Pennsylvania GOP Replaces "O" in Obama With Hammer and Sickle

A recent ad on the the Pennsylvania Republican Party's website, since replaced, showed a message with the O in Obama replaced with the hammer and sickle from (guess where) the U.S.S.R.'s flag.

The ad asked: "Tired of Barack Obama, (Pennsylvania Governor) Ed Rendell and (Pennsylvania Senator and former GOP member) Arlen Specter ruining our nation? Hit them where it hurts. The voting booth!"

As you can see, the ad promotes Joan Orie-Melvin, a Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court in the November election. It appeared on the PA GrassRoots website late last week.

Unfortunately for those afraid of the "Red Menace," as noted by John Micek, "We looked pretty hard at Orie-Melvin's life story, and we couldn't find a single thing in there about her promising to fight the Red Menace if elected."

It's another example of hate-mongering and scare tactics among GOP candidates. The idea of equating liberals with the "Red Menace" isn't new, but isn't any truer than before, either.

Pistol-Packin' (Soccer) Mama Found Dead in Murder - Suicide

Meleanie Hain, the woman who felt it was necessary to openly wear a handgun to her daughter's soccer game, has been found dead, shot to death by her husband in an apparent murder-suicide. The word ironic is simply insufficient.

While Hain had a carry permit, taking a gun to a children's soccer game was simply over-the-top to many. It is hard to visualize any reason to do so. In fact, her carry permit was revoked, and later restored by Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo.

Meleanie Hain later sued DeLeo in federal court, seeking reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, emotional distress and lost wages. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence then offered to defend DeLeo for free.

At the time, Daniel Vice, a senior attorney for the Brady Center, said:

"It is a case that calls out for common sense. ... It’s ridiculous to bring a gun to a child’s soccer game."

Common sense is something lost on many of people who feel that the Second Amendment gives them the right to carry a gun anywhere. A hearing on Hain’s suit was postponed in May after one of the attorneys in the case was involved in an auto accident.

Recently, however, Meleanie Hain told her attorney, Matthew Weisberg, that she and her husband were separating and that she wanted to remove his name from the $1 million lawsuit. The irony was not lost on him, eihter, as Weisberg said "It's shocking. And sadly ironic."