They say it's better to be lucky than good. But on Thursday, Fox News host Glenn Beck may have been both. The night before, his pay-for Insider Extreme web site premiered "Rumors of War," an incendiary pseudo-documentary designed to drum up support for conflict with Tehran by claiming, among other things, "now the Iranians are positioning themselves, so they will be able at some point in time, to penetrate the southern borders of the United States with terrorists." Then almost on cue, the next morning a "Fox News Exclusive" ominously reported, "Iranian Book Celebrating Suicide Bombers Found in Arizona Desert." Immediately picked up by the conservative echo chamber, within hours Beck himself was reporting the story.

That extraordinarily happy coincidence for Beck and his right-wing allies started with a new flash from Foxnews.com Thursday morning:

A book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S.- Mexican border, authorities tell Fox News.

The book, "In Memory of Our Martyrs," was spotted Tuesday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent out of the Casa Grande substation who was patrolling a route known for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs.

Published in Iran, it consists of short biographies of Islamic suicide bombers and other Islamic militants who died carrying out attacks.

But while Fox quoted a Homeland Security statement which cautioned, "At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border," Beck's employer left out some vital information that might cast some doubt on the growing Iranian threat south of the Rio Grande.

Those omissions included the fact that the worse-for-wear copy of "In Memory of Our Martyrs" was written not in Farsi or even Arabic, but in English. Listed on Amazon.com (pictured here), the book was published by Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance in 1982, the short book "contains biographies of Islamic suicide bombers, along with final letters they wrote to their families," presumably during Tehran's war with Iraq beginning in 1980.

Nevertheless, as CBS affiliate KPHO Channel 5 in Phoenix reported:

Still, the story has gone viral on the web, with blog posters suggesting this is proof Islamic terrorists who intend to do harm are using our porous border with Mexico to enter the United States.

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., called on the Obama administration to secure the border. "If terrorists ever come across our border with nuclear weapons... they (could) hold an entire city hostage," Franks said. "This book is a grave reminder of the mindset and intent of the indescribably dangerous enemy we face."

Within hours of the Fox story, the right-wing blogosphere was doing its best to warn of the reading list of the would-be Muslim martyrs in Mexico. Hot Air and Townhall predictably ratcheted up the warning. Then, Glenn Beck's own web site The Blaze amplified the threat, leading its story with "Fox News has an exclusive report detailing how a book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S.- Mexican border ." No surprise, The Blaze added a promotion for the Beck's "Rumors of War" documentary, which just happens to be a jeremiad on the same topic.

Editor's note: A portion of the recent documentary, "Rumor of War," released by Glenn Beck deals specifically with this topic. It discusses Iran's infiltration of Mexican drug cartels and the push to enter America through its southern border. That documentary can be viewed here.

By Thursday night, Glenn Beck himself completed the conservative news cycle of life on his own Fox News show:

I want you to know, there are enemies within our own borders. Did you see this FOX News exclusive today? An Iranian book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert. Gee, you think?

The discovery of that book could be very bad news for the people of the United States of America. Or, given its almost miraculously timed appearance in the Arizona desert, very good news for Glenn Beck.

(This piece also appears at Perrspectives.)

Rep Trent Franks of Arizona made the rounds on the Sunday talk show circuit today and he did his best to make believe he's really a very civil guy. The right is frantically trying to silence the criticism of the over the top rhetoric and violent activities during president Obama's brief time in office that has emanated from the RWNM. I watched him on Meet the Press and then CNN. He certainly wasn't too happy with Sheriff Dupnik's comments about the hate that has filled our country and he cited Arizona as being the 'Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.'

Dupnik: "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," he said. "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

Crowley: Wow, the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

Franks: Even in these circumstance, first of all I think our focus should be upon the tragedy that occurred here and I think it's unfortunate to inject the comments that the Sheriff did in this case because he has been heavily involved in the whole immigration issue and he found himself in this case at ends even different than Miss Giffords. And I think that he's carrying on that debate even in this tragic moment and I think it's unfortunate.

Crowley: Probably should say that you all have been personally affected by this and that sometimes you say things you might not want to. The point being that there is now going to be this conversation about "why?" And right now we are seeing "the political conversation is terrible, it is heated rhetoric, we are seeing unhinged people to do things." Do you see a link between increased sharp rhetoric, sometimes aggressive rhetoric, violent rhetoric, whatever you want to call it, in the political forum and this type of heinous activity.

Frank: Sometimes in any human dynamic there are so many factors that it becomes difficult to really analyze it. But sometimes you can see a central element, and that central element is this unhinged lunatic that had no respect for human life was willing to make some grand statement, I don't know if he even knows what grand statement he was willing to make to take the lives of his fellow human lives to do it. And there is the problem, a lack of respect for innocent human life. It's a lack of respect for the constitution, for freedom.

Many of the Tea Party candidates that won and lost during the midterm elections crossed the line of civility during the HCR debates a long time ago and they were backed up by the shock jocks and their FOX News friends. It would be naive to think that no matter how unhinged Loughner is, you have to ask the question. Where did he hear about the US and the gold standard? It's not a common thread among many in this country. I think you know. However, what kind of behavior did Trent Franks put on display during 2009?

Does calling President Obama an enemy of humanity fit his definition of respect for human life?

It's interesting that he would say that. And even more interesting that Crowley didn't think to ask him about this comment of his at last year's How To Take Back America conference:

Obama's first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers' money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries...there's almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn't be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can't do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity

There is no comparison of how the left and right conduct themselves. What's sad but expected is how the MSM is trying to equivocate both sides when the right has been just throwing gasoline on the fire that they started during the general election of 2008.

At C&L we obviously have focused on the extreme right wing vitriol. You can search some of our many tags to see how much hate and crime is being perpetrated because of this vitriol. Here are two...

http://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/3952

http://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/11838

You can also check out this excellent piece that documents many vitriolic rhetoric as well as violent criminal acts that have occurred in the last few years. Insurrectionism Timeline

I ask again. How many acts of violence does it take for the media to stop calling this a lone nutjob and reveal there is a well established pattern of behavior that has taken over the country and it is led by the Conservative/Tea Party/John Birch followers and transmitters?

Rachel's absolutely right, this is not a contest one should want to win, yet disturbingly, we keep getting more and more candidates, don't we?

Arizona Congressman Trent Franks told blogger Mike Stark that African Americans were much better off under slavery. [..]

FRANKS: In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say "How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can't believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible." And we're right, we're right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America's soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?

That pain that feels like an ice pick gouging your brain for being exposed to such utterly ridiculous and historically ignorant ramblings? I have it too.

First and foremost, the statistic of half of all black babies being aborted is one wholly made up by someone who doesn't grasp math, as BruinKid at DKos points out. And they're not babies, but pregnancies. But the privileged white man from Arizona--the same state who fought against a MLK Day--saying that compared to today, blacks had it so much better while being considered a non-human piece of property is stunning. Being separated from your family, beaten, raped, starved, and generally mistreated. Nor, apparently, did Franks consider how many black babies of white slave owners were aborted--or worse, victims of infanticide--by the slave women unwilling to subject another generation to the treatment to which they were forced to endure.

Trent Franks has never been the brightest bulb in the House, sadly, so no one is particularly surprised with this latest egregiousness. This is the same man who pandered to the birthers and called Obama "an enemy of humanity" and suggests that having terror trials in NYC is akin to asking for a nuclear attack on the same city. He also worried about Muslims spies "infiltrating" Washington because some of the interns who worked on the Hill are *gulp* Muslim. However, as Mike Stark points out, Franks is authentic in his concern about the prevalence of abortions:

To be fair, Congressman Franks is as sincere as he is conservative. The issue of life never falls out of first place in his legislative priority list. I don’t believe for one second that he intends to insult anyone; I don’t think he sees the racism (or paternalism) in what he’s saying. Still… This is pretty bad.

Yes, yes it is.

h/t Right Wing Watch.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is not exactly known as a towering intellect, although he's a panderer to wingnuts par excellence. Just days *after* he assured an FDL crew that he knew that Obama was born in Hawaii, he told a town hall audience that he wanted to file a lawsuit demanding that Obama produce his long-form birth certificate. It would appear Franks has calculated that there are votes in them thar wingnuts, because his statement at the Take Back America conference over the weekend is clearly tapping into that angry, violent undercurrent:

Obama's first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers' money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries...there's almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn't be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can't do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity.

You stay classy there, Trent. Remember when the GOP lost their minds because one of the Dixie Chicks said only that she was ashamed of being from the same state as the president? How in the world can they justify such over-the-top nastiness now? If the majority party wasn't so gutless, I'd think a formal censure in the House would be considered.

John Amato:

Calling Obama an enemy of the people puts a big fat target on his back. These elected officials are acting like militia members who fly to DC in black helicopters and are helping to plan a violent act against him. It's dangerous and disrespectful and he should be called out publicly for his behavior.