Suspected Arizona Shooter’s Motives in Question, but Should Not Be Politicized

The recent and horrific incident in Arizona has grabbed the complete attention of the media and has forced the nation to ask why. As of right now, the facts seem to be this: a young man opened fire outside a grocery store that was hosting a small meet and greet event by the local U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.  In total, six people were killed, including a nine-year-old child and a federal judge, twelve were wounded. At present, it appears Representative Giffords is alive despite a point blank gunshot to the head that passed through her brain.

The motives of the person taken into custody by authorities for this shooting, Jared Lee Loughner, are now and will soon be of even more interest to the nation given the current political atmosphere in the country, especially in Arizona. The two most important things people who are not directly involved in this matter can do now and in the future are to hope for the well-being of the victims and not spin or try to gain politically from this act.

The following information will be an assessment and critique of the possible motives and beliefs of Jared Lee Loughner, and it will be updated and changed dependent on new information or consensuses. Read more »

Breaking Down Beck: 9/12 Principles, Part 2

Before we conclude our overview of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Principles, the first half of which we covered in Part 1, let’s take a quick look at 2009′s Misinformer of the Year courtesy Media Matters.

Principles 6-9 after the jump. Read more »

Breaking Down Beck: 9/12 Principles, Part 1

In his great mission statement to save the United States, Glenn Beck says:

This is a non-political movement. The 9-12 Project is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the greatest nation ever created.

Beck goes on to say:

At the origin of America, our Founding Fathers built this country on 28 powerful principles. These principles were culled from all over the world and from centuries of great thinkers. We have distilled the original 28 down to the 9 basic principles.

Do these principles live up to this hype? They may look alright on a shirt, but to be honest, this pancake doesn’t have enough syrup. Read more »

Gender and Athletics

It seems the whole Caster Semenya athlete sex/gender controversy is about to come to a head. It has been reported that the results of “gender tests” have been revealed by news reports, but the International Association of Athletics Federation will not release them officially (Hughes). Many people seemed to think that it was just stereotypes gone awry; one blogger even mentioned it had something to with euro- ethnocentric standards of beauty stating, “The issue seems to directly question race, beauty and who gets to set the standards. White and western is more female and more beautiful, black and African is less so” (Andrews). This is in contrast to quotes I read from some of Semenya’s competitors, that were to the affect “Just look, she is a man.” Read more »