Last Call

So America, what happens when the talk of President Obama's re-election leading to "civil war" and "armed resistance" and "the blood of tyrants" leads to something very real and frightening?

Prosecutors say a murder case against four soldiers in Georgia has revealed they formed an anarchist militia within the U.S. military with plans to overthrow the federal government.

One of the accused troops, Pfc. Michael Burnett, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter and gang charges in the December slayings of former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York.

Burnett told a Long County judge that Roark, who had just left the Army, knew of the militia group’s plans and was killed because he was “a loose end.”

Prosecutor Isabel Pauley says the group bought $87,000 worth of guns and bomb-making materials and plotted to take over Fort Stewart, bomb targets in nearby Savannah and Washington state, as well as assassinate the president.

Gosh, you mean the people with all the guns and the training to use them to kill saying "We must resist Obama by whatever means necessary" is just meaningless talk, and our brave men and women in uniform would never act upon any dark impulses to turn on a Commander-in-Chief that was constantly referred to by an angry right-wing media as an illegitimate, America-hating tyrant who is just waiting to institute martial law, right?

Oh wait.  These people apparently did.  And they bought nearly $100k in firearms, weapons and explosives with the express intent it seems of attacking the federal government and trying to assassinate the President.

But remember, it's just talk.  That is until someone gets hurt, in which case it won't be appropriate to assign blame or even discuss the role of right-wing hate speech in America because that's "exploiting a tragedy for political gain."

So glad the right never did that say, eleven years ago next month.

Oh, and before the BOTH SIDES DO IT nonsense,  the answer to that is "no, they don't."

Isaac Aguigui, the Army private and alleged ringleader of a plot to assassinate Barack Obama and "take over" Ft. Stewart in Georgia, apparently served as a page at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minn. That's his mug shot after he was arrested for the alleged murder of Pvt. Michael Roark on the left. At right is a 2008 Reuters photo with the caption: "Republican National Convention page Isaac Aguigui watches from the edge of the floor at the start of the first session of the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 1, 2008." 

To recap:  Guy supposedly running this plot to assassinate the President, was a page at the GOP Convention in 2008.  If the shoe had somehow been on the other foot, this would be the top news story in America for the next week.

Of course, nobody seems to care that this guy is exactly the douchebag right-wing asshole type that the Justice Department tried to warn people about in 2009.  For their trouble, the right savaged the report and the Obama administration as anti-white racists who hated America's troops.

Screw you.  These guys had tens of thousands of dollars in weapons and were going to kill Americans and go after the President because they believed what they were told, that the government is the enemy and must be stopped with lethal force.

End of line.

Collateral Damage

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than half the babies in University Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit one day this month were suffering from drug withdrawal — one sucking licorice-flavored morphine to ease his tremors and near-constant crying, another so sensitive to light and sound that he slept in a dark isolation room.

Kentucky has seen its hospitalizations for addicted newborns climb from 29 in 2000 to 730 last year. The state's 2,400% increase dwarfs by comparison a disturbing national rise of 330% found in a study that examined hospitalizations from 2000 to 2009. 

This is the war on drugs, folks.

So tell me again why we have the federal government chasing down marijuana stores while this runs rampant across the United States.  Tell me we shouldn't allocate our resources differently.  Tell me babies suffering is the price we should pay for this stupidity.

Joplin Mosque: A New Hope

(Reuters) - A rally for Muslims in Joplin, Missouri, drew hundreds of people on Saturday night, nearly three weeks after a local mosque was destroyed by a fire which members of the Islamic community suspect was a hate crime, the organizer of the event said.

The gathering at a city park was promoted on a Facebook page as a way to show "that love is stronger than fear or hatred."

Organizers saw the rally in part as a giving-back to the local Muslim community because their mosque was a relief center for victims of the May 2011 tornado in Joplin, which took 161 lives and damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 buildings.

This is a good sign, because my neck of the woods isn't known for its religious tolerance.  That locals are showing support is an amazing step towards redemption.  It's also a reminder to those who still secretly cheer the arsonists... we're not all like you.  Some of us are better than that.

Child. Hot Car. Again.

LOWELL, Mass. — Police are investigating the death of a 9-month-old boy found in a parked car on a hot Saturday afternoon.

The death seems to be an accident, according to the Middlesex district attorney's office, which is investigating the case. Still, police blocked off the back entrance to the home on Huntington Street.

A police source says the baby lived on the first floor of the two-story home. A group of people gathered out front while investigators worked in the back. 

Accident or not, this child is dead.  When are we going to assume people should know better and start prosecuting blatant ignorance?  It's August, for God's sake.

Springfield Enjoys A Day Of Awesome

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Comic book fans will be out in droves today for one of Springfield's biggest events.

Rublecon 2012 will be held at the Howard Johnson on South Glenstone all day Sunday.

The events kicks off at 9a.m. and will run until 6p.m.

At least 15 different vendors will be on-hand to showcase thousands of comics, action figures and other collectibles.

This year's event will also feature guest Adrienne Wilkinson from Xena Warrior Princess.

Yours truly was there, with the Fly By Knight Comics group.  We launched our first issue of Zee: The Average American Maniac and a collection of bonus stories from my fiction blog, Dead Shuffle.  We sold out and had a great time.

And thusly the Bon learned that having one's picture taken repeatedly and signing autographs does not suck. Adrienne is an amazing person, by the way.  If you ever get a chance to speak with her, you should.

Bill Nye The Pundit Guy, Part 2

Bill Nye speaks the truth here, as much as the fundies don't want to listen.

Bill Nye, host of the popular nineties children’s show Bill Nye the Science Guy, is warning parents to not teach their children creationism because, he says, it does them a disservice by undermining their scientific understanding and development.

In a short video for Big Think, Nye says that despite being the seat of some of the world’s greatest technological innovations, America is still home to so many who refuse to accept the fundamental scientific theory of evolution. If that belief is passed on to future generations, he said, America would be deprived of the scientists and engineers it will need to stay technologically competitive down the road.

“I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution, and live in your—in your world, that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in our universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it, because we need them,” he said. “We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.”

Not in the GOP future, Bill.   That future is full of ignorant, manipulated, cynical suckers who do what they are told.  And the GOP platform adopted this week at the RNC Convention gives away the game plan.

Science, critical thinking, those are for people who question the status quo and the world around them.  You need not apply those to Republicans in 2012.

Hurricane Todd

The real storm in the Republican Party isn't Isaac, but Todd Akin.  If Republicans actually follow through with this plan, McCaskill wins for sure.

Republicans are desperate for Todd Akin to drop out of the Missouri Senate race after his controversial comments about legitimate rape. Nearly every top Republican, including Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, have publicly called for him to quit.

This morning on ABC News, however, Mary Matalin — a well-connected GOP operative — suggested that Republicans would run a write-in candidate to defeat Akin. Matlin said that, if necessary, Republicans would “transfer the money” to Ann Wagner — a former chairwoman of the Missouri GOP who is currently running for Congress — to run as a 3rd party or write-in candidate. 

Wow.  Is Matalin this dumb?  I thought she was supposed to be a political analyst.  A write-in campaign would split the vote so badly that McCaskill could win with 40% or even 35% of the vote, something she'll be able to get easily.

But here she is pushing the centrist nonsense.  The Tea Party backlash against that would rip the Missouri GOP in half.  I guess I shouldn't be complaining, after all it's the GOP shooting itself in the head.

But damn, pundits are stupid.

StupidiNews!

• Tropical Storm Isaac is now over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico and following a track very similar to Katrina as the seventh anniversary of that storm approaches New Orleans.
• A series of rule changes at the Republican convention in Tampa is causing controversy as Ron Paul supporters are crying foul after being stripped of status.
• South Carolina's voter ID law goes to federal court on Monday, with the state's bloody history of voter suppression weighing heavily on the case.
• With oil production in the Gulf Coast shut down due to Isaac, oil and gas prices have jumped to their highest levels since April.
• Voting for the 2012 Robot Hall of Fame continues through the end of September, and robot fans worldwide are being asked to vote.