Making the argument on O’Reilly that we don’t know if the tragedy at Fort Hood is an act of terror, refusing to label it “terrorism” because those who do so before the facts are in have an agenda, and accusing the right of shamelessly using the tragedy to bash the president, has engendered these responses:

@wwmcneill Monica Crowley is Alan Colmes sister-in-law. Bet they have some interesting family gatherings. He’s a complete idiot.

@cancon1 Colmes needs a High Colonic enema,and a douche,maybe that would wipe that smug off his face

@Adrienne2012 I have a confession to make: I CANNOT STAND Allan Colmes. There…I said it. Ughhh… *LOL!!

@giardinello1 I will never understand liberals like Alan Colmes who insist on making Hasan and all other terrorists the victims….

@CarolinaPixel: Like most haters on the left Alan Colmes is more tolerant of Nidal Hasan than he ever was of Sarah  Palin

RWCAPLLPH #umightbealib if you think Allan Colmes  makes sense. #tcot #catcot #foxnews he’s an ass.

disherdisher @hoffmanmichael Well yes! But Fox strives to have both sides even if Colmes has no logic! He is a DEM – poor guy!

TairrieB Listening to Colmes attempt to debate O’Reilly is pretty damn funny. No Alan, the shooter was NOT insane. He was a traitor. Big difference.

TinaVane Colmes sound like a complete idiot…Thank gawd he got the boot on Hannity’s show.Nobody want to hear a bunch of excuses

bsgfan28 Alan Colmes has a screw loose… that Hannity put up with this guy for as long as he did is a miracle #tcot

save_america1st Alan Colmes is such a liberal pussy…makes me sick the excuses he dreams up to defend obama and the libs

spongedocks @FrazzledHaloz he wasnt too bad tonight, but I think someone should shove an M-16 up Colmes  butt

AmericanWoman2 Can someone shut that Alan Colmes up..

Linny_Buck Alan Colmes has one BIG-ASS PIE HOLE!

praisinghim Alan colmes is an idiot sympathizer who’s still into PC-maybe it was terrorism??–uhh news flash u libtard–IT WAS TERRORISM!!!

wethepeopleorg Alan Colmes ridiculous! What a liberal freak. Poor Monica. Image that Thanksgiving Day dinner.

• Miss California USA Director Keith Lewis joins Alan to dispute Carrie Prejean’s claims that she was mistreated by pageant officials.

• While President Obama honored the fallen at Fort Hood, some of his critics used the tragedy to push partisan attacks. Alan exposes their hypocrisy.

• Muslims = Communists?!? Alan takes a skeptical look at Pat Robertson’s latest shocking statements.

Louisiana Senator David Vitter is claiming that a provision in the climate change bill could give President Obama dictatorial powers.

(click to enlarge)

However, the bill says no such thing:

In the event that the Administrator or the National Academy of Sciences has concluded, in the most recent report submitted under section 705 or 706 respectively, that the United States will not achieve the necessary domestic greenhouse gas emissions reductions, or that global actions will not maintain safe global average surface temperature and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration thresholds, the President shall, not later than July 1, 2015, and every 4 years thereafter, submit to Congress a plan identifying domestic and international actions that will achieve necessary additional greenhouse gas reductions, including any recommendations for legislative action.

On the day that President Obama is in Texas to pay homage to the dead at Fort Hood, right wingers are attacking him for (in their view) not responding appropriately, something they’ve been doing since the moment the tragedy occurred. In spite of the fact that he immediately invoked thoughts and prayers for the families as a result of “a horrific outburst of violence”; in spite of immediately calling for flags to fly at half mast through Veterans Day.

But were these Bama-Bashers critical of George W. Bush for his reaction on September 11?

Obama is accused of giving a “shout out” to someone in an audience he was addressing before discussing the tragedy at Fort Hood last week, but did they object when George W. Bush bragged, “Now watch this drive!” playing through after giving a nod to terror?

Oh, and Katrina…where was Bush? Oh, yeah, viewing it from an airplane:

Obama is also  being accused of “ignoring a terror threat” by not immediately labeling it “terrorism,” even though all the facts are not in.

What is “terrorism,” anyway?  Tina Nole at Air America puts it in perspective:

Webster’s defines terrorism as: “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”

Dictionary.com defines it this way: “The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.”

And if we label it “terrorism” do we react differently?

What exactly is to be gained by labeling the act of a lone gunman, who happens to be Muslim, a “terrorist?” Do we act differently in response to this than to the shootings at Virginia Tech or the loner who killed six people and then himself in Seattle a few years ago or the ex-postal worker who killed six people and then herself in 2006? Are any of these individuals “terrorists?” And should we then round up the loners, the Asians, the Muslims and the women and label them “terrorists” so we can keep a more watchful eye? If we have a name for it does it make us more safe? Or if we don’t, less so?

Language Democrats agreed to in the health care bill amount to “the greatest restriction on a woman’s right to chose to pass in our careers,” according to Congresswoman Diana DeGette.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI, pictured)  to offer an amendment on the floor to restrict federal funding for abortion services, even in private health insurance plans…

Anti-abortion groups say this only codifies current law, which already bans federal funding for abortion. “Our amendment does one very simple thing,” Stupak said on the floor. “It applies the Hyde amendment — which bars federal funding for abortion except in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother — to the health care bill.”

Here’s the breakdown of the Stupak amendment:

Government Money: In general, government money cannot be used to pay for abortion. The government-administered health plan — often called the public option — will not cover abortion, unless a doctor certifies that a woman is in danger of death without one, or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

If you get your health insurance through the government, or with help from the government in the form of a tax subsidy, your plan will not cover abortion. In this case, you would have the right to buy extra coverage — with your own money.

So it discriminates against poorer women. And Democrats hope their souls will be saved by having this language removed by the time it gets to final passage, praying that the Senate removes it.

In her new book Carrie Prejean claims that Miss California USA director Keith Lewis pressured her into getting a boob job.

“Have you ever thought of getting a boob job,” Lewis asked her days after she won the Miss California pageant. Prejean describes how Lewis ran his hands all over her body, including examining each of her breasts, while she stood in Shanna Moakler’s living room in a bikini in front of a handful of pageant representatives.

[...]

Prejean [said] in her book: “Actually, the only thing Keith Lewis put to me were his two big hands and an insistent request, bordering on a demand, that I get breast implants.”

Prejean, whose new book is advertised as proving what courage she has, and who loves to brag about her courage when she speaks to conservative groups, apparently did, if this is true, courageously go along with getting her breasts done.  But, then, maybe that is all part of God’s plan:

Leroy Matthews got a five day suspension for forcing riders to pray before they could get off a MARTA bus.

Christopher James was one of those passengers. James said, initially, he thought something was wrong when he rang the bell to get off the bus and the door didn’t open.

James said the bus driver asked him and three other passengers to join hands in prayer. James said the driver prayed with the group for about four minutes.

“He got up out of the driver’s seat,” said James.

James, who isn’t against prayer, said he felt compelled to join in although the request confused him.

I thought the idea was to pray for a bus to come so you could get on it.

It makes no sense, as Paul Krugman notes. Krugman, like yours truly, is being called a “dirty Nazi scumbag” much more these days than a “commie” or a “pinko.”

What’s going on? It really doesn’t fit, as far as I can tell — and bear in mind the long-running love affair of the National Review with Francisco Franco. You’d really think critics of Comrade President Obama would prefer the Soviet comparison.

So is it that given the way Communism fell, not with a bang but with a whimper, it just doesn’t seem menacing enough? Is it the fact that Communism has just sort of faded from consciousness, while war movies keep the image of the evil sneering Nazi alive?

What gives?

• Actor-comedian Harry Shearer, whose latest DVD is Unwigged and Unplugged, shares a satirical look at today’s hottest political issues.

• “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Millan tells Alan why he’s going on tour to help dog owners across America.

• In the wake of the Fort Hood shootings, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer wants Muslims to be banned from serving in the U.S. Military. Alan debates him.