Congressional staffs weigh security concerns after Gabrielle Giffords shooting

Congressional staffs weigh security concerns after Gabrielle Giffords shooting
On Monday, as they signed condolence and well-wishes books in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building for the Victims of the Arizona shooting rampage, congressional aides reflected on a reality that had so violently shifted. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is battling for her life, and six others are dead - including Giffords's community outreach director, Gabriel Zimmerman. Two more Giffords aides are among the 14 people wounded by a gunman who authorities say appeared to target th...

Closed for Business: Members, aides undeterred
When we left the Capitol on Friday of last week, we were prepping for the coverage of the bickering that was going to ensue on the House floor this week. The GOP had decided on seven hours of debate on the "Repeal the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" starting today and ending with a vote to repeal the bill tomorrow. It was going to be, as one Democratic congresswoman repeated multiple times, "political theater." And Journalists were already stocking up on Popcorn and Dr. Pepper to watch the fire...

Zev Yaroslavsky: A Time to Cool the Rhetoric
On Saturday morning, before she was shot, Gabrielle Giffords was performing one of her most vital duties as a public servant. She was meeting with the public. The Arizona congresswoman knew there were risks; last March, the windows of her office were shattered after her vote for Health Care reform. During her hotly contested campaign for Reelection, gun gimmicks and imagery abounded. On a map on Sarah Palin's political action committee's website, Giffords' district was among a number that had ...

Supporters urge Palin to hit back at liberal critics on Giffords shooting
Sarah Palin has stayed mostly silent on the Arizona massacre. This may be smart for her in the long-term - and if so, she is right to take the long-term view. After all, at this point no one should second-guess Palin’s political instincts . You do not rise from PTA mom to the head of the conservative political stratosphere by making dumb moves. Facing a firestorm of unwarranted criticism over gun metaphors that her enemies claim fed the heated political climate surrounding the Tucso...

Gabrielle Giffords' Medical Status
The video below is from yesterday, but there's updated news this afternoon. At Also, at Tucson Sentinel, "Doc: Giffords '100 Percent' Certain to Survive" (via Memeorandum): Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is "100 percent" certain to survive, said Dr. Peter Rhee, a surgeon treating her for a gunshot wound to the head. "As a physician I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for this, but her prognosis for survival is 100 percent, as far as it being short term," Rhee told Britain's Channel 4 News ....At N...

Repeal vote postponed, but will Giffords shooting change debate?
House Republican leadership immediately postponed the vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act after Saturday's shootings that killed six and left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords critically injured. Congressional Quarterly's Congress.org is hopeful that the Rhetoric in the debate once Congress takes it back up will "settle down." “There will be a time of introspection,” said Rep. Michael C. Burgess of Texas, a physician and vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on ...

Great news! Rep. Gabrielle Giffords breathing on her own
Great news! Rep. Gabrielle Giffords breathing on her own Dr. Michael LeMole, said Tuesday at a Press Conference that doctors have left a breathing tube in Giffords to protect her airway, but according to Fox News, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is drawing breaths on her own. She’s alert and responding to doctors! “I’m happy to say that she’s holding her own, her status is the same as it was yesterday; she’s still following those simple commands,” LeMole said. “W

Gabrielle Giffords' shooting leads lawmakers to carry weapons
WASHINGTON - Two lawmakers said Sunday they'll pack heat back home after the deadly attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The decision by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) raises new questions about whether lawmakers should carry guns for self defense - or need to. "After the Elections, I let my guard down," Shuler, an ex-NFL player, told Politico. "Now I know I need to have [my gun] on me." Shuler and Chaffetz won't be the first lawmakers to be strapped. The U.S. Marsh...

Loughner makes his first public appearance after being charged over Tucson rampage
A mugshot of Jared Loughner released by Pima County Sheriff's Office. Jared Lee Loughner, accused of Murder and Attempted Murder of federal employees including US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, has appeared  in Federal Court in Phoenix and will continue to be held for future hearings. Loughner, 22, appeared before Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson on a five-count complaint that alleged he attempted to assassinate Giffords, who remains hospitalised in critical condition after Saturday's...

Giffords Shooting Leads Two Lawmakers to Carry Guns
BY James Gordon Meek DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Two lawmakers said Sunday they'll pack heat back home after the deadly attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The decision by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) raises new questions about whether lawmakers should carry guns for self defense - or need to. [Photo Gallery: Gabrielle Giffords Shooting in Arizona.] "After the Elections, I let my guard down," Shuler, an ex-NFL player, told Politico. "...

Leading evangelical halts effort to increase political civility
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor At a moment when many Americans are decrying the overheated tone of American politics, an influential Evangelical voice said Tuesday he is folding a project he helped found to increase political civility. Mark DeMoss said he is halting the initiative, called the Civility Project, due to lack of interest. “After only three members of Congress agreed to sign this Civility Pledge last year I’ve decided to shut it down,” DeMoss told CNN by e-mail on

Emanuel: Direct access to representatives must continue
In a solemn Press Conference Tuesday, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said it was important to continue Congress on Your Corner events after the Arizona shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Giffords was gravely wounded from a gunshot to the head during a meet-and-greet event Saturday. In his remarks, Emanuel, who served in the House of Representatives before joining the Obama Administration and is now running for mayor of Chicago, said he introduced the meet-your-congr...

Tucson Shooting To Be Condemned By House
WASHINGTON — The House plans to vote Wednesday to condemn "in the strongest possible terms" the shootings in Arizona that killed six people and gravely wounded a congresswoman. The proposed resolution extends condolences to the Victims and their families, praises the emergency responders and expresses hopes that the injured will recover. The House originally had planned to vote Wednesday on the divisive question of repealing last year's overhaul of the nation's Health Care system. Democr...

Today in Comprehensive Solutions
[Long Island Republican] Rep. Peter King said Tuesday he plans to introduce a new gun safety bill in Congress in the wake of the Mass Shooting in Arizona that killed six people and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. King said his bill would make it illegal to knowingly carry a gun within a thousand feet of "certain high-profile" government officials. Oooookay. I guess that's one option. Hooray for safety! [Long Island Republican] Rep. Peter King said Tuesday he plans ...

Brewer: Arizona is a place of 'heroes'
Tucson, Ariz. — Gov. Jan Brewer made an impassioned defense of her state Tuesday in the same city where a local sheriff decried Arizona as a “mecca of intolerance and Bigotry.” “Since Saturday, all of us have read and heard a lot about the state of Arizona,” she said. “I want to speak to you about the Arizona I know, the place we saw again even on such an awful Saturday,” Brewer told nearly 700 civil and business leaders who had gathered for her Speech...

Pete King: We Need to Stop the Fear
Rep. Pete King thinks cops need the power to stop people carrying guns within 1,000 feet of federal officials because Americans are becoming afraid of listening to lawmakers in public. The powerful Long Island Republican who chairs the Homeland Security Committee thinks the Arizona shootings that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) with a bullet hole in her head have deeply chilled regular Americans. "I’ve gotten people saying, 'Hey, you’re a good guy -- do...

Citing shootings, Sen. Sanders solicits campaign donations
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) issued a Fundraising plea Tuesday in which he cited the Tucson shooting and accused "right-wing reactionaries" of contributing to a threatening political climate. "Given the recent tragedy in Arizona, as well as the start of the new Congress, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few words with political friends in Vermont and throughout the country," he wrote at the opening of the lengthy plea for campaign donations. Sanders, who is up for Reelection i...

GOP Representative Wants To Erect Plexiglas Shield Around Congress
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) recently announced plans in the wake of the Arizona shooting to reintroduce a piece of Legislation that would provide for the creation of plexiglas-like wall that would enclose the House gallery, preventing visitors from being able to throw explosives onto the floor. "The Architect of the Capitol shall enclose the visitors' galleries of the House of Representatives with a transparent and substantial material, and shall install equipment so that the proceedings on the f...

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick....
By John Ballard, just saying....   Glock pistol sales surge in aftermath of Arizona shootings After a Glock-wielding gunman killed six people at a Tucson shopping center on Jan. 8, Greg Wolff, the owner of two Arizona gun shops, told his manager to get ready for a stampede of new customers. Wolff was right. Instead of hurting sales, the massacre had the $499 semi-automatic pistols -- popular with police, sport shooters and gangsters -- flying out the doors of his Glockmeister stores in...

Tuesday's Mini-Report
TUESDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * It seems hard to even imagine, but Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is already able to breathe on her own, though she remains in critical condition. One of her doctors told reporters today, "She has no right to look this good." * Speaking from China today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said North Korea's nuclear and intercontinental Ballistic Missile programs are "becoming a direct threat to the United States." * Gates' visit just ha...

Shot US politician can now breathe on her own
Gabrielle Giffords with her husband, NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly. Photo: AP The Arizona politician shot in the head in an attack that killed six in Tucson remains in critical condition but is now capable of breathing on her own, doctors said. "She's holding her own," said Michael Lemole, the head neurosurgeon who operated on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, adding on Tuesday that she was still responding to simple commands, a key sign for her recovery prospects. "In fact, she's able to generate h...

Daily scoreboard
1. From the Baltimore Sun: If the cold keeps up, the Chesapeake Bay may freeze over. First time in 7 years. Which was 2004. Which was one of those Hottest Years Ever. Under tough luck, you stole the Browns rule… GOOD. 2. From the Associated Press: “The Food and Drug Administration, which has long maintained that the Supreme Court freed it from any authority to regulate drugs used in executions, has quietly helped Arizona and California obtain a quick overseas source of lethal sodiu...

Tucson Shooting: Congressional Staffers Shaken But United
Ross Zimmerman was frantically looking for his 30-year-old son Gabe in the Emergency Room on Saturday in Tucson when a dreadful thought occurred to him. More Video ...

Rick Santorum Opposes Bullseye Ban
By Grant Bosse (MANCHESTER, NH) Rick Santorum doesn’t want to restrict Political Speech in the wake of this weekend’s shooting in Tuscon, Arizona. The former Republican Senator discussed calls for toning down fiery political Rhetoric following the attempted Assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday, which left six people dead. Congressman Robert Brady (D-PA) has proposed banning cross-hairs and bullseyes in political ads, as liberal commentators have tried to tie accu...

Dollars & Sense: Verizons iPhone; 15 hot cars of the future
Arizona shooting Six people were killed and 14 others wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona....