Overnight Open Thread (12-12-2013)

Applying Broken Windows Theory to Liberal Intolerance

When forbearance wears thin towards constant liberal hate...

Usually, it's in a situation where the insult is just tossed into the flow of a conversation - almost always in a group setting where the perp feels emboldened - and then the conversation moves in other directions. The rude barb just becomes part of the landscape.

We've gone too long allowing a perjorative landscape.

It's why the most Senior Democrats feel free to call us the worst possible names and taunt us in a demeaning manner. They receive no pushback from our Senior politicians for the venom spewing from their mouths.  We've become The Grand Old Punching Bag Party.

Compare the rude, vicious terms from Obama and his spokespeople, and Senior Democrats such as Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi and others, with the gentlemanly behavior of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.

There is plenty of push back and name-calling on both sides at lower levels and on the blogosphere, but it's qualitatively different when it comes from The White House and the Democratic Party House and Senate leadership.

When the leadership of the Republican Party does not push back against the leadership of the Democratic Party for the name-calling and taunts, it's an invitation to more attacks, and it sets a national tone.

We've become punching bags. At dinner and at the highest political levels.

We need to do what Rudy Giuliani did to graffiti artists and squeegee guys, apply broken windows theory:

Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.

What if you weren't so polite? What if you pushed back against every casual insult and made everyone just as uncomfortable as yourself? What if you refuse to accept even the minor broken windows of intolerance and hate?

Ongoing Secret Probes and Raids on Conservatives Make Wisconsin Ground Zero in First Amendment War

There's a secret war being waged in Wisconsin, and the outcome could have national ramifications on free speech and the rule of law.

As first reported by Wisconsin Reporter in late October, a Democrat-led, secret probe now nearly two years in the making has targeted dozens of conservative organizations on the ground in the Badger State.

The so-called John Doe investigation, which one former Federal Elections Commission member said makes the "Alien and Sedition Act mild by comparison," has raised serious questions of partisanship and prosecutorial abuse.

A Nov. 18 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, headlined "Wisconsin Political Speech Raid," reported at least three homes had been raided, and more than 100 subpoenas had been handed out - including one that demands "all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation."

The number of liberal groups investigated: 0.

There's a word for using the apparatus of the state against your political enemies and it starts with an 'F'.

Transformation Complete: Cahrles Jhonson Denounces Reagan

And blames him for making Mandela turn to communism. Quite a feat given that the ANC was aligned with the Soviet Communist bloc since the 50s and Reagan wasn't elected until 1980 but then he was a great man.

Oh and you're all banned for raising your eyebrow like that.

Racism in the Classroom: When Even Our Names Are Not Our Own

Short version: Matthew Salesses is a sensitive little hothouse flower who had a sad in a class because feelings. But the university and professor didn't rearrange everything to make his sad go bye bye therefore Texas bad. Also you're racist and possibly a rapist.

Don't Fall For the Trojan Cupboard Scam

Coming This Fall - Heller II: The Re-Reckoning

A Real American Hero

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half-way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back.. 13 more times... And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

But it wasn't until 2001 that Ed Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor. He may be unique in that he fought in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam and each time in a different capacity (sailor, then infantryman, and finally pilot ).

17 Ancient Abandoned Websites That Still Work

No More US Electricity From Russian Nukes

Because the warhead uranium is all used up.

40 Things Every Self-Respecting Man Over 30 Should Own

Six Amazing Substances

Which reminds me - I need to order some more gallium off Ebay.

62% of 16 To 24-Year-Olds Prefer Printed Books Over eBooks

Involuntary Orgasm Wars: The TV Show

Quick - guess the country.

Yahoo group. That is all.

The group thingy. And the middle class.

And my Twitter spew.

Sign language for the ONT hearing and reading impaired provided by this guy:

And tonight's post brought to you by I'm outta here:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips plus $1 for S&H to maetenloch at gmail. Otherwise send your scraps to BizarroAce. Do not taunt happy-fun ball. Not for internal use. If you believe you may be pregnant, consult a doctor before reading the ONT. No horseplay in the pool area.

posted by Maetenloch at 09:09 PM

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