South African Airways Airbus A340-642 ZS-SNI (msn 630) LHR, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

South African Airways (Johannesburg) will survey and weigh 4,000 passengers and their carry-on luggage to determine a new average to avoid any weight and balance issues.

News link:

www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/39c53f574b4d401aab70c3aa92bcd362/15-12-2009-02-32/SAA_to_weigh_passengers

Copyright Photo: Wingnut.

Description

Come the The Wingnut on Saturday February 20th a 6pm to eat some awesome vegan spaghetti dinner and donate money to the legal defense fund for the AETA 4, who were arrested last year at this time. Please bring some money to donate to the AETA 4 legal defense fund, and then enjoy a delicious dinner with friends and new friends. Maybe musical entertainment too? (contact me musicians!)

Who are the AETA 4?- On February 19-20, 2009, Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Nathan Pope, and Adriana Stumpo, were arrested by the FBI and charged with violating the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. They are now facing a maximum of ten years in prison for their alleged crimes, which include attending demonstrations and other First-Amendment protected activity. They will need your support as they face a long trial process to prove their innocence.

On February 19th and 20th, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Adriana Stumpo, 23; Nathan Pope, 26; Joseph Buddenberg, 25; and Maryam Khajavi, 20 – 4 people it described as “terrorists”. Their “terrorism” apparently consisted of writing with chalk on a sidewalk, wearing bandanas while protesting, and distributing flyers about animal research at UCSC. No, seriously.

The background of this farce includes years of expansion of police power under the rhetoric of combating a “terrorism” which has come to focus, not on Al-Qaeda or abortion clinic bombers, but on scapegoats connected to protests against war, the destruction of the earth and animal life, and other affects of modern capitalist civilization. In particular there has also been a heated campaign over the past few years against experimentation on live animals in the University of California system which has seen sabotage as well as demonstrations against vivisectors. (The state response has already seen federal, local and UC police raid the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley as well as a private residence in Santa Cruz to steal computers and literature, and the FBI forcibly acquiring DNA samples. And if you think these kinds of powers will be used only against anti-vivisection activists, think again.)

But Nathan, Adriana, Maryam and Joseph are not charged with any destructive acts. They are the first people to be charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2007, which basically makes bothering anyone who does anything with animals an act of “terrorism”. The lengths to which the U.S government has gone to construct this spectacle are, indeed, spectacular – setting up surveillance cameras in a coffee shop, tracking the legal use of public internet terminals, even DNA testing bandanas while the same government says it doesn’t have the money to help states use DNA testing in death penalty cases, possibly exonerating innocent people on death row! But there is money for DNA testing of activists’ bandanas?!

On the one hand, it is the construction of a bogeyman or public enemy as the justification for expanding police control over every aspect of life. It also recuperates the prestige of police power which has so far been embarrassingly unable to bring any suspects or evidence in the cases of the sabotage and arson – presumably causing some unease to the scientists and administrators of UC as well as their partners in the pharmaceutical industry. It was just time to arrest someone, no matter who – more visible activists are simply the easiest to strike at, regardless of their activities, much like the Haymarket martyrs. The fact that Kinko’s as well as local business Cafe Pergolesi cooperated extensively with the police in this case shows how the business of cops and courts goes hand in hand with the business of business as usual. We can expect that as the economic depression continues to provoke dissatisfaction with the social order, we can see a mounting number of “terrorists”, animal lovers or no, facing crushing punishments for daring to step out of line in any way. Of course, the mainstream press has heavily implied, along with the police, that these 4 people are “guilty until proven innocent” of the other recent acts against animal research in California.

As far as the UC and its patrons in Big Pharma, the media has parroted their claims as well that experimentation on non-human animals is beneficial and necessary for human health. Unasked is the question, what is making us sick anyway? Is poisoning and dissecting defenceless captives of whatever species really a rational and helpful response when the sources of disease come from the structures of modern society itself, like our food system and the lousy choices it offers, our sedentary and/or overstressed lifestyles, the excesses of western medicine itself (for instance, antibiotic resistant germs), and the profusion of chemicals, radiation and the like throughout our water, air, soil and food? Isn’t it possible that – coming to the “other hand” – the cops, the bureaucrats, the scientists, they all know that this is a shameful, horrific, and crazy business, but can’t possibly admit such a thing. So the specter of violence and cruelty must be projected instead onto those standing up to the ones actually responsible, in order to assuage their lying guilt.

In any event, we are for total solidarity with the accused.

Green Is The New Red has made several excellent posts lately on the subject of this latest manifestation of the witch hunts.

How We Can Help:

Donations are still needed to help cover the legal fees.

If you’d like to donate to the AETA 4 Defense Fund, you can send check or money order to:

The AETA Defense Fund

PO Box 99162

Emeryville, CA 94662

Or through PayPal by sending donation to support@aeta4.org

All funds go towards the costly legal battle of the AETA4 defendants.

From Will Potter’s blog, Green is the New Red

http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/aeta-4-protesters-higher-sentences-than-cross-burners/2240/

Four animal rights activists are facing charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for chanting, demonstrating with masks covering their faces, and chalking defamatory slogans on the sidewalk. If convicted, the “AETA 4,”—Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Nathan Pope, and Adriana Stumpo—could be sentenced to 5-10 years in prison.

The AETA 4 case is a startling example of how federal terrorism laws are being used to create new crimes targeting political activists, and astronomically increase sentences for existing crimes. For instance, Marie Mason was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for setting fire to empty buildings and taking precautions to not harm anyone.

Meanwhile, during a Congressional hearing on the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, the Justice Department proclaimed “we are apolitical in this.” But this is anything but apolitical. Animal rights activists could receive 5-10 years in prison, as terrorists, for not harming anyone or attempting to harm anyone. Meanwhile, take a look at what some others are facing for much more serious crimes:

* Burning at a cross at the home of an African-American man, close to his home, while his family is inside: 3.5 years.
* Threatening president-elect Obama with statements including, “I’m going to assassinate the new president of the United States of America. PS you have 48 hours to stop it from happening”: four years probation.
* Setting fire to a hotel with people inside: 1 year.
* Police officer rapes a girl in juvenile custody: 8 months.
* Assaulting black men on election night because Obama was elected president: about 5 years.
* Enron exec guilty of $7 million in wire fraud and securities fraud: 16 months.
* Possessing child pornography: 4 years.
* Tying up a black student and taunting him with racial epithets as part of a high school graduation party: six months.
* Mailing anthrax threats to the IRS: one year.
* “Using the Internet to threaten to destroy buildings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by fire or explosives”: one year.
* Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth kills a construction worker while driving drunk: 30 days.
* Threatening to bomb an Air Force base: one year.
* Drunken man drives over his brother during an argument: 1.5 years.
* Scheming to defraud an insurance company through arson: 2 years.
* Mailing anthrax threats to an assistant U.S. attorney: up to 5 years.
* Manufacturing and selling home-made explosive devices: 5 years probation
* Sending 65 anthrax hoax letters: four years.
* Dumping nearly 13 million gallons of untreated liquid waste: 15 months.
* Threatening to bomb the Oklahoma city federal building: up to 5 years.
* Setting a dog on fire and burning 50 percent of his body: 45 days.

According to the government, high sentences for animal rights activists are intended as a deterrent, they are intended to send a message.

What kind of message do you think this sends?

Note: Funds are needed for the AETA 4 legal defense. Please make a contribution. You can go to Paypal.com and send a donation to support@aeta4.org.

I am declaring War On Christmas. Yup. Christmas. I hate it.

Now the Wingnuts have a real target.

The feast is over, the last of the tryptophan is leaving your system and all you are left with is a ton of emails and the haunting sensation that your family just isn’t right.  Let P3 help with the last.  Just compare your brother-in-law with this  wingnut and your clan is a shining sample of normality.  Sorry about the emails.  P3joe

I recently read a minor right-wing blogger’s reaction to the election of Barack Obama, our first Black president. The blogger congratulated Obama for his victory and then said something to the effect of “See, America is such a wonderfully free place that even a Black guy can get elected here!”

As a country that stopped herding millions of Jews into gas chambers, Germans are obviously a model of religious tolerance.

A bunch of White guys hammer a Black guy into a bloody pulp. While the Black man lies crumpled in a pool of his own blood, one of the White guys feels a twinge of guilt and decides he’ll call 911 for the Black man before he flees the scene like the other Whites have. While the White man is talking with the 911 operator… a right wing blogger shows up! “Wow,” the blogger marvels “Look at that White man selflessly assisting Black man in trouble! We truly live in a post-racial society!”

Or maybe a bit like Germany bragging that it’s so tolerant of religious minorities that… they no longer send them to concentration camps. Wow! Want a cookie?

 

Gulf Air Airbus A330-243 A9C-KB (msn 281) (Grand Prix 2009) LHR, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Gulf Air (Bahrain) has decided to radically change its business plan. In the future it will focus on its short-haul markets. This will also radically affect what the airline has on order. The flag carrier has 20 Airbus A330-300s and 24 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on order. These orders are expected to be modified. In addition Gulf Air will sell five Airbus A340-300s.

News link:

www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idCAGEE5AM0XA20091123?rpc=44

Copyright Photo: Wingnut.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other Gulf Air photos:

http://airlinersgallery.com/2/25c5082/#/gallery/gulf-air/gulf-air-a330-200-a9c-kb-08-grand-prix-2009-grd-lhr-d3-lr-903966/

Yay! Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN! Now if only he would leave the country.

Another conservative wingnut walks off set when the topic strays into something uncomfortable — most recently it was Tom Tancredo on MSNBC — now it’s Carrie Prejean on Larry King Live, and she doesn’t even know how to storm off set:

It takes a lot of chutzpah and amazingly low levels of self-awareness to be able to call Larry King’s reasonable question about why she settled with the Miss California Pageant “extremely inappropriate” after she made a sex tape of herself masturbating to send to her then-boyfriend.

Hypocrite.

Of course, that makes Sarah Palin the perfect “hero” for her.

Update:

MSNBC’s Dr. Nancy Synderman just called Prejean’s behavior “passive-aggressive” and wishes she would just go away. I second both ideas.

The liberal blogosphere buzzes about “increasing extremism” and the “alienation of moderates” within the Republican Party. The sentiment is basically true and the process is still ongoing. I find liberals expressing two equally wrong reactions to this:

Liberals
1.) See how they’re chasing out moderates? This party’s about to die!
2.) See how they’re chasing out moderates? These guys are crayzee!

The Republican Party is not going to die within our lifetimes, and may never die until the singularity hits. It’s just simple inertia. Not to mention that American’s practice their partisanship like they do their religion; they’re born into them and don’t give them up no matter how obviously stupid they are.

Evil, but principled at least.

That “chasing out moderates” business? As much as I hate to say it, that’s called “having principles.” The Republican Party stands for something. It might be an evil something, but something it is. What principles do the Democrats stand for? Nothing. They might as well renamed themselves “The (Mostly) Non-Republican Party.” That’s all they are.

I may hate Republicans, but I respect that they have conviction. Their moderate-witch-hunts are what prevents them from ending up like the Democrats; an impotent gaggle with no uniting principles. If any party is going to implode it will be the Democrats, a party bound only by the fact that they’re Not Republicans.

The Atlantic blogger Ta-Nahisi Coates reacts to cries of “bigotry” after the election results in Maine:

Conservatives pride themselves on their skepticism, and generally dismiss liberals as soft-headed Utopians. But in so many ways, political conservatism is Utopianism for the powerful. It isn’t broadly skeptical of human nature, so much as it’s broadly skeptical of people its agents don’t particularly like. Hence the sense that Americans are intrinsically “good people,” that this country “is the best nation that ever existed in history,” that the South is home to “the greatest people that have ever trod the earth,” and that the murder of four little girls in Birmingham was the work of a “Communist” or “crazed Negro,” which had “set back the cause of white people.”

Hence the notion that those voting against gay marriage, are not actually, in the main, motivated by bigotry, but a belief in tradition and family. But very few people would actually ever describe themselves as bigots. We think we know so much about ourselves. This is a country–like many countries–which is deeply riven by ethnic bias, and gender discrimination. And yet we don’t seem to know any of the agents of that discrimination.

I think the description of political conservatism as “utopianism for the powerful” is apt for some conservatives, but it doesn’t explain why so many non-powerful people are conservatives; for that I think you have to look at their power brokers — very often very wealthy (hence, very powerful) religious leaders. In ways subtle and overt, these politically conservative religious leaders manage to convince their unquestioning, blind-faith followers to vote not only against their own economic self-interest by voting for conservative candidates, but also to vote for politicians who support policies that violate their own religious tenets, things like loving your neighbor as yourself and the assertion that you will be judged by how you treat the least among you.

It’s a pretty nifty trick, and but one that cannot work when religion (and assertions about it made by self-appointed religious leaders) is not exempt from rational criticism. It’s why that two-word dictum — Question Authority — is so important. But it’s not enough; you also have to scrutinize the answers you get, looking for fallacies. If more religious folks asked their pastors and priests questions like these and accepted only those answers that held up to critical thinking, we’d have a vastly reduced religious right wingnut contingency:

• Pastor, why don’t you rail against people who eat lobster or who wear clothing of mixed fiber, or who cheat on their wives like you rail against same-sex couples?
• Father, why do you oppose health care reform even though it will help our poor brothers and sisters get access to health care?
• Father, why was the doctor who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old rape victim excommunicated? What about the rapist who got her pregnant? What about the thousands of molesting priests whose crimes were hidden instead of reported and prosecuted?

And that’s only a few public policy-related examples — the list doesn’t touch the tons of non-public policy contradictions contained in just one “holy,”allegedly infallible text.

Ask questions. Scrutinize the answers. Do not exempt religion from rational criticism.

My third and final response to emjem24, a loathesome homophobe who comments at Michelle Malkin’s blog.

emjem24
This is just another ploy to create another special group of protected people like minorities who’ve enjoyed special privileges for decades.

I would love to see you tell a black man to his face that he’s a member of a protected, specially privileged minority. He would break your face.

emjem24
How ’bout treating homosexuality for what it actual is: a statistical anomaly?

How about treating homosexuals for what they are; human beings with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

emjem24
They don’t get the same protections because they don’t have the same kind of relationships that heterosexual couples have.

“Black people don’t get the same protections as Whites because they don’t have the same kind of racial heritage that Caucasian people have.” Same logic, same disgusting bigotry, and you evoke the same feeling and degree of contempt from myself as if that was actually what you said.

emjem24
I’m sick of this PC crap. No wonder it rains in the Northwest so much. These crybaby liberals and their gay buddies never stop cryin’ and bellyachin’ about what they’re owed by the rest of us who could give a damn. Washington is just another blue state gone crazy.

You do owe gay people the same rights that others get; it’s called “equal protection under the law.” You do owe gay people the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness“; those are called “unalienable” rights.

Yesterday I started responding to homophobic bigot and redundant redundancy emjem24, who left a dumbass comment on Michelle Malkin’s blog. Here, I continue my response.

emjem24
Heaven forbid none of us want homosexuality and its lifestyle crammed down our throats and taught to our kids.

When millions join a movement hell-bent on rewriting state constitutions to forbid heterosexual Christian marriage, then you can complain about other people meddling with your lifestyle. Until that time, you’re just a fucking hypocrite. And homosexuality is a sexuality. You can’t “teach” it to someone. It’s not like Karate or Algebra.

emjem24
What these liberal morons seem to be saying is, tradition, religion and all their tenets are a threat to THEM.

You do know that most liberals, like most people generally (myself included), aren’t gay, right? I can’t speak for anyone else, but personally I don’t have a horse in this race. I’m not gay and none of my friends or family are gay either. Some of us take political positions for reasons other than consolidating our own power or lording it over people we don’t like.

emjem24
A life with no rules, structure, is not a life.
It’s chaos… especially for the rest of us who get caught up in the experiment.

It’s not “an experiment,” it’s the extension of liberty to those who have asked for it, in other words, basic human decency. And how the fuck are you getting “caught up in it”? The only people affected by same-sex marriage rights are people seeking same sex marriages. Or are you afraid that should these rights be legalized you might find the option tempting?

emjem24
I’m not overly religious and I could care less if people are gay or not. What you do in private is YOUR business just recognize that larger society doesn’t accept it or tolerate it.

“I’m not overly flamboyant and I could care less if people are straight or not. What you do in private is YOUR business just recognize that larger society doesn’t accept it or tolerate openly heterosexual people.” Somehow, if that scenario were actually playing out, I suspect you would be bitching about your own rights. Hypocrite.

emjem24 is a stupid bigot who’s awful fond of the idea that gay Americans are second class citizens. He recently spewed his hate on the intertubes in a comment on the equally despicable Michelle Malkin’s blog. Here, I respond.

emjem24
What an utter waste of a referendum. I just got through reading some of the poster comments and it’s a pretty heavy mix between those who disagree on religious grounds and those who think that gays “deserve” equal treatment and rights.

Did you really just put scare quotes around “deserve”? God you’re a bastard. They just want to get married. What’s the big fucking deal?

emjem24
Those in the pro camp are not only deluded but they have no freaking idea what impact this will have on the larger society. It isn’t just about healthcare access, benefits, etc. It’s encouragement to what is, in all intents and purposes, an alternative lifestyle.

Oh no, not alternative lifestyle! Don’t those fucking queers know that this is America? Land of the free-to-live-your-life-as-I-deem-fit-for-you. Conform to my wishes or shut up!

emjem24
It was a very poorly worded piece of legislation. I agree with you there. People are so hell bent on an anything goes society, that I begin to wonder why have rules at all? Why have morals or ethics? When you look at Washington, it’s no wonder it’s such a liberal stronghold.

An “anything goes” life where others’ standards and rules are not forced upon you is called a “free” life. I know that might not be easy for an authoritarian like yourself to understand, but that’s how it is. Supposedly this concept is the foundation for our society.

emjem24
Heaven forbid anybody should judge anybody else… even though it happens to all of us on a daily basis.

“Heaven forbid anybody should murder anybody else… even though it happens to dozens of us on a daily basis.” Seriously, that’s the logic you’re using. “It happens a lot, therefore it’s ok.” Moron.

Land of the Servile

Congratulations, Maine, almost 53% of your population are shitty Americans, and shitty human beings generally. America: land of the not as free as the Canadians, South Africans, Belgians, Spanish, Norwegians, Swedish or Dutch. Conservatives are right about one thing; the battle over gay marriage really is about the soul of our country’s values. Sadly, the bad guys are winning.

The blur betwixt nuts and genius is an intoxicating neural explosion  that Master Craftsmen dance moment to moment.  Here is a scientific glimpse at this manic stroll by the good folks at PRI.  Is it a torture or a blessing?  Perchance the secret lies in release.

The Democratic Party campaign for healthcare reform continues to sicken me; they’re going with the opt out option. I have a hard time believing what cowards Democrats are. Despite having complete control of congress they waffle and whine and can barely be motivated to pursue their own agenda.

The Caduceus

In the end, a public plan with an opt out option is better than nothing. However, all the option will ensure is that in the deep south healthy red necks will get to decide whether or not sick poor people can have access to healthcare. And we know what that choice’ll be. It saddens me that in order to get passed a bill has to give the option for the south to opt out.

What’s the point of even being a country if whenever we collectively decide to do something as a nation you guys try to get out of it? Whether it’s gay rights, hate crime legislation, slavery, healthcare, or abortion rights; the deep south has a history of thinking it’s too good for the rest of the country. Just secede again already if America isn’t good enough. We know you want to.

Dick Cheney recently said words, so you know it was a bucketful of stupid. CNN described his sentiments as “Obama has failed to give troops on the ground a clear mission or defined goals.” Maybe it’s just me, but I though that’s the shit you should have done before you started the war, numbnuts!

The aptly named Dick Cheney

Then he goes on to say this, and it’s not even a paraphrase, these are his actual words: “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.” What’s wrong with you, Obama?! Pelting our allies with your psychokinetic brainwaves of indecision!

OK, so maybe signals of indecision aren’t propagated by the president’s psychic powers. Maybe instead “signals of indecision” are propagated by multinational media conglomerates that just received word from one Dick Cheney that the president is “dithering” and “afraid to make a decision”?

Not that it matters how the fictional signals are propagated; Cheney’s thesis is bullshit. The president giving the appearance of indecision doesn’t hurt anyone, or make the terrorists any more motivated to kill us (they’re already willing to strap bombs to themselves, remember?). Besides, if Dick hates the terrorists so bad, then why does he expend so much energy worrying over how they feel about anything?

A Muslim American man recently ran down his own daughter in a car because she was “too Westernized” and was not living in accordance with traditional Iraqi values. Or, to put it another way, an extremely conservative man attempted to murder his own daughter for being too liberal. She survived, but her injuries are life threatening.

Without the slightest hint of irony, Christian American right wingers are already frothing at the mouth over the evils of Islam, and “cleverly” using the phrase “religion of peace” in a sarcastic fashion. They blame Islam for driving a man to attempt the murder his own child. But isn’t child killing at the heart of both Christianity and Judaism as well?

Noor Faleh Almaleki

Where muslims have burqas, conservatives have these. Where muslims hold women as property, conservatives hold them as second class citizens. Where muslims practice honor killings for fornicators, conservatives merely use promiscuity as an excuse to defend rapists.

Whenever I see conservative Christians freaking out over the “evils” of Islam I can’t help but laugh. They simultaneously struggle to advance conservatism in American while attacking other cultures for having particularly advanced strains of conservatism. And you know all those honor killings, child genital mutilations, and genocide in the Koran? That’s in the Bible, too.

James Hrynyshyn
On Tuesday, Limbaugh’s radio show included this line: “Mr. Revkin, why don’t you just go kill yourself and help the planet by dying?”

The insanity and evil of Rush Limbaugh is a feature, not a bug. It’s what appeals to his core audience. Limbaugh is dispensable. Unless a major cultural shift occurs that fosters different values in the people that compose his listeners, there will always be a willing demagogue to take his place with the same shtick. The problem is our decadent, degenerate culture.

The P3 offices were visited yesterday by this madwoman who claimed to be looking for,”that no-good rascal that done me wrong and them computer folks”.   When terrified staff explained that no one in the office had ever worked on a site called, The Double-Wide Connection, and had no idea how to contact, Emmett; the enraged woman stormed into the parking lot.  DannO captured her in this photo, murderng several helpless jack-o-lanterns.  The grisly crime was accompanied by her wicked promises of revenge.  As far as we’re concerned, good luck Emmett. We’re not sure there is a distance great enough to get away from this wingnut.

That’s what an airplane banner and a sign said as Fox News’ wingnut Glenn Beck got a key to the city of Mount Vernon, Washington, an honor bestowed upon Beck by the city’s mayor but “opposed by many residents — including the city council,” Talking Points Memo reports. It also has a slide show of the many creative protests that includes this image:

All’s fair in love and war, correct? Today’s new creepiness: Video camera “stings” by your political enemies.

Now for only about $200 you can own your own video camera surveillance hat complete with USB cable! Yes, it’s that easy! That makes it so accessible any wingnut can make a go of it!

When TV news used the hidden camera trick to catch bad guy mechanics unnecessarily charging to replace new oil filters, that was not so bad. Those guys needed to be stopped and the people with the cameras were motivated mostly by journalistic standards.

When it is your political enemies, though, all bets are off. They don’t have any obligation or desire to adhere to basic principles of journalism.

By now most of us have heard of the recent uproar over the ACORN hidden camera “stings.” The videos were made by “conservative activists” James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. In the videos O’Keefe poses as a pimp and Giles as a prostitute. They visit ACORN offices seeking advice on buying a house and how to report prostitution income on tax forms. They also ask for advice on how to set up a prostitution ring using underage girls from El Salvador. The ACORN employees (who have since been fired) made the very unfortunate mistake of attempting to give the pair legitimate advice when their response more properly should have been: Step the hell off!

O’Keefe must play one convincing pimp and Giles must play one convincing prostitute!

The hidden camera film has been effective, though. The U.S. Census dropped a “partnership” with ACORN after the videos and some federal funding was pulled.

Was the hidden camera activity legal? The ACORN sting filmmaker may face felony state charges. I’d be quite surprised if anything comes of this, and even if it did, I’m sure the partisan turned pimp actor would think it was worth it. Zealots usually have no problem being martyrs and tend to believe truisms like “the ends justifies the means.” In the meantime, the filmmaker may have other problems on his hands as ACORN sues O’Keefe, Giles and Breitbart.com (which put the videos online) for “illegal videotaping” in association with the hidden camera videos.

Whatever comes of all this won’t really matter. The political damage has already been done. This goes down as a victorious battle in the overall ongoing nasty war of the political spectrum.

My prediction? What is good for the goose is good for the gander. I have no doubt we’ll be seeing more tactics like these from both sides in the very near future. Personally I can’t wait to see behind the scenes footage of something like an Americans For Prosperity brainstorming session.

One thing seems clear. If someone shows up wearing a baseball hat and wants to discuss weird, shady and illegal stuff with you, I’d frisk ‘em for electronics!

Here’s the story from the AP:

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word ‘fed” was scrawled on the dead man’s chest.

And here’s how a regular commenter at redstate.com referred to the death:

Uh Oh: This Could Be Bad
Swamp_Yankee Wednesday, September 23rd at 5:49PM EDT (link)
The whole story could be a load of crap, but the media will harp on this nonetheless as evidence of right wing agitation and violence.

And here’s how one the site’s bigwigs responds:

So we need to push back
Neil Stevens Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:00PM EDT (link)
Make them prove this isn’t the Reichstag ploy.

After all, the Nazis did find an actual Communist to do that… they just gave him encouragement.

Yes. Seriously. This Stevens hack is demanding that the AP prove to his satisfaction that Obama himself didn’t actually kill this worker, who Stevens probably thinks willingly sacrificed himself, in order to make rightwingers look bad.

This is the kind of astounding paranoia that controls every thought and action of so many on the right. To call them nuts is understating the matter.

They are past the point of no return. They don’t express sorrow over the death or sympathy for the man’s family, friends and coworkers.

They immediately assume it a a false flag operation designed to smear them and then they demand proof that this is not the case. The rightwingers might be enjoying some success right now in monkeywrenching the Obama administration.

But this kind of wingnuttery will cancel any chance of translating that success to electoral gain.

Update:
Here’s another lunatic’s comment:

This reeks of Alinsky,
blooch Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:53PM EDT (link)
and if they’re going to this extreme, then Glenn Beck is just a Pollyanna.

Update II: You just know this is going to get nuttier and nuttier…

I have no idea
Neil Stevens Wednesday, September 23rd at 7:06PM EDT (link)
But neither do the people Swamp_Yankee is talking about.

And you know what? If they’re going to make up stuff about this case in order to score political points, I’m going to reach into the mud, scoop up the biggest handful I can get, and throw it right back at them.

Update III: TPM is reporting that the original story was wrong about the worker being hanged, in that, while there was apparently a noose around his neck, his feet were on the ground. There was also a sense that the FBI wanted to tamp down speculation that he was killed because of his occupation.

While it would still be a tragedy for this man, his family, friends and co workers, it would be a good thing if that was not the motivation.

We still don’t know the motive and the facts remain that the FBI is still on the case two weeks after he was found and that census workers are still being kept from going door to door in that area.

What remains appalling is the total lack of human empathy or compassion, coupled with the outright insanity exhibited by the reactions of so many on the right, as illustrated in the quotes above.