The AP is out with new details regarding yesterdays tragic slaying of Arkansas State Party Chairman, Bill Gwatney.  A glance at the diary scroll didn't show any posts so I figured I'd post for the community.  If this has been diaried previous, please let me know so I can delete.  Details below the jump

There is a slow-motion pogrom going on in this country with Liberals as its victims.  They are shooting at us.  We are being murdered for our beliefs.

On Sunday, July 27, 2008, one Jim Adkisson entered a Unitarian Universalist Church and began shooting.  Reports indicate that Adkisson did not expect the Liberals to fight back, and was surprised when he was prevented from finishing his extermination of the group.  Adkisson's motive?  To kill Unitarians because of their liberal politics and friendliness towards gays.

On August 13, 2008, one Timothy Dale Johnson entered Democratic Party headquarters and shot Arkansas party chairman Bill Gwatney. Johnson had recently told people at the Baptist convention that he had lost his job.

What is the meaning of these events? What's next? Why have they happened? and why now?

My hypothesis on the flip.

It happened again. Another deranged right wing redneck murdered a liberal in Arkansas. It looks as though Bill Gwatney was shot to death in his office by a 50 year old redneck who hated "libruls".

Of necessity a very short diary:  Arkansas Democratic Chairman Bill Gwatney was shot today at the state Democratic Party headquarters in Little Rock.  Gwatney was taken from the scene by ambulance.  His condition is unknown.  (As noted in updates below, Mr. Gwatney is now confirmed dead).

Police gave chase to a suspect apparently fleeing the scene, and there are reports they shot the suspect.  The suspect's identity and condition are unknown.  (As noted in the updates below, the suspected shooter is now also confirmed dead).

Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama on the shooting:  "I was shocked and saddened to hear about the tragedy in Arkansas. We're all grateful for the quick action of law enforcement and quick thinking by Chairman Gwatney's staff, and Michelle and I are keeping him and his family in our prayers."

Todd and Barbara Bachman and their tour guide were attacked by a man wielding a knife at the Bell Tour in Beijing today.  Mr. Bachman died and his wife Barbara is listed as suffering from "serious and life-threatening" injuries in the intensive care unit at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Todd Bachman, right.

I've talked to people who openly admit to murder and were never tried or convicted.  They all thought that their victims "deserved it".  There is a subculture of self-righteous violence in this nation that manifests itself in many forms, from bar fights and crimes of passion to lynchings and bombings.  It persists because we condone its portrayal in popular culture and dismiss reports of actual occurrences as hyperbole or excuse them as "blowing off steam" or that "something snapped".  We will not be a civilized country until these dysfunctional, destructive notions are exposed, discredited and extirpated.  Tuesday, I tried to expose a popular artist whose work condones and clearly encourages mob violence.  My message was muddled in a tapestry of extraneous details.  The commentary was good, but just as diffused as my narrative.  It's time to focus.

WARNING, VERY GRAPHIC!!!!!!!

I'm just rediculously pissed off... beyond beleif.  I understand organizations such as Peta have to get some shock factor in to get their point accross, but there SHOULD be some limits.

They are planning on posting an ad in a local news paper in Portage La Prairie... 20 minutes (and clossest town) to where the Greyhound bus murder and decapitation happened last week.  

I live in the province and can assure you, this won't go over well.  I used to support PETA, no more.

For those of us who have been following Hamdan's experience with our System of Justice, Obama's statement on the results may be of interest, as may those of Amnesty International.

My sense is that this goes along with Obama's FISA vote and embrace of offshore drilling as a package that essentially tells us lefties to get lost. When Obama says

"I commend the military officers who presided over this trial and served on the hearing panel under difficult and unprecedented circumstances.

It isn't them my heart goes out to.

Seven years of unlawful detention, a not quilty of terrorism verdict, a quilty verdict for a crime that wasn't passed into law for for another several years after he was taken captive by bounty hunters and the kid may end up doing life.

Four teens were charged with ethnic intimidation and aggravated assault, two of them were charged with murder, in the beating death of an undocumented Mexican. Unindicted cosponsirators are millions of Americans and the rabid right-wing talk radio.

I'm cross-posting this from Crooks and Liars as I searched for the topic and found hardly anything on DKos.  This case needs more visibility.  There is hardly any mention of it on DKos except for one diary by Gemina13

Reported from the St. Lous American:

He said the pictures and documents from the incident proved that his daughter had been brutalized - raped, beaten, shot and set on fire.

"Someone poured lye in her vagina to destroy evidence," her father said. "Her body was dumped in a dirty, filthy contractor’s tent.

EDIT: DKos search tool kinda sucks, at least it's user interface does.  I just misused it.  Yes there are lots of diaries prior to mine, but it still needs more visibility.

I just got in to work, and, being a news addict, first thing I do is check the inter-tubes.  I find this story on the CBC.  which is Canada's public news station.

I live in Winnipeg Manitoba, this incident took place about 20 minutes out of the city.  Still waiting on more information.

If you don't want to read about sick maniacs, don't read further.

I took out some paragraphs so as not to steal the whole article.
the full article can be seen:
http://www.cbc.ca/...

This isn't so much a diary as it is a spreading of the truth.

Her face grabbed my attention immediately when I saw it.  So young she looked like any number of my daughter's friends or a cousin.  Why my very great grandmother was named Lavena Johnson.  What was she doing on the cover of the Huffington Post?  Do the jump thing.

I devoted a lot of thought to this post. Read it when you have the time and ability to concentrate on something that I take very seriously.

I won't re-hash it. We already know the situation. We know what Jim Adkisson did in that Unitarian church in Knoxville, Tennessee. We know that he was a fan of right-wing radio hosts and blamed liberals for the country's problems.

One of the best publicized cases of the Army allowing and covering up of rape. Was the Jamie-Leigh Jones case where Ms. Jones was repeatedly raped and then after reporting this was held in a container by KBR employees. Who knows what would have happened to her had she not been able to get a cell phone and call home.

However another gruesome story of Rape and this time the Army's terrible investigation may let more criminals go free. It's been widely reported that Rape of American women in Iraq is on the rise. Part of it is the Government not doing enough to protect women overseas, the other part is the Government not prosecuting criminals.

I am aware of diaries about the attempted mass murder of liberals in Tennessee. I am aware that the murderer was an intellectual of sorts who read such great savants as O'Reilly, Hannity, and Savage.

So what bothers you most about the shooting in the Unitarian Church in Tennessee, which has now taken two lives -- beyond the senseless deaths at the children's performance of "Annie"?  Just the fact that it is not all that shocking -- even inevitable?

Much will be made of the killer, Jim Adkisson's, hatred of liberals, and the finding of books in his home by Michael Savage, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.  Make of that what you will.

But what about this:  According to the latest reports, he bought the shotgun that he used in the attack just in the past month -- at a pawn shop.  A hard to conceal weapon? He carried it into the church in a guitar case.

While driving in my car the other day I was listening to WAMC-FM, Northeast Public Radio, as I always do, and the program aired was The Roundtable - a discussion of topics of interest to AMC listeners.  The subject was the book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" and the interview was with the author Vincent Bugliosi.

The full interview can be heard here:
Roundtable: Vincent Bugliosi(aired 7/23/08)