People who should (at least) be locked up for January

This is early! I know! So exciting! But it's mainly because I realized there's very little chance there's going to be someone who's more of a waste of space this month.  She's always been a close contender, but the assassination attempt this weekend catapulted her to the absolute top of the should definitely be in prison list.

That's right.  It's your favorite:

Yeah.  I know it's a fake picture.  But goddamn, it's so appropriate.

Sarah Palin isn't new to doing things that make her deserve some amount of prison time.  During her run as a primary reason not to vote for McCain, there was an investigation into whether Palin dismissed a law enforcement official because he didn't fire her sister's husband.  The findings were that Palin had abused power, giving us a little taste of the respect for authority typical of Ms. Palin.

The real problem with Sarah Palin isn't what she says, it's just a weird slurry of patriotic exhortations, like if you put Reagan in a blender.  The problem is who she says it TO.  Case in point, this is a typical Palin supporter:

*shudder* Anyone who voluntarily wears a shirt like that doesn't deserve the vote.  But Palin's supporters also include people like this:

Yes, that's the guy that had a gun at the Obama rally back in 2008.  And another Palin supporter.  And another.  And Sarah Palin, knowing that she has a pretty strong appeal to people with lots of guns and itchy fingers, published this on her website:

(The arrow is my addition.  Better version of this here.)

Now, whether or not the shooter was a supporter of Palin is unclear.  But the fact is Palin had a map with CROSSHAIRS on it targeting someone who, a little while later, was shot.  Not to mention pretty soon after this map was put up, Giffords office had been vandalized.

Of course, Palin sent her condolences, took down the map and scrubbed mentions of Giffords from the site.  But that doesn't make up for how irresponsible Palin has been and how the media has let her get away with what is, at best, lies, at worst, inciting violence.  Now people are dead, and I have a hard time believing that the GOP's runaway rhetoric had nothing to do with it.

Even the GOP's recognized the issue.  Though, to be fair, the Senator calling for a toning down the rhetoric refused to be named.  I mean, after all, he has his career to think about.  Who knows whether he'll need the racist lunatic vote.

So in the end: Ms. Palin, you are a nobody.  You are a housewife beauty queen dimwit from Idaho.  Your stupidity only hurt the small town you quit when the going got tough, but now you are a national figure.  If you are incapable of taking some responsibility for what you say and do, maybe you should just shut up.  And if you don't have the sense to do that, hopefully we'll someday find you in prison.

Condolences to the families of the victims in Tucson and best wishes for Representative Giffords' recovery.  Hopefully there's a lesson about the human impact of rhetoric in all this.

UPDATE:

So Sarah Palin's idiot hole opened again.  A few choice bits from her statement (You don't have to read it, it's a lot of the same shit she always says mixed with a few outlandishly ridiculous and somewhat dangerous statements).

1. "But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn"

Blood libel, by the way, is the lie that some religious minority (usually Jews) murders children to use their blood in ceremonies.  Obviously, Palin has no idea what the word means.  I want someone to ask her if she knows what the Holocaust was.

2.  "Founding Fathers knew they weren't designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government."

You know what I love? When someone in the wrong uses human nature to defend their wrongness.  Yes, I cheated on my wife, ran over a priest and torched a busload of orphans, but, y'know, humans are flawed.  Screw you, Palin.  The only flaw in this situation is YOU.

3.  "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not...with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle..."

What kind of idiot things that criminals spring out of no where for no reason? I'll give you a hint.  It's the same kind of idiot that thinks BOTH sides of the isle used a map with CROSSHAIRS ON IT to indicate people that should be taken out of power.  It's also the same kind of idiot that thinks her half-wit housewife opinions are worthwhile.