Anti-Obama Paranoia Leads Man to Kill His Family

I'd like to start this, by expressing my very sincere condolences to the friends and family of the slain. This was a terrible tragedy, no matter your politics or creed.
It should also never have happened.

As it says in this article, a Virginia man named Albert Peterson -- a defense contractor with a history of mental illness -- was so paranoid about the prospect of Barack Obama winning the November election, that he not only killed himself, but his wife and two sons. I'm prepared to be wrong about this, but I can't recall ever hearing about this happening before, at least in North America.

Clearly the man was already unstable, but I can't help but wonder if his paranoia was fed to an extreme degree, by the sort of insane rhetoric that we see from Fox News, right-wing talk radio, and the Tea Party. On Blogspot ALONE there are bloggers who blather about Obama being a scary Muslim socialist, out to kill grandma and retarded babies, who has already driven people to suicide over the economy, and who will "rightly" be kicked out in the election -- despite not a single one of those statements being true to date (and HIGHLY unlikely to ever be true). It is also why I find it galling, that Google has been slow to take down an anti-Muslim hate film that played a direct part in a global crisis that has killed 50 people to date, why it took the FBI several weeks to arrest any of the people responsible, that various blog moderators refuse to penalize users that post inflammatory material, and that the Tea Party is almost never held accountable for its long history of violent threats.

How many people have to die? When is enough, enough?

If you're not a liberal, fine. If you would never vote Democrat, fine. But remember, when someone says "I'd rather die, than see _____ in the Oval Office!" it's not supposed to be taken literally. As much as I loathe Mitt Romney, Stephen Harper, Tim Hudak, etc. it would take a lot more than their usual antics, for me to consider killing myself over them. I'd much rather try to vote them out.

And please, to anyone reading this, who knows someone THIS upset over the election, GET THEM TO A HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW. I don't care if they rave about "socialized health care", or if you normally don't trust it yourself -- it's either that, or more of THIS bullshit happens.

It's LONG past time, America, for you to get your act together. Your people's lives are now quite literally depending on it. Enough said.

The Far-Right Proves It's Not Christian

I've mostly avoided talking about the Republican candidates debates, partly because the front-runners are changing all the time, and frankly because they give people like me a little too much material (like, for instance, Mitt Romney campaigning with a white supremacist, on Martin Luther King Day). However, there is a new story that I really have to comment on, if for no other reason than it directly confirming everything I've been saying about today's conservatives.

In case you're new, I'll explain: I loathe the right-wing, particularly in North America. These are pundits and so-called leaders who are increasingly willing to boast a self-proclaimed morality one minute, and yet the next minute will do anything from scrap assistance for malnourished children, to literally encourage people to kill their own countrymen, over public health care. We've been seeing this in spades during the Republican rallies alone; candidates like Newt Gingrich openly vow to fire or arrest people for being liberal, Hermann Cain blamed the poor for being unable to find work (during the worst recession in nearly a century), Rick Santorum has based his whole campaign on bashing gays, blacks, and women (and wondering why he's being bashed back with extreme prejudice), and the less said about Michelle Bachmann, the better.

As a lower-case liberal, an agnostic, and a bisexual, it infuriates me that these people constantly say that people like me are the scum of the earth, and wear their supposed Christianity on their sleeves, and yet they themselves ignore Christ's teachings every chance they can get. Anyone who doesn't believe me, is perfectly welcome to find Gospel verses that have Jesus encouraging His followers to be selfish and bigoted hate-mongers -- but I suspect you're going to be as likely to find a recording of Aretha Franklin singing Marilyn Manson.

If you need any further proof, consider this clip of Ron Paul, at a recent debate aired on Fox News. I will say up front that I do not support Ron Paul at all (because quite frankly he's just a gentler version of these anti-rights twirps), but I have to back him up on this one because he's very much in the right.

For those who can't watch the video, here's a transcription:

RON PAUL: “My point is that if another country does to us what we do to others, we are not going to like it very much. I would say that we maybe ought to consider the golden rule in foreign policy. Don’t do to other nations what we don’t want them to do to us. We endlessly bomb these countries, and then we wonder why they get upset with us?”

AUDIENCE: [Boos]

These are voters who proclaim to all who listen, that they are TRUE Christians, and yet here they are ignoring words that allegedly came from Jesus Himself: Matthew 7:12 -- Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”

This incident alone, pretty much destroyed any claim they have ever made -- and ever will make -- to being righteous. It's bad enough when you deliberately ignore Jesus' teachings about peace, humility, selflessness, and immaterial living. It's bad enough when you totally pervert the teachings of your Lord and Saviour, to pretend that He called for the enslavement and utter annihilation of anyone different from you. But when you're flat out attacking people who recite Jesus' teachings... you're done.

October's Morons of the Month

This is not to be confused with the Douchebag of the Year finalists.

• The Harper Conservative Government for continuing to waste money and time on gaudy business cards, fighter planes that in addition to being junk, can't even communicate in their destined deployment area of the Arctic, and ramming a tough-on-crime agenda despite mounting evidence that CRIME IS AT AN ALL-TIME LOW (as well as once again interfering in a private-sector labour strike, despite thumping their chests about liberals doing the same thing [or less]). Furthermore, they claim to be tough on crime, yet refused to arrest ADMITTED WAR CRIMINAL George W. Bush.




• Herman Cain/The Tea Party/Fox News for blaming the unemployed for somehow not finding work, when corporate swine like Cain, News Corp. and the Koch brothers ARE NOT HIRING.




• Ontario Teacher/former watchdog Jacques Tremblay for co-writing and distributing a softcore porn novel, starring and aimed at high school students.




• Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak for disintegrating his election chances with a racist, homophobic, and utterly clueless campaign.




• Ayatollah Charles McVety (as well as the American/Florida Family Association) for taking out print and video ads that basically ENCOURAGE BULLYING OF QUEER YOUTH, when suicides in that demographic are on the rise.




• Don Cherry for bashing ex-NHL enforcers, for saying that hockey violence should be curbed, after multiple enforcers died during the summer, from various drug and mental health problems.




• The Family Research Council -- a Christian organization -- for praying against the Occupy movement. Apparently they skipped that section in The Book of Mark, when Jesus said His followers need to give up their possessions and help the poor.




• Kentucky Commissioner Steve Frank (and many other conservative Americans) for musing about "going Taliban" on the Occupy protesters.




• The creators of the The Thing [2011] for completely lying to the public, about whether or not their movie is a remake rather than a prequel.




• Harold Camping and his followers for once again getting it wrong, about the end of the world coming (for those of you who missed it, it was supposed to be last Friday).




• The Oakland Police Department (and others in America) for brutalizing and illegally arresting PEACEFUL PROTESTERS in the Occupy movement... even going so far as to CRITICALLY WOUND an Iraq veteran, by shooting a tear gas grenade at him, at point-blank range.






• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford for getting into a hissy fit over a well-known Canadian comedienne appearing on his driveway to do an ambush skit. Specifically, he waddled inside his house, made a series of profane 911 calls, and then lied to the public about what exactly happened (and even after the routine was aired, exposing his lies, has yet to own up to them). This has become such an embarrassment that he was just declared Keith Olbermann's Worst Person of the World, on the American Current TV channel.

News Corp. Whistleblower is Dead

So if you haven't heard, Sean Hoare -- the former News of the World reporter who blew the whistle on the Rupert Murdoch tabloid hacking cell phones -- has been found dead in his home. The police -- fresh off of losing two top officers to the scandal, and being investigated for corruption -- say that the death is "unexplained", yet somehow not suspicious.

Well gee... Mr. Hoare had evidence that a major media company, several British policemen, and probably some politicians, were breaking the law in truly reprehensible ways. It has already shut down one newspaper, cost many people their jobs, and gotten a dozen or so powerful people arrested. This scandal has even touched the Prime Minister's office to such a degree, that David Cameron is facing calls for his resignation. That's not even getting into the damage this could do state-side to Fox News, given that there are allegations of 9/11 victims/survivors having their voicemails tampered with as well. And now the man responsible for all of that, has died under mysterious circumstances, and the police are showing no interest in finding out how and why he died.

Does anyone still think I'm just being paranoid?

Noise of the World

Retirement or not, I really have to comment on the sizable dent put in Rupert Murdoch's empire of sleaze and propaganda. The owner of Fox News has had to shut down his UK tabloid "News of the World" in total disgrace, after it became public that several of its employees hacked the voicemails of not only celebrities and royalty, but dead British soldiers and victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks. Not only that, but they've allegedly deleted voicemails belonging to murdered schoolgirls -- including girls whose killers have yet to be caught.

Now, for those of us who actually have moral compasses, it goes without saying that this is beyond disgusting. Whether you're liberal, conservative, or anything in between, this should seriously sicken you -- and for the most part, that has been the reaction. Even if Murdoch is tap-dancing his way out of personal responsibility, he does seem to recognize that this looks bad (hence why the paper has shut down, after 160+ years). However, Murdoch's most rabid supporters -- especially Faux Noise fans -- don't agree.

While they are in the minority -- and doing nothing to change anyone's minds -- I am nonetheless seeing neo-cons whining about some kind of liberal conspiracy, or an attack on free speech, or even claiming that this scandal was completely made up. They usually say something rather pathetic to make these points like "here are the liberal loonies, at it again..." -- proving that not only are the most die-hard right-wingers sociopathically immoral, but have roughly the same intelligence and class as a schoolyard bully.

Let me explain a few things:

1. Not only has the British Conservative government called an inquiry into this (albeit reluctantly), not only has News of the World voluntarily shut down, but several of its former and present staff have been arrested. Therefore, this is not a fake issue.


2. NOTW's staff have been accused of not only sabotaging the investigations of murdered children but effectively robbing the graves of the very people that you conservatives deify to make it look like you have souls (ie. dead soldiers and terrorist victims). You don't need to be a liberal to be infuriated by that -- you need to have not only a respect for the law, but BASIC HUMAN DECENCY.


3. This is not about free speech. Even in democratic nations, YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO BE RESPONSIBLE for what you say. Even in the notoriously lenient America, you can be arrested for making threats, you can be sued for lying about people in public (not that those things matter to Fox News fans) and YOU WILL DEFINITELY BE ARRESTED FOR SPYING ON PEOPLE AND MESSING WITH MURDER PROBES.

Any of those things should be blatantly obvious to anyone with the kind of morals and respect for law and order that conservatives accuse the rest of the world of lacking, yet -- not surprisingly -- they are the only ones who not only don't get it, but are celebrating it. That alone, tells you why people are increasingly fed-up with today's right wing.

That's it for me.

Response to Arizona Shooting

Sun News Fail

Fox News Canada

Updates and Apologies

Security Soap Opera

2009 Douchebag of the Year

WHAT War on Christmas?

About Fort Hood

As we all know by now, an army psychiatrist and another soldier went berserk in the Fort Hood US Army base, killing or wounding about 40 people before being taken into custody.

The disgusting thing is that even more this man was revealed to be of Arabic descent (which Fox News sure didn't hesitate to jump on), there were people commenting on blogs and forums, "This is a war on Islam!" (of course they conveniently forget that just about every other mad shooter or domestic terrorist in American history has been a white man).

Right wingers have accused me and the left of slamming them unnecessarily when it comes to attitudes towards ethnics, but honestly what more proof do you need that North America as a whole is much more racist than it wants to admit? They insist that Islam as a whole is a brutal religion, based on no more than the actions of some fanatics (though of course no one is allowed to judge Christianity on the same grounds). Whenever some kind of trouble erupts, not only do they assume it's a Muslim doing it, but if they are right, they want to just lynch the person on the spot -- no trial, no due process, no nothing. Yet if the same thing happens to any other ethnic or religious group on the other side of the world, we call it a travesty.

Furthermore, when Oklahoma City was bombed, or Columbine High School shot up, I don't recall a single person saying that all the white people and/or Christians should be kicked out or killed. Enough said.

Obama Derangement Syndrome

The Fundy Bible