An Isolated Crime, Not a Movement

Just look at all the angry talk done by people like Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. "Obama is taking away your freedom!" "Obama is pushing the country in Socialism!" "Obama is the root of all evil!" "Buy guns before Obama takes them away from you!" This type of irresponsible journalism (if you can call it journalism) is encouraging nutters like this guy to ooze out of the woodwork. It is the American Taliban at its finest - grab a bible in one hand, and a gun in the other, and if your spouse, neighbor, best friend doesn't agree with you, they aren't REAL Americans and its okay to "protect" yourself. America is slowly slipping away from a civilized country to the old west, where there was no law and everyone carried a gun, whether they knew how to use it or not. The Rethuglicans need to rethink how they are influencing this country.

As the staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum mourns the death of Steven T. Johns, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words, which echo his oft-noted sentiments take on a new significance. Unlike the Rev. Smith, who, in her last essay, managed to omit Jews as a people loved by God, indeed, cannot mention Jews, even in her current post, the Reverend Wright has no such qualms, today, June 11th, 20009.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_wright_0610jun10,0,7603283.story

'"Of course I voted for him; he's my son. I'm proud of him," Wright said. "I've got five biological kids. They all make mistakes and bad choices. I haven't stopped loving any of them.

"He made mistakes. He made bad choices. I've got kids who listen to their friends. He listened to those around him. I did not disown him.'

Asked if he had spoken to the president, Wright said: 'Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office.'"

EXCELLENT post by zulanwar9 above.

I couldnt have said it better. Yet another attempt by an American supporter of Israel (David Wolpe) to somehow interlink anti-Israel sentiment with anti-semitism.

No doubt there is anti-semitism in America still and in Europe for sure. Not to mention the Arab world. A good portion of the anti-semitism is driven by Israel's actions in Palestine, and the blind support it gets from America. Everybody including American jews know that... but they let the Hannitys of the world shout themselves hoarse denying that fact, in their behalf.

But most humanists and liberals around the world (inclding in Asia and Latin America, where anti-semitism has no relevance, or as much significance), DESPISE Israel's history and it's actions to date, while being entirely cognizant of the holocaust, the multi-generational discrimination and crimes against jews (all in Europe and America btw.), as well as with the enormous conributions of American and European jews to the world of arts, culture, medicine and economic thought.

If the Israeli-firsters, like David Wolpe continue to entangle the two, they will only succeed in bringing the crazies out of the wood work and even reasonable people will be forced to blur the lines to the detriment of entire societies.

Still waiting for prominent American jews to come out and condemn Israel for occupation, subjugation, apartheid and the recent massacre in Gaza.

This nut-job was definitely not a member of the "greatest generation"!!!! And once again, people of any age can pose a threat. Someone, somewhere should have recognized the problems with this individual and put him on a watch list!!!

Murder in the Cathedral No. 2

This bastard Von Brunn's rantings are identical to those I have read in WaPo and on this blog whenever someone with a last name that could be construed as "Jewish" figures in the news, whenever Israel makes it to the front page, or simply, whenever.

This bastard's delusions didn't come out of thin air. They are part and parcel of the thinking of the racist bastards we read every day in this prominent newspaper and in the OnFaith blog. Indeed, these very blogging bastards more than enabled the bastard Von Braun.

They armed him.

Wake up, and smell the stench, Rabbi Wolpe.
Read fellow interfaith Catholic blobber, Stevens-Arroyo TONIGHT, he who envisions a new coalition, directed against whom? Look at some of his past columns. Read them, and DON'T WEEP.

Read the posting of Shark2 from just a couple of weeks back. What did he paste? An excerpt from the Protocols.

No problem for these two in the afterlife, Rabbi. The Catholic professor can depend on "grace." The Muslim blogger, on the rewards of Jihad.

The question is how we respond to them in THIS life. NOT by weeping, not by turning away. NO. A is A, Rabbi. Bastards are bastards. Once we have a name for them, have conceptualized them, we have the possibility of constructive action. Action.

And wasnt it the right wing pundits who slammed the report from Napolitano a while back about threats from armed right wing radicals?

Cant wait to see how Hannity avoids this one. Oh yeah, its Obamas fault.

The sad truth is that an enormous number of hate crimes in the United States are committed against Jews and Jewish institutions. When was it--two weeks ago?--that the FBI broke up planned attacks on New York synagogues. Read the publications of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and it's a bit stunning to find out about the many acts of vandalism against synagogues, Hebrew Schools, and Jewish community centers. Anti-Semitism is not only an American way of life; it is a fact of life throughout the world, from Malaysia to France to, today, Washington, D.C.

I find it strange that Rabbi David Wolpe is using this tragedy to downplay racism and anti-semitism in the U.S. and simultaneously highlight critiques of Israeli foreign policy in Europe and the Arab world as the real problem.

Moreover, he conflates these serious critiques of Israel, which many Israelis, American Jews, and even President Obama share, with the unfortunate racism against all Jews that exists among some Arabs, and is certainly reciprocated by some Jews. Further, most Europeans and Arabs do not blame all Jews for the Israeli occupation of Palestine anymore than all Jews blame all Arabs for the terrorists that kill innocent civilians.

Apparently, neo-Nazi and anti-semitic racism and murder in the U.S. is fine as long as the religious right supports Israel, but legitimate critiques against Israel by Europeans and other semitic people (i.e. Arabs and "self-hating" Jews) goes too far.

This approach is not good for the world, the U.S., or the nation of Israel. Religious nationalism is fundamentalism. The exclusivism of Jewish and Christian Zionists is as dangerous as what comes from Arab and "Muslim" terrorists. One should not underestimate the racism against Jews among many western Christians, which has historically been the real threat against the Jewish people. To turn a blind eye away from this only to create stronger ties with the religious right in the U.S. is a terrible mistake and will come back to haunt us.

It's pretty clear that this guy is on the lunatic fringe, but it's a mistake to assume that this is just some one man movement.

There are militia groups and some far-right groups who share sympathies with the shooter. Most won't act on their views, but I would be very surprised if this was the last crazy domestic terrorism act that we see from the far-right over the next several years.

These people made their peace with the GOP when the GOP was in power, but now that the GOP is out of power, these folks have gone crazy. The militant anti-semites are also the militant anti-abortionists; the anti-immigrant haters; and on and on. Folks will still have a better chance of getting injured or killed in an auto accident, but I'd wager that these militia types will try to pick up where Al Qaeda left off.

Right-wing loon in Pittsburgh kills three cops because he's afraid that the government is going to take his guns away.

Right-wing loon kills an abortion provider, after a prolonged fatwa against said doctor, and is proclaimed as a hero by other wingnuts.

Right-wing loon opens fire at the Holocaust Museum and kills a security guard.

What do these three things have in common? DHS was right. Paranoid people with guns are more easily radicalized.

Oh, Goddess, though, not more of this stuff.

I'm still waiting on my local station to pick up the story, it looks like they're working on it or something.

Apparently, the man was some kind of racist blogger. And, anti-Semitism may be well out of the mainstream, now, but the Holocaust killed a lot of people for being queer, too. And a lot of that hatred is ongoing... and it just happens to come on the heels of the GOP's 'leaders' telling their followers they're 'surrounded by "paganism,"' which certainly feeds into all that nonsense.

One does imagine it's an old Nazi-sympathizing dude who wanted to go out with a bang. I do find this little uptick in right-wing domestic terrorism alarmingly consistent with the level of mania out there in right-wing *politics.*

Tones of warfare and 'enemies' in politics and all that are definitely not something you can divorce entirely from all this. I think as a nation we should call on these people to tone it down, already.

But, it looks like the attack was, basically foiled, at the cost of one security guard's life. Five shots fired, though, it could have been worse.