False Flags, ridiculous and paranoid

It is not actually that surprising that the fevered imaginations of the radical right, what is surprising is that a state legislator actually sent the conspiracy theory email out using his official state email account. John Celock at Huffington Post reported:

"WASHINGTON -- A Republican member of the Tennessee state legislature emailed constituents Tuesday morning with a rumor circulating in conservative circles that President Barack Obama is planning to stage a fake assassination attempt in an effort to stop the 2012 election from happening.
Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) sent an email from his state email account to constituents containing a rumor that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security are planning a series of events that could lead to the imposition of "martial law" and delay the election. Among the events hypothesized in the email is a staged assassination attempt on the president that would lead to civil unrest in urban areas and martial law.
Keisling appears to have forwarded a more widely circulated email from Joe Angione, a Florida-based conservative blogger. Angione prefaces the rumor by saying it has not been confirmed but likewise notes it has not been denied. Angione also writes that people need to work to prevent the rumor from becoming reality.
The conspiracy theory started with an article written by Doug Hammon and posted on CanadaFreePress.com, which he said arose from conversations he had with an informant within the Department of Homeland Security." (emphasis mine)

The loonies are always coming up with apocalyptic projections of their own dark desires, but lately they seem to have learned this exciting new word. "False Flag" attacks. It has come up over the Aurora massacre, over the Olympics, and now from the President himself.

But putting the ridiculous idea out on official government accounts is not only shameless, but toeing the line of treason. Kelly Keisling should be investigated and removed from office, this nonsense is no longer funny. Remove one idiot from office (grothmann, you're next) and the rest might figure out that once in, you are responsible for your actions.