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The rhetoric over the past two days has been simply stunning. Each side began its attack, almost before the blood was washed from the street.

The Left went on a rampage of blame of the right. Incendiary rhetoric, hate speech, demonizing of the Left.

The Right insisted the shooter was a lone actor, not tied to them, and that the Left was politicizing for its own benefit, this tragic event.

Some on the Left called for Palin’s arrest, along with perennial hate-mongers, Beck and Fox in total.

Those on the Right blamed Obama for “governing so badly that he created an extreme right-wing party.”  Beck “e-mails” Sarah, that “an attempt on your life, may well bring down the republic.” Get protection!

We have all gone quite mad. Sarah is now the victim, as she always paints herself, even though she scrubbed her website and tweets for offensive militaristic war words. Fox is on full-bore defense, cutting away from Tucson coverage when a witness starts to speak of Sarah’s complicity. The Tea Party uses the entire thing as an excuse to raise money.

Jon Stewart was right to call us all out. While I continue to believe that dangerously incendiary rhetoric needs to be stopped, he is right, that we get nowhere now by casting guilt. In doing so, we gin up the other side to do the same, and they are not shrinking violets.

We must surely stand up to lies and hate speech, but we need not point fingers. There is entirely enough blame to go around. We have failed to demand better. We have failed to lobby and pursue sane gun laws that regulate who gets guns and what kind they can get. We have allowed the incessant misinformation to stand unchallenged.

Jon Stewart, in his monologue last night told us what we should be taking from all this, and what we need be doing. It is so worth your watching. The Daily Show . I highly recommend you watch it. It’s the January 10, 2011 episode, aired last night.

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One of the terrible points of misinformation being perpetrated upon the public (the ignorant public at least) is the notion that either climate change is non-existent, or that at best it is seriously debatable among scientists. This is simply not the case, as much as those in the hip pocket of polluters claim otherwise, and the religious right ignores because of their screwed personal interpretations of scripture.

The Northeast braces for the third onslaught of foot+ snow in as many weeks, the West has been beset by torrential rains, Europe was brought to its knees by severe snow. We remember the heat waves of last summer throughout Europe, the massive forest fires in and around Moscow.

Much as the snow and cold suggests to the stupid that “ha ha” guess that puts to rest “global warming”, such is actually proof of it. Part of what happens is that when the oceans are warmed over their norm, they put more water vapor into the atmosphere and this “rains, snows” out in bigger and more dangerous storms.

We remember that Australia is still in the grips of a HUGE flood, one that simply shocks the mind. Please drop by myfanwe’s blog Love and Light and Strength for the Journey, and give a kind word, and consider a donation to the flood relief there. We sometimes get lost in our own drama here, and forget the misery others are facing.

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Da Hammer goes to the Slammer! Tom DeLay was sentenced to a minimum of 3 years yesterday. Unfortunately he’s been granted bond pending appeal. The National Review went apoplectic, blaming the evil prosecutor. You can read some more at Mo’s place. Sometimes justice is served.

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I can’t decide whether Glenn Beck is a simple grifter or is batshit crazy. Should we do a poll?

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What’s on the Stove? Pork Roast, mashed taters, gravy, roasted carrots and onions. And I need to get busy finishing it!

**Photo above from CD cover of Robin Lane.

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