Friday, March 5, 2010

Pentagon Shooting

Man with a Muckrake is the blog I go to for the latest.

ABC News reports:

The gunman who charged into one of the Pentagon’s main entrances and opened fire has died from gunshot wounds to the head and authorities are looking into his recent rants against the government as a potential motive.

The attack seems to be another suicide mission aimed at the government. While police have said they are not certain of a motive, they are investigating Internet postings in which Bedell wrote and recorded audio expressing his anger towards the government.

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Here’s what I’m wondering about this morning as I read this: do those who foment this type of anger- Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck- have any pangs of guilt today? Do they suspect that it may have been their rhetoric, their fear-mongering that pushed this man over the edge?

Had I been a key agitator in this hate campaign, I would be sleepless and terribly distraught thinking that what I had said led a man to suicide.

I've asked the same questions myself. In fact I go further. The shared responsibility for this kind of incident does not stop with the prominent right-wing celebrities.

What's your opinion? Are these incidents still an aberration? Are they anecdotal? Or do they reflect an increasingly visible sector of America?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

20 comments:

  1. Where in the article does it mention that this man listened to Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck?

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  2. "The officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries -- one in the thigh and the other in the shoulder, the chief said."

    The guy gets the jump on the cop and shoots them in the thigh and shoulder. And he does this at a place that he knows the officers are likely to be highly armed. Everything about this screams 'suicide by cop'.

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  3. Hmmm, it is now being reported that he hated the military and was a 911 Truther.

    Yep, definitely a fan of Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.

    hahahahahahahahahaah

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  4. Mikeb says:

    The shared responsibility for this kind of incident does not stop with the prominent right-wing celebrities.

    Where does it stop, then--the obscure "right wing" advocates? Should we blame William Ayers, for starting this whole "attack the Pentagon" idea? Should we blame Obama, for having known Ayers?

    Or, here's an idea--a person who commits an act of violence (however poorly) is responsible for his own actions. That's how freedom and responsibility work.

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  5. Yes, that Mudrake sure can call them:

    Anti-Bush Truther shoots up Pentagon; Should we play the political blame game?

    On Thursday, a “9/11 Truth” fanatic named John Patrick Bedell started shooting at the Pentagon and managed to wound two guards before they mercifully put him out of our misery.

    We now know that the guy thought the government and the Bush family were behind the 9/11 attacks (or “demolitions” as he called them), and was basically frothing at the mouth with Bush hatred.

    Now, I’ve been to innumerable “Truther” rallies over the last 8 years, and can say with some confidence that about 98% of folks who think 9/11 was a hoax are left-wingers, or at the very least fit in very comfortably in the left-wing milieu, since the impetus behind Truthism is to undermine the basis for Bush’s “War on Terror,” an impetus which is also a cornerstone of modern Leftist thought as well.

    http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2010/03/05/anti-bush-truther-shoots-up-pentagon-should-we-play-the-political-blame-game/?singlepage=true

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  6. Quite right. If only I had registered my guns and limited myself to one per year, this tragedy would have been prevented. I am so ashamed. /s

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  7. Hmmm, it is now being reported that he hated the military and was a 911 Truther.

    IMPOSSIBLE! This doesn't fit the leftist narrative. Muddy & MikeB say he's a right-wing nutjob so it must be true

    Boy, you anti-gunners sure do have a knack for getting stuff wrong.

    Oh, and being a 9/11 Truther puts him solidly in the "crazy left-winger" camp.

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  8. Wow! Lots of 'stuff' posted here. Tell me, gentlemen, if you listen to Beck, Hannity, Savage and/or Limbaugh, do you ever feel 'embolden' after listening that 'the government' is the biggest problem facing the citizens of the United States?

    Do any of these men harp on or harangue 'the government' as the source of the ills of this nation?

    How often is this 'message' sent to the listening audience?

    Please tell us so that we all can be better informed.

    How often, would you say, do these men have 'the government' in the cross-hairs? Daily, Once a week? Never? Always?

    Thanks.

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  9. I hate to break it to FJ but 9-11 'truthers' are pretty prevalent at gun shows. It's a misnomer to acccuse the 'truthers' as 'Anti-Bush' since most conspiracy theories are right wing in nature--often accusing the Govt. of covering up its misdeeds.

    Go to a gunshow--the 9-11 'truthers' will be there alongside the white separatists and the 'you don't have to pay taxes' schemes.

    Further, let's look at the right wing commenters who subscribe to the 'truther' views: Alex Jones, Pat Buchanan, Paul Craig Roberts, etc.

    The TX GOP Senator race even had a 'truther' who got 19% of the vote in a 3-way race. Several GOP candidates are on record as saying they think there's more to 9-11 than reported.

    --JadeGold

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  10. Wild, unsubstantiated speculation from Muddy, which turns out to be wrong as usual.

    I'm willing to bet none of these right-wing pundits go on the air and tell their listeners to go kill Liberals. I don't listen to any of them so perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

    The moment they come out and specifically call for their listeners to go forth and kill "infidels" (like radical Islamic Jihadists do) I'll be right there with you calling for their prosecution. Until then I'll remain a stanch supporter of free speech. I support all speech, even that with which I vehemently disagree.

    As an aside, one of the owners of the largest Liberal blog in Delaware has stated he thinks "All Conservatives should be rounded up and shot" (Delaware Liberal) The folks at that website consistently blamed "right-wing hate speech" for violence when they themselves advocated murdering people they disagreed with.

    Did it ever occur to you two that he could have been angry at the government WITHOUT having been a regular listener to any right-wing pundits? I doubt a 9/11 truther who hated Bush was a regular listener of any of the right-wing pundits you listed, but that's just an educated guess.

    You and Muddy are jumping to a conclusion, that these people drove him to it, when you have not one shred of evidence to substantiate such a position.

    The guy was a 9/11 truther and anti-Bush. It could just as easily have been Matthews or Olbermann that drove him to do this. Or it could have had nothing to do with the words of any particular media pundit. We don't know, we have no indicators, so why engage in wild speculation?

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  11. From this story:

    "There are emerging signs that the suspect in a Pentagon subway station shooting may have harbored resentment for the military and had doubts about the facts behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."

    "The user also railed against enforcement of marijuana laws."

    So this guy was a "truther", hated the military, and railed against marijuana laws. Ya, that's your everyday right-winger there. Jump the gun a little, did we?

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  12. So a pothead from super liberal Kalifornia shoots someone and it's Limbaugh's, Hannity's, and Beck's fault?

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  13. JadeGold: It's a misnomer to acccuse the 'truthers' as 'Anti-Bush' since most conspiracy theories are right wing in nature

    And who do 'truthers' believe was really responsible for the 9-11 attacks?

    The Bush administration (or "neocons").

    And why do 'truthers' believe that the Bush administration (or "neocons") carried out the 9-11 attacks?

    As a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, and restrict civil liberties in the US.

    Yes, that sure does sound like "right-wing" thinking, all right.

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  14. Facts omitted by RuffRider:

    Bedell didn't hate the military--after all, he was concerned about another conspiracy theory concerning a USMC COL who had committed suicide. He was convinced the death was a homicide.

    As for marijuana--are you seriously suggesting the rightwing doesn't partake?

    --JadeGold

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  15. Mudrake: Wow! Lots of 'stuff' posted here.

    Wow! The facts on the Pentagon shooter reveal that Mudrake was as utterly and embarrassingly wrong as could be.

    Not only did the shoooter have nothing to do with any right-wing pundit, but he turned out to be a Bush-hating left-winger.

    More here: http://patterico.com/2010/03/04/pentagon-shooter-anti-bush-nut-case-and-911-truther/

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  16. tend to agree with most of the comments on this one......is this information true......The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides,[5] with firearms used in 16,907 suicides in the United States during 2004.

    found that little nugget of information on the wikipedia website. probably one of the reasons why I no longer use wikipedia.

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  17. Jade, just how many gun shows have you been to? How many "Truthers" have you run in to at these mythical gun shows that you frequent?

    Myth, Urban Legend, didn't happen!

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  18. "As for marijuana--are you seriously suggesting the rightwing doesn't partake?"

    I'm pretty sure some do. But there is just too much in favor of this guy being a lefty.

    He's a truther, pothead, and from Kalifornia? That just doesn't scream right wing.

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  19. FWM: Jade, just how many gun shows have you been to? How many "Truthers" have you run in to at these mythical gun shows that you frequent?

    I have been to many gun shows without seeing any 'truthers' but that must be my fault. You see, JadeGold said that "the 9-11 'truthers' will be there alongside the white separatists."

    Since I have never seen the 'white separatists' exhibit at these shows, it's no wonder that I missed the "truthers' exhibit that was "alongside the white separatists."

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  20. I have been to many gun shows without seeing any 'truthers' but that must be my fault. You see, JadeGold said that "the 9-11 'truthers' will be there alongside the white separatists."


    There is a lot of things that JadeGold says on here that makes me think that he/she has never been to a gun show.

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