Thread: Clinton : "Words Matter"

Clinton alludes to 1995 bombing, says words matter
1 hr 24 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton warned of a slippery slope from angry anti-government rhetoric to violence like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, saying "the words we use really do matter."

The two-term Democratic president insisted he wasn't trying to restrict free speech, but in remarks Friday he said incendiary language can be taken the wrong way by some Americans. He drew parallels to words demonizing the government before Oklahoma City.

On April 19, 1995, an anti-government conspiracy led by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh exploded a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people.

"What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold — but that the words we use really do matter, because there's this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike," he said.

"One of the things that the conservatives have always brought to the table in America is a reminder that no law can replace personal responsibility. And the more power you have and the more influence you have, the more responsibility you have."

Clinton made the remarks at events sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund on the upcoming anniversary of the bombing.

He mentioned the rancorous fight over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Passage of the law elicited threats against some lawmakers.

"I'm glad they're fighting over health care and everything else. Let them have at it. But I think that all you have to do is read the paper every day to see how many people there are who are deeply, deeply troubled," he said.

He also alluded to the anti-government tea party movement, which held protests in several states Thursday. At the Washington rally, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota railed against "gangster government."

Clinton argued that the Boston Tea Party was in response to taxation without representation. The current protesters, he said, are challenging taxation by elected officials, and the demonstrators have the power to vote them out of office.

"By all means keep fighting, by all means, keep arguing," he said. "But remember, words have consequences as much as actions do, and what we advocate, commensurate with our position and responsibility, we have to take responsibility for. We owe that to Oklahoma City."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100417/...50b25hbGx1ZA--

Yeah, Clinton understands alright about "words" and how they are used

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City National Memorial is here. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/ 168 of our fellow Americans died in this evil act of terrorism. Take a moment to learn about their lives here. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemor...ion=1&catid=24

Today is also the 17th anniversary of the deadly siege at Waco. After a 51-day standoff with the feds, 76 Americans (including 17 children) perished. It, too, was a shameful act of violence.

But one anniversary will get more attention the other today because the establishment Left isn’t interested in sober reflection. And Bill Clinton certainly isn’t interested in taking responsibility for horrors under his watch that do not fit the conservatives=violent extremists narrative:

“What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold – but that the words we use really do matter, because there’s this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike,” he said.

“One of the things that the conservatives have always brought to the table in America is a reminder that no law can replace personal responsibility. And the more power you have and the more influence you have, the more responsibility you have.” Clinton made the remarks at events sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund on the upcoming anniversary of the bombing.

…Clinton argued that the Boston Tea Party was in response to taxation without representation. The current protesters, he said, are challenging taxation by elected officials, and the demonstrators have the power to vote them out of office.

“By all means keep fighting, by all means, keep arguing,” he said. “But remember, words have consequences as much as actions do, and what we advocate, commensurate with our position and responsibility, we have to take responsibility for. We owe that to Oklahoma City.”

What does he owe the victims of Waco who died as a result of gross FBI incompetence, negligence, and zeal?

Flashback: “The Fire Last Time” Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine, 1998, review of Waco: The Rules of Engagement, directed by William Gazecki, Fifth Estate Productions and No More Wacos: What’s Wrong with Federal Law Enforcement and How to Fix It, by David B. Kopel and Paul H. Blackman…

As Kopel and Blackman show, the investigation of the Branch Davidians by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the BATF’s February 1993 raid on Mount Carmel, the 51-day FBI siege, the April 19 assault that led to the final fire, the trial of the survivors, and the subsequent explanations can all be understood in terms of prevalent prejudices and familiar failings. Hostility toward private gun ownership and unconventional religions played an important role in the government’s actions against the Davidians and in the public’s indifference to their fate. Another conspicuous factor was the tendency for overconfident people to screw up, dodge responsibility afterward, and rationalize their behavior as justified by some greater good. As scary as it is to contemplate, it’s doubtful that anyone involved in this shameful episode felt in his heart that he was doing wrong.

At the same time, to blame the deaths of 86 men, women, and children (including four BATF agents) on a series of errors does not do justice to the government’s conduct at Waco, which rose at least to the level of negligent homicide, or to the cowardly cover-up that followed. And to blame the dead themselves is audacious, since all would be alive today but for the government’s gratuitous use of force…

Today in Washington, gun owners will march in defense of Second Amendment rights.
http://www.secondamendmentmarch.com/


Predictably, left-wing groups are taking their cue from Clinton and using the event to smear Tea Party activists, the NRA, and limited-government advocates all as potential OKC bombers. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-90943419.html

In the Left’s playbook of Rahm Emanuel-esque political crisis exploitation, the Timothy McVeigh card has no credit limit.


http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/19...-exploitation/

Oklahoma City marks 15 years since bombing
By Tim Talley, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 4 mins ago

OKLAHOMA CITY – It's been 15 years since a terrorist's bomb destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 600 others. The passage of time hasn't made mourning any easier for many victims' family members.

"Time heals nothing," said Debi Burkett Moore, whose brother, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development worker David Burkett, was killed. She and other family members placed flowers on an empty chair meant to honor her brother that's among a field of chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. "It makes it a little more bearable, but it heals nothing," Moore said.

About 2,000 people gathered at the memorial Monday to honor those killed and injured in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

For many in attendance, a visit to the memorial is an annual rite — a way to pause and remember a loved one, former colleague, friend or neighbor who died in the attack.

Kathryn Burkett, the mother of David Burkett, said she grows sadder by his absence with each passing year. "Why it is sadder? I don't know why," Burkett said. "You just live with it."

Other victims' family members said they, too, still feel a deep sense of grief 15 years after the bombing. "I don't make it here every year. It's just too hard. It's just like yesterday," said Cornelius Lewis III, who wore a T-shirt and medallion that bore the portrait and nickname, "Puddin," of his late sister, Social Security Administration employee Charlotte Thomas.

"In 15 years, I would never miss it," said her mother, Bettie Lewis. "This is part of our lives. I would never miss it."

Another of Thomas' brothers, Guy Lewis, said his sister's life will never be forgotten thanks to new curriculum guidelines for Oklahoma students that mandate instruction about the Oklahoma City bombing and its aftermath. "She's going to be in the history books. Her memory is going to live forever," he said.

Vickie Lykins and her sister, Angela Richerson, placed a rose, an American flag and a colorful purple ribbon on the chair honoring their mother, Norma "Jean" Johnson, a former Defense Security Service worker who was killed. "This is our mother's favorite color," Lykins said as she solemnly secured the ribbon to the chair. Lykins said she misses her mother "very much" but preferred to keep her feelings about the bombing anniversary and her mother's death to herself. "There's a lot of things we could say. But we won't," she said.

During a ceremony for bombing victims and survivors, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the city's spirit in the wake of the tragedy served as an example to the nation.

Napolitano also said the bombing anniversary was a reminder of "the continued need for vigilance against the violent ideologies that led to this attack, so that we can recognize their signs in our communities and stand together to defeat them."

"We cannot put a glass dome over our country. We cannot guarantee there will not be another attack. No one can," Napolitano said. "But we are a strong and resilient country. And we can resolve that even a successful attack will not defeat our way of life."

Across Oklahoma City, people observed 168 seconds of silence to honor the dead. Some dabbed away tears as the ceremony closed with family members reading a roll call of those who died. "What defines us as a nation, as a people and as communities is not what we have suffered, but how we have risen above it, how we've overcome," Napolitano said. "We can resolve that the Oklahoma Standard becomes the national standard."

Attending the ceremony was Charlie Hangar, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped bomber Timothy McVeigh on Interstate 35 the day of the blast because his 1977 Mercury Marquis did not have a license plate.

Hangar, now the Noble County sheriff, read the memorial's mission statement at the start of the service. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., the state's lieutenant governor at the time of the bombing, read a congressional resolution commemorating the anniversary.

Prosecutors said McVeigh's plot was an attempt to avenge the deaths of nearly 80 people in the government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001. McVeigh's Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100420/...xhaG9tYWNpdHk-


no articles about Waco TX ....

[b]In never-before-aired tapes, McVeigh tells families: 'Get over it'
51 mins ago

Timothy McVeigh, executed in 2001 for the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing that killed 168 people, coldly declined to express remorse for his actions in a set of interview tapes aired for the first time Monday night on MSNBC.

The killer's message to the families of his victims was detached, clinical. "Death and loss are an integral part of life everywhere," he told Lou Michel, a Buffalo News reporter who taped 45 hours of interviews with McVeigh for a book he wrote with newspaper colleague Dan Herbeck. [Update: Michel is participating in a live chat on the News' website Tuesday — today — at noon ET, 9 a.m. PT. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/yne.../bit.ly/cklQxA ] "These people in Oklahoma City that lost loved ones, I'm sorry. But you know what? You have to accept it and move on." Addressing the families directly, McVeigh said: "You're not the first grandparent to lose a granddaughter or a grandson. I'll use the phrase — and it sounds cold, but I'm sorry, I'm going to use it, because it's the truth — get over it."

The interviews were featured in "The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist," a documentary special hosted by Rachel Maddow that aired on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City attack. The show culled material from more than 45 hours of previously unreleased interviews with McVeigh. The audio record chronicles McVeigh's transformation from a decorated former soldier to a violent, anti-government extremist.

Michel and Herbeck published their McVeigh biography, "American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing," in 2001. The book was banned by Walmart at the time, apparently because of protests that it was profiteering from McVeigh's actions. The book offered a unique glimpse into the mind of a murderous political extremist. http://www.salon.com/books/2001/04/07/mcveigh

MSNBC used computer-generated recreations to simulate the interviews and the events leading up to the account, as recounted by McVeigh.

McVeigh also offered a chilling account of the moments just before the blast, en route to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building: "I lit the two-minute fuse at the stoplight, and I swear to God that was the longest stoplight I've ever sat at in my life."

The two-hour broadcast is available on the MSNBC website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/201004...5uZXZlci1iZWZv

Remembering the Oklahoma City bombing, 15 years on
Mon Apr 19, 11:14 pm ET

They say time heals all wounds. But for many of the families of people who died when a bomb destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City, 15 years isn’t yet long enough.

“Time heals nothing,” Debi Burkett Moore, whose brother, David Burkett, was killed, told The Associated Press. “It makes it a little more bearable, but it heals nothing.”

On Monday, according to the AP, about 2,000 people attended a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the terrorist bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which took the lives of 168 people and left more than 600 injured. Antigovernment extremist Timothy McVeigh was put to death in 2001 for the attack. A co-conspirator is serving multiple life sentences.

The remembrance took place at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, on the site of the former federal building. A bagpipe player marched past the memorial’s reflecting pool to open the ceremony. Some people placed flowers, wreaths, and American flags on empty chairs placed at the site to represent each person killed.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke to those gathered, calling for resilience in the face of tragedy. “What defines us as a nation, as a people and as communities is not what we have suffered,” she said, according to the AP, “but how we have risen above it, how we've overcome.”



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/201004...hvdG9zcmVtZQ--