White Men are NEVER Labeled as Terrorists

That leads to a common thread among these murderous incidents. None has been labeled the work of terrorists by authorities or the media. All involved white men, most of whom -- like Jared Loughner in Tucson -- have been deemed troubled or disturbed by authorities and various media outlets. Even Jim David Adkisson, the unemployed truck driver who attacked the Knoxville church because he believed it was “a cult” and a haven for Democrats and secular liberals, has not been characterized as a political terrorist. Adkisson was a fan of the writings and shows of right-wing media personalities Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Sean Hannity, according to authorities who searched his residence after the 2008 shootings. However, his primary motivation, according to those same authorities, was the imminent loss of food stamps and inability to find a job.

Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS building in an eerie echo of the 9/11 attacks, is also not a terrorist -- just a plain old suicide. The Maine dirty-bomb maker, who amassed quantities of hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon, a terrorist? No, just a “disturbed individual.”

Arizona, of course, has seen a lot of extremist political activity in recent years. In fact, even as Jared Loughner was gunning down 20 people inside the Safeway on North Oracle Road on January 8th, the murder trial of Shawna Forde, head of the anti-immigrant Minutemen American Defense group, was getting underway in nearby Pima County Superior Court. Forde and two associates have been charged with the shooting death of a man, the wounding of his wife, and the killing of the couple’s nine-year-old daughter during a June 2009 robbery aimed at funding her extremist political activities.

These are America’s killing fields, coast to coast, yet the commentary and debate in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting revolves around political rhetoric in Washington. Both sides need to tone it down, we’re told. There have been endless discussions on television and radio, newspaper commentary and Internet postings all focused on the issue of overheated political talk -- as if Jared Loughner somehow leaped full-grown from the forehead of Glenn Beck.

Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck did not send Jared Loughner out to kill, even if their extreme lock-and-load rhetoric -- Beck, brandishing a baseball bat, has warned his viewers to watch out during the next “killing spree” -- has helped legitimate such talk. What they have certainly done is help create an inspirational environment where it is perfectly normal for Tea Party extremists to attend political rallies while packing pistols. Indeed, packing pistols is the point, isn’t it?

That said, conservative columnist David Brooks, in an astonishingly superficial argument, wrote in the New York Times that those who drag politics into public debate over the killing of political figures and government officials are leveling “vicious charges” and lack empathy for the mentally ill. Brooks gravely wagged his finger at those -- he singled out MSNBC commentator Keith Olberman, former Senator Gary Hart, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas -- who have argued that violent rhetoric from the Tea Party and Sarah Palin set the table for the Tucson shootings. (Of course Congresswoman Giffords herself chastised Palin for putting her district in the now-infamous gun-sight crosshairs. Does Brooks include her, too, in excoriating “vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness”?)
excerpted from Tomdispatch

MSNBC is Boldly Moving Forward

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- mono, the award-winning Minneapolis-based creative branding and advertising agency, today announces the new brand position, campaign and tagline for cable news giant MSNBC.

The line, "Lean forward" is a simple, yet bold statement designed to impassion MSNBC's audience and urge them to engage with the issues of the day.

The new campaign, based on a vision by MSNBC President Phil Griffin and the largest in the network's history, includes anthemic 60 second TV spots directed by Academy Award Nominee Spike Lee, a national print campaign, as well as station domination campaigns in Grand Central and other train stations in New York City. With headlines like, "It's time to think gigantic," and, "The future belongs to the fearless," the work targets those who believe progress happens when you look forward rather than backwards.

"MSNBC wanted to move from a traditional media company to a thought-leader in the television news space," said mono Managing Partner James Scott. "We believed a campaign with a tone that is positive and hopeful, as well as energetic and confident, would help realize Griffin's vision and clearly define the mission of the network."
[...]

"We wanted to work with mono because of their passion for simplicity, innovation and storytelling," said Sharon Otterman, the chief marketing officer for MSNBC. "This campaign is as brilliant as it is bold and it carves out an authentic and defendable space for us in the marketplace."

Keith Olbermann Sides with Muslim Supremacists

The vampires are out in full force.

Last night, Keith Ubertool Olbermann earned his propaganda paycheck by lying, deceiving and giving opportunists and charlatans the opportunity to exploit the horrible 911 attacks for their own personal gain.

David Paine went on Keith Olbermann representing 911 families (which he is not) and misled the American people about our Rally of Remembrance. The majority of 911 families support our tribute here. A number of 911 family members pleaded with Olbermann, requesting equal time to speak in support of the rally and rebut Paine, but were refused.

Instead, David Paine, a public relations man who is not a 911 family member, masqueraded as a speaker for "the families," derided the rally, and equated our patriots tribute to the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-survivor-assaulting Sharia-supporting pro-mosque rallyers, engaging in a breathtaking moral equivocation. We are not remotely on the same moral playing field with those Islamic supremacists. Wait, it gets better. Public relations man Paine then spent the better part of the interminably long segment selling his 911 "day of service" socialist nonsense, a PR initiative of his (working in service of the Obama administration). Paine has scribbled for the Puffington Ho. ...............

September 11 is a day to remember our fallen and reflect on the lives they lived and how much they contributed to family, friends and country. How deeply and profoundly they are missed. I think it's a travesty that September 11th should be turned into anything or used for anything but remembrance. It is a day of mourning. That day should be devoted to mourning the dead and what we, all Americans, lost. Any other day would be appropriate for "volunteerism." But to mandate September 11th a day of service is highly offensive and insensitive to all Americans suffering that horrible loss. Faith based, no less. Uh, which faith? Who chooses? Need I say more?

911 families support the Ground Zero rally of remembrance and will be speaking at our tribute.

UPDATE: New Yorkers Oppose Ground Zero Mosque by Two-Thirds Margin

Kerry Rips msnbc for Rev Jeremiah Wright Obsession

“You folks need to let go of this. Television needs to stop dwelling on something that is in the past. I thought Barack Obama yesterday gave America his second big presidential moment of this campaign. The first when he spoke out about the issue of race. The second yesterday, when he made it clear, every one of the statements of the minister are just unacceptable. They're not the person that he knew before. Now let's move on to how we'll put people to work. How are you going to give people health care? How are you going to create jobs in america? What Barack Obama is offering in this gas price issue is real leadership. I mean, do we want people who sort of put their fingers in the wind and throw out an idea for the short term that is sort of politically pleasing, or do you want a here who stands up and says, no, what we need is to really lower gas prices by having a real energy policy, an intelligent policy that puts in place the incentives for renewable fuels and alternative fuels. That's what Barack Obama is doing. And it is you guys have to focus on the thing that really matter to the American electorate. The other thing is just worn out, old history now. This guy had his narcissistic moment and it is finished.”