Continuing Coverage of the Arizona Shooting

Which Path Will Our Nation Choose In Dealing With The Arizona Shooting?
There are grown up and constructive reactions to the tragic Arizona shooting. And then there are the puerile and destructive reactions. So far, President Obama has chosen the high road, and shown grace and dignity in this time of sorrow. Let’s hope that he goes tomorrow to the memorial service for the fallen in Arizona with the intent to help heal the hearts of the mourners. He should continue to condemn violence, and lay the blame where it belongs. The alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loug...

Mourners to hold 'community healing' Mass after Arizona shooting
Mourners will gather at a memorial Mass Tuesday for Victims of the weekend shooting outside an Arizona Supermarket that killed 6 people and wounded 14 others. The Mass will be held at 7 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) at St. Odiilia Church in Tucson, Arizona - where 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green had her First Communion a year ago. "Right now it is important as a community to pull together and to reach out in care and concern to all who have been affected by this tragedy," Bishop Gera...

False Equivalency Watch, Cont'd
FALSE EQUIVALENCY WATCH, CONT'D.... Following up on an item from yesterday, the drive continues to insist that "both sides" are equally to blame for rhetorical excesses and the Toxicity of our discourse. Ross Douthat offers the latest evidence, arguing, "If overheated Rhetoric and martial imagery really led inexorably to Murder, then both parties would belong in the dock." This isn't surprising, given that the media establishment appears obligated to always blame "both sides" for everything at...

The Tragedy of the Arizona Shooting.
This weekend’s tragic shooting at a Safeway district meeting in which United States Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was seriously hurt and a dozen more injured and a District Court judge John Roll, a nine-year-old girl born on September 11th, and a congressional aide were killed has left us all stunned. Nick Baumann has an interview with a friend of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. The friend describes Loughner’s obsession with Gifford as starting when she d...

Loughner shoots Palin and Angles political careers to death
It may be weeks, months or perhaps never that we find out what really motivated 22 year-old  Jared Lee Loughner to purchase a 9 mm gun with an extended clip and Murder real people in what he calls “conscience dreaming” [sic]. While he is being assessed, should we wonder why Sarah Palin removed her “crosshairs map” hours after six people were slaughtered and fourteen wounded in a spate of violence?      While a person as deranged as Loughner c...

10 Things You Didn't Know About Gabrielle Giffords
1. Gabrielle Giffords was born in Tucson, Ariz. On June 8, 1970 to Gloria, an art conservator, and Spencer Giffords who served on the School Board district and ran the family's auto and tire business, El Campo Tire, Inc. 2. After graduating with a degree in Latin American history and sociology from Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. in 1993, Giffords studied in Mexico on a Fulbright Scholarship. 3. Giffords graduated from Cornell University in 1996 with a master's degree in regional planning...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Missing From Loughner Debate: Soul Searching
Jared Loughner (Credit: Personal Photo) There's been quite a bit of back and forth this week about who should share the blame for the actions of alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Some on the left have pointed to incendiary Rhetoric from Sarah Palin and others on the right, while some on the right have sought to tie Loughner to the beliefs of the left. Palin was blamed in part for using of a bullseye icon to identify political targets - including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords - before the ...

Reid praised Arizona sheriff in 2008 speech
In a floor Speech nearly three years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised the sheriff investigating the deadly Arizona Shooting Spree who has faced criticism from the right.  Reid (D-Nev.) took to the Senate floor on April 15, 2008 to praise the "truly commendable" 50-year Law Enforcement career of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.  "Clarence Dupnik is known as a man of action, integrity, and innovation," Reid said. "These skills have been invaluable to his 50 years of service t...

Hannity Cites Description Of Loughner As Pot Smoking Liberal - No Mention Of Anti-Abortion Comment
As far as we know, Jared Loughner does not appear to have any clear political orientation - despite attempts on both the left and the right (ignored by Fox "News" which whined about "political cheap shots" from the left) to ascribe one to him. He was registered to vote as an independent. Based on what little was known of him, the right ran with the description of him as a "pot smoking liberal" - a description found on Alex Jones' website as well as numerous others despite comments, from those wh...

Lawyers: Insanity Defense Wont Work
CNN reports: The alleged shooter in Saturday’s deadly Tucson massacre may have difficulty making the case for a successful insanity plea, experts said Tuesday. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, who authorities say shot up a gathering held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, outside a Supermarket, has been anecdotally regarded as very troubled and perhaps mentally unbalanced because of his ramblings spotted on the Internet and the ways he has been described by acquaintances. But Paul Callan...

Poll: Most Say Rhetoric, Killings Unrelated
From a deeply saddened CBS News: Poll: Most Americans Feel Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting Unrelated Posted by Daniel Carty January 11, 2011 Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. So either our media master has better ratchet up their efforts or move on to their fall back position - Gun Control. In the wake ...

Let's go after the real perps: the NRA and their supporters
Jared Loughner is in custody and I'd put money on his conviction and Incarceration.  But the rest of the perps are still out there, still armed, still certain of their rights, and still ready to shoot or help you shoot. Letter writers to the New York Times have, for the most part, agreed that the right has something to answer for. From Denver:  "Opposed to the perception disseminated by the G.O.P., it’s not the liberal elite exploiting the insecurities of the masses to g...

Poll: Most Americans see no connection between Ariz. shooting and political rhetoric (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller We're probably alone in the universe, or else they're out to get us Mark Halperin: Conservatives should turn the other cheek when scapegoated for Murder Could Jon Huntsman really be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012? Auburn wins it all: Sights from the BCS National Championship [SLIDESHOW] Pucker up: Celebrities recall their first kiss [SLIDESHOW] A majority of Americans don’t see a connection between vitriolic Rhetoric and Jared Loughner...

McCain to return from overseas trip to attend memorial service
Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) will return from a congressional delegation trip to attend a memorial service for the Victims of a Shooting Spree in his home state that resulted in the wounding of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D).  Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, told The Hill he is cutting his trip short to go to the memorial in Tucson, Ariz., where the shooting took place. McCain is traveling in South America with his Senate GOP colleague Tom Barrasso (Wyo.) The two were scheduled to vi...

Hijacking A Massacre
Best headline of the day, via The Daily Mail in Britain: How America's elite hijacked a massacre to take revenge on Sarah PalinThe substance of the article makes points you have heard before regarding the murderous rampage by Jared Loughner: Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama’s former Chief of Staff and a ­figure compared to Labour’s Alastair Campbell, once said: ‘You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.’ And those on his side of the political divide have clearly seen t...

Manson Family Values
At Big Journalism, Christian Hartsock explains “How John Lennon Killed Sharon Tate (and Other Ideas For MSM Narratives):” John Lennon murdered Sharon Tate. Jodie Foster shot Ronald Reagan. Oliver Stone and Marilyn Manson caused Columbine. A dog ordered the Son of Sam killings. And Fox News, the Tea Party and the American right compelled Jared Loughner to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson. The only reason these parallels don’t work is that while Charles Manson did i...

Absurd fingerpointing continues in wake of Arizona shooting
As more become clear about Jared Loughner, the facts seem to mean less and less for those seeking to turn this tragedy into a political witch hunt. It appears that Loughner, had an obsession with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) dating back to 2007 - before Sarah Palin or the Tea Party movement came on the national scene, and the warning signs that Loughner was an unstable person had been ignored; even by police. And while the debate on Loughner’s political leanings is still raging, Chris Ci...

CBS Poll: American Public Not Buying Democrat, Media Spin on Arizona Shooting
From CBS News: Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political Rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll. In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious Midterm Election. Rhetoric and imagery from both Republicans and Democrats have included gun-related ...

Holder calls shootings unspeakably tragic (AP)
WASHINGTON – The killing of a Federal Judge and attempted Assassination of an Arizona congresswoman are an "unspeakable tragedy" that serve as a reminder that violence and cruelty persist more than 40 years after the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Attorney General Holder said Tuesday. Threats against public officials "continue to be cause for concern and vigilance," Holder told a Justice Department memorial for the slain Civil Rights leader in advance of the holiday commemorati...

Shot US lawmaker 'breathing on her own': doctor
The Arizona lawmaker 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 Tuesday. "She's holding her own," said Michael Lemole, the head neurosurgeon who operated on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, adding that she was still responding to simple commands, a key sign for her recovery prospects. "She's breathing on her own," added the doctor at University Medical Center, saying they had reduced the sedati...

Reaching Into Our Souls
Matt Taibbi zooms out. He blames the media, himself included, for "a hypercharged, rhetorically overheated political atmosphere": Most all of us are grownups and can handle extreme argument, but clearly some people are not, and obviously I'm not just talking about Jared Loughner. To see that, all you have to do is attend almost any family gathering, where once-loving relationships have been completely lost because of the overheated right-left culture war. If real family relations...

Krauthammer: Lefts Attempts to Blame Right for Tucson Shooting is Truly Scurrilous Video 1/10/11
Charles Krauthammer condemned the Left’s attempts to blame the Tucson Mass Shooting on political Rhetoric from the Right - calling the attacks “scurrilous.” Krauthammer, who in addition to being a syndicated columnist is also a trained psychologist, said it is clear that alleged shooter Jared Loughner is “psychotic,” exhibiting signs of “schizophrenia,” and “severe thought disorder.” ...

Tucson Terrorism: A Deeply Rooted Assault on American Democracy
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 11:53am. Now it's political Assassination and Murders in Tucson. William Faulkner wrote that the past isn't dead, it isn't even past. I'm a Veteran of Arizona. As one of the state's leading peace advocates and organizers during the Vietnam War, I had more than my share of death threats, including one left on the accelerator of my car. After President Nixon urged "hard hats" to attack peace advocates, the John Birch Society loosed drunken miners agains...

It was inevitable: gun rights in the crosshairs, again
In the 72 hours after the attempted Assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the Murder of several others in Tucson, our moral betters on the liberal left were shouting in (coordinated?) that it had to be due to the angry, overheated Rhetoric from the Right, and most particularly from Sarah Palin . Even the Sheriff of Pima County couldn’t resist getting in on the act. Though the Left is still pushing the “dangerous rhetoric” idea, even to the point of introducing a...