There's nothing to see here. Move along. Nothing, that is, but this report of a minor incident in Russellville, Arkansas: "Democratic Congressional candidate Ken Aden's campaign manager returned home to find his family pet slaughtered, with the word 'liberal' painted on the animal's corpse."

A statement from the Aden campaign describes the cat as an adult mixed-breed Siamese and included a graphic description of the pet's injuries.

The statement said that the four children of campaign manager Jacob Burris "discovered the gruesome scene as they exited the family vehicle to enter their home" after "the perpetrators scrawled 'liberal' across the cat's body and left it on the doorstep of Burris' house."

"To kill a child's pet is unconscionable," the candidate is quoted as saying.

I know, I know. It's not the most important story in the news this week. In a time of war and financial crisis, there are a lot bigger stories to report than the death of a house cat. It was just an ordinary pet like millions of others, a playmate to some children and a companion to their parents.

Nor is this an electoral scandal. The Aden campaign said they "did not believe the Womack campaign to be responsible," adding that "before Christmas... a (radio) station owned by Womack's father, actually promoted a toy drive held by Aden's campaign for children in the Third District."

People, especially conservatives, will rush to say it's an isolated incident of random violence that could've happened to anyone. They've said that before. Lots of times, in fact.

The shooting of churchgoers at a liberal Unitarian church in Knoxville was an isolated incident.

The shooting of police officers in Pittsburgh was an isolated incident.

The shooting of deputies in Okaloosa, Florida was an isolated incident.

The killing of a Tucson man and the shooting of his wife and daughter (the nine-year-old was shot in the head at point-blank range) was an isolated incident.

The murder of an African-American woman and the raping and wounding of her sister, followed by the killing of a homeless man, was an isolated incident.

The killing of an African-American security guard at the Holocaust Museum was an isolated incident.

Except...

The man who shot those Knoxville Unitarians had these books on his bookshelf Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder by Michael Savage, Let Freedom Ring by Sean Hannity, and The O'Reilly Factor, by Bill O'Reilly. Michael Savage said the ACLU "will kill us all," that "the white male has nothing to lose... you haven't seen him explode... his ugly side," and that "the radical left and the radical Muslim are blood brothers." Hannity has a book called Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism. O'Reilly calls liberals "Nazis" and encouraged al Qaeda to attack liberal San Francisco.

The killer said he shot those people because "liberals" are "destroying America." Hmm. Wonder where he got that idea? "Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate and House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book." That would be the book entitled The 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. (Hint: None of them are conservatives.)

The man who killed those Pittsburgh police officers was afraid that Obama would take away his guns and deprive him of other rights.

So was the man who killed those deputies in Florida.

The accused killers of that Tucson man -- including a woman who was identified by the little girl who was shot in the head -- were extreme right-wingers in the anti-immigration movement.

The man who killed that woman, raped and wounded her sister, and then murdered a homeless man was a right-wing white supremacist. He was on his way to a Jewish Community Center when he was arrested.

The man who shot that security guard was a right-wing tax protester.

The people who were killed in these acts of are human beings, not pets. Their absence is still being felt every day -- by family and friends, by co-workers, by an entire community. Nobody will mourn a little housecat from Russellville, Arkansas -- nobody except four children and their parents.

So why does it matter? The Talmud says that destroying a single soul is like destroying "a universe entire." Who can doubt the living souls inside the creatures that live among us and share our experiences? Killing a pet is a sick act. The dehumanization of psychopathic human beings often begins in childhood with the torture and killing of animals.

The same gradual dehumanization can take place in a society, too. After Gabrielle Giffords was shot I refused to raise the volume or turn up the heat on our rhetorical divide, and opted for a "moment of silence" instead. But just as there's a time for silence, there is also a time to speak.

Even if it's about a cat. If we don't speak now, when will the dehumanization stop? But if people can't see the common thread of life that binds human beings together -- liberal and conservative, immigrant and native-born, black and white -- how can they see the force that binds us to other life?

Of course, the cat's killers don't represent an entire movement. But where's the outrage within the right over the violent and extremist rhetoric? Where was the outrage when people died, over and over?

Here are the kinds of statements that are still tolerated by the conservative movement without censure or criticism:

Ann Coulter said "the only way to talk to a liberal is with a baseball bat," that "We need to execute people like John Walke... to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too," and "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." (That last comment's a two-fer: She wanted him to kill journalists and that's her "only regret," meaning she doesn't regret the murder of Federal workers, other people visiting the Federal building that day, or the children in the onsite day-care center in that Oklahoma Federal building.)

"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do," said Coulter. Sure, she's getting increasingly strident as her star continues to fade. But she's got plenty of company.

Leading conservative publication Human Events has a regular "Guns & Patriots" section.

Andrew Breitbart said "We outnumber (liberals) in this country, and we have the guns... I'm not kidding."

Rush Limbaugh said "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus -- living fossils..."

Rep. James Hansen said of President Bill Clinton, "Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him."

Michele Bachmann said she wanted her supporters "locked and loaded" and "on the front side of the political battle."

CNN commentator Erick Erickson suggests that "mass bloodshed" might be appropriate if the Supreme Court's rulings on abortion aren't to his movement's liking.

Glenn Beck says liberals are "the enemies of God," coming "for the kill on religion," and are "enemies of freedom." He also said he was "thinking about killing Michael Moore... I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong?"

If liberals are Nazis, fascists, mass murderers, enemies of freedom, if they should be shot, hanged, choked, beaten, killed, then what's wrong with killing a liberal's cat?

It's true that not all the violent rhetoric is on one side, but it's vastly greater on the right. And the violence has been directed against the left. Coincidence? We report, you decide.

Full disclosure: When I wrote about bank crimes a while back one or two commenters began mentioning violent acts against Wall Street executives. But they're commenters, not leading voices. And I immediately toned down my rhetoric, which wasn't violent but was strong.

Here's what I keep thinking: If someone were ever hurt by anyone who'd read something I'd written I'd be devastated. I'd devote a large part of my life to reflecting on what role I might have played in the violence, and to helping reduce the violence from that moment on. I think bankers should be investigated, and the lawbreakers among them should be prosecuted. But if one were hurt, especially because of anything I'd done -- however unintentionally -- I'd be heartbroken.

Wouldn't you?

But there wasn't a single moment of reflection, much less remorse. Not from Hannity. Not from O'Reilly. Not from Savage or Goldberg. On the contrary, Hannity was outraged when I laid some of the responsibility for the Unitarian killings at his feet. (A true totalitarian to the end, he raged and screamed on the air and said I should be 'fired' from the Huffington Post.)

Now a cat is dead. Not a first responder or a churchgoer or a toddler in an Oklahoma day-care center. Just a cat. We don't know if it was male or female. We don't even know its name.

If there wasn't any remorse or reflection after those deaths and injuries in Knoxville, there certainly won't be any over the death of a tiny creature in a little Southern town. The town was Russellville, Arkansas, in Pope County, population 27,000 or so. Bet you didn't know it's the county seat.

They'll probably arrest some teenagers sooner or later. Just kids. Just kids who learned this behavior somewhere.

And it was 'just' a cat. It was just a companion for an Arkansas family and a playmate for its children. The kids will cry but life will go on. The rhetoric won't change and the incident will be forgotten by tomorrow.

There's nothing to see here. Move along. It was an isolated incident.
_______

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/richard-eskow/40951/death-of-an-ordinary-housecat

I need a tissue after reading that..

I think the box is under my tiny violin...

classic.

Hopefully the perp(s) will be caught and prosecuted.

I agree.

Although I do believe we have a smidgen more responsibility to humans than animals, I think this type of behavior is unacceptable. I also think we should recognize that the common denominator, more than conservatives, is HUMANS. Violent humans will find things to condone their violence. Violence is a fact of life a part of human history. Though it is indeed undesirable and should not be 'encouraged', a book never made anyone do anything. That behavior and capacity is already in a human being who would harm another creature to make a political point.

your conclusions are absolutely hilarious!

You are starting to see things now!
Especially with those Incidents spread all over the Political Spectrum!
It is despicable for any "Human" Being to do this thing,but to see a Grand Sinister Conspiracy is absolutely ludicrous!

There was a "Milk Holding" action ( a.k.a. Milk Strike ) in the mid 80's. It was a Nation wideeffort, yet didn't get much more than page 49 of the classified ads coverage, right under "used worn out rugs for sale." Basically Government and big business kept the coverage suppressed.
Anyway, what the organizers preached constantly was for a "NON-VIOLENT" action.
So what happened you might wonder. What we found was "VIOLENCE", all types in-fact, including: milk houses broken into and contents of bulk tanks spilled and or tainted, some tanks being punctured, tanker trucks and trailers run off roads, drivers threatened at gun point along outright being shot at, along with other property and life threatening actions. In the few instances the "PERPS" did get apprehended, charged and prosecuted it was discovered they had no affiliation with the organizers, agriculture or personnel issues with any of the property owners, their property, government or big business.
They were just radical wing nuts ( not left, not right ) just your basic twisted sicko taking advantage of innocent people during a stressful time.
Think about that next time you encounter: illogical, unexplained destruction, violence and or death.

I disagree I find the far right far more willing to do acts of violence than the left.

a few moments browsing these threads will find the right wishs to nuke Iran kill em all and let god sort them out.

I disagree with this statement, the left are the ones who march and protest far more than the right and as soon as the lefts attempts to further whatever agenda they're pushing they throw bricks at passing cars, tip over and burn cars, assault people of differing views and so on. You honestly do not see that with the right. To talk about something is one thing, to act on it is another and be rest assured alot of these people talking shitt about going to war wouldn't be talking it if they were the ones going.

True, although I disagree about more responsibility to humans over animals. If you kill it, you better have some respect and grill it.

I tend to agree with this, but I'm concerned that it is only a perception. I'm not aware of any research on the subject, and it seems like an outstanding area for it. I really want to believe that a person's political beliefs don't mean they're more likely to indulge in hate crimes. But that list of quotations in the original post is chilling.

So then the question arises, can all those quotes be verified? I haven't taken the time to try, myself.

This subject really bothers me.

Let me see. Far Letists Dems = Slave holders.<< Check your history.
Far Left Dems = Advocating and signing Laws that take away people's right to due process.
Far Left = Advocates invasion of the US by Central American Gangs and other trash by not securing our southern border.
Far Left = No more arrests of Illegals. Just stated last night.

Sounds like the Far Left are the ones to fear and the ones doing the fearmongering.

well, thats what I mean silly. We are at the top of what is called the 'food chain' because we use other life forms as nutrition. We kill so we can eat, just as other life forms do. Hopefully, we arent eating humans, and hopefully we are not torturing or finding cruel ways to kill animals either.

Stickers with an image of rifle crosshairs were found on the office nameplates of six Missouri legislators - five of them Democrats, half of them black women. When staff removed them, they later found larger ones in their place. This, after a Democratic operative in Arkansas found his family cat killed with "LIBERAL" scrawled on the corpse. More, outraged and eloquent, on an increasingly violent climate and rhetoric fed daily by the hateful likes of Mssrs. Savage, Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck - who have yet to take back, or own the possible deadly repercussions of, any of it.

"They'll probably arrest some teenagers sooner or later. Just kids. Just kids who learned this behavior somewhere...There's nothing to see here. Move along. It was an isolated incident."

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/01/26

I am a cat whisperer. The penalty for killing a cat is death. I shall report this to Bast, Goddess protector of women and cats.

Those who did this deed are doomed.