4 Arizona Republican Politicians Resign Fearing for Their Lives

[toddwv]

Wow. This is just incredible. I know we've had violent political upheaval in the past, but it's just so disconcerting to see it like this.

Fearing tea party violence, four Arizona Republicans resign

District Republican chairman: 'I don't want to take a bullet for anyone'

Fearing violence from tea party activists, Arizona Legislative District 20 Republican Chairman Anthony Miller and several others tendered their resignation this week following mass shootings that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in critical condition.

Miller, a 43-year-old former campaign worker for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), said that verbal attacks and blog posts from members of the tea party had him fearing for the safety of his family, according to a report in The Arizona Republic.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/fearing-tea-party-violence-arizona-republicans-resign/

[arcane1]

1. Why fear violence from the teabaggers?

After all, it was just one lone nut, right??

[tridim]

2. More proof that both sides DON'T do it.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. I had only heard of Miller resigning

You know what they say; actions speak louder than words. "Move along folks, there's nothing to see here, go about your normal business".

[Voice for Peace]

4. white supremacists?

[toddwv]

6. I thought about that.

Anthony Miller:


Sophia Johnson is hoooooooot...

and says she is of Japanese descent.

Roger Dickinson:


Can't find a pic of Jeff Kolb.

[Kerrytravelers]

5. I'm actually speechless.

They get these folks all hyped up and are then surprised when something tragic happens.

[guitar man]

8. sure enough ;)

[Fla_Democrat]

7. Wait, I thought the tea party WAS republicans?

:shrug:

[JoePhilly]

9. Republican far right fringe.

Originally, the tea Party movement was created to get the right most base to the polls to beat Obama.

But Frankenstein's monster has gotten loose.

[Kerrytravelers]

10. Yes, well actuall no. We're changing the story. Again.

Here! Look! Shiny things!!!

[sabrina 1]

11. Smart move, these people are a threat to society.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Interesting. I don't know quite what to make of this.

But, you know, there was another political death in AZ, back in mid-December: Christopher Smith, a Republican legislative aide, found shot dead in his car, in Phoenix. I don't know anything more about it, at the moment. Don't know if it was deemed a suspicious death or what. But, whether suicide or suicided, it contributes to a picture of violent conflict within the Republican party in AZ (and possibly nationally), with not just us peaceful "libruls" as targets.

And I want to point out one other death--because the investigation of it got bumped out of the news by the AZ horror. Top military/security advisor to Republican presidents, and a man with one of the highest security clearances in the country, John P. Wheeler, was murdered (according to the police) on Dec 30-31 and his body dumped at a landfill in Wilmington, DE. There is, as yet, no released cause of death or lab report, no crime scene and no suspects. VERY suspicious death, as to "wars" that may be going on within the "military-industrial complex. Wheeler was the main power behind the Vietnam War Memorial and also behind the report on bio/chem weapons that got them BANNED. At the time of his death, he was working for the very powerful MITRE Corporation (high tech aviation systems, among other things) in particular on cyber-security. Oh, and he was involved in investigating the Minot air base nuclear incident (Cheney trying to nuke Iran?). I don't have a theory on this one, but the circumstances of his death (and his behavior just before his death) are so bizarre that we REALLY need to be paying attention. Latest was that the FBI was "assisting" the investigation. Don't know what that means, nor why the FBI wasn't on top of this from the beginning. This guy was one of the most well-connected men in DC, working for perhaps THE most well-connected MIC/security corporation. Top of his class at West Point, thick in the middle of things, recently.

I have proposed the theory that the AZ horror was a "distraction"--a way to get the spotlight off the investigation of what was, initially, a botched assassination (replete with some misdirection of its own--that John P. Wheeler had smoke-bombed his neighbor's house in a property dispute--harmless smoke bombs at that). (Would a guy who can direct nuclear missiles smoke-bomb his neighbor's house? I mean, come on.) I rather regret this suggestion (AZ a "distraction"), because of course I got jumped on as a "conspiracy theory" nut. I still think it's possible (depending on who killed Wheeler), but I hope that my "big picture" suggestion doesn't distract from the attention that this murder needs. Please pay attention to it. Here are my two threads on it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x134679
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x152279

I'm going to post another one some time today, summing up the latest tidbits on Wheeler's murder--and some stuff about Ashley Turton (wife of Obama liaison to the House) and lobbyist for Progress Energy, which, the very day of her death--in her own garage, in a BMW that supposedly caught fire--signed a $1.3 billion deal with Duke Energy (which just completed a new aeronautic facility at Charlotte International, which could be tied to MITRE). Turton was a Rep Gephardt and Delauro aide, prior to becoming a Progress lobbyist. And did you know that Giffords was sponsoring a bill to prevent military aircraft from being sold on the open market? You learn something new every day. Over the last week, I've learned quite a lot of new things. Whether any of the "dots" connect, I sure don't know. But I'm wondering about a number of them--and I've been concerned since Obama got elected about a possible far rightwing plan to create civil disorder prior to Diebolding Bush Junta II into the White House.

[mrs_p]

13. not sure if you already have done so

but this might deserve its own post...

[Peace Patriot]

16. Thank you! I'll include it in my next post about Wheeler (probably this evening).

I will put it in my journal, too.

Just wanted to say something more about my posited far rightwing plan to create civil disorder prior to Diebolding Bush Junta II into the White House. The top and the bottom levels of the far rightwing are very close, as the Koch Bros funding of the (Mad) "Tea Party" has demonstrated. There is another example: The initial investor and major funder of ES&S--which just bought out Diebold, and thus gained an 80% monopoly over U.S. voting systems--was rightwing billionaire recluse Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian" Chalcedon foundation, which touts the death penalty for homosexuals (among other things). These voting machines, that permeate our system, are run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code--code that the public has no right to review--with virtually no audit/recount controls. 80% of the voting machines in the country are now owned and controlled by one private corporation with ties to the nutball 'christian' right!

Half the states do NO AUDIT AT ALL (count of paper ballots against machine totals) and the other half do a miserably inadequate 1% audit. Experts whom I respect say that 10% is the minimum audit needed to detect fraud in electronic machine voting. 99% to 100% of the votes we cast are never seen by human eyes. Where we have a paper ballot (including mailin ballots), it is scanned by a 'TRADE SECRET" coded scanner and the data sent to a 'TRADE SECRET' coded central tabulator and the ballot is never seen again (except in the rare instance of a recount).

In summary, the far rightwing, in its corporate manifestation, has the capability--the EASY capability--of fiddling virtually every election in the country--undetectably, invisibly, at the speed of light, basically by a few techs in ES&S's basement in Omaha. They guard their "TRADE SECRET" code zealously and have litigated to keep it secret. I'm sure they were behind the ousting of CA Sec of State Kevin Shelley, back in 2004, because he was after Diebold's code. The two corps--Diebold and ES&S--were working hand in hand, even back then--they were run by two brothers. The initial election fraudsters--Wally O'Dell and the Urosovich brothers--have all bailed, and I think Ahmanson died--but the capability to conduct fraudulent elections remains, now cemented into our political establishment--which never raised a peep of objection, from either party.

So, the Mad Tea Partyers and their shooters can raise mayhem at the bottom, while ES&S quietly (no need for Supreme Court intervention any more, or even suppression of minority votes) puts Jeb Bush in the White House to go with their Bushwhack Congress.

That is my nightmare. But it is NOT a fantasy. These are the FACTS about our voting system. It is worse now that it was in 2004, for it is now complete. New York recently caved to ES&S pressure. They are going to get rid of their old, reliable, already paid for lever voting machines, and replace them with very expensive, shiny new ES&S machines run on 'TRADE SECRET' code.

This is absolutely appalling to me--perhaps the most appalling part being Democratic Party leadership complicity in it. And it is NOT going to be remedied from the top. Forget Congress. Most of the Dems voted FOR it. But the bill that did this--from the Anthrax Congress in 2002--did NOT mandate electronic voting. It was all done with extremely corrupt lobbying. Hand-counted paper ballots or OPEN SOURCE code electronics are still possible and the decision remains local. So we have a chance to fix it--but it would take a widespread citizen movement, in every local jurisdiction in the country, to accomplish it.

I needed to say this--both to provide hope that we can turn things around--we CAN!--and to help people understand what is happening. It is NOT fanciful that the 2012 election can easily and invisibly be stolen. God knows why our party leaders have put up with this (possibly fear, many of them--was Kevin Shelley the "lesson"?)--but they have, so we are on our own and we probably don't have a lot of time before this loophole (local power to decide on voting systems) is closed. Corrupt local election officials have prevented it until now, because they like controlling all that federal money for electronics. But this fraudulent Congress may overrule them. This is an urgent matter, but, alas, I don't see any movement on it as yet. This is getting worse, not better. But I think there WILL be such a citizen movement eventually. Perhaps ousting Obama will turn out to be a far rightwing misstep. And perhaps things have to get a lot worse before people wake up to the loss of control over the very counting of their votes.

It's not the only thing that's wrong, of course. But it is the key to everything else. It is the final lock on multinational corporate/war profiteer control of the USA.

[Mike 03]

14. Why won't Paul Gosar join this list? I would love that. NT

[Initech]

15. The tea party must be disbanded. They are officially out of control.