This scares me a hell of a lot more than anti-gov psychos, Al Qaeda or any other country, for that matter.

Gates also predicted North Korea will have a nuclear missile that directly threatens the U.S. within five years.

Sweet.

Wailin' on Palin

One sentence to Glenn Beck. So says Brian Lehrer.

He just read it on air--it's as rambling (as one sentence can be) as the stuff I've heard from Laughner. This isn't the first such non sequitur from Palin since she's been tweeting. But it wasn't a tweet. Why not? And, of course (?), it's just in defense of herself, equating the safety of ALL of our children with "anyone" who is blamed for inciting violence. Yeah, Palin, who put a gun sight on Giffords' district.


Oops, there was more from Palin to Beck, but that's just the clip he read and the media has picked-up on. This is the second time I've heard it. Ah, a problem with live posts. Corrections.

We don't know much about the guy except that he's obviously crazy and no type of politically organized conspirator like McVeigh--but that doesn't mean he didn't have similarly conspiratorial ideas about society and the government in particular. There was the guy who got stopped on his way to shoot-up a non-profit, caught with black-helicopter lit suggested by Beck on his show.

Let's be clear: this guy was probably no tea-partier. Yes, they're loud and petulant and perhaps get off on the violent imagery of revolution--as Che shirts on Leftys illustrate too--but they haven't actually been violent.

This was indeed a political act. A premeditated murder of an elected official at a, though relatively minor, political event. He had been to something similar where apparently he was snubbed when he asked her an incoherent question.

[Or perhaps not so incoherent:

Loughner was not just spouting jibberish around grammar - see this article today from Gawker, which describes the right wing conspiracy theory around grammar.

"The Southern Law Poverty Center's Mark Potok, whose job it is to keep track of the various crazies this country breeds and nurtures, links Loughner's bizarre fixation on language and grammar to the theories of a man named David Wynn Miller—or, as he styles himself, :David-Wynn: Miller. When Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown contacted Miller, he said he "absolutely" agreed with Loughner's assertion that "the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." Miller told The New York Times that Lougher had "probably been on my Web site."

Why Is Jared Loughner Obsessed With Grammar?So who is David Wynn Miller? According to Miller himself, he is a "Plenipotentiary-Judge" (and the King of Hawaii); he's also a 62-year-old former tool-and-die maker from Milwaukee. Miller's been selling his particular (and particularly bizarre) strain of the right-wing anti-tax "sovereign citizen" movement/conspiracy for years now, and gotten more than a few people thrown in jail for trying to use his theories. A visit to his website gives you a glimpse into the world of "QUANTUM-MATH-COMMUNICATIONS":"

Jan. 11 2011 11:51 AM]

So this was personal. The personal becomes political when paranoid delusions subsume politicians--and perhaps buttressed by an environment where dehumanizing political opponents in an Armageddon-ish battle for our country's soul is commonplace.

(Yes, from the Left too.)

Now Palin's taken down the crosshairs from her website. I'll take that as at least a tinge of guilt.

Best comment during a Lehrer guest trying to get at the mental state of the shooter otherwise marred by his virulent anti-pot bias (to ridiculous to get into--basically blaming schizophrenia on pot (!)):

Tricia from Brooklyn

It's time to discuss our culture which celebrates the cult of personality of murderers who do this for the notoriety. Can we talk about this man's actions without mentioning his name or plastering his face all over the media as a murdering celebrity? Can we stop enticing deranged people with the promise of instant celebrity?

Jan. 11 2011 11:41 AM

I would rather never have known her name.

A relatively minor Dem from a Red state far from me. But now I'll remember her forever. I would have been content not to.

And it goes back to the time before she was even elected to the state legislature, back in the late 1990s, when she was a businessperson in the city of Tucson. I knew her then. But, interestingly enough, in the 2000-2003, she was a legislator and we worked on what we can do in Tucson to ensure that the University Medical Center had a very high-tech, functional, world-class trauma center.

She was involved in that process back in 2003. And we have one of the best. And, as I looked down at her, I was reminded of how we worked together to provide the trauma center that is saving her life. And it was -- for me, it was a very moving event.

A good demonstration of how a public good can be of vital self-interest.