The Binary Circumstance

Isaac Zamora, who is accused of killing six people in a Seattle-area shooting spree, gave his reasons at a hearing yesterday.

From the Seattle-PI:

MOUNT VERNON — Isaac Zamora, accused in the deaths of six people, says he kills for God.

“I kill for God. I listen to God,” Zamora said twice Friday, his first public words after being arrested in the killings of a deputy, two neighbors, two construction workers and a motorist.

Shackled, unshaven and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, he spoke while signing legal paperwork. He appeared in court for a complaint that prosecutors filed against him accusing him of six counts of first-degree murder and four counts of first-degree assault in Tuesday’s bloody rampage.

Now this is the part that I find interesting:

A 28-year-old housepainter with mental health problems, Zamora is accused of committing the deadly spree in the small community of Alger, violence that began with the fatal shooting of Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy Anne Jackson. Jackson, 40, had been responding to a trespassing call about Zamora.

Prosecutors believe that Zamora also killed his neighbors Chester Rose, 58, and Julie Binschus, 48; carpenters David Radcliffe, 58, and Greg Gillum, 38, who were working in the area; and motorist Leroy Lange, 64, who was driving on Interstate 5.

Binschus’ killing was the only one in which prosecutors filed a premeditated murder charge.

Zamora is also accused of stabbing a 61-year-old neighbor, and of shooting Binschus’ husband and two other motorists. Those victims survived.

How is it that Zamora who apparently talks to God and gets his instructions to kill from God is considered to have “mental health problems” but people like President George W. Bush who has killed far more people in the name of God is considered to be sane?

Osama bin Laden kills in the name of God as well and millions of people around the globe consider him to be a moral authority. Why isn’t he considered mentally ill?

The law of identity says that A=A. Killing in the name of God equals killing in the name of God, no matter who does it. If it’s crazy for one person to do it, then it’s crazy for another.

But what defines mental illness is often determined by politics, not reason. A politically powerful person like Bush or Bin Laden can get away with killing in the name of God because they are really killing to satisfy a political demand for it–a political demand created by the existence of millions of people who think like Zamora: “I kill for God. I listen to God.”

Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the VP nominee on McCain’s ticket also gets her order from God.

Interviews with the two pastors she [Palin] has been most closely associated with here in her hometown — she now attends the Wasilla Bible Church, though she keeps in touch with Mr. Riley and recently spoke at an event at his former church — and with friends and acquaintances who have worshipped with her point to a firm conclusion: her foundation and source of guidance is the Bible, and with it has come a conviction to be God’s servant.

“Just be amazed at the umbrella of this church here, where God is going to send you from this church,” Ms. Palin told the gathering in June of young graduates of a ministry program at the Assembly of God Church, a video of which has been posted on YouTube.

“Believe me,” she said, “I know what I am saying — where God has sent me, from underneath the umbrella of this church, throughout the state.”

Isaac Zamora has a lot of company in political circles. Who knows? Maybe that’s where he got the idea to listen to the voice of God in his head when it tells him to kill.

A government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is expected soon, perhaps by the end of this weekend.

WASHINGTON - The government is expected to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend in a monumental move designed to protect the mortgage market from the failure of the two companies, which together hold or guarantee half of the nation’s mortgage debt, a person briefed on the matter said Friday night.

Some of the details of the intervention, which could cost taxpayers billions, were not yet available, but are expected to include the departure of Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd and Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, according to the source, who asked not to be named because the plan was yet to be announced.

[…]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost a combined $3.1 billion between April and June. Half of their credit losses came from these types of risky loans with ballooning monthly payments.

While both companies said they had enough resources to withstand the losses, many investors believe their financial cushions could wither away as defaults and foreclosures mount.

Many in Washington and on Wall Street hadn’t expected Paulson to intervene unless the companies had trouble issuing debt to fund their operations.

This summer, Congress passed a plan to provide unlimited government loans to Fannie and Freddie and to purchase stock in the two companies if needed.

Critics say the open-ended nature of the rescue package could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars of potential losses.

I’m a little surprised with the speed at which the government had chosen to snap up these companies. The move will wipe out the equity that shareholders now have in the company.

Recent bond sales have gone well, showing that institutions which hold most the GSE debt were still willing to loan them money.

This is another example of the government putting the taxpayers on the hook for bad corporate decision-making. Previously, government (taxpayer) backing of the two private companies was only implied. Recent legislation made it explicit and this move will guarantee that taxpayers foot the bill.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got “too big to fail” because the government gave them advantages in the marketplace. Now, with full government (taxpayer) backing, they will become even bigger, giving the Feds more control over the housing market than they already have.

Given the mess they’ve made of it so far, why would anybody want them to have more control?

We mustn’t forget that when it comes to whoring for lobbyist money, the Republicans do it just as much as the Democrats.

MINNEAPOLIS — Tom DeLay, the former House GOP majority leader whose connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff brought scandal and disgrace to the Republican party, returned to the spotlight in Minneapolis last night, helping to host a private party that drew hundreds of delegates and Republican officials.

[…]

DeLay arrived at the Minneapolis night club for his party last night in a gold mini-van, no longer traveling with the Capitol police detail that used to protect him from reporters and other perceived security threats.

He declined to answer questions from ABC News as he entered the back door of the club through a loading dock.

ABC News and their chief investigative reporter Brian Ross are doing an illuminating series of stories about how the Democratic Party has been courting big money at their convention in Denver while doing their best to prevent any media coverage of it.

Anybody who thinks the Democrats are the party of the little people should read about the “Pelosi 100“:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) created the “Pelosi 100″ for people “who contribute and raise $100,000 in personal funds,” according to documents obtained by ABC News.

The wealthy members of the “Pelosi 100″ attended a private, lavish party Monday night in the penthouse suite of the Denver Performing Arts Center, featuring Tony Bennett, John Legend and James Taylor.

There was a heavy security presence with police telling reporters “no media is allowed,” although observers on the balcony of a nearby apartment building could view the scene.

Also included in the $100,000 Pelosi package was “preferred booking” at a top downtown Denver hotel, four convention hall credentials and access to luxury sky boxes overlooking the convention floor.

An ABC reporter trying to cover the event was roughed up, choked by a cigar smoking Denver policeman and ultimately arrested by several police officers even though he and the cameramen appeared to be on a public sidewalk. One officer can be seen pushing the reporter out into the street while the reporter is complaining that he’s on public property. (The link for the video is in the article.)

During the arrest, one of the officers can be heard saying to Eslocker, “You’re lucky I didn’t knock the f..k out of you.”

In addition, lobbyists are spending wildly at the Democratic Convention and some ethics groups have noted Barack Obama’s silence on the matter.

A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Ben LaBolt, said the Senator could not “make changes to this year’s convention” because of the “very late end to the primary season.”

As a result, lobbyists are once again spending millions of dollars here on gourmet food, top-shelf liquor and private lavish parties for Democratic elected officials who seem more than happy to play the role of world-class freeloaders.

According to Denver’s top chefs and caterers, no expense is being spared.

Kevin Taylor, of the Denver restaurant Palette, who says he is the only four-star chef in Denver, says he is booked to prepare delicacies for more than 100 “high end, hush-hush events.”

“The demand is over the top, you’ve never seen anything like this,” said chef Taylor, especially for his signature King Crab terrine appetizer with white champagne caviar.

The Democratic Party elite are certainly not having trouble putting gas in their tanks, food on their tables or paying for health care though they want us to believe they understand the financial difficulties so many Americans are having these days. The fact is they don’t.