Onward Christian Soldiers: Increased Gun Violence Against Liberals and Progressives Signaling Desperation on the Right?

Bumping this back to the top -- see updates in red. Originally posted 2008-08-24 16:51:13 -0500. This is a call for action and more researchers.

UPDATE 2: "DENVER – Police have arrested three people they believe are linked to a white supremacy group in connection with a threat to possibly assassinate Sen. Barack Obama during the Democratic National Convention."

UPDATE 1: Via the Denver Post, two men have been arrested on weapons charges after a fortuitous traffic stop may have been involved in an assassination plot against Barack Obama. Hat-tip GregMitch of DailyKos.

Call for Researchers: The story below loosely indicates the possibility of a disturbing -- and perhaps encouraged -- trend toward violence. Volunteer information, links or participation in the effort to dig out and analyze whether or not this is a real trend or simply a set of disparate, depressing and deadly incidents.

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Is this what we've come to? If a party that lives by fear-mongering can't win and gets desperate, it relies on the unhinged to become their assassins?

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Man arrested with weapons at Pelosi hotel
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 08/24/2008 12:47:18 PM PDT

DENVER—A man who tried to carry two hunting rifles and two pistols into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's downtown hotel remained in police custody Sunday.

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Man charged in Tenn. church shooting that killed 2

 July 28, 2008 - 7:41am

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Authorities were investigating why an apparent stranger entered a church and opened fire during a children's performance of "Annie," killing two, including a man witnesses called a hero for shielding others from gunfire.

Seven others were wounded Sunday at the Unitarian church and attendees tackled the gunman.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting and was held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if Adkisson had an attorney.

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The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

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"It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement," Police Chief Sterling Owen said.

Adkisson was a loner who hates "blacks, gays and anyone different from him," longtime acquaintance Carol Smallwood of Alice, Texas, told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

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"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.'

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"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."

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UPDATED: Gwatney dies after being shot at state Democratic headquarters
Guman dead after chase, is identified as Searcy man
By ArkansasOnline

LITTLE ROCK — A gunman shot state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney at the party's headquarters in Little Rock on Wednesday before fleeing the scene in a pickup, leading police on a chase that ended with a shootout that left the man dead. Gwatney was transported to an area hospital, where he died, police said.

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The Little Rock police said about 2:30 p.m. that the suspect, identified later as Timothy Dale Johnson of Seracy, was dead after being shot by authorities near Sheridan, around 40 miles south of the capital city.

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Police recovered several weapons from 50-year-old Johnson's pickup, a 2000 blue Dodge Dakota, Hastings said.

According to witnesses, Johnson had said he just lost his job. There was no motive for the shootings offered by authorities at a late afternoon news conference.

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People are stressing out, and the continued stream of mindless, dangerous babble by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and company are striking nerves in the minds of the mentally unbalanced and decidedly dangerous following that they have.