Saturday, January 08, 2011

Tragedy in Arizona and a sad response.

In Arizona, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been shot, along with at least 18 other people. One of the dead is a nine year old girl. The Honorable John Roll, federal judge has also been killed.

This is a tragedy that should be uniting all of America behind the victims here. Yet every single on-line commentary I peruse on news services and forums across the country is already filled with screeching posts by countless haters all trying to politicize this incident by linking it to the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Conservatism in general...and we don't even know anything about the killer yet except that he's a reportedly 22 year old male.

At a time when we should be coming together to denounce evil and support the victims and the families, thousands of left-wing lunatics and political hacks are already trying to use this horrific event to advance their cause and slander their political opponents.

House Speaker Boehner says it very well: "I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society."

I agree with him. this is a time to be outraged, not to gleefully dip your fingers in the still-fresh blood and run around trying to smear it on your political opponents. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families tonight. And if you are one of those salivating haters who is already crowing about this incident and trying to use it to score partisan points, well then I pray for your soul, too.

(And that includes you jackasses at Little Green Footballs. I can't believe that I ever liked your blog.)

9 comments:

  1. http://www.taofear.com/2011/01/jared-lee-loughers-eerie-you-tube-video.html

    from the blog (facebook) of the shooter and his name.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Concur- we DO need to pull together on this...

    ReplyDelete
  3. A terrible day, and a very loud, very clear wake-up call. Vitriol only makes more of the same.
    It's time to back down and rethink.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Years ago psychotics festered quietly until something triggered an action that resulted in either treatment or commitment to a facility. Today they broadcast quite clearly their delusions and their intentions. The community college identified him, the Army rejected his application, he posted YouTube videos of his madness, there were FaceBook and Twitter postings. In short the smoking fuse on the bomb was visible and clear, yet in our society we do nothing about them.

    I don't know the solution. There is a balance between liberty and security. It isn't an either/or situation but a spectrum trending to one or the other. But, we've seen a flock of them in the last decade and in every case the tragedy could have been averted. The question remains; how?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amen... When I listened to that sheriff, I couldn't believe just how much he tried to pin this on everything except what it was.. A lunatic on his own demented rampage..
    It was also amazing how fast they wanted to pin it square on Palin.. Sheesh.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. I must admit that when I first heard about the shooting I assumed it was was commited by some extreme right-wing nut just I remembered Giffords from Palin's "crosshairs" campaign. But mental illness is the cause here, not politics.

    This is what I tell my fellow progressives when they start hyperventilating about Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, ect. inciting people to violence: Some people are just crazy and and choose to target the more visible people in society like politicians. Hinckley shot Reagan to impresses a fictional 12-year old prostitute. There is no way to know what sets these people off, and that is just part of life.

    Now I have also seen some people on the right calling this guy a left-wing terrorist. His favorite books include Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto so anyone feels like can blame anyone, but he's just crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. RD: Since this tragedy, people I thought were friends have gone & blasted Palin, the Tea Party, and Conservatives in general for causing this deranged 22 yr old to shoot the Congresswoman. Makes me want to un-friend them on FB. And I have half a mind to do so but need to calm down before making that decision.
    I am neither Dem or Rep. I am an independent and choose to vote for whomever I believe will be the person that bests represents my beliefs/standards.
    I would never dream of blaming anyone in a political position for the actions of another person - no matter how much I disagreed with that politican! And to have friends coming out and blasting/blaming certain politicians for this tragedy is just shocking to me. And very saddening.
    I think I am off to re-evaluate who my friends are.....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4:20 PM

    Do you know why the Sheriff is trying to pin this on the Tea Party/Glen Beck/etc?

    Because he knows he will be targeted for this event. The Lunatic had what? Five contacts with Law Enforcement, one arrest and somehow slipped under the cracks of the Law Enforcement Agency he runs?
    The Sheriff is scared, period!

    PS: I ain't blaming the political scumbucket, crazy people are not predictable. But when the Usual Suspects start really looking for somebody to blame, he knows he has this huge bullseye painted all over him and in 3D

    ReplyDelete