Yesterday Dr. George Tiller was assassinated in church by a right-wing domestic terrorist. His assassin believes that his act of terrorism was justifiable homicide, and there are voices from the right that are expressing joy at this act of violence. While this may appear shocking and inhuman, are these voices from the extreme right all that different than the advocates of “justified violence” in the “pro-life” Republican Party?

For it appears that the designation of “pro-life” is granted solely for defense of the fetus, not for humanity. They wish to protect only the fetus, not the lives of mothers. They claim to believe that life begins at conception, yet they cease defending it upon birth.

Upon birth, violence against you can be justified.

The apple of terrorism does not fall far from the tree of the Republican Party that continues to justify murder and violence to this day.

The Republican Party supports administrative murder euphemistically called capital punishment: a “justifiable” homicide. They claim it is justified by serving as a deterrent to crime, despite the fact that the vast body of knowledge disproves this. The danger of an irreversible error, the execution of an innocent, does not move them. The death penalty is nothing more than an act of revenge, a triumph of emotion over reason, and revenge is nothing but violence carried out to satiate a single violent passion.

Republicans are defending the use of torture as justified violence, returning us to the acts of barbarism that serve the cycle of violence begetting violence. This is a lesson most of the Western world has learned, but we remain committed to placating our inner demons. Take the following passage:

Reprisals against civilian populations and the use of torture are crimes in which we are all involved. The fact that such things could take place among us is a humiliation we must henceforth face. Meanwhile, we must at least refuse to justify such methods, even on the score of efficacy. The moment they are justified, even indirectly, there are no more rules or values; all causes are equally good, and war without aims or laws sanctions the triumph of nihilism. Willy-nilly, we go back in that case to the jungle where the sole principle is violence. Even those who are fed up with morality ought to realize that it is better to suffer certain injustices than to commit them even to win wars, and that such deeds do us more harm than a hundred underground forces on the enemy’s side.

(…)
Torture has perhaps saved some, at the expense of honor, by uncovering thirty bombs, but at the same time it aroused fifty new terrorists who, operating in some other way and in another place, will cause the death of even more innocent people. Even when accepted in the interest of realism and efficacy, such a flouting of honor serves no purpose but to degrade our country in her own eyes and abroad.

This passage seems like it could have been written yesterday about the United States, yet it was composed 51 years ago by Albert Camus about France’s struggle with Islamic terrorists in Algeria. History does repeat itself, and Republicans refuse to learn its lessons.

These things, combined with the Republican Party’s propensity to declare war without necessity, as well as being committed to making weapons available but not health care, illustrates their philosophical underpinning of violence.

Some of the inflammatory comments made by pundits on the right may have encouraged the violence against Dr. Tiller. This culture of violence serves the best interest of no one, and it must not be encouraged.

Our generation needs to take a stand against this antiquated glorification of justified violence and realize that spreading hatred leads to a society that is constantly at war with itself.

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During a campaign rally for Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell in Virginia Mike Huckabee made this statement:

You have two jobs. One, get all those people who are going to vote for Bob out to the polls and vote. If they’re not going to vote for Bob, you have another job. Let the air out of their tires and do not let them out of their driveway on Election Day. Keep ‘em home. Do the Lord’s work, my friend. I’m giving you an opportunity…yes, do the right thing.

This looks like a pretty good reason to do something to help Brian Moran.

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Looks like the GOP is sticking to their favorite strategy. When you have a tight race try to scare the hell out of Americans with September 11 and terrorists.

The question too is this: does the death penalty for terrorism suspects keep America safe? Is it a deterrent to someone who is willing to commit a suicide attack? The GOP is wrong on national security and these tasteless ads only highlight that.

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My posts here and on Blue NC about a tweet sent by the Western North Carolina GOP has seemed to have caused quite a stir. They even issued a press release about me.

Apparently I didn’t post the tweet because I think young voters should be respected, but because I am quaking in fear at the GOP’s use of Twitter:

And, Yes, to laugh at his idiot followers. This includes the morons at Blue NC and Scrutiny Hooligans. I laugh at them both because I can smell their fear, and it is delicious.

Though according to their chair, they have no idea how calling young voters “idiots” would lead misguided radical leftists like myself to think they called young voters “idiots.”

“Besides, we’re not saying that younger voters are stupid. All we’re saying is that many voters were heavily influenced by an extravagantly funded propaganda campaign like we’ve never seen before in American politics,” he continued. “I think that is a fair and accurate statement.”

The funny thing is, the argument they are trying to make saying that they aren’t calling young voters stupid but that youth are “being unwittingly manipulated by a political movement” is from Lenin. By the way, even giving them the benefit of the doubt it doesn’t respect young voters.

And trust me, that delicious smell you sense isn’t fear. I’m not scared of the GOP using new communication tools if the message being conveyed is the same as it has been. Keep sending those tweets, and I’ll keep up my “Alinskyite” tactics.

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The Western North Carolina Republican Party sent out a tweet this morning sharing an article about how students are indoctrinated by America-hating terrorist-loving radical left teachers and professors. If this is how the Republican Party is planning on winning the youth vote, they are as dumb as I thought:

So, this is why the youth vote went to Obama…because they’re a bunch of easily led, useful idiots. Makes sense. http://bit.ly/b6Jm

Someone needs to tell the Republicans in North Carolina that voters don’t like to be pissed on.

I wouldn’t just post this without a call to action, so here it is:

E-mail the NC GOP Chair Linda Daves LCDaves@aol.com and Executive Director Chris McClure mcclure@ncgop.org telling them that they need to respect young voters.

If you live in North Carolina write a letter to the editor of the Raleigh News & Observer.

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So many of you may have heard the GOP’s new attempt at rhetorical seduction of young Americans in the form of feigned concern of “generational theft.” Sarah, Michael, and Karlo have responded to this on Future Majority today, and you should check out their following posts.

Sarah Burris – GOP’s Sudden Love of Youth FAIL

Karlo Marcelo – GOP is Taxing my Youthy Nerves

Michael Connery – When Robber Barons Cry Generational Theft

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The above sign was hanging in the McCain HQ in Pompano Beach, FL. The GOP is making the claim that candidates that are supported by youth are future dictators. No wonder they have a hard time with the youth vote.

Hat tip to Ta-Nehisi Coates.

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Eartha Meltzer’s stunning piece in the Michigan Messenger just hit my RSS reader, and I have to say I am both astonished and disgusted by what could be the most wicked attempt at disenfranchisement in decades.

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

Michigan Republicans are trying to further victimize those Americans that have been hit the worst by the disastrous Bush/McCain economic policies by taking away their right to vote for the change they most desperately need.

The Michigan Republicans are planning on challenging these foreclosed Americans as ineligible voters for not being “true residents.”

What’s worse is that McCain’s campaign is benefiting big-time from these predators.

The Macomb GOP’s plans are another indication of how John McCain’s campaign stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state. McCain’s regional headquarters are housed in the office building of foreclosure specialists Trott & Trott. The firm’s founder, David A. Trott, has raised between $100,000 and $250,000 for the Republican nominee.

The Macomb County party’s plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

And if you want to see a real contrast between the values and priorities of the Democratic and Republican parties, look at this:

Statewide, the Republican Party is gearing up for a comprehensive voter challenge campaign, according to Denise Graves, party chair for Republicans in Genessee County, which encompasses Flint. The party is creating a spreadsheet of election challenger volunteers and expects to coordinate a training with the regional McCain campaign, Graves said in an interview with Michigan Messenger.

Where Democratic organizations recruit election protection volunteers, the Republicans recruit volunteers to challenge the right to vote of American citizens. Instead of comprehensive voter registration and empowerment campaigns, they run a “comprehensive voter challenge campaign.” Just think about that for a moment. The McCain campaign is training people how to keep other Americans from voting, predominantly African-Americans.

J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department, has this to say about the Republican efforts:

“At a minimum what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systematic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote,” he said. “Nobody is contending that these people are not legally registered to vote.

“When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote,” Hebert went on, “your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others,” who see a long line and realize they can’t afford to stay and wait.”

ACORN’s David Lagstein sums it up best: “The Republican-led state Senate has not moved on the anti-predatory lending bill for over a year and yet [Republicans] have time to prey on those who have fallen victim to foreclosure to suppress the vote.”

We need to be aware of these attempts to disenfranchise American citizens in all of our states and communities and do everything we can to fight against the Republicans in their war against American voters.

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