Let's take a moment of silence to remember the 168 people ("19 of them children under six years old") who lost their lives in Oklahoma City ,15 years ago today.........................................
Thank you.
This is a day, of course, that the wingnuts would like us to forget. (I bet you won't hear much mention of it over at Radio Rwanda.) Why? Because it was a wingnut who carried out the dastardly and despicable deed.
They would also like us to forget it because they have now created an environment where the next Timothy McVeigh could be the unemployed trucker down in trailer home number 7. According to the AP this current climate has created a perfect storm from which another Timothy McVeigh "wannabe" could emerge.
" OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma — The United States marked the 15th anniversary of its deadliest domestic terror attack Monday amid rising political tensions and anti-government sentiment. The April 19, 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in downtown Oklahoma City by members of an anti-government militia killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds of others. As survivors and family members of the victims remembered everything they lost that day, terrorism experts warned of frightening parallels between current political tensions and those of the years leading up to the bombing.
Nearly one out of three Americans view the US government as a "major threat" to their freedoms, and four out of five say they don't trust Washington to solve their problems, according to a new poll published Monday. That mistrust has given rise to the Tea Party movement, which has been criticized for the extremist sentiment displayed at rallies where some members tote guns, call for a new revolution and wave signs equating President Barack Obama with Adolph Hitler or an African witch doctor. "
Nearly one out of three Americans view the US government as a "major threat" to their freedoms, and four out of five say they don't trust Washington to solve their problems, according to a new poll published Monday. That mistrust has given rise to the Tea Party movement, which has been criticized for the extremist sentiment displayed at rallies where some members tote guns, call for a new revolution and wave signs equating President Barack Obama with Adolph Hitler or an African witch doctor. "
Hey, I didn't make up those words, that was an exact quote from the AP news story.
Of course the wingnuts will tell you that they are not violent. That they simply love A-merry-ca and the Constitution. That this latest brand of extremism and wingnuttery (where a sitting congresswoman called the president's administration, gangsters) is just a case of god fearing A-merry-cans who love their country exercising their rights as citizens to protest. Fine. Protest all day and night for all I care. March from California to Maine to make your point. But just remember that when the lone wolf you are blowing the dog whistles to breaks away, the blood of your fellow citizens will be on your hands.
Ironically, (or maybe not) it's left leaning Rachel Maddow who is doing a documentary on Oklahoma City and McVeigh.
"The documentary, narrated by msnbc’s Rachel Maddow, has already provoked a strong discussion on Maddow’s blog, with viewers concerned that it might incite extremists.
“Some people will say they don't want to hear anything about Timothy McVeigh and we respect their feelings on that,” says Herbeck. “But others are interested in hearing what made a terrorist tick.” “[It’s an] oral blueprint of what turned one young man into one of the worst mass-murderers and terrorists in American history,” says Michel.
Michel and Herbeck received similar criticism after publishing the McVeigh biography “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing” in 2001.
“Some people will say they don't want to hear anything about Timothy McVeigh and we respect their feelings on that,” says Herbeck. “But others are interested in hearing what made a terrorist tick.” “[It’s an] oral blueprint of what turned one young man into one of the worst mass-murderers and terrorists in American history,” says Michel.
Michel and Herbeck received similar criticism after publishing the McVeigh biography “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing” in 2001.
.. Maddow says she isn’t concerned that McVeigh will come across as a martyr to those who share his anti-government views. “McVeigh is profoundly unsympathetic — even repugnant —on his own terms, you don't need to work to make him seem that way,” she says. “There's a huge distance between the hero he is in his own mind, and how basely unheroic he seems to anyone hearing the tapes now.."
Rachel, I hope you are right, but you have more faith in your fellow A-merry-cans than I do.
Finally, before I go, I would like to give a shout out to a wonderful program that is being run out of New York called The Global Language Project. It centers around something that's dear to my heart: educating our children. I am so proud of Angela Jackson (the program's director) and what she is doing that I promised to mention the project in my next blog post.
Please go here and put one down for the folks over at the Global Language Project so that they can get this grant from "the man".
