Tucson. Still Spinning and Censoring.

Wall Street Journal. The main mouthpiece of US capitalism. It leads the spinning and censoring to convince us that the Tucson events had nothing to do with the system.

Capitalism is still spinning and censoring like crazy to convince us that Tucson was a lone nut and that is all. As their increasingly discredited idiot Palin puts it: "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights." Unfortunately for Palin, and the propaganda effort over all, Palin used an anti Semitic term which undermined her message.

The Wall Street Journal again has its main article on its first page today on this topic. Its heading is: "Suspect's downward spiral." The main article on its first page two days in a row to convince us the alleged shooter is a lone nut and that is all. This says how important it is for them. As our last post said capitalism is waging an ideological war for the consciousness of the working class. It seeks to get us to accept that Tucson had nothing to do with the system, nothing to do with the more right wing elements in the system and that as Palin says the shootings "stand on their own." Anybody with half a brain knows that nothing stands on its own. Everything has to be seen in context.

Last night we had the memorial in Tucson with Obama and other members of the federal and state governments present. We unconditionally condemn the shootings in Tucson. Innocent people like the little nine year old girl were killed and others injured. The political affect of this will be to give the state more of an excuse to increase repressive laws and clamp down on dissent and opposition views and organizing. And it will also give the opportunity to increase the propaganda of the capitalists that we are all Americans and we must unite together for the good of the country. They will use this so called unity talk to cut wages, jobs and conditions. Whatever way you look at it these shootings were a step back for working class struggle and consciousness.

The memorial in Tucson like the shootings in Tucson has to be seen in context. We unreservedly sympathize with the people injured and the families of the people killed. However we have to consider what we are watching. All the speakers and especially Obama support the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, one speaker even boasted he had a son there. These wars have killed and are killing hundreds of thousands of people. Think of how people in these countries and the region will be thinking. Six Americans are killed and the entire country's mass media and state swings into mourning. The President arrives and makes a major speech. How does the US react when the hundreds of thousands are killed in the US wars abroad, how does the US react when one of its drones kill innocent families in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Afghanistan? And by the way Obama who was there last night with all his talk of peace and unity increased the use of drone bombings over the numbers used when Bush was President. The rest of the world watching last night's memorial will have no choice but to conclude that in the opinion of those who staged last night's events American lives are worth more than other peoples lives. The killings by the US military and its drones are celebrated while the killings of Americans are made into an occasion for national mourning.

Sherrif Dupnik was present at the memorial. But they did not ask him to speak. Increasingly his voice and his condemnation of the vicious atmosphere of debate and Arizona being a mecca of bigotry and hate and his condemnation of Arizona's lax gun laws is being silenced. As we have said on this blog many times, the US media is one of the most censored in the world. Slowly and surely, and more and more each day, through this censorship the right wing lone nut theory of Tuscon is gaining dominance in the mass media. However one of the problems for US and world capitalism at this time is the Internet. They do not control this and so alternative views can circulate on a mass scale as is the analysis that we put forward here.

This is one of the reasons they are going so hard after Wikileaks and Bradley Manning and Assange. They want to prevent any development of an alternative analysis and narrative of events from the one that suits them. The release of cables and correspondence such as Wikileaks is doing undermines their war for the consciousness of the working class, undermines their efforts to feed their analysis to the working class. So please remember, keep up your campaign to release Bradley Manning and defend wikileaks and Assange. There is talk that if he is extradited to the US he could be sent to Guantanamo Bay. The US capitalists want to make an example of him to intimidate others from using their skills and access to information to let us know what is being done in our names. It especially wants to stop members of the US military from taking such action. The US military is under more and more pressure in its wars and more of its members are concluding that they do not want to continue with these wars. So please continue with your campaign to Free Bradley Manning and to defend Wikileaks and Assange.

Sean.

Capitalism keeps up the barrage. Tucson was just a "lone nut."

Think about this when you read our posts. These capitalist corporations control the US mass media and are the force behind the offensive against the working class in this country and also they are the force behind the attempt to convince us that Tucson was only a lone nut problem. They are the force that capitalism uses to try and control the consciousness of the working class.

If we are to have any success at all in fighting the employers and their capitalist system we must know the way they think, what they are thinking at any given time, and what their plans are. The easiest way to do this is by following their regular serious publications. Their main regular public publication in the US is the Wall Street Journal. At times of crisis such as Tucson this mouthpiece takes the lead. We have to read it and study it and see what it says both on and between the lines, and also what it does not say.

At the moment it continues to hammer away at the idea that the alleged shooter in Tucson was a lone nut. The main headline on its first page today is: "Postings of a troubled mind." The fact that it is the main headline and the bluntness of the statement, the fact that the main editorial is on this topic also, shows that US capitalism continues to be very concerned. It sees that it must keep up its propaganda that the shootings had nothing to do with capitalism, its system, but with the mental state of an individual. The idea is to let its system off the hook.

But the Wall Street Journal has a problem. It seeks to speak to the capitalist class itself and to do so it has to tell it some of the truth. So in articles covering several pages in today's edition it gives facts which are concrete. But first let us examine their proposition about a troubled mind. How does somebody with a troubled mind get a troubled mind? There is of course the possibility that a person can be born with brain damage, chemical imbalances in the brain and so on. But the overwhelming majority who get into trouble with capitalism are not in this category. They get their "troubled minds" because of the system they live in and the affect this system has on their minds. In other words it is capitalism that gives them the troubled mind. Once you draw this conclusion then the solution is clear. We must end capitalism. But this is ruled out for the capitalists so they have to try and stop the debate at the troubled mind stage.

But as I say The Wall Street Journal has to tell its own class something of the truth. So in its extensive coverage today it gives the following information about the alleged shooter. He was frustrated because he could not even get a minimum wage job, he had not had a pay check in six months. He claimed he had made 65 applications for jobs and got none. This would trouble any body's mind. Then there is the other assaults of capitalism on his mind. It is said he played a lot of video games. these are overwhelmingly violent and alienating. This is not good. And he was under the non stop barrage of the propaganda of the right with their paranoia about big government and the money standard and the assault on women's' right to choose. He called women who had abortion "terrorists". He said women in college enjoyed being raped.

This alleged shooter was not too sensible to put it mildly. But the question is why was he not too sensible. The reasons stated above are what led him to the position he was in when he went to shoot in Tucson. Capitalism created the conditions for this catastrophe.

Of course the system can drive and does drive people to where they crack. And as I have stated there are people born with imbalances and damage in their brains. Any humane society would have extensive help and treatment for such people. But what has been happening in the US now for decades. At the same time as US capitalism steps up its offensive against the majority of the population and makes their lives worse and increases their mental tensions and stress in their lives capitalism is also reducing the mental help and treatment it is giving people.

Not a single state in the US has enough psychiatric beds for its its mentally ill people according to the Treatment Advocacy Center. Arizona is second only to Nevada on this scale. Based on the National Institute of Mental Health estimates there are over 21,000 schizophrenics in Arizona. Approximately 10% of schizophrenics become violent. But instead of helping and treating people with mental health problems capitalism threw them out of the hospitals on to the streets beginning in the 1960's and at the same time those who are not schizophrenics they put under unrelenting pressure on the job and wage front and the prospects of having any kind of a decent future. No matter what way you look at it. No matter the propaganda of the Wall Street Journal on behalf of its class and its system. The killings in Tucson are rooted in and caused by the system. Capitalism is guilty.

As we said in yesterday's post on our blog the moment of silence was to literally keep people silent. The union leaders, the left and radical forces should be doing the exact opposite of a moment of silence. They should be having moments of outcry and mobilization. I see the churches in Tucson are full with people sitting listening passively to preachers. As usual they play their role of damping down the anger of the people when this anger should be encouraged and directed against the system. It is times like these that you see the real nature of religious institutions. Keeping people quiet and getting them to be passive and accept the system.

Reject this capitalist propaganda of passivity. Develop our ability to read the capitalist press and to see what they are thinking and doing. In the case of Tucson develop demands and a movement around which working class people can build an alternative. Only in this way will we be able build the mass consciousness necessary to change the system.

Remember Bradley Manning is still in solitary confinement. Step the campaign to get in released. I see also where there is talk that if they manage to extradite Assange that he could end up in Guantanamo bay. We must keep up the campaign to defend him and wikileaks also.

And finally the changing world balance of forces has been even more demonstrated in the past twenty four hours. As we said yesterday Gates was over there to try and threaten and charm the Chinese elite into being more friendly and also buy more arms from the US military industrial complex. He was rebuffed. But not only was he rebuffed. When he was there the Chinese military conducted a test of its new stealth fighter. This was a deliberate taunt and warning to the US and Gates. Do not mess with us. We have power. And its all connected here too. The more US capitalism looses to the rising Chinese power, the more it will have to cut back US living standards and the closer we will be to an eruption of struggle of the US working class and a change in consciousness of the US working class.

Times they are changing alright.

Sean.

A moment of silence: designed to keep people quiet and passive

This accomplishes nothing

President Obama led a one minute moment of silence today for the victims of the Tuscon rampage that killed six people and wounded 14.  The president and his wife Michelle came out on to the steps, stood there for a minute and then went back inside.

An important aspect of living in capitalist society, especially in the US, is that nothing be said or discussed that is controversial or that might lead people to take action.  Anger is bad. Of course, anger when expressed the way it was in Tuscon is not good, but it's OK to be angry and its Ok when that anger can be expressed in a positive way.  When workers go on strike it is an expression of anger and it is not a passive thing certainly, or shouldn't be.  For the bosses, when production stops and they can't make profits this is an act of terrorism as far as they are concerned. To force workers out on strike in order to defend their means of subsistence or to use the armed forces of the state to break that strike are acts of extreme violence.

Bradley Manning, the alleged conspirator with Wikileaks who has exposed capitalist diplomacy as a fraud and them for the lying thieves they are has made them angry and they have taken away his freedom and subjected him to torture and the possibility of life in prison. They have created a climate of fear and intimidation within the military and society.

The capitalists react quite strongly when they are angry and this senseless killing in Tuscon will no doubt be used to curb free speech and other democratic rights in the interest of public safety, very much like the attacks on 911 have.

Americans are very angry and they have a right to be. They are being assaulted on all sides, not by some Mullah with a 7th century mindset, a former recipient of US taxpayer funds,  but by the bankers and speculators on Wall Street and their political representatives in Washington.  More than 44 million private-sector workers in the United States—­42 percent of the private-sector workforce­—don’t have paid sick days  according to new research by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR).  If we add to that, rent that eats up 60% to 70% of your income, or a mortgage that eats up 70% of your family income, that can lead to depression and anger.  Losing your home or job can make you angry I would think. These are all policies that inflict the most savage violence on workers and our communities.

Whenever this anger breaks out in to mass action like it did in Seattle in 1999, or the student movement last year, the state responds with violence.  The US capitalist class does not want anything to rouse workers and the middle class in to action.  They do not want any discussion of the system, the crisis, why and how it occurred.  They want tranquility. Go in any Safeway store or drug chain  that sells books and magazines and through which  millions of workers pass through every day in this nation and see the mindless garbage they're pushing.  There will be nothing that might spark debate or controversy.

The method of choice for resisting this violence by the perpetrators of it is the prayer/candelight vigil and the moment of silence.  This is one way of trying to prevent the anger from expressing itself in an organized way through mass direction action, strikes, occupations etc.  When the youth were fighting the cops in Seattle in 1999 and drawing to their battle a section of the rank and file of organized Labor, the head of the AFL-CIO at the time, John Sweeney, was leading a prayer vigil. The Union officials as well as the capitalist class, are deathly afraid of the potential power of the US working class and the anger that lies beneath the surface of society that could unleash it. I don't pray because it is a passive ineffective method of resistance and because there's no one listening.  But, if your prayer helps you to go out and take action, that's fair enough.

The Union leaders should be giving this anger an organized expression.  Movements of workers in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Algeria, Bangladesh, India and Cambodia to name a few are fighting their government's efforts to drive them further in to poverty.  Even in so-called communist China, a dictatorship, workers at auto plants have struck illegally and won major gains.

Instead of a worthless moment  of silence in response to what is a killing that was egged on by the vicious racist right wing in this country, our time would be better spent getting off our asses and building a mass movement that can drive back this offensive the US capitalist class is waging on workers domestically and throughout the world. In his public statement about the Tuscon murders, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka took his cue from the politicians of big business, after all, the Labor hierarchy ahs no independent position of their own. "Too much vitriolic, hate-filled rhetoric that we hear on radio and television has demonized public servants and candidates as 'enemies.'", writes Trumka.

Throwing someone out of their home is an act of violence.  Denying someone medical care if they are poor is an act of violence. The US justice system perpetuates violence and the US military industrial complex  inflict horrendous violence on the people's of the world in defense of the corporations. Obama is not offering any moments of silence for the victims of his unmanned drones attacks in the impoverished nations US capitalism is occupying.  Is the capitalist class and  its political representatives the friends of the working people of America?  I do not think so. I think those that do this to workers are the enemies of workers.

How we deal with our enemies, how we fight them, this is the issue.  It is the economic system that is the cause of the violence and misery we witness around us and it is the economic system we have to change. To fight for justice and equality brings us in to conflict with those that perpetuate and prosper from injustice and inequality. In such a struggle to not recognize our enemies leads to disaster.

Instead of moments of silence we can begin to build an independent working class political alternative to the two capitalist parties the Republicans and Democrats. A mass movement in the workplaces, schools, and the streets based on direct action fight to win policies and a mass political party of the working class is what their moments of silence are designed to avoid.  We should play no part in it.

Sarah Palin hates violence. She's a real peacenick now

The old Palin.  Will she join the Sierra Club and the ACLU next?

As the previous blog pointed out, the right wing are out to distance themselves from the mayhem in Tucson and the assassination attempt on congresswoman Giffords' life.  The tendency among most bourgeois commentators, including the targets of the right wing's vitriolic attacks  will be to call for unity,  understanding and civility, afraid as they all are of fragmenting an already broken US poltiical system.  The liberal commentator Keith Oberman was pretty direct though saying:

If Glenn Beck who obsesses about gold and debt and who joked about killing Michael Moore and Bill O'Reilly who said Tiller the killer until it was burned into the minds of their viewers. if they do not begin their broadcasts with an apology. then those commentators and the others must be repudiated by viewers and listeners, by all politicians who are appear on their programs including President Obama... and by the networks that employ them.

I agree with the comment on the previous blog about the effect this will have on Palin and the right. Glenn Beck, the right wing demagogue shared some of his back and forth e mails with Palin on his morning radio show:

Beck:“Sarah, as you know, peace is always the answer. I know you are felling the same heat, if not much more on this,”  I assume the misspelling was due to nervousness.

“I hate violence,” Palin wrote back. “I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence.”

There is an all out offensive to distance the political and economic conditions from the event and to portray the assassin as a sick individual with no political motives but this is not easy with the access to information these days.  "I doubt people who say this is about politics have a good understanding of mental illness.",  says one director of a mental health facility.  He goes on to say that, "It could be conspiracy or men from outer space. The important thing here is, why wasn't he in treatment?"

That's all well and good, capitalism makes us all sick.  They are talking about the death penalty though which they surely won't administer to a mental patient; will they?  And what about the pilots of the attack helicopter that mowed down innocent Iraqi's?  Are they "mentally ill"? 

Palin's spokesperson as the comment pointed out says now that the image on her blog was not cross hairs but some sort of map figure, some geographical icon or whatever.  And the e mails between the two bigots above makes them sound like a couple of tree huggers. It will be interesting to see how this develops with regard to the the likes of Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, Savage and other anti-worker racists. 

Tucson killings. Capitalism steps up campaign to blame "disturbed loner."

Sheriff Dupnik who described the immigration law of the Republican governor Brewer pictured below as "racist and divisive" and a national "embarassment" and criticized the climate of hate and bigotry being stirred up by some in the media.

We on this blog have always explained that capitalism is in a continual struggle for the consciousness of the working class. It has to control this consciousness in order to control society. They exercise this control through their mass media, their education system, their political parties, their churches and other institutions.

Every now and then events happens, such as the events in Tucson on Saturday, which demand that capitalism pull together and focus all its resources to keep its control from being weakened. At all costs Saturday's events must not be blamed on the system or on the capitalist politicians and parties. This is the main priority in the aftermath of the Tucson killings and shootings. The Wall Street Journal as is usual with this mouthpiece of finance capital takes the lead.

Arizona Governor Brewer

In its main editorial today, the first day after the events it takes its stand. And it backs this up with over two more pages of material. It claims that the shootings were the work of a "disturbed loner," of a person with a "mental illness." No connections with the crisis in society and no connections with anybody else. All very neat. A lone disturbed mentally ill person. The disturbed loner theory allows them to tie the whole thing up and avoid any discussion about its system and its politicians, allows them to continue with their narrative that US capitalism is the best in the best of all possible worlds and only disturbed loners who are mentally ill can find anything wrong with it.

In its extensive coverage the Wall Street Journal avoids mentioning that the alleged shooter in his website attacked people who could not speak English in the district of the shot Congress woman. And he compared women who wished to exorcise their right to have an abortion to terrorists. These are major issues of the extreme right and the Republican Party. The alleged shooter is a product of the right wing of US politics, the right wing which propped up the Republican Party which is at the moment the preferred party of capitalism and its mouth piece the Wall Street Journal. But any such discussion must be avoided at all costs. However capitalism has a problem. We live in the age of the Internet and capitalism cannot control the agenda so decisively any more. The Internet is full of material making the connection between the right and these killings and shootings and has forced this idea into the mass consciousness. Interviewers on talk shows yesterday morning would continually bring this up but apologize for doing so with the explanation that it was already all over the Internet. Times have changed.

Sarah Palin the Republican vice presidential candidate put politicians such as Giffords on her website with gun targets on them. It was known as them being "bullseyed." Palin and others talked of "lock and load" and of "targeting opponents." The Republican who opposed Giffords called for support on the basis that an M16 should be used to remove her. The health care bill was supposed to contain death panels and conjure up visions of old people being dragged to their death by bureaucrats. Immigration is posed as such a problem as to need a border fence in Arizona and to need a new law to allow anybody who looked like an undocumented worker to be arrested. These events in Tucson have thrown back the Republican led right wing agenda and momentarily left capitalism scrambling to get its version of events once again become the decisive narrative.

They will probably succeed. One reason is that the Democrats are as much a capitalist party as the Republicans. It too wants capitalism to regain more decisive control over the consciousness of the working class. So its will help the Republicans with their lone nut theory. Then there is the leadership of organized labor. They see no alternative and are completely committed to capitalism. So they too will help reestablish the old capitalist propaganda that the US is the best country in the world narrative again and only a lone nut could think otherwise.

However be this as it may. The events in Tucson have left an imprint. They have increased working peoples' understanding about how rotten this system is. And how the extreme right wing agenda is leading only to worse problems. These events therefore bring closer the day when a major shift in working class consciousness will take place sufficient to change the class balance of forces in society and open up a new era of class struggle in which the working class will be on the offensive, not like now, on the defensive.

Related to this discussion is what is happening with Wikileaks. The US government is getting court orders to get at its records and they are preparing a court case against it. In the meantime Bradley Manning still sits in solitary confinement. Please keep up your efforts to free him. The information we can get from Wikileaks can help in this struggle to prevent capitalism from putting its spin on the Tucson events and on reasserting more firmly once again its control over the consciousness of the working class.

Sean.

Giffords assassination attempt. Now the capitalist spin.

Republican Boehner leader of the House of Representatives with his Nazi friend Lott, whose hobby is dressing up in Nazi uniforms. Frightened by being linked to the assassination of Gifford Boehner rushed to eulogize Gifford who is Jewish. No wonder there is such cynicism about politics. In the future we intend to refer to Boehner as "Nazi Uniform Boehner."

US capitalism has had a bad few days. Earlier in the week one of its main supporters in Pakistan was assassinated. This further weakened the Pakistani state upon which the US Afghan war effort depends. Now it has had the attempted assassination of Congress Woman Giffords in Arizona and the destabilizing affects this is having on US domestic politics. As we have been saying US capitalism faces serious challenges both military and political. The rush is now on to prop up the Pakistan regime and stabilize things after the assassination there. And in the US the rush is on to make sure that none of capitalism's main parties or political figures are caught up with the attempted assassination of Gifford.

The Republicans and their tea party wing are most at risk. As we have said Palin put opponents including Gifford on her website with cross hairs on them. Palin is probably finished as a republican hopeful. Gifford's opponent in her recent campaign called for her to be taken out with an M16. This is incredible language and is coming back to haunt the Republicans in a very big way. Suddenly they are all warm and fuzzy as they run for cover and they are putting their arms around the Democrats. The hypocrisy is sickening. McCain who picked Palin for VP and supported her in her web site and cross hairs propaganda still refuses to condemn her. Some people are just not too bright.

Then we have Nazi uniform Boehner the Republican leader in the house of Representatives full of praise for Gifford. This is the man who posed with the man in his district whose hobby is dressing up in Nazi uniforms. Boehner posed with him when this man was wearing the Nazi uniform. In a particularly cruel and vicious thrust Gifford was Jewish. So here was Boehner of the Nazi uniform pose, we intend to refer to him in future as Nazi Uniform Boehner, trying to convince people he is genuine in his claim to be mourning for Gifford. No wonder young people are so cynical about US politics.

What we are watching here is US capitalism scuttling to try and straighten up the Republican party. Individual Party leaders and representatives and the party political leadership as a whole went along with the tea party movement for short term political gains. But this left the party less under the control of capitalism and Wall Street. This assassination will be associated with the tea party movement and to some extent the Republicans. There is no way this can be avoided. Not only that but capitalism through its mouthpieces will suggest a link with the tea party movement and seek to separate the it from the republicans. Capitalism will take the opportunity to strike blows at the tea party movement so as to unify and more decisively control the republican Party again. This is what is happening.

They will have some success in this. The Democrats will help them. It is hard to think of there ever being such a wimp in the White house as Obama. Here we have the Republicans ripe and ready for a severe whipping. Even the Sheriff in Gifford's district without naming them goes after the extreme right. This sheriff is far more clear on the issues than Obama and the Democrats. What the Sheriff says is in the interests of the most conscious wing of the capitalists. His statements if acted on would weaken the extreme right which is controlling the right wing of the Republicans and is threatening to weaken one of the main capitalist parties. But what do Obama and the Democrats say. They say that at times like this we all have to work together. That is work together with the tea party people and the Republicans. At times like this if the Democrats in any way represented working people, or if they even had any backbone, or if they even had any political brains or genuine ambition, they would be going after the Republicans with extreme ferocity pointing out how it was the Republicans who were responsible for the violent rhetoric and tone. But no the wimp in the White House calls on all Americans to work together. As if this will happen. The Sheriff was far more clear.

Just about every politician interviewed says their heart and prayers go out to all killed or injured, and calls on all to pray for the killed and injured people and their relatives. Think about this. This is a massive barrage of propaganda. "Pray and put your hearts out" these are the slogans of the capitalist spin. But you may think. What could be wrong about this?

What is wrong about this is that this is the capitalist media trying to paralyze the working class movement in prayer and with their hearts going out whatever this means. This advise, put out your heart and pray is an entirely individualist and passive activity. Go into your bedroom and pray. Leave it to the capitalists who run things and know what to do. This is the message. If readers of this blog are religious then please pray or do whatever you wish. But please also be clear, this will solve nothing. And be conscious why you are being advised to do this and by whom. The capitalist media does not advise you to take to the streets collectively and drive these right wing forces off the streets. Why not? Because we might not go off the streets afterwards, we might stay there to take up other issues like wages, benefits, jobs etc. What is necessary is to understand why these things have happened and what needs to be done to change US society to stop such things happening again.

We said it in our last post there are a combination of factors behind these events. One there is the vicious political and propaganda offensive of the extreme right against anybody who opposes them. This is used by the capitalist class to drive through their offensive against the working class on wages, conditions etc. There is the fact that the Republicans use this violent rhetoric to build themselves a base. This base, the tea party movement, is not happy to be manipulated and takes on a life of its own. Then there is the increasing difficulty of life for most working people in the country. This leads to anger and frustration. This is given no progressive way to express itself because the union leaders will not organize their forces to take on the capitalist offensive with mass direct action and to organize the unorganized and on this basis build a mass working peoples' party as an alternative to the bosses parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. Then there is the culture of violence in society and the easy availability of weapons. The alleged shooter had a criminal and mental record and yet was able to purchase his weapon but even more incredibly able to purchase an extra large clip that holds over twenty round. This is why he was able to shoot so many people.

But the alleged shooter is not explained by the fact he had a criminal and mental record. This is capitalist propaganda. Capitalism always wants to explain every assassination they are behind or in danger of being associated with on the lone nut theory. The two Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Lennon, on and on. They were all done by lone nuts according to capitalist, propaganda. This is intended to keep us from looking at the societal reasons these things take place and/or to see the real organized forces which carry out or create the conditions for these assassinations. I explain these above. But to link them more directly to the alleged shooter. The Republican governor of Arizona and her Republicans pushed a vicious racist anti immigrant bill through the state legislature. The Sheriff strongly opposed it as "racist and divisive". This bill created an atmosphere in the state which the Sheriff says has now become a Mecca of hatred and bigotry. The alleged shooter on the Internet attacks those who cannot speak English in Giffords district. e has clearly been influenced by the Republican governor's anti immigrant campaign. He is also reported as believing that women who wish to exercise their right to have an abortion are "terrorists." This alleged shooter is linked to the right. He is the creature of the right. The governor of Arizona and the Republicans are directly responsible for creating the atmosphere from which he springs.

I will not repeat it here as we explain it in our last post. But an alternative has to be built. It is the task of the Union leaders to do this. But it is also the task of the left and radical movement to get over their left sectarianism and ultra leftism and build united fronts of struggle which though direct mass action challenge the capitalist offensive and begin to offer an alternative to working people and youth who are increasingly angry and filled with rage at how capitalism is destroying their lives.

Do not believe the propaganda either that tries to link the alleged shooter with Marx and so called communism. A Republican Senator was saying on CNN today that the alleged shooter read the Communist Manifesto and Mien Kampf. Here is the list of books given in the New York Times today that this young man was reading. They were taken from his website. Animal Farm. Brave New World. Wizard of Oz. Aesophs Fables. The Odyssey. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Fahrenheit 451. Peter Pan. To Kill a Mocking Bird. We the Living. Phantom Toll Booth. Suddhartha. The Old Man and the Sea. Gulliver's travels. Mein Kampf. The Republic. Meno.

Sean.