Sunday, October 31, 2010

Vote Against Them Tuesday, They Are Already Killing People, That's no exaggeration [Anthony McCarthy]

You would think that the Oklahoma City Bombing, killing 169 people and injuring many more, would have been enough to wake people up, when the right talks about killing us, they really do mean it. And it's far from an isolated incident. From the No Nothings, to the Klu Klux Klan, the Skin Heads, various neo-Nazi and militia groups, etc. right wing violence, often aided and abetted by the corporate media and various governments and courts, constitutes the underside of American history. It should certainly not be news to any of us that when the right talks about attacking and even killing us, they have a documented history of doing just that. People belonging to racial and ethnic minorities should know that, gay folks should know that. Women should know it as well as anyone else.

Last week the finest working TV journalist, Rachel Maddow, narrated a short documentary about the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot as he was ushering at his church. The documentary included clips of Bill O'Reilly, some of the more than 25 times he ranted against Dr. Tiller as a "baby killer" after he had already been shot by one anti-choice zealot and his clinic had been fire bombed. FOX hiring Juan Williams full time after NPR finally fired him is a petty lapse of journalistic ethics, O'Reilly still works there, still spewing hatred of other groups after one of his targets was assassinated. I'm sure just about everyone who reads this knows that the assassination of Dr. Tiller is just one in a long string of murders of womens' health care professionals, including staff, who have been killed, often after being targeted by right wing media and groups. Not to mention the firebombings and other forms of violence against facilities and the targeting of families and friends of those associated with the primary targets of this domestic right-wing terror campaign.

Glenn Beck, this week, has inspired death threats among his deranged fans, against a member of the League of Women Voters for the offense of trying to stick to the debate format the candidates had agreed to. They hadn't included the Pledge of Allegiance in the program. Glenn Beck decided to use her like O'Reilly used Dr. Tiller to fill his rant-a-thon for the Republican right and, on schedule, she and the League are receiving death threats. Whether or not those threats will become the fleeting headlines in another in the long, long line of right wing attacks and murders in America can't be known. The terror is a fact. FOX is a major venue for delivering that terror, it is a full time Osama bin Ladin video delivering those messages. And we are all the targets of that.

Just one of the other better known incidents of right wing violence was the head stomping by a member of the Rand Paul campaign, two men viciously attacking a woman, which FOX and other corporate media are minimizing in order to enhance the liklihood of a Republican takeover of the Senate. But the attack on Lauren Valle by Tim Profitt is only one example of the violence and threatened violence by Republicans and their allies on the right during this campaign. Those are the people who are encouraged by the media in this country, including what used to be legitimate media, and whose record of violence has not been made a major feature in this campaign by the media. It's the beneficiaries of the violence and the cover up who are poised to take control of the legislative branch of the federal government and many state governments unless they are stopped by the vote.

I'm certainly disappointed at the weakness of Barack Obama's first two years and the disgrace of the Senate. I think we all have ample reason to feel betrayed, to some extent and exasperated at their political ineptitude. But they aren't violently attacking us. I certainly don't want a Republican controlled Senate to be in a position to block the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and any other Supreme Court justices who might leave the bench in the next two years. That's just one of the important reasons to vote against them. There are a multitude of other ones. This election isn't about Barack Obama, it's about us.