I never imagined that my first blog entry of 2011 would be about something as tragic as this…
I’m wrestling with a lot of thoughts and emotions in the wake of the horrific shooting in Tuscon, Arizona that wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, including a federal judge and a 9-year old girl.
The first thing that comes to mind is this:
Let us all pray for the victims: the slain, the injured, and those who survived but will always have that awful scene seared into their memories. Let’s hope that Rep. Giffords recovers from her terrible wound and returns to Congress to pursue the work that her would-be assassin tried to destroy.
The next thing that occurs to me is this:
The killer shot 19 out of the three-dozen people at that gathering – killing six of them. How in the world do we, in a civilized society, allow people to legally arm themselves with that kind of automatic firepower? Could this coward have slaughtered that many people in so short of time with a knife, a hunting rife, a shotgun, or a six-shot revolver? Not a chance.
Sorry NRA supporters and Second Amendment apologists, but anyone who thinks they need that kind of firepower for self-defense must imagine that their enemies are coming at them with even bigger firepower. (Like their own government?) They are clearly fearful and paranoid. And frightened paranoids are the last people we want to have armed with automatic weapons.
I also think about this:
Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik is a hero. At the press conference on Saturday, he called it like it is – whether it was politically correct or not. He said over and over that the vitriolic anti-government political rhetoric spewed by some voices in the media contributed to this tragedy. Sheriff Dupnik reminded us of the consequences of that kind of speech. He’ll be savaged by the right wing in the coming days – but he spoke the truth.
The right wing is selling hate and intolerance – and this is the inevitable result.
What an awful way to start the year.
I’d rather have written about the wild results in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
Let’s hope this makes Beck and Limbaugh and Sarah “cross-hairs” Palin think before they rant. But, then again, they aren’t really paid to think.
Paul's Voyage of Discovery & Etc. 
Write it! Say it! Shout it! A TRUE patriot!
In my view, Sarah Palin, who conveniently pulled her disgusting map from her website minutes after the shootings, has blood on her hands. I am saddened for all those who are dead and shot, but a 9-year-old girl?! That is beyond appalling and sickening. Nobody – NOBODY! – should give Palin the time of day after such an atrocity. Can she please go back to Alaska, stop hawking her hate and her stupid books, and never be heard from again? She’s done enough damage. Real damage!
The usual suspects have spend the past two days spinning their way out of responsibility for any of this. I would suspect this is because of a guilty conscience, but that would imply they actually have a conscience
Joe, did you know that someone posted to Palin’s facebook, some ugly statement to the effect that the 9 year old girl had it coming because she would have grown up to be a liberal anyways, and after all, wouldn’t you have killed Hitler as a child if you had the chance? This bit of ugliness was allowed to stay on her page, but any comment suggesting her part in this, was instantly scrubbed from the site. This is beyond disgusting, and by itself should disqualify her not only from office, but from opening her mouth in public about anything, but of course it won’t.
On the trivia side of town, the girl who was killed is the grand daughter of Dallas Green, one time Phillie and Cubs GM, Mets & Yankee manager and currently a Phillies consultant. He’s also one tough customer with more then a little John Wayne in him. He is of course devastated by these events, it’s in all the New York papers today
Fat Dave,
People have to renounce Sarah Palin in every PEACEFUL way possible. I heard an interview with one of her water carriers who said that the map didn’t feature “crosshairs,” that they were symbols much like surveyors use. Yeah, right. If that was indeed the case, why was the map taken down minutes after the shooting. Survey symbols, my ass. They were crosshairs. Targets. Palin was clearly sending a message – and she got her wish. How she can sleep at night is beyond me. The blood of numerous people are on her hands.