Death threat

[salinen]

I am saying this completely sober and serious, the RW mouths are calling us out to be killed! Listen to how they phrase this call. They'll start their diatribe with Saddam or Osama, reflecting on how these murderers and enemies need to be killed. Then, usually in the same breath, they call liberals out as enemies. They discribe us using the most derogatory terms, to dehumanize us, therefore setting the target on these less than human parasites (meaning us). This is not thinly veiled, it's a direct threat! They are not themselves brave enough to commit murder, so they are asking others to do the dirty work. Didn't we all wonder when Daschle and Leahy received anthrax letters that not one went to a conservative? What I am saying is that we are being singled out, and as I see, this government must end this slanderous groups death threats. Yes, the Limbaughs, the Coulters, the Savages, O'reilley, Hannity, et al must be stopped. We are not the enemies of the state. We are as American as anyone who is a citizen, and we have been, and are being threatened with physical harm. And as citizens we deserve protection. These contract killers need to have their shows cancelled for our safety. It has gone on way too long. I'm sick and tired, angry and scared for all of us. So all who are listening to this website know that we are not going to allow this to go on any futher. Even here at du, the thread stops when the message becomes too extreme. Our government must do the same!

[rumguy]

1. There is a fascist wind blowing, but I don't think the govt.

should stop those shows...that would be censorship and once the govt. starts censoring who knows where it will go? Bad precedent...

[DU_Pushed_Me_Away]

2. Hate mongers never win

Level headed people know a variety of opinions are the foundation of America. The people who use threats will become extinct. Hopefully in '04

[Snow]

3. "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?", eh?

[Patriot_Spear]

19. I love that quote...

Hair-shirt for you my friend!

[OHdem10]

4. Reply; Death Threat

Did anyone else see Tom Brokaws speech on C-span this weekend?
He was honored by being the presitigous Journalism's Fourth Estate award.

After his gracious acceptance, he themn spoke to the journalists.
The theme of his speech was based on Thomas Jefferson's belief that the Journalists are the safekeepers of Democracy."If I had to choose between a good government with no Journalism and a bad government with good journalists, I would take the latter", I am paraphrasing
T. Jefferson. He went to explain show during the 60.s and some years after, you could not find Conservatives except Novak and Bill Buckley. Some he said referred to this as the tyrany of the left.
He went on to say that we now seem to be under the tyranny of the right. Gave examples of how we are not allowed to dissent . At the end he called on his fellow journalists to once again become Thomas Jefferson,s children.

While this does not specifically refer to eath threats, I am hope the media will take up his challenge and call people to task when tey overstep the bounds. Perhaps this might counter some of this
vitriol.

[salinen]

5. Numbers are a different story

Almost all media is conservative now. Not all use the language I am referring to. I would be interested in comment from those who were paying attention to the media in the 60's if it resembled anything like today's hate speech, only from the left. I mean hey, I hope I'm wrong.

[Oilwellian]

7. You're not wrong....

and the death message is subtly taking hold in the public psyche. I have a personal story to tell.

Recently I threw a surprise birthday party for my husband who just turned 50. I invited several of his coworkers including two of his bosses. One boss couldn't make the party (we'll call him Joe) while another one did (we'll call him Tom.) Tom & Joe have always been republicans and they and my husband have had some lively debates in the recent past about Bush. (My husband despises Bush as much as I do.)

Anyway, Joe wanted to give my husband a gift even though he couldn't make the party so he sent it via Tom. The gift from Joe was as follows:

A large military action figure holding an AK47 and an added bubble to the packaging that said: "Ok Tom, I'll take out those liberals."

Now, my husband thought it was kinda funny and was no big deal to him. But I was furious because it was proof the "message" was becoming more prevalent in this country and there are plenty of idiot wingnuts who are capable of being whipped into a frenzy and actually kill someone because they are now the perceived enemy. Never thought I'd see the day where this would happen among fellow Americans.

[salinen]

8. O

Wow! Talk about behind enemy lines. I'll bet you've discussed with your husband whether to continue debating the bosses.

[Kanary]

12. Behind enemy lines, indeed!

Thanks so much for sharing this! You have really helped me to feel vindicated.

Some months ago, on another forum, we were discussing the war and other issues, and a bushwa clod declard all us "libruls" aare traitors and should be lined up and shot. I was horrified, as this is a local forum, and this is someone I could live close to. It actually scared me, and I was quite upset that nobody else thought anything of it. Later, in the context of something similar, I brought it up again, and was laughed at by the rest of the "libruls" for finding it bothersome.

Your story illustrates that something is terribly wrong, and my reaction wasn't just "paranoia".... there is a dangerous direction we are going in this country, and it's time to stop brushing it off.

As a victim of domestic abuse, my antenna are sharper than most, but I don't think it's unreasonable to take these things seriously.

Thanks again..... this has really been helpful to me.

Kanary

[SoCalDem]

16. It always starts with subtlety..and escalates..

Think women's clinic bombers.. It started with a bunch of anti-abortion people chanting in fron , as women went for appointments..It escaleted to bombings and snipers killing doctors..

People can be "programmed" to do some pretty bad things.. Al Qaeda does not have a monopoly on "sleeper cells".. The fundamentalist wackos have been using mind control for YEARS...

Anyone remember Jim Jones ???

[maggrwaggr]

6. i agree, the irresponsibility of these people should be illegal

other irresponsible behavior is illegal, why not this?

You can't yell "fire" in a crowded movie theatre in spite of the freedom of speech. You can't make death threats either.

To encourage others to hate and make death threats is right up there in my opinion.

[salinen]

9. Yes

This has nothing to do with the freedom of speech. I'd place it as a civil rights issue. It is our civil right not to be threatened, especially over the public airwaves.

[rumguy]

11. What about the 1st Amendment?

Are we going to make liberals a "protected class" in our society.

Any effort to actually outright ban these shows or to limit what they do will blow up in our faces and make us into a laughing stock...

[salinen]

13. Well sure,

I was hoping a long time ago that they would be ignored. Today, if you excell in hate dialog you get your own show. It will be interesting to see where this trend goes. Do you think it could ever reach a level where something should be done?

[prolesunited]

22. No, who's talking about the 1st Amendment here?

I think making DEATH threats is illegal. No one is talking about protecting a class, just enforcing the law. Do you have a 1st Amendment right to yell "fire" in a crowded theater?

If people are making death threats against the KKK or religious fundies, I also would want the government to take action.

[Military Brat]

26. We are already a laughing stock to cons, and a hate target

Remember the Clear Channel station (or stations) where the DJ encouraged people to run over bicyclists who were "taking over the road," and guess what? A bicyclist was run over because of that hate speech.

Thought usually precedes speech, speech usually precedes action. Who wants to be the first martyr for liberals because some beer-sucking couch-potato Repub with an inferiority complex thinks Ann Cunter is right about killing liberals?

Hate speech is hate speech. I won't threaten Repubs with physical harm, even in jest, and I am angry that our society tolerates those who subject liberals and progressives with threats of physical harm with the objective of shutting us up.

[drfemoe]

10. Consider their 'leader'

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/042803_vatican.html

Bush's "Christian" Blood Cult
Concerns Raised by the Vatican
by WAYNE MADSEN
(The following story was originally published by CounterPunch – www.counterpunch.org - on April 22, 2003.
Reprinted with permission from the author)

... "One only has to check out Bush's record as Governor of Texas to see his own preference for death over life. During his tenure as Governor, Bush presided over a record setting 152 executions, including the 1998 execution of fellow born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who later led a prison ministry. Forty of Bush's executions were carried out in 2000, the year the Bush presidential campaign was spotlighting their candidate's strong law enforcement record. The Washington Post's Richard Cohen reported in October 2000 that one of the execution chamber's "tie-down team" members, Fred Allen, had to prepare so many people for lethal injections during 2000, he quit his job in disgust.

Bush mocked Tucker's appeal for clemency. In an interview with Talk magazine, Bush imitated Tucker's appeal for him to spare her life - pursing his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, "Please don't kill me." That went too far for former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer, himself an evangelical Christian. "I think it is nothing short of unbelievable that the governor of a major state running for president thought it was acceptable to mock a woman he decided to put to death," said Bauer. "
....more ..

[banana republican]

14. sue the SOB's

see if you can find a lawyer and sue the tv/rradio stations for malicious harassment. Maybe Faux will pay attention to a few million dollar judgments...

[New Lefty]

15. Over the top

It is this type of crapola that makes us look like a bunch of flaming nutcases. It is this type of post that the fascists use on their websites and radio show to make the left look like lunatics. Get real.

[prolesunited]

24. Yes, I think we should all be

good little lap dogs and be quiet while they are making death threats against us. God forbid that we should speak out against our masters!

So, do you not believe that numerous death threats have been made or do you think we should simply ignore it?

BTW, I think you're the one who needs to "get real." They're playing for keeps in case you haven't noticed or did you just miss what happened to peaceful protesters in Miami?

[seemslikeadream]

25. Get Real?

This is serious stuff and the Religious Right, Christian Coalition, Theonomic Reconstructionist what ever you what to call them have declared war on "us".

War on Secular Society

"We need to find ways to win the war" Karl Rove told a gathering of the Family Redearch Council in March 2002. The Family Research Council is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of the Religious Right today. Rove wasn't talking about the war on terrorism. He was talking about the war on secular society.

To understand the war on secular society, we should go to Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, who told the Denver Post in 1992 that his goal was to "take working control of the Republican Party.

He explained the nature of the war on secularism in 1991 at a Christian Coalition rally. "It's going to be a spiritual battle," Robertson told the crowd. "There will be Satanic forces.... We are not going to be coming up just against human beings, to beat them in elections. We're going to be coming up against spiritual warfare."
www.theocracywatch.org

Theonomic Reconstructionist like billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who by the way gave the money to start the touchscreen voting machines believes Biblical Law trumps civil law and is literly building the Kingdom of God on earth so Jesus will return.

Theonomic Reconstructionism believes that homosexuals should be put to death, women should be banned from civic office, apostates and heretics should be stoned to death and there is a great need for more Christian politicians.

No matter how hard they tried there seemed to be one serious impediment to enacting God's will on Earth: democracy. Those godless heathens kept on insisting on their right to vote.

[smirkymonkey]

17. This was how the Nazi's manufactured

support for the "final solution" - Find the scapegoat, demonize them, dehumanize them, and turn your head when they start "disappearing". I honestly don't believe that we are all that far away from the same type of trajectory in this situation - the means will be different, but if left unchecked, it can only get worse.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

18. I agree with some people above

We shouldn't censor it, but we should all speak out about and write and ask people in leadership positions to speak out as well. Some of the Democratic candidates are talking about it.

Of course, we know the media loves the hateful talk and will bury the objections as much as they can, but we have to keep trying to counter the hateful talk.

When I hear this crap from relatives, I tell them clearly that it is wrong. Unfortunately, they just look at me blankly. They should have gotten it when Clinton talked about it after Oklahoma City, but they don't. I just keep asking them, "Do you want a one-party state and no dissent allowed?" and they just mumble, no, because that IS just what they want, but don't want to admit it. Don't let them hide these thoughts, make them face them.

On edit: I visited earlier in the month and everyone was uncharacteristicly silent and didn't bring up politics. Don't know what that meant.

[supernova]

20. This is sad

and we cannot allow it to go unanswered. Silence equals our continued disenfranchisement.

One of the reasons the Nazis gained power so fully, was not only their total brutality, but that no one really thought at the time that they were that vicious. No one really thought about going to the gas chambers just for being who the were: Jewish, Romany (Gypsy), gay, handicapped in various ways.

We have to continually call the neo-cons on the carpet about it. We cannot let them have that image of us. We must not fall prey to apathy.

[rucky]

21. Isn't that a form of terrorism?

not to mention illegal?

maybe not proveable in criminal court, but any one of these tirades should be a civil case, at the very least.

[slaveplanet]

23. the Fifth Column

was very effective in France

[CaptainClark23]

27. Maybe thats what it takes

for some of us to realise the precariousness of the situation we find ouselves facing.

If fear for one's life is what it takes to shake some people from their somnabulant stupor to see that this nation is in serious danger, then I call it a good thing.

No one gives a shit, really, until it gets personal, until it hits home.

Good Morning America. Welcome to the New World Order.

What are YOU going to have for breakfast, hm?