tragedy

New on NewsReal – Shock: Media Matters Catches Political Talker Talking Politics

Calvin Freiburger disasters, Fox News, Hannity, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Japan, Media Matters, NewsReal, politics, tragedy

My latest NewsRealBlog post:

Discussing perceived political angles to tragedies, especially as they’re happening, is always touchy. Even if there is a valid policy observation to be made, you’re opening yourself up to ready-made accusations of insensitivity, partisanship, and opportunism. So it should come as little surprise that the leftist smear merchants at Media Matters are raking Sean Hannity over the coals for a “five-minute Obama-bashing session” during his coverage of the disaster in Japan:

HANNITY: Apparently, the president was groggy when he answered that call, because on Saturday, hours after the quake struck, he went golfing. And later that evening he attended a dinner with members of the mainstream Obama-mania media. And today, the president spent his afternoon filling out his NCAA brackets for ESPN […]

DANA PERINO, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He probably feels like if he would succumb to all the pressure, to comment on everything, he wouldn’t have time even to go to the bathroom. But what surprises me is –

HANNITY: You mean he wouldn’t have time to shoot hoops?

PERINO: Well — shoot hoops, play golf — but the other thing is, remember, from the communication standpoint what they’ve done. Today, he did three interviews, with regional news outlets in key battle ground states for 2012. I mean, they are starting very, very early. He still has yet I believe to do an interview with NHK which is the main news outlet for Japan. How reassuring it would be for the Japanese to hear from the president right now.

Another communications points, Steve, is in January, when Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot, that morning President Obama put out a photograph from him in the White House situation room, even after we knew it was lone gunman, I mean, the situation room?

And then Saturday, their only communications was a radio address on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which had obviously been taped days before and they’re not going to change it, and his video of him playing golf.

On the one hand, I don’t want to see conservatives taking this line of attack too far. As we’ve discussed before, presidents are never really off-duty. And while it certainly doesn’t speak well of Obama’s PR team that nobody thought the president’s current schedule of sports, photo ops, and vacations would look improper when juxtaposed against foreign deaths and devastation, the fact is that there’s just not much for the President of the United States’ to do about overseas natural disasters.

Read the rest on NewsRealBlog.

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Nightmare in Arizona

Calvin Freiburger Congress, dishonesty, extremism, Gabrielle Giffords, insanity, Left, tragedy, violence

The shooting that took six lives, including a little girl and a judge, and have seriously injured Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is absolutely sickening. Pray for the full recovery of those injured, and for comfort and peace for those who lost loved ones.

Donald Douglas and Walter Hudson have great round-ups of details about the shooter, a mentally-disturbed, gold-standard loving, atheistic, paranoid, anti-government fan of The Communist Manifesto. The info contained therein puts the lie to the dishonesty and hypocrisy of those blaming the shooting on everyone from Sarah Palin to the Tea Party movement to the Religious Right.

This is nothing new – leftists defame conservatives whenever violence is inflicted upon one of their own, and even when it isn’t. There’s not much more to say about it that hasn’t already been said, save reiterating the one thing everyone who hears this filth needs to understand.

This line of attack isn’t sincere. Those pursuing it know better. They don’t care what really motivates killers, or what conservatives do and don’t say. They say it anyway because they’re fundamentally indecent people. Period.

A Tale of Two Shootings

Calvin Freiburger abortion, Barack Obama, evil, hypocrisy, Islamofascism, military, murder, national security, tragedy

Since Barack Obama is one of the most extreme pro-abortion politicians in American history, it came as little surprise that he wasted no time issuing a statement condemning George Tiller’s murder.  It was striking, however, that the commander-in-chief of our armed forces neglected to do the same about the shooting in Little Rock, which claimed the life of one of the very soldiers serving under him, and injured another.

It took him a while, but he’s finally released a statement:

I am deeply saddened by this senseless act of violence against two brave young soldiers who were doing their part to strengthen our armed forces and keep our country safe. I would like to wish Quinton Ezeagwula a speedy recovery, and to offer my condolences and prayers to William Long’s family as they mourn the loss of their son.

It’s nice to hear the president is “deeply saddened,” but you would think that it would have “shocked and outraged” him.  Regardless of this late, halfhearted effort, the damage is done.  Obama’s perverse priorities have been made crystal clear.

Horrible: Shooting at an AK Recruiting Office

Calvin Freiburger crime, evil, Islamofascism, military, murder, tragedy, treason

One American soldier was killed and another injured today, as a man with an assault rifle opened fire on an Army recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The murderer is in custody, though his motive has not yet been made public.  Whatever it is, though, he needs to be punished to the full extent of the law.

It makes me sick to think that someone who signs up for the armed services can put himself in harm’s way day after day, and then return to his own home and be murdered by one of the very citizens he was defending.

Please, pray for our fallen hero and his family, as well as for the full recovery of the surviving hero.

Update: Now we know—the shooter was a recent convert to Islam with a grudge against the Army.  Big surprise.

Belated Memories of 9/11

Calvin Freiburger 9/11, evil, Frum, Islamofascism, tragedy, War on Terror
I apologize for the delay—the attack on America deserves to have been remembered on September 11.
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The following is the conclusion to a heartbreaking essay by Miranda Frum (16-year-old daughter of National Review’s David Frum). I urge you all to take some time to read it all:
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That night when my father finally came back, we watched the news. My brother and I decided to act like adults just in case we had to be adults later. The news showed people in a far away place we imagined to be happy, courtesy of Aladdin, dancing in the streets, celebrating. They had succeeded in something. I will never forget the fear I saw that day, or the pain it caused my parents. The men were dancing in that far away place, but the song they were dancing to was the tears and pain of Americans.
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That was six years ago. But it still seems like yesterday.