Gene Rosen is a retired psychologist and obviously, to most human beings anyway, a decent sort. He lives in Newtown, Connecticut just a few yards from Sandy Hook Elementary School. One morning last December he found six children sitting, trembling on the pavement of his driveway. When he asked them what was wrong the horror of that day dawned on him. He took the kids inside, gave them juice and cookies and kept them safe until their parents arrived to take them home. Later that day someone photographed him on the street openly weeping about the tragedy that had just visited his community and its children.
Salon is now reporting that white supremacist web sites are currently referring to him as that "emotional Jew." His address and photographs of his house have been published on line. He received one email, with a title indicating it was a message from a business, that said to him, "How are all those little students that showed up at your house after the 'shooting.' What is the going rate for getting involved in a government sponsored hoax anyway?" He says he is getting hang up phone calls and being called a liar on nearly a daily basis.
Yes, the lunatic fringe is on the loose once more. There are people out there, seemingly normal ones, who say the Newtown massacre was a government sponsored sham perpetrated by the Obama administration in order to gather public support for new gun control laws.
According to these, truthers the parents of the murdered children and Rosen himself are paid, crisis actors. In their world the murdered kids and teachers are all still alive and living happily at some secret resort location paid for by unspecified government agencies.
On December 15th, the day after the killings, this blog predicted that tea party fringe elements would quickly claim the monstrous crime in Newtown was carried out by agents of the Obama administration. So I suppose I should be grateful in one way or another that these losers think the whole thing was just faked and not some modern day Reichstag fire with an accompanying and very real body count.
Meanwhile, the NRA has released an ad that asks the question, "Are the President's kids more important than yours?" It then goes on to say, "Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their schools." It ends by calling Mr. Obama an "elitist hypocrite." The ad fails to mention that in the modern era every president and his immediate family members have received Secret Service protection. It is considered a routine matter of national security. And, as always, it failed to speak to how effective armed security was at Columbine High School in 1999. Despite the presence of a sheriff's deputy on campus two students killed 12 and wounded 21 others before they shot themselves.
The white house issued a statement calling the ad, "repugnant and cowardly." The wags on MSNBC are using words like reprehensible.
Earlier today the president outlined four legislative initiatives he wants to pursue. First is to require background checks prior to every gun sale including private ones. Second, ban all military style assault weapons. Third, limit all ammunition clips to no more than ten rounds. Finally, he wants to strengthen penalties for those convicted of gun trafficking.
One can only imagine the NRA's response to these ideas. Look for more ads referring to Barack Obama's personal life, his kids, his wife, his pets, and anyone who ever shook his hand. That organization's lobbyists are going to start making offers to members of congress that will range from wildly decadent vacations complete with $1,000 per hour hookers, to not so subtle warnings of limited political futures.
You can also count on Gene Rosen getting more emails and phone calls.
You see, there is no separating them now. The NRA and the truthers are one in the same and they are all absolutely insane.
Unfortunately for the rest of us they have tons of money to bribe and extort politicians. And--they do it with unbridled gusto.
We as a nation are less free because of it.
1-16-13
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