashes horrific acts presents some real moral weight to condemning it, however -- and the likelihood of bearing social culpability for inspiring it should be a powerful incentive for avoiding and indeed utterly eschewing it.
I'm not talking about laws. I'm talking about how we react as a society. People like Glenn Beck should not be rewarded with multimillion-dollar contracts and audiences of millions. We should simply shun them -- and all of us should be doing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_fvX242KTU
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
. . . and while you're there, grab some links.
What is "it"? And what does that statement mean? Every murder is right wing/FOX News fault? Every violent crime? Every news piece you happened to be thinking about at the time?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
The language of dehumanization and extreme demonization is primarily emanating from the leading pundits of the American Right -- and it is utterly absent from the discourse leaders of the Left.
Right-wing talkers are ginning people up to hate at extreme levels, and more to the point, they're painting targets for their audiences. Is anyone really surprised this is happening?
Besides obtuse right-wing apologists, that is.
Domestic terrorists. (but will the M$M use the term?)
Maybe the RW needs to lighten up on the anti-Muslim Islamofacist rhetoric.
From TPM
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/201...
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Yeah, maybe…
I get confused who to hate. Is it the Muslims? The Immigrants? The Progressives? The CommuSocialFascits?
If the fear-mongers would just get together and decide en masse who’s to blame…
Oh yes you can blame the right-wing rhetoric because we all know that right-wingism (Republicanism) is a mental illness.
knows how to party...
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
for mental illness on several occasions...."Paxil or Prozac?
No background checks for fireworks purchases?
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Sooner or later there's gonna have to be a day of reckoning for Fox news yelling fire in a crowded theatre. Let's hope something is done soon, before we have another Oklahomah City Bombing.
...can publish a story about how Saddam had WMD's (fire in a crowded theater) that resulted in a million deaths, without any consequences.
then you're gonna be waiting a long time
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
Mohamed ElBaradei, rumor has it that he is supported by Murdoch and the Koch syndicate. To bring
about turmoil and drive up ratings on the Glenn Beck show. I can see it now Muslim Brotherhood on one
chalk board, ElBaradei on the other with endless connections to Van Jones and Bill Ayers. Yes it's all
making sense now Murdoch and the Koch syndicate are out to rule the world......mooooooohaaaaaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBEQYnpFrcU
I'd take whatever that rag said with a grain of salt (preferably one the size of Jupiter), as they've been carrying water for the Republicans, wingnuts, and teabaggers for decades. I can't even read their opinion/editorial pages without feeling the need to vomit. I'm not even safe with their comics pages, given that they carry the full-of-wingnut-bullshit "Mallard Fillmore."
"Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the Republicans are not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it."
The Detroit news is sickening. I can't even bear to look at the front page when I'm going to the sports section on-line.
I looked through it at my friends house one day this summer. The editorial page had Malkin, Sowell, Wills (he was the left wing liberal) and every other wingnut Fox news flying monkey psycho you could think of.
It really is a piece of propaganda trash. Take anything the DN prints, and reality is the exact opposite of what they said.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
I refer to it as the Demon Of The Month Club.
January was "the unions are evil" month. Of course, if a news story provides an opportunity, other demons, such as islamofascists, can make special appearances outside of their normal Rove-cycle.
"Ironic, isn't it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you." --Mr. Burns
isolated incidents create a pattern?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
We need at least 6 to 7 orders of magnitude of "isolated events" before we can know anything for sure when it comes to suspect the right of any wrong doing.
When it comes to the left, the lack of isolated events is clear proof of the dangerous liberal rhetoric and predisposition.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
Sounds like a real cracker, he do...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Ba-dum-bum!
He'll be here all week, folks... tip your waitress and try the fish!
*grin*
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
That's for Fridays.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Twenty one? Is that a lot? How many criminal incidents involving those with right-wing politics occurred during the previous time period? What is the time period?
There are over 350 million people in this country facing billions of situations every day. One in a million possibilities can and do occur hundreds of times.
How can this be intelligently analyzed without any frame of reference?
It appears that there's nothing more than a laundry listing of events across the country with the words "isolated event" put in mockery quotes. It seems a pretty strange attempt to shift the burden and demand that an assumed connection be disproved. It doesn't work that that way.
Is this guy connected to those people involved in other incidents? Are the other incidents connected to each other? How does this compare to crime rates going back decades when correlated with political beliefs?
If the only connection is an affinity for right wing politics or beliefs, then perhaps a look at the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang could raise the number of "isolated incidents" to, well, dozens at least.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Even ONE is one more than is acceptable. Pull your head out of your ass.
"Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the Republicans are not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it."
Thank you for assuming the role of conscience of a nation. Your sentiment and wit only serve to accent the class in which they are delivered.
You do the wronged great justice by wrapping yourself in their woe and wearing it as your own personal badge of honor. For you are able feel the ills of this world as few others can: as a skirt to hide behind while you shoot spitballs.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Someone wake me when he's done.
"Whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, the Republicans are not the least bit interested in solving it. They are interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it."
feign indifference. classic... silly liberals. logic is for grown-ups
How do you spot a Communist? Someone who reads Marx and Lenin. How do you spot an anti-communist? Someone who understands Marx and Lenin
How do you spot a dumbshit? Look at some arse who signs up on a forum and thinks it'll troll people in to believing it. How do you spot not a dumbshit? Someone who knows the difference between 'your' and 'you're' when having the audacity to refer to themselves as a 'college student.' Of course if you go to the Glenn Beck U, your shortcomings are understandable.
me-oww!
what influences this nut job was exposed to....
the 'isolated incidents' will start to unravel and reveal....
Vietnam Vet...nuff said...
Now they can add another one
http://www.csgv.org/issues-and-campaigns/guns...
these people are not always of the extreme right, but they also almost always have mental issues. what is it about the right in which they atrract people who are mentally unhinged? they appear to be viewrers/listeners of fox news and limbaugh. that said, if these people are this mentally unbalanced they need caregivers who watch what they view and listen to.
Not being a psychologist, by any stretch, but it seems that the further to the right one goes on the political spectrum, the less room there is for all that pesky nuance and all... seeing the world in either/or, black/white, good/evil can be quite comforting to one whose mental processes are chaotic to begin with.
By contrast, the further to the true left (not Leninism, Stalinism or Maoism which tend to be as authoritarian as fascist regimes, just giving lip-service to Marx rather than right-wing theorists), the greater the room for choices, nuance, and the rainbow of hues.
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
Just get the basic idea and guess the rest. I gotta hand it to ya C&L. Ya'll sure know how to imply connections that don't exist. There was absolutely no evidence of a connection there. Unless posing as a Muslim terrorist intently means you are a crazy right-winger. I also think its cool how you all instantly curse and whine at anyone who has a differing viewpoint. That really shows what kind of people you are. Anyway, I suppose you intended your readers to just browse over the quoted details and read the summary you gave at the bottom implying that it was a right-winger and then go post it on Facebook and tell all their friends. If that's how simplistic you liberals are then we got nothing to worry about in 2012.
How do you spot a Communist? Someone who reads Marx and Lenin. How do you spot an anti-communist? Someone who understands Marx and Lenin
Awesome, I've never been cool before. Thanks!
In case you haven't noticed, it is not Progressives or anyone on the left that has any preconceptions they would need validated --- a nutcase wanting to do something terrible and try to shift the blame to Muslims in order to make them look bad does not really strike me as being a Progressive...
Just sayin'
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
I don't think Liberty U teaches the difference between "Your" and "You are/You're" until upper division classes are involved. They have to learn why sweet baby Jesus is so awesome before they can move on to the more advanced stuff, like "Chewing bubble gun and walking at the same time 101."
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
additional info from the Detroit News article to which you linked:
"Four months ago, Stockham was suspended for 60 days for smoking marijuana at Post 5477 in Imperial Beach, said Richard Schmitz, co-chairman of the post's house committee."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110131/METRO01/1...
This is the second article you have posted about right wingers with a link to the devil's weed. I am beginning to see a pattern.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Well, what's it they always say, a libertarian's just a conservative that wants to smoke pot...
In the marketplace of ideas, too many people shop in the bargain basement.
-- Thunder BlueRose
Why, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU
http://saxman.bravepages.com
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