Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head today when a gun man fired allegedly 15 to 20 bullets into a small crowd outside of a grocery store during a meeting held by Ms. Giffords with her constituents. The gunman killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, and wounded 13 others. (Live update can be found on HuffPost)
First and foremost, let’s pray and/or send loving, healing thoughts for the victims and their families. There have been lots of conflicting report on the condition of Ms. Giffords. Politico reported that she has been out of surgery and in good condition and has been able to recognize her husband, Shuttle Discovery Commander Mark Kelly. Let’s pray that this is the case.
Amongst all the tragedies in AZ today, the most heart-breaking is the death of the 9-year-old girl, Christina Taylor Greene, born September 11, 2001. She was newly elected to the student council and went to the meeting today so she could learn more about government processes.
RIP Christina Greene.
RIP All Those Who Lost Their Lives Today.
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Updated: I was all ready to hit the publish button but I came across a video on YouTube featuring Fred Phelps thanking the gunman for doing god’s work in Arizona today. I have also been seeing reports from Glenn Beck’s and Conservative Christian’s websites that Westboro Church has announced their plan to picket the funerals of the victims in the shooting. Please, let’s pray that THIS IS NOT THE CASE. What has the world come to?
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News media and the Internet, including the social media, are abuzz with the potential motivation for such brutality and violence and fingers have been pointed and shouts have been fired.
The first person to offer an explanation (or unfair blame, depending on where you are coming from) was surprisingly Arizona Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik:
When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.
He did not specifically name names. Even if some critics may not like what he had to say above, we should be able to agree on what he had to say about the current state of the so-called media:
Let me say one thing, because people tend to pooh-pooh this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that… That may be free speech, but it’s not without consequences… It’s time that this country take a little introspective look at the crap that comes out on radio and TV.
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Although I have some thoughts in response to Mr. Dupnik’s strong statements, I don’t want to hijack this tragic event with my psychotic foaming. At least not tonight. I do want to quickly share a piece of fact with you: Sarah Palin and the Tea Party were somehow specifically mentioned in the reporting of this tragedy. Why? Here is the context:
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Post on Sarah Palin's Facebook in March 2010
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It is chilling now to see Rep. Giffords’ name on the (literally) targeted list. Of course, it is unfair, even I have to agree, to blame Palin for the gunman’s action based on this picture. However, it does show how the extreme elements on one side is leaning more and more towards relying on violence and the rhetorics of it and at the same time the respectable members within that side are not doing anything to revert that trend.
It’s all so sad and so horrifying. I keep thinking about it, meaning to write about it, but being unable to come up with more than that.
Have you seen what Dan Savage and The Stranger have done in response to Palin’s crosshairs: http://www.salon.com/news/gabrielle_giffords/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/11/seattle_stranger_giffords_cover
Falling recently posted…Freakosystem
I didn’t know about the salon article. Actually, I did not hear about the Sarah Palin thing until after the tragedy and then had to read up on HuffPost. Thank you for letting me know!
I did not write about what I really wanted to say ’cause that would just add to the vitriol… BUT I thought my blog was created just so I could spew my vitriol online so I don’t do it in real life! *sigh* And why does Vitriol, no matter how many times I type it out, look like the name of a medication for ED?! And how prevalent is this ED medical condition that if you google ED, it comes up before EDUCATION?!
E, I finally got to see the Salon cover. So brilliant yet so sad and on top of that, frustrating. Why do we allow such a minority (gun lobby IS minority) dominates the discourse on gun control which affects all of us in such tragic ways??!! UGH.
Sadly, the FLU OF DEATH prevented me from catching wind of this story until yesterday morning and the rest of the day was spent pouring over the internet reading anything an dveerything I could find on the situ.
Taday’s post is as a result of that.
I’m so incredibly sad (and not a little bit fed up).
– B x
The Barreness recently posted…In Joan We Trust
I’m so glad you finally came back to your energetic sassy self, with a BAM too may I say?! I love your post on this.
Don’t even get me started on Sarah Palin. The woman is evil. But so are all the men she chums around with. Seriously, NPR played a brief recording of Limbaugh yesterday (how I wish they wouldn’t do that–can’t we pretend he doesn’t exist?), and his focus is of course not on the tragedy, but something like Democrats bankrupting America. Yeah, sure. Democrats with all their assault weapons and addiction to painkillers. Yeah.
Jana @ Attitude Adjustment recently posted…Can Marriage and Romance Coexist
Right on!!!!
What I hate the most is that MANY ppl (including my PIL who are yes NICE people) see her as this HARMLESS woman who is just like a mom and very downtoearth. Ok. Since when is being folksy a guarantee for honesty??!! I am going to start wearing a strawhat and overalls now. Bring out the banjo too! UGH.
Oh, and sorry about your comment being in the Spam folder for so long. The spammers are getting so good I think my Akismet is having a hard time and probably going crazy.
This think makes me crazy. How could anyone who purports to be a Christian, as so many on the Right claim to be, feel anything but disgust and sorrow about what happened?
secret agent woman recently posted…State of Emergency
Speaking of Christian… did you hear that nut job at Westboro is going to picket the funerals of the AZ shooting victims?
Rocco and I canceled our dinner to stay home and watch the coverage. Makes me physically ill.
Elly Lou recently posted…King of the Uke
I love you and Rocco. {{{{hugs}}}}
I’m just really sickened over this, Lin. I’ve been alarmed over Sarah Palin’s rhetoric for a long time and, of course, it only takes one miserable tragedy to show how awful and inappropriate it is for her to ever refer to anyone being in the “crosshairs,” or to “reload” for any purpose. She introduced the weapon imagery. She should take the heat if one of the people she targeted suddenly gets gunned down. It will be interesting to see what further investigation reveals.
Linda at Bar Mitzvahzilla recently posted…The Need to Freeze
This one hit so close to home for you. My heart goes out to all the good people in AZ.
On a lighter note, so glad to “see” you here. Happy New Year!
We live in a very angry country.
Jack recently posted…Friday Morning Music- What We Read-Listened To
Yes, it is true. The US is also the country with the highest firearm to population ratio. Yemen is #2.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2011/0111/Arizona-shooting-US-has-lots-of-guns-but-it-s-not-alone/Iraq
Some people have learned the political expendiency of demonizing those who disagree with them. They refer to anyone who disagrees with them as anti-God or anti-American. History is filled with the horrific outcome of that kind of behavior. To call Palin’s use of crosshairs and weapon-fuled rhetoric irresponsible is an understatement. It is eerily close to Muslim extremists calling for world jihad. No, Palin didn’t pull the trigger. She is far too “civilized.” She is, on the other hand, part of a larger and very dangerous movement (that includes Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc) that influences those who lack the capacity to distinguish political rhetoric from a true threat. That is the tragedy.
Renee Fisher recently posted…The Myth of Older Men Wanting Younger Women
She released a video today (1/12) making herself sound like the victim of all this. I don’t even know what to say to that. I did refuse to click PLAY.
It’s heartbreaking and a sad manifestation of the way we conduct politics in this nation. I don’t know how to fix it.
Andrea recently posted…The Game
Me neither esp. since Fox News is profiting from the high ratings.
ok my state-her state isn’t on the target list? why? we have a dem. senator who booted out long time senator ted stevens-surprised he’s not targeted–did she forget Alaska is a state?
on the other hand I loved your singing vlog entry with some of my photos rolling through-it was awesome! <3
laura recently posted…this my friends is NOT democracy
Thank you again for those pictures. The view is stunning. Just stunning.
Ugh. I’m disgusted and sad. That’s all I have tonight…
Brilliant Sulk recently posted…Happy New Yea…Oh Nevermind
That’s what I got too.