Rush: What’s the Difference Between Loughner and Rev. Wright?

Detroit May Close Half of Its Schools to Pay for Union Benefits

The Detroit News on Monday suggested that without government aid, the city of Detroit will be forced to close down nearly half of the city’s public schools in the next two years. That would put over 60 under educated students per classroom. It's not all bad new in the Detroit school district. The teachers will be getting yet another raise thanks to all the good work they have done for the students. That's what the teachers unions think, but we know the truth about Detroit public schools and the academic scores.  There is another factor in this mess. The Clintondale school district,my school district, has made it's high school a school of choice for Detroit students. Clintondale schools did this for the extra money they would get from gaining these students. The problem is those students were so low performing that they have been added to the list of schools to be closed because of student performence.  We will see what the suburbs do to bail out Detroit's liberal local government. I think we need to let Detroit fail or succeed on their own. That is the only way they will learn from what they done to themselves.

The Wall Street Journal notes the city’s decaying public school system:

“Additional savings of approximately $12.4 million can be achieved from school closures if the District simply abandons the closed buildings,” the proposal explains, purging costs like boarding up buildings, storage and security patrols.

Steven Wasko, a spokesman for Mr. Bobb, said that urban property sales have been difficult, in part because until recently the state board of education banned transactions with “competing educational institutions” like charter schools. Once buildings are deserted, even if the doors and windows are welded shut with protective metal covers, scavengers break in and dismantle them for copper wire, pipes and so on.

Under the emergency plan, consolidated high-school class sizes would increase to 62 by 2014, “consistent with what students would expect in large university settings.” Yet under the terms of the Detroit Federation of Teachers contract, the district must pay bonuses for class enrollment over 35, thus imposing some $11.1 million in new costs through 2014.

Note that this dispensation carries about the same price tag as the school abandonment windfall: In other words, Detroit may end up destroying serviceable capital assets so it can pay its public workers more over the short term.
Mr. Wasko cautions that the school closure plan is a last resort, and Mr. Bobb has floated other ideas, including a financial restructuring similar to the GM bailout/bankruptcy. Detroit Federation of Teachers president Keith Johnson rejected even that because “The children of Detroit are not consumed products of a profit-driven corporation like a car,” as he wrote in an op-ed this week. Maybe his real objection is that the GM model might allow the district to rationalize its labor liabilities.

The budget gap is party due to the property tax revenue collapse as the Motor City crumbles, as well as financial mismanagement and a surge in pay and benefits for public employees. The Mackinac Center, a state think tank, reports that average Michigan teacher salaries outpaced those of all other states from 2003 to 2009, when adjusted for state per capita income as a proxy for the local ability to pay.
It’s hard to think of a sadder commentary on a government so fiscally desperate and so captured by its workers that it may be forced to abandon property to thieves. But are they the scavengers or the union?                                                                                                                                                              My heart goes out to these kids. I have been working with an inner city youth singing group. It's a group of about 20 kids between the ages of 8 and 12. When we started with these kids they couldn't sit still and many of them couldn't read. And when I say they couldn't read, I don't mean they were slow readers either. These weren't dumb kids by any means. These kids were as bright as any group of kids. 

MLK,Malcolm X And Putting Out Fires

There are two ways in which to fight fire. One way that is used, is to use fire to fight fire. That is what method Malcolm X used to fight against the tyranny black were under at that time. You could also use water to fight fire. You could say that MLK used this method to fight the same tyranny. Both men fought and stood against racial inequality. But MLK used the same method taught in the Holy Bible and was also used by Gandhi with great success. Both MLK and Gandhi stood against their oppressors. Both men did it in love and peace. Now we have seen many Malcolm X types over the years. He used a method that was most likely out of the Quaran'.  The reason why I think MLK and Gandhi were so successful is because of their stance and the fact that that stance swayed the people. MLK moved mainstream white America over to his side. When America watched those poor people getting the shit kicked out of them, without raising a hand it, changed the hearts of many, if not most Americans.

The Tide has Turned Against the Left

Has the tide turned against the American left? Before last Saturday's horrendous crimes, things were already heading in that direction. The election last November and President Obama's move toward the center both signaled the decline in the progressive agenda. But now there is emotion involved. Simply put, the public gets it and now the country is taking a turn to the right. That puts pressure on conservatives to solve problems and to be far less vicious than their liberal opposition. We'll see how this all pans out over the next couple years. As the left put away their smiling faces and peace talk for hate and personal attacks without proof of their attacks we will see even more of who and what the left truly are. It has also become more obvious that the left may be ramping up for more violent intimidation's and attacks on the right. We will see what the left do next. A note to all conservatives and independents: Keep a smile on your face, even when the left keep attacking. Watch how little sense they make and how incoherently angry they get as they realize that all is lost in their imaginary mental world they created in their minds falls apart.  they will blame us and anything else as that is their nature to place blame on others not themselves for the outcomes of their actions. Let them flail in desperation while knowing that it is their inability to place blame on themselves for anything that causes them to fail. They don't have a tangible cornerstone on with to build. Instead of starting out with a strong foundation they would rather try and erode our cornerstones and foundation. From The Telegraph:
So here are the top 10 list, which Telegraph readers will no doubt wish to add to in their comments.
1. Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 8, 2011

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist.
You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate.

2. Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, January 8, 2011

This morning in Arizona, this time of the ever-escalating, borderline-ecstatic invocation of violence in fact or in fantasy in our political discourse, closed. It is essential tonight not to demand revenge, but to demand justice; to insist not upon payback against those politicians and commentators who have so irresponsibly brought us to this time of domestic terrorism, but to work to change the minds of them and their supporters – or if those minds tonight are too closed, or if those minds tonight are too unmoved, or if those minds tonight are too triumphant, to make sure by peaceful means that those politicians and commentators and supporters have no further place in our system of government.
If Sarah Palin, whose website put and today scrubbed bullseye targets on 20 Representatives including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics – she must be repudiated by the members of her own party, and if they fail to do so, each one of them must be judged to have silently defended this tactic that today proved so awfully foretelling, and they must in turn be dismissed by the responsible members of their own party.

3. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Press Conference, Tucson, January 8, 2011

When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

4. Michael Tomasky, The Guardian, January 9, 2011

Republicans and even Tea Partiers will have the sense – again, for a while – to steer clear of directly gun-related rhetoric. We won’t be hearing much in the near term about “second amendment remedies” and insurrection and so forth. But this will be temporary. Guns are simply too central to the mythology of the American right, as is the idea of liberty being wrested from tyrants only at gunpoint. For the American right to stop talking about armed insurrection would be like American liberals dropping the subjects of race and gender. It’s too encoded in conservative DNA.
… Direct responsibility for what happened Saturday? No. Mentally ill people are mentally ill. The Beatles weren’t responsible for the messages that Charles Manson heard in their music. But there’s a difference. Paul McCartney had no earthly reason to think that an innocent song about a fairground ride (Helter Skelter) would lead a man to commit barbarous acts of murder. Today’s Republicans and conservative commentators, however, surely understand the fire they’re playing with. But they do it, and a tragedy like Saturday’s won’t stop them, as long as they can maintain a phoney plausible deniability and as long as hate continues to pay dividends at the ballot box.

5. Paul Krugman, The New York Times, January 9, 2011

it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.
Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.
And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.
… So will the Arizona massacre make our discourse less toxic? It’s really up to G.O.P. leaders. Will they accept the reality of what’s happening to America, and take a stand against eliminationist rhetoric? Or will they try to dismiss the massacre as the mere act of a deranged individual, and go on as before? If Arizona promotes some real soul-searching, it could prove a turning point. If it doesn’t, Saturday’s atrocity will be just the beginning.

6. Michael Daly, The New York Daily News, January 9, 2011

But anyone with any sense at all knows that violent language can incite actual violence, that metaphor can incite murder. At the very least, Palin added to a climate of violence.
And, now that Palin may have the blood of more than some poor caribou on her hands, I wonder if she will continue putting people in cross hairs and calling on folks to RELOAD!

7. George Packer, The New Yorker, January 10, 2011

But it won’t do to dig up stray comments by Obama, Allen Grayson, or any other Democrat who used metaphors of combat over the past few years, and then try to claim some balance of responsibility in the implied violence of current American politics. (Most of the Obama quotes that appear in the comments were lame attempts to reassure his base that he can get mad and fight back, i.e., signs that he’s practically incapable of personal aggression in politics.)
In fact, there is no balance—none whatsoever. Only one side has made the rhetoric of armed revolt against an oppressive tyranny the guiding spirit of its grassroots movement and its midterm campaign. Only one side routinely invokes the Second Amendment as a form of swagger and intimidation, not-so-coyly conflating rights with threats.
Only one side’s activists bring guns to democratic political gatherings. Only one side has a popular national TV host who uses his platform to indoctrinate viewers in the conviction that the President is an alien, totalitarian menace to the country. Only one side fills the AM waves with rage and incendiary falsehoods. Only one side has an iconic leader, with a devoted grassroots following, who can’t stop using violent imagery and dividing her countrymen into us and them, real and fake. Any sentient American knows which side that is; to argue otherwise is disingenuous.

8. Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, in an interview with The Huffington Post, January 8, 2011

“The climate has gotten so toxic in our political discourse, setting up for this kind of reaction for too long. It’s unfortunate to say that. I hate to say that,” Grijalva said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “If you’re an opponent, you’re a deadly enemy,” Grijalva said of the mindset among Arizona extremists. “Anybody who contributed to feeding this monster had better step back and realize they’re threatening our form of government.”
Grijalva said that Tea Party leader Sarah Palin should reflect on the rhetoric that she has employed. “She — as I mentioned, people contributing to this toxic climate — Ms. Palin needs to look at her own behavior, and if she wants to help the public discourse, the best thing she could do is to keep quiet.”

9. Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post, January 12, 2011

The primary problem with the political discourse of the right in today’s America isn’t that it incites violence per se. It’s that it implants and reinforces paranoid fears about the government and conservatism’s domestic adversaries.
Much of the culture and thinking of the American right – the mainstream as well as the fringe – has descended into paranoid suppositions about the government, the Democrats and the president. This is not to say that the left wing doesn’t have a paranoid fringe, too. But by every available measure, it’s the right where conspiracy theories have exploded. A fabricated specter of impending governmental totalitarianism haunts the right’s dreams.
… That doesn’t make Beck, Erickson, Rupert Murdoch and their ilk responsible for Tucson. It does make them responsible for promoting a paranoid culture that makes America a more divided and dangerous land.

10. Jane Fonda, Twitter, January 8, 2011
And finally, Oscar-winning actress and liberal darling Jane Fonda emerged from hibernation and delivered some of the most tasteless tweets in the brief history of Twitter, brazenly exploiting the shooting of a Congresswoman to make a monumentally shallow political attack. (hat tip: NewsBusters)

@SarahPalinUSA holds responsibility. As does the violence-provoking rhetoric of the Tea Party 2:51 PM Jan 8th via Echofon
@glenbeck guilty too. Shame. It must stop! 2:20 PM Jan 8th via Seesmic Web
Progressive Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords is shot. In her ads, Sarah Palin had her targeted in a gun site. Inciting to violence. 2:11 PM Jan 8th via Echofon

It Seems The Left-Wing Didn't Get Obama's Speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ZF_wog1JE
 
This is what the www.democraticunderground.com and MSNBC had in mind when it comes to toning it down. No matter what proof comes of this shooting the left-wing wont give up this inflammatory rhetoric. It is obvious that the left-wing hate conservatives. Don't they even see that they are partaking in the rhetoric they say the right-wing is doing? Why are these liberals doing everything they can to inflame the left? Are they trying to push a copy cat killer? If they believe that it is rhetoric that killed all those people then why are they doing it? It just doesn't make any sense to me. If I only listened to the MSM I'd think this murderer Loughner was Innocent and it is the conservatives that need to pay for this crime. It seems as though the left-wing are working for the defence of this murderer. It is what it is. As long as the members of the Democratic Party and the President doesn't get into this witch hunt the left-wing and the MSM will give it up. If the President and the members of the Democratic Party follow MSNBC and the Democratic Undergrounds lead, instead of the way the Presidents speech lead us to believe. Then we know what we are dealing with. If they start with the inflammatory language they say is causing weak people to go crazy and kill we will know what their true intentions are. To inflame the weak,their words not conservatives. If they go that route we have every right to question their intentions of this country. And if the left rise up, or the right we will have every reason to blame them. But that's a lot of "if's".

Great Speech Mr. President, Thanks

I

 

President Obama on Wednesday honored the victims and heroes of the Arizona shooting rampage have to say that I'm impressed with how Pres.Obama handled this horrific event in our history. I have to say that I was moved to tears for most of the speech. It was the kind of up-beat memorial I tend to like. He touch on our humanity and our American values. He told the story that got lost because of all the false rhetoric that surrounded it.  I think he did more then I thought he would when it came to the way some Americans jumped to the wrong conclusion. He called it out and put it down in a way that was so eloquent. This is a chance to go forward with a spirited debate on policy and politics but to withhold the vitriol. I would expect that both sides will still have their debates of disagreement, but I'm sure they will withhold the kind of slander we have seen over the years. I also have to say that Pres. Obama has made this American proud of him for this defining moment. I pray that he, as well as both sides can live to make young miss Green proud of who we are. I'd like to know what all of you thought about our Presidents speech. Let's start this new dialogue out on a constructive note.

Zeitgeis(Time Ghost): The Moving Force Behind Jared Loughner

And then there was this (2:25 for the money quote set-up):

The interview is revealing on a number of point but here is the He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right One one former close friend of Loughner’s said he went from a stable high school student to a violent, self-medicated “monster” after his girlfriend dumped him during his junior year of high school.

Zachary Osler said that Loughner, who would walk around with his jaw and fist clenched, spent “excessive amounts of money” on drugs.
Osler said Loughner consumed marijuana, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms and the hallucigenic salvia.
“There was no political motive in this, [Jared] was just angry at the world,” he said.
Loughner ended his friendship with Osler through a text message two years ago, writing to him, “I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”
Osler also said that Loughner’s favorite quote was, “Out of chaos breathes creation.”
Osler, who spent a lot of time at the Loughner’s home during high school, described the family’s home as “cold, dark and unpleasant“ and added that he always felt ”unwelcomed.”
Littered with musical instruments and a computer in the middle of the room, Osler said he never observed a particularly loving relationship between the Loughners. Loughner once told Osler that he loved his pet dog Hannah more than his parents.
“They did very few family activities together besides going to car races and one family vacation to the beach, and they never decorated their house for the holidays,” recalled Osler. “Jared’s parents were religious but Jared proclaimed himself as an atheist.”

This is the crazy movie and beliefs of Loughner. If you know anyone that believes in this psycho crape get away from them fast. This is the fringe of conspiracy theories. Do you think that these movies drove him overboard? While the left-wing is trying to play politics with this tragedy, we need to look at what was in this mans mind. A real and truthful look at what he believed and why he might have believed it.  Or we could just take the path the Democrats want to take and go after the first and second amendments. I don't see that one working out too well for the Democratic Party, so I'd like to see them keep driving their party and ideology into a wall. I'd like to know what you all think of this video and what his ex-friend said about him? I'm sure we will be hearing more and more about these movies so you may want to understand them first.This is the Zeitgeis movie that goes after religion and Christians. Have any of you watched these videos before this?

Well Said Sarah Palin

 

Sarah Palin: "America's Enduring Strength" from Sarah Palin on Vimeo.

America's Enduring Strength

By Sarah Palin
Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mourn for the victims’ families as we express our sympathy.
I agree with the sentiments shared yesterday at the beautiful Catholic mass held in honor of the victims. The mass will hopefully help begin a healing process for the families touched by this tragedy and for our country.
Our exceptional nation, so vibrant with ideas and the passionate exchange and debate of ideas, is a light to the rest of the world. Congresswoman Giffords and her constituents were exercising their right to exchange ideas that day, to celebrate our Republic’s core values and peacefully assemble to petition our government. It’s inexcusable and incomprehensible why a single evil man took the lives of peaceful citizens that day.
There is a bittersweet irony that the strength of the American spirit shines brightest in times of tragedy. We saw that in Arizona. We saw the tenacity of those clinging to life, the compassion of those who kept the victims alive, and the heroism of those who overpowered a deranged gunman.

Like many, I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.

Palin Accuses Media of 'Blood Libel' in Giffords Shooting Aftermath
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Wednesday accused the media of "blood libel" by looking to assign blame for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Palin offered a pointed defense of herself and other political leaders who used sometimes heated rhetoric on the 2010 campaign trail — rhetoric some Democrats say created an environment that fueled the assassination attempt against Giffords.

Peace Corps Gang Rape

 

AP File

More than 1,000 young American women have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last decade while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign countries, an ABC News 20/20 investigation has found. This is a sad finding. I pray they confront this problem head on and fix it within their culture.