The Daily Hatch

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Former Alaska governor gives her first interview since Arizona shooting

Series:    Is Rightwing Rhetoric encouraging Violence? Part 6

Twice the Arkansas Times has tried to imply that Sarah Palin contradicted herself.

While claiming that no political figure was responsible for influencing alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner, Palin also claimed he was “perhaps even left-leaning.”

Also the Arkansas Times put up a clip from Jon Stewart of the Daily Show that tried to make the same point. However, if someone accusing a conservative leader of influencing  a crazy person to shot someone, then it appears to me if you prove the shooter was not a follower of yours or was even “left leaning” then you have refuted the initial charges against you. I do not think anywhere that Palin said that the shooter’s political views caused him to do what he did. This is the charge that many liberals made earlier against Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck.

Furthermore, the use of military words has always been used in politics. Let quote a definition of the term “battleground state.”

In U.S. politics, a battleground state is a state where the political race between a Republican and Democrat, usually presidential candidates, is extremely close. Due to the way that presidential elections are run in the United States, the popular vote is not nearly as important as the the individual tally in the states. This allows campaigns to pursue a state-by-state strategy in order to win an election. This makes battleground states very important.

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Let me make my view clear. There will always be a percentage of people out there that are mental cases. I personally think that there is no evidence at all to say that most of them are right or left leaning. To try and paint a broad picture like that is not fair.

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Today I have a profile of St lawmaker Bruce Westerman.

Address:	245 Autumnwood Way Hot Springs AR 71909

Sharon is a stay-at-home mom and has been quite busy raising four children for the past 15 years.  She has a teaching degree from the University of Arkansas and with all the kids in school has been volunteering her time as a tutor.  She has a passion for teaching children to read and is currently working on a master’s degree in special education with an interest in early intervention.  The kids enjoy growing up “in the country” where life is never boring.  Eli is a past National Geography Bee state champion and enjoys playing football, reading, and participating in church youth group activities.  Amie likes to cook, draw and paint, and play basketball.  Ethan likes sports of all kinds (especially the Razorbacks), and Asa likes to play, fish and help dad work around the farm.

ABOUT OUR FAITH

Even though there may be trials, opportunities, and even earthly defeats ahead, we know that “faith is the victory that overcomes the world.”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  My ulitimate hope is in God’s grace and mercy through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Series:    Is Rightwing Rhetoric encouraging Violence? Part 4

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and his panel discuss the finger pointing and deliberate misinformation among politicians.

Probably the most common quote concerning the Arizona tragedy was Paul Krugman’s words spoken just 2 hours after the shooting:

A Democratic Congresswoman  has been shot in the head; another dozen were also shot.

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous “crosshairs” list.

Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it’s been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing.

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

It seems that liberals backed off this type of accusation when the facts that disproved it came out later. In fact, Paul Krugman took down his own comments. Now we have liberals writing articles filled with double talk that still attempt to imply that the tea party types still may have had something to do with this.

Philip Martin in his article “You can’t talk to Crazy, but sometimes it hears,” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Jan 16, 2011), implies that possibly a message about the political fights got through to Jared Loughner.

And the perpetually angry will buy what the demagogues sell, no matter how preposterous their claims, because, after a while, they need to be angry to feel normal. This is why you say there is a war against Christmas, that the white middle class is being persecuted or that the president is an illegitimate foreigner with links to al-Qaida, and people will believe it. A claim’s outrageousness is no impediment for those who love to feel outraged.

There’s nothing to be learned from what happened in Tucson other than another pure product of America went crazy (crazier) and hurt some people who had nothing against him, who meant him no harm. You can’t blame anybody in particular for what Jared Loughner did—except maybe Jared Loughner.
But on the other hand, you can’t pretend that these things happen in a vacuum. I said Crazy doesn’t listen but sometimes Crazy hears—Crazy picks up a signal in its tin-foil beanie. Crazy feels licensed by the sort of vitriol we fling around to make ourselves feel better.
You can pretend it’s nothing to do with you if you want, but we create the world together. Our portion of whatever blame there is may be small, but it is not negligible.

Let’s take Martin’s view that maybe a message got through to Loughner. According to Good Morning America’s interview with Loughner’s best friend Zach Osler, Loughner did not listen to the news or to talk radio. So where did he get a message from? Here is a transcript of Rush Limbaugh reacting to the  Good Morning America interview.

BANFIELD:  Instead he points to this online documentary series called Zeitgeist as the gas on Loughner’s fire.  It’s a documentary movement that rails on currency-based economics.

OSLER:  I really think that this is Zeitgeist documentary had a profound impact upon Jared Loughner’s mind-set and how he viewed the world that he lives in.

RUSH:  It wasn’t just Zeitgeist. ” According to reports, Loughner’s favorites included little-known conspiracy theory documentaries such as ‘Zeitgeist’ and ‘Loose Change’ as well as … ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘A Scanner Darkly.'” Now, Zeitgeist is “a 2007 documentary that asserts Jesus Christ is a myth, that 9/11 was orchestrated by the government, and that bankers manipulate the international monetary system and the media in order to consolidate power.”  So a conspiracy movie (put together by deranged leftists, it turns out) appears to be, according to his best friend, the most influential media of this young man’s life.  “‘Loose Change’ is a series of films released between 2005 and 2009 which argue that the September 11, 2001 attacks were planned and conducted by elements within the United States government…”

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Let me make my view clear. There will always be a percentage of people out there that are mental cases. I personally think that there is no evidence at all to say that most of them are right or left leaning. To try and paint a broad picture like that is not fair.

33rd ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE:Little Rock Sun 2pm begins at Capital and Louisiana Streets

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Today I have a profile of St lawmaker Kelley Linck.

Executive Director, Ozark Mtn Region Tourism Association  NRA Member & Supporter – Has an “A” Rating with the NRA Owned and operated a small business in the area for 15 years President 3 terms, Bull Shoals Lake- White River Chamber of Commerce President, Rotary International Club, Bull Shoals/Lakeview President 3 terms, White & North Fork Rivers Outfitters Assoc.

In the photo above, is the Linck home that was built in Flippin, Arkansas in 1910. Starting from the left is Kelley, his dad Ike Linck, his brother John Linck and his newphew Edwin Linck.

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Linda Caillouet reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today in her column that True Grit author Charles Portis of Little Rock spent News Year Day watching the film with longtime pals Ron Farrar and Phyllis Brandon. Caillouet observed:

The trio go way back — they all studied journalism together at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and all worked on the student newspaper, The Traveler, with Farrar serving as editor.
Portis’ New Year’s Day trip to the Little Rock theater was the first time he’d seen the Coen brothers’ remake of the 1969 film, which starred John Wayne and Glen Campbell, but added he might catch it again sometime in the future.
No one in the half-full theater — except the pair of pals he went with — knew the noted novelist was among the audience watching the film.

My 14 yr old son Wilson and I loved the movie, and I especially loved the music. I had told Wilson that the author of the book was born in Arkansas and has lived for many years in Little Rock. Furthermore, I told him that the original story took place in Arkansas and Oklahoma. He quickly asked me if it was filmed here, and I had to tell him that it was filmed in New Mexico.

Max Brantley in the Arkansas Times Blog  (“Why True Grit wasn’t filmed in Arkansas,” Dec 22) quotes Ethan Coen:

You know what? That’s one thing that’s not faithful to the novel. The landscape is a total cheat, but we kind of thought people will think it’s a Western, and some things you just can’t mess with. People want that.

Wilson is still mad about that, but we both enjoyed the movie a lot. It did have a few curse words, and there was one scene of violence. However, there were many biblical references throughout the movie, and the issue of justice was highlighted. I did come away with the same opinion that John Brummett did when he wanted to choose the fictional Mattie Ross “Arkansan of the Year.”

True Grit has to be the best movie made about Arkansas. I can not think of any other that comes close up to this point of time. Many movies have had small parts of Arkansas in them (Gone with the Wind, The Firm), but none of the movies that focus on Arkansas (White Lightning, Sling Blade, and  The Legend of Boggy Creek) are better than True Grit. I had to get over my bias toward Boggy Creek since my wife’s uncle Hub Dugan was actually in the movie playing the monster (not kidding).

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The Lawmaker I am profiling today is Jeremy Gillam.

About Jeremy.

Jeremy has been married to his wife, Carissa, for ten years. They have two wonderful boys, Alexander, age 5, and Jaxon, age 2.

• Owner of Gillam Farms
• Graduate of Beebe High School
• Attended ASU Beebe and Jonesboro where I received degrees in Criminology and Psychology
• Member of the ASU Beebe Development Council
• Member of the White County Farm Bureau Board of Directors
• Arkansas Farm Bureau Horticulture Chairman
• Served on the American Farm Bureau Horticulture Committee
• Recently named to the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee
• Member of Trinity Baptist Church
• Deacon at Trinity Baptist Church

Issues.

Although there are many issues that confront our district I believe that we must focus on the two things that will most immediately impact our day to day lives.

Economic Development is the key to growing the opportunities that our district needs. As a business owner, I know how difficult it can be to survive in these difficult times. Conventional thinking is not going to be sufficient now. We need leaders that can think outside of the box and bring new economic growth to our communities.

Improving our Infrastructure is something I believe will impact the daily lives of our citizens in a very real and dramatic way. I believe that we need to improve more than just our roads. We need to improve our communications infrastructure as well as our basic utilities.

 

Photo Albums

• Campaign Kickoff Party
• Jeremy and his family.

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(Caroline Hoxby, Ph.D of Stanford explodes myth that public schools do not have enough money)

Max Brantley is always pointing out there is a billionaire boys club that is supporting the Charter School movement in Arkansas. In his article “Money talks in Charter School Debate,” (September 11, 2010), he lists these prominent gentleman. Liberals who follow Brantley in the Arkansas Times would tell you that the public schools need more money in order to do better. However, the facts do not back up that assertion.

Caroline Hoxby, Ph.D., the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford University has noted:

The United States spends more money per pupil on public K-12 schooling than any other country in the world. Some of the school districts that are the most embarrassing for Americans like Newark, NJ or Washington D.C. are some of the most expensive in the world. So it is hard to make the case that the problem America has is just that it is not spending enough money… We have raised per pupil spending (in real inflation adjusted terms)  every single year for the last 40 years… (Not having enough money) is not the source of the problem for American education.

Hoxby is also a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, the director of the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.