Caliphate-o-Phobia vs the Power of Hope

This weeks dramatic story in Egypt has riveted the world, with amazing images of courage and brutality, such as this one here where Christians lock hands to protect Muslims in Tahrir square during their morning prayers.



The facts are clear, but despite that Mubarak Regime has attempted to weave a completely alternative scenario as to what is actually happening claiming that "outside interests" and foreigners have instigated these protests and attempting to destabilize the country.

Beck inspired attempted Gun Attack on ACLU/Tides Foundation

While many of us are talking about the Fired/Not Fired Status of one USDA employee, another blockbuster story involving the impact of Right-Wing Media is unfolding.

From Oakland.

Police now say that Williams, an unemployed carpenter, told them that "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," according to court documents.

The ACLU aims to defend civil liberties, and the Tides Foundation partners with nonprofits "dedicated to lasting progressive social change."

Williams' mother has said her unemployed son was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items." 

I can understand a right-winger disliking and being upset with the ACLU (because they care so deeply about protecting individual civil liberties and freedom) but hardly anyone has even heard of the Tide's Foundation. Hardly anyone who isn't watching Glenn Beck that is.

Beck (at 4 mins 20 secs) : Some would say this was just one crazy teacher, that would be true if the President hadn't worked so hard to mold his image. If the Tides Foundation hadn't made an anti-Capitalist Propaganda Video, you might be able to say "it's just one crazy teacher..."

Here the "Propaganda" educational environmental video from the Tides Foundation that Beck mentioned, which he uses to attack Obama as being Un-American and Extra-Constitutional.



I know, quite well that Beck continues to say he doesn't endorse violence... well he does endorse LIES and bogus accusations against people who simply disagree with him on the importance of environmentalism.

There's no linkage between the Tides Foundation and one bunch of school kids singing a smarmy song about Obama. There's no massive conspiracy to deliberately collapse our economies in order TAKE OVER THE WORLD in the name of environmentalism.

That's just wacky, it's just plain nutty - but it's exactly the kind of ideas that Beck promotes on his program each and every single day, and is often BELIEVED by his somewhat dwindling audience of fellow Liberal Hating Conspiracy Theorists.

Looks like one of them after years of frustration with the job situation, listened to Beck blaming the ACLU & Tides and decided to use some "Second Amendment Remedies" of his own.

And after this week, Fox certainly can't claim that they don't have some influence on events.

Vyan

Contact Congress TODAY and Get them on Record about Non-Violence

I just got off the phone with the Offices of all three of my Congressmen (Women) Senator Boxer, Senator Fienstein and Rep Waters in order to ask them a very specific question...

Does the Congressperson Unequivocally Renounce and Denounce All Forms of Political Violence?

The Following are the Answers I Received

I just got off the phone with the Offices of all three of my Congressmen (Women) Senator Boxer, Senator Fienstein and Rep Waters in order to ask them a very specific question...

[b]Does the Congressperson Unequivocally Renounce and Denounce All Forms of Political Violence?[/b]

The Following are the Answers I Received
The reason i made this call was because of what day it is today, the 17th Anniversary of the Tragic End of the Waco Incident and the 15th Anniversary of the Bombing of the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building.

In recent weeks and months there has been a clear uptick in incidents of violence against the Government, threats and vile epithets against elected leaders.

We need to know where each and every one of our elected representatives stand this issue - oddly enough [i]their[/i] lives might depend on it in the end. The question isn't one about War, which some could argue is a form of Political Violence - but that's not the question I'm asking because that general occurs between nations, and could be more accurately described as [i]Diplomatic Violence[/i]. War is what happens when the negotiations and Diplomacy have completely failed. No, what I'm really talking about here is Terrorism and Intimidation. Domestic Terrorism and Intimidation, regardless of partisanship.

I did not address whether this violence is coming more from the left or the right giving examples such as the recent Death Threats against Speaker Pelosi as well as GOP Whip Cantor.

McVeigh's Truck Bomb didn't ask which political party you belonged too.

I didn't ask whether the Senators and Reps felt that Extreme Rhetoric from the Tea Parties was necessarily contributing to the increase in threats and actual violence, as that is a Free Speech Debate.

The question is simple:

[b]Does the Congressperson Unequivocally Renounce and Denounce All Forms of Political Violence?[/b]

The question isn't a trick, it's either "Yes" answer or "No, with qualifications/excuses..."

I first spoke with [b]Sen Boxer's Office[/b] and in pretty short order received an answer of "[b]YES[/b]" from the staffer on the phone. It was quick, it was painless, it was unequivocal.

I then called [b]Senator Feinstein's[/b] Office and asked the staffer on the phone referred to the Press Office where I repeated the question, with some background as to why I'm asking it - [i]On this day[/i] - including who I was and what I planned to do with the information (Post it here and on my Facebook). [b]They took my contact information and said they'd get back to me today with an Official Position.[/b]

In the midst of this back and forth I speculated with them on her answer as likely to be "Yes" considering the fact that Sen Feinstein was President of the San Francisco Supervisors Office when both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were brutally gunned down in the San Francisco City Hall by former Supervisor Dan White. She's the one who discovered Harvey's body.

Although that was years ago, I could understand why her office might want to be double certain about getting her answer right. We'll see what she says.

Lastly I called [b]Congressman Maxine Waters[/b] Office in DC, and received a busy signal. I then called her local office and after attempting to grapple with the question in her own opinion the staffer said "there might be some circumstances where..?" I asked "So that not an unequivocal "Yes' is it?" Ultimately like Fienstein's Office they suggested I talk to the Press Office in DC. A staffer picked up when I called back to DC the second time and I presented the question. Ultimate the answer was..

[b]"There are no circumstances where violence is called for"[/b] (which is admittedly a paraphrase, but I took as a "[b]Yes[/b]")

That answer didn't come from the Press Office, but I'll take it for now. I had short conversation after this point about various incidents which have occurred at the Capital, and after admitting that things had recently "calmed down" it was clear that their is an edge of fear on Capital Hill.

"We hope that Law Enforcement is able to protect us all, but all it takes is that one lone person that no one can predict..." he said.

Amen to that.

So while I'm waiting for the Call Back from Senator Fienstein I'm asking you all to do the same thing. Call your Representatives and Post Back their response to this question - I'll tally the answers and post them on the new [a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Democratic-Non-Violence-Project/116830241662091"]Democratic Non-Violence Facebook[/a] Page and shows what the results are.

Do our Reps Denounce All Political Violence, or do they make excuses when it's politically adventagious the way the [a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/15/857662/-Rep.-Steve-King-Blows-Up-over-his-Justification-of-IRS-Attack"]Rep. Steve King[/a] did when he was asked about the plane flying into the IRS office in Austin Texas? Or try to excuse the attack the way the [a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/18/scott-brown-terrorism-yawn/"]Senator Scott Brown[/a] did.


Let's put them on record people.

Senate [a href="http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm"]Contact Info[/a]

[a href="http://www.house.gov"]House.Gov[/a]