“Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survive the Tucson shooting, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday.”

The wingnut vision of gun control in America. A Quinn Martin Production.

via Instaputz:

For as long as I can remember, I have heard conservatives blaming everything that is wrong in the universe, from violent crime to declining test scores to teen pregnancy to rude children to declining patriotism to probably athlete’s foot . . . upon Dr. Spock, Hollywood liberals, the abolition of prayer in school, Bill Clinton, the “liberal 1960s,” the teaching of evolution — in other words, upon symbols, rhetoric, cultural norms, and the values expressed by political and media leaders. Yet from the moment when someone gets a gun in their hands, apparently, society ceases to have any influence whatsoever on the outcome and individual responsibility takes hold 100%. Something is driving the tripling of death threats against congressmen (and the concomitant rise in threats against Federal judges and other villains of the right, from Forest Service rangers to climate scientists) and it isn’t the sunspot cycle.

But you should read, as they say, the whole thing.

We first became aware of Seattle’s The Stranger almost twenty years ago, when we were attempting a somewhat similar, though much smaller, enterprise in Eugene. Here’s one reason they survived, and we didn’t.

That and Dan Savage, of course.

Sneak Preview of the Cover of The Stranger This Week, Created by Dan Savage and Aaron Huffman [Stranger Slog, via Daring Fireball]

Despite Rachel’s plea, we’re going to sit out the gun-control debate, because, well, this is America, and that question’s been settled for now. But every time something like this happens, one side always claims that the problem isn’t too many guns, but not enough.

Let’s put that claim to the test. One of the Fox-embraced “heroes” of Saturday’s shooting is Joe Zamudio, who “was in a nearby drug store when the shooting began, and he was armed.” Joe rushes out, booger hook on the bang switch, and helps take down Loughner.

Just one thing:

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Meanwhile on I-10, about three miles from the Tucson Safeway…

If It Can Happen Here, It Can Happen Anywhere [Box Turtle Bulletin, via Tom Tomorrow]

Sarah Palin:

Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence.

Michelle Malkin:

The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

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