The Trib: Ya Don't Say!

Take a look at this editorial from today's Tribune-Review:

Harsh restrictions that leave most police and law-abiding citizens unarmed helped turn supposed gun-control paradise Norway into hell on earth.

Writing for National Review Online, intern Charlie Cooke says Norway's strict regulations -- guns allowed only for hunting and sports shooting, shooting-club membership required for handgun owners, police "unarmed except in special circumstances" -- are "an irrelevance when considering the actions of Anders Breivik."

The self-admitted perpetrator of last month's Oslo bombing and political youth-camp shootings had a clean criminal record. Had he not obtained his weapons legally in Norway, "he would have found them elsewhere," Mr. Cooke writes -- and tried to do so, in Prague, Czech Republic. Would-be terrorists "are beyond the law and will not be constrained by changes to it," he adds.

Neither police -- who needed 90 minutes to reach the island camp -- nor Mr. Breivik's targets had the firepower to fight back against him, a situation Cooke says is "inconceivable" here.

He calls Norway "a veritable paradise for those with ill intent who know that their actions will go unchecked" -- which is what the United States would be without Americans' Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Funny how they'll not mention the fact that Breivik's a right-wing terrorist. Neither Scaife's braintrust nor the NRO intern they rely on for these five paragraphs ever get around to even hinting at the politics of the shooter. For them it's about access to guns.

No, the problem in Norway, to them, isn't the right-wing terrorists arming themselves and shooting up some labor party kids to protect some "European Christian cultural legacy." The problem in Norway is that not enough people are armed. If only someone was armed at that camp, they earnestly tell us, the carnage might have been less.

Except that with its stricter gun control laws, there are only about 3 murders per 100,000 in Norway. Wanna know how that compares to the Good Ole USA where the gun control laws are less strict?

It's half of the estimated 6 per 100,000 for the US. That's half, for those who don't do math too good.

Huh. I would guess that maybe those harsh restrictions might have something to do with those numbers.

But I could be wrong.

Glenn Beck compares Norway camp victims to "Hitler Youth"

"There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing," Beck stated in the first minute of his syndicated radio show Monday. [Link]

Audio here.
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Understanding terrorism

(From A Moment to Think via Monkey Muck)

Teh Crazie...WND...Can't Comprehend.

World Net Daily, aka Crazie Central, is, like other right wing media outlets, trying to spin Anders Behring Breivik into something that isn't "right wing extremist." Today they're going with "Breivik = Darwinian" to explain his particular brand of Noridic crazie.

In the process they trip over their own illogic.

Here's the headline of the piece:

Terrorist proclaimed himself 'Darwinian,' not 'Christian'

And the first two paragraphs:

A review of Anders Behring Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto shows the media's quick characterization of the Norwegian terrorist as a "Christian" may be as incorrect as it was to call Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh one.

Breivik was arrested over the weekend, charged with a pair of brutal attacks in and near Oslo, Norway, including a bombing in the capital city that killed 7 and a shooting spree at a youth political retreat on the island of Utoya that killed more than 80 victims.

But then:

Yet, while McVeigh rejected God altogether, Breivik writes in his manifesto that he is not religious, has doubts about God's existence, does not pray, but does assert the primacy of Europe's "Christian culture" as well as his own pagan Nordic culture.

But then:

While Breivik says he considers himself "100-percent Christian," he also expresses pride in his genealogical roots.

Didn't the headline say he'd proclaimed himself not 'Christian'? In trying to spin this as something other than a right wing nut, crazie central goes with this quote extended quote from Breivik:

As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus

And:

Being a Christian can mean many things; That you believe in and want to protect Europe's Christian cultural heritage. The European cultural heritage, our norms (moral codes and social structures included), our traditions and our modern political systems are based on Christianity – Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and the legacy of the European enlightenment (reason is the primary source and legitimacy for authority). It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way. In many ways, our modern societies and European secularism is a result of European Christendom and the enlightenment. It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a 'Christian fundamentalist theocracy' (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want). So no, you don't need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian atheist (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter)). The PCCTS, Knights Templar is therefore not a religious organisation [sic] but rather a Christian 'culturalist' military order.

So he says this is a culture war to protect "our Christian cultural heritage."

Yea, that's soooo not crazie, Christian or right wing.

UPDATE: Clarified WND's quoting of Breivik.