bodhi tree swaying

From the Telegraph:

Fears are growing that Mr Obama, who will become America’s first black president following his inauguration next year, will be the subject of an assassination attempt.

The secret service is reported to have already investigated more than 500 death threats against Mr Obama during the presidential election contest. Last month, two neo-Nazi skinheads were arrested for conspiring to assassinate Mr Obama.

He is expected to be protected by a secret service detail with hundreds of close-protection agents. Over the past few weeks, the US government has also begun secretly testing a new ultra-secure presidential limousine able to withstand most bomb blasts and terror attacks. Details of his movements will be a closely guarded secret for all but his most senior aides.

The scale of US presidential security is already on a different scale to that for British Prime Ministers with huge …

Further to the post in which I draw attention to conservatives that rejoice in Obama’s grandmother’s death, this is from a flyer by the Westboro baptist Church, which regularly pickets funerals to tell us how much they (and their god) hate homosexuals:

Westboro Baptist Church
3701 SW 12th St. Topeka, Kansas 66604
785-273-0325
www.godhatesfags.com

NEWS RELEASE
WBC to picket the funeral of Madelyn Payne Dunham, – pursuant to the picketing laws of Hawaii or Kansas or, etc., wherever burial occurs, – in religious protest and warning to the living; to wit: “Prepare to meet thy God.” Amos 4:11.

Yes. Dying time is truth time, and reflection time, and time for meditating on the weighty issues of life: getting right with God, life, death, Heaven, Hell, sin, righteousness, judgment to come, etc. Obama says his grandmother Dunham raised him, and, her “influence on

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There was a lot of coverage a few weeks back about research showing that people with a tendency to experience anxiety are more likely to favor right-wing political views. To put it bluntly, Republicans scare easily.

That’s amply demonstrated in a post that the excellent Mahablog links to, in which Jonah Goldberg purports to write from 2012, reporting on Obama’s failed presidency. It’s a bizarre, even hysterical, piece of writing in which, apparently, Obama’s administration will be damaged by Biden making bizarre statements:

…he told the Russian foreign minister he’d “rather punch a nun in the throat” than cooperate on an Iranian nuclear deal, the Obama administration knew they had a problem on their hands.

The strange comments and behavior kept coming: at an international summit on child poverty, he accused the Dalai Lama of issuing a “brain fart,” he phoned Supreme Court

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WoodMoor Village Zendo flags up this disgusting piece of smug McCarthyism. Sanchez (is that the name? does a fantastic job of exposing McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb’s vile trick of guilt by association, in which he claims that Obama has a “long history” of associating with anti-semites, but is unable to name a single one. I’m sure a certain segment of the extreme right, who see refusing to provide answers to questions as a badge of honor amongst their leaders, will be waving their hats in the air over this, but for any reasonable person this has to turn them away from the McCain campaign of smears and innuendo.

When I told a British friend about the email that was sent out last week from the Pennsylvania GOP, likening voting for Barack Obama to the Holocaust, and falsely alleging that Mr. Obama “taught members of Acorn to commit voter registration fraud,’” he was flabbergasted. In Britain, he pointed out, the newspapers would be all over this. In the US such outrage is reserved for $200 haircuts. The story seemed to have no traction here.

Anyway, here’s another outrageous email from a GOP leader, this time in Florida, where it’s of great concern that so many black people are coming out to vote, and that this might result in a black president. I wonder if this will get as little attention as the Pennsylvania story?

Temple Terrace, Florida – The long lines of early voters at the Temple Terrace Library have

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I just want to praise Daniel Zubairi and other brave Republicans who stood up to a pair of racists at a McCain rally. It’s good to see people taking a stand against this kind of ignorance and hatred.

(Afterthought: It’s ironic that the McCain campaign wouldn’t let Zubairi be interviewed on TV after this incident. Zubairi is an asset to his party, but I guess the McCain team would rather not address racism head on and may be embarrassed at the idea of having a Muslim speaking on their behalf).