VIDEO: Swastikas smeared in beans found on Arizona state Capitol grounds

By GottaLaff

Vandalism like this isn't the answer, but it does provide a glimpse at what's in store when people-- and that's what they are, people-- feel persecuted, terrified, and pushed to the limit:



This country has a history of being driven by fear, anger, and hate, most recently, via BushCo's attempt to scare us into submission with their obsession with a war on a word (terrorism). Muslims became the enemy, even though only a fraction deserved the label "terrorist".

Now we have an African American in the White House. As a result, we also have hate-mongers and racists who are so terrified that their majority white comfort zone is being pulled out from under them that they attack anyone who is "different".

Dangerous armed militias are becoming more and more prevalent. Who will protect us from those nutcases? Pfft, it's much easier to target immigrants, make them the scapegoats. They don't "belong". They're "different". They must prove that they are American.

Now the "different" are starting to retaliate.

How about targeting illegal employers? How about writing constructive immigration laws that make sense rather than demanding birth certificates from anyone who strikes law enforcement as "illegal"?

Let's try to remember that we live in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, not the land of the harassed and the home of the cowardly. Let's remember that E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one"), was once considered our de facto motto... not, "Where are your papers?"

Compare & Contrast: Map-O'-Vandalized Congress Members v. Palin's Map-O'-Hate

By GottaLaff

TPM has a running update of the attacks on Democrats. A picture's worth a thousand threats. Let's compare maps:


It's always good to have reference points, isn't it?

ShootFirst McAskLater's map can be seen in full here.

H/t: Joeyess

Vandalism of Democratic Offices Coincides with Health Care Vote

By GottaLaff

Racism. Homophobia. Baby killer. Poisoned. Repeal. Disbanding. These are all words that appear in my blog titles today. These are also words that pertain to the destructive behavior of the Republican party and the Tea Baggers.

Something is very wrong. The direction these people are taking this country is an unhealthy, dysfunctional, and dangerous one.

Now we can add "vandalized" to the list:

In recent days, several Democratic offices around the nation have also been vandalized. Although it’s unclear who the perpetrators are, all the incidents took place shortly before or after the House’s vote on health care yesterday:

– The glass front door of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-AZ) Tuscon office was “smashed out” a “few hours after she voted in favor of health care reform.” Giffords’ spokesman C.J. Karamargin “said it was unclear if the glass had been shot out with a kind of pellet gun, if it had been kicked or smashed with an object. The door has been covered with plywood.”

– On the morning of March 19, someone threw a brick through the front window of Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY) Niagara Falls office. Monroe County Democratic Committee officials also said that a brick shattered the glass doors at their party’s headquarters in Rochester, NY on Saturday or Sunday.

Think Progress's Amanda Terkel has more. I wish she had less.

Break-ins reported at another climate research center

By GottaLaff

Watergate redux.

To hell with the health and well-being of, you know, Planet Earth and its world population, our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. It's much more important to fatten up bank accounts, make headlines, and pull off as many perverse power plays as possible:

As the United States — led by President Barack Obama — prepares to join the world in the fight against global warming, the opponents of reform are resorting to criminal desperation, harkening back to the amoral extremes of Richard Nixon. The release of the hacked emails from CRU was praised as the act of a “whistleblower” by conservatives. “The timing couldn’t be better,” chortled Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). The original Watergate scandal began when right-wing operatives burglarized the offices of their political opponents during a presidential election. “Climategate” is turning out to be worse — now the criminals are turning on scientists as the world burns.

Read the story about the break-in at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia here.

Sometimes it feels like much of the world needs a gigantic straight jacket.

Tire slashing story in NY-23 made to look political? Looks that way.

By GottaLaff

I posted everything you need to know and more about this story here. Consider this an epilogue:

Capt. Michael Branch of the Plattsburgh City Police Department said the incident wasn’t criminal mischief, but rather a tire-meets-bottle affair. “This was not a tire slashing—this was some guy who drove over a bottle and cut his tire,” Branch said.

The police captain added that he had personally driven past all of Plattsburgh’s polling places and found “no disorder, no crowds, nothing going on. Peace and quiet here in Plattsburgh.”

Peace and quiet, except in the mind of the conservative candidate. See my previous post.

H/t: raine1967

UPDATED -Definition of stupid: Brag about election-related vandalism on Twitter

By GottaLaff

This is getting ridiculous. ANOTHER UPDATE:

Anton Troianovski of the Wall Street Journal followed up with the Plattsburgh police on this, and was told that the volunteer actually damaged his tire on a broken bottle. I asked Hoffman campaign manager Dan Tripp about this–he said he had no comment because the campaign had not heard this yet.

Guess Hoffman owes ACORN an apology, huh? (see update below)

H/t: IanDavidB

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Dear Ali, I am sorry.

But not for this: Hoffman blames ACORN:

“There are reports that they’re bringing in the troops and they’re bringing in ACORN,” said Hoffman. “I think the Democrats are doing anything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd district.”

Then he backtracked by saying the police were still investigating. But not before he blamed the dreaded ACORN and evil Democrats for slashing his tires and stealing the election.

UPDATE: Now I'm hearing it's a Hoffman precinct worker whose tires were slashed (see Update #2) . If so, I owe Ali a retraction. He claims his use of "had" was misconstrued. Again, if so, then I will amend this post in his favor.

Additionally, the Twitterverse pretty much read it the way my source did, and the way I did. Communication is everything.

UPDATE 156917: Okay, he may not have been stupid enough to boast about vandalizing, but he can't be all that bright if he texts while driving doing 100, and tweets about that:

Original post:

We're waiting for that proof, Elmer. It will make an arrest so much easier:

(click on any image to enlarge)

Democracy in action! I wonder if Ali is pals with these people.

UPDATE- Here's a little extra info about our special Tweeter, the bio he chose to post on his profile page:

I wonder if his ambitions include his very own police record.

UPDATE #2:

H/t: raine1967

VIDEO: "I Swastika Obama" Carved on Golf Course

By GottaLaff



VIDEO AND STORY CONTRIBUTED BY CBS AFFILIATE WBZ BOSTON

The Secret Service is on it. That's good, but it doesn't take away from the revulsion we all feel, nor the effort and hate it took to actually took to do something as huge as this.

President Obama is expected to be in the area in a few weeks. Some welcome:

Someone carved the letter "I" then a swastika and the word "Obama" on the 18th hole at the Lakeville Country Club. [...]

"It's just so insulting to the human race and it just shouldn't be part of our doings by anybody. I just can't understand it. It's unforgivable," course owner Gary Mosca told WBZ.

As was said in the video, this goes way beyond typical vandalism.

Out. Of. Hand.

Artist Shepard Fairey's Studio Tagged with Anti-ACORN Graffiti

Really, it makes you wonder about people's logic capabilities. What the hell does Fairey have to do with ACORN?

So much for HOPE. That, at least, is the symbolic message sent by an anti-ACORN activist or group that targeted Studio Number One in Los Angeles, the commercial design studio of Obama HOPE poster creator Shepard Fairey, with anti-ACORN graffiti.

(snip)

The anonymous anti-ACORN activist or activists tried to link the anti-poverty group to the man who helped create the iconic image of the Obama campaign by targeting his studio with an image of the ACORN logo beneath the words "ACORN Funded Prostitution Zone."

Studio Number One does not receive any funds from the government, according to a spokesman, and does no work for ACORN.

"While we support free expression, it is ironic that...the conservatives and right-wingers who called pro-Obama art propaganda and if it was posted publicly, they called it vandalism, are now vandalizing private property in their campaign against ACORN," said Jay Strell, a spokesman for Studio Number One and Fairey. The graffiti has been removed, he added.