The Tea Party's Pretty Hate Machine

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva's office has received multiple threats over a new state immigration measure. Grijalva says he's opposed to the bill that would make it a crime under state law to be in the county illegally and would allow police to demand identification from anyone they suspected of being potentially illegal (ie: skin color).

The Arizona Daily Star reports that Grijalva spokesman Adam Sarvana released a statement Friday saying that the congressman's office received "some pretty scary calls," including one from a man "who threatened to go down there and blow everyone's brains out then go to the border to shoot Mexicans."

According to the Daily Star:

Grijalva staffer Ruben Reyes said the office has been flooded with calls all week about Senate Bill 1070. About 25 percent are "very racist" in nature, Reyes said, characterizing some as "telling that tortilla-eating wetback to go back to Mexico."

I'm willing to bet that the callers weren't A) black B) Hispanic C) Democrats

The Republican Governor's Association, led by Mississippi Governor, Confederate History Month pooh-pooher (slavery controversy "doesn't amount to diddly"), and possible 2012 candidate Haley Barbour, has embraced British terrorist Guy Fawkes. You know, the guy who tried to assassinate the king by blowing up Parliament. Sounds reasonable.

'But', you say, 'it's just rhetoric'. Really? Explain this guy (via ThinkProgress) and tell me the GOP isn't trying to mobilize guys just like him.



A truck, parked in a disabled person parking spot, emblazoned with a large Confederate flag, and featuring a picture of the World Trade Center burning. The text on the truck reads, “Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11″:

Think Progress

While most sites focused on the offensive text and imagery all over the truck, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) noticed that the license plate contained a coded Neo-Nazi white supremacist message. CAIR alerted the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), which prohibits placing offensive messages on vanity plates but had missed this one in its normal authorization process. Upon review, the DMV concluded the plate did indeed contain a coded hate message, and recalled the plate:

The number 88 stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, doubled to signify “Heil Hitler,” said CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper. “CV” stands for “Confederate veteran” — the plate was a special model embossed with a Confederate flag, which Virginia makes available for a $10 fee to card-carrying members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. And 14 is code for imprisoned white supremacist David Lane’s 14-word motto: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Cesca

And then there's the photograph of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. I've never been able to figure out the wingnut worship of those buildings on fire with people falling to their deaths. But then to print this particular photo on the back of a pick-up truck seems remarkably disrespectful and, dare I say, unpatriotic. Yep. Nothing says "sweet decoration" like a photo showing the deaths of thousands of people on one of the bloodiest days in American history.

By the way, the Virginia DMV pulled the license plate number once they discovered what it meant.

This, this whole movement, is sedition.