GLENN BECK THINKS I'M A PSYCHOPATH

From the open letter posted by Glenn Beck on his Web site:

All evidence points to the fact that the assailant from this weekend was severely mentally disturbed. His belief system was not rational by any modern political standard. He was an atheist, believed George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11, feared a global currency, cited the Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books and thought the Mars rover landing was staged. These are not the opinions of a coherent individual.

(Emphasis mine.)

Lovely -- once again, it's open season on atheism. Believing there's no God is equated with not merely with other opinions good, decent people aren't supposed to hold but with delusional, conspiratorial beliefs. And by Glenn Beck, no less. This atheist says: thanks a lot. (And I'm sure your God-bothering little buddy Sarah agrees with you 100% on this.)

There's a lot of typical Beck nonsense in the letter -- he unilaterally declares that he's partnering with Martin Luther King and Christina Green, the nine-year-old killed in Tucson, and he equates the social scientist Frances Fox Piven with the wannabe cop-killers of the Hutaree movement -- but the atheism comment pissed me off on a personal level.

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Meanwhile, I see that Bill Maher is taking some flak for comments he made about Beck on CNN. I don't agree with this:

If you read some of the stuff that we have, that we know [Loughner] wrote, i mean, it's sprinkled with things, anti-government ideas, treason, tyranny, the gold -- get back to the gold standard, that kind of stuff that seems like, you know, I don't know who else but Glenn beck talks about that stuff.

Well, on the Internet, and in the conspiracy-sphere in general, a lot of people talk about the gold standard (and not just Ron Paul, either). Maher is a mainstream media figure, but guys like Loughner don't confine themselves to well-traveled communications pathways. They get lost on the strangest back roads.

However, Maher also says this:

I'm not saying [Loughner] was specifically listening to Mr. Beck or anybody else. But Glenn Beck is also a little nutty. I mean, you know, this Jared guy's chalkboard in his basement, I'm not sure it would look that different than Glenn Beck’s chalkboard.

Is this true?

Well, I've looked at Loughner's YouTube videos:

And I know Loughner reportedly posted online messages as "erad3," including this one:

Does this stuff resemble the work of Glenn Beck?

Guilty. Guilty as charged.