Joseph8th: Edited with a cooler head.
Well, that didn’t take long.
From Justin Rosario at Addicting Info:
Even as the police have upped the death count to 14, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Asshole) insisted that the shootings were the result of not enough religion in schools and part of a pattern of attacks on Christianity.
Gohmert stated in an interview on right wing radio show, “Istook Live!” that,
“You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place.”
Then Gohmert went further to blame secularism:
“People say … where was God in all of this?” Gohmert said. “We’ve threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God’s name, they’re going to be jailed … I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present.”
Finally, he retreated into the fantasy land of right wing heroics:
“It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?”
Hey! Gohmert, listen up! (Yeah, right.)
(a) Shove your Texas asshole opinions up your 10-gallon Texas ass — you ain’t got room to say shit. (WACO!? Hello?) Who asked you, Lou?
(b) James Holmes was a grad student, not a derelict. And his “neighbors described him as a shy, Presbyterian churchgoing teen,” according to TPM. Suck on one of these, Gohmert: On Edit: Gohmert blames atheists for violence, so this is what he was implying in calling Holmes a derelict. Clearly he must’ve been godless, or else he wouldn’t have acted this way, right? :sarcasm: Well, no, Gohmert. (Nor should (b) be construed as blaming religion for Holmes actions — just refuting Loui’s B.S.) Oh, and one last thought… suck on one of these, Gohmert:
(c) Where was God? That’s a damn good question, Louie. Why wasn’t “his protective hand” catching bullets? Why wasn’t “his protective hand” guiding Holmes in that Presbyterian church to be a good person, instead of a mass murderer? Wrong denomination? Or are you telling me, Lou, that this was all part of your god’s plan? If so, your god is one evil fucker.
(d) Coloradans pack plenty of weaponry, Lou-lou. Why do you suppose it was so easy for Holmes to acquire an arsenal? In the fantasy of right wing heroics, as Rosario calls it, some rock-jawed dudebro always blows the baddie away. The reality is more people could be hurt in the crossfire, and when the police did show up, they wouldn’t know who the baddie was. You really want more bullets flying around while people are fleeing for their lives in every direction?
The fact is, we need to rein in the guns — it’s too easy to acquire unlimited quantities of lethal weaponry. Ban assault rifles. Close the gun-show loophole. Put people in jail who break the gun laws. (Yeah, yeah, I know… who’s having a fantasy, now, right?) This is also the fact that (I’m sure) nobody in the MSM will be talking about, again, except when billionaire Bloomberg says “we need to rein in the guns” — after which we’ll promptly forget until the next mass murderer demonstrates his arsenal in public.
UPDATE:
Gohmert isn’t the only religious asshole making god-hay out the Colorado shooting. Atheist blogger Tim Skellett caught this twit’s tweet:
Right. Holmes went on a killing spree because he was taught evolution. That your final answer, Rick?
I imagine it is, since this is the emerging groupthink on the subject. Skellett also caught the following bit of hackery by a nobody so repugnant I won’t even write his name. After issuing the usual platitudes, the third paragraph starts out:
I want to offer a perspective on this atrocity that will not be found in any media reports and probably will be blasted as outlandish by many people in the secular arena. I will attempt to connect such atrocities and the general trend toward immorality in western civilization to our widespread acceptance of the dogma of evolution. Bear with me as I make my case.
I didn’t bear with him. I’d read enough. (If anyone can stomach reading further, and he really does have all the answers, let me know, eh?)
UPDATE:
I was right about Bloomberg. ThinkProgress reports:
Today, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on the President and Governor Romney to address gun violence, saying “maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.”
UPDATE:
Don’t know how I missed this earlier! Lou-lou had more to say — he wanted to blame atheists for violence in U.S. society.
During an appearance on The Heritage Foundation’s Istook Live, Tea Party Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX), a former judge, began talking about “ongoing attacks on Christian-Judeo beliefs” when asked about Aurora shootings. Later, in the program he seemed to blame atheists for violence:
ERNEST ISTOOK (HOST): What was your experience as a judge, when you’re on the bench, this is Congressman Luie Gohmert, when you’re on the bench, what was your experience with people who had mental health issues that were involved in crimes of violence?
GOHMERT: Well, it’s always a problem and there are some people who require medication … But you know, I might mention something else that hadn’t been public yet. Most of us that follow the military, love the military know that we have had an extraordinary increase in suicide rates in the military and it’s just heartbreaking … There was a study commissioned, 6,000 personal of index profiles and what they found, and I don’t ‘know if they’ll make it public…but all of the people who have committed suicide within their two percent studied, were part of their 2 percent most atheistic members of the military. We’ve lost our faith.
Yes, and all those suicides in the military? Atheists. Guess they shouldn’t have gotten in that fox hole, eh, Louie?
What an asshole! There’s no other word for it. Or maybe there is, but it would be a variation on the theme.
UPDATE:
The Huffington Post caught an evangelical spokesperson named Jerry Newcombe sorting the souls of the dead on the AFA’s radio network:
Perhaps more disturbing were Newcombe’s comments when on a segment on the American Family Association radio dedicated to understanding the shooting tragedy in Colorado. In taking about the deaths, Newcombe separated the afterlife fate of those who died as Christians and those who did not:
If a Christian dies early, if a Christian dies young, it seems tragic, but really it is not tragic because they are going to a wonderful place.. on the other hand, if a person doesn’t know Jesus Christ.. if they knowingly rejected Jesus Christ, then, basically, they are going to a terrible place.
Newcombe then turned the tragedy into a time for people to become Christian and avoid the similar fate of hell:
For those who are not ‘in Christ’ and see this incredible tragedy, this would be a good time for soul reflection and consider why have you not accepted Jesus Christ.. I would urge anyone who is not in Christ to repent of your sins.
UPDATE:
The Examiner caught the Westboro Baptist Phelps gang targeting Aurora for protest, reporting:
Always appears as if they attack whomever is the exact opposite of that which seems to be at fault. It didn’t end there though. After the afternoon press conference gave updates and had messages from high-ranking political figures, Phelps tweeted this toward Governor John Hickenlooper.
Get a clue @govhickenlooper! God is at work in Colorado!
Beware of dogs! #Auroradeadincludeslotsoffags!Trust in the fact that it only got worse throughout the day and even included a hashtag from Phelps at one point that read “#ThankGodForTheShooter.”
AddictingInfo’s Nathaniel Downes calls for a human wall of heroes to stop the WBC protest, writing,
It is time for us, all of us, to be Batman here, to protect those unable to protect themselves. No counter protest, no signs, just a wall of people. No, not just people: Batman, Batgirl, Robin; any and all who want to protect the innocent from these real -life villains. From those who would distort and abuse the law until they act as if they are above the law itself.
It is time for us to rise above the hate and discord of Phelps and his sickness.
UPDATE:
The Examiner had also reported on Rick Warren’s tweet blaming the shooting on the theory of evolution. Now they are reporting that Warren has deleted it without apologizing:
This Examiner reported on the story with a screen capture of Pastor Warren’s Tweet. Just two days after the Tweet was made it was deleted presumably by Warren.
In Warren’s haste, he failed to delete the Tweet from his Facebook page. A screen capture of that status update is above. It clearly shows that Rick Warren did indeed Tweet that message and instead of issuing an apology to scientists, secularists, and atheists, Warren seems to be trying to pretend that it never happened by deleting the Tweet.