of posts regarding the liberal Democrat Green Gunman

MARK HEMINGWAY: Will the media call the Silver Spring/Discovery Channel gunman an environmental terrorist? “The question is, to what extent will the media note that this violence was spurred by a radical left-wing environmental agenda, or that eco-terrorism is not a new phenomenon and is arguably the America’s biggest domestic terrorist threat?”

from Chris Horner:

Now, both Fox News and CNN have reported that Lee attributed his radicalism to the writings of two men — Daniel Quinn and Al Gore. The Washington Post carried a fairly lengthy article exploring the former, who dismisses any connection. That piece and the main news feature are both silent on the deceased’s giving equal credit to Gore (although a pop-up ad for China’s solar industry does accompany one of them). This is true of the Wall Street Journal’s coverage, among others.

Beck’s (somewhat backhanded, I understand) rationale for exculpating Gore of partial responsibility is that the terrorist was not a sane person. Yep. But the two — culpability by Gore and other radical green imams, and acting out by mentally unstable members of their targeted demographic — aren’t mutually exclusive. We know that individuals bear responsibility for reasonably foreseeable consequences of their actions, both the instigator and the instigated.

One might not like the connection, what with environmentalism being as chic as a Che Guevara handbag, but you can’t deny it. Take the quiz, “Did Al Gore say it? Or was it the Unabomber?“. I dare you to score better than 50%. That should make you uncomfortable. Then read Lee’s manifesto, and really squirm at the similarities.

from Melissa Clouthier

One of my children has autism. An autistic child is inside his own head and lacks a certain self-awareness. So, for example, when the child does repetitive behaviors called "stimming" like rocking in place or flapping his hands in front of his eyes, he doesn't realize what he's doing. A parent might say, "Johnny, stop swaying" or "Stop flapping" and the child will continue. He doesn't know that he's doing anything.

Modeling normative behavior can help-but only if the child is aware of the normative behavior. That is, if he is not "seeing" it, he cannot model it. He is internally focused and that's the problem.

So how do you get that child out of his head? You mirror his behavior. Try it some time. A child who is swaying or flapping will show a dawn of awareness when the parent or teacher mirrors what the child is doing in front of his face. So, in my house, I will start flapping my hands in front of my face and my son will get a sly smile of awareness and he'll stop. He gets out of his own head for a minute, registers his behavior and quits. It is very effective. In fact, it is far more effective than modeling...until the unwanted behavior stops. Once the child stops the asocial behavior, he will start watching for different behavior. Awareness comes first.

You can see where I'm going with this. From what I can tell, and it's a scientific fact to boot, leftists lack empathy. That is, they cannot put themselves in someone elses' shoes and modify behavior based on how they would feel if the behavior was turned toward them. They are rather autistic about their intellectual and social behavior. They'll tar and feather a whole segment of people based on the action of one crazy and not even bat an eye. However, when their own crazy gets caught, they want the more reasonable and reasoned and logical response of not smearing a whole group of people (say, all people who watched and liked the Al Gore movie An Inconvenient Truth).

Modeling has not helped the left. They simply do not see good behavior. They're too into their own lefty world where their own asocial behavior is reinforced and fed (for example, Journolist).

What is the answer then? Mirroring.

At every opportunity, people on the right need to illustrate the absurd by being absurd. A crazy dude who hates babies and loves squirrels? Why, he's a typical environmentalist! I mean, how is he different from Keith Olbermann and Dylan Ratigan? They're all crazy, anger-lust filled wackos who would love for the world to be rid of humans and populated with trillions of squirrels.

The funny thing is that conservatives and libertarians on Twitter are in on the joke. Well, most of them are. They get that the smear is unfair and ridiculous. They understand that it's childish and a little silly. They have also learned that modeling fairness to the lefties does not work. They simply are too inside their own experience.

So, mirroring it is. When lefties start holding to fairness in reporting and thinking, when they start viewing right-leaning outliers as the work of crazy outliers, it will be time to start modeling good behavior.

I understand the notion of being above it and acting in a manner in which you want others to act. I get not getting dirty. I also know that playing nice hamstrings the right and gives the left license. So, as long as the mirroring is conducted in a self-aware, joking manner, I say have at it.

Court Jesters, parody, and all manner of humor have always been used to reveal absurdity and bad behavior. Until the left mends their mendacious ways, mirroring is the best medicine.

Crossposted at Liberty Pundits

Deval Patrick: “It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”

I can't even bring myself to write about this.  Here are some links:

No, I’m not making this up: In an interview with ABC News yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that “there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn’t.” The remedy for the poor, bewildered public? “We have a lot of reeducation to do.”

As Glenn Reynolds quipped, “Maybe there are camps for that?”

Maybe these politicians would’ve been better off if they’d read the bill in the first place. But not even Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), one of the leaders in the push for passage, had time to do that.

So who is it that needs a re-education? Not the American people, but the political leadership itself — a lesson that will likely come at the ballot box.

WOW!  How 'they gonna spin THIS?

Gunman who took hostages at Discovery Channel inspired by Al Gore. 

<edit> HERE'S how they spin it:

"Purported Eco-Terrorist Angered Over ‘Immigration Pollution And Anchor Baby Filth'"

That's right, of Lee's thousand-word manifesto in which he stated his demands of Discovery, Think Progress chose to highlight not the radical, militant environmentalism he espoused, but rather an obscure claim (in terms of overall message and word count) that immigrants to developed nations make the pollution situation worse.

Again

We WON in Iraq?

“I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

- Senator Barack Obama responds to the State of the Union Address, January 10, 2007

"So I am going to actively oppose the president's proposal. … I think he is wrong, and I think the American people believe he's wrong"

January, 2007 again: "We cannot impose a military solution on what has effectively become a civil war," ...until we acknowledge that reality, we can send 15,000 more troops, 20,000 more troops, 30,000 more troops. I don't know any expert on the region or any military officer that I've spoken to privately that believe that that is going to make a substantial difference on the situation on the ground."

July, 2007: "Here's what we know: the surge has not worked."

January, 2008: I had no doubt -- and I said at the time, when I opposed the surge, that given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we would see a reduction in the violence."

July 15, 2008: Barack Obama's aides have removed criticism of President Bush's increase of troops to Iraq from the campaign Web site, part of an effort to update the Democrat's written war plan to reflect changing conditions.

because it just might work!

FROM JAMES TARANTO: “Don’t call it ‘extending the Bush tax cuts.’ Call it ‘repealing the Bush tax increase.’ This would be entirely accurate: Taxes are going up pursuant to legislation enacted by a Republican Congress and signed by Bush.”

and thanks to those who made victory in Iraq possible.  I'll say it, since the president didn't last night. 

Victory?  Yes.  Victor Davis Hanson nails it.  The truth about Iraq is that, for all the tragedy and the loss, the U.S. military performed a miracle. After nearly seven years, a constitutional government endures in that country. It is too often forgotten that all 23 of the writs for war passed by the Congress in 2002 — from enforcing the Gulf I resolutions and stopping the destruction of the Kurds and Marsh Arabs, to preventing the Iraqi state promotion of terrorism, ending suicide bounties on the West Bank, and stopping Iraq from invading or attacking neighbors or trying to acquire WMD — were met and satisfied by the U.S. military. It is also too often forgotten that, as a result, Libya gave up its WMD program; Dr. Khan’s nuclear franchise was shut down; Syria left Lebanon; and American troops in Saudi Arabia, put there as protection against Saddam, were withdrawn.”

Read the whole thing:  Iraq Through The Looking Glass.

Here's what I don't get. Back in '94 the Donk CW was that they lost because they didn't pass Hilarycare. I think they were wrong. I think they lost because, among other things, they TRIED to pass Hilarycare. So now we're careening into November slated for a replay. And the same thing's gonna happen again. They thought they'd win if they passed healthcare but it appears the independants are abandoning ship in droves.

JAY COST: Health Care Reform Has Endangered the Democratic Majority. “It was during the health care debate that the essential building block of the Democratic majority – Independent voters – began to crumble. It was evident in the generic ballot. It was evident in the President’s job approval numbers. It was evident in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.”

So SOME Donks are tacking a different tack. They're saying “we know Obamacare is bad so re-elect us and we'll fix it.” Really? REALLY? If the Elphs in 08 had said “we know you don't like the way the economy's going but re-elect us and we'll fix it” would ANYONE have bought it?

Of course not.

And then there's this from GALLUP: Voters trust GOP more on, well, everything. “Well, okay, not everything. Democrats still get more trust from voters on the environment by 23 points in this latest Gallup survey, and health care comes in at a virtual tie. Since those are near the bottom of the electorate’s priority list in the midterms, it hardly matters. Republicans have taken the lead on every other issue on the radars of voters, including a stunning eleven point lead on the economy, a traditional Democratic strength.”

I can't understand why no one called Joe Biden out on his stupid statement last week:

"We're turning this great ship of state around that was wandering out to sea and it's heading back to port."

News flash, Joe:  Great ships are made to be sea faring, not  port-docked.  

That's exactly what is wrong with the economic thinking of this administration!