Yesterday Was A Sad, Sad Day: Cheney Demands He Be Served Only Blood Red M&M'S

... but not so good for America

There were two things that happened yesterday that were so overwhelmingly sad that I couldn't write about either. No, I'm not talking about McCain's latest bout with cancer or Novak's brain problem, as moving as both those stories are, especially the part about Novak not writing any more columns. But neither of those stories rises, at least not for me, to the stature of the mass shooting in Knoxville by a crazed right-wing terrorist. I'm still so mortified by that one-- and still trying to process the enormity and sheer evil of the deed-- that I just can't come up with anything worthwhile to say other than this is what happens when Republican hate "literature" is made widely available to the mentally deficient. And yes, the murderer admits to being a reader and admirer of GOP hate-mongers Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. (I hope that that qualifies as kicking in the "with prejudice" clause in sentencing and Jim David Adkisson gets the chair or the rope or whatever they give to those guilty of mass murder in Tennessee.)

The deranged right-wing psychopath went on his murder spree at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church-- killing two and wounding six-- "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." He told an officer that since "he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement, he would then target those that had voted them in to office." Now where would he get ideas like that?

While we wait to find out about which hate talk radio hosts he is most devoted to, we can just judge by some of the books the police found in his home: Liberalism Is A Mental Health Disorder by Michael Savage (recently kicked off the air in several markets for his vicious assault on autistic children, but still on in most markets because the unmitigated greed of irresponsible corporations that own the radio stations could care less about what kind of hatred and divisiveness their "entertainers" stir up in the communities they're supposed to be serving), Let Freedom Ring "by" Sean Hannity, and The O'Reilly Factor by... yes, that one.

But it's the other sickening story of yesterday, that I want to make sure everyone knows about. You may recall the faux controversy of another decade in which Van Halen's concert production rider included a demand that no brown m&m's be included in the backstage goodies they were served. Now, if you think they were cheeky divas, Vice President Cheney's rider is far worse. And he had it thrown in his draft dodging face today by Disabled American Veterans, whose annual conclave he was scheduled to address next month. His invitation was yanked because his demands are far more "Draconian and unreasonable" than Van Halen's.

His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney's arrival and couldn't leave until he'd finished talking, officials confirmed.

"Word got back to us... that this would be a prerequisite," said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn't have any rest rooms. "We told them it just wasn't acceptable."

When Cheney spoke to the group in 2004, his handlers imposed the same stringent security lockdown, upsetting members, officials said.

Many of the vets are elderly and left pieces of themselves on foreign battlefields since World War II, and others were crippled by recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. For health reasons, many can't be stuck in a room for hours.

"It was a huge imposition on our delegates," added David Autry, another Disabled American Veterans official.
Autry said vets would've had to get up "at Oh-dark-30 and try to get breakfast and showered and get their prosthetics on."

Once inside, they "could not leave the meeting room, and the bathrooms are outside," he said.

Neither Bush, McCain nor Obama have the kinds of "security precautions" Cheney, arguably the most hated man in America, has. Today, Cheney's staff is denying the demands were anything more than suggestions and that he would never impose on the disabled vets. Disabled American Veterans responded:

"I appreciate that they're trying to put their spin on it but when [Cheney] spoke to our convention in 2004, that's the the way it went down and we were concerned that was going to happen again... Somebody’s got to face up to fact regardless of what Cheney’s office says, that’s what happened last time and this is what we understood was going to happen this time."

So, as of now, the venal Darth Cheney is still out on his ass.