Too Close To Ground Zero?

Ben Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department confirmed to CBS Affiliate WTVF that the fire, which burned construction equipment at the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, is being ruled as arson.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 700 miles away from Ground Zero.

...Still too close?

But It's Not About Racism (The Tennessee Hospitality Edition)

"Walt Baker, the prominent CEO of the powerful Tennessee Hospitality Association who was a key figure in gaining approval of the controversial $585 million convention center, sent the kind of "joke" email last night -- comparing First Lady Michelle Obama to Tarzan's Cheeta..."

At least the story has a happy ending. Walt Baker was fired.

(H/T GottaLaff)

Oh, The Humanity!

From the "Too Crazy To Be True" archives, a Tennessee Mayor named Russell Wiseman was outraged at the pre-emption of A Charlie Brown Christmas on Monday night due to President Obama's West Point speech on Afghanistan. Not only was he upset at the programming bump but felt that our "muslim president" did it on purpose because he hates Jeebus, ranted about it on Facebook and then continued his outrage when it was made public.

"Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."

...In Wiseman's extensive thread that attacked the president, his supporters and Muslims, he stated "...you obama people need to move to a muslim country...oh wait, that's America....pitiful."

At another point he said, "you know, our forefathers had it written in the original Constitution that ONLY property owners could vote, if that has stayed in there, things would be different........"

Yep, an elected official in this country is more interested in a 44 year old cartoon Christmas special that he could've bought on DVD than in one of the most important decisions the nation's president happens to be making on the same night. He thinks President Obama looked through the programming schedules of every local outlet in the United States and picked a night where he could deny Charles M. Schulz the opportunity to spread the Gospel through a two-dimensional drawing of a six-year old, blanky toter named Linus. And most of all, Obama did it to fuck up his family's night in front of the television.

These are the people we choose to represent us. Oh, the humanity!

(H/T Linkins, HuffPo)

The Racist Base of John McCain

This from Josh Marshall yesterday on TPM:

Don't insult your intelligence or mine by pretending that John McCain's plan for this race doesn't rely on hundreds of Cunninghams -- large and small -- across the country, and the RNC and all the GOP third party groups, to be peddling this stuff nonstop for the next eight months because it's the only way John McCain have a real shot at contesting this race.

If McCain really wants to repudiate this stuff, he can start with the Tennessee Republican party which dished all the slurs and smears about Obama being a Nation of Islam-loving anti-Semite, just today.

That's right. McCain supporters in Tennessee are painting the worst picture of Obama because they know it's the only chance they have to beat Obama in the general election. It's only going to get ulgier as this race is still young, but I don't think the American people will stand for it this time.

(H/T Bob Cesca)