Violence

As many as 10 protesters have been killed in Syrian rallies that officially began on March 15. The latest attack by Syrian security forces took place Wednesday just after midnight at the Omari mosque in Demaa.

The Associated Press reports that an ambulance was attacked by an "armed gang" in this incident, which was initially aired on Syria's state-run TV. Fatalities include a paramedic, a driver, a policeman and Dr. Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid, who traveled to the mosque in order to attend to victims of similar recent attacks.

In Damascus, a group of several dozen plain-clothes Syrian policemen broke up a protest at the Omayyed Mosque on March 21. Security forces reportedly pulled out batons the moment chants broke out and detained at least two activists. At least one activist was beaten for resisting. Many women and children fled the scene as at least 200 protesters gathered, “chanting support for President Bashar al-Assad and waving Syrian flags.”

On March 25, the glass panel door at Gabrielle Giffords’ office in Tucson was vandalized and destroyed, apparently in anger directed at her recent vote on healthcare. When asked whether she was afraid, she said no. Nor was she afraid, on that day, of Sarah Palin.

Are you afraid? Are you fearful today?

You know, I'm not... we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve got to realize that there’s consequences to that action.” (Source)

Sarah Palin is also well-known for the violent rhetoric she uses to expound her depiction of Democrats as ‘the enemy’. Her solution: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!" (Source)

Reminiscent of the same variety of hate speech is Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign against the energy tax:

“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.” (Source)

On March 24, 2009, Rep. Bachmann showed up outside the White House holding a shotgun. She called upon “thousands of loyal Americans to march here this morning, with whatever weapons they have on hand … anything that’s going to let the Washington Elite know that we are serious!” (Source)