Driving to Kill People, Driving People to Kill
If it were not for the California Highway Patrol noticing that a man was driving erratically on i580, many people would probably be dead today. Byron Williams was armed to the teeth. More importantly, he was paranoid, angry as hell, and ready to kill–and Glenn Beck apparently made him that way.
We now know that Williams was on his way to kill as many people as he could at the ACLU and the Tides Center. The ACLU has been attacked everywhere, but the Tides Center? What’s that?
Most people have never heard of the organization. It’s goal is to give backing to a variety of projects, focusing on progressive initiatives with an emphasis on social justice and change. Among its projects are organizations which promote clean energy, further civil & human rights, encourage philanthropy, fight violence against women, create youth centers, making Internet service available for the poor, and other such maniacally evil schemes.
Actually, it’s a fantastic institution which has done a lot of very good work. But here’s the thing: it’s a progressive organization. And ever since the right wing set out to vilify and destroy MoveOn.org, they have realized that they can do a lot of damage to the liberal side by targeting its most productive and effective public works organizations, one by one. ACORN was simply one of their recent successes. But another target is the Tides Center. Not because they actually do bad things, but because they empower women, minorities, the poor, and the oppressed, and work to clean up business and promote Communist principles like truth, justice, fairness, and other nefarious and dubious principles.
So naturally, Glenn Beck hates them. Which is why, if you’re not a frequent Beck watcher, you probably never heard of Tides; but if you’re a Fox fan, they will definitely have been on your radar for a while recently.
Most significantly, Beck has been after them more than anyone else.
So, when this nutball from rural California sets out to shoot and kill as many people as he can gun down in the Tides Center in San Francisco, you have to wonder no longer who pointed the way.
If I were someone at the Tides Center, I would be sending lawyers to interview Williams right now, trying to get information from the guy about how Glenn Beck showed him who to target, and then start a lawsuit. It would likely fail, but it would nevertheless highlight what Fox is doing, and how irresponsibly they are endangering innocent people by driving their fringe to violence.
And if you think Fox is oblivious to what effect their hysteric harangues are having, think again. I am willing to bet good money that they know exactly what they’re doing–that it is a purpose, not an accident.
You don’t make omelets without breaking a few eggs, right?
Chilling.
Half this country is borderline nuts and ~5% are total nuts.
45% — God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.
13% — Man has developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no part in this process.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm
When the nuts outnumber the rationalists 3.5 to 1, a lot of stupid things are going to happen, like invading Iraq and people borrowing $4T more than they are able to pay back.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-16/housing-bubble-leaves-4-trillion-hangover-chart-of-the-day.html
Well, maybe not the latter so much since both Iceland and Japan also had pretty bad bubbles despite being rather secular countries.
The Tides Foundation did this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8 (The Story of Stuff)
Little bit to the Berkeley left of me, but only a couple of things that are terribly egregious (the toxic goods part). My economics tell me the problem isn’t consumer goods as much as it is land costs (rent/mortgage).
I think this is evident enough from all our personal stories, we spend much more on the rent than consumer goods.
Anyhoo, Beck’s counter-attack on the Story of Stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5fd57p__fA
this 4 minute clip is the longest I’ve watched Beck. Wow, we’re really in a battle, aren’t we? Curious that his main counter-attack was the forests thing. 2nd growth forest is generally nothing like the surviving old growth.
And even if Constitutionally the Federal Government doesn’t have carte-blanche via the General Welfare clause, that is not the true issue, for we can amend the Constitution to clarify this.
The core issue that conservative (and Republicans, but I repeat myself) do not agree that we should empower Government to interfere with the magic of the free market in this way.
2006 and 2008 was a tactical victory perhaps but the forces of evil are still very strong. Perhaps our best bet is to take over a state and run it our way.
I nominate California. Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii are welcome to join. We could be New Pacifica.
All the a-holes at Faux News are pathological liars, as is Murdoch,
for gawd’s sake! They sodomize conservatives and ramp up their fears.
They appear to me to be more like terrorists, seeking the downfall of
this country. Maybe Faux News Network should be renamed Al-Queda Cousins Network: ACN……