Right Minded Online

Here’s an exchange between Senator Jeff Sessions and Attorney General Eric Holder back on June 25 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate-crimes legislation:

Sessions: A minister gives a sermon, quotes the Bible about homosexuality, is thereafter attacked by a gay activist because of what the minister said about his religious beliefs and what Scripture says about homosexuality, is the minister protected?

Holder: Well, the statute would not — would not necessarily cover that. We’re talking about crimes that have a historic basis. Groups who have been targeted for violence as a result of the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, that is what this statute tends — is designed to cover. We don’t have the indication that the attack was motivated by a person’s desire to strike at somebody who was in one of these protected groups. That would not be covered by the statute.

Holder: Whites, Ministers, Military Not Protected by Hate Crime Law

I just heard on the radio a few minutes ago that former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was found shot dead in his Nashville home earlier today. Shocking.

Report: Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair found dead of gunshot wound – ESPN.

Two weeks ago, an 88-year-old man named James von Brunn shot and killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. He was critically wounded himself, thwarting his ability to make further attacks.

We have learned a great deal about James von Brunn in the days following his attack. He embodied an extreme hatred of Jews, blaming them for a host of devious conspiracies, and also believed the Holocaust was a hoax.

It didn’t take long for the mainstream press to write von Brunn off as a right-wing extremist in the same mold as Timothy McVeigh. But a closer look at von Brunn’s beliefs and attitudes shows that he shared many views that are held by members of the far left.

For example, the FBI believes that the offices of the Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, were next on von Brunn’s hit list. Mr. von Brunn’s published rants included attacks on neo-conservatives, Bill O’Reilly, and both Presidents Bush. He also believed President Bush was in on the 9/11 terrorist attacks — a view that is held by many on the fringe left.

In no way can von Brunn be categorized as a right-winger. He also can’t be categorized exclusively as a left-winger. Simply stated, he’s just plain nuts.

But that didn’t stop the mainstream press from labeling von Brunn as a right-wing extremist. Here’s a smattering of comments regarding von Brunn made by mainstream journalists and media talkers:

Deborah Lauter (NBC): ”Clearly Obama’s election has fueled the right-wing extremist movement.”

Chris Matthews (MSNBC): “This is a political action by a far-right extremist.”

Anderson Cooper (CNN): “The rise of hate groups in the United States of right-wing extremists.”

Keith Olbermann (MSNBC): “Right-wing religious-based domestic terrorism.”

Campbell Brown (CNN): ”Right-wing extremism.”

Joan Walsh (Salon.com): ”There is a rising climate of right-wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama.”

Indeed, the truth did not preclude the mainstream press from casting James von Brunn as a right-wing extremist. It fit the template the media have for angry, racist right-wingers.

Just before the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, a famous liberal made an anti-Semitic statement of his own. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who pastored Barack Obama for 20 years in Chicago, complained during an interview that “Them Jews ain’t going to let [Obama] talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office.”

You didn’t hear much about this from the mainstream press, though. You didn’t hear the media types castigate Reverend Wright as a left-wing extremist. You didn’t hear them blame the far left for fostering a climate of hate. Granted, Reverend Wright didn’t shoot anyone, but he does clearly embody anti-Semitic views, the same as James von Brunn.

Indeed, most of the anti-Semitism, anti-Israeli attitudes that exist today are embodied by leftists. Jimmy Carter is a frequent critic of Israel, for example. And last year, Jesse Jackson warned that “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades remain strong, but they’re going to lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.”

On the other hand, conservatives and Republicans are frequent supporters of Israel, which may illustrate why von Brunn ripped neo-conservatives and both Presidents Bush.

Remember that back in April, a report on right-wing extremism was leaked by the Department of Homeland Security. In that report, the DHS defined right-wing extremism in the United States as ”those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

James von Brunn fits some of those descriptions, but, again, in no way can he be classified as a right-wing extremist. He is simply an evil individual who is motivated primarily by his hatred of Jews. Unfortunately, the mainstream press is so politicized that many journalists have become nothing more than left-wing activists. And so they cherry-picked what they wanted from James von Brunn, molded his extreme views into their template of the racist Republican, and attempted to hold him up as an example of right-wing extremism.

It’s a classic example of journalistic malpractice.

Last week’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington gave the media the opportunity to bash right-wing extremists. After all, anytime there’s a shoot-em-up, it’s a gun-loving right-winger, right? Wrong. Last week’s culprit was a flaming leftist. But you didn’t hear that from the mainstream press. That’s because the facts didn’t fit the media template.

Below are Rush Limbaugh’s remarks from Thursday’s show, followed by a few snippets from snippy left-wingers:

RUSH: Very predictably, ladies and gentlemen, the media, the American left is trying to score some political points as a result of this tragedy at the Holocaust Museum in Washington yesterday, and as predictable, they are trying to blame this on me, other conservatives and right-wingers. It’s the traditional approach taken by the American left. The facts of the case, however, are such that if we want start assigning blame for this beyond this nutcase Jew hater, and notice that very few people actually want to do that. They want to claim this guy didn’t have the ability to act on his own. He only could act if he was inspired by somebody. Well, who did he hate? He hated both Bushes. He hated neocons. He hated John McCain. He hated Republicans. He hated Jews as well. He believes in an inside job conspiracy of 9/11. This guy is a leftist, if anything. This guy’s beliefs, this guy’s hate stems from influence that you find on the left, not on the right. But let’s listen to some of the audio sound bites from the Drive-By and the State-Run Media from yesterday afternoon through last night. Here’s the first. This is a montage of cable stations talking about the incident last night.

LAUER: Clearly Obama’s election has fueled the right-wing extremist movement.

MATTHEWS: This is a political action by a far right extremist

COOPER: The rise of hate groups in the United States of right-wing extremists.

OLBERMANN: Right-wing religious based domestic terrorism.

BROWN: Right-wing extremism.

WALSH: There is a rising climate of right-wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama.

RUSH: See how this is being set up and it’s all very predictable, but the truth is just the opposite of this, which I’ll get to in just a moment. Here now is Hillary Clinton this morning at the State Department.

HILLARY: It’s a terrible tragedy. The kind of hatred that the killer evidenced over many years toward different groups within our society is deplorable, and I hope that we will be able to send out a clear unmistakable message that hateful rhetoric, violence based on any kind of discriminatory attitude towards any group in The United States is not acceptable.

Hate-Promoting Left Seizes Chance to Falsely Blame Right for Violence.

That distinction, unfortunately, belongs to my beloved city of Memphis, Tennessee. Ugh.

After New York, America’s safest cities are: San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso, Honolulu, Denver, Boston, Las Vegas and Louisville.

And the U.S.’s least safe city? That distinction goes to Memphis, Tennessee, with a crime rate of 18% per capita, followed by Atlanta (16%), San Antonio (15.2%), Detroit (13.7%) and Milwaukee (13.4%). These rates reflect the total crimes detailed in the FBI’s report divided by the population of the city.

America’s Safest Cities – Yahoo! News.

I received a call at work two days ago. On the other end was a crappy sounding automated voice claiming to be from F&M Bank. (We don’t even use F&M Bank.) The crappy sounding automoated voice said our account had been disabled because of suspicious activity, and that I needed to enter our 16-digit credit card number. If I entered it wrong, my account would be suspended entirely. I decided to play around with the crappy sounding automated voice, and punched in 16 random digits, and listened as a different crappy sounding automated voice read the digits back to me. Apparently, the system used to place the phishing calls ran the card number through right then, because it came back and said my card number was invalid. So I decided to hang up there.

I wonder how many people have fallen for this one. The Nigerian check scam was pretty silly, but some people fell for that, too.

Detroit is listed as America’s most dangerous city. Memphis runs a very close second.

America’s-Most-Dangerous-Cities: Personal Finance News from Yahoo Finance.

I love Memphis. Really. What a great city. Even without John Calipari, Memphis is still a great city. Despite a history of corrupt politicians, Memphis is still a great city.

More than $50,000 in contributions to Mayor Willie Herenton’s annual Christmas party actually wound up in the mayor’s pocket, an investigation by The Commercial Appeal has found.

The payments, from an array of prominent businessmen, were to fund the elaborate annual party, yet large surpluses — in one year more than $20,000 — were handed to Herenton for his personal use.

Over about eight years, more than $50,000 in excess funds were given to Herenton, the newspaper found.

Days after Christmas in 2005, for example, Pete Aviotti, a Herenton special assistant who solicited the funds and coordinated the party, wrote a check to the mayor for more than $20,000.

Whether those payments were illegal is now the focus of a federal investigation. Agents from the FBI and IRS are exploring the payments as part of a long-running, multifaceted investigation of Memphis’ five-term mayor.

Herenton’s windfall from Yule generosity prompts FBI probe : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal.

I’m amazed that things like this actually go on.

The FBI has rescued 48 suspected teenage prostitutes, some as young as 13 years old, in a nationwide sweep to remove kids from the illegal sex trade and punish their accused pimps.

Over a three-night initiative called Operation Cross Country, federal agents working with local law enforcement also arrested more than 571 suspects on a variety of federal and state prostitution-related charges, the bureau said.

The teenage prostitutes found in the investigation ranged in age from 13 to 17.

“We may not be able to return their innocence but we can remove them from this cycle of abuse and violence,” said FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Flashback: Today’s Lebanon Democrat column: “Keeping the youth safe from crime, Democrats”

FBI, police rescue child prostitutes around US.

Rod Blagojevich has been impeached and thrown out of office as governor of Illinois. I had come to like this guy. Yes, I know he’s a Democrat, and he may one day even be convicted of criminal charges, but I admire his fortitude. I wish the GOP would learn from him. Unfortunately, Republican politicians have this habit of resigning from office at the first whiff of scandal, the first suggestion by Democrats that they resign. Or they serve up apologies when no apology was ever needed (i.e., Trent Lott).

Rod Blagojevich did not resign. Even when members of his own party called on him to resign, he refused. He nominated Raymond Burris to the U.S. Senate, even when the Obamessiah himself disapproved, and when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would never seat Burris, and demanded the nomination of someone else. Governor Blagojevich stuck with Burris, anyway, and the man ended up being seated as a member of the U.S. Senate.

True, the Blagojevich saga ended up with him being removed from office, but the former Illinois governor has proven that a little fortitude will carry you far, and that standing up for yourself and refusing to acquiesce to bullies will fortify your own position and sometimes force the bullies to back off. Bullies are energized by the smell of blood, and Rod Blagojevich never gave them a whiff. Good for him.

Blagojevich ousted as Ill. gov.; Quinn sworn in – Yahoo! News.

There is a movement afoot to try and convince President Bush to grant pardons to two border patrol agents who were wrongly prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned.

Mr. President Free Ramos and Compean.

According to the FBI, Candidate 5 offered Illinois Governor  Blagojevich, a Democrat, $1,000,000 for Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. Candidate 5 has been identified as Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., a Democrat, son of Jesse “Shakedown” Jackson. If true, it would show that the apple didn’t fall far from that tree.

Obama calls on governor in Senate seat scandal to quit | World news | The Guardian.

Michelle Malkin has a roundup of news stories regarding Illinois’ Democrat Governor Blagojevich and charges that he sought to more or less sell Barack Obama’s open Senate seat. As an aside, isn’t it funny that you have to dig deep into mainstream media reports to find out which party this guy belongs to, whereas if he were a Republican, his party affiliation would be part of the headline.

According to the Chicago Tribune this morning, “A three-year federal corruption investigation of pay-to-play politics in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration has expanded to include his impending selection of a new U.S. senator to succeed President-elect Barack Obama.”

Despite the template that McCain voters are becoming increasingly angry and violent, it seems that all the rage is on the left. In Pittsburgh, we learn that a white woman was attacked by a large black man at an ATM, who then became even more enraged when he discovered she was a McCain supporter.

Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, said she was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her and put a knife to her throat.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victims car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using a dull knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.

Of course, if had been a white man attacking a black woman because of an Obama sticker, the mainstream press would have gone wall-to-wall with its coverage right up to the election. The left would have invoked “racism” like never before, and the incident would have no doubt hurt McCain in the polls. But it turned out the other way, and the Democrats and media will instead sweep this under the rug just like Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s birth certificate, Joe Biden’s gaffes, and everything else that could have negative implications for the messiah.

Police: Inconsistencies In Story Of Politically Motivated Attack – Pittsburgh News Story – WTAE Pittsburgh

UPDATE: Fabricated.

Story #1: Check Your Credit Cards for Fraudulent Obama Charges

Story #2: Obama Throws ACORN Under Bus

Things continue to roll downhill for ACORN, the left-wing organization with whom Barack Obama earned fame as a community organizer. Writes Michelle Malkin, “We’re drowning in a flash flood of ACORN voter fraud horror stories. Barack Obama and his followers remain in denial. How many thousands of bogus applications do they need to see before they put down their race card and acknowledge this massive illegal racket?”

I can’t help but remember John Ford as the smug, arrogant state senator who thought he was above the law. How far the mighty has fallen.

Judge sentences John Ford to another 14 years in prison : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Obama friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko appears to be cooperating with prosecutors in order to avoid jail time.

“Jail is horrible and Tony Rezko has just two options,” says Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. “One option is to do nothing and get a full sentence. The other is to cooperate with prosecutors.”

Attorneys with knowledge of the governments investigation of corruption in state government say they are convinced the one-time key fundraiser for Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama is either talking or about to do so.

Two attorneys said Monday they and other lawyers have been contacted by prosecutors seeking to check information that only Rezko could have told them. Both attorneys spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying prosecutors have sought to keep such matters secret as part of the grand jury investigation.

Attorneys believe Rezko is talking to prosecutors – Yahoo News.

Michelle Malkin notes how the AP has more or less shrugged its shoulders at the hacking of Sarah Palin’s e-mail account, going so far as to blame the Palins for the invasion of their privacy, and not the perpetrator.

The AP publicized Palin’s other personal e-mail accounts, as well as her husband’s, which were derived from information obtained illegally by the hacker. Bridis says having Yahoo accounts is an open invitation for hackers and that the victims are to blame for invasions of privacy.

By refusing to cooperate with the federal investigation into the hacking crime and publicizing the Palins’ other personal Yahoo e-mail account information, the AP openly invited hackers to break into those family accounts as well and endorsed illicit activity to raid private family photos.

The issues are inextricably linked, to borrow a phrase, and raise questions about the propriety of AP’s continued flacking for Barack Obama under the guise of objective journalism.

The irony here is that the left is all about the right to privacy. That’s the bedrock of Roe v. Wade, in fact. The left is so obsessed with the right to privacy that they even protest wiretapping suspected terrorists. But if Sarah Palin’s e-mail account gets hacked, well, that’s okay. After all, she’s a Republican, and in the eyes of the left, being a Republican is worse than being a terrorist.

Michelle Malkin » AP reporter e-mails: Yeah, it’s all Palin’s fault.