Will the corporate media (or the DA) cover up the Tennessee church murderer's letter?

[Faryn Balyncd]

Would anyone care to speculate on whether lawyers hired by Savage, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Fox are trying to make sure the specific words and phrases used by Mr. Atkinson in his letter never see the light of day?

.......Knoxville Police Department Officer Steve Still requested the search warrant after interviewing Adkisson. who was subdued by several church members after firing three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun into the congregation.

Adkisson targeted the church, Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."

Adkisson told Still that "he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office."

Adkisson told officers he left the house unlocked for them because "he expected to be killed during the assault."

Inside the house, officers found "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage, "Let Freedom Ring" by talk show host Sean Hannity, and "The O'Reilly Factor," by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly.

The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday's mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of "the liberal movement," and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

Adkisson, 58, of Powell wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his "hatred of the liberal movement," Owen said. "Liberals in general, as well as gays."

Adkisson said he also was frustrated about not being able to obtain a job, Owen said.

The letter, recovered from Adkisson's black 2004 Ford Escape, which was parked in the church's parking lot at 2931 Kingston Pike, indicates he had been planning the shooting for about a week......

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/church-shooting-police-find-manifesto-suspects-car/

[Captain Angry]

1. If these words are already in the public record such as the site you've reprinted...

How do you think they're going to keep them out of the public record?

Why would lawyers for entertainers care about this? It wouldn't cost them a single listener.

What is there to hide? If this guy's house was full of cookbooks, or porn, would their publishers be worried? No.

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. Cookbooks and porn don't advocate violence.

So the connection is less clear. What we have here is a hate crime, and a home filled with hate speech materials. They are protected just as neo-nazi material would be, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't call it what it is.

[Captain Angry]

6. What cookbooks do *you* read?

Ok, seriously though.

Yes, I know where the original poster was going with that. The material written by that arm of the entertainment industry is very hateful and afraid. The person who did this, did so on their own, for their own reasons.


Playing Judas Priest backward didn't make people kill themselves.

Reading that crap didn't make this guy kill people.

[napoleon_in_rags]

7. Judas Priest records aren't consider a source of information about the world

By normal adults. Normal adults do watch the news to find out information about the world, where they see Hannity and O'Reilly. This guy was living in the fantasy worldview propagated by these "journalists" where an elite cabal of limosine liberals with a homosexual agenda conspire to keep the working poor down. This guy eventually took that worldview to its logical conclusion, and rose up like a bolshevik against these "liberals", and the results were dead innocents in a church. His fantasy worldview was no less dangerous than similar worldviews about cabals and conspiracies about jews for instance, and the damage they caused:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford#World_War_II_era

[aspergris]

9. this is where you are wrong

"This guy eventually took that worldview to its logical conclusion,"

that's not the logical conclusion.

Have you ever listened to an angela davis speech? Would the logical conclusion be to go out and kill capitalists? Same twisted logic.

[Indenturedebtor]

10. Completely different. Have you listened to O'Liely or Hannity?

They paint Liberals and Homosexuals as the enemies of America - subversives who are trying to destroy America from within. They basically spout Nazi propaganda.

Hell Limballs I think it was even called for the destruction of San Francisco.. or was that Fallafel? I can't remember.

[aspergris]

11. yes, i have

I have listened to both, and numerous others- all over the spectrum.

I certainly don't agree they spout "nazi propaganda". they spout rightwing propaganda. It's not the same. I have relatives who died in the holocaust. I don't make specious comparisons like that.

And it's NOT completely different. I heard angela davis say "kill the rich". that does not justify going out and targeting rich people.

Its political rhetoric.
It's the same frigging thing.

[Indenturedebtor]

12. Specious my ass

said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure the riots happen. “Riots in Denver, at the Democrat Convention, would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats,” Limbaugh said during Wednesday’s radio broadcast. He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country. Limbaugh cited Al Sharpton, saying the Barack Obama supporter threatened to superdelegates that “there’s going to be trouble” if the presidency is taken from Obama.”

http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/rush-limbaugh-incites-civil-war-in-america/

O'Reilly claimed that "seculars" were instigating a war on Christmas

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511210003

----------------

And I'm sure you've heard some of the other gems where the triumvirate of douche (Hannity, Limpballs, and O'Lielly) spout racist crap all day and try to paint Liberals, Homosexuals, Foreigners, and even Women who work as enemies of the state. At the same time they espouse facist crap like supporting government surveillance, no habeus corpus, etc etc.

What do you think the Nazis were like exactly? I know what they were like, some of it from my Grandmother who barely lived through it, and elsewhere from countless talks and hours of study growing up. Hitler was only able to come to power because of people like these RW pundits who labeled Jews and Gypsies as socialist terrorist enemies of the state. They convinced everyone that Jews and Gypsies were a threat to their way of life, that they were subhuman, that they were undermining the state from within, etc. Pretty much used EXACTLY the same rhetoric as these Douches do today! Hell they even distorted pictures of Jews to dehumanise us... Hannity just did that last week to a Jewish reporter from the NY Times!

It took more than brown shirts to change a Democracy into a facist dictatorship.

And by the way Angela Davis shouldn't ever say crap like that either. Not on a public stage.

---------

Edited to add: the reason that I had to spend so much time studying the Nazis is so that "Never again" is actually a statement with some hope at meaning. Make no mistake that though they might not come for the Jews right away this time they intend to come for someone.

[aspergris]

14. yes, i've heard those quotes

my point stands. i guess we disagree.

[Indenturedebtor]

21. But how is it different is my question?

They spout uber-nationalist hate speech and paint other ethnic and political groups as enemies of "the people". Dangerous stuff :(

[aspergris]

26. if

you need me to say how rightwing hate speech (and leftwing hate speech) is generally different from nazis, then you don't understand how evil the nazis were.

saying somebody like oreilly, for instance, is nazi'esque is ridiculous.

again, we're gonna have to agree to disagree. i don't believe in diluting nazism, where anybody who spouts off some rhetoric is instantly a nazi.

and yes, free speech is always dangerous. i LIKE dangerous free speech - lenny bruce, mike malloy, malcolm X, etc.

[Indenturedebtor]

27. That's still not answering the question my friend.

I pointed out how it was the same. You assert that it is different, that it is just "political rhetoric", but please tell me how it differs?

I would rather be proven wrong and become right, than be consistently wrong.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. The conservative spin machine is already on full speed, and that seems to include some law men.

What I want to know is who in the fuck is accepting "he was unemployed" as his MOTIVE for shooting up a church??? Why did I hear that repeated cited as his "motive" today? How can that satisfy people? Unemployed folks don't regularly go shooting at churches full of people filled with children...The motive was hate for liberals, and ONLY hate for liberals.

[HughMoran]

4. Fox & right-wing radio are promoting people to commit murder

They are a threat to our democracy.

[Indenturedebtor]

13. My Ex-Boss - an investment banker, ad-man die hard Puke

Who spouted conservative talking points in company meetings called O'Liely and Limpballs Nazis.

Of course he's old enough to remember.

[Radical Activist]

5. And he drove an SUV too!

I'm re-thinking my stance against the death penalty. hah

[gatorboy]

8. Survey says... Yes. Just like they covered for right wing terrorist Eric Rudolf.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/04/14/2022/

[TexasObserver]

15. The MSM has already started covering it up.

First, the initial cover story that came out immediately, when they had to know it wasn't true: That he hated Christians.

Second, the follow up story, that he was unhappy because he couldn't find a job.

If the MSM were not in the tank for the GOP, they'd be screaming about this all day long. Look at how they cover the missing 3 year old white girl. It got a lot more coverage yesterday than this attack by a homegrown terrorist, acting on the urgings of rightwing hatemongers.

There will be some coverage of it, enough to make those bogus analogies to the time Judas Priest was accused of contributing to an attempted suicide by some teenager. They'll say "oh, he was just crazy, and therefore no responsibility of these Rightwing writers." What do you expect from lackeys and the soft headed?

[enough]

16. K&R

[KharmaTrain]

17. It'll Eventually Have To Come Out

When this dude goes to trial, this screed is sure to be admitting into evidence and then will become public. The problem with releasing it now is that a good defense attorney can claim that it being leaked will influence his client getting a fair trial. I can wait...and as I noted in another thread, that screed may be the grounds for a civil suit by the church families to go after the hate mongers...IF it can be proven this dude was driven to the murders by what he read/heard...a tough barrier to climb, but one I'd like to see just for the discover process that would crack the dirty world of hate radio open for all to see.

[Celebration]

18. well I sure heard about it on the news on the radio

I think it's owned by Fox, too. It talked about the writing, and his hatred of liberals.

[Clark2008]

19. Knoxvillian here... and you should have heard the gnashing of

teeth on the radio by conservatives this morning.

They were out in full-force alleging that "libruls" take this small incident and try to use it to manipulate their agenda. :eyes: Another guy all-but said the liberals in the church deserved it because of their agenda. Another one said he was merely mad at his ex-wife and she had once attended that church. (like that makes it "OK")

Then, last night, there was the guy who advocated killing liberals in Congress (and was merely only chided by the neo-connut host of "Let's Talk Frank with Lee and Terry Frank").

The wingnuts are becoming unhinged in Knoxville and have jumped on the "deny" parade because one of their own actually blew a gasket and blew someone people away after being incited by their right-wing pipers day-in and day-out.

[Clark2008]

20. Just an FYI for you, charles.

Randy Nichols, the Knox County District Attorney, is a Democrat. I don't think he's going to let this slide.

:hi:

[redqueen]

22. We'll see.

The story's getting around, at least:

Church Shooter 'Hated Liberals'
By Sky News
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080729/twl-church-shooter-hated-liberals-3fd0ae9.html

[hopewell1985]

23. uh

ya

[redqueen]

25. Hello there!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[ProgressiveFool]

24. I think they're still trying to decipher it... not easy reading Freeper... /nt

[redqueen]

28. Is it even news anymore?

Will this shooting spree be the one which receives the least amount of sensationalistic coverage?