House pays tribute to victims of Arizona shooting (AP)

Giffords Eye Opens As Pelosi, Dem Colleagues Look On (VIDEO)
ABOARD Air Force ONE — 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 attend a memorial service f...

Police: Alleged Ariz. Shooter Had Prior Arrests
Arizona police say Jared Loughner, the alleged gunman in the Tucson massacre, had 12 previous encounters with authorities over the years, including two arrests for Alcohol and marijuana possession. They added that on the day of the shootings, he was stopped for running a red light, but was let go with a warning. Friends of Loughner, 22, said he once took Hallucinogenic drugs and was angry at the government, but that his displeasure was not directed at any political party. "He did not watch tv...

Tea Party Foes Smell Blood, Shanghai Children Into Their Cause
In the wake of the Tucson shooting tragedy, leftists are decrying all the violence. Yet they are clearly out for blood.  Sound contradictory? Of course it does, but there it is.  Those who hate on the citizen movement for smaller government, as exemplified by the Tea Party, really smell blood now. The shots from Jared Loughner’s gun truly have been heard around the world.  An article in Sunday’s Guardian online describes the sort of feel-good event

First Thoughts: Obama recaptures his 2004 voice
Obama recaptures his 2004 voice…. He addressed the civility debate head-on… The Incredibly Shrinking Palin… Boehner’s statesman-like Speech, then his unforced error… And Pawlenty’s big day. *** Obama recaptures his 2004 voice : The past two years have made the 2004 Convention Speech that helped launch Barack Obama’s national profile -- “There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America” -- seem...

Eddie Reeves: President Obama in Tucson: Yes, He (Still) Can
President Obama's address at the University of Arizona in Tucson will go down as a signature moment of presidential oratory. Just as in his electrifying maiden Speech at the 2004 Democratic convention and in the March, 2008 Philadelphia allocution on race that saved his severely wounded Presidential Campaign, Barack Obama once again stepped into the breach and demonstrated the best single aspect of his leadership persona. And once again, at a time when we seem at greatest peril of ripping our...

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 calls Americans to a new era of civility
TUCSON, Ariz. -- President Barack Obama offered the nation's condolences Wednesday to the Victims of Tucson's shootings, calling on Americans to draw a lesson from the lives of the fallen and the actions of the heroes, and to usher in a new era of civility in their honor. The president directly confronted the political debate that erupted after the rampage, urging people of all beliefs not to use the tragedy to turn on one another. He did not cast blame on Republicans or Democrats, but asked pe...

No God at Tucson Memorial: Power Line
…I didn't appreciate the president of the University of Arizona (and master of ceremonies) telling us how lucky we are to have Barack Obama as our president and Janet Napolitano as our Homeland Security chief. Nor did the frequent raucous cheering by the huge crowd seem appropriate at what was, at least in part, a memorial service. As for the "ugly," I'm afraid I must cite the opening "prayer" by Native American Carlos Gonzales. It was apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing...

A Space For Democracy
The losses suffered Saturday at a Tucson, Arizona, Safeway Supermarket are numerous and nefarious. As our ravenous news cycle has already reported in devastating detail, suspected gunman, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, opened fire on a small crowd gathered for a meet and greet, wounding 14 people and killing six -- including Federal Judge John M. Roll. As of this writing, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- who was shot at point-blank range in the head and appears to be the primary target of the attack...

Paging Dr. Krauthammer
I love Charles Krauthammer. A Harvard-trained physician and Psychiatrist, he knows what true Mental Illness is, and he lends his measured perspicuity to our understanding of Jared Lee Loughner: “His [Loughner's] own writings are confused, incoherent, punctuated with private numerology and inscrutable taxonomy. He warns of government brainwashing and thought control through “grammar.” He was obsessed with “conscious dreaming,” a fairly good synonym for hallucinatio...

Grieving Tucson braces for victims' funerals
By Tim Gaynor TUCSON, Arizona | Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:05am EST TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - She sang like an angel in the church girls' choir, was a top Student, and was gunned down at nine years old as she went to see government in action on a Tucson street corner. Christina Green, the youngest Victim of a Shooting Spree last Saturday that claimed six lives and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords battling for her life, will be the first to be buried on Thursday as Tucson grieves for its dead. "She show...

Iowa politicos differ on impact of heated rhetoric
Iowa Democrats and Republicans have drawn very different conclusions about what role heated political discourse may have played in the Jan. 8 shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and what changes politicians might make in the way they communicate following that event. Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky said politicians can’t control who hears what they say and how they react to it, but it is politicians’ responsibility to monitor what they say. “I think ...

Presidents Unscripted and Emotional Tuscon Moment
Appearing grim-faced and weary before a packed crowd of 14,000 at the University of Arizona’s McKale Memorial Center, President Barack Obama set about the difficult task of healing in the wake of the recent Mass Shooting in Tuscon, Arizona.  Last Saturday’s tragedy left six people dead and fourteen wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) the Centrist Democrat targeted by 22-year old gunman Jared Loughner and left in critical condition.  Also fatally shot was feder...

San Diego Judge Chosen to Handle Loughner Trial
Yahoo! Buzz Well, that didn’t take long. Shortly after all of the federal trial judges in Arizona were recused from presiding over the trial of Jared Loughner, the accused Tucson shooter, the chief judge of the Ninth Circuit, Alex Kozinski, selected the judge who will. The duties will fall to San Diego Federal Judge Larry A. Burns. Click here for the Los Angeles Times article; here for the Arizona Republic article; here for Judge Kozinski’s one-page order. According to the LAT, Burns...

The Politics of Insinuation
David Warren: While it did not quite rise to a blood Libel, the headline in Monday's Guardian (U. K.) did not fail for want of trying: "Gabrielle Giffords shooting reignites row over right-wing Rhetoric in U.S." Elsewhere in the Guardian, the distance was bridged. Consider this heading (over a piece by Michael Tomasky): "In the U.S., where hate rules at the Ballot Box, this tragedy has been coming for a long time: The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords may lead to the temporary hibernation of right...

Obama urges nation to honor youngest Ariz. victim
(01-13) 03:50 PST Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- President Obama exhorted Americans to refrain from partisan bickering and urged the country to embrace the idealistic vision of Democracy held by 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest Arizona Shooting Victim and an aspiring politician who is set to be buried Thursday in the first of half-a-dozen Funerals. Speaking to an arena audience of about 14,000 and even more in a nearby football stadium and at homes across the country, Obama drew on theme...

House Pays Tribute To Arizona Shooting Victims
WASHINGTON — The House is honoring Victims of Saturday's shootings in Tuscon, including one of its own. Republican Speaker John Boehner is opening the session of remembrances and tributes to the 19 people shot, six fatally. The remarks are expected to focus on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat shot in the head as she spoke to constituents outside a Supermarket. Later Wednesday, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and other lawmakers are flying with President Barack O...

Tea Party Express fundraises off reaction to Arizona shootings
Stumble This! A leading Tea Party group is raising funds based upon public reaction to the Tucson, Arizona shootings. In an e-mail sent to supporters Wednesday, the California-based conservative group Tea Party Express invoked the tragic shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and nineteen others, asking for donations to fight back against liberals in the media who cite inflammatory right-wing Rhetoric as a possible instigator for such violence. "Instead of prayers for the Victims and their...

House pays emotional tribute to Arizona victims
(01-12) 12:37 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- Grief-stricken members of Congress paid tribute Wednesday to the Victims of the Tucson shooting rampage amid consultations with security advisers on how they can protect themselves and their aides against such savage attacks. Still deeply shaken from Saturday's violence half a continent away, House Speaker John Boehner fought tears as he spoke of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' battle to recover from a gunshot wound to the head. "Our hearts are broken, but our...

House Pays Emotional Tribute to Arizona Victims
A tearful Speaker John Boehner kicked off Wednesday’s House tribute to the Victims of the Arizona shooting, calling for “strength” in what he described as “difficult hours for our country.” The Ohio Republican’s remarks were part of the House consideration of a resolution condemning the violence and honoring those who were injured and killed. Members will devote six hours to the resolution. “We are called here to mourn a despicable act of violence. ... T...

Olbermann Speaks To Daniel Hernandez
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As You Were
Labels: Arizona, Democrats, Gabrielle Giffords, GOP New! Share this on Facebook: Share ...

Text of Obama's Tucson memorial service speech
(01-12) 20:28 PST (AP) -- Text of President Barack Obama's remarks at the memorial service for the Victims of the shooting in Tucson, Ariz., as released by the White House: To the families of those we've lost; to all who called them friends; to the Students of this university, the public servants who are gathered here, the people of Tucson and the people of Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today and will stand by you tomorrow. Th...

Teary-eyed Boehner pays tribute to Arizona victims
(01-12) 07:39 PST Washington, CA (AP) -- House Speaker John Boehner has opened a session of the House by honoring Victims of Saturday's shooting in Arizona, speaking in a halting voice, his eyes welled up with tears. Boehner (BAY'-nur) told House members that "our hearts are broken but our spirit is not." Wednesday's six-hour session is a remembrance for the 19 people shot, six fatally. Many of the remarks are expected to focus on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat shot in the head ...

House offers tribute to victims of Tucson shooting rampage
As it reconvened for its first day of legislative business following Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson, lawmakers on Wednesday paid tribute to the Victims of the tragedy in a resolution and a series of statements on the House floor. Shortly after 10 a.m., the House reading clerk read the four-page resolution, which was offered by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Then, House leaders from both parties spoke from the floor about the Mass Shooting that killed six and wounded 14. Members are...