Yelling “Fire!” in a Crowded Theater Filled with Pyromaniacs

I saw some op-ed on the internets that compared right wing hate media’s (O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.) take on abortion providers as being akin to “yelling fire in a theater filled with arsonists.”  I thought that was an amusing line, but wondered when we’re talking about folk like Scott Roeder, if “pyromaniacs” might be the better choice.  Arsonists can, after all, have fairly rational reasons for setting fires – collecting insurance, etc.  pyromaniacs are a different breed as I understand it.

I have been told that pyromaniacs will often visit the fire they have set and will, either at the time of viewing, or shortly after, masturbate.  Their urges toward crime have been eroticized – in other words, strongly reinforced and thus prone to happen again.

Scott Roeder’s crime, while not apparently eroticized, was driven by religious certitude.  He was “doing God’s will”.  Another variety of very powerful motivation for engaging in and repeating a crime.

So, while I think every person is ultimately responsible for their own behavior, it does seem to me that those who would incite into action people like Scott Roeder share in some of that responsibility.  Yelling “fire” in a crowded theater filled with pyromaniacs is serious business and not at all funny.

Iggy Donnelly

Neo-Nazis are in the Army now

Why the U.S. military is ignoring its own regulations and permitting white supremacists to join its ranks. By Matt Kennard
June 15, 2009 |

On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. He told me on the phone I would recognize him by his skinhead. Sure enough, when I spot a white guy at a table by the door with a shaved head, white tank top and bulging muscles, I know it can only be him.

Over a plate of chicken wings, he tells me about his path into the white-power movement. “I was 14 when I decided I wanted to be a Nazi,” he says. At his first high school, near Los Angeles, he was bullied by black and Latino kids. That’s when he first heard Skrewdriver, a band he calls “the godfather of the white power movement.” “I became obsessed,” he says. He had an image from one of Skrewdriver’s album covers — a Viking carrying a staff, an icon among white nationalists — tattooed on his left forearm. Soon after he had another white power symbol, a Celtic cross, emblazoned on his stomach.

At 15, Fogarty moved with his dad to Tampa, where he started picking fights with groups of black kids at his new high school. “On the first day, this bunch of niggers, they thought I was a racist, so they asked, ‘Are you in the KKK?'” he tells me. “I said, ‘Yeah,’ and it was on.” Soon enough, he was expelled.

For the next six years, Fogarty flitted from landscaping job to construction job, neither of which he’d ever wanted to do. “I was just drinking and fighting,” he says. He started his own Nazi rock group, Attack, and made friends in the National Alliance, at the time the biggest neo-Nazi group in the country. It has called for a “a long-term eugenics program involving at least the entire populations of Europe and America.”

But the military ran in Fogarty’s family. His grandfather had served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and his dad had been a Marine in Vietnam. At 22, Fogarty resolved to follow in their footsteps. “I wanted to serve my country,” he says.

Is the military so hard up for bodies, they will break their own rules?  These are people whose only design is race hatred. Blogs stand for something, and I think it’s high time we band together on this one and hound our elected representatives that this is totally unacceptable.

jammer5

ARE WE WORTHY? ~sekanblogger

In my never-ending search for under-rated ‘common man’ blogs, I got stuck commenting here http://kmareka.com/ and that’s not a bad thing. They also are BLOGGING FOR CHANGE.

Kiersten and her guests there have been fun and courteous. Even sheriff Joe and I kinda’ accepted each other. Their blog, although from Rhode Island, is surprisingly parallel to ours. (Rhode Island is 1/2 way to Ireland from here isn’t it). They do have regular local content, which I have no idea about those issues, but for the most part many of our posts echo each others. In any case, I find it comfortable commenting there. You may too. Iggy and Kiersten may have psychology discussions….

I found this little list on the blogroll page:

What are Worthy Blogs?

My concept of a worthy blog is one that:
1. Contains meaningful writing, not just propaganda;
2. Uses potty talk sparingly and effectively;
3. Is designed for ease of use;
4. Is not overrun with advertising;
5. Is thoughtful and timely;
6. Is careful in its use of language, showing appreciation for grammar and spelling;
7. Is accepting of diversity;
8. Recognizes and responds to new voices participating in the blog;
9. Contains original writing, along with posts to other people’s writing.

Want your blog listed on this page? Send me an email at kiersten22@verizon.net and I will be happy to consider your inclusion.

I like the list! I thought about ‘borrowing’ it for our humble little blog. But then again, maybe I’ll just do the right thing and write this post for Kiersten. The list above did appear to describe PrariePopulistsAndProgressives!

TAXING HEALTH CARE?

But many Democrats, particularly in the Senate, have balked at the idea, saying they prefer a tax that has some hope of winning Republican support. In legislation that could be unveiled as early as this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is expected to propose a new tax on the health benefits that millions of Americans currently receive tax-free through employers.

Economists say taxing employer-sponsored benefits would help trim runaway health costs and force society to broadly share the burdens of reform. The idea also has bipartisan appeal. Former president George W. Bush and John Mc Cain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential candidate, championed a form of the tax; so did Obama advisers Jason Furman and Ezekiel Emanuel before they joined the administration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402769_pf.html

The thought of this is an outrage, if the issue is affordable health care and to suggest taxing health care benefits? That is totally unreasonable, shall we be taxed after lung replacement on the air that is newly taken in? How about a tax on free speech, we do not have to pay to have the right of free speech so should that too be taxed? It would appear to be a Bi-partisan idea more though a Washington idea and the thought of someone so in a bubble that reality is created with Crayons and colored paper!

This is a idea of everyone having to share the cost? NO it is punishing those who have what you want everyone to have. I was once told that Colorado has a “View tax” if you own or buy land that has a scenic view you are taxed on the view. Idiotic! The Government does not have a RIGHT to tax everything in the name of the people. Nor is there a duty to do some as a form of punishment or atonement.

A tax should be a fair matter for all not singular for some, it falls into the age old argument of taxing the have because their are the have. In this case those who do already have health care would be taxed for having health care! Costello’s answer “How stupid do you want me to be?”.

Well you know that employers also provide toilet paper for the restroom used by the employees why not tax that too? Then there are the lights and the air conditioning least we forget there is also safety equipment for the safety of the employees. IDIOTIC!!!

LEFTY BLOGGERS, HAVING WON, NEED TO COMPROMISE – by Jason Salzman

 WE’RE NO.1, WE’RE NO.1 !! Here’s an article that pretty well sums up my reason for blogging, and validates PrariePop’s purpose, as stated on the ABOUT page.  We are a mob, or rather a swarm, as Salzman puts it. ~sekanblogger

  I picked up Eric Boehlert’s new book, “Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press,” because I wanted to find out how a journalist like Boehlert shows that bloggers have a real-life impact on politics.

I mean, we all know there are who-knows-how-many bloggers out there, posting political opinions, facts, corrections, and errors of their own on the Internet for all to see. But what do they actually achieve, beyond talking to each other? Or should I say, linking to each other? How does their work affect mainstream politics?

That’s the beauty of “Bloggers on the Bus.” It captures the tactics used by blogging activists, who have writing skills but often-minimal political experience, to move a lefty notion out of fantasyland and into the mainstream consciousness.

One way bloggers do this is by using cyber fundraising tools to steer political donations to promising underdog candidates, like unknown Elwyn Tinklenberg, who came inches away from unseating Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachman, a GOP rising star, who stirred the ire of bloggers when she suggested that Obama was anti-American.

The book also explains how a “blogswarm” (many blogs focusing on the same topic) creates a wave of actions by blog readers. For example, bloggers mobilized their minions to inform the Democratic presidential candidates that planned debates on the Fox Network would have given undue legitimacy to Fox as a news source. The Democrats eventually agreed, and the debates were canceled. 

Monday, 06/15/09, Public Square

Don’t let Monday get you down!  It’s only four days ’till Friday!

fnord

Attack of the Zombie Republicans

The GOP’s living dead won’t stop haunting their party, says lifelong Republican John Batchelor. Now Rush, Newt, and Dick are doing what zombies do best: laying waste to everyone’s brains.

Woo Hoo, if you think Democrats are critical of these guys, think again. We could take lessons from this guy!  His op-ed piece is a must read.

fnord