'Gabby Opened Her Eyes For The First Time:' Obama At Tucson Memorial

Michelle Obama's advice to American parents on the Tucson shootings
Here's an "Open Letter to Parents" from First Lady Michelle Obama just posted on the White House blog: Dear parents, Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of s...

Michelle Obama's Open Letter To Parents About The Tucson Shootings
First Lady Michelle Obama issued the following Open Letter to parents in the wake of the Tucson shootings via the White House blog. Dear parents, Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience i...

Michelle Obama sees lessons after Arizona shooting
Mrs. Obama joined her husband, President Barack Obama, at a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday for the Victims of Saturday's attack outside a Supermarket, where a gunman killed six people and critically wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama said Children would struggle with questions about what such an event says about the world. "The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your Children will have - and they don't lend themselves to easy answers," the fi...

Michelle Obama sees lessons after Arizona shooting (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – First Lady Michelle Obama urged parents across the United States on Thursday to talk to their Children about the Arizona shootings and use the event to teach them a lesson about American values. Mrs. Obama joined her husband, President Barack Obama, at a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday for the Victims of Saturday's attack outside a Supermarket, where a gunman killed six people and critically wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama said children...

Barack Obama calls for 'new era of civility' in Tucson speech
US President Barack Obama offered the American nation's condolences to Victims of the Arizona shootings at a memorial service on Wednesday night. • President Barack Obama with wife Michelle at the memorial service. Picture: Getty He also called on Americans to learn from the Tucson tragedy - in which six people were killed and more than a dozen injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, 40, by gunman Jared Lee Loughner, 22. The president said if lessons were drawn from the lives o...

White House Responds to Concerns about Pep Rally Atmosphere at Arizona Memorial
Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Fred Lucas White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs talks to reporters about President Obama in Tucson last night where he gave a Speech to console the nation and honor the Victims of a shooting rampage that that killed six people and left 14 injured, at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Washington (CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained Thursday the atmosphere at the previous nig...

Mrs. Obama talks tolerance in open letter to parents
First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged parents to teach their Children tolerance in response to the deadly Tucson Shooting Spree that touched off debate about political Rhetoric. Mrs. Obama, who joined her husband at a memorial service for the Victims Wednesday, issued an Open Letter to parents. Children are struggling, she said, to make sense of Saturday's shooting that killed six and left 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. "We can teach them the value of tolerance -...

Michelle Obama On Tucson Shootings: Advice To Parents
WASHINGTON--A day after First Lady Michelle Obama attended a Tucson memorial for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other Victims of a Shooting Spree, she urged parents to use the tragedy to teach Children tolerance, prayer and compassion. As parents may struggle to explain to kids how a gunman can open fire on a crowd, Mrs. Obama offered advice through an "Open Letter to parents" posted on Thursday afternoon on the White House web site. Referring to Malia and Sasha, Mrs. Obama wrote, "the questions ...

After Tragedy, An Open Letter To Parents From Michelle Obama
What is this? In an Open Letter just sent by the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama exhorts parents to use the Tucson tragedy as a teachable moment. It's a moment, she writes, for valuable lessons, "about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away." Here's the full text of the letter. Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Ar...

After Tragedy, An Open Letter To Parents From Michelle Obama
What is this? In an Open Letter just sent by the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama exhorts parents to use the Tucson tragedy as a teachable moment. It's a moment, she writes, for valuable lessons, "about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away." Here's the full text of the letter. Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Ar...

Congresswomen describe seeing Giffords open eye
(01-13) 14:07 PST ABOARD Air Force ONE, CA (AP) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' friends say it's nothing short of a miracle: Days after being shot in the head point-blank, the injured congresswoman opened an eye Wednesday for the first time. Two of her closest friends from Congress, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., were in Giffords' Tucson, Ariz., Hospital room at the time. Both had traveled to Arizona on Air Force One with President Barack Obama to atten...

Mrs. Obama talks tolerance in open letter to parents (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged parents to teach their Children tolerance in response to the deadly Tucson Shooting Spree that touched off debate about political Rhetoric. Mrs. Obama, who joined her husband at a memorial service for the Victims Wednesday, issued an Open Letter to parents. Children are struggling, she said, to make sense of Saturday's shooting that killed six and left 14 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. "We can t...

Michelle Obama's open letter to parents about Tucson
First lady Michelle Obama has penned an Open Letter to parents about how to talk to Children about the shootings in Tucson last weekend. We're gathering readers' own letters on the shootings here. Dear parents, Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and...

Obama in Arizona
A little girl was buried Thursday in Tucson, Ariz. Christina Taylor Green was 9. She was an A Student, a member of her student council, born on Sept. 11, 2001, and, as a result, interested in American politics. "She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful," President Barack Obama said at a memorial service Wednesday night. "She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted." The ...

Obama Calls for Unity to Prevail Over Divisive Rhetoric (Time.com)
Friends of the accused killer, Jared Lee Loughner, keep using the same words to guess at his reasons for gunning down a congresswoman, several Retirees and a nine-year-old girl in a Safeway Parking Lot. "He loves causing chaos," a former target-shooting buddy told one reporter. "Mainly to just promote chaos," echoed another High School pal. On Wednesday night, President Obama addressed Loughner's alleged crime before a crowd of 14,000 in Tucson, Arizona. The Speech was watched by millions of ...

9-year-old AZ shooting victim laid to rest
Stumble This! Tucson, Arizona - The youngest Victim of the Tucson shootings was laid to rest Thursday, after Barack Obama hailed the 9-year-old girl as an inspiration to US politicians to heal their poisonous divisions. Christina Taylor Green, who was among six people killed by a misfit gunman last Saturday, has become the heart-breaking public face of the attacks which unleashed a wave of soul-searching about America's political culture. Hundreds of people lined the streets as her small ...

Speaker Boehner skips Tucson memorial for RNC cocktail party
Stumble This! The new speaker of the House skipped a nationally televised memorial in Arizona honoring Victims of Saturday's shootings, opting instead to host a cocktail party Wednesday night. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declined an offer to ride to Tucson on Air Force One with President Barack Obama and other lawmakers, Politico reported. A Democratic leadership aide told the newspaper it was "disrespectful" of the speaker to miss the memorial service in order to attend a partisan political ev...

Youngest US shooting victim laid to rest
The youngest Victim of the Tucson shootings was laid to rest Thursday, after Barack Obama hailed the 9-year-old girl as an inspiration to US politicians to heal their poisonous divisions. Christina Taylor Green, who was among six people killed by a misfit gunman last Saturday, has become the heart-breaking public face of the attacks which unleashed a wave of soul-searching about America's political culture. Hundreds of people lined the streets as her small coffin was borne into the St. Elizabeth...

Presidential Library Puts JFK Archives Online
The Presidential Library is putting John F. Kennedy's archives online, including hundreds of thousands of personal photographs, documents and doodles. Wyatt Andrews reports. The USDA is proposing a calorie limit for School Lunch, according to age group, in an effort to battle Childhood Obesity. Michelle Miller reports. Despite allegations that the suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner was mentally ill, it is still unclear the role it played in the deadly rampage. Katie Couric reports on the la...

Memo To Kathleen Parker on Father Sky Reference in Tucson Memorial
I understand you were upset with the opening invocation at the memorial service for the Tucson Shooting Victims. Here's what you had to say about it on Twitter: Father Sky and Mother Earth, seriously? You probably didn't realize that it was a nod to Native American beliefs, rather than a New Age-y expropriation of those beliefs. That's all right, I understand. Religion isn't your beat. Besides, New Mexico and Arizona are exactly alike. How is a major CNN contributor like you to know what they d...

Obama's Message In Grief: Talk In A Way That Heals
President Obama paid tribute the Victims of the Tucson, Ariz., shootings Wednesday, urging Americans to change the nation's vitriolic public dialogue by "talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds." Obama, speaking at a memorial service at the University of Arizona, somberly called for an end to the political recriminations that have ignited in the days since a gunman killed six people and injured 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Enlar..

Obama tells polarized nation: 'We can be better' (AP)
TUCSON, Ariz. – Summoning the soul of a nation, President Barack Obama on Wednesday implored Americans to honor those slain and injured in the Arizona shootings by becoming better people, telling a polarized citizenry that it is time to talk with each other "in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds." Following a Hospital bedside visit with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the target of the Assassination, he said: "She knows we're here, and she knows we love her." In an electrifying moment, ...

Gabrielle Giffords continues recovery with support of family, friends and nation
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes yesterday in response to encouragement from her family and friends, shortly after a visit from President Barack Obama.  Surrounded by her husband Astronaut Mark Kelly, parents, Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), the Arizona Representative opened her eyes for the first time and acknowledged she could see those around her with a wave of her hand. President Obama thrilled a memorial service crowd last ...

Gabrielle Giffords Opened Her Eyes
​In a Speech full of heart-wrenching moments last night, President Obama went off script to describe the condition of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head on Saturday in Arizona by Jared Loughner. "Gabby opened her eyes," announced the president. "So I can tell you, she knows we are here, she knows we love her, and she knows that we are rooting for her through what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey." The camera showed Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, embracing Mic...

From the First Lady, Advice for Parents
First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday urged parents to hold up the lives of Christina Taylor Green and other Victims of the Tucson shooting as examples for their Children, and to speak with their children about tolerance in wake of the tragedy. In an Open Letter to parents, Mrs. Obama said that her own daughters, like many other children around the country, are struggling to make sense of what happened. “The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will h...