James D. Adkisson
With all the vitriolic hatred being thrown about against Mexicans, whether legal or illegal and the celebration of the recent Supreme Court ruling concerning the Second Amendment and the NRA’s stated goal of unrestricted gun ownership, once again violence has been visited upon innocents.
In Knoxville Tennessee on Sunday, Jim D. Adkisson, 58, an unemployed truck driver, carrying a 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun and 76 rounds of ammunition, entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville Tennessee during a childrens performance of the musical “Annie” and opened fire, apparently with no particular person targeted, before being tackled and disarmed by members of the congregation.
2 people were killed including an usher who used his body to shield others from the attack. 5 remain in area hospitals in serious to critical condition.
Church members praised Greg McKendry, 60, who died as he attempted to block the gunfire. Barbara Kemper said that McKendry “stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us.”
Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.
“It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, refusing to elaborate.
“Greg McKendry was a very large gentleman, one of those people you might describe as a refrigerator with a head,” said church member Schera Chadwick. “He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation.”
Adkisson is being held in the Knox County Jail under “suicide watch” and $1 million dollar bail.
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How appropriate is it that on July 4, 2008 we are freed from the hateful thoughts and rhetoric of this vile excuse for a human being.
Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July.
He was 86.
Helms died at 1:15 a.m., said the Jesse Helms Center at Wingate University in North Carolina. The center’s president, John Dodd, said in a statement that funeral arrangements were pending.
This is the man that led the opposition in the Senate during the debates to create a federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is the man who clashed frequently with President Clinton, whom he deemed unqualified to be commander in chief. Even some Republicans cringed when Helms said Clinton was so unpopular he would need a bodyguard on North Carolina military bases. Helms said he hadn’t meant it as a threat.
Like so many other not-so-fine wines, Jesse Helms may have mellowed as he aged but his various changes in positions on social issues did not and cannot change the fact that he stood against so many and supported the denial of protections and rights under the Constitution to so many.
He will probably join Jerry Falwell and so many others who took this country down the wrong path. And I doubt it will be in Heaven.
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The Nativists
Around the country, an anti-immigration movement is spreading like wildfire. An array of activists is fanning the flames.
One of them says he’d like to bring nuclear weapons to the border. Another vows to stop the alleged Mexican invasion of Idaho. Several have links to white supremacist hate groups; others are given to dire warnings of horrible diseases, “barbaric” practices, and secret Latino conspiracies to “reconquer” the American Southwest.
These are the nativists — the new crop of activists who are driving the movement that exploded last spring with the Minuteman Project in Arizona, a month-long effort by armed civilians to seal the border with Mexico. Along with a whole array of media enablers (see Broken Record and Nativism On Air), they have barged into the nation’s consciousness with remarkable success. Some of them, like Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist, have made attempts to win high political office. Others have contented themselves with trying to build a mass movement. Not all those who have joined the movement are extremists — many are legitimately concerned about the ability of the nation to absorb large numbers of immigrants, particularly the undocumented. But one thing seems clear: A dangerous mix of nativist intolerance, armed and untrained civilians, and wild-eyed conspiracy theories could easily explode into violence.
These are the nativists — the new crop of activists who are driving the movement that exploded last spring with the Minuteman Project in Arizona, a month-long effort by armed civilians to seal the border with Mexico. Along with a whole array of media enablers such as Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and others, they have barged into the nation’s consciousness with remarkable success. Some of them, like Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist, have made attempts to win high political office. Others have contented themselves with trying to build a mass movement. Not all those who have joined the movement are extremists — many are legitimately concerned about the ability of the nation to absorb large numbers of immigrants, particularly the undocumented. But one thing seems clear: A dangerous mix of nativist intolerance, armed and untrained civilians, and wild-eyed conspiracy theories could easily explode into violence.
These people should have you worried!
- Clifford Alford Las Cruces, N.M.
- Erin Anderson Arlington, Va.
- Garrett Chamberlain New Ipswich, N.H.
- Jim Chase Oceanside, Calif.
- Barbara Coe Huntington Beach, Calif.
- Madeleine Cosman San Diego, Calif.
- Russ Dove Tucson, Ariz.
- Jim Gilchrist Aliso Viejo, Calif.
- Patrick Haab Mesa, Ariz.
- Connie Hair Virginia Beach, Va.
- D.A. King Marietta, Ga.
- Joe McCutchen Fort Smith, Ark.
- Lupe Moreno Santa Ana, Calif.
- Glenn Spencer Cochise County, Ariz.
- Tom Tancredo Littleton, Colo.
- Joe Turner Ventura, Calif.
- Mike Vanderboegh Pinson, Ala.
- Robert Vasquez Caldwell, Idaho
- Frosty Wooldridge Louisville, Colo.
- Bob Wright Eunice, N.M.
- Luca Zanna Apple Valley, Calif. Read more
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