Deborah Gardner, Peace Corps Volunteer, Murdered in Tonga

That great lefty favorite, the Peace Corps, just had a 50th birthday! You can tell, because it’s demanding presents. The Lefties who totally love conscience-salving stints in third world countries rejoiced and then swiftly returned to their soy lattes and organic arugula. Senator Harry Reid issued a breathless, sycophantic statement in which he, being Harry Reid, couldn’t resist making things up, pouting and petulantly trying to cling to funding.

I’m deeply discouraged that Republicans have proposed slashing significant funding for a program that trains workers for a 21^st century global economy, builds good will around the world and promotes public service. Instead of reducing the effectiveness of a highly cost-effective program, we should cut government spending in a smart, responsible way that targets waste and excess while keeping our economy growing.

Of course, he had nothing to say in response to charges that perhaps the Peace Corps isn’t so peaceful. At least not for the women who were raped – and then blamed for being raped - during their stints in the corps. No ado was made about the House hearing on Wednesday investigating the same, or the legislation proposed by Congressman Poe (R-TX) that would require some Peace Corps oversight. In fact, the New York Times reported that Democrats wished to, as always, sweep such things under the rug in fear that their precious funding might be lost:

[W]hether such a bill would pass Congress is unclear. Representative Niki Tsongas, Democrat of Massachusetts, is co-sponsoring Mr. Poe’s bill, but other Democrats are skittish about it. They worry that the legislation, and Wednesday’s hearing, might be used to undermine the Peace Corps — the legacy of a Democratic president — and cut its funding.

Hey, what’s a little rape, with the added insult of victim blaming, as long as we keep our sweet, sweet funding? You know what I am skittish about, Democrats? Funding an organization wherein women are raped, assaulted and even murdered; 1,000 women have been sexually assaulted while in the Peace Corps in the past decade alone. And 23 Peace Corps volunteers have been murdered since its creation. This isn’t new, either. Peace Corps volunteer Deborah Gardner lost her life in Tonga in 1976.

Deborah Gardner was murdered by fellow Peace Corps worker Dennis Priven, who turned himself in. After stabbing her – 22 times – to death. The Peace Corps reaction? Try to cover it up:

“Even after everyone knew it was Dennis, already that effort by the Peace Corps to put the blame somewhere else. And to make things go away,” says [author Phil] Weiss. “That impulse has seized the Peace Corps within moments of Deb’s death.”

As revolting as that is, they went one further. The Peace Corps hired, and paid for, the best defense attorney available in Tonga. Priven was found not guilty and the Peace Corps quietly shuffled him back to the United States. Where he lived freely, for decades. Working for the government. No, really:

Weiss says Priven has led a small, anonymous life since then. He’s divorced, and he recently retired after working for decades for the U.S. government.

“Twelve years after Deb’s death, he was working for Social Security,” says Weiss. “And ultimately was their top computer guy in the Brooklyn office.

Kate Puzey was 24 years old when she was brutally murdered, her throat slit, while working for the Peace Corps in 2009. Her concerns about a fellow employee were ignored, and then the subject of an attempted cover-up after her death.

Jessica Smochek was gang-raped in Bangladesh in 2004.  This is how the Peace Corps gave her aid afterward: not only medical malpractice, but they blamed her. For being gang-raped (emphasis mine):

Peace Corps medical officer refused to give her a proper physical examination. Instead, the medic confiscated the former English teacher’s cellphone so that she could not alert her fellow volunteers and instructed her to tell anyone who asked about her sudden departure from the program that she was returning to the U.S. to get her wisdom teeth out. When Smochek arrived in Washington, D.C., a Peace Corps official asked her to write down everything she had done to provoke the attack.

“Shortly after I left, the country director — who never attempted to contact me after I was raped — called a meeting of several women in my former volunteer group and told them, without my permission, what had happened to me,” she said. “Then, he told them that rape was a woman’s fault and that I had caused what happened to me by being out alone after 5:00 PM. As for the other women in the group, who had been very vocal about being constantly stalked and afraid, he threatened them with administrative separation.”

Jessica was one of the courageous women who testified before Congress on Wednesday. You know, that same Congress that contains members more concerned with loss of funding than actual women and the violent crimes committed against them.

A Seattle public school has decided that Easter eggs are super offensive and not politically correct. They’ve renamed them Spring Spheres (even though eggs are not spheres. This is our public education system at work, people):

“At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that,” Jessica said.

She was concerned how the teacher might react to the eggs after of a meeting earlier in the week where she learned about “their abstract behavior rules.”

“I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay,” Jessica explained. “She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.”

Rather than question the decision, Jessica opted to “roll with it.” But the third graders had other ideas.

“When I took them out of the bag, the teacher said, ‘Oh look, spring spheres’ and all the kids were like ‘Wow, Easter eggs.’ So they knew,” Jessica said.

Of course they knew. Because they are Easter eggs.

Oh, it’s Seattle, one might say. Of course such things happen there. Hippies! Well, a similar thing occurred in my old hometown in New Jersey. The town Easter egg hunt was changed to “Spring Celebration. With Bunny.”

For reals.

They have since changed it again. One of the dreaded “E” words is no longer forbidden.  No, no… not “Easter.” That would be going too far!

This is utterly revolting:

U.S. lawmakers said Sunday they would consider a request by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to formally condemn a Florida pastor’s decision to burn the Koran, after the act triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan.

Note that once again it is being said that one act – the burning of paper – “triggered” the deadly riots. Not the ideology nor the people who committed the acts, of course. Reid flat-out says that Terry Jones caused the murders — murders committed at the hands of other people. People are apparently so simple-minded that they cannot think for themselves and cannot possibly know the difference between right and wrong.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repudiated pastor Terry Jones for touching off the chaos with what he called a “publicity stunt.” Jones had earlier threatened to burn the Koran, but then shelved the plan until last month. The burning attracted little U.S. attention at the time but was used as a rallying cry in Afghanistan.

“This was an effort to get some publicity for him. He got it. But in the process, 10-20 people have been killed,” Reid said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Asked whether Congress could pass a resolution condemning it, he said, “We’ll take a look at this.”

You’ll take a look at this? Hey, I have a better idea. Why not take a look at why you constantly make excuses for barbarism and evil acts? Why not take a look at, you know, history and see that murderous rampages and beheadings happen all the time – somehow occurring without some obscure pastor burning a book.

Lindsey Graham, who for some inexplicable reason has not been banned by the GOP from appearing on Sunday shows also jumps on the apologist/excuse making bandwagon:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested Congress should condemn the burning, but also stressed that one pastor’s actions should not excuse the subsequent killings.

“Burning a Koran is a terrible thing, but it doesn’t justify killing someone. Burning a Bible would be a terrible thing, but it wouldn’t justify murder,” he said. “But having said that, any time we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do it.”

You know what puts our troops at risk, Lindsey? Evil barbarians. It also puts them at risk when you remain willfully ignorant to that fact and, instead, attempt to put the blame on others. Quashing our freedom of speech by having the American government condemn the exercise thereof does nothing to protect our troops. In fact, it spits on the very freedoms for which they fight.

Harry Reid went even further and said there may have to be hearings on Koran burnings. Lindsey Graham not only wants to condemn the exercise of free speech, but may want to actually limit it. He wants to take away rights from American citizens — to appease people who wish to kill us. On Face The Nation today (video above) he said “Freedom of speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.”

So much for that pesky old Constitution, I suppose.

On Friday, as many as 20 United Nations staffers were killed in Afghanistan. Reuters reported it this way (emphasis added):

(Reuters) – Afghan protesters angered by the burning of a Koran by an obscure U.S. pastor killed up to 20 U.N. staff, beheading two foreigners, when they over-ran a compound in a normally peaceful northern city on Friday in the worst ever attack on the U.N. in Afghanistan.

Note the bolded part. ABC News reported it like this:

U.N. Staffers Killed in Afghanistan Over Terry Jones Koran Burning, Police Say

At least eleven people were killed, including some United Nations officials, today in Afghanistan, apparently in response to Florida pastor Terry Jones burning the Koran last month, Afghan police and U.N. officials said.

…

Police told ABC News the protest started peacefully but took a violent turn after a radical leader told those gathered that multiple Korans had been burned. In a fury, the people marched on the nearby U.N. compound despite police firing AK-47s into the air in hopes of subduing them.

You see, it is not the fault of the barbarians who murdered 20 innocent people, beheading two of them. It’s the fault of some unknown hick pastor – because he burned a book. President Obama himself furthered this odious meme with his own statement:

“The brave men and women of the United Nations, including the Afghan staff, undertake their work in support of the Afghan people,” Obama said. “Their work is essential to building a stronger Afghanistan for the benefit of all its citizens. We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue.”

Oh, really President Obama? They killed 20 people because of “differences” (like the burning of a Koran) that can be resolved if only people would have a nice rap session? I suppose he can now pat himself on his smug back for being such a good multicultural Citizen of the World ™. While President Obama and the media prostrate themselves at the altar of multiculturalism, what they are actually doing is proving themselves to be fools and racists.

Because what they believe, and what they expect us to believe, is that the killers in Afghanistan are just poor dumb “brown people” who don’t know any better. They are so simple-minded, in fact, that they can be led astray and led to commit heinous acts of murder by one unknown pastor. Never mind the fact that they behead their own people and stone women to death for the horrendous crime of baring an ankle. Or, you know, being the victim of a rape.

We philistines just don’t understand the nuance of their culture and the religion of Islam, you see.

Originally published on March 23, 2011.

On Friday night, the abhorrent idjit known as Bill Maher used a crass and offensive slur about Sarah Palin. It is one that I will not repeat here, but suffice it to say it is a favorite misogynistic epithet of the lofty, oh-so-enlightened leftist set. I’ve been called it many times in hate emails and even on Twitter. It is usually prefaced with “dumb” and is second only to their top favorite term used to describe women, a term that starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Frankly, this isn’t very surprising coming from the trollish Maher. He clearly has women issues, as he’s shown many times in the past. As well as, I suspect, “compensation” issues. Hello, small man’s complex!

What was more infuriating, although also not very surprising, was the lack of media response. John Ziegler, quoted in an article on FoxNews.com, said the following:

“If a conservative used that language to describe Hillary Clinton, we wouldn’t be hearing very much about Japan or Libya,” said John Ziegler, creator the documentary “Media Malpractice.” “If they said it about Michelle Obama, the media would be going 24/7 with the story.”

Absolutely true. Sexist slurs against The One’s wife would not be tolerated. It’s only okay if you think the subject of the slurs is super icky, like that “chick from the sticks,” bitter clinger Sarah Palin. The Fox News article explained that the National Organization for Women (NOW) at first chose not to comment on Maher’s grossly misogynistic remark. The reason given was that it is a “known fact that NOW does not correspond with Fox News.”

Oh, really? They hold women who merely watch Fox News in such contempt that they won’t even deign to try to speak to them? Well, you know what is a “known fact”? That NOW does not give a rat’s patootie about women. NewsReal Blog’s Matthew Vadum, also quoted in the article, said the following:

NOW really ought to change its name to National Organization for Liberal Women because as far as it’s concerned conservative women aren’t real women at all.”

While it’s true that NOW has nothing but disdain for conservative women, I don’t think the above is entirely correct. NOW might be an organization of Liberal Women, but they certainly aren’t for them. A better name would be the National Organization for Useful Idiots. NOW proved that themselves with the statement they eventually grudgingly gave in response to Maher’s vile comment. They were shamed into giving some sort of response due to the cries of “Where is NOW? What does NOW have to say? Will they denounce this?!” This infuriated me further.

Because I say, “who cares what NOW has to say?” Why on earth would we give them any credence at all by expecting them to make a statement? About anything? What right do they have to claim to be an authority on women? The same thing happened when the odious site Gawker published a disgusting ‘article’ about an alleged one night stand (with no “stand”) with Christine O’Donnell. NOW was shamed into making a statment then (one that basically said “she’s totally a slut, but slut shaming is bad”) and people fell all over themselves in a rush to praise them and “give credit where it is due.”  Baloney. There is no credit due, nor will there ever be.

Both statements in regards to the sexism aimed at O’Donnell and Palin were half-arsed at best. They weren’t “defenses” so much as insults and ridicule rife with hypocrisy. The latest statement goes one further and suggests that the systematic misogyny that has been aimed at Sarah Palin is all a nefarious plan by conservatives to “distract.” No, really:

You’re trying to take up our time getting us to defend your friend Sarah Palin. If you keep us busy defending her, we have less time to defend women’s bodies from the onslaught of reproductive rights attacks and other threats to our freedom, safety, livelihood, etc,” wrote Bennett. “Sorry, but we can’t defend Palin or even Hillary Clinton from every sexist insult hurled at them in the media. That task would be impossible, and it would consume us. You know this would not be a productive way to fight for women’s equal rights, which is why you want us stuck in this morass.

It’s our fault the Left is vile and anti-woman, you see. We are tricking them into doing it so that we can hatch some evil plot to restore The Patriarchy ™. Sarah Palin is just our prop — and a dum-dum, of course, hence their use of “your friend, Sarah Palin.” I’m only surprised they didn’t say our “cute little friend.” Sarah Palin just happens to be a woman whom they despise even more than usual, because she had the utter audacity to not abort her child.

What more will it take for them to be discredited as a “women’s” organization?

On Friday night, the abhorrent idjit known as Bill Maher used a crass and offensive slur about Sarah Palin. It is one that I will not repeat here, but suffice it to say it is a favorite misogynistic epithet of the lofty, oh-so-enlightened leftist set. I’ve been called it many times in hate emails and even on Twitter. It is usually prefaced with “dumb” and is second only to their top favorite term used to describe women, a term that starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Frankly, this isn’t very surprising coming from the trollish Maher. He clearly has women issues, as he’s shown many times in the past. As well as, I suspect, “compensation” issues. Hello, small man’s complex!

What was more infuriating, although also not very surprising, was the lack of media response. John Ziegler, quoted in an article on FoxNews.com, said the following:

“If a conservative used that language to describe Hillary Clinton, we wouldn’t be hearing very much about Japan or Libya,” said John Ziegler, creator the documentary “Media Malpractice.” “If they said it about Michelle Obama, the media would be going 24/7 with the story.”

Absolutely true. Sexist slurs against The One’s wife would not be tolerated. It’s only okay if you think the subject of the slurs is super icky, like that “chick from the sticks,” bitter clinger Sarah Palin. The Fox News article explained that the National Organization for Women (NOW) at first chose not to comment on Maher’s grossly misogynistic remark. The reason given was that it is a “known fact that NOW does not correspond with Fox News.”

Oh, really? They hold women who merely watch Fox News in such contempt that they won’t even deign to try to speak to them? Well, you know what is a “known fact”? That NOW does not give a rat’s patootie about women. NewsReal Blog’s Matthew Vadum, also quoted in the article, said the following:

NOW really ought to change its name to National Organization for Liberal Women because as far as it’s concerned conservative women aren’t real women at all.”

While it’s true that NOW has nothing but disdain for conservative women, I don’t think the above is entirely correct. NOW might be an organization of Liberal Women, but they certainly aren’t for them. A better name would be the National Organization for Useful Idiots. NOW proved that themselves with the statement they eventually grudgingly gave in response to Maher’s vile comment. They were shamed into giving some sort of response due to the cries of “Where is NOW? What does NOW have to say? Will they denounce this?!” This infuriated me further.

Because I say, “who cares what NOW has to say?” Why on earth would we give them any credence at all by expecting them to make a statement? About anything? What right do they have to claim to be an authority on women? The same thing happened when the odious site Gawker published a disgusting ‘article’ about an alleged one night stand (with no “stand”) with Christine O’Donnell. NOW was shamed into making a statment then (one that basically said “she’s totally a slut, but slut shaming is bad”) and people fell all over themselves in a rush to praise them and “give credit where it is due.”  Baloney. There is no credit due, nor will there ever be.

Both statements in regards to the sexism aimed at O’Donnell and Palin were half-arsed at best. They weren’t “defenses” so much as insults and ridicule rife with hypocrisy. The latest statement goes one further and suggests that the systematic misogyny that has been aimed at Sarah Palin is all a nefarious plan by conservatives to “distract.” No, really:

You’re trying to take up our time getting us to defend your friend Sarah Palin. If you keep us busy defending her, we have less time to defend women’s bodies from the onslaught of reproductive rights attacks and other threats to our freedom, safety, livelihood, etc,” wrote Bennett. “Sorry, but we can’t defend Palin or even Hillary Clinton from every sexist insult hurled at them in the media. That task would be impossible, and it would consume us. You know this would not be a productive way to fight for women’s equal rights, which is why you want us stuck in this morass.

It’s our fault the Left is vile and anti-woman, you see. We are tricking them into doing it so that we can hatch some evil plot to restore The Patriarchy ™. Sarah Palin is just our prop — and a dum-dum, of course, hence their use of “your friend, Sarah Palin.” I’m only surprised they didn’t say our “cute little friend.” Sarah Palin just happens to be a woman whom they despise even more than usual, because she had the utter audacity to not abort her child.

What more will it take for them to be discredited as a “women’s” organization?

Yesterday, Massachusetts Democrat Representative Mike Capuano encouraged union members to go out in the streets and get a little bloody, as Guy Benson at TownHall reported earlier:

A Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts is raising the stakes in the nation’s fight over the future of public employee unions, saying emails aren’t enough to show support and that it is time to “get a little bloody.”

“I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Ma.) told a crowd in Boston on Tuesday rallying in solidarity for Wisconsin union members. …

This is not Capuano’s first brush with violent rhetoric. Last month Capuano said, “Politicians, I think are too bland today. I don’t know what they believe in. Nothing wrong with throwing a coffee cup at someone if you’re doing it for human rights.”

Firstly, oh, the irony in saying that throwing a coffee cup – at a human – is okay if it’s for human rights. Secondly, I suppose if throwing a coffee cup and “getting a little bloody” are just fine and dandy, it’s no surprise that union thugs decided that throwing phones and hitting a woman are just as proper. Oh, the new civility at work!

The woman he hit was Tabitha Hale of Freedomworks. I know Tabitha personally and while I’m infuriated by her assault, most of all I’m so glad she is okay. Tabitha did not “ask for” this, as some on the left are saying. She did not “manufacture” this, as others are claiming. Tabitha, while a tough broad, is a tiny thing and a sweet thing who doesn’t go out looking for fights. She won’t back down from a confrontation, natch, but she doesn’t go looking for one. She’s thoughtful, insanely helpful, friendly and kind.

That matters not to the union thugs, however. For you see, she’s the wrong “kind” of woman. A vicious tea bagger, to boot! Tea Partiers and activists are always accused of being violent by the Left; it’s again a case of methinks they doth project too much. We aren’t the violent ones;  we are the recipients of violence. It’s totally cool to assault people and hit women, you see, if you think they are stupid and icky. You get a “civility” pass then. Tabitha is the wrong kind of woman to the CWA goon and her co-worker is the wrong kind of Jew, apparently.

A “Bad Jew.” For believing in freedom, liberty and free markets. For not agreeing with union thuggery. And for not hating Israel. The Left believes that they are the arbiters of what you should believe, especially if you are in a boxed up little group that they strive to keep in lockstep by creating a permanent victim class. This was exemplified earlier today by another union, SEIU, at a rally in Denver:

The SEIU supporters called him stupid and uneducated.  They called him “son.” They harassed him.  They asked him how he could vote against “his own best interest.”

In this clip an SEIU supporter asks the black Tea Partier, “Do you have any children that you claim?”

This man is one in a long line of people vilified by the Left for daring to have a mind of his own and not walking in lockstep with the false reality the Left has created. Tea Partiers are not only falsely accused of being violent, when in actuality they are the recipients of violence, but they are endlessly accused of being racist. But do you know what really is racist (the real kind, not the ™ kind )?

Attacking anyone of color for the simple act of thinking independently and assuming that all black people should think the same way.   Constantly implying – or in this instance outright saying – that he or she is a “race traitor” or stupid for actually looking at facts in a given situation and making their own judgment (people CAN do that, you know, lefties) based on those facts. That does not suit! We can’t have pesky free thinkers fouling up our identity politics boxes!

This is the Left. This is what they do. I wonder if Nancy Pelosi will work up any faux-tears over these assaults and this violence like she did when she was wringing hands at the unfounded mere thought of Tea Party violence. Which never happened, by the way. We have endured years of being called every vile name in the book, of being accused of heinous acts, of being compared to Nazis, of being demonized as violent, irrational racists and of being called accessories to mass murder.

While only peaceably assembling and attempting to redress our grievances. Victims of violence, not the aggressors.

Is this what President Obama meant by “I want you to argue with them and get in their faces?” Is this the new tone, same as the old tone? Civility, my arse.

Originally published on January 12, 2011.

I know, my use of the term on-target makes me a vitriolic, hateful rhetoric espouser in the eyes of some. It’s not conducive to the “new tone” we are all supposed to embrace for some unfathomable and delusional reason. Of course, this new tone doesn’t apply if one is speaking about Sarah Palin, who is apparently the cause of All Bad Things Ever, in perpetuity. Even here, we are on day three of no school due to snow. In South Carolina. Does Palin’s evil reach have no bounds?!

The Left and the media, as always concentric circles on a Venn diagram, attempted for days to spin a false and odious narrative placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on Sarah Palin and everyone like her. Because, vitriol. Or something. Days of vile political opportunism, on the backs of the dead. Days of disgusting smears the likes of which I’ve never seen before in my lifetime. Days of giddily and gleefully exploiting deaths, including those of a federal judge and a nine-year-old child, all in an attempt to score political points and to silence and demonize those with whom they disagree.

That the facts did not support such claims even one iota meant nothing. In fact, they absolutely ignored all evidence and truths and proceeded to just make stuff up. All focused on Sarah Palin, who miraculously manages to be a dumb old chick from the sticks and the most evil person alive. She’s kind of like George W. Bush that way, I suppose. Chris Matthews went so far as to put a graphic up during his show last night with Sarah Palin’s picture, reading underneath “Silent: On The Lam.” On. The. Lam. As if some fugitive, implying that she, along with the Tea Party, is somehow responsible for a massacre perpetrated by a madman.

Today, Sarah Palin released a video statement. It is a thoughtful, inspiring, dead-on (violent rhetoric!) response (the full transcript can be found here):

A pitch perfect response, both from the heart and smart. Naturally, that then caused the Left to lose whatever tenuous grip they had left on reality. See, Sarah Palin was bad for being “silent and on the lam” last night. But, today, she is super icky for responding and not remaining silent. After being accused for days of having “blood on her hands” and of being responsible for the acts of a madman. Who, incidentally, apparently did not even watch nor listen to the news and, therefore, likely did not even have any knowledge of the supposedly evil cross-hairs graphic. Or anything else for that matter.  It was clear almost immediately that the Left was actually upset because her response was exactly correct. Based not just on emotion – actual heartfelt emotion – but on facts and reason. Pesky old reason! That does not suit. The new “in” thing is complete fabrications, mixed with a healthy dose of utter delusion. Therefore, the smears continued, predictably.

First came speculation from Ben Smith at Politico, and others, that Sarah Palin was ‘stirring the pot” with the use of the phrase blood libel and that the phrase must have been fed to her by someone who “got” the context. Oh, no, that dum-dum rube obviously doesn’t know the historical context and just somehow randomly came up with that phrase while prattling inanely and brushing her hair, soon to be distracted  by something shiny. History! That’s for boys!  She was also decried for the use of the phrase itself, even though it’s been used many times by others and is a common phraseology in the political world. It is also absolutely accurate in this instance.

Next came Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)  in a desperate act of projection.

I know, my use of the term on-target makes me a vitriolic, hateful rhetoric espouser in the eyes of some. It’s not conducive to the “new tone” we are all supposed to embrace for some unfathomable and delusional reason. Of course, this new tone doesn’t apply if one is speaking about Sarah Palin, who is apparently the cause of All Bad Things Ever, in perpetuity. Even here, we are on day three of no school due to snow. In South Carolina. Does Palin’s evil reach have no bounds?!

The Left and the media, as always concentric circles on a Venn diagram, attempted for days to spin a false and odious narrative placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on Sarah Palin and everyone like her. Because, vitriol. Or something. Days of vile political opportunism, on the backs of the dead. Days of disgusting smears the likes of which I’ve never seen before in my lifetime. Days of giddily and gleefully exploiting deaths, including those of a federal judge and a nine-year-old child, all in an attempt to score political points and to silence and demonize those with whom they disagree.

That the facts did not support such claims even one iota meant nothing. In fact, they absolutely ignored all evidence and truths and proceeded to just make stuff up. All focused on Sarah Palin, who miraculously manages to be a dumb old chick from the sticks and the most evil person alive. She’s kind of like George W. Bush that way, I suppose. Chris Matthews went so far as to put a graphic up during his show last night with Sarah Palin’s picture, reading underneath “Silent: On The Lam.” On. The. Lam. As if some fugitive, implying that she, along with the Tea Party, is somehow responsible for a massacre perpetrated by a madman.

Today, Sarah Palin released a video statement. It is a thoughtful, inspiring, dead-on (violent rhetoric!) response (the full transcript can be found here):

A pitch perfect response, both from the heart and smart. Naturally, that then caused the Left to lose whatever tenuous grip they had left on reality. See, Sarah Palin was bad for being “silent and on the lam” last night. But, today, she is super icky for responding and not remaining silent. After being accused for days of having “blood on her hands” and of being responsible for the acts of a madman. Who, incidentally, apparently did not even watch nor listen to the news and, therefore, likely did not even have any knowledge of the supposedly evil cross-hairs graphic. Or anything else for that matter.  It was clear almost immediately that the Left was actually upset because her response was exactly correct. Based not just on emotion – actual heartfelt emotion – but on facts and reason. Pesky old reason! That does not suit. The new “in” thing is complete fabrications, mixed with a healthy dose of utter delusion. Therefore, the smears continued, predictably.

First came speculation from Ben Smith at Politico, and others, that Sarah Palin was ‘stirring the pot” with the use of the phrase blood libel and that the phrase must have been fed to her by someone who “got” the context. Oh, no, that dum-dum rube obviously doesn’t know the historical context and just somehow randomly came up with that phrase while prattling inanely and brushing her hair, soon to be distracted  by something shiny. History! That’s for boys!  She was also decried for the use of the phrase itself, even though it’s been used many times by others and is a common phraseology in the political world. It is also absolutely accurate in this instance.

Next came Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC)  in a desperate act of projection.

Originally published on December 30, 2010.

In July of this year, leftist Feminists were openly, and proudly, rooting for an abortion to be portrayed on prime-time television. And in April of this year, leftist feminists like Jessica Valenti of Feministing were grossly bemoaning the fact that MTV’s show, “16 and Pregnant,” did not portray any teenage girls having abortions. They wanted sixteen year old girls to have abortions. On television.  Way to be pro-woman and For The Children(tm), faux feminists! By For The Children, I of course mean totally not at all for the children – unless they can be used and exploited to further an agenda, natch. You see, it’s never actually about women nor children to them; it’s always about an agenda and an ideology that treats motherhood as a yoke around a woman’s neck. Motherhood is so old school and oppressive and stuff! What with those pesky children wanting to be nurtured and loved, while providing a joy that fills one’s heart so full that it cannot be adequately put into words. Well, and wanting to, you know, live. Who do they think they are?

On Tuesday night, they got their wish. MTV ran a special called “No Easy Decision,”in which Markai, a girl who had previously appeared on “16 and Pregnant,” learned that she was pregnant again.

And she terminated the pregnancy baby’s life.

I watched the “special,” even though I didn’t think that I needed to do so in order to point out how wrong such a show is on so many levels. But, unlike Ana Marie Cox, I don’t like to talk about things that I have neither read nor watched, nor do I like to do things half-assedly. And, it turns out, the show was even worse than I suspected it would be. It was infuriating and horrifying, almost beyond words. It was also heartbreaking beyond belief. My heart aches for Markai, and for the other girls (Natalia and Katie) who appeared in the discussion portion of the show.

The pro-abortion rah-rah sisterhood, of course, praised it immediately, which should indicate just how strong the show’s bias was. If you needed any further proof than the fact that the show was aired commercial-free, in partnership with Exhale, a group who says that they wish to raise awareness that abortion “is normal in the reproductive lives of women and girls.” Yes, every woman’s “reproductive life” (love the fancy-pants euphemism) includes the killing of an unborn child. You women who don’t have abortions? Total abnormal freaks! Just look at Sarah Palin, for cripes sake. Wingnuts!

The show was entirely agenda-driven and these young girls were sickly used and exploited for that purpose only. The token nod to a pro-life position was a quick question in the discussion panel: “Did you consider adoption?” One of the girls said that wouldn’t have been an option because it wasn’t the baby part that was scary; it was that pregnancy is icky. She had an abortion to avoid pregnancy symptoms. She also spoke of the sacrifices (her word) that she had to make to pay the $750.00 abortion fee. Her prom ticket, for one.

In July of this year, leftist Feminists were openly, and proudly, rooting for an abortion to be portrayed on prime-time television. And in April of this year, leftist feminists like Jessica Valenti of Feministing were grossly bemoaning the fact that MTV’s show, “16 and Pregnant,” did not portray any teenage girls having abortions. They wanted sixteen year old girls to have abortions. On television.  Way to be pro-woman and For The Children(tm), faux feminists! By For The Children, I of course mean totally not at all for the children – unless they can be used and exploited to further an agenda, natch. You see, it’s never actually about women nor children to them; it’s always about an agenda and an ideology that treats motherhood as a yoke around a woman’s neck. Motherhood is so old school and oppressive and stuff! What with those pesky children wanting to be nurtured and loved, while providing a joy that fills one’s heart so full that it cannot be adequately put into words. Well, and wanting to, you know, live. Who do they think they are?

On Tuesday night, they got their wish. MTV ran a special called “No Easy Decision,”in which Markai, a girl who had previously appeared on “16 and Pregnant,” learned that she was pregnant again.

And she terminated the pregnancy baby’s life.

I watched the “special,” even though I didn’t think that I needed to do so in order to point out how wrong such a show is on so many levels. But, unlike Ana Marie Cox, I don’t like to talk about things that I have neither read nor watched, nor do I like to do things half-assedly. And, it turns out, the show was even worse than I suspected it would be. It was infuriating and horrifying, almost beyond words. It was also heartbreaking beyond belief. My heart aches for Markai, and for the other girls (Natalia and Katie) who appeared in the discussion portion of the show.

The pro-abortion rah-rah sisterhood, of course, praised it immediately, which should indicate just how strong the show’s bias was. If you needed any further proof than the fact that the show was aired commercial-free, in partnership with Exhale, a group who says that they wish to raise awareness that abortion “is normal in the reproductive lives of women and girls.” Yes, every woman’s “reproductive life” (love the fancy-pants euphemism) includes the killing of an unborn child. You women who don’t have abortions? Total abnormal freaks! Just look at Sarah Palin, for cripes sake. Wingnuts!

The show was entirely agenda-driven and these young girls were sickly used and exploited for that purpose only. The token nod to a pro-life position was a quick question in the discussion panel: “Did you consider adoption?” One of the girls said that wouldn’t have been an option because it wasn’t the baby part that was scary; it was that pregnancy is icky. She had an abortion to avoid pregnancy symptoms. She also spoke of the sacrifices (her word) that she had to make to pay the $750.00 abortion fee. Her prom ticket, for one.

Every time I think that the “Press” can’t sink any lower than the rock bottom they’ve already hit, they somehow manage to burrow themselves further into the earth’s mantle. As is so often the case, this most recent gutter-dwelling example has to do with Sarah Palin, who dared to go on a humanitarian trip to Haiti. This does not suit! You see, how can the Press feel all holier-than-thou and better than Sarah Palin – and her fellow rubes – when she is out helping people in Haiti, while they are sitting at home and sipping their soy lattes? I mean, you can’t even see their super awesome and caring “cause ribbons” in print. Plus, she’s just a girl and not the right kind of girl; she embraces motherhood and doesn’t hyphenate her name. She doesn’t even limit herself to caring only about topics that women are assigned to caring about by the left. This aggression cannot stand.

So, they fall back on sneering contempt, mixed with insanity and outright lies. While that is what they are best at, even that no longer works. A funny little thing happened to their ability to do so: the absolute moral  insolvency of the Fourth Estate is now apparent to most and citizens are now finding the truth for themselves. This again happened on Monday, when the AP ran this picture and caption:

“Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan’s Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010….”

What the photographer purposely neglects to mention is that the woman fixing Palin’s hair is her daughter, Bristol. She is clearly seen in the following photograph, as also noted by Free Republic:

In other photos from Saturday, Todd and Sarah Palin’s white, brunette, eldest daughter Bristol, who accompanied her parents on the trip to Haiti, is wearing the exact same clothing and ponytail as the “hair stylist” in the AP photo.

That’s right, what the Palin-hating AP and others fail to report is that the “hair stylist” is Bristol Palin.

Bristol Palin was fixing a loose clip or an errant strand of hair for her mother. The photographer quite clearly knew that, having taken the picture and having actually looked through the lens at the people whose photo he was taking. He managed to identify Todd Palin, yet purposely did not identify Bristol.

There are a couple of things clearly on display here. Firstly, the oh-so-tolerant and loving Left is anything but. It’s far easier to mock and bash Sarah Palin than to actually, you know, do anything to help. Secondly, their blatant sexism, particularly against conservative women (femininity with smarts and strength is icky), has once again been exposed for all to see. I suppose we are to just be grateful that the media didn’t get all atwitter, contemplating boob jobs, like they did last time Palin was photographed in a t-shirt. The Daily Mail picked up on the “let’s totally lie to fit our delusional narrative” line with an article titled Ready for Her Close Up…Sarah Palin Lands in Haiti (where they don’t care what her hair looks like).

Michael Shaw at The Huffington Post went one further with one of the most dreck-filled “articles” I’ve read in a good while. And that’s saying something. I hesitate to quote too much of it, just to be safe, on the off-chance that cuckoo-pants may be catching. But, here are some highlights lowlights: